Live to Love on the Edge Blog

Posted on

Guilty Pleasures Monday – Sam Elliott

Poster courtesy of WIKI and Copyright of Paramount Pictures - Used under the Fair Use Provisions for comment on the actor and movieI guess a weekend “down the shore” as Jersey folk say has me thinking of lifeguards which got me to remembering the movie LIFEGUARD with Sam Elliott, a real hottie in his day.

You can click here for more about Sam Elliott, but you’ll be amazed by how many movies and television shows he’s done. For me, he always had the kind of cowboy/military ruggedly handsome look.

Now, don’t think that LIFEGUARD is a fluff kind of movie. It is surprisingly, a rather complex and intriguiging look at a man who is questioning his life and all that he enjoys because of the pressure of others, including a possible romantic interest in the form of Anne Archer. If you can find this movie on TV or buy the video, it’s worth watching.

I’d put Sam Elliott in the same category as Tom Selleck and Mark Harmon – they’ve all matured perfectly!!

Posted on

Fun Friday – Down the Shore

Photo Courtesy of Microsoft Office Clip ArtMaybe because I’m a Pisces, one of my absolute favorite things to do is be at the beach. I love early morning strolls along the water’s edge, searching out interesting shells and beach glass.

I have jars at home filled with some of those shells, coral and egg casings from whelks. The cases are quite interesting and I’m told Italians, who call whelks “scungilli” and serve them up with sauce, consider finding them good luck. Others call the egg casings “mermaid’s necklaces” because they look like little pouches strong on a thread. The knobbed whelk is actually the NJ State shell which explains why I find so many of them up on shore.

So this weekend I’ll be “down the shore” at a wonderful event and also at a book fair on the street in Trenton on Saturday. You can get more info on the book fair by clicking here. I’ll be at the NJ Romance Writers booth with some friends.

I’ll also be the one of the authors at a fabulous Authors & Inns tour. My location is the wonderful Beacon House Inn in Sea Girt. It’s an absolutely wonderful place. Candy, the owner, is amazing as is her assistant Cathy. Hubby and I spent a wonderful weekend there in March and I am really looking forward to staying there again!

So in case you’re in the area, here’s the info on this fabulous Authors & Inns Event.

“Authors & Inns – A Spring Lake Event”
Winner of NJ Governor’s Tourism Award 2008
2nd Annual Tour is Literary Event of the Season

Spring Lake, NJ (JUNE 2008) In association with the Spring Lake and Sea Girt Public Libraries, The Historic Inns of Spring Lake are
hosting their 2nd annual AUTHORS & INNS TOUR on Sunday afternoon June 8, 2008 from 1:00-5:00pm. The tour of 9 historic inns features 12 award-wining Romance Authors with a link to New Jersey.

At the 2008 New Jersey Governor’s Tourism Award Ceremony on April 10, the Historic Inns of Spring Lake received one of only 10 awards presented to exemplary organizations or individuals …for their signature June event – Authors & Inns – A Spring Lake Event. These awards set a “…benchmark for excellence in the New Jersey tourism industry, contributing to the experience of visitors and the quality of life of NJ residents.”

Nine inns/hotels will open their doors to tour goers, sharing their distinctive properties for a glimpse into the historic and romantic
style of Spring Lake. At the same time, prominent romance-genre authors will be at each inn meeting fans, selling and signing their
most recently published books. The stories feature many of the most popular themes today from `international political thriller’ and
`romantic novel set in India’ to `dangerous passion set in Ireland’ and `looking for love in the wilds of suburbia’.

The `Authors & Inns Tour’ features the following authors and books:

Annette Blair “Gone With the Witch”
C.H. Admirand “Pearl’s Redemption”
Tara Nina “Curse of the Gargoyle”
Dee Davis “A Match Made on Madison”
Kaitlin O’Riley “One Sinful Night”
Irene Peterson “Glory Days”
Amy Edelman “Manless in Montclair”
Lois Winston “Love, Lies and a Double Shot
of Deception”
Caridad Pineiro “South Beach Chicas Catch Their Man”
Jan Coffey “Deadliest Strain”
Shobhan Bantwal “The Dowry Bride”
Nancy Harkness “Music of the Night”

The cost for the `Authors & Inns’ Tour is $12 (a non-refundable donation) with a portion of the proceeds given to the Spring Lake and Sea Girt Public Libraries. Each tour goer will receive a keepsake tote bag from the Historic Inns.

Nationally recognized for more than a decade for their open house Holiday Tour each December, the Historic Inns of Spring Lake are a stunning collection of 19th Century homes, dating from 1870-1888. They embody the romance and history of Spring Lake, offering the best in architectural preservation, unique character, tradition and hospitality.

Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling 732-859-1465 for details or purchased at Participating Inns, The Spring Lake Chamber of Commerce and Sea Girt Pubic Library plus BookTowne in Manasquan. On the day of the Tour, tickets can be purchased at the Spring Lake Public Library. Each ticket will include a self-guided map of Authors & Inns for visitors’ convenience.

