Category Archives: writing

Do Animals Have a Place in Romance Novels?

22 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by in animal pictures, animal tales, animals, animals in romance novels, cats, dogs, Lilly Gayle, novels, romance, The Wild Rose Press, writing

≈ 2 Comments

I love animals. I even like cats. But do they have a place in romance novels?

I used to like cats better than dogs until we got a small breed dog and let him stay in the house. Then I decided I liked dogs just as much as cats. Then my daughter got Cha Cha.

Cha Cha was a sweet kitten. But I should have known things would change when I caught him trying to nurse my dog–who’d never given birth and had been spayed years before.

As Cha Cha grew–and grew and grew, he became a beast of a cat, bigger than my little Malti-poo, Teetee. And once my nephew showed the cat how to use the doggie door, all signs of sweetness in Cha Cha disappeared. He became a hunter, a wanna be jungle cat who stalks the night. And unfortunately, brings me gifts.

He’s brought in all sorts of critters, both alive and dead. Everything from squirrels and rabbits to rats, mice, birds, and moles. He brings birds inside and turns them loose in the house. Sometimes he takes them back out again, and sometimes I come home to find them hanging from a curtain rod or crapping on my walls.

Cha Cha once turned a huge field rat loose at my feet while I was sitting on the toilet! I had to beat the critter to death with the toilet plunger.

Teetee usually rescues me from the rats and mice by killing them and taking them outside for me, but this rat was freaking huge. Teetee was terrified. Cha Cha was amused. He plopped his fat tail down on the bathroom rug and licked his paws while enjoying the show.

He brought a full grown tree squirrel in once and turned it loose in the bedroom. The squirrel was so grateful for my intervention, he let me pick him up and rescue him. Despite my husband screaming at me to drop the critter before it bit me, I was able to take the furry little baby outside and put him back in the tree.

I found his corpse on the sidewalk the next day.

Cha Cha also brought me a flying squirrel once. I learned the hard way NOT to pick up flying squirrels. They tend to bite and they don’t release.

My doctor assured me there isn’t a large rabid squirrel population in north central NC. Rabies shots were not required and my tetanus shot was up to date.

Cha Cha takes over my house. He thinks he is king. He sits where he wants and sprawls were he wants. He can open doors and sneak into bedrooms and he demands kitty snacks every morning. I can’t open the pantry without him trying to get inside. 


The other night, just before supper, I heard a terrified chirp. Cha Cha had snuck in with a bird. I found the cat in the guest room, terrorizing the poor little thing.

I bent down to rescue the bird. Cha Cha growled and dashed under the bed. So, I got down on all fours and grabbed Cha Cha by the tail. I dragged him out, but he left his prey under the bed.

I yelled for my husband to bring me a broom. I couldn’t see under the bed, but I could hear the bird and saw a shadow in the darkness next to the wall. I raked the broom under the bed, hoping to drag the bird out and set it free. I hit something with the broom. Eureka!

I dragged it toward me, reached for it with my hand. And….

Pulled out a dead squirrel in full rigor.

I screamed and dropped the squirrel. Cha Cha, taking advantage of my shock and disgust, dashed back under the bed. He grabbed the bird and ran. I yelled at my husband to get rid of the squirrel’s body while I took off after that damn cat.

Cha Cha ran for the doggie door. I ran out the kitchen door and tried to head him off a the pass. I caught up with him on the sidewalk and grabbed his tail. He dropped the bird. I picked it up and released it.

The bird flew two feet and crashed landed. Cha Cha grabbed it again. I chased the cat into the front yard in my bare feet yelling like a crazy woman–Lord only knows what my neighbors thought! Then I caught the cat and got the bird away from him again. This time, I put the bird in a tall tree in the front yard.

My husband warned me I’d most likely find the little feathered corpse in my bed the next day. Lucky for me I didn’t find it in my bed. Unlucky for the bird. I found his poor mangled body on the sidewalk.


Cha Cha was determined to deliver his “gift” whether I wanted it or not.


I’m just glad he bought the bird inside or I wouldn’t have found the dead squirrel until today when I vacuum–or worse, when it started to decompose and stink up my house!

But my daughter shouldn’t feel slighted because her cat keeps bringing me gifts. He brought one to her today too, gift wrapped in the bathrobe she’d left on the floor. 


I refused to get rid of it for her. She tried manipulating her daddy. She flashed those baby blues and asked ever so sweetly. Her daddy said, “Your cat. Your corpse.” 


She wasn’t happy, but she took the carcass outside. And she’s still defending that beast of a cat!


“He was just trying to apologize for knocking stuff off my dresser this morning. I had to yell at him and the mouse is a make up present,” she said. 


Make up present my ass. It was another murder victim brought inside my house to stink it up. Honestly, I think that cat hates me!


But my friends say I should write a book about him. They think my cat tales are hilarious. They don’t have to live with the little bastard. Then again, he can be so sweet when he wants. Trouble is, everything is on Cha Cha’s terms.

I don’t know if there’s a book about Cha Cha in my future, but I think he might just become a secondary character in a future novel. Most likely, he’ll be the antagonist. lol!

