Real Life Archives - Page 14 of 24 - Maggie Wells-Margaret Ethridge

July 20, 2015

Monday Mayhem – Frenzy!

First, let me just say:

The draft for FLIP THIS LOVE is complete, has been pre-edited, revised, and is now back with the ever-fabulous Jewels for another round of scrutiny. Which is good because this

appeared in Friday’s edition of Publisher’s Marketplace, and my agent posted this awesome announcement on the kt literary blog.

Next up? RWA National Conference in NYC!

Literally finished revisions Sunday, so I’ll be frantically packing for the next two nights. I can’t wait!

In the meantime, you can gaze upon this and we’ll all pretend we’re at the beach.

I’ll be back next week with a full report!

July 13, 2015

Monday Mayhem – Excuses, excuses

Please excuse Margaret from the internet today. She has been ill this week and has been using every word she could muster to make this happen:

She hopes to be done with this first draft and back in fighting form next week, when she will tell you all about her preparations for her New York adventure and the Romance Writers of America conference. In the meantime, please enjoy the (unedited) excerpt below with my compliments.

Signed,

Epstein’s Mother

Flip This Love – a work in progress

“That’s it. Suck, sugar.”

The husky timbre of his voice sent shivers down her spine. One warm hand slid from her shoulder to her back. The tips of his fingers dug into the valley of her spine. He could nearly span her waist. Her nipples puckered when he slipped his hand into her hair. Oh, how she wished she’d worn it up. She loved the feel of him skin on skin. She almost wept with relief when he wrapped his big, broad palm around her nape. Heat seeped into the taut muscles of her neck. A thin stream of hot moisture escaped the corner of her mouth and trickled down her chin.

“Oh yeah. Suck harder.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d said those words to her, and God help her, she knew it wouldn’t be the last. She was weak. A quivering mass of happy, hurt, and oh-please-touch-me-again.

The man was right. She needed to suck it up. And hard. If Harley Cade was back to stay, she had to be on her guard. The man was as insidious as the kudzu that crept into her mother’s flower garden.

Laney pulled the spent crawfish shell from her mouth and dropped it onto the butcher paper in front of her. Fingers tangled in her hair and tugged lightly, a tiny jolt that sent a lightning bolt of white-hot desire streaking straight through her. She looked up in time to see him flash old Mrs. Hillbury a dimpling smile and commandeer the folding chair beside her.

“Evenin’, Delaney.”

July 6, 2015

Monday Mayhem – One Click Edition

Hi all!

I’m here! Still in a full-on writing sprint whilst attempting to have a life. Silly me.

The book is going well. I’m chipping away at it bit by bit and hope to have the rough first draft completed by 7/15/15.

In the meantime, I am preparing for my jaunt to NYC later this month to attend the Romance Writers of America annual conference. I’m super excited. Not only do I get to room with the fabulous Karen Booth, but I get to meet a bunch of other publishing biz friends and associates live and in person. It’ll be four days jam-packed with signings, seminars, speakers and soirees.

The downside to all that means I’ve been forced to do some clothing shopping. Those of you who know me in the three dimensional world, know that I loathe shopping for clothes. Add this crazy-pants deadline to my natural aversion and you can understand why I’ve been doing as much of my acquiring as possible online.

Dress at RWA National ranges from pajama party to formal. I’m trying to be strategic in my packing. I’ve picked a basic color scheme of black, white, & re(a)d. [sorry, had to throw the Gilmore reference in] I’m adding in some silver and everything (including shoes and accessories) will work around that.

Of course, I’m a chronic over packer. God forbid I get stuck without at least three days worth of extra underwear and socks (genetic flaw), and I live in fear of forgetting the one essential item that I won’t be able to procure in the nation’s largest metropolis. So, of course, I ordered packing cubes as well. They claim I can squeeze an entire week of tops into one neat and wrinkle-free bundle. I can’t wait to see if it’s true.

So yeah, when I’m not tapping away at the manuscript, I’m clicking away on the shopping sites. So far, I’ve hit all the usual suspects – Kohl’s, Target, and Amazon. Had a fabulous customer service experience with Zappos. The shoes didn’t work out, but they were so awesome about the order, tracking & return that I’ll definitely be ordering from them again.

