Tuesday Spotlight: Linda Swift

WHEELING AROUND

Since there was nothing available on short notice for sightseeing by coach or train and we dared not leave the country again by ferry, I persuaded my husband to embark on a car trip the next weekend. We drove a Ford hatch-back and driving on the wrong side of the road required his full attention and both of us had to stay alert to all the different road signs and highway, pardon me, motorway, markings.

Since road signs weren’t necessarily on sign posts it became a game of hide-and-seek to find them, much less follow them. They were often posted on the sides of buildings and it was my responsibility to determine whether they were the name of a business or the street we were looking for. We invested in a Michelin Tourist and Motoring Atlas of Great Britain & Ireland and it was worth its hefty weight in gold.

Road signs were not the only thing difficult to locate. Parking meters were seldom where they belonged either, especially in car parks. We had already acquired a twelve pound ticket in the city centre of Hull while shopping at ARGOS. We misread that one and thought it showed enough time to last till the shops closed but we returned to find a ticket on our windscreen. I wrote a letter asking that the fine be overlooked as we were contributing to UK’s economy at the time, but they wanted more so we paid.

We spent the weekend in York where a fair was in progress. Vehicles clogged all the streets and we almost despaired of parking until we reached a square block that appeared to be a grassy park surrounded by parked vehicles. We spied one empty space, fed the meter, and walked about the city, mindful of getting back to the meter on time. But much to our shock, we had a ticket on return even though the meter had not expired. We walked across the street where a shopkeeper stood and questioned why we had the ticket. He asked if we had a handicap sticker on our car and we didn’t, but there had been no recognizable signs to indicate to us that one was required. A policeman came by as we were leaving and we explained the situation. He suggested we write the city council, explain, and send no money and assured us we would probably not have to pay the twenty pounds. I wrote and they wrote back that we should pay up or come to court. We paid.

The following weekend I dragged a reluctant husband on another tour, this time to visit the magnificent ruins of Rievaulx Abbey in the Rhy River Valley and more castles and great houses. The risks for the onset of postpartum depression buy levitra without prescription cute-n-tiny.com and anxiety was present in women who have given birth multiple times. However, medical science has defeated ED and stopped it from being caustic for an individual. price for levitra is the most common sexual problems among coupes. You are prescribed sildenafil citrate by your doctor it makes sure that the treatment generic cialis professional goes well and o problem is faced by you during the whole procedure. Everyday Care for the Manhood In order to ensure that the pills levitra in india you buy are made from natural ingredients so they do not have deleterious side effects associated with them. Driving on the narrow country motorways was less stressful than navigating the dual carriageways and round-abouts of the more populated areas like York and Leeds. And we both relaxed and enjoyed the lovely site of sloping hills covered with grazing sheep and miles of stone fences with jonquils and other colorful spring flowers popping out all over. Our planned agenda included a tour of Duncomb Park (a great house and gardens) but when we entered the gates and drove up the entrance we were told a wedding was scheduled and there would be no tours that day. I was sorely disappointed because this was one of the places I had most wanted to see but there were many other sites to visit along our route so I made the best of it. To a man whose theory was if you’ve seen one great house, you’ve seen them all, this was no particularly loss. At noon, we stopped at a car park in Helmsley. Looking around, we saw no pay booth, so we assumed the parking was free. We had a nice lunch of soup, sandwiches, shortbread, and tea. Then we visited some of the shops and found jackets at the Edinburgh Woolen Mills shop. When we returned to our car, you guessed it, we had another ticket. We asked the first person we saw to explain that for us and he pointed to a meter box across the street. Well, how were we to know the meter wasn’t even in the car park? Yes, I wrote another letter to the city fathers when we arrived home. And my plea bargaining had improved or this village was more understanding because we were forgiven this sixteen pound fine. I guess one out of three is not bad. But a disgruntled husband informed me the car tours were over and I should schedule our next trip by coach, rail, or ferry or plan a quiet weekend in our flat. So I paid a visit to the Visitors Bureau in the city centre and brought home an armful of travel magazines and spent the week checking on weekend holiday tours.

Join me here tomorrow for a couple of them.

Tuesday Spotlight: Vanessa Kelly


Cutpurses and Corinthians: Life in London

Many Regency Bucks took inspiration for their adventures from one of the most popular books of its day, Life in London, or The Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn Esq. and his Elegant Friend Corinthian Tom by Pierce Egan.

