Category Archives: Uncategorized

Happy Mother’s Day!

14 Monday May 2012

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What a fabulous Mother’s Day weekend. My husband and I spent the weekend at the beach and found this really cool restaurant in Jacksonville, NC that reminded me of Jacksonville, Florida. There was even a parrot. It was an awesome, all about me weekend. But I wasn’t completely selfish. I spent Friday with my folks and had a great time.

I took my parents lunch on Friday, complete with a dozen Subway cookies and a collapsible garden rake for my mom. She loves working in her flowers but Dad frequently misplaces her rake. The one I got her folds down so she can hide it from him. Then mom and I spent the afternoon going through some old family photos.

Going through those pictures with my mom meant so much. I brought most of them home with me so I can scan them and burn them to discs. Some are so frayed and faded, it’s hard to see the faces clearly. In that old box of photographs that once belonged to my grandmother, there was even pictures of my great, great, grandparents.  I haven’t scanned those yet, but when I do, I’ll post a blog dedicated to ancestors.

In the ones I’ve gone through so far, the most heart wrenching is a picture of my grandfather sitting on the front porch holding his three month old daughter. My dad and his brother are standing on either side of him, looking somewhat confused. My grandfather looks sad and weary. With good reason. His baby girl was dead and had been for several hours.

The child died in her crib while my grandmother was visiting her parents in Virginia. It was sometime around 1940. There were no laws  regulating the transport of bodies and so my great uncle drove my grandmother home with her dead child. The baby had never been photographed. And so, my grandfather posed with his daughter’s cold, blue body so his wife would have pictures of her only daughter.

It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about the courage that must have taken. On her part for bringing her child home to her daddy and on his part for holding his dead daughter so his wife could have that all precious photograph.

My grandparents are both gone now,. They’re once again united with that little girl they knew such a brief time. But I’m sure my dad thinks of his mom on this day and remembers all the things she did for him and the sacrifices she made.

I’m blessed to still have my parents with me and would like to take this moment to wish my mother a very happy Mother’s Day. Love you, Mom.

02 Wednesday May 2012

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Yesterday, my publisher turned six. Happy birthday to the most author friendly publisher on the planet! Thanks to TWRP I now have 3 books available in both ebook and print format through the publisher’s website and Amazon and in ebook format through TWRP, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Fictionwise, Borders, Books-A-Million, etc.

So, happy birthday, RJ, Rhonda, Lisa, Lil, Alison, and the rest of the TWRP owners, editors, and staff. You ladies rock!

I’m Guest Blogging With Mimi Today

20 Friday Apr 2012

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If you’re looking for my Friday post, I’m guest blogging today about my love of the Victorian Era. You can find it over at TWRP author, Mimi Barbour’s blog. http://mimibarbour.blogspot.com/2012/04/why-i-love-victorian-era-by-lilly-gale.html?showComment=1334932736404#c8855173295922593728

Stop by and leave a comment for a chance to win one of Mimi’s books or one of mine.

See you over at Mimi’s place. 🙂

Sarah Grimm- Rocking Romance

14 Friday Oct 2011

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Today I’m interviewing romance author, Sara Grimm, whose hot romance featuring a former rock star and wounded piano player is earning rave reviews. I’ve asked Sara a few questions about herself and her new release.

