And the winner is...........

The name drawn for an autographed copy of 'Song Of The Muses' Book II was

JUDY

Congratulations Judy. If you email me at Hywelalyn@hywelalyn.co.uk with your address I'll post your prize to you. Hope you enjoy it.

Many thanks to everyone who took the time to comment on my post for the Easter treasure hunt, and if you're going in for the Grant Prize, good luck and happy hunting.

A TISKET, A TASKET, PUT ROMANCE IN YOUR BASKET CONTEST

Yay - it's my turn to act as hostess in the April Scavenger Hunt event which started on 1st April at Silver James's Blog. It's not too late to join a group of romance authors in celebration of spring. Enter to win a prize a day as well as enter to win the grand prize. Don't worry if you've only just caught up with this contest. I'll give you all the details in a little while.

It's Spring. A time for daffodils and tulips, the promise of warmer weather, and new life. If you are lucky enough to live in the country, as I do, everywhere you look there are lambs and chicks, calves and foals.

Talking about foals, isn't this little one sweet. Donkeys are such delightful animals. This gentle creature that has helped shape human history can stand in line among some of mankind's oldest domesticated creatures. He is a forgotten and unsung hero, often misrepresented and misunderstood.

The cross he bears on his back, is, according to legend, a mark given to him by Christ, after He rode a young donkey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, so that all who saw it would remember that it was a humble donkey who bore the son of God into the city, and not a more majestic horse. It was also a donkey who carried Mary, the mother of Christ to Bethehem, and who took her and her newborn son to safety when Herod sentenced all male babies to death.

Although many donkeys are the familiar gray-dun color, there are many other coat shades. Most donkeys, regardless of coat color, will have dorsal stripes and shoulder crosses, dark ear marks, as well as the "Light Points" -- white muzzle and eye rings, and a white belly and inner leg. Donkeys do not have a flowing tail like a horse but a tufted tail more like that of a cow. His distincive bray carries a long distance and is unmistakable.

Donkeys come in a variety of sizes from the Miniature Mediterranean (under 36 inches) to the elegant Mammoth Jackstock (14 hands and up).
They are healthy, hardy animals and often live for 40 or more years. However, they require just as much care and attention as horses. Their hooves need regular trimming. around every 8 weeks. They must be wormed regularly, have yearly tetanus and flu vaccinations and regular grooming. Shelter is vital at all times. They are native to hot countries and have far less resistance to cold weather than ponies. Shelter should not be regarded as a luxury as all donkeys require shelter from rain, wind and flies.

Horses are flight animals, i.e. in times of panic or danger they will run away, donkeys, however, will simply freeze when frightened. They evolved in rugged desert terrain and fleeing in times of danger simply wasn’t possible.

Donkeys can be used just like horses under saddle and in harness, although they are more laid back and self-preserving in nature. They prefer to do what is good for the donkey, which is not always what the human thinks is best (especially when it comes to getting their feet wet.) They are very friendly, and their nature makes them excellent for children. Like all equines they are herd animals and should always have company - if not another donkey or pony, a goat or a sheep is better than nothing.

They can perform all the gaits of horses or mules , but galloping is usually not on the program unless dinner is being served. Donkeys can also make wonderful guard animals -- a donkey gelding or jennet will take care of an entire herd of cattle, sheep or goats -- the natural aversion to predators will inspire the donkey to severely discourage any canine attacks on the herd. Dogs and donkeys usually don’t mix, although they can be trained to leave the house or farm dog alone. Wild dogs and wolves aren't a problem here in the UK, although foxes might by deterred from raiding the chicken coop by a braying, 'on guard' donkey. I can imagine in the US or Australia they would earn their keep by keeping away canine preditors though.

Altogether, the donkey is an intelligent and delightful animal and whether as a working animal or pet, does not deserve his reputation for stubborness . The world would be a poorer (and it has to be said, quieter) place without them.

Back to our Blog Hunt.

All you need do is begin at Silver James' blog for April 1st at http://www.silverjames.com and follow the links to all the Blogs taking part until you get to this one. Accidents happen, and should you find a break in the chain, please email me and I'll try to sort it for you, if I can.