Beating Breast Cancer- My Story

07 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by in breast cancer, breast cancer awareness month, breast cancer survivor, writing

≈ 12 Comments

October is breast cancer awareness month. And I am a breast cancer survivor. My journey began when I was 47 and had a screening mammogram that showed a lesion in my right breast.
The radiologist ordered a diagnostic mammogram for additional views. On Thursday June 28, I had a breast needle localization. On July 3, the day before leaving for the beach for an extended holiday weekend, I got the news. I had breast cancer–DCIS-ductal carcinoma insitu AND invasive ductal carcinoma.
Because there was an invasive component to the cancer, I had to have a second surgery–a lumpectomy. Even though I’m a mammographer and for some strange reason, had mentally thought of what I’d do in the event of such a diagnosis for years, I still wasn’t prepared. I just knew I wanted to survive–and survive with dignity. I documented my journey in a blog on My Space. Below are some excerpts from that blog–edited for content.
July 10, 2007
Today I had my first oncology appointment with this 12 year old oncologist who looks like Doogie Howser’s little sister. They have the rest of my path report back. My hormone receptors were negative.That means I can’t take tomoxofin. I can’t do the hormone therapy in conjunction with the radiation. What that means is, my ass is going to be bald…okay, maybe not my ass, but possibly my head! I’m going to have to have chemo! That little tiny, less than 1cm tumor was an aggressive little bastard with high proliferation margins and no hormone receptors, so if I want to decrease my chances of a relapse ten years down the road, then I’m going to have to take chemo.

July 11, 2007
I feel just fine….for now…until the damn chemo starts! Just goes to show you that health isn’t everything. You can feel like crap and be perfectly healthy OR feel great and be dying and not know it. There’s some paranoid food for thought.

July 12, 2007 Today is Thursday. The day before my second surgery and the day I realized what tomorrow is. I arrived at work just fine. Friday the 13. That’s when it hit me. I’m having a biopsy on freaking Friday the 13th!

July 13, 2007

Had my second lumpectomy, sentinel node biopsy, and port-a-cath placement.                                             
I went to bed really late last night talking to my husband, Johnny. But I woke up this morning at 6:30 and it’s Friday the 13th and I’m in my own body. It’s in God’s hands.

Clean nodes and clean margins, God. Okay? Thanks.

July 14, 2007
Yesterday was my surgery. The nuke study was a bit embarassing. Dr. Stoll had to stick a needle in just above the aerola. He and Anthony were both in there, and I’ll see them both and have to look them in the face when I go back to work on Wednesday. So of course, I had to crack a joke. They stuck the needle in, which felt like one hell of a bee sting. As they were watching the radition uptake flow from the injection site into the nodes, watching to see where the concentration was highest, and talking as if I wasn’t there, and I said, “Gee, if I’d ever had fantasies about being with two men, this wasn’t it.”

Yep. I’m the queen of corny.
Around 3:30, they took me into OR. I was doing good until the anesthesiologist put that mask over my face. I freaked. I’m mildly claustraphobic, but it honest to God felt like she was putting a plastic bag over my head and telling me to take a deep breath. I remember crying and saying, “I can’t breath!” But the next thing I knew, I was in the recovery room and the surgeon was telling me the surgery was over and all 4 nodes had come back clear. 

I have never known relief so profound.

July 16, 2007
Is it normal to worry about being too calm? Since finding out the nodes came back negative, it’s like this peace has come over me, as if I know everything is going to be all right. I’m putting everything in my blog because I have to get these thoughts down while they’re fresh because with all the drugs that have been pumped into my system, my memory isn’t exactly reliable.

My mother reads my blog and feels it’s of best seller quality. Trust me. I have no dreams of grandeur. Though I would love to publish a romance novel one day, and I do have an agent who will be submitting two separate manuscripts in the near future. I don’t get excited over these things any more. I have a drawer filled with rejection letters.

July 17, 2007

Adriamycin and Cyclophosphamide. (Cytoxin for short)The combo is called AC. My chemo drugs.

The oncologist gave me the choice of taking a 12 week regimen every three weeks or an 8 week regimen every other week. I’m going for the gold. Beginning Tuesday July 31, I will start my first round of chemo–once a week, every other week for eight weeks.

AC blocks DNA production in cells and inhibits enzyme replication so cancer cells can’t repair themselves. Since cancer cells reproduce faster than other cells, if there are any cancer cells left in my body, the chemo drug will stop them from reproducing or repairing themselves so they will die. That’s 8 weeks of chemo. Two months. I can survive anything for two months. Soldiers put up with a hell of a lot worse for a hell of a lot longer. I can do this!!

July 20, 2007
I cut my hair short so going bald won’t be such a drastic change.

July 31, 2007
My first chemo treatment.
First, they sterilized my skin and stuck a needle directly into my port, which was weird. I felt the prick go into my skin, but not the port, which is a disc under my skin that has a catheter that goes into my subclavian vein. Then they drew my blood to make sure my blood count was good, and checked my hemoglobin. Then we waited for the lab to mix my poison. Literally.

AC chemo drugs are so caustic the lab techs have to wear rubber protective gear and mix it under a hood with an exhaust. And I had to have a full 5ml drip of saline and a slowly pushed dose of decadron (steroids) a half hour before they could even start the chemo. The purpose of the steroid is so I don’t lose my appetite during chemo. Number one myth of chemo. Most patients do NOT lose weight on chemo. They gain it.