So yeah, that’s where I’m at this week. What about you? Are you an online shopper? What are some of your favorites?

June 22, 2015

Monday Mayhem – Daddy Issues

I married my father.

Not for real, because that would be illegal and more than a little icky, but I married a man just like him. One of those fellas who was just born to be a dad. A guy who wants nothing more than his kids around where he can keep watch over them. He shares a few other charming and not-so-charming quirks with my father (he goes from zero to over-reaction in 1.2 seconds, loves ice cream and anything chocolate, and whatever happens, it’s always because the other driver wasn’t paying attention), but I figure on the whole, I came out ahead in this game.

I hope and pray that one day our kids truly to realize how very lucky they were to have him. He has been the one steadfast and constant (if sometimes overbearing and annoying) force in their lives. It’s nice to see them starting to appreciate him now that they are adults.

Mostly, it’s fun to watch him morph from Daddy to Granddad. I was only eleven when my parents became grandparents for the first time. I swear they were body snatched, because they were not at all the same people with my nephews and nieces as they were with me. They were more like…my grandparents.

The circle of life has come our way. Now we’re the ones who do nothing but indulge. Discipline? Not our problem. Rules? At Granddad’s house? Not hardly. We’ve divvied the grandparenting duties between us. So far, I am in charge of cookies, hugs, and comfort, and Granddad handles playing and exploration. It works for us.

I married a guy just like my dad, and I have to say, it’s been a good thing. The pure pleasure he gets from even a few minutes with our grandson is a joy to behold.

So…behold:

I think I chose pretty darn well!

June 15, 2015

Monday Mayhem – The things we do for love

This weekend, I saw Rush in concert. Not one of my favorite bands. Wait. I take that back. They used to be one of my favorite bands to mock, but now I’m not allowed to do that. You see, Geddy and the guys are Fodder’s all-time favorite band, so singing ‘Take Off (To the Great White North)” is kind of verboten around here. I say kind of, because I sing it anyway. In my Geddy voice. Always earns me a ferocious scowl.

Anyhow. My man wanted to see Rush. It’s their 40th anniversary, and he’s afraid we wouldn’t have a chance to see them together if we didn’t catch them on this tour. We checked all the venues closest to our home (but not Closer to the Heart) but found they didn’t fit with our schedules. So I came up with a brilliant idea – why not see them in Chicago?

We hadn’t had a chance to visit the city in years–even worse, we hadn’t seen some of my closest friends in longer than I care to admit. A few text messages later, we had a plan (and more than a few snarky comments from the women-folk). Though the Rush doesn’t exactly evoke the same reaction from me as say…Duran Duran, it was the best weekend ever.

We ate. We drank. And we laughed with old friends as if not a day had gone by.

You want to know the best part? [Aside from the fact that there were NO LINES FOR THE WOMEN’S RESTROOMS!] I got to spend time with this happy, happy man.

Nearly sixteen years together and married fourteen at the end of this month, and I don’t think I have ever seen him so carefree and excited about anything. He was over the top, and it was a joy to watch.

Thanks to my ever-generous friend, Kathy, I was also able to spend some time in with my sister, her daughter, son, and daughter-in-law, and my littlest great-niece, Lottie, who is perfect in every way.

How about you? What are some of the things you’ve done just to make someone you love happy?

June 1, 2015

Monday Mayhem – Bookmark this!

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m really the type who thrives on deadlines. Usually, I can just make one up and stick to it, but lately I’ve been torn in a number of directions on both the personal and professional fronts.

There are times when the publishing world moves as quick as a mouse click. Then there’s the other 99.9% of the time. Sometimes it feels like snails on Valium are lapping me. There’s a lot going on with the writing behind the scenes, hopefully all of it will come to fruition.

*crosses everything*

But at the moment, I’m kind of in limbo. I have a work in progress, but it’s a project with no deadline. It’s just the story I’m writing as I wait to hear about the fates of four, possibly 6, other stories. Some written, some yet to have a word on the page.