Don't forget to enter to win the grand prize! To enter to win prizes from the authors donating treasures to the grand prize (see each day's post for what an author is donating to this), find the four Easter eggs in the A TISKET A TISKET, PUT ROMANCE IN YOUR BASKET blog event.
You will be searching for an egg - eggs-actly like this one: (No, This isn't it - but have a look around this site just in case it's hidden here among the ramblings.) Just visit all of the authors' websites, locate the 4 eggs, make a list of their locations by pasting the urls to the website pages in an e-mail, then send the entry to happyendings2007@aol.com by midnight CST on May 1st, 2009. The winner will be randomly drawn and announced May 2nd at http://blog.skhyemoncrief.com. Tip #1, subscribe to http://blog.skhyemoncrief.com to learn if you're the winner!

I'm putting a $10 Wild Rose Press Gift Voucher into the basket and for my own prize today, I'll send an autographed copy of Book II of Song of the Muses to the first person drawn out of the hat at midnight tomorrow (Tuesday) and I'll announce the winner on my Blog on Wednesday. Just tell me what your favourite spring animal is and I'll put you in the draw.

The next stop on the hunt is Stacey Dawn at: http://www.stacydawn.blogspot.com/

Good Luck and happy springtime!

Continue the search ...

Wheeeee! It's my turn to act as hostess for the 'A Tisket, A Tasket, Put Romance In Your Basket Contest' tomorrow. I just popped over to Tabitha Shay's Blog
http://tabithashay.blogspot.com/
and checked out her post for today. That talented lady has some wonderful books she's putting into the Grand Prize Basket, as well as one for today's prizewinner (personally autographed.) If you haven't already done so, mosey along there and carry on your search for those four eggs. And don't forget to come back here tomorrow for the next link in the contest!

SUSAN SHAY - AUTHOR OF 'BLIND SIGHT'

I am thrilled to welcome Susan Shay to my Blog today. Susan's latest book 'Blind Sight' has just been released by the Wild Rose Press.

Good Morning, Susan. I'm sure the readers are looking forward to hearing more about you and your work, but first lets's have a sneak preview of 'Blind Sight':

Brand New! From The Wild Rose Press

Blind Sight

By Susan Shay

Touch psychic Cassie Reynolds has tried to live a normal life but when she begins channeling a killer in quiet Stone Hill, Texas, she can't hide her gift any longer. Cynical Keegan Flynn, who believes in nothing or no one, is the only one Cassie can turn to for help. Will she be able to convince him or will Christmas this year be murder?

Excerpt:

“Hey, Cassie.” His voice was melted chocolate, warm and soothing.

She bit her lip as she forced herself to wait several moments before

she turned to him. His dark eyes mesmerized her, as well as the tiny

scar next to his upper lip and his square jaw. She took a much needed breath.

“Oh, hey, Keegan.

How was your day?” Where were you all this time?

But it wasn’t her business where he’d been, and she wasn’t going to touch him in order to find

out, on the off chance she could tell.

Concentrating intently, she forced herself to walk into the kitchen. While she put the things away, she

couldn’t move him from the forefront of her mind. The way his eyes crinkled as he spoke, the way he

stood, hipshot; his smile, even his frown, played again and again in her mind.

Pulling into herself, she was still for a moment as she felt for the underlying tremor each person had—

as individual as a fingerprint.His was new, one she’d never sensed before, and it sent vibrations of warmth flowing through her.But in that impression, she could discern nothing that might be a danger.

When she’d rinsed the sink, she dried her hands and picked up a bottle of spray cleaner. Going back into

the coffee shop, she wiped tables and straightened chairs a final time.Glancing down, she saw a cup left behind on a seat. As if in slow motion, it toppled off the edge. Without thinking, she caught it—then remembered she’d forgotten to replace her gloves.The vibration crashing through her was like thunder from a colossal drum, quaking long and hard and painful,deafening her to the sounds going on around her. A brilliant

flash stabbed into her eyes and, as her irises contracted painfully, she nearly collapsed to her knees.

The bookstore disappeared.

Her body shuddering in the cool air of night, Cassie smelled dust and rain on the breeze. A

feeling of devout piety stole over her as her heartbeat slowed to a sluggish thud. Casting her

gaze downward, she saw a young woman, her face white and still as if it had been carved from

alabaster, lying near the edge of a rocky crag. With hands that were not her own, she crossed the

girl’s stiffening arms over her cold, unmoving chest, then straightened her skirt, pulling it to her

knees.