I got home at one thirty and took two nausea pills. I don’t feel sick, just very tired. My eyes are gritty as if I haven’t slept in days, but I’m good.My last thoughts before closing my eyes last night were, “Dear God, let me get through this first day of chemo without getting sick.” And he got me through it just fine. Thank you.

Aug 1, 2007
Well, I made it to work today and even put in a bit of overtime.
I went to bed exhausted, feeling hung over and woke up with a bad case of reflux that was a bit productive. but I didn’t really throw up. After poping a couple of nausea pills and my Prilosec, I felt well enough to go to work. I’m not bald, I’m not throwing up, but if the tingling sensation in my scalp is a harbinger of things to come, I expect that after my next treatment, I will have a few less folicles. Because I haven’t been making Selsin Blue commercials.

Aug 2, 2007
Everyone warned me, but did I listen? No. I’m hardheaded. Stubborn. All those other names I’ve been called on occasion. But putting in ten and half hours my first day after chemo was a bit too much because I didn’t last four hours today. It wasn’t nausea that did me in, it was exhaustion. And diarrhea.

Everything I ate the night before made a grand exit starting at about 2:00 a.m. I was wiped out before I ever got to work and for some reason, my teeth have started aching. Especially, my molars.Am I going to have to add losing my teeth to my list of worries? Will I then be overweight, middle-aged, bald, and toothless when this is done? Hell, as long as I beat the cancer I can always get dentures. At least my teeth will be straight.
But I’d sure like to keep my teeth.

Aug 5, 2007
The beach was just what I needed. But the trip was a beast. I get carsick now. We arrived at the camper late Friday night and I felt like hurling.
We spent Saturday afternoon on the beach. Me, set up under the umbrella with a hat and book like an old woman. Johnny sat in the sun a few feet away. But when I got hot, I waded into the surf to cool down and like to wore myself out just getting back to the chair. Later in the evening, I took a shower and a nap. After the sun went down, we walked back out on the beach and sat in the sand.
I felt grounded and centered. I felt the power of God Almighty surrounding me. And so I prayed. I prayed for strength and courage and then I let go and sat there with an open heart and soul and mind and didn’t pray. I just opened up for whatever God wanted to give back to me. And I felt at peace.

Aug 6, 2007
Learned a new word today. Nadiring. Sounds like Ralph Nadar only it has nothing to do with money. Wish it did. Nadir is the chemo killing my normal blood cells, specifically, my white blood cells (WBC’s) and making me feel tired and worn out. My Red Blood Cells (RBC’s) hematocrit, hemoglobin and platelet counts were acceptable. So, that’s good. At least I’m not anemic.Nadir occurs seven to ten days after a chemo treatment. The condition ends about the time they juice me up again. Oh, joy!

Aug 13, 2007
Around four o’clock today I was washing my hands and just happened to notice a lot of hair on my scrubs. I brushed it off and looked in the mirror and noticed that my hair was looking rather flat. I ran my fingers through it and strands came out in my fingers. Lots of strands. I ran my fingers through again and pulled out handfuls. I didn’t think it would start falling out until after the second chemo treatment. But apparently, for me, it has started falling out just thirteen days after the first treatment.

So, what is it with me and the number thirteen?

Aug 14, 2007
After supper, I took a shower and washed my hair, but it all started coming out in clumps and grossing me out. There was hair everywhere. Running down my back. Pooling at my feet. Piling up on the drain. It was nasty. As soon as I got out of the shower, I asked Johnny to shave my head. He swallowed hard and grabbed the clippers. My daughter Lauren looked as if she were about to cry. I didn’t shed a tear. It felt like taking control. I decided when I was going to go bald. And I did it that night.

Aug. 15, 2007
I wore the wig to work today but the thing is hot and mashes against my ears.I pulled that blasted thing on and off, showing my co-workers my shaved head, trying to get used to it myself–and giving my itchy scalp a chance to breathe. Not a single person made me feel uncomfortable. Had I worked anywhere else, I probably could have gone bald or worn a scarf. But women getting mammograms do not want to be reminded of the reason they were there: to screen for cancer. And I was a walking example of a not-so-good outcome. At work, it wasn’t about me. It was about my patients. I kept the wig on.

Aug. 16, 2007
An old high school friend took me for my second round of chemo. Johnny would have taken me to any of my appointments but I told him not too. He needed to work, stay occupied. We needed the money.

The Cytoxan drip tickled my throat and I got a little swimmy headed. When the nurse began pushing the adriamicin in, I got a burning sensation in the back of my throat but this time, I didn’t get the pain or sudden tightness in my chest.

Aug 17, 2007
The day after my second chemo treatment, I didn’t work. It was my scheduled day off and I took it. I did go to the oncology clinic for my neulasta shot, only to learn I’d gained three pounds since yesterday. Must be the rock that’s been sitting in my stomach since last night. I don’t feel nauseated exactly, but there is this weight in the pit of my stomach and I feel bloated and just all around “blah.”

