Today is all about giving awards.  We start off with the winner of the Bailey’s Irish Crème filled chocolates from Loucinda McGary.  Thanks to everyone who came by last Friday to give Loucinda a warm welcome.  And congratulations to Tina Ferraro on winning the much coveted chocolates! Tina, send your information to Loucinda here and she’ll get those chocolates out to you.

Now onto the Excellent Blog Awards.  Back in May, the lovely ladies over at The Romance Roundtable awarded us Pirates the Excellent Blog Award which originated here.  I know what you’re thinking.  Believe me, we were as shocked as you are.  But once we got over the shock and finished a couple kasks of rum, we got down to figuring out to whom we were going to forward the Excellence.  I give you, in no particular order, the blogs we feel deserve this award.

Pamela Clare

Killer Fiction

Erotic Muses

Vauxhall Vixens

First Edition: A Place for Originals

Romance Bandits

Maggie Robinson Means Romance

Manuscript Mavens

Word Wenches

The Book Bitches

We thank the Romance Roundtable for this award and we won’t even ask what they were smoking when they put us on their list.  If you haven’t heard of any of the blogs above, we encourage you to take the time to check them out.  But first, let us know what awards or prizes you’ve won lately.  I know Ely over at the Vixens blog recently finaled in the Fool for Love contest so big CONGRATS to Ely!  Who else deserves some kudos today?

A special HUZZAH! of thanks goes out to my fellow pirates for stepping in this week and really helping me out.  As my friend J would say, Love Your Guts, Ladies!

There is a debate about how much research is too much. Write what you love and write what you know—then just wing the rest of it. Fake, fake, fake. Sure. But that’s not always fun, and really I think writing should be as fun as possible. The more fun you’re having, the fresher your writing will be.

Now I don’t have a lot of skills (mainly, just drinking, napping, flirting), but the one talent I’ve had pretty much since birth is: I love to research. Sorta. I know a ton of better researchers, but among my friends, I’m generally the researcher. I love to flip through books, listen to stories, and watch the History channel (well, before it went to pot.) I’m a font of useless trivia that others could really give a crap about. That sounds like I’m screwing around but really it’s amazing where those little factoids show up.

I’m always collecting research books: My Lady Scandalous, about 1700s courtesans; and What the Butler Saw, an invaluable resource about what happened below stairs in those English manors. Our Tempestuous Day, a Regency primer, if you will; and I have some books on England and Scotland. I have books on the Puritans, Colonials, and the Wild West. Astrology books (Love Signs is recommended by Debra Dixon, and I do too), and of course, writing books. I even have a book on sexual positions. Granted sex scenes are about emotion rather than what went where, but what if I did want to write about something other than missionary or doggie? I need to know where the hands are…among other things. I don’t exactly have lab assistants I can ask, and frankly if I did, I’d definitely never get any writing done.

But sometimes…sometimes, if I really want to be in character, I’ll research something about the character unfamiliar to me. I mean, not all my heroines can be secretaries who go to Weight Watchers and sew costumes at Halloween and eat Ben & Jerry’s like hedonists. No one is going to buy that book more than once.

So.

I need to learn a new skill. One of my characters is a stripper. No, I’m not moonlighting as a stripper, but there is an exercise class called cardiostrip. A sort of research-lite. Get in touch with my inner vamp and understand a bit more about my character. Plus it’ll really tone my abs they assure me…so really, it’s a win-win all the way around.

And maybe one day I’ll reconstruct a house or go on a cattle drive like my other characters, or maybe I’ll just watch This Old House and City Slickers again. Whatever. There are different ways to immerse yourself in research. There is also a cruise vacation you can take on a sailboat where you learn how to sail it. You’re part of the crew. That would be fun!

What are your favorite ways to research? What are you an expert on? What would you like to learn?

Or what I like to call pantsing it when you have no idea what’s going on.

Inspired by a Sunday morning impromptu dance off, I come to you live from my living room where Mattycakes is busting a move. I’m filling in for the Bo’sun today and you will have to bear with my crazy weekend antics. This is why they don’t let me blog Mondays.

We like to dance. Every Sunday morning, Mattycakes and I schedule a little dancing time. It’s our way of spending time with one another since we don’t see much of each other on the weekdays. I stay up extremely late on Saturday nights to write and then get up all goofified from lack of sleep. This is when the dancing gets wild.

