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Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

To all my American friends, I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving. I’m at the airport on my way to Chicago *points to skyline above* to spend the holiday with my oldest sister, brother in law, nephews, and parents.

To all my international friends, happy Thursday!

Here are a couple of recipes I want to share.

I made “Wild Rice with Shitake Mushrooms and Miso Dressing” for a potluck at work, and got some rave reviews from the vegetarians on staff:

Recipe HERE

And today I plan to make these hilarious chocolate turkeys, perhaps as place settings for the Thanksgiving dinner table.

Hee hee.

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Gender Differences in Mental Health

Today I have a guest post from Ken Myers. Take it away, Ken!

Different Mental Health Concerns in Men and Women
Aside from the obvious physical characteristics, men and women differ greatly. Their thought processes, preferences, and struggles can vary wildly. Yet there are also individual differences within each gender. Here are some gender differences in mental health:

1. Alcohol and Other Drugs – Men are more prone to substance abuse, according to researchers. Our culture socializes men to avoid emotional expression, and sometimes they turn to alcohol and other drugs to suppress emotion.

2. Depression – Women are more prone to bouts with depression. Whereas men tend to deal with stress through externalizing problems (substance abuse, aggression, “acting out” behaviors), women tend to deal with stress by internalizing problems (low self-worth, depression, anxiety).

3. Eating Disorders – Women comprise about 90% of the eating disorder population. However, numbers of men with eating disorders are growing, particularly with Binge Eating Disorder. The proposed diagnosis of Muscle Dysmorphia is also more common in men.


4. Psychiatric Medications – According to a study completed in 2000, women are more likely to use psychiatric medications compared to men. This finding could be linked to men having difficulty asking for help.

When dealing with a mental illness, taking into consideration the person’s gender can prevent a misdiagnosis and can facilitate individualized treatment. Men and women tend to deal with stress differently, and we have lots to learn about how gender affects mental health. What we do know is that men and women have trouble understanding each other!

Author Byline:
Ken Myers the editor in chief is a frequent contributor of http://www.gonannies.com/ Ken helps acquiring knowledge on the duties & responsibilities of nannies to society. You can reach him at kmyers.ceo@gmail.com.
And now it’s time for Omnific Publishing’s Blog Bounce. Join us here!

 

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YALL Fest Fun

What fun it was to attend a young adult book festival in Charleston, South Carolina on Saturday: The YALL Fest 2012!

Omnific Publishing sponsored an exhibitor table and provided tons of YA books to give away to our readers. Lovely author Trisha Wolfe signed copies of her steampunk-futuristic-sci-fi Destiny’s Fire, and I signed copies of my swimming-romance-military-murder-mystery Streamline.

Here I am wearing a fake Navy hat, posing with Trisha Wolfe. Yes, I am twice her size. 😉

We also had the pleasure of introducing readers to our pub sisters’ creations:

Embrace by Cherie Colyber
Life, Liberty & Pursuit by Susan Kaye Quinn
Ember and Shades of Atlantis by Carol Oates
Breaking Point by Jessica Bowen

(Too bad Iridescent by Carol Oates and Reaping Me Softly by Kate Evangelista were too hot off the presses to make it to this festival.)

Here are readers holding their signed copies of Streamline!

Kristen and Sharanna

Marie works at a library on a Naval Base

Morgan and Briana–aren’t they cute?

And here’s cool YA book blogger Briana from The Book Pixie
Happy reading to all who attended! I definitely encourage you to attend next year’s YALL Fest if you can make it. It’s a great place to interact with enthusiastic readers.
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Men & Women of the Military Giveaway Hop

Thanks to Vanessa from The Jeep Diva for hosting the Men & Women of the Military Hop.

PhotobucketI LOVE men in the military! I have to confess I’ve written stories about men in the US Navy simply because they look so damn hot in uniform. *blushes*

Shallow, right? Okay, it’s also true that I really admire their sacrifice in keeping us safe. I’m also fascinated by the complete obedience required to serve in the military.

All three of my romantic suspense novels feature a military influence.

The hero of With Good Behavior and Bad Behavior is Grant Madsen, former Navy lieutenant. Unfortunately his Mafia family interfered with him serving his country for very long, but he still calls everyone “Ma’am” and “Sir” hee hee.

Leo Scott–the hero of Young Adult swimming romance Streamline–seems like the perfect midshipman for the Naval Academy. But perfection is hard to achieve.