Aug 20, 2007- Monday
I know what I’m supposed to do. I’m supposed to make myself get up and move around. I’m supposed to exercise, go to work, blah, blah, blah. Whatever. I just didn’t have the energy today to put on my wig and my happy face and go to work, so for the first time since all this started, I called in sick.

Last night, I even threw up. Not chunks, mind you, just wet nasty that grossed me out.

Aug. 30,2007
Finished my third chemo treatment. My daughter took me. She carried her book bag filled with books, convinced she would study. She didn’t.We talked.When we got home, I had reflux and felt tired. There just isn’t a drug in the world that’s going to make me feel good after being poisoned. But I’m not going to whine.

We don’t always know God’s plan and though I refuse to believe he “gave” me breast cancer, He knew it was coming a long time ago. Therefore, other things have fallen into place the way they have for a reason.

Yep. Things don’t always work out the way we want but sometimes they work out the way we need them to.

Sept. 7, 2007
I’m still tired and bit and I think I have an electrolyte imbalance.I’m waking up during the night with killer cramps in my calf muscles. I feel queasy if I don’t eat. Heavy, bloated, and uncomfortable if I do eat. Not true nausea so my pills don’t really help. I don’t feel good.

Sept. 13, 2007
Today was my last day of chemo. Mom took me. I got a little sick while the nurse was pushing in the adriamycin. I couldn’t tell if I was queasy from the chemo or sick from hunger. I can’t ever tell any more.

Sept. 16, 2007
Things I learned from Chemo:
1-Stay hydrated. Even when I went to bed, I kept a bottle of water nearby. Chemo burns the back of the throat like acid and without warning. And if the fire isn’t put out quickly, nausea soon follows. Then lightheadedness.
2-Don’t lie flat after chemo. For five days after a chemo treatment, I slept on the reclining end of the sofa. I learned that lesson after rushing to the sink with a bad case of early morning productive reflux after my first treatment.
3-Weight gain is inevitable. They give you fluids. They give you steroids. You don’t get much exercise. Bread becomes your best friend because it is one of the few foods that do not upset your stomach.
4-You feel sick if you don’t eat and sick if you do. But feeling sick on an empty stomach feels a lot worse. Take Prilosec if your doctor allows it.
5- Tastes change. Since those first two treatments when I had to sip a diet Coke because of the burning in the back of my throat, I haven’t been able to drink a soft drink/soda since. Carbonated beverages just don’t taste right to me any more, which is sad because I really love Diet Pepsi.
6- Stay positive. Keep a sense of humor, crack jokes, and pray. God didn’t do this to you. He is not testing you to see if you pass or fail. Sometimes bad things just happen. But God is interested in how you handle things in your life. Ask for his help getting through it, but don’t wallow in misery. That probably gets on his nerves.

No one knows at what hour death will come so we have to make the best of the time God has given us. I think that is the true test of God.

Sept. 19, 2007
I’m almost a week out from my last chemo and it’s still kicking my butt. I have a bad cough, my back hurts, and I’m short of breath. The doctor ordered a chest x-ray. I don’t have pneumonia but my immune system is vulnerable. They sent me home to rest.

Sept. 20, 2007
Tried to work, but got my lab results at lunchtime. My white blood cell count is Dangerously low and I have an infection. That same day, I was scheduled for my first radiation oncology appointment at Duke.

Sept. 25, 2007
Another lingering threat. The radiation oncologist didn’t like the results of my second excision biopsy. The medical oncologist believed chemo would destroy any remaining DCIS in the breast and did not think it was a problem. Apparently, my radiation oncologist didn’t agree. In the frozen slides from the second biopsy, there was DCIS in five of eight slides less than 1 mm from the surgical margin. There was only one DCIS on one slide in the original surgery. There shouldn’t have been any DCIS in the second biopsy. The possibility existed that my breast was potentially riddled with DCIS. And doctors usually recommend a mastectomy in a case like that.

I’d already had chemo to destroy any remaining DCIS in the breast. Lots of women have DCIS and never develop breast cancer, and I didn’t want mastectomy to be a knee jerk reaction to fear. The pathology report said DCIS in five of eight specimens but the oncologist didn’t know if it was a speck or a boat load.
He scheduled a breast MRI. And I waited, but I felt as if I were juggling knives.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”- John 14:1
Trusting in God would help me juggle those knives.

October 8, 2007
Dodged a bullet. The MRI was negative. I didn’t need a mastectomy. The decision was mine. I chose to keep my breast and to start radiation treatments.

October 10, 2007
Had my treatment planning at Duke. First they made a mold and shaped it to my body. When it hardened, my left ear was stuck inside the mold, my head slightly turned away from my body so that when the treatments begin, my body will be in the exact same position every time.
Next, they marked off areas on my breast with strips of radiopaque markers and put me in the CT scanner. Once the oncologist and dosimetrist mapped out my treatment plan,they marked me, covered the marks with tape, and I was able to pry myself out of the mold and get dressed.

Radiation was going to be five days a week for six weeks. At least I wasn’t having a mastectomy. And I could have the actual treatment at a local hospital.

Oct. 15, 2007
I don’t expect everyone to understand why I post a blog. I don’t do it for others or to see how many people read it. I do it for me. It’s cathartic. It keeps me from getting depressed or upset or from losing my sense of humor. I’m just trying to survive breast cancer. It doesn’t just go away. I don’t think it’s going to kill me. I have to believe that. But cancer is unpredictable and I just started radiation today. It will last for 6 weeks.

