Wow, it's another snow day. Woke up at 5:40 this morning to a snow day call. So, I'm wide awake and ready to roll. I don't usually blog on a Wednesday just because of a lack of time. But with an entire free day ahead of me...

My hero has decided he's been a real cad. After all, he has taken another mistress, the heroine, and he's completly ignored his first mistress. Oh, but the trials and tribulations of a man. Too many women, too little time, but there is only one woman he wants. Can he wait until he has her installed in her new charming cottage? Can he dismiss his first mistress without hurting her feelings? Or does his first mistress know that her protector has taken another woman under his wing? Has she already found herself a new man to protect her?

Stay tuned...

And February 1 is quickly approaching and the kickoff to my new contest. What city do you think is the most romantic in the world? Hmm...

Christine

Congratulations Joye! Joye from Aizona is the winner of the winter contest. Please contact me at achristay@aol.com and send me your address so I can send you a book and winter goodies. I hope the weather is still nice out there. We have about 6 inches of snow and school was closed today. Check out my web site for my new contest starting February 1.

Writing has been going great. I've finished next weeks words. That was my goal because I have to start final edits on Highland Song the third in the Highland trilogy which will be out in September.

So, what will happen to our hero and heroine in an Uncommon Thief? The heroine brazenly shows up at the hero's dinner table (uninvited). And, she shows up in the gown he refused to buy her. Oh, but will there be sparks flying? Will the hero be furious with her for deyfing his command? Will the hero be mesmerized by the low cut of the gown and throw caution to the wind, making love to her on the dining room table? Or will her dog, grad his hanky and run creating havoc in the dining room, sending potter and food flying?

Stay tuned...

Christine

I thought I would get my post in early today. We are on our way to a swim meet, and up at 5:30. I guess it is called getting ready for State. We expect snow and freezing rain, but there is a wrestling match in Cottage Grove and there is no way they would cancel that. So the swim meet will go on.

My heroine is about to get her charming cottage. The hero has gone to great lenghts to find just the right idylic spot. Will she like it? Will she show her gratitude? Or will she find something wrong with it? However, the hero returns home to find the locks on all the doors have been tampered with. Is it the notorious mam? Is the heroine's life in danager?

Stay tuned...

Must leave, the bus to Albany is waiting and my husband is pacing the kitchen.

Christine

I'm looking at the thermometer and it's saying 24 degrees. Sooooo cold and then I hear on the news 15 degrees somewhere and I think I heard -5 degrees. Well it's too cold for me to walk. My toes hurt too much when it gets cold.

2000 words yesterday but no editing and I'm afraid I have lots of words but a real big job to clean up. I've way too much narrative and very little dialogue. But yesterday was productive. I finished the General II final, almost finished the General I final and wrote the letter of recomendation for one of my swimmers. All I have left is to do entries for the Saturday swim meet and write the article for the author spotlight on the Mid Willamette Valley web site. The slogan of the day: I think I can, I think I can...

Oh, and I have to iron.

The hero and heroine have had a huge argument. Neither one of the pair have a mild temperment and so they can have quite interesting and heated arguments. Have you ever wanted a dress that someone tells you you can't have? Well, the heroine wants a dress and the hero see how it looks on her, exquisite and sexy as hell. In his own very possessive way, he wants her charms all too himself. Is this too much to ask? Or does the heorine have the modiste send the dress to her anyway defying the hero and all his money? After all she is bought and paid for. Stay tuned...

Christine

Good golly, Miss Molly but the little pickpocket has become the mistress of a very rich man. She is about to be decked out from the skin out and from the toes to the top of her head. But is she happy? Does she regret her decision to become the heroe's mistress? Are all her dreams of becoming a respectable lady vanishing in the London fog? And the hero--has he ever felt so alone and foresaken? Does he regret agreeing to this compromising relationship? Ah, but true love does not exist without paying a price. He has bought and paid for the relationship. But...

What fun to have a word challenge and watch my book grow. I've gone over the 50,000 mark and find that I'm not yet half way. So I will most likely be cutting a lot of material when I edit. Better to cut than to have too few words I alway say.