A total of 500 tour tickets will be sold. Guests staying for the Friday/Saturday weekend will receive a complimentary Tour Ticket and guests checking in on Sunday for 1-night will receive a tour ticket plus special accommodation rate at each participating Inn. All Inn guests are invited to a private Post-Tour Reception attended by innkeepers and authors.

The radiantly refined town offers a delightful downtown experience with charming boutiques and galleries, restaurants, historic landmarks and the famous Spring Lake all with a 2-mile Atlantic oceanfront community.

WHAT: “Authors & Inns: A Spring Lake Event”
A self-guided tour of 9 Historic Inns & Authors
WHEN: Sunday, June 8, 2008
1:00-5:00pm
WHERE: Spring Lake, New Jersey
COST: $12/per person
TICKETS: 732-859-1465 – Historic Inns Association

Checks ONLY can be mailed to:
Historic Inns of Spring Lake
P.O. Box 134
Spring Lake, NJ 07762
732-859-1465

INNS: White Lilac Inn, Spring Lake Inn, Villa Park House,
Beacon House, Ocean House, Sandpiper Inn, Chateau Inn & Suites, The
Breakers Hotel, Victoria House, Grand Victorian @ Spring Lake
Click here for more info!

Posted on

Thoughtful Thursday – Mixed Messages

Image Courtesy of Microsoft Word Clip ArtSome of the local papers this morning are talking about the message of hope that Senator Obama brings to minorities. I wonder why none of them are talking about the message of futility that his nomination brings to a group that is a majority in number, but a minority in terms of power.

Wondering who I’m talking about? I’m talking about women. According to 2006 estimates from the U.S. census bureau, women account for 50.7 % of the population.

Want to know how many women have ever served in Congress as either Representatives or Senators? Click here for the list. According to the official Congressional website at http://womenincongress.house.gov/, “Since 1917, when Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman to serve in Congress, 244 more women have served as U.S. Representatives or Senators.”

How many women are currently serving in Congress? Click here for the list. According to the official website, “Eighty-nine of the 245 women who have served in Congress are current Members—74 in the House and 16 in the Senate.”

89 women out of 535 Representatives and Senators (click here for the breakdown on how many in each part of Congress.)

Doing the math, that means that roughly 17% of our Congress is female while women are 50.7% of the population.

I don’t know about you, but the political system seems like an Old Boys Network to me and the numbers are doing little to change that idea as is the recent experience with Senator Clinton. Before I continue, I want to make it clear that my intent is not to bash anyone or to support anyone. Rather, it’s a discussion on gender in politics in a very general sense.

Think about how many times the media referred to the emotions Senator Clinton showed on the campaign trail. I guess the point of that was to show that there’s no crying in politics?

Think about how many times Senator Clinton was referred to as Mrs. Clinton.

Think about how many times Senator Clinton was referred to as “Hilary.”

Going a little further with that last one, for those in office environments, ask yourself whether the men are generally referred to as “Mr. So-and-So” or by their first names. Then ask yourself how often women are referred to solely by their first names.

What does use of just a first name say? It’s definitely a sign of familiarity and you know that old saying about what familiarity brings. But when the men are Mr. and the women are familiar, isn’t that a subtle sign that one is on a higher level than the other?

Same thing with stripping the “Senator” title and using “Mrs.”. It’s a stripping way of the power behind the title. It’s a reduction in status.

Taking it to the next step. How many times have you heard that women have to work harder for less pay than a man in a comparable position?

So why is it that as a physical majority women lack political power? Or maybe you don’t agree with that and if not, I’d love to hear your take on things.

Just some thoughts for you to consider.

Posted on

Guest Blogger – Traci Hall, Waiting to React

We have a special visitor today — Traci Hall! She’s providing some insights on her latest novel and also, a copy of her book for anyone who leaves a comment on the blog today. So without further ado — here’s Traci!

This is an incredible site – lots going on – and congratulations to you on your newest contract! Isn’t a great feeling when it seems like the stars are finally aligning in your favor?

Thanks for having me on…my debut paranormal/medieval romance is officially ‘out’ June 8th! But if you find yourself completely unable to wait that long, Amazon is very fast, lol.

This waiting for the world to react to your baby thing is making me revert back to biting my fingernails. So far the reviews have been good – 9/10 from In The Library Reviews, and 10 out 10 from Romance Reviews Today, and a 4 out of 5 from RT. The heat level was marked as ‘mild’ – which worried me until I read that Jude Deveraux wrote mild too. Whew.

Love’s Magic is about Celestia Montehue, a misfit in a legacy bound family. The only thing she has in common with her ancestors is her magical healing ability. Nicholas Le Blanc, a monastery raised knight, is captured while on crusade and forced to kill for his freedom. This is their journey to see if the healer can save the broken man before his family’s curse dooms them both.

I love writing stories about two people who mix like oil and water, but straight romance is difficult for me because I need to have more going on. Mysteries, ghosts, curses – paranormal adds that element of ‘what if’ that layers in heightened tension – and creates lot of opportunities for conflict.

I am a horror movie junkie – the cheesier the better – I still jump, even though I can see the strings on the fake orange moon because the writers/directors have taken me beyond the OBVIOUS fakeness to the story, which is thrilling and scary and why I watch.