As gently as if she were putting a child to bed, she slipped the body over the precipice where it

crashed helplessly into a tree, flipped almost completely around, hit the ground, and rolled

down the steep slope until it rested brokenly against a jagged boulder.

Stomach heaving at the shock of the vision, Cassaundra leaned heavily against the table tostare at the broken cup lying at her feet.

HL: Wow, this sounds an amazing read Susan, I can't wait to get my hands on it. OK, tell us a little bit about yourself

SS: I have a wonderful husband, three sons, one daughter-in-law and one daughter-in-law to be. I work in the family business where I claim the title LMOTP (Low Man on the Totem Pole).

I've been making up stories to keep from getting bored all my life. Before that, I made up twin imaginary friends—Arlie and Orley—so I got a head start on character development. My first piece, a children's story, sold in 1987. It published twice, I was paid once. (That happens when you sell all rights.)After that I sold a pile of confessions. The first one was called, "Pistol Packin' Soccer Mom." I loved that title. After a long learning curve, I sold my first book to The Wild Rose Press in 2007. Blind Sight, just out, is my second published book.

HL: *Grin" I can see why you love the title 'Pistol Packin' soccer Mom' - who could resist reading that one? So, susan,. what do you do for fun when not writing?

SS: Would you believe I divide my time between skydiving and alpha testing new jet designs? Okay — I garden and knit, which may be why I have such a vivid fantasy life.

HL: Love the first - but the second are good productive hobbies too - I love gardening too , so rewarding to see things grow. What comes first: the plot or the characters?

SS: For me, I go through, "I wonder what would happen if . . ." thing, then fill in with a little plot and the characters that fit. That's unless it all works backwards. My newest story started with a character and was so quickly followed by the plot it was hard to tell which happened first.

HL: Yes, sometimes those characters just insist they dictate what 'really happened' don't they! Tell us a bit more about your latest release and what you think readers will enjoy about it

SS: Blind Sight? Happy to!

Touch psychic Cassie Reynolds has tried to live a normal life but when she begins channeling a killer in quiet Stone Hill, Texas, she can't hide her gift any longer.

Cynical Keegan Flynn, who believes in nothing or no one, is the only one Cassie can turn to for help. Can she help him believe in time or will Christmas this year be murder?

HL: The more I learn aboutt his book the more intriguing it sounds. If someone were to play one of your characters in a movie, which character and what actor would it be and why?

SS: Oooh, I vote for Russell Crow. He's yummy.

HL: He certainly is!
I always think writing is a 'learning curve' in different ways for each author. What have you learned about writing since you were published that surprised you the most?

SS: No matter how hard you work to write a book, the day you make the sale is when the real work begins!

HL: Isn't that the truth!What’s you’re writing process? Has it changed since writing your first book?

SS: At first I wrote a chapter and wouldn't go on until my critique partners had read it and I'd fixed all my problems. Now because life keeps us from getting together as often, I write several chapters or entire books before sending them to the CPs. CPs always see them before they go anywhere else. That part hasn't changed. Thank God for Twisted Sisters.

HL: Crit Partners! Where would we be without them? A good CP or CPs are worth their weight in gold. Speaking personally, I love to listen to music when I write. Do you ? And if so, what kind of m usic – or do you find it distracts you?

SS: I like to listen to music, but I tend to sing along and pretty soon my manuscript is full of lyrics.

HL: Well now, that could lead to a very interesting MS. .Do you have a support system? Do you have a writing community? What valuable lessons have you learned from them?

SS: My support system begins with my DH, Gary, then the rest of my family. I belong to the BEST AND MOST SUPPORTIVE WRITERS' GROUP IN THE WORLD, ROMANCE WRITERS INK! We're a RWA chapter, so I belong to RWA, too. And of course, I wouldn't be anywhere without the Twisted Sisters. (http//:3twistedsisters.wordpress.com)

HL:.What is your personal definition of success?

SS: Doing what you love and loving what you do. If you can make a living doing it, you've got the best of all worlds.