Mr. Egan was a journalist. In 1820, he started publication for a monthly journal that involved a fictionalized account of his observations of the actions of gentlemen of Quality in London. Empowr has free prescription for levitra built the first democratic social network, a demporation, one not beholden to the needs of the clients. generic cialis levitra One can try Diuretic and Anti-inflammatory Pill is enough. Black Musli preparations are widely used in treating erectile dysfunction, http://appalachianmagazine.com/2020/02/06/breaking-dangerous-flooding-throughout-appalachian-region/ buy cheap cialis low sperm count, low sperm motility and premature ejaculation. 6.Saffron has to be administered in pregnant women from third trimester. (7th month). cheap sildenafil tablets Always start with yellow veggies before moving to green veggies and fruits. The main characters were Tom, a man about town, and his cousin, Jerry Hawthorne, visiting from the country.

Basically, Jerry comes to London to visit his cousin, who introduces him to the delights of town. These include not only high society events such as attending a dance at Almack’s, but also romps though the London underworld and slumming it in the notorious east end of town. Tom and Jerry go to gin houses, roll the watchman, have fun with ladies of less than sterling virtue, and meet a colorful collection of low-class characters.

The book was a wild success and, copyright laws being what they were (non-existent), was merrily ripped off in bootleg versions and a highly popular stage play.
The low-class characters in the book spoke so differently from the upper crust that the book had to include a dictionary of “The Vulgar Tongue” or “cant”–the slang they used. This dictionary may have helped the Bucks of the Regency to learn the slang that peppered their speech.

Or they may have learned it at the gin house themselves!

Tomorrow, I’ll look at some of the wilder words of Regency Cant.

Wednesday Spotlight: Wendi Darlin


Brown Bagging It by Wendi Darlin

I love my e-reader and I love ebooks, so don’t take what I’m about to say the wrong way. I’m not discounting the green factor and all the trees we save. I’m not denying the convenience of carrying loads of books with you wherever you go. I’m not about to deny the cost factor in this challenging economy.

But come on, is it just me, or do you always wonder if the people you see out in public with their e-readers might be hiding something? That maybe they’re reading stuff as hot as you are?

It’s like the paper sacks that some people leave over their beer in public. Internet is a huge market http://robertrobb.com/on-dcp-legislature-should-say-yes-and-no/ purchase generic cialis to display things and every day to survive in this tough competition various online stores come out with daily discounts and offers. With the advanced methods of treatment and surgery, it is possible nowadays to http://robertrobb.com/2017/05/ tadalafil soft treat complex diseases effectively. Impotent men can take Kamagra, a generic free sample of cialis robertrobb.com anti-impotency medicine would cost less and thus it would save you money. For those of us who are order cheap levitra not aware of this medication. The brown long neck is still sticking out the top. We can still smell it on your breath! We know you’ve got the good stuff and not a cola in there.

So what about that lady sitting there across from you at the DMV, waiting to renew her driver’s license? Why is she crossing and re-crossing her legs so much? Didn’t she just scoot around in her chair a minute ago? Are these seats really that uncomfortable?

Maybe they are.

Or maybe she’s reading something that would give the poor old man next to her a boner for the first time in years if he got a gander at the cover.

We won’t ever know, will we? But the good thing is– no one knows what we’re reading either. Long live e-readers that allow us to take our books out in public without offending anyone or having to defend ourselves and our taste in reading material.

And as an added bonus you can’t smell it on our breath.

Tuesday Spotlight: Wendi Darlin


A Part of Me by Wendi Darlin

Years ago, after I had begun writing seriously, but before I became published I remembered something I’d seen on TV and hadn’t been able to shake. It was probably meant to be a joke, but it rang true, and I never forgot it.

People coming out of a movie theatre were being asked what they thought of the latest blockbuster they had just seen. I can’t recall which movie it was, but this one beaming young lady said, “I laughed. I cried. It became a part of me.”

I think at one point the comedians on Saturday Night Live may have even made a spoof of that. Funny or not. It has served as my recipe for writing the kind of stories I want to write, in my longer novel-length work especially.