It's still foggy outside and an arctic front is moving in. It's supposed to be extremely cold next week.

Christine

One more week until I announce the winner of my January contest. It's foggy here and cold. We are supposed to get a few snow flurries this morning turning to rain tonight. I've written a little over 15000 words since Alice issued a writing challenge. Thank you Alice. I'm hoping we'll have another challenge in February.

It's a three day weekend and I've so much to do. Finals are next week and I have to write two finals as well as write on my book. I just have to take a deep breath and do one thing at a time. My heroine has issued an ultimatum to the hero. He is shocked by her assertiveness. Will he be willing to do anything for the heroine? Will he buy her the country home she has asked for? Or will he toss her out and tell her to fend for herself? Oh, the trials and tribulations of true love.

Christine

Waking up to a two hour delay, not because of snow but ice. It's 29 degrees out there. Now I know that you in the midwest and northeast probably would think this is warm. But this is the Willamette Valley. And for us, it's darn cold. There are accidents all over the valley. But this school delay give me time to blog and to write this morning. Of course I still have two finals to write but I can always put that off until the weekend.

My heroine is going out of character and it's going to baffle the hero. Of course she is protecting her heart. He of course thinks she has turned into a monster--a monster he cannot live without. And he doesn't know how much she loves him. He also doesn't know how much he loves her. They will have to go down a dark, winding road to figure all this out. It will be a great adventure. What trials and tribulations will they encounter? Will the mam kidnap our heroine? Will the brothers make it to Baltimore?

Stay tuned.

Christine

I'm waking up to a beautiful sunny day--no rain. My weather contest is coming to an end and I'll be looking for the most romantic city in the world. My personal favorite in Paris but I love New York. Every city seems to take on a personality all its own. And I suppose the ones with the most pazazz (is that how you spell that word?) Is the one that will make the biggest impact on a soul. There are so many places I haven't been. I want to see everything, well maybe not everything. The last time my family had Chinese food and fortune cookies I had a great fortune. It read: Your feet will touch on many countries. I plan on making that fortune come true. I guess I've been blessed with good fortune cookies. I'll never forget that one summer at an RWA meeting/dinner at a Chinese restaurant my fortune read: Your greatest dream will come true. A month later I sold my first manuscript. So I'm always looking for the right fortune cookie.

I've got to get going on the word challange. I have a goal of 3000 words today. My hero and heroine are in a very compromising position. She is about to give up her virginity to the hero. But will she stop and bargain with him? She is only a servant in his home and being a finacially smart young woman, she knows she has to look after her retirement interests. Will she give in to the notion of romance and romantic love and make a devil's bargain she might come to regret?

Stay tuned: for the continuing saga of an Uncommon Thief

Christine

It has been one week since the challenge to write 1000 words a day went out in my RWA group. It has definitely been a challenge and I wrote a little over 7000 words last week. Now I'm starting over. Thank you Alice for issuing the challenge. I'm confident now that I will finish this book before summer gets here. Wow! I didn't think I could do it.

My contest is still on for January. I'm looking at one more week and then I'll have my daughter draw for the winner. The weather all over the country has been crazy. Just a little north of here near Portland Oregon there was a tornado that caused lots of damage and thankfully no deaths. Now you folks in the midwest would probably scoff at this tiny tornado but it scared the #@^%$# out of all of us in the Willamette Valley. We just don't have severe weather like that. The last tornado in the area was in 1972.

Christine

The 1000 words a day is a challenge. I managed 600 words today even though I worked all day and coached my swim team. I was proud of myself. I got home, ate dinner, watched my one soap then wrote. My goal was to write 500 words. So I will have to do that tomorrow too. It's a good feeling to make your goals and will be an even better feeling to finish this book ahead of schedule. Bravo to Alice who put forth the challenge and the rest of my chapter for accepting.

It's easy for me to write bad guys. And right now I'm in a scene with a very bad, bad lady. Or perhaps she not really a "lady" The bad guys are always fun because you don't have to be PC. You can have them act and do anything you want them to do. Right now the very bad lady is sipping wine, smoking a cheroot and plotting the murder of the hero. Will she order the murder? If she does will the hero outsmart her?