HL: What a great answer Susan, and so true. I love to ask my next question: .If you were an animal, which one do you think you would be and why?

SS: Right now, a wolf. I just finished a werewolf manuscript, so I did a lot of wolf research. If I write a manuscript about horses, I'll probably want to be a horse.

HL: I love wolves - but I love horses even more, talking about which, I can't resist putting up your cover for 'Toi School A Cowboy'. Isn't it gorgeous!

: And finally, I like to ask my interviewees to choose the 'current hunk'.

SS: Do I have to pick only one? Russell Crow is beautiful, but so is Matthew McConaughey, Kurt Russell, Keanu Reeves—I like 'em all!

HL: Ooh, so do I! Unfortunately, I don't have room for more than one hunk at a time! *Sob* Life can be very difficult sometimes! O.K. I think we'd better go with your first choice. Eyes right, and down a bit,folks.

Thank you so much for being my guest here, today Susan, it's been fun meeting you and hearing all about your books, especially 'Blind Sight'. Congratulations on its release and I hope it sells billions for you!

You can purchase 'Blind Sight' from:

The Wild Rose Press

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Visit Susan at her Website http://www.susanshay.net/

Words

The English language is ever growing and evolving. Today words are in use which were not heard of a few decades ago. A ' hard drive' was a long journey. A 'mouse' was a small rodent. A 'micro wave' was probably a 'death ray' in a SF novel. So many of the words we use today, that are now common usage, would have confounded our grandparents and great grandparents - and how many parents actually understand what their children are saying, LOL! Many good words have also become virtually extinct owing to their non usage, others have had their meanings changed. 'Cool', 'wicked', 'to chill' are all now used quite differently to the original definitiions.

Then of course there are words which just sound plain weird, but we romance writers would do well to take note of this one, and file it away for future use:

Calenture: meaning a violent fever with delirium, affecting persons in the tropics.

In times gone by, unfortunate sailers afflicted with sunstroke suffered delusions and fantasies and would jump overboard, believing they were leaping into the 'green fields of home'.

*The word comes from Spanish "calentura", a fever or sunstroke,
based on the Latin verb "calere", to be warm...

What has all that got to do with romance? you ask. Well have patience, I'm coming to it.

*The word may well be familiar from two famous eighteenth-century seafaring works: Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. Later, a calenture became any kind of raging fever linked to delirium and it also took on a figurative sense of some burning passion, the feverish ardour of a man afflicted with love, or the emotions of a spurned lover:

So there you have it, calenture, 'the feverish ardour of a man afflicted with love.' It could be just the word you're looking for to describe the feelings of the hero in your next novel.


*Thanks to Michael Quinion of WORLD WIDE WORDS
World Wide Words is copyright (c) Michael Quinion 2009. All rights reserved. The Words Web site is at http://www.worldwidewords.org

Words

I hope you all had a very happy and restful Easter. Today I thought I'd introduce a new item to my blog.

For some time I have been receiving a regular newsletter entitled 'WORLD WIDE WORDS' by Michael Quinion. Since many of the items in the newsletter are of interest to writers, I thought I'd share some of them with you (I have Mr Quinion's permission to do this, for which I am very grateful.) So I intend to make this a regular feature on a Monday.

"Q. In a recent issue you included a quote from a newspaper: "Shelby weaved through traffic." Am I old-fashioned to want to use the word "wove"? Perhaps you have written about how certain past tenses have gone to the "-ed" form from an older format for making a verb past tense? Or is this the proper word because it isn't particular to creating cloth? [Anne Umphrey]

A. Your second guess is the correct one. The reason why there are two different past tenses is that there are actually two different verbs here, though at times - such as in this case - their senses are sufficiently close to cause confusion.

The older one - to form cloth by interlacing strands - refers to such an ancient technique that the word for it can be traced back through Old English to a prehistoric Indo-European root that was
later taken into Greek and Sanskrit. It has retained the way of forming the past tense that was once often found in Old English verbs. The method was to change the internal vowel in a standard way, a process called ablaut or gradation, in this case "weave" changing to "wove". Some 70 such verbs survive in English today, including "drive", "sing", "come", and "grow". Grammarians call these strong verbs, a term invented by the German grammarian and folklorist Jacob Grimm; it remains the standard way to describe them, although it's unsatisfactory and obscure.