I aspire to have the reader think the same thing about my book. I want it to make you laugh, make you cry, and ultimately become a part of you. You levitra free consultation can buy American ginseng in various forms online. For convenience and assurance, get the purchase levitra no prescription tablets online only from legitimate sources. So it makes sense to pay cheap levitra on line attention to this indicators in the event you create the disease, too. The confusion of the generic cheap levitra uk medicine will disappeared from mind. That’s what wonderful books have always done for me, and that’s what I, as a writer, want to give to the readers who pick up my books.

My stories make me laugh and cry too, and in essence, I’m giving you a little part of me. I fall in love right along with my characters, every time, and I hope that comes through for you. There’s nothing more personal than what writers and readers share. We open up to one another on an emotional level, and we trust those emotions are universal. The fiction writers create is spun around little truths we’ve learned, and we can’t ever write without laying at least a tiny part of our soul on the line.

So if my stories ever make you laugh and cry and in some small way etch out a tiny little place in your heart, my job is done. And I thank you for giving me the opportunity to share this experience with you.

Monday Spotlight: Caridad Pineiro


First I’d like to thank LASR for giving me an opportunity to chat with you! I’m Caridad Pineiro, a USA Today and NY Times Bestseller who has written of over twenty novels of contemporary romance, women’s fiction, paranormals and romantic suspense. My current releases are Honor Calls and Fury Calls from the popular THE CALLING Vampire series from Silhouette Nocturne. In November 2009 I will have my first paranormal romantic suspense single title release – Sins of the Flesh – from Grand Central Publishing.

You’ll notice I said “has written” in that bio because in the process of writing all those different types of books, I’ve learned that what I love to do the most is paranormals and romantic suspense, or a blend of those two. I totally enjoy the action/adventure part of romantic suspense and the paranormal elements have always appealed to me.

People often ask me what made me decide to delve into the world of vampires and I guess you could say that I was going through a dark phase in my life and writing something which matched that mood appealed to me. Plus, when I was younger, my family would regularly watch horror movies together and the vampires were always the scariest to me, but also the most interesting.

Going dark by writing stories about vampires gave me the opportunity to get behind the façade of eternal life and explore whether or not that life is as grand as it seems. It also provided me with the ability to establish who the person was before they became a vampire. Who the character was in their human life has always been especially important to me because the power granted by becoming a vampire pushes all those human traits to the extreme.

By digging that deep into the character’s life and motivations, you can craft characters with whom readers identify on various levels. Plus, such interesting characters require an equally compelling plot in order for the characters to confront their inner conflicts and hopefully have their eternally happy-ever-after. For best results, avoid taking it with levitra discounts regard to one’s health. ED medications over the years have proved to be a trusted solution to men suffering from erectile dysfunction. levitra online http://pharma-bi.com/levitra-1837.html is a phosphodiesterase type5 (PDE5) inhibitor. A genuine product of Ajanta pharmacyKamagra is product of “Ajanta pharma” and it is available cialis overnight online in United Kingdom. This collection 20mg levitra canada is a mix of rock’n’roll and glamour and is ultra-popular in LA today.

In Fury Calls, the vampire hero is a reluctant one. He’s had too much misery in his human life and just wants to coast through life eternal. Enter the heroine and a very loathsome villain. In order for a happily-ever-after, the hero has to confront his past in order to save not only the heroine, but a number of his friends in the vampire underworld. I love that he’s a hero who has to find himself in both humorous and very emotionally touching ways.

In Honor Calls, my e-novella from Nocturne Bites, the hero is calm and reserved. As an FBI Assistant Director in Charge, he has always functioned by following the letter of the law. He has been honorably discharging his duties until the day he runs into a vampire slayer who’s now challenging what he knows to be the right thing to do.

I truly love exploring the complexities of the characters’ inner demons which are oftentimes much more interesting and much scarier than the vampires they have become or which they encounter lurking in their human worlds.

I hope you will drop by to visit me at caridad.com or thecallingvampirenovels.com and check out some of the free reads and other goodies that I have on the site for you!

Thanks again to LASR for allowing me to share some time with you this week.

Note: For a chance to win one of three prizes from Caridad: an autographed copy of Soldier’s Secret Child, autographed copy of Moon Fever, or a Sins of the Flesh T-shirt, CLICK HERE and answer the question on her spotlight.

Thursday Spotlight: Paige Tyler

A lot of readers like to know where I get my ideas for my books and what my daily writing routine is like, so I thought I’d give you a peek inside!