We’ve spent a lot of time thinking up specialty moves that are unique to us. We turn on the radio in the kitchen and bust a move. We have something we call the lawn mower and the row boat with a little of the offset arm action to compliment each other. Then we go our own ways. Usually this is the moonwalk from me and the booty shake from Mattycakes before we move back to do a little of the freak boy made popular mostly by Too Short in the ‘90’s. You know, where the girl does the freak against the boy and the boy’s got his hand in the air like he’s a pimp or maybe that’s more popular now since the Lil Jon era. Anyways, then we go straight into interpretive dance. I call this my pantsing. This gets my brain warmed up. I love to dance. I’m not exactly the most graceful person in the room.

Mattycakes is good at the pansting. He’s actually quite creative. Today’s dance off was inspired by “So You Think You Can Dance”. I make Mattycakes suffer through this two hour affair every Wednesday night. What he calls his interpretive dance number is mostly moves he’s seen in movies. Which to watch a man who’s every bit of 6’4” and looks like a tank, try to move like a dancer is hilarious. But we have a different kind of humor here. Mostly us just jumping around like ballerinas and twiggy cheerleaders. Not a pretty sight.

I bet you’re wondering what this has to do with writing. I know Hellion is sitting on her treasure chest, chewing on the end of her dagger and trying to rationalize throwing it at me.

Just so you know, daggers hurt, babe. That’s why we’ve got a life size poster of Capt’n Jack. That’s supposed to be for target practice not me.

I went to the school of pantsing. Well, I did until I got tired of going and made up excuses not to go. For me, knowing the story before it unfolds on the page is boring. I like to go in several different directions when I write and if I’m set to one thing, it’s certain I’ll go another. The road less traveled is the one I enjoy the most.

Mattycakes and the dancing have really taught me a lot about writing. And no that’s not the lack of sleep talking.

I get an idea in my mind and I go somewhere with it. Just when I think I know what’s going to happen next, I throw a screwball in there and change it up. Dancing is just like that. You have to anticipate your partner’s moves and think up your next one.  It flows together even when you had no idea what was coming next. And if it doesn’t you move forward and interpret what to do next.

Just like dancing with a partner, you have to know your characters in order to pants. I’ve always thought pantsing is more of a character driven way of writing. You let the characters tell you what direction to head in next. Let them tell the story the way it was meant to be told. Sometimes, they aren’t sure either but that’s when you throw the screwball in, the kidnapping attempt. The phone threat. The stalker. The ex-girlfriend. The baby. Whatever.

Do what’s best for your story and you’re the only one who knows that. Learn to rely on instinct. It’s like an adrenaline rush each time you open a new page.

So today let’s discuss methods of writing. What crazy thing do you do to get into the mood to write? And if you’re a reader, do you have a method to your wicked reading ways?

Well, the Bo’sun left me in charge of hotties this week and as I don’t have her interviewing skills *ahem* I figured I would focus in on the theme of the day:  Dad.  So, I thought we could check in on some of our favorite celebrity daddies.

  Here’s Ben Cohen with his daughter.  I love chubby babies, don’t you?  What, that isn’t what you were looking at?

And here’s Jude Law with his kids.  It’s good to practice the basic safety rules, like holding hands when you cross the street.  Oh, that’s not what you noticed?  Truly, though, teaching safety starts at home, no matter how hot you are. 

  I hope these two are wearing sunscreen.  Did you know that more than 1 million Americans will be diagnosed with skin cancer this year?  Use your Banana Boat, people.  Hugh Jackman has decided to sport the beard as a UV blocking device.  Smart man.  What, you weren’t looking at the beard?

Patrick Dempsey’s twins are incredibly sweet, but I do hope that they don’t sleep in this fashion very often.  Though, my son had to sleep elevated for the first 8 months of his life (acid reflux), I can’t imagine it is comfortable.  You didn’t even notice there were babies in this picture, did you?  Seriously…. 

 And our crew’s favorite papa, the Captain, with his daughter Lily-Rose.  I am certain there is more than one wench on the boat who would play peak-a-boo with Captain Jack.  Though, I would advise against offering.  Our Hellion can be, well, a hellion when it comes to sharing her darling.

So, to all the hottie dads out there, including my favorite hubby, Happy Father’s Day!!

