Hope your holiday season is fabulous!

I'm busy wrapping, cooking and preparing.

How about you? :)

What are you Wishing for?

My kids have wish lists a mile long. They know they're not getting most of the things but it doesn't stop them from wishing.

I've found that as I get older, my wish list gets shorter. I'm not talking about the peace-for-mankind kind of wishes or the everyone-has-good-health kind. I'm talking about what's wrapped and under the tree.

I found myself asking for socks and slippers this year. My God, I've turned into my grandmother! Okay, so I mixed it up a bit with asking for some books from my favorite authors too.

How about you? What are you wishing for under the tree this year?

You know the answer, right?

Over at the Barnes & Noble Dead & Kicking thread there's a contest going.

Do you know the answer to this Dead & Kicking question?

What brought Sadie out to Bellevue Square Mall?

If you know the answer and post it on the Barnes & Noble site you'll be entered to win a book. So come on over!

Winner of the Contest is ...

D R U

Congratulations Dru! Drop me an email at wendy at wendyroberts dot com and give me your snail mail addy for the books and the email addy you'd like the amazon gift sent too.

I'm still enjoying myself over at Barnes and Noble's online Mystery Book Club so, if you can, please pop by for a visit. There are many wonderful writers there this month ... Brenda Novak for one, so come on by and say 'hi'!

Today's the Day!!

Wooooo Hooooo!

Dead and Kicking hits book stores today! I'm sooo excited :)

Hope you get a chance to pick it up!

You have until the end of today to post comments and get in on the contest to win a signed Ghost Dusters series and a $100 Amazon gift certificate!

Barnes & Noble Mystery Book Club

I love book clubs. Even before I was a writer, I thrilled to discuss books in a cozy library or coffee shop.

I can't sit down with each and every one of you to discuss the Ghost Dusters books but I am discussing them over at the Barnes & Noble Mystery Book Club site. Why don't you grab a cup of coffee and join us? It's easy as pie to ask questions and join in the fun!

Have you ever been a member of a book club in your community? How about on line?

You have until the end of day tomorrow to enter your comment on my blog and get your name into the draw to win books and $100 Amazon gift card!

I'm Grateful

I'm off for a few days but in light of U.S. Thanksgiving this week, I'm reminded of my old gratitude journal that I haven't visisted for a while. Have you ever kept a gratitude journal? It was a daily habit that was on my night table for years and slowly I got away from it. This morning I wrote in it that I'm grateful for family, friends and my health. Although my health isn't the best right now, I'm determined to work on that in the weeks ahead.

I'm also grateful for my work. Even though there are times I can't get to writing, like now, I still find that eagerness inside myself to get a story onto paper.

How about you? What are you grateful for?

I'm away but all comments up until midnight Dec. 1st are still entered into my contest to win Ghost Dusters books and $100 to spend at Amazon!

4 Stars!!

Romantic Times gave DEAD AND KICKING four stars! I went to my local book store to pick up the magazine in order to read the full review but it isn't in Canada yet.

I should've just stopped at Barnes and Noble when I was cross border shopping this morning but it totally slipped my mind. Most likely because my mind was warped and distorted by my shopping list.

While waiting in the border lineup (a brief 10 minute one), I people watched because I wanted to see what everyone else did while waiting in line. Most people were on the phone. Not surprising. However, in my rearview mirror I could see the woman in the car behind me carefully parting her hair and tugging out the grays and then tossing them out her window. If I'd started that I would've been bald before the 10 minutes were up! The old couple in the car next to me fought the whole time. Ten minutes can be a looong time if you're fighting.

If you had 10 minutes to kill while sitting in your car, what would you do?

Just over a week left in my contest! Enter a comment to get your name in the draw to win Ghost Dusters books and $100 Amazon gift card!

Oh no ... it's started!

I saw the festive red envelope in my mailbox yesterday and carefully avoided opening it until today. Ugh. It's started. The annual fill-your-calendar-every-night parade of holiday parties.