Oct. 16, 2007
My second radiation treatment didn’t take very long but afterward, I met with my new radiation oncologist.
The good news is that without even trying, I have lost four pounds since getting off chemo. The bad news is my lungs still haven’t fully recovered and the radiation could possibly do more damage. But at least I’m alive.

Oct. 24, 2007
Johnny and I went to the beach this weekend. We held hands and walked on the beach. I got very emotional and had a good cry and wonderful conversation with my husband. If I didn’t love him already, I would have fallen in love with him all over again. It’s nice to have a man say he loves you. Nicer still when he tells you he’s proud of you or that he admires your strength and courage.
Then again, the feeling is so very mutual.

Oct 28, 2007
I am so tired of looking in the mirror and seeing just my face and shiny bald head.

Oct. 31, 2007

Halloween. My brother brought my nephews by to trick or treat. And made my week.

Nov. 14, 2007
Nine treatments left to go. I have radiation burns to the chest from mid line of the sternum to the center of my right breast and from the nipple to about six inches below the clavicle (collar bone.). I am also burned to a lesser degree on the lateral side of my right breast. The burn is red like a sunburn, but the skin is raised and feels like sandpaper. It hurts. But Silvadene cream is a miracle drug!

Nov 15, 2007
Had my first booster treatment today. Concentrated, directed radiation to the tumor bed. I have eight more and I’m Done.
Maybe then, my life can get back on track and I won’t feel so tired all the time.

Nov. 22, 2007
I have a bad radiation burn under my arm. And it’s my first Thanksgiving without Jennifer–my married daughter who lives in Germany. I missed her so much today I cried. But I’m thankful I had my mammogram when I did. I’m thankful I didn’t have a mastectomy. I’m thankful I did as well as I did with chemo. I’m thankful my lymph nodes were negative. I’m thankful for my husband and how incredibly supportive he’s been. I’m thankful for the love and support of Lauren and Jennifer. I’m thankfulmy cancer has made me closer to my mother. I’m thankful my cancer is curable. I’m thankful I’m almost finished with radiation. I’m thankful for the support and encouragement of family and friends both on and off line. And I’m thankful to God for giving me the courage and strength I need to fight and win the battle against breast cancer.

Nov. 27, 2007- Tuesday
My next to the last radiation treatment. I breathed a sigh of relief. After tomorrow, I’d be done. Unless the cancer came back before five years was up. Then I’d have no choice but to have a mastectomy. Possibly bilateral, depending on how quickly it came back. But when the doctor told me I was finished with treatments, I broke down and cried. I hadn’t really let go and now that it was over, the emotions came in a flood. I’d been such a control freak about it and now that it was almost over, it hit me. I’d made it through chemo and radiation. I beat cancer.

October 14, 2011
My last treatment was anti-climatic. But my battle isn’t over. Since that day in 2007, I’ve had multiple oncology appointments with both the radiation and medical oncologist. I had mammograms every six months from June 2007 until February 2011. I’ve had two more MRI’s and a brief scare with the left breast. But a subsequent MRI guided biopsy proved it wasn’t cancer. Still, I sometimes wonder if I made the right choice by not having a mastectomy. Sure, I can still have mammograms to check for breast cancer. But if I didn’t have breasts, I wouldn’t worry. Then again, without breasts, the cancer could come back in my chest, bones, or other organs. So, there is no right choice. There’s just the choice I could handle when I needed to make the decision.

As bad as all this was for me, I think it was worse for my husband. I knew what I was thinking and feeling. He could only guess. And he was never sure if I told him the things I did because it’s really how I felt or if I was just trying to save him from worry. To be honest, I don’t know either.
Today, I no longer see my oncologist. But I see my primary physician at least every six months. And this February will be my first screening mammogram since June 2007. My cancer was a triple negative. It could come back. But I’ve been through the fire and survived the burns. And I kept my faith.

Lady Gilchrest speaks with Lilly Gayle

14 Tuesday Jun 2011

Posted by in Blog Tour, historical romance, romance, romance novels, romance writer, Slightly Tarnished, The Wild Rose Press, TWRP, writer, writing

≈ 14 Comments

Today’s blogpost is going to be fun! Or maybe just a bit whacky. At any rate, I’ve joined a blog chain and each participant has agreed to let one of their characters inteview them. Yep, I’m going to be interviewed by an imaginary person. And she’s not even from this century! But here goes…

Nikki invited me to sit down. She was an American like me, and newly wed to a British Earl. The former Nicole Keller was now a countess, and rumor had it the marriage was one of convieneice. But she seemed happy.

I sat in a beautiful but uncomfortable rosewood and gold upholstered parlor chair. Nikki addjusted her wide skirts and sat across from me in a matching chair. She leaned forward, her curly brown hair falling over her shoulder as she met my gaze. “I heard you recently celebrated your annivesary. Which one?”

“Our thirty-first. We celebrated June 7.”

“May I offer my felicitations?” Her voice was unnaturally cultered, the slight inclination of her chin stilted, as if she wasn’t used to the regid posture or the formal speach.