Kimberly Killion will be joining us on July 1st to hype up her debut, the historical novel, Her One Desire.  We have an escaped Scottish warrior, an executioner’s daughter out to clear her father’s name, and bad guys to make you bite your nails to the quick. We’ll be interviewing her and she’ll be letting us in on how it feels to finally be published!  Don’t miss it!

The Romance Writer’s Revenge presents another fantastic guest blogger.   With her debut novel, The Wild Sight, hitting shelves October 2008, it’s only a matter of time before this author’s career shoots straight to the stars.  Loucinda McGary, a.k.a. Aunty Cindy on the Romance Bandits blog, blends suspense and magic while still delivering a satisfying love story.  She was generous (read: brave) enough to agree to an interview so without further ado, I give you my chat with Loucinda McGary.

Loucinda, welcome aboard and thank you for blogging with us today.  We can’t offer the cabana boys you ladies keep in the Bandita Lair, but we do have a rather generous crew of Hotties.  Feel free to flag any of them down should you need a drink.  Or a foot rub maybe. Or you just want to, you know, try one on.

Why thank you, Bo’sun! As you know, Aunty likes her hotties tall and lean (a la Hugh Jackman, Eric Bana, and Paul Bettany) and a foot massage is almost The Best Thing Ever! What’s not to love about having a hottie at your feet?

Having one on his knees. J But lets get down to business. Your debut release, The Wild Sight, hits shelves October 1.  I’m stealing a page from the Bandita book and asking if you could share with us your *call* story?

Actually, I never get tired of telling this story, because truth really is stranger than fiction. And the truth is that I met my editor in an elevator at RWA’s National conference in Atlanta. My room was on the 20^th floor and there were already two people in the elevator when my roomie and I got on, headed to breakfast. One introduced herself as an editor, and when she saw my Golden Heart finalist ribbon on my name badge, she asked me about it. I told her I was a finalist in romantic suspense and she said, “I’d really love to read your book.” And gave me her business card. Her name was Deb Werksman and she was acquiring for a new romance line for Sourcebooks.

Of course, I sent her my manuscript as soon as I got home. No, she did not buy it, though it took her six months to reject it. L However, at the urging of my CP and fellow Bandita Jo Robertson, I sent Deb a query for my work in progress. Three months later, she asked to see the partial. Then, on July 27, 2007 she called my house to ask me to submit the entire manuscript. I was out to lunch with three of my best friends and when I got home, my DH started babbling incoherently and shoved a piece of paper at me. He had answered the phone and when he realized it was an editor, he wrote down every single word she said, because he knew “…Cindy will kill me if I screw this up!” (And he was correct, I would have! J)

I emailed her the whole thing and promptly convinced myself that there was no way a manuscript ever sold to the very first editor who read it. Happily, I was wrong! On the morning of September 14, 2007 my ringing phone awakened me from a dead sleep. I am not a morning person, and everyone who knows me knows better than to call before 9 a.m. Expecting some dire emergency, I answered only to have Deb Werksman identify herself and say she wanted to buy my “beautiful book!” After I screamed “Oh my God!” in her ear about nineteen times, she told me she wanted to release the book in the fall of 2008. I believe it is the first romantic suspense in the Sourcebooks Casablanca line. 

So there you have it – I sold my manuscript to the very first editor who read it, and I met her in an elevator. Truth really is stranger than fiction!

I love *call* stories. They always give me goose bumps.  Someday…someday. Where was I?  Oh yes, tell us about The Wild Sight.  Especially Donovan O’Shea. If that isn’t the perfect name for an Irish hero, I don’t know what is.

Faith and begorra, Bo’Sun! Like so many of my characters, Donovan arrived with his name intact, first, middle and last. But I did use some Irish census data (broken down by county) to come up with authentic names for many of the characters in the book.

The Wild Sight is actually my third romantic suspense manuscript. The previous two were set in Italy, and since nobody was exactly beating my door down to buy them, I decided that I would set my third book in Ireland. The DH and I are both of Irish lineage. In fact, his maternal grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America and he still has relatives who live there. However, they live in Northern Ireland, not the Republic. This is the Ireland I’m most familiar with and the one I chose to write about, even though I’ve never seen another contemporary romance novel set there.

Makes sense. But The Wild Sight is more than a contemporary romantic suspense, isn’t it?