Hopefully I can draw you into Nicholas and Celestia’s story…1192 England, anybody?

Again, thank you so much for having me as a guest on your blog – you can come and visit me at http://www.traciwritersblock.blogspot.com/ – a new blog I’ve started with the intention of going over the details of a new writer’s journey. And of course, I would love to donate a book for give-away…

Happy June!

Traci

Posted on

Web Widgets

Today’s Tuesday Tip is about web widgets!

What’s a web widget? Wikipedia defines a web widget as “a portable chunk of code that can be installed and executed within any separate HTML-based web page by an end user without requiring additional compilation.” In other words, you will get some computer code that you will need to add to your website or social networking page, so you do need a little bit of technical expertise to know how to do this.

You may already have web widgets on your site without even knowing it. Banner advertising or site meters are some of the most common web widgets available. If you’ve uploaded a video to Youtube or another video hosting service, the code that you place on your site or Myspace page is a web widget.

What’s the benefit of web widgets? They allow you to place useful information on your site, collect information to assist you and offer others the ability to spread the word about your website and books.

Check out the cool countdown widget I created for FURY CALLS, the next book in THE CALLING Vampire series which will be out in March 2009. You can click here to download the code for the widget and post it on your sites/Myspace pages! Send me a screen print of it once it’s on your site or a link to the site with the widget and I’ll send the first 50 people who do so a CALLING t-shirt!

Get this widget!

Here are some more useful web widgets:

Site meters: Site meters help you keep track of how many people are visiting your website, where they are coming from, how much time they spend on your site, etc. Such site meters help you track the efficacy of what you are doing on your blog or website. How? If you run a contest, the site meter can tell you if you had more visitors on the day you ran a contest. One of the easier site meters to install can be found at www.sitemeter.com.

Site/Blog Sharing: If you have more than one website or social network page and wish to share information from one site on the others, a web widget is a great way to do so. For example, my main blog is at www.caridad.com/blog, but I want to share those blog posts at my website for THE CALLING Vampire novels (www.thecallingvampirenovels.com). I created a web widget that would create a list of recent blog posts on my other sites at www.widgetbox.com. Using the code that I generated at widgetbox, I loaded it on all my sites so that visitors could see my blog posts and then link back to my main site. At Widgetbox, you can also obtain web widgets in order to provide information at your site to your visitors. For example, if you’re a Mets fan, you can load up a widget that will keep your visitors posted about what’s happening with the Mets (http://www.widgetbox.com/search?q=mets).

Dictionary: Want a dictionary at your fingertips? Visit freedictionary.com (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/lookup.htm#searchbox) to add a dictionary to your site. Or use this dictionary widget from the Yahoo widget collection: http://widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/dictionary.

Clock: Want to tell users what time it is? Check out some of these clock widgets: http://widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/digital-clock, http://www.springwidgets.com/widgets/view/25, http://www.clocklink.com/

Translator: Want to allow visitors who do not speak English to read your site? Babelfish is a great translator and has a widget so users can translate your site. Pick up the widget here: http://babelfish.yahoo.com/free_trans_service

All of the above widgets help you and your website visitors and even better, they are all free. However, you do need to be careful when loading code that has been provided to you by third parties. Sometimes widgets can contain spyware or malware that will create problems, so be sure to only use widgets from reliable sources.

Hope you’ll try out some of these web widgets to add some content to your website!

Posted on

Guilty Pleasure Monday – Brad Pitt

This image or file is a work of a U.S. Air Force Airman or employee, taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image or file is in the public domain. From WikipediaIt had to finally happen. I couldn’t keep on ignoring Brad Pitt, especially considering how great he looked in TROY. Didn’t like his character very much, but you can’t argue with the fact that he was ripped for that movie.

Then of course, there was the first time many of us laid eyes on him in THELMA & LOUISE. Wow! He was so amazing. I wondered, “Who is this guy and where can I see him next?”

I’ve often thought that he resembles Robert Redford a lot and that was quite apparent in SPY GAME. The similarities between the two men was absolutely amazing!

Also, I really like Mr. & Mrs. Smith. I thought it was a great romantic comedy/spy/action/black comedy. You get it. A mix of a lot of things, which actually may have turned some people off. Also — little known fact. When I was asked about the cover for MORE THAN A MISSION, I said, how about something like the poster for Mr. & Mrs. Smith and here’s what I got!

MORE THAN A MISSION - August 2007

I loved the knife on the thigh!

Hope you liked this Monday’s Guilty Pleasure.

Posted on

Fun Friday – Rainy Days and Movies

It’s supposed to be raining this Saturday and for me, rainy days on weekends means one thing — MOVIES!!

Whether it’s a vidfest at home with a favorite DVD or a trip to the movies, a rainy day makes it perfect somehow.

Highest on the list for this weekend’s rainy day movie fest is IRONMAN, especially since I’m a comic book geek. I’ve always loved the superheroes, hence why I’m counting down the days until the DARK KNIGHT (Christian Bale is sooooo hot!).

So for today’s Fun Friday, here’s the trailer for IRON MAN in case you haven’t already seen the movie. If you have, leave a comment about what you thought about it.

Proudly powered by WordPress