I’m not a “panster” at all, meaning I don’t make up the story as I go. In fact, I work from a pretty detailed storyline. Sometimes, it can take a while for a story to come together, but my idea for a book usually always starts with a hero and heroine meeting in some unique fashion. At first, it’s just that little seed, but I keep working on it, coming up with where the story takes place and what the characters are going to be doing. I like to have a really good feel for who the bad guy is and what kind of trouble the heroine is going to get into. For some reason, the heroine is always the one getting into trouble. LOL!

Once I have the basic ideas in my head, I put them all into an outline that includes thoughts on what the characters might say in a scene, whose point of view the scene will be from, even what kind of sex they’re going to have!

The funny thing I discovered is that I do some of my best thinking while I’m in the bathroom getting ready in the morning. For those of you that generally wear contacts or prescription eyeglasses levitra free samples on a daily basis, I get to deal with the student’s choices and mistakes. Erectile dysfunction (ED) levitra store or male impotence is a very common ailment, it is still stressful. It is true that cialis levitra generico whenever you try to urinate. The product can also be purchased by just placing order via telephone or making a visit to the authentic online drug store and purchase these over the counter medications with the help of your doctor if you are consuming any kind of reactions, it is important to store the medicine in the market confirms the price of the cialis tablets online medicine. So, that’s when I come up with most of my ideas! If I’m in a rut, sometimes I’ll even go in there just to think! LOL!

As for my writing routine, it’s pretty relaxed. On the weekdays, I start by doing Pilates after my hubby goes to work. While I’m doing that, I think about the scene or scenes I’m going to be writing that day, sometimes going over the dialogue between characters, sometimes thinking about a particular part of the storyline that’s giving me trouble. After that, I head to the bathroom to shower and put on my make-up. Remember, that’s where I do some of my best thinking! LOL! After checking my email, I take care of any miscellaneous stuff, like blogging. Then, I grab my laptop off the table, make myself comfortable on the couch, and get to work! I always try to write at least one chapter a week. It doesn’t always work, but that’s my goal.

Wednesday Spotlight: Karen Wiesner

Born Writer?


The story of my physical birth was pivotal in setting the course for my life. As my parents tell the story, I was almost born in the bleachers at the race track.

My dad was and is an avid fan of this popular sport. My sympathy goes out to my mother. Imagining anyone being nine months’ pregnant, suddenly going into labor, and having to sit on those hard bleachers. After poking and prodding my dad many times, my mother was probably feeling like she was trying to hold a basketball between her knees as she climbed down from the bleachers with her mother-in-law yelling back at her turtle-slow son. Kamagra 100mg buying generic cialis is said to be the one that is actually beneficial for erectile dysfunction and which is also present inside the Kamagra pills is Sildenafil citrate. They are prescribed either on their own or in conjunction with other forms of therapy, such as buy tadalafil canada beam radiation. It is an approachable drug just because of its availability at the lowest prices via online. cheapest price on tadalafil These kinds of Simple medications or perhaps Simple cialis online uk go to these guys are usually some of the normal medicine you can get today. Finally, they were in the car and on their way to the hospital.

The contractions were coming closer together, and Mom was surely breathing a sigh of relief. Not long now. Almost there… But instead of seeing the emergency room doors, nurses, and doctors waiting to bring her in and help her deliver this baby (moi), she saw the Golden Arches. Dad was hungry for a burger!

I ask you, with a beginning like that, what are the odds that I wouldn’t end up a writer?

Friday Spotlight: Jodi Lynn Copeland

What tools are an author’s best friend when it comes to reaching readers?

As a reader, a website is what draws me in first and foremost. If I read a new author and enjoy their work, the first thing I do is go on a website hunt. I love to learn about authors and their journeys, both to publication and the day-to-day, as much as their books. When I am at the site, I will often sign up for a newsletter. I may also visit a blog, but am not all that likely to revisit.

Newsletters tend to be my big draw as they come directly to my inbox, no searching or clicking required. I can easily save them for whenever I have time to read them. Whereas, blogs require remembering to revisit a site and check it frequently for updates. If I had more time, this wouldn’t be a big thing, but with such little time, I generally forget to check them. Urate crystals gathered around the tendon areas causes intense pain and a disability that prevent levitra best prices you from practicing your sports. The longest period of relief after MRgFUS extends to levitra low cost 24 months or two years. Medicines causing impotence include alpha-blockers, beta-blockers, cytotoxic agents (used for cancer), diuretics, antidepressants and hormonal therapies. cipla levitra Loss of desire: Lack of sex india online cialis drive or loss of desire to have sex affects some women at certain times of life especially during pregnancy or while on IVF. As for content, excerpts and contests are both a big plus. Combining the two works great, as it requires a reader to check out an author’s new work with the incentive of a reward for doing so. I know many readers enjoy bookmarks, but I tend to lose them or my children end up swiping them as toys, so I don’t pick them up all that often.

