March 10, 2009 – 3:12 pm
For the next couple of months, I won’t be running my usual monthly contests, but every now and then I’ll post a surprise contest on my Desk Diary. Today is one of those days!
If you’d like a chance to win an autographed book & exotic bookmark, just send an e-mail to cj@cjcarmichael.com and put “CJ’s Contest” in the subject line.The winner will be selected at random two weeks from now. If you tell me which book from my backlist you’d like to receive, I’ll try to send you your prefered book (if I have any on hand).
Special…for FTHRW Members….If you participated in my on-line course on conflict for the RWA Chapter ”From The Heart”, please tell me one thing you learned from the course and you’ll have an extra chance to win.
March 10, 2009 – 3:01 pm
On my return flight from Mexico, I was struck with the similarities between taking a vacation and reading a great book. Both provide an escape from everyday living, and both–when finished–leave you feeling vaguely disoriented as you attempt to return to real life.
Of course you can always combine these two pleasure…take a trip and read a book at the same time! On my recent trip to Ixtapa I picked a real winner of a book–The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.
This is a story steeped in gothic atmosphere, with a little mystery, a little romance, and a lot of beautifully written prose. It helps if you are a fan of books written by the Bronte sisters, particularly Jane Eyre, as this story is written in that tradition.
I believe it was on the Tuesday of our holiday, that I took this book, sank into a hammock, and read until the sun went down…
February 12, 2009 – 2:40 pm
It wasn’t how the weekend was supposed to go. Mike and I had been invited to friends’ ski chalet in Kimberly B.C. and we were almost two hours into the trip, when Presto! The car stopped working. We were traveling at 110 km an hour, so this was quite a disorienting feeling, to suddenly have no gas, no power brakes, no power steering…nothing. Fortunately traffic was light and we were able to safely pull over to the side of the road. Where we waited, with no heat in twenty below weather, for a tow truck to come…
So much for our fun ski weekend! Back in Calgary, we regrouped and came up with new plans. We spent Saturday doing chores, then rewarded ourself on Sunday with a trip to Banff (using Mike’s car this time!). Tunnel Mountain is one of those hikes that is very accessable almost any time of the year. So although we had snow and very frosty temperatures, we decided to head up. It took an hour and a quarter of brisk walking to make it all the way, then all the way down. As you can see, the view was totally worth it.
Now…does anyone want to buy a used Audi?
February 9, 2009 – 2:04 pm
Harlequin is celebrating 60 years of publishing by offering a selection of free downloads…don’t miss out on this opportunity to sample some wonderful stories.
Here is where you go to download your free books: HarlequinCelebrates.
Happy Reading!
February 3, 2009 – 5:52 pm
Yay! I just put book 2 of my next trilogy in the mail to my editor. I’m writing about a Detective Agency in New York City. Book One was titled: Her Perfect Parter, Book Two is: The Partner Quest, and Book Three (due to my editor May 1) is: An Unlikely Partner. Anyone spot a theme here? 
Anyway, the important thing is that Book 2 is done! What a lovely feeling…now I can catch up with the rest of my life.
I used to try to write 8 – 10 pages a day so that I could meet deadlines without shifting into panic mode, but now I’m finding that the writing seems better when I totally immerse myself into the story and aim for 20 – 30 pages a day. That’s a pace, though, that I can only keep up for so long.
Now it’s time to pay bills, catch up on reading and organize the house!
December 26, 2008 – 6:27 pm
Would the world be a better place if people read more books? I think it would. This year I challenge you to:
- Read a book to learn more about another part of the world. Recently I enjoyed The Book Thief about a young girl’s experiences in World War II Germany.
- Read a book on a non-fiction topic that you think is important. Read about the economy. The environment. Breaking health issues. Whatever you care about.
- Read a historical novel. I’ve chosen Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth which is set in the Middle Ages.
- Read a book of poetry and rediscover the beauty and power of words. My daughter gave me Leonard Cohen’s Book of Longing as a Christmas gift and I’m planning on savoring the poems and drawings.
- Read a book that reminds you of all the good things there are in the world. Read a romance and remember that love is the greatest gift.
May we all be wiser and kinder people a year from now.
December 2, 2008 – 11:46 am
I just found out from my friend, Harlequin Author Donna Alward that eharlequin has a “bargain basement” section and that Matthew’s Children (The second title in my Three Good Men trilogy) is now available for just over $3! There are lots of great books here…the perfect place to go shopping for Christmas Stocking Stuffers. Check it out: eharlequin.
November 15, 2008 – 5:21 pm
Most of us have at least a passing interest in astrology. We know our “sign” and can’t seem to pass up the chance to read our horoscope if we see one in a magazine or newspaper. But how familiar are you with numerolgy? Do you know that you have a life path number? How to calculate it? What it means?
When I was writing Christmas With Daddy, I wanted my heroine to have special skills that would allow her to assist the detective hero in finding a missing teenaged girl. I wanted these skills to be unusual…something that the hero might find hard to take seriously.
Having recently read The Power of Time by Pauline Edward, I decided to make my heroine a numerologist. Based on my research (primarily reading Pauline’s book and with additional help from Pauline) I know the following neat stuff:
My life Path Number is 3. According to Pauline’s book this means I have “excellent communications skills, a lively and positive outlook, resilience, lots of charm, wit and enormous creative potential.” Hey…I like that! On the flip side, I’m prone to speaking before thinking, tend to hog the stage and need to work on being responsible and organized.
If you want to calculate your life path number, it’s quite easy. Basically write down your birthdate in numbers (month, day and year) then add them up and keep adding until you end up with one number. Here’s how I found mine: Birthdate: 3 (March) + 3 (day) + 1 + 9 + 5 + 9 (my birth year is 1959) = 30. Simplify to 1 digit by adding 3 + 0 = 3. Now, that’s a little simplified, so if you want to make sure you’re doing it right and find out more about the meaning of various life path numbers, you’ll have to check out Pauline’s book.
See the cool stuff you learn when you’re researching romance novels?
November 5, 2008 – 6:03 pm
When I read “The Year of Pleasures” by Elizabeth Berg–a novel about a widow’s first year without her husband–I marked this passage as especially moving:
Outside, it had begun to snow: tiny flakes that made it look like the earth was being salted. Tomorrow I would need to buy a new shovel–the one John had used was too heavy for me. He’d appreciated hard manual labor, saying he liked to do work that was outside his head, for a change. I liked reading a good novel while he cleared the walks, popping up every now and then to look out the window and see how he was progressing. That was my contribution. Of course, I had reciprocated–bringing him dinner on a tray when the Sox were playing an important game. Sewing on buttons for him. Finding things he insisted weren’t there when they were actually right before him. I wasn’t sure Lorraine and other like her–ones who were so despairing of marriage, ones who were so sure their expectations could never be met–understood that it was these small moments of caretaking that meant the most, that forged the real relationship. The way one pulled the blankets over the sleeping other, the way one prepared a snack for oneself but made enough to share. Such moments made for the team of two, which made for one’s sword and shield.
So often it is the little things in life…and in writing…that really count.
November 5, 2008 – 2:38 pm
Hitting The Trails
I live in Canada, so when I got the bright idea to set my next book in New England a research trip was in order. I set aside some time in October…who wouldn’t love a trip to New England in the autumn? I’m a big hiker, so of course my version of this trip included hitting several of the beautiful mountain trails in the region.
My guy and I put in hours and hours in the Squalm Lake area and we even hiked up several of the bigger peaks in the White Mountains, including Mount Washington.
After all that work, I deserved a little relaxation, didn’t I?
Relaxing