1-    1-  When do you do your best writing? Morning? Evening? Or mid-day? And how do you organize your writing time?
I do my best writing in the morning when the rest of the house is still asleep.  I wake up around 4:30 seven days a week. Not necessarily by choice, my internal alarm clock just goes off at that time. If I don’t sit down and write in the morning, chances are good I won’t get any writing done that day. I’m too easily distracted by the million other things I need to get done – grocery shopping, the day job, orthodontist appointments, or house cleaning.
Ug. Housework!
2-    2-  Are you a reader as well as a writer? What have you read lately?
I love to read!  The only problem is that lately I’ve been working 55+ hour weeks so that doesn’t leave me much time. My To-Be-Read shelf is literally overflowing with books. Just because I haven’t had time to read doesn’t mean my purchasing has slowed one bit! My list has grown considerably longer since I began participating in Six Sentence Sunday – an event where every Sunday writers, published or not, post six sentences from one of their books. It’s a great way to find new books, and as an author, this has really helped me tighten my writing. Looking for six sentences to draw the reader in, forces an author to look closely at their writing.
I don’t get online much on the weekends. But I have seen your Six Sentence Sunday and love it. I don’t have as much time to read any more as I’d like either. But my Nook has twenty new books waiting for me to make time and After Midnight is one of them.
3-     3- How do you spend your free time when not reading or writing? Do you even have free time?
I have very little free time, but the time I do have I prefer to spend with my husband. Whether we go out to dinner, a movie, or just sit at home together, as long as the time is spent with him, it doesn’t matter to me what we do.
I hear you. My husband and I enjoy going to Emerald Isle, NC and walking on the beach, even in the winter.
4-  4-    Since I love to travel and seldom do, I like to hear about other places. It’s one reason I love to read and write. I get to travel in my head. Much cheaper that way. Lol!  So, where do you live? What’s the climate and topography like?
I live in Michigan, home of Detroit – car capital of the world;  the Mackinac Bridge – one of the longest suspension bridges in the world; and the longest freshwater shoreline in the world. Specifically, I live in West Michigan, in a small city that sits right on Lake Michigan. It’s a truly beautiful area surrounded by rivers and lakes, full of trees, greenery and sandy beaches. 
This is our Pier. Beautiful, isn’t it?
Although, at least three months out of the year, it looks more like this:
              Gorgeous pictures. Thanks for sharing. I love lighthouses. Not so fond of all that snow. Wow!
5-      Where is the most exotic place you’ve ever visited?
As a child my parents took us camping in nearly all of the 50 states, so I’ve seen the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore, I’ve visited Niagara Falls, and I even walked the mighty Mackinac Bridge on Labor Day. Outside of the United States, I’ve only been to Canada – Stratford, Ontario, specifically – for their Shakespeare Festival.
6-      Was it vacation, business, or research? And, have you ever combined travel and research?
7-       
The places listed above were all for vacations. Unfortunately, I don’t get much vacation time, and I haven’t had a chance to combine travel and research. Perhaps, now that my sons are older, I’ll get some time away from home. I’d love to visit England and Scotland!
Scotland and England are on my list too. My daughter is actually visiting Scotland over Thanksgiving. Can’t wait to see the pictures.
8-      Where is your most recent release set?
AFTER MIDNIGHT is set in Long Island City, the westernmost borough of Queens, New York. Known for its waterfront parks and high concentration of art galleries – and also the famous Silvercup Studios sign (which I will forever equate with the movie Highlander) – this area just felt like the ideal place to set both a private recording studio and Izzy’s bar. My heroine, Isabeau Montgomery, has been hiding from her past for years, and while most of the book takes place in either her bar or her apartment one floor above, there is a quick jaunt to London, England, hometown of my hero, Noah Clark.
9-      Tell us something about the book
She wants to forget her past. 
He wants to reclaim his.
Sometimes the moment that changes everything comes After Midnight.
AFTER MIDNIGHT is a story that is near and dear to me. The story of Isabeau, owner of Izzy’s Bar, child prodigy, piano phenom—a woman who is hiding behind a lie of her own making. Here is the official blurb:
Thirteen years—that’s how long Isabeau Montgomery has been living a lie. After an automobile accident took her mother’s life, Izzy hid herself away, surviving the only way she knew how. Now she is happy in her carefully reconstructed life. That is until he walks through the door of her bar…
Black Phoenix singer/front man Noah Clark came to Long Island City with a goal–one that doesn’t include an instant, electric attraction to the dark-haired beauty behind the bar. Coaxing her into his bed won’t be easy, but he can’t get her pale, haunted eyes nor her skill on the piano out of his head.

Can Noah help Isabeau overcome the past? Or will her need to protect her secret force her back into hiding and destroy their chance at happiness?
The fantastic Amie Louellen made a book trailer for me. You can see it here:
http://youtu.be/IaUOaC7pTC4
10-   Lastly, what are you working on now?
While writing After Midnight, one of the secondary characters kept telling me he needed his own story, so I’m writing that one now. Midnight Heat is a reunion romance, and although I had no plans to give Dominic his own book, about half-way through writing After Midnight, I fell so in love with his character I had to make sure he got his own happily-ever- after.
I routinely post snippets from all of my books on my blog: http://www.authorsarahgrimm.blogspot.com
You can get your own copy of After Midnight here: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=175_133&products_id=4633 or here: http://www.amazon.com/After-Midnight-Sarah-Grimm/dp/1601549725/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318499992&sr=8-1

Fun and Frightening Friday.

26 Friday Aug 2011

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What’s fun about today? I have an interview up at Emma Lai’s. http://emmalaiwrites.blogspot.com/2011/08/lilly-gayle-author-of-slightly.html?showComment=1314355536845#c4442594006988822020

What’s frightening? Well, there’s a hurricane a-blowin’! I’m not on the coast, but I do live smack-dab in the center of north central North Carolina about three hours from the coast. And three hours is nothing when there are 120 MPH winds. We also own a camper at Emerald Isle on the Crystal Coast and I’m wondering if it’s going to survive. To top things off, I have guests due at my house tomorrow. It’s supposed to be a birthday pool party for my brother and sis-in-law, but I don’t think I want people in the pool with 70 MPH gusts and torrential rains. So, I have a dilemma. Cancel the party at the last minute? Or ride it out in the house and hope the power doesn’t go out?

Hate to disappoint my family, especially my two little nephews who were looking forward to coming to their mom and dad’s birthday pool party. But, I think the party is cancelled. Especially since my mother-in-law lives down east and will be evacuating to my house.

It’s going to be a wild and windy weekend. In the words of a sign posted at a hotel on the Outter Banks this morning: The earth did shake, the wind will blow, but sorry folks you gotta go.

Happy Birthday America!

05 Tuesday Jul 2011

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From NC to all Americans, Happy Independence Day! Celebrate. Go wild. Have a blast. Fly your flag and grill out. Relax, enjoy, and…

Don’t forget to thank our men and women serving in the armed forces–both past and present. America’s freedom wasn’t free. Soldiers, sailors, marines, and aviators sacrificed their comfort and often, their lives for this country. They’re still sacrificing.

And remember not only those who died in combat, but those who served in past wars and are no longer with us. Honor their memeories as you celebrate our nation’s birth.