I wanted to pop it back in the mail return to sender with a scribbled note on the back that said, Look, I'm sorry but there's a law against inviting people to holiday events and making them feel like they should be out shopping when they really should be book writing and absolutely NOT shopping.

You may have guessed that I stress quite a bit about the Holiday Season. Most of that stress has to do with shopping. It is my least favorite thing to do. Scratch that. My least favorite thing is RETURNING things which also seems to happen a LOT during/around that time of year.

So I'm choosing not to think of shopping or parties that make me feel guilty for not shopping. Instead, I'm going to think how much fun it will be to draw someone's name on in my contest to win Ghost Dusters books and a $100 Amazon card hee hee. I get excited knowing I can maybe help someone with their shopping :)

How about you? What are you thinking of instead of worrying about shopping? Or *gasp* do you actually LIKE shopping??? I'll forgive you. Really.

New Trailer Up On Site

My web gal has the new flash intro up on my site for DEAD AND KICKING. If you get a chance, pop over to wendyroberts.com and tell me what you think :)

It is still blowing a big wind in my neck of the woods. Mother Nature has a big thorn in her butt and decided just to topple trees and small children for fun. And today's garbage day so the big debate this morning was do I put the garbage and recycling out in the morning before I head to Starbucks for the morning to write, or do it later.

Doing it in the morning means by the time I'm home I'll be joining other neighbors in the great garbage can chase down the street. Not exactly a graceful or pleasant experience. But if I take the chance and wait, I could miss the elusive garbage pick up dudes. If I miss them that'll be twice the trash next week and I'll be over my garbage limit. I decided to live dangerously and put the trash out this morning.

You know who has fun in the wind? Seagulls. Seriously. All the other (perhaps smarter birds) are tucked into their trees from protection from the big bad wind but not the gulls. Those suckers are dipping and soaring in the gusts. I'm thinking seagulls are the bad boy risk takers of birds. Probably I could be a little more seagull like in my every day dealings with the world.


Do you tend to hide and tuck yourself in when it's blustery outside or are you more of a reckless woooo hoooo kind of seagull?

Don't forget to keep all the great comments coming and your name will go into the Big Draw on December 2nd. You could win signed Ghost Dusters books AND a $100 Amazon gift card!

Sometimes things just take care of themselves

I hate raking leaves. Really. My kids did it once this year. Only once and only because they wanted to jump in the pile.

Then again give me a break. I mean what's the point of raking leaves when the tree is still half covered, right? My neighbor does not get this reasoning. My leaves upset him because they blow in his yard. So yesterday I raked and raked until the lawn was pristine. Perfect I tell you! All those beautiful red leaves are bagged and in my garage.

My neighbor's yard was also pristine. Except he left his bags curbside and they were torn apart by either coyotes, dogs or those crazy raccoons. So now all this wind is creating a leafy tornado in his driveway and then gusting them onto MY lawn . I don't mind. It made me laugh. It made me laugh harder when I saw my neighbor's face.

What's making you laugh today?

Don't forget my blog contest. Enter a comment on my blog between now and release day (Dec. 1st) and your name will go into the hat to win a signed set of the Ghost Dusters books AND $100 gift certificate to spend on Amazon!

BIG Announcement

I'm counting down to the release date of DEAD AND KICKING on December 1st and I want to share the excitement! :)

I'm running a blog contest from now until release day. Enter a comment on my blog between now and release day and your name will go into the hat to be drawn on December 2nd.

What's the prize you ask?

1) A signed set of the Ghost Dusters books (Remains of the Dead, Devil May Ride & Dead and Kicking). Hopefully you already have all three books but, if you do, they'll make a great gift for someone you love :)

2) A $100 gift certificate to spend on Amazon.

That's my excitement for today. What's yours?

ONLY 27 MORE DAYS!!!

Have you pre-ordered your copy yet??