I cracked a smile. “Thanks. And congratulations on your recent marriage.”

A smile brightened her face as well. “Thank you. Do you have any children?”

“I have two beautiful daughters. My youngest lives at home while attending her last year of college.” I didn’t say she was currently enrolled in UNC’s School of Radiation Therapy or that she worked part-time as a radiologic technologist. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen wouldn’t even discover x-rays until November 1895.

“She’s attending college? Oh my! That’s so…adventurous.” Envy colored Nikki’s face. “I have no formal education beyond the school room. But I learned much, sailing on my father’s ship as a young girl. What of your oldest?”

 “She’s married and living in Germany. Her husband is in the army, and she works for the army.” Again, I kept my secrets. My daughter worked for the MWR, the army’s version of parks and recreation. Her husband was an airtraffic controller. But in Nikki’s time, airplanes didn’t exist.
A frown wrinkled Nikki’s brow. “But America isn’t at war with Germany.”

Hmm. I hadn’t thought about that. I thought she’d have questions about my daughter’s job. There were only so many acceptable jobs a women could have in her time. I shrugged.

“It must be difficult,” she added after a moment of awkward silence. “My mother and I travelled together to England. In fact, she lives with Chad…I mean, Lord Gilchrest and me. But your daughter lives so far away, and overseas mail take so dreadfully long.”

But email and texting were instant. And there was always Skype and the telephone. Both my daughter and I had Vonage so there was no long distance charges. Besides, my husband and I had just visited my dauther and her husband in April. It was our second visit since her marriage in December 2006. And this time, we took a side trip to Amsterdam. But I didn’t say anything. I simply lowered my head to hide a smile.

Nikki cleared her throat. “Germany isn’t so very far from England. Perhaps you could sail there before heading home?” she suggested.

I hid another smile. “Perhaps.”

“I understand you’re from North Carolina.”

I nodded. “I live in north central North Carolina.”

Her golden brown eyes brightened. “Have you ever been to Portsmouth Village? I grew up there on the island.”

I hesitated, not sure how to answer. Nikki left the island in 1857. I was there in 2006.  “Yes…”

Her face glowed with excitement. “It’s wonderful. Isn’t it? I love it here at Lands End, but I miss North Carolina and would love to show Lord Gilchrest where I grew up. It’s been over a year since I left. Has it changed much, do you think?”

What could I say? My husband and I visited Portsmouth Island when I was doing research so I could revise Slightly Tarnished, my historical romance about Nikki and her husband, Chad. But the Portsmouth Island I’d seen was nothing like the home she remembered.

Portsmouth Village was once the largest settlement on the Outer Banks and a major shipping center until the hurricane of 1846 cut a deeper inlet through Hatteras. After Ocracoke Inlet began to shoal, Portsmouth and nearby Shell Castle Island became lightering stations. During Nikki’s time, tall ships dropped anchor off shore and slave labor transferred the cargo to and from lighter, shallower draft boats for the journey out to sea or back to the wharf and further inland to other ports.

By 1860, the population of Portsmouth had grown to 685 residents. But after North Carolina succeeded from the union in 1861, many of those residents fled for the mainland to avoid the Union Army as it marched across the Outer Banks. Many never returned and eventually, the shipping industry shifted north and the village began to die.
                                                                              
Fishing replaced shipping for the islanders that remained and in 1894, the U.S. Life-Saving Service was established on the island. It played a vital role in the community for 50 years. But by 1956, only 17 residents remained on the island.

Eventually, the isolation became too much, and in 1971, the last two residents moved to the mainland.

The island is now a state park and visiting is like stepping back in time. Some of the houses remain and a church still stands as does the school and post office. But the mosqitos and flies will eat you alive. I wondered how people managed in Nikki’s time. But I couldn’t ask. She thought I was a woman from her own time who wrote sensation novels.
I cleared my throat. “It’s been a couple of years since I visited. I’m sure the place has changed.”

“Oh, I doubt it’s changed much,” she said with a laugh. “The people of Portsmouth Island live simple lives and don’t cotten to change.”

“I know you miss your home, but don’t you like it here–in Land’s End with your husband?” I know longer knew who was interviewing whom. I’d written Nikki’s story to have a happy ending, but things had happened. Terrible things. So, was she really happy? I needed to know.

She smiled as if hiding a great secret. “I hated London. But Gilchrest has it’s own private beach. And except for it being a castle, it reminds me of home. So yes. I’m happy. I love it here.”

I sighed with relief, knowing she was happy with her life and her husband because I’d written  her that way.

Slightly Tarnished, my first published historical is now available from the publisher: The Wild Rose Press http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=176_138&products_id=4516

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Slightly-Tarnished-Lilly-Gayle/dp/1601549237/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308007635&sr=8-1
and Barnes & Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/slightly-tarnished-lilly-gayle/1031415856?ean=2940012929167&itm=2&usri=lilly%2bgayle

If you enjoyed this interview, please check out the other particiapting authors in the chain to see which characters interview them.