I’m giving away ebooks featuring these hot men in uniform! To enter, complete the Rafflecopter form.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And make sure to hop over to enter all these awesome giveaways! 

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Insecure Writers Support Group: Politics

I HOPE the Presidential election has been decided by the time this post goes live. The last thing we need in America is more hanging chads!

Today I want to talk about political beliefs and the extent to which you share them.

I live in Ohio, the state that COULD DECIDE THE ELECTION dun dun dun. I’d much rather frolic on the beach than listen to the endless political commercials.

But I am passionate about politics. I have strong opinions about who I want to win this election. Yet I stifle myself from sharing my political views in both careers as a psychologist and author (psycho author). Why?

1. Therapy is about the client, not the therapist. My political views don’t really matter. The only times I self-disclose are when those disclosures could benefit the client, and my opinion about politics probably isn’t central to our therapy goals. So I listen, nod with understanding, and sometimes *grr* inside.

2. Marketing my books is not about me spouting political beliefs, mostly because I don’t want to alienate half of my readership or author buddies. I believe our personal philosophies shine through in our work, but I don’t want to be too overt about it. Frankly, I’ve hidden quite a few Facebook friends who post their political agenda non-stop.

Thank goodness my swimming buddy Eric and I vent about politics all the time, or I’d explode!

Authors: How passionate are YOU about politics? To what extent do you share your views? Why?

And now to continue with “The Next Best Thing”. Author Darcia Helle challenged me to answer questions about my work in progress On Best Behavior (The Conduct Series #3).

* How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I started writing On Best Behavior about a year ago and I’m still not done (though at 84,000 words I’m getting closer to the finish!) However, in the past year I completed a HUGE edit on my YA novel Streamline, which launched in March, 2012. I also tend to edit as I go, extending the first draft time-frame.

* What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

The genre is romantic suspense. I’ve received reader comments about how unique this series is, so it’s hard to compare it to other stories. Maybe the Black Ops, Inc. series by Cindy Gerard? But her heroes are more alpha than Grant Madsen. I don’t know many books featuring a psychologist heroine either. If you do, please tell me.

To those of you doing NaNo, best of luck to you! And to the rest of us, keep trucking.

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Review: Pushing the Limits

With the Goodreads Choice Awards opening, I want to share my review for the book I voted as best Young Adult Fiction–truly one of the best reads of this year for me: Pushing the Limits.

Pushing the Limits (Pushing the Limits, #1)Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Heartbreaking Tale of Healing and Young Love

I love YA issue contemporaries, and this story is the best I’ve read. Thank you to all my GR friends who recommended this story. Yes, Rena…Mrs. Collins rocks!

Echo Emerson used to be the popular girl at her Midwestern high school. Sure, her controlling father and mentally ill mother had divorced, and her older brother had died fighting in Afghanistan, but she was managing okay. Until the night her mother stopped taking her medication for Bipolar Disorder. Echo emerged from that night covered in scars, with absolutely no memory for what happened. She went from popular to freak — withdrawn and scared.

Luckily for Echo, the school hires a new clinical social worker — Mrs. Collins — who meets with selected troubled students for therapy. (Echo doesn’t feel so lucky to meet with Mrs. Collins, but she doesn’t have much choice).

Another student Mrs. Collins targets is Noah Hutchins, the hot, dark boy in cheap clothes and a leather jacket. His backstory slays me. Noah’s parents died in a house fire, forcing him and his much younger brothers into foster care. And foster care hasn’t been pretty for Noah. The system labeled him as dangerous after he hit one abusive foster father, and now he has limited visits with his brothers. Every time Noah interacts with his adorable bros, I bawled. Jacob is eight and little Tyler’s only four.

The door opened and I automatically stood with the gifts still in my hands. Jacob flew through the door and rammed his body into mine. His head reached my stomach now. I tossed the presents on the table, lowered myself to Jacob’s level and wrapped my arms around him. My heart dropped. Man, he’d grown.

The scheming Mrs. Collins knows Echo wants a job and Noah isn’t working up to his potential in school, so she hires Echo to tutor Noah in Calculus and other subjects. They gradually disclose their pain to each other, starting with Noah:

“It doesn’t get better,” I said. “The pain. The wounds scab over and you don’t always feel like a knife is slashing through you. But when you least expect it, the pain flashes to remind you you’ll never be the same.”