Yes, all of my romantic suspense tales have what I call paranormal elements. In my first book, the hero and heroine may or may not be reincarnated 15^th century lovers. The heroine of my second book receives “messages” from her recently deceased aunt in her dreams. I have always been fascinated with the Celtic notion of second sight, and decided to use it in my third book. Most of the time, female characters seem to be the ones who have this ability, so I started thinking, “…what if a man had it?” And that is when Donovan Joseph O’Shea appeared. J Here’s a bit of the back cover copy to whet your appetite:

He was cursed with a “gift”

Born with the clairvoyance known to the Irish as “The Sight,” Donovan O’Shea fled to America to escape his visions. On a return trip to Ireland to see his ailing father, staggering family secrets threaten to turn his world upside down. And then beautiful, sensual Rylie Powell shows up, claiming to be his half-sister . . .

Was it difficult to convince an editor a book that starts with the hero and heroine thinking they are brother and sister would sell? 

*ahem * Technically, the hero never believes she is his sister… But, I will say that I had several people who read the opening chapter or heard the idea react with, “EWWW!” One went so far as to tell me I’d never sell the book (Never say never!). I knew it would probably be a “make it or break it” issue. However, my critique partners were very supportive and said they couldn’t wait to see how I got my characters over this huge stumbling block. You’ll have to let me know how I did after you read the book.

As for my editor, the possible half-siblings turned out to be one of the things she loved about the book! Have I mentioned how much I LURVE my editor?

Can you tell us what’s up next?  What are you working on now?  Sequels maybe?

As a matter of fact, I am working on a sequel. When my editor told me she wanted to buy The Wild Sight, she said in a rather off-hand way, “You did intend for this to be a series, didn’t you?” And I said, “Sure!” even though I’ve never before written a sequel. GAH!

But did I mention how much I LURVE my editor? Plus, she’s a very smart woman, so if she wants a series, then I’ll write one.

Here’s hoping she likes my latest ideas and decides to buy the sequel!

I think you’ll find big fans of series here on the ship.  What about it Wenches?  Since Ms. Loucinda here is just starting on her whirlwind promotional tour, and we are honored she included us in her itinerary, how about everyone give her a little info on what makes you pick up a book?  What makes you buy it?  And what makes you tell all your friends about it?

Yes please! I’d love to know, and I’ll give away some Bailey’s Irish Crème filled chocolates to one lucky commenter.

I’m nearing the end of my WIP.  Ok, I’m not nearly as near to the end as I’d like to be, but I can see that beacon of light at the end of the tunnel.

But, I’m afraid my black moment is going to create a few difficulties to my plot.  I hear the pirates grumbling.   “What hasn’t created difficulties to your plot, Marnee?” 

This may be a deal breaker, though.

*Pause for dramatic effect.*

My Regency heroine is going to save my hero’s life in the end.

In fact, she’s been saving him in bits and pieces throughout the story.  She’s a witch and she’s been called by Fate to save him.  One doesn’t mess with Fate, after all.  But, in the final moment, she’s going to sacrifice herself for him.

Well, almost anyway.  They do need their HEA so she obviously can’t die.  But, my hero won’t know that.

We write in the age of strong heroines.  In fact, I’ve started wondering if paranormals have taken off so dramatically because they allow for alphas that don’t seem like stalkers and still can hold up against the strong women in recent novels.  But, that’s another blog.

The neurosis for this blog is that I have been worrying that having my heroine save my hero might make my hero look too weak.

I feel horrible about this.  The feminist inside me screams that strong women don’t equal weak men, that a woman’s strength doesn’t downplay a man’s masculinity. 

But, I’m concerned that others might disagree, or at least the fantasy part of others, especially as my story is in a historical setting.  I’ve qualified it by telling myself that since she’s magical, she can be strong and it’ll be ok. 

Hey, it’s my little world; I’ll live here if I want.

What do you think?  Do you think a heroine saving a hero downplays the hero’s masculinity?  What about a heroine in a historical saving a hero?  What do you think makes it ok and what do you think makes it wrong?

“I’ve gotta go home and dig through my box.”

I hear quiet. Then a laugh. “I’d like to hear more about this box.”

There was lots of laughter as I walked down the stairs.

“You! You should write about me and a box.”

I flopped down in my old, wore-out blue tweed chair and flipped an annoyed look his way.

“A box?”

“You know. A box. How I like to dig around in the box. Me and a box and adventures about me playing with the box. You know-”  He made the motions with his hands like he was digging around in the sandbox looking for buried cat treasure. “You never know what you can find inside of the box.”