 Here’s a list  of participants in order of their participation and estimated dates:

6/6: Aimee Laine : http://www.aimeelaine.com/blog
6/8: Lyla Dune : http://lyladune.com/blog.html
6/10: Carol Strickland : http://carolastrickland.blogspot.com/
6/12: Amy Corwin : http://amycorwin.blogspot.com/
6/14: Lilly Gayle : http://www.lillygayleromance.blogspot.com/
6/16: Rebekkah Niles : http://juturnafaerthing.blogspot.com/
6/18: Laura Browning : http://www.laurabrowningbooks.blogspot.com/
6/20: Andris Bear : http://andrisbear.wordpress.com/
6/22: Marcia Colette : http://marciacolette.wordpress.com/
6/24: Nancy Badger : http://www.nancylennea-inlove.blogspot.com
6/26: Sarah Mäkelä : http://blog.sarahmakela.com
6/28: Jennifer Harrington : http://www.romanceadventures.blogspot.com/
6/30: Scott Berger : http://romanticadventurestories.wordpress.com/

When is Easter Again?

24 Sunday Apr 2011

Posted by in Christmas, Easter, historical romance, Lilly Gayle, Religion, writing

≈ Comments Off on When is Easter Again?

Easter coincides with the vernal equinox. According to the New Testament, Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection occurred about the same time as the Jewish Passover, which was celebrated  on the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Both those who believe in the Good Friday to Easter Sunday and the Wednesday to Saturday timeline for Christ’s death and resurrection do not argue this point. But, because of the differing phases of the moon, Christians celebrated Easter at different times and by the end of the second century, some churches celebrated on Passover and others celebrated the following Sunday.

The year I was born, Easter was on April 17th. The year I got married, it fell on April 6th, the day after my birthday. Easter was March 30th the year my oldest was born and March 26th the year my youngest was born. And this year, it lands on April 24th, which to me, seems like the latest Easter I can remember.

Going to http://www.timeanddate.com/ can show any calendar from any year to see when Easter fell in any given year. But  who sets the date for Easter and how do they decided? Why not celebrate on the day Christ was resurrected?

Well, for one thing, Christians, theologians, and scholars cannot agree on the day Christ was crucified or resurrected. Christians celebrate the Good Friday Crucifixion to Sunday morning resurrection timeline. But that’s not three days and three nights.  And according to Mathew 12:39-40, Christ was in the earth for three days and three nights.
Matthew 12:  39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

So, then, how could Christ be crucified on Friday and resurrected on Sunday. The math doesn’t add up. Then again, according to the Gregorian calendar, Sunday is the first day of the week and the sabbath falls on Saturday. And the Gregorian calendar is a continuation of the Julian calendar that started with the year Jesus was born. But most western religions who celebrate the birth and resurrection of Christ worship on Sunday. So, maybe that’s why Christians cling to the Good Friday to Easter Sunday time line.
But according to some- http://www.herealittletherealittle.net/index.cfm?page_name=Jesus-Resurrection -Christ was crucified between 9:00 a.m and 3:00 p.m. He was then placed in the grave. Although this isn’t a full 24 hours, it counts as the first day and first night in the grave. Thursday and Friday are days two and three and Christ arose on Saturday, the day then recognized as the Sabbath.
So, why don’t Christians follow this time line? And why do we celebrate on different days and even months?

How is Easter even determined?

Easter is determined by the equinox. Every year around March 21 and September 23, there is twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of darkness. Day and night are equal. These two days are known as the vernal or spring equinox and the autumnal equinox.


In 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea established Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon and dependant upon the ececclesiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox. But if the full moon falls on Sunday, Easter is delayed one week, which decreases the chances of it falling on the same day as the Jewish Passover.

So, if Easter is celebrated at different times of the month, does it really matter whether Christ died on a Friday and was ressurrected on Sunday. Or if he died on Wednesday and was ressurected on Saturday? What matters is that Christ was tortured, ridiculed, and crucified for our sins. He was buried in a tomb where he lay dead for three days before his ressurection on the third day. And because he died, we migh live and have eternal life.Believing and having faith is what counts.

In the words of Sturar Chase~  “For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.”

A Writer’s Pain

07 Friday Jan 2011

Posted by in Amy Corwin, Lilly Gayle, OUT OF THE DARKNESS, romance, Slightly Tarnished, The Wild Rose Press, writing

≈ 17 Comments

When I first started writing, I thought it would just be for fun. And maybe one day, I’d get published. It soon became an obsession.

My first attempts at writing were poetry and children’s books. But in 1996, I decided to write what I loved reading. Novels. Specifically, romance novels. My first book was a medical thriller and my first heroine had the same job I had. She was a radiologic technologist. (RT, x-ray technologist, or radiographer. Take your pic but don’t call us techicians.) My fingers flew across the keyboard, typing story ideas and plot lines as they came to me. I didn’t plan the story out. I didn’t even have a rough draft. Just a basic plot in my head. It took less than six months to write what turned out to be the most God-awful book ever written.

It read like a boring radiology text book with a few characters thrown into the mix. I made every mistake new writers ever make. There were tense changes, no true POV, no uniformity of writing, and too much technical detail and backstory dump. I don’t think I even submitted it. Anywhere.

The book no longer exists. It was written in Lotus Works and the floppies aren’t compatible with today’s technology. No great loss. The plot was dated so it would no longer work anyway. My radiographer still used film screen technology and developed films in the darkroom. Most every hospital and urgent care now uses computed radiography or digital radiography. No film. No darkroom.