Later Noah asks Echo:

“Think Mrs. Collins put the two most depressed people together on purpose?” I flashed a smile to keep the honesty of the statement from corroding the remainder of my heart.
Echo’s hand retreated. “Wow, I thought I was the only person at this school faking every moment.”

When they compare their scars, they reveal their immense insecurity, starting with Echo:

“It’s not the same. You’re strong. You helped people. I…I trusted the wrong person and I go all pathetic and don’t remember a thing. Anyhow, you’re a guy. Scars on guys are, like, sexy. Scars on girls…that’s just…ugly.” And there, I said it — out loud.
His hold on my hand tightened and his eyes darkened into thunderclouds. “F that. There is no shame in trusting your mother. She f’ed up. Not you. As as for that pathetic bullshit — f that too. You are not pathetic. You had the guts to return to school and continue to live your life like nothing happened. Me? I lost it all and flushed anything left of me down the damn toilet. Now that’s pathetic.”

Beautiful! If only Noah could give himself the same compassion. But these two do grow emotionally in the story, and I thought the ending was both happy AND realistic — my favorite.

This story truly moved me and I want to recommend it to everyone I know. I can’t believe this is a debut novel! I can’t freaking wait to read the continuation of Echo and Noah’s journeys.

View all my reviews

And now bounce with Omnific Publishing! Instructions HERE.

 

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Alpha Male Blog Hop

Thank you to Carrie Ann for hosting the Alpha Male Blog Hop!
Roar! This guy’s all “I get hot and powerful when I read books.”


Alpha males are wonderful — I’ve enjoyed reading their exploits in romantic suspense novels by Pamela Clare and Cindy Gerard.

But my ideal hero has a mix of Alpha AND Beta. He’s wounded, physically and/or emotionally, and therefore has a lot of depth. He’s intelligent and respectful of women. He’s clean-shaven, tall, and lean. And I don’t mind him in handcuffs (wait…the Hot in Handcuffs Giveaway just ended!) My ideal hero is not a bad boy, but a man who gets in trouble due to standing up for others.

When I was dating more, I sought a man who was athletic and could talk about his feelings.

And I wonder why I’m still single! *snorts*

Anyway, Carrie Ann offers some amazing GRAND PRIZES if you comment and leave your email address on the comment:

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet
2nd Grand Prize: A $130 Amazon or B&N Gift Card
3rd Grand Prize: The following Swag Pack!


Wow! Thanks, Carrie Ann. Hop to all the blogs and enter 200+ times!

And I’m sweetening the pot by giving away two ebooks of my novels which feature sexy alpha/beta heroes: With Good Behavior (romantic suspense) and Streamline (YA swimming romance).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Look! The Next Best Thing!

Author Darcia Helle sure is creating a lot of work for me on the blog. 😉 First she tagged me for The Next Best Thing Blog Challenge. Then she tagged me AGAIN for the U Got the Look Blog Challenge.

Both challenges involve my work-in-progress On Best Behavior (The Conduct Series #3).

Author Gail Baugniet started The Next Best Thing HERE. The rules are:

Answer 10 questions about my current WIP (Work-In-Progress)

What is the working title of your book?
Where did the idea come from for the book?
What genre does your book fall under?
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Who or What inspired you to write this book?
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I decided to follow Gail by posting my answer to one question a week, with the hope of finishing the manuscript in ten weeks.

Sadly the past two weeks have been epic FAIL for me and I’ve forgotten to post my answers among all the giveaways I’ve been hosting. (And another giveaway starts tomorrow–stay tuned).  So, I’m answering three questions today to catch up.

4) Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Actor Wentworth Miller is my absolute celebrity crush–he’s an easy pick to play Grant Madsen. I can’t remember this actress’s name but I can totally see her as Sophie Taylor.

Thanks to Julie from A Tale of Many Reviews for framing these photos!

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Planning a wedding is never easy, especially when the Russian Mafia want you dead.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Neither–it will be published (I hope!) by Omnific Publishing, a small publisher I lurve.

And now onto U Got the Look!

The Look is a writing prompt, a game, another tagging event. This is how U Got “The Look” works: you take your current manuscript, search for the word “look”, and post the surrounding paragraphs. Lastly, you tag 5 blogging authors who you think will be a good choice for the game.

(I use the word “look” approximately 20,000 times in each manuscript so this should be no problem.)