Christine

One day down, 30 to go. I managed almost 3000 words yesterday and I'm quite satisfied. I will edit and then write some more today. I realized that I was close to half way on this book. My original goal was to finish by the end of summer. However, with this challenge and ongoing encouragement, I might finish in March.

Still no luck with my webiste. I worked so hard on it and now not to see it up and running is discouraging and frustrating.

Looking forward to getting back to school. I discovered I missed them. I really do have some wonderful classes this year. Two weeks and they will have semester finals. It's about this time the freshman discover that they really will have to repeat the classes if they fail, and if they don't have the credits they won't graduate. I always see a huge turn around with the kids. Suddenly they start turning in their work.

Still thinking about possible romantic cities? I am. But I'm running out of pictures. My travels really haven't taken me very far. Perhaps Edinburg though would be a romantic city, with the castle guarding the town.

I accepted Alice's challenge of 1000 words a day. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it, but at least I will make sure I write every day. I've finished Highland Song and now need only to do edits. I am working on An Uncommon Thief which was renamed in my October contest.

Please, if the winner is out there, email me at achristay@aol.com. I would love to send you your prize. I know you said you gave me your address but I can't find it.

I've received lots of comments on the weather. I hope a few more people enter the contest, but if not I will be drawing for the winner in a couple of weeks. It snowed huge wet flakes this morning. Nothing stuck. And now the sun is shining, lots of wind too.

Not having a lot of luck with publishing my website. And I still have to finish my book trailer for Rebel Heart.

Christine

After spending hours and brack-breaking work the heroine finally rescues the hero. She comes to realize that the hero will never change. Even though she loves him with every breath in her body, he will never be able to return that love. He believes in passion but not love. She is heart broken but stronger. At least she has known a moment of love. She will carry her memories with her and hold onto them in the cold of the highland winters. Will the hero realize his mistake before it's too late? Or will he let his one true love leave him?

As to romantic cities. Could the most romantic city in the worl be London? Coming in February let me know what you think.

Here in the Willamette Valley it's windy and rainy. The snow level is dropping by Monday. Will it reach the valley floor? Hmm...

My new websight hit a major problem yesterday when I tried to publish it. Errors! Oh well, I'll be working on it today and hoping to get it up and running.

And now because of a writing challenge I have to write 1000 words a day. Does the blog count?

Christine

My hero and heroine are getting closer to her home. They've found an Inn to stay the night...but. Isn't there always a but? The heroine's long time friend and suitor finds the dynamic duo and bursts the hero's bubble so to speak. Ah, the trials of young lovers. There is never an easy path and it's my job to fill that path full of as many pitfalls as possible.

I spent yesterday adding links to my websight pages and now I have to finish. The designing (fun) part is over. I hope to publish the websight by the Sunday. Maybe sooner. Have to do this before Winter break is over and back to teaching.

Stay tuned to the continuing saga of Highland Song to be released in September 2008.

Christine

Worked on my websight again. I think it's looking good but I'm going to need some input. All I will work on today will be the links. I was able to use some of my Europe pictures on the sight and that was fun.

I came up with a contest for February when I was looking at my picture of the Eiffle Tower. Tune in February for more details.

My hero and heroine are finishing an idylic tryst at the loch before finishing their treck to the MacPherson castle. The hero is worried about the reaction the heroine's brothers will have about the days together they have spent. His reputation as a lady's man is well known. Will the brothers skewer our hero through? Or will they let him into the family? Will they be expecting a marriage?

Christine

The first day of the new year. How many of you stayed up and watched the new year come in? I didn't. I really am getting old. I almost watched the ball drop in Time Square. I was 5 minutes late. Sigh. On the other side, my 27 year old daughter told me I was welcome at her party. Maybe I'm not so old.

I've started working on a new websight. I worked most of yesterday and finished two pages. I like it. My main objectives are for it to look professional and to work. Some of the pictures I took in Scotland are on it.

I left my hero and heroine contemplting love. Is it just passion or is it something else?

Happy New Year
Christine