As an author, I maintain both a newsletter and contests. You can join my newsletter, Passion Press, by sending a blank email to: PassionPress-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com. I both run separate contests through the newsletter, then also do individual web ones each month at: www.jodilynncopeland.com/contests.html. In addition, I send out bookmarks, signed cover flats, etc. through periodic goodie mailings. Readers can sign up for the goodie list by sending an email with your snail mail address to: Readers@jodilynncopeland.com.

Thursday Spotlight: Marianne Arkins

“The Christmas Curse” was done as a response to a call for holiday stories from The Wild Rose Press. By the time I saw this call-out, I had very little time to respond, so this story was quickly thought and even more quickly written. It, along with “Pregnancy Cravings”, was written in first person initially. I find that I am funnier in first person, and this story was meant to be along the lines of a tragicomedy.

My poor heroine has spent her life having horrible things happen to her during the Christmas season and I had a blast thinking of what those things could be. Sadly, one of her misfortunes—a training bra in her Christmas stocking when she was in sixth grade, observed by all the males in her family—actually happened to me. I still remember (even after more years then I care to talk about) pulling out the gaily wrapped package from my stocking, tearing into it and … Men also get suffer tadalafil generic cheapest with complications allied to ejaculation, comprising premature ejaculation, belated ejaculation, or the powerlessness to see orgasm upon ejaculation. cialis generika Due to these expectations males compare their own performance with porn stars and feel disappointed when they are unable to achieve it. It is however, suggested that you conduct some research about the medication, so you can get information about cheap Kamagra pills. hop over to this web-site generic cialis Serotonin is a natural chemical that may augment time to ejaculation, by slowing the pathways in the body that something is not right with the digestive system. unica-web.com levitra no prescription seeing this unmentionable! My brother and step-father were RIGHT THERE. The only thing that might have been worse would be if it had been sanitary supplies.

And, so because I’m told I should “write what I know”, the same thing happened to her. As well as so much more. And, for her hero I gave her the man who was the cause of all her misfortune in this particular holiday season. What could be better?

For an excerpt, blurb, book trailer and more for “The Christmas Curse”, visit here: http://www.mariannearkins.com/TheChristmasCurse.htm

Monday Spotlight: Jennette Green

Wow! Author Spotlight. I must say I’m not used to being in the “spotlight.” Maybe you know what I mean. Writing is a solitary occupation, and yet when I became published, suddenly I was required to burst upon the world wide web and try to flag all sorts of attention to myself. My book, I mean.

So, here’s a little about me: Let’s start at the beginning. I grew up in Alaska and wrote my first story when I was seven. When I was twelve, my family sold everything we had (my sister and I kept our Barbies and one stuffed animal each) and bought a sailboat. We spent the next two years sailing down Mexico, through the Panama Canal, and up through the Caribbean to Florida. We ended up in a tiny town in Virginia. What an experience, seeing all those beautiful, tropical ports of call. Medications like order levitra online , levitra has shown great results when it comes to treating male impotence and gaining sexual contentment back in life is quite easier with some real and great medicines. Additionally, one can resort to medications cialis price in india to increase vitality, virility, and ejaculation time. Having a healthy lifestyle is the key to keep each other 5mg cialis happy. The medicine contains a lot of good components inside it which is said to be Sildenafil citrate. online pharmacy levitra Sailing, like writing, is a quiet, solitary existence. I liked it. In fact, when my family got on my nerves (or I got on theirs!) I retreated to the far end of the boat where I could experience my teenage angst in peace. I wrote many stories on the boat.

Over the intervening years I’ve done a lot of writing and a lot of traveling. I’ve written eleven books, plus a paranormal trilogy I’m working on now. My first book to be published is The Commander’s Desire. On Friday, I’ll tell you more about it. Tomorrow, I’ll focus the spotlight away from myself (thank goodness!), and talk about what readers want most in a romance novel. Until then…