I'll be announcing a BIG CONTEST in the next couple days so stay tuned :)

Oh the Horror

I toddled off to the Surrey International Writers Conference without telling you. It was in my own backyard but I got to stay at the hotel and work until late so it was just like getting away. I also hooked up with some great people to help me with research for my current novel and I've spent a few days emailing back and forth with them making sure I get some things just right.

As you can see by the above picture my decapitation turned out rather well.

We've also got a dozen other haunted creatures around our yard and here are just a few.

This weekend our home will boast Little Red Riding Hood, Ringo Starr, an Alien and couple as of yet undecided.



So what's scary in your world this week?

Turkey and other Decapitations

This weekend was Thanksgiving up here in the Cold White North (neither cold nor white this weekend but it'll come).

I did not put on the feast and instead we attended at my mother-in-law's. Nice because it's all the fun with far less work. Then again no turkey sandwiches today. Oh well. I'm willing to pay that price.

My goal this week is to write at least 40 new pages in my work in progress to make up for the 40 I had to delete last week. Let's not go there since the memory is still too painful.

Other goals involve getting the house ready for Halloween. This means that today, after I get my word count for the day completed, I will be creating a paper mache neck stub for a decapitated man. Yes, we'll still have victims under the front wheel of the car in the driveway and also someone's bloody torso crushed under the garage door but, hey, we needed something new this year and decapitation seems the way to go.

How about you? Thinking yet of new pages, deleted pages and/or decapitation or Halloween?

Afraid of the Swine?

My youngest is home sick with the flu. Fever and general yuckiness that I can feel seeping its way over to me. I'm attacking with mega vitamin c and other goodies.

All this talk of Swine Flu doesn't help. In Canada 600 people have died from H1N1. In a regular year, over 4,000 die from the annual flu. I'm of the belief the panic about the swine is overrated. Can I please put in a request that something else be discussed on tv and radio for the next month???? Sheesh!

That said, when you're sick, you're sick and it's no fun.

Anyway, since flu thoughts have invaded my brain I had to give my latest character the flu. Just for fun. And also because I haven't decided if she's a good guy or bad guy. Right now she could go either way. She also has no name yet. She's a short, plump redhead with collagen lips and a lot of piercings.

Any name suggestions would be welcome :)

What Motivates You?

Sometimes to get myself moving on a project I need a little motivation. I'll write an extra page for some chocolate but that's a helluva lot of chocolate if you're talking 400 pages so I need to mix things up a bit LOL!

The same is true for my kids. I thought I'd hold a contest to see who could make their bed the most times before heading off to school during the month of September. The prize was a marshmallow blaster. Only one of my four really, really wanted this gun. Only one child made their bed. I'll have to come up with different motivation.

I've had Jana DeLeon's new book Trouble in Mudbug sitting on my night stand for months. It was supposed to be my motivation to finish writing my new book. However, the book is going slow and I've been staring at Mudbug with longing so I'm going with a different approach. If I WRITE a chapter I get to READ a chapter. Things are moving along swimmingly now he he!

So what's your motivator to get the job done?

Things that have kept me from blogging lately...

- went away to the Coastal Dance Rage convention with my daughter and the hotel's internet sucked.

- I had a 3 day migraine jag that ended with me finally giving in and going to see a new bone cruncher.




- We have 4 computers in the house and after one imploded two others were sabotaged by children including a mother board damaged by a too small sd card and a major spillage accident

What's your excuse for not doing what you should've been doing this week?

Cherries are Fun!

Starting tomorrow I will be discussing DEVIL MAY RIDE as a guest on Jennifer Crusie's Cherry Forum. Come join the fun!

Go to the forum page here, then click on Cherry Forums Book Club (under Reading).

It's always a fun time with the Cherries. Come join the discussion :)

Sooo what's up? Anything exciting planned for your week?

Sie Sprechen Deutsch?

Now Back to your Regularly Scheduled Laundry - AND A CONTEST!

How is it possible that you leave with a mid-sized suitcase for a family and return with a massive pile of laundry?