The thing is, if even one of these possibilities comes to be, I’m going to have to start busting some major words. You’d think that would inspire me to wrap up the one I have going, right?

Wrong.

It’s all I can do to make myself work on this story with no deadline, even though the first draft is over 60% complete. Part of it is middle of the story syndrome. The other part is that I am not a girl who limbos well. You see, I’m not very bendy.

So, today is June 1. I have approximately 20k more words (or 4-5 chapters) to put in on this draft. I’ve got a little vacation scheduled in there, so I’m giving myself a deadline of June 30 to complete the draft.

There. Deadline set.

I expect you to hold me to that.

Oh! Before I forget, I got these nifty new bookmarks! (Horrible lighting in my house. They are much prettier than this pic shows.) Want one or five? Email me at mkethridge1@gmail.com and give me your mailing address and I will drop an envelope in the mail.

So, how about you? Anything you’re hoping to accomplish this month, or are you just ready to kick back and enjoy the summer? If you’re looking for some reading, Jumping Mr. January and February’s Fling are still FREE. You may still be able to snag Three Little Words, if they don’t get the sale prices switched back today.

May 25, 2015

Monday Mayhem – Remembrance

No writerly mayhem to report this week. Just want to wish my fellow Americans a blessed Memorial Day, and remind everyone to take a moment to think of all those brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

Peace, my friends.

May 4, 2015

Monday Mayhem – family time edition

I was away this weekend, helping to celebrate the nuptials of my niece, Emilie and her ever-patient fiance, Nick. 🙂

While I was there, I got to spend some time with my mommy, my siblings, nieces and nephews, and got to meet my newest great-nephew, Colin.

I am a smitten kitten. Almost as much of a goner as his great-grandma.

Most important of all, after the official festivities ended, my sister and I made sure that they bride made it to Joe’s Pub on time. Because that’s what good aunts do.

Bracket those fun times with nine hours in the car each way and you have my weekend in a nutshell. What about you? Did you do anything fun?

April 14, 2015

Monday Mayhem – This is me

You guys, I have so much to tell you, but none of it is set in stone yet, so I can’t. Let’s just say it’s been another awesome weekend and I am very happy, very blessed, and very tired (but for the best possible reason-too much to write).

I’m too BLAAAAGAH-YIP-YIP-YIP! to put together a coherent post, and for that I apologize.

I promise, I will spill all as soon as I can.

So…how was your weekend?

April 6, 2015

Monday Mayhem – I’ll try anything edition

Yesterday, I ate bee pollen.

That’s a sentence I never thought I’d type. Those of you who know me are aware that I’m insanely picky eater. Add in the fact that I’m petrified of bees, and you might get an inkling of why it was so weird for me. But, bee pollen is supposed to be some kind of all-natural super-food. Fodder had a friend who was a long-distance runner who swore by it. We’ve both been trying to be better about exercising lately, and you know I’m a sucker for anything with the word ‘super’ in front of it. The truth is, I’ve been battling seasonal allergies for the past two weeks and am willing to do just about anything to feel better at this point, so yeah…we bought a jar of locally collected bee pollen. I’ve started sprinkling a 1/4 teaspoon full into my morning yogurt.

I apologize in advance if I inadvertently start buzzing.

In other news Jamie Fraser and Don Draper are back in my life. I couldn’t be happier. Not that Fodder isn’t enough for me, but… you know. *wink-wink*

Of course, their return takes place in a month when I am already overbooked. I’m doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month, and have set a goal to write 30k words by month’s end. In truth, I hope to find the energy to exceed that. I’d love to complete the first draft of Play Dates within the month. It’s totally do-able. I’m a little over 1/3 in already.

I also started doing a 30-day yoga challenge that I found online. Suckered my friend Lulu into doing it too, so we’re keeping each other on track.

I’m pleased to report that we have yet to drape any article of clothing on the elliptical machine. This is particularly good news, because we parked that bad boy in the living room. I’ve been slowly but surely building up my endurance. I can now go the entire length of a Gilmore Girls episode (@44 mins) without keeling over. Yay, me!

So what’s new with you? Eat anything weird lately? Doing any challenges? Is your exercise equipment wearing your clothes?