Sophie looked into his worried blue eyes and reached for his hand. “Grant, I have absolutely no qualms about marrying you. I’d do it today if we could.”
“Then let’s just go to the courthouse right now.”
She grimaced. “You know I’d love that, but my dad would kill me. No, we’ll do it this summer, like we planned. We’ll do the big church wedding.” She turned back to the door.
He tugged at her hand, drawing her to face him again. “Sophie, talk to me.”
“It’s just…” She sighed. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen Pastor Tom, and…do you know anyone whose marriage is actually happy, Grant? We love each other, but who’s to say we won’t turn out like our parents?”
He flinched. “There’s no way we could be as bad as my parents.”
“But they were in love once too, right? Your dad even sang to your mom at their wedding.”
“I guess you could say they were in love once, before my father showed his true colors.” His eyes darkened. “But Sophie, we’re different from them. I’m not an alcoholic, for one thing.”
Her lips curled into a faint smile. Their psychologist Hunter’s insistence that Grant was not his father had finally gotten through to him. “You’re not a child abuser either.”
“Though Ben sure tempts me sometimes.”
Sophie’s grin widened. Grant joking about the trials of helping to parent his nephew, instead of freezing up at the mere mention of child abuse, definitely indicated his progress in counseling.

 
And now I tag 5 author friends to get the “look”. No worries if you’ve already participated.

And finally, please join us on the Omnific Publishing Author, Author Blog Bounce! Instructions are HERE.

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Did I Notice Your Book?

Thanks to Ciara Knight and Ninja Alex Cavanaugh for this clever blogfest!

Here are the guidelines:

Post about a book you’ve noticed.

You can choose a book that you’ve read, something you saw on a blog or social media site, Goodreads, or a sales website. Anything that caught your eye because of a great cover, blurb or reviews, but DON’T tell the author that their book has been noticed. Instead, shout out on social media sites, and encourage others to do the same, until the author finds his/her book.

Leave a blog comment at Ninja Captain Alex or Ciara Knight when the author finds their book. 

I’ve actually noticed TWO books recently (hopefully that’s not cheating?)

First, I met author Kyra Lennon on the A to Z Blog Challenge in April, when she posted compelling excerpts about a soccer romance (I love sports romances.)

Then I blink and suddenly her debut novel Game On had already been released! How could I have missed it?

That cover bends it like Iniesta!

Naturally I had to get my hands on Kyra’s novel and I loved it. Here’s my 5 star REVIEW.

Just yesterday I noticed another book, this one by my pub sister Alison Oburia. Her romantic suspense (also a favorite genre) Between the Lies launches in one week (10-23-12) and I can’t wait to read it.

Doctoral student Cari Lopez’s academic life is in a rut, but when she comes home to discover a stranger asleep on her doorstep, her personal life becomes immediately more interesting. British accountant Tristan Saunders is a kindred spirit—with a fantastic accent—and there’s a connection kindling, but Cari soon learns he’s made an enemy of the Bulgarian mafia. His trip to the US is far from a vacation.

The enemy is hidden, yet ominously present and always watching. And though they’ve known each other merely a few days, Cari and Tristan are soon on the run for their lives.

Alison Oburia’s layered storytelling reveals a tale of international intrigue and complex relationships, which is distilled to its essence in two hearts. Not everything is as it appears, and people are not who they seem to be. Faced with deception at all angles, Cari must sort out what’s real. If she’s to stay alive—and possibly fall in love, she has to find the truth…between the lies.

Doesn’t that sound great? I’m totally into the Mafia, romance, and suspense.

I look forward to checking out what books YOU have noticed. Have fun today.

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Hot in Handcuffs Blog Hop

Thanks to the naughty ladies at Under the Covers (Suz, Ann, Francesca, and Angela) for hosting the steamy Hot in Handcuffs Blog Hop!

I lurve this hop because my romantic suspense novels actually have HANDCUFFS on the covers!

With Good Behavior (The Conduct Series #1) and Bad Behavior (The Conduct Series #2) follow the journey of parolees Sophie Taylor and Grant Madsen as they try to navigate life on the outside, run from the Mafia, and just maybe fall in love. These stories are more romance than erotica.

I’m currently writing book three in the series, On Best Behavior. Grant and Sophie might find more uses for handcuffs in this story!

Complete the Rafflecopter form below to enter to win ebooks of With Good Behavior and Bad Behavior. Spank you very much. a Rafflecopter giveaway