I did manage to get some good writing pages done. Mostly because I get up hours before anyone else so I can clickety clack on the ol' laptop before anyone needs/wants me for anything. I had hoped for wifi at the cottage. Had been promised that there was a somewhat finicky connection. Well, nothing. Nada. But, oh well, I survived. When I got back I had a huge scare because *gulp* the laptop I was using refused to start up! I had to bring it in for repairs and all I could think about while it was gone was whether I'd remember what I wrote. Luckily, whatever was broke got fixed by Mr. Computer Fixit who looked like he was all of twelve. Pages were saved - YAY!

My goal for this week is more pages (of course) but also getting the kidlets ready for back to school on Tuesday. I'm trying not to show too much enthusiasm but the kids sense my inner glee on this lol.

For all of you who read DEVIL MAY RIDE, I need to come up with five discussion questions for the Cherry Forums Book Discussion. So, of course, I'm having a contest he he. Email me or post your suggestions in the blog and you can win a book bundle surprise :)

At the Lake

Sorry I've been MIA lately. I'm at Cultus Lake until September first.

Peaceful.

Tranquil.

Except when you're sharing a 2 bedroom cottage with 4 kids, a dog and a guinea pig. Still the pages are coming along.

How is your summer going? Kids go back to school on September 8th. Far too late in the year for my liking but then the teachers didn't ask my opinion.

What's in Your Purse?

I read an article recently that said most purses contain three items: keys, a wallet and a phone. So why the hell is mine so heavy?

A few days ago I realized my right shoulder was killing me. Aching like I'd done kind of strenuous workout. Since I've avoided anything strenuous beyond typing, I know it wasn't a workout style injury. It didn't occur to me that it was purse-related until my friend lifted my purse and then cried, "Are you carrying bricks in this thing?!"

Shockingly, no. There are no bricks. And when I dumped out the contents of my purse I realized that there was no single, solitary item that accounted for the weight. Sure there was a lot of loose change. And paper receipts. And a small hardcover book. And a paperback. And lipstick. But, hey, any one of those items alone doesn't amount to a whole lot.

So for two days I've not carried a purse. Cell phone, cash and keys have been in my pocket. And guess what? No aching shoulder. But I feel like I'm missing something. After all, I've been carrying a purse for a lot of years...

I don't know how long I can go without a purse. I can feel myself wavering. How about you? What's in your purse that's weighing you down?

And the Winner is ...

...
Laura Hamby

And you've won some awesome Allison Brennan stories:

.

.

.






As well as a few treats from me :)

So, Laura, email me your snail mail addy (wendy at wendyroberts dot com).

I'm off to Seattle for a few days of work and pleasure!

Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the writers hard at work on Bowen Island :)

Here we are in the beautiful gardens of the Old Dorm. Trust me, we were just about to write. Or maybe we'd just finished.

This is me at Snug Cove. Our path to dinner went right past this beautiful spot. Honest, we were writing hard before we left.

I was sitting at the table in the distance and, yes, I believe some pages were written just prior to photo.


Mary Forbes in front of the Old Dorm sign as we said goodbye.

Hey, it may look like it was all fun in the sun but we really did get lots of work done!

I've got a bag of books ready to mail off to the winner of my vacation contest. Where oh where have you gone? Do you have any pics or links?

Don't forget to post a comment about your favorite vacation spot, include a link to pictures if you can, and I'll put your name in a draw for some great summer reading material!

So Cool!

I really enjoyed my time on Bowen Island with friend Mary J. Forbes.

Dan the man who runs The Old Dorm B & B where we stayed, made sure we were well pampered and taken care of. We'd feast on his marvelous breakfast, write, wander the lagoon to visit the cantankerous swan that likes to bully the ducks and then return to write some more.There were only a few restaurants open mid-week on Bowen but we managed to try most for lunch or dinner and established Tuscany's as our favorite,just like it was when we visited a couple years ago.