A big shift happened in Middle English between about 1100 and 1500. Many strong verbs became weak, forming their past tenses in "-ed"or "-t", depending on the ending of the stem. To take just two examples: "glide", which had had the Old English strong form "glode" as the past tense, came to use "glided" instead; "help" changed its past tense from "halp" to "helped". Only the commonest retained their strong forms. Verbs that form their past tenses by adding one of these endings are said to be weak, another term invented by Jacob Grimm.

The verb in the quotation - to twist and turn from side to side to avoid obstructions while moving in some direction or other - is from a different source to the other "weave". It derives from the Old Norse word "veifa", to wave or brandish. In Middle English it was spelled "weve" and may be a relative of our modern "wave". "Weve" vanished from the written language but survived in dialect; it reappeared in books in the late sixteenth century with the spelling changed to "weave", almost certainly through the influence of the other verb. By the time it started to be used in writing again, the weak form had become dominant and this version of "weave" followed the trend, making "weaved".

A very few verbs retain both forms, causing some confusion; the classic case is "hang", in which pictures are hung but people are hanged. "Weave" is sometimes said to be another example of this multiple tense disorder but it's actually a confusion between two words of the same spelling from different sources."

World Wide Words is copyright (c) Michael Quinion 2009. All rights reserved. The Words Web site is at http://www.worldwidewords.org
If you have an interest in words and writing, I suggest you subscribe to his Newsletter, it's not only very informative, it's an entertaining read as well.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

May your day be filled with peace, love - and chocolate!

I hope your day is good, however you celebrate it.

April Already

Where did March go then? It snuck away when I wasn't looking. Yesterday was a bit of a disaster, I won't go into details but I had pc problems. Love 'em when they work, hate'em when they don't - everyone seems to have pc problems at one time or another, I know, it's not just me (just seems like it!) Anyway, I'm being interviewed today at Emma Lai's blogspot. Pop along and take a look.

http://emmalaiwrites.blogspot.com

My 'muse sister' Masha Holl was featured there yesterday and the talented Skhye Moncrief, another of my 'sisters' will be interviewed tomorrow.

For the rest of the month I'm going to be writing the sequel to 'Dancing With Fate'. That's the intention, anyway, and I've joined The Book In A Month writathon to keep myself focussed. Wish me luck, I'm hoping the muse won't desert me. I don't like mentioning 'writer's block' but...

The winner of the Fool for Romance contest is Judy - Crystal is sorting your prize out for you Judy. Congratulations! (You also won a Tee-shirt with some other goodies from me.)

APRIL MADNESS!

A TISKET A TASKET, PUT ROMANCE IN YOUR BASKET Spring is in the air! Bees are buzzing. Children anxiously await the big morning where they can graze on candy all day. What about mom? We've got a treat for you! Come join a group of romance authors in celebration of spring. Enter to win a prize a day as well as enter to win the grand prize. All you need do is begin at Silver James' blog on April 1st at www.silverjames.com. Silver will host the day's contest and provide the link to the next day's location. Don't forget to enter to win the grand prize!

Here's the dirt... A TISKET A TASKET, PUT ROMANCE IN YOUR BASKET Grand Prize:To enter to win prizes from the authors donating treasures to the grand prize (see each day's post for what an author is donating to the grand prize), find the four Easter eggs in the A TISKET A TISKET, PUT ROMANCE IN YOUR BASKET blog event.

You will be searching for a special egg - like the one above.

Just visit all of the authors' websites, locate the 4 eggs, make a list of their locations by pasting the urls to the website pages in an e-mail, then send the entry to happyendings2007@aol.com by midnight CST on May 1st, 2009.

The winner will be randomly drawn and announced May 2nd at http://blog.skhyemoncrief.com. Tip #1, subscribe to http://blog.skhyemoncrief.com to learn if you're the winner!

And don't worry. If you start in on the blog event late, just head back to Silver James' blog on April 1st at http://www.silverjames.com/ to begin your website search for the Easter eggs. Don't miss the fun! See you next to the burgundy tulips.

So if you haven't already done so, head off to Silver's Blog and start searching!