My next attempt at writing was a time-travel. Again, the words flew from my fingers and I thought it was brilliant. Until I went back and tried reading it from beginning to end. Ug! That was a painful experience. But at least that story still has potential. So, maybe someday…

Until then, I have other stories both written and yet to be written. I love starting a story. The excitement is still there and the ideas are still flowing. I know how the story starts and I know how I want to end. But getting to the end? Now, that’s when the fear sets in.

Once I reach the dreaded sagging middle, I freeze. What if I can’t do it? What if I finish and it sucks as badly as that medical romance I wrote in 1996?

When I’m in the editing phase, the hard part is over. The book is finished. And it’s just a matter of fine-tuning and adding emotion to the story. But sometimes, it takes a while to get to that point.

I’m really more of a pantster than a plotter. I always plot a general outline of characters and the basic story premise, but once that’s done, I just sit down and write. There’s an excitment about getting to The meet. The kiss. The black moment. But that’s where the excitement ends for me. I can’t seem to move forward. And I have to make myself finish the book. I sit down at the computer and think of all the loose ends I have to tie up in the story before I can reach my happily ever after. Then I think of how long it took to get those first books published, and my mind starts to wander.

Invariably, I start web-surfing. I look for ideas for new stories or read blogs or just waste time on Facebook.
The good news is I’ll never run out of story ideas. The bad news is I may never finish the damn book!

I know Out of the Darkness was good. And I know Slightly Tarnished is even better. Reading the final galley on those two books infused me with such pride. I couldn’t believe I’d actually written such good books. Seeing the covers for those books and knowing I wrote them should make it easier to write the next book. That’s what I always thought would happen anyway. Instead, I see those books and I’m afraid.

From first word put to paper until publication, Out of the Darkness was five years in the making. And Slightly Tarnished? Twelve! It was the third book I ever wrote. It only took a year to write but eleven years to edit to the point where it was publishable. And I think that’s the key to my fear.

What if every book I ever write takes that long to publish? I don’t think I can be that patient a second time.

Fortuantely, it’s nice to know I’m not the only author who feels this way.

Amy Corwin is one of my critique parners. She’s a multi-published author who’s published Regency romances and paranormal. And she’s soon to publish a mystery but that’s not my story to tell. You can follow her publishing success at: http://amycorwin.blogspot.com/

Amy says, “I can edit with joy. It’s this painful midway-to-the-end that is horrendous re: initial writing. The first few chapters are a breeze. The rest is blood pouring out of my veins.”

I know exactly how she feels!

So, what is your least favorite part about writing? Or, if you’re a reader, what do you most hate to see in a romance story?

Let me know. Maybe it will improve my writing skills and help lesson my pain. Lol!

Happy New Year!

31 Friday Dec 2010

Posted by in beach, books, historical romance, Lilly Gayle, OUT OF THE DARKNESS, Slightly Tarnished, The Wild Rose Press, writing

≈ 2 Comments

I can’t believe another year has come and gone. I seem to measure my life not in days, weeks, or months, but in Summers and Christmases. And the older I get, the closer Summer and Christmas seem to get to one another.

Along about September, I start getting ready for Christmas. Though, truth be told, I sometimes start my Christmas shopping in July. I like to get a head start on gift buying because I like buying presents for the people I love and can’t afford to buy nice ones if I have to do all my Christmas shopping between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I know. I know. I could save money. But that’s never been my strong suit. And I use my Christmas club money not for gift buying but to pay the lot rent on my beach camper.

My husband and I actually started the holiday season off at the beach. The first weekend in December, we went to our camper so we could see the Christmas Flotilla in Beaufort. 

We had clams and beer at The Dock House Restaurant before the parade started.

After eating supper, we stood along the water front and watched the parade float by.

The boat parade runs along the water front from Morehead City, NC to Beaufort, NC. And it is truly a sight to behold.

This year there were even snow flurries on the waterfront. And it snowed on the beach last year and this year. I didn’t see it either time. And although I much prefer warm weather to cold, it is my life long dream is to see it snow (and accumulate) on the beach.

As of this year, I’ve only seen snow on the beach

in Virginia. While visiting relatives in Fredericksburg last February, we took a side trip to a beach along the Potomac River. It was freezing! But beautiful.

As 2010 comes to a close, I can’t really complain. My first book OUT OF THE DARKNESS was published.OUT OF THE DARKNESS is a paranormal vampire romance that’s gotten some fantastic reviews. Another good thing about 2010.

And on October 18, 2010, I signed a contract for my first published historical romance. SLIGHTLY TARNISHED is an British-set historical and is set for release from The Wild Rose Press’ English Tea line sometime next year.

I also received my first royalty check, making me a professional writer this year. There were book signings and blog appearances and I’ve genuinely had a good time with my new career.

If only I could finish the sequel to OUT OF THE DARKNESS before midnight tonight. Then, my year would be perfect. But that’s about as likely to happen as me winning the lottery. And so, for my New Year’s resolution, I resolve to complete the sequels to OUT OF THE DARKNESS and SLIGHTLY TARNISHED in 2011.

And hopefully, I’ll one day get to see it snow on the beach.