It's been hard keeping up the writing schedule now that I'm home. Mostly because it is so darn HOT! We're having a heat wave and I am so NOT used to this kind of weather.

Sooo any advice to keep cool in a home without a/c?

Don't forget to post a comment about your favorite vacation spot, include a link to pictures if you can, and I'll put your name in a draw for some great summer reading material!

Where oh Where Have You Gone?

I'm in Bowen Island this week writing my little heart out with friend and author Mary J. Forbes .

How is your summer going? Are you travelling the world? Firing up the barbeque in your own back yard?

Post a comment about your favorite vacation spot, include a link to pictures if you can, and I'll put your name in a draw for some great summer reading material!

Prize draw will be in about 10 days :)

Poor Wienermobile!

If you're having a bad day just count your blessings. Like you probably don't have the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile crashing into your home. The giant hot dog on wheels was driving down a road and the 22-year old driver was trying to turn it around in a driveway. She thought she was in reverse and went forward.

<-- I don't know what she's smiling about!






Sometimes you just got to have patience..Even if there's a big sale at the mall, you've gotta look for a parking spot.

My obsession with car wrecks this week? It's true. My eldest is learning to drive.

It feels like just yesterday that I was the one being tentative behind the wheel and hoping the car wouldn't roll backward at a light while I figured out the clutch from the brake. I remember very clearly having the car on my own for the first time and heading off to the mall. At a light there was a very attractive young man in a convertible next to me. I was sooo busy smiling and making goo goo eyes at him that I thought all the vapour around me was the blurriness that comes with true love. Unfortunately, my car had overheated LOL!

How about you? Any new driving stories?

Lost & Found

I recently read this article about a woman's wallet found in a cherry tree in New York's Central Park. The woman had her wallet stolen in the park in 1982. Recently workers were chopping down the tree and found the wallet inside the hollow trunk. Twenty bucks was missing but the driver's license and credit cards were still in tact.

<-- The article made me think of this book.
I received the Anne of Green Gables series as a gift about 30 years ago and somewhere along the way this particular book went missing. The others are still on my bookshelf but one day I'd love to find this book. Maybe not in a cherry tree because it would surely be mulch by now but perhaps tucked into a box with mismatched socks in the back of my mother's old basement.

Of all the things I've ever lost (besides my mind) I miss this book the most.

How about you? What have you lost that you wish you'd find?

Oh Canada

Happy Canada Day! Or, as we like to call it around my house, Happy Oldest Child's Birthday!

Yes, sixteen years ago I spent Canada Day in 16 hours worth of pain to bring forth my first born. In honor of my pain the country announced a national holiday and my daughter always has fireworks on her special day. It's the least everyone could do lol!

Here are the names of a few other Canadians you might know:

Alex Trebek
Art Linkletter
Brendan Fraser
Carrie Anne Moss
Catherine O`Hara
Corey Haim
Dan Akroyd
Donald Sutherland
Glenn Ford
Howie Mandel
Jim Carrey
John Candy
Keanu Reeves
Kim Cattrall
Leslie Nielsen
Lorne Greene
Martin Short
Matthew Perry
Michael J. Fox
Mike Myers
Pamela Anderson
William Shatner

By the way, speaking of something non-Canadian, are you following this year's episodes of American's got Talent? I'm hooked on the show!

Have You Seen A Ghost?

It's been a while since I did a ghostie post but one came up yesterday.
I was talking to a friend who lives in New Westminster, an area not far from where I live now. New Westminster is an old area with many not-so-safe neighborhoods but more areas of great history and charm. When I first moved to the West Coast, I moved into an apartment in this area.
At that time of my life (my late twenties)I used to jog. Seriously. I'd jog 2 - 3 miles every single evening. I'll wait a minute while you pick yourself up off the floor from laughing.