I had to have a mental moment with myself. Was I actually awake? Or was I dreaming this insanity. I look back over at him and he’s grinning. I think I might have rubbed off on him accidently. Can you get insanity by osmosis?

I can’t go any further with that conversation without taking it straight down the gutter into perv land. But you get the point. I bet you can guess who had this conversation and what day it was on too. Hellion had a similar conversation. Almost a mirror of a conversation Matt and I had months earlier about the ability to swallowing large things.

Yeah. Scratch that. We can’t go there today. I’m talking about writing.

I’m pretty sure I used this title, probably early on in my blogging career with the pirates. But I couldn’t resist to use it again after a suggestion from Hellion on Saturday. Once a month Hellion and I get together to discuss *okay, we pretend to discuss* writing goals, critiquing, brainstorming, books, anything that has to do with writing. This gives us an idea what we need to work on for the next month. Gives us an opportunity to have a face to face brainstorm session or bitch session about scenes that aren’t being wrote the way you want to write them. *raising hand sheepishly*

Like every monthly Saturday, Hellion and I found ourselves gossiping like two old bitties out front at the local hot spot- C&S (formally known as Price’s. I still call it that.) Of course, we mostly gossip about books and were sitting at the B&N while I drank some coffee, but those are just minor details. So see, I can stay on task… sometimes. We actually did more than we think we did. I mean, I did share notes about something I’m planning on working on. I’m making progress on DV (not as good of progress as I wanted to make by now but still, I’ve got until Labor Day to finish). Hellion is making headway with her WIP’s. Especially Lucy and Elizabeth. Love them. We talked out some ideas and had more than a few laughs.

I stiff armed the idea of going into a critique group. I just didn’t feel like it was the path for me. I’m a soltary creature by nature. I do well on my own and don’t normally play well with others (I guess that truly makes me a pirate, huhzah!) but there are times that I’m really grateful for the critique groups and critique partners I have. It’s important to have that backing when things are going wrong and the end of the road is nowhere in sight.

So, for me to write with a partner, it pushes me outside of my box. Since we’re talking about boxes. Out of my confort zone. But it’s a good thing.

So today, let’s talk critique groups/writing partners/sounding boards. How do you like to go about writing? Do you like being outside of the box?

There is always a bonus when you pay someone to listen to your problems: you discover nothing is your fault. It was your parents’ fault. Being this Sunday is Father’s Day, that one day of the year we acknowledge and thank our fathers for participating in that drunken wrestle with mom all those years ago, I thought we should talk about Daddies.

I’ve always been a Daddy’s girl; and as a kid, I didn’t think I’d ever find a man I loved as much as my Daddy. (Okay, so that part’s true. See, my therapist is right.) But clearly parental-child relationships are…well…not ideal. We want them to be ideal, but we’re never really happy with the outcome, are we? We want our fathers to spend more time with us, to care about our interests (respect our interests), and hug us more.

We’d also like them to not tell us we look like mutton dressed as lamb when we proudly come out in a new dress and show off. And to stop pushing us to be schoolteachers—and to believe that our writing is wonderful. And for God’s sake, stop telling me Amy’s essay was better than mine! And while we’re on it, where the hell is my hug? Sorry, sorry, having a moment.

So we want more hugs if we weren’t hugged enough; or we want less hugs (and hovering) and stop being so darned overprotected. It’s never exactly what we think is right. Of course you were an unhappy teenager with non-ideal parents: all teenagers are. You’re not a case-study, I assure you.

And that’s if you’re lucky enough to have a Dad. What about those of us whose Daddy died when we were young—and there was no stepfather at all or there was a stepfather, but he wasn’t a Daddy to us? What about Daddies who divorced mom and you only saw them occasionally? Absentee Dads are the biggest blame games we’ve got for explaining why grown women are having trouble trusting men and picking the right man to love.

It seems insane to me to blame your parents for how you are as an adult, because as an adult you know better. You’ve read the articles; you’ve watched Oprah! You’ve been around the block; you probably have some kids and know how hard it is to parent—and you’re only doing the best you can with your handicaps. So were they! Suddenly all the neurotic crap your parents saddled you with seems rather normal. But the fact remains: your parents made you how you are.

Which can make or break you in the Dating and Marriage Line. If you didn’t get enough “male” fatherly attention as a kid, you’re going to be looking for it as soon as possible and usually find it in all the wrong ways. You didn’t get enough hugs? Teenage boys will hug you; hell, I had some twenty-somethings who were dying to hug my hug-deprived self. If you didn’t have constant reassurance that you were beautiful and smart and worthy, the compliments of insincere boys looking to get laid is almost overwhelming. And you end up “thanking them” most inappropriately—and then realize later they didn’t really mean it.

There is the flipside to this: if none of those boys paid you those compliments either, you are then validated universally that you are a troll and you end up having the suicide hotline on speed-dial just so you could get out of bed in the morning. You’re really damned if you do, damned if you don’t. You’re better off if you just have a Daddy who loves you and you know it—but as we discover in our stories every day, love is hard to express, especially for guys. It’s no wonder we’re all in therapy, blaming Dad that we’re unsuccessful in forging relationships with men. After all, even if we seek someone who is the opposite of our fathers, we still find ourselves attached to fallen gods. People who aren’t perfect, who hurt you even when they don’t mean to.

My Dad is not the huggy type, but eventually I learned if I wanted to be told ‘I love you’ and hugged, I had to do it first. He was actually trainable, even at his advanced age. And I learned to recognize the qualities he did have: capable, trustworthy, humble, hard-working, and didn’t live beyond his means. (I didn’t realize how important the last quality was until I met men who were life-debtors! It used to annoy me as a kid because it seemed we never had money for anything. We clearly didn’t have a lot, but at least we did have a pot to piss in and a window to toss it out of.) And he’s funny, even if his self-deprecating humor turns on you. (Though I’ll never find that mutton dressed as lamb amusing.)

Dad even patiently showed me how to drive the stick-shift the other day when I asked; and the last time he tried to teach me, I literally ended up throwing the entire car into a ditch when I shifted from third to reverse! (You’d think he wouldn’t have wanted a repeat performance.) And last Sunday, he took me gooseberry picking, telling me the best spots to find gooseberries—and silently reminding me the importance of the simple things and also that the best things in life are the things you do for yourself and take time to do. (If you picked gooseberries, you’d understand: thorny little buggers!—and not nearly the amount of berries for the quality and quantity of time you’ve invested! No wonder they’re $3 a can in the store!)

So this long-winded tribute made me think of fathers in our fiction. Help me out: how many of your characters are in therapy because of their parents? Do your characters have parents? Or are you like me and tend to kill off the parents at the beginning of the story (in a Harry Potter fashion)? Do you think about how characters’ parents influenced how they behave in the book (think: Stephanie Plum) and do you try to incorporate (probably unconsciously) neuroses based off their childhoods (and lack of perfect parental treatment)? Are there any “Dads” in any novels that come to mind as “great Dads” or notable fathers? (The Dad in the Bridgerton series is dead and his absence does influence the characters. Stephanie Plum’s Dad doesn’t talk, but eats roast beef and grunts. In Desperate Duchesses, Roberta was ashamed of her Dad because he wasn’t…exactly civilized and embarrassed her with his poetry.) And lastly, what will you be doing for Father’s Day? I suspect Dad will be wanting roast beef.

This is my TBR (to be read) bookshelf.  Yes, the shelves are double stacked front and back and there are about 25 or so more books in the living room I didn’t feel like transporting to the bedroom for this picture.  There are historicals, contemporaries, paranormals and Eroticas.  Some of these are autographed, some were won, and some were given to me by friends who just knew I would love them.  And I’m sure I will…some day.

I realize this is not the biggest TBR shelf out there.  By my calculations, I have between 250 and 275 books waiting for my attention.  I’ve heard others say they are pushing 800 so I in no way am suggesting I am the worst off.  But it’s still annoying.

I’ve been reading romance novels since the mid 80s if memory serves. (stop laughing)  And in all that time, I never had a TBR pile.  Had never even heard the term.  I bought or borrowed a book, read it, then went and bought or borrowed another.  At some point I found specific authors that hooked me enough to have me searching for their backlist, but even then, I was able to keep up with my purchases.  Not anymore.

The way I see it, I have three choices to deal with this situation.  1) I could quit my job and school to devote all me time to reading. 2) I could decline from buying another book until I have read everything already in my possession.  3) I could say forget it and give, trade or sell all of these books so as to eliminate the problem all together.

Needless to say, none of these choices are attractive.  Option 1 is impossible as I prefer NOT to be homeless and NOT to starve.  Option 2 is impossible as terrific new books hit the shelves every month and must be added to