Anyway, I used to jog down a number of streets, particularly 12th Street which is quite long and near my apartment. I was talking about these glory days with a friend and she brought up a ghost in the area that I'd never heard of; the 12th Street Ghost. Scroll down the page here to read a small blurb about it. Anyway, the minute she mentioned a thirteen year old girl ghost who supposedly walks the neighborhood I had this clear vision in my head. A young girl wearing jeans, a hoodie, and a backpack who I often jogged passed on my runs. The reason I remembered her was that I jogged quite late in the evening and I always thought she was really young to be out at dark with her school backpack on. Anyway, when my friend told me about the ghost I went home and looked it up and sure enough, the little ghostie is known to wear jeans, red hoodie and a backpack. Weird.

So that's my near-ghost experience. How about you? Had any suspicious activities in your life?

Or do you want to talk about the fact that school is OUT today? Now THAT'S a scary subject!!

Catch and Release?

Last night on the news I watched President Obama deftly smack down a pest that was bothering him. I was impressed because I'm really more of a fly chaser than a fly killer. It's not that I don't WANT to kill flies. I'm just not fast enough.

When I go after a fly it turns into a huge circus with me screaming at the kids "Do you see it? Where did it go?" and them yelling, "Over there by the lamp!"

Watching the president do it gave me fly-killing-envy. I wish I was such a smooth operator.

I'm not just after flies. Pretty much any insect in my house has chosen to die. I'm sorry, PETA, that's just how things are. Ever since the elbow breaking incident of 1996, I no longer climb on top of chairs to reach spiders on the ceiling but I still hate having them in the house. My husband is part of the catch and release program. However, I'm not above hiring hitmen/hitkids and ordering them to catch that sucker and flush it down the toilet.

How about you? Do you set the bugs free or search and destroy?

How are YOU feeling?

June is always a crazy month for me. It's such a mix of feelings.

<--I'm feeling a little like this.
Intense panic because school will be out in about ten days. TEN days and that means the kidlets will be around ALL the time. I want to get a ton of pages done every day between now and then but it seems life just keeps getting in the way of serious writing time.

I also feel a certain amount of relief. It's the guilty relief that moms feel when they are sick and tired of making those damn lunches and driving the kids to school and to field trips all the time. Although that relief will quickly be replaced when I realize I still have to drive them everywhere all the time for their busy social lives during the summer.

This is how I felt during the MRI-->
My head stuck out of the thing so it wasn't nearly as claustrophobic as I expected. However, it was LOUD! I thought I'd be able to blissfully plot scenes in my head but instead I concentrated on not going deaf. And this was WITH headphones on! Why didn't anyone warn me it would be sooo loud?

The good thing about having a rainbow of emotions this month is that it makes it easier to have emotion on the page. Killing people off is easy. Having characters smooch and make up is also easy but, um, not after killing each other because that would be weird, even for me.

So how are YOU feeling this month? Are things crazy in your neck of the woods?

It's Dangerous Being a Writer

A few months ago I was happily sitting at my computer killing people off, rescuing my heroine and catching the bad guy.

Normally I'm kept quite safe while I put my characters in jeopardy. Not that day. You see I tend to type in awkward positions. I tuck my legs underneath my body and lounge in strange angles.

This started a few years ago when the car I was in was rear-ended by a semi-truck. Migraines and neck pain entered my life and sitting for long periods of time can become painful.

Normally sitting in odd positions is comforting. Usually I'm quite happy as a pretzel. Not that day. That day I straightened up to go fetch coffee and I heard a pop followed by excruciating knee pain.

I did what any self-respecting writer would do and went into research mode. I quickly discovered I damaged the cartilage in my knee. What followed was a series of doctor appointments where my family doc said, "You tore the cartilage in your knee." Then a specialist said, "You tore the cartilage in your knee."

Today I go for a MRI to confirm that, yes, I tore the cartilage in my knee. Just so everyone can be sure.

The very thought of being slid into a long tube for a period of time is causing me to break out in a sweat.

The awful thing is that every single day I still try and twist that leg up underneath me when I sit down. It's a habit that sharp pain is trying to correct.

So have you had a MRI and survived? Do you sit in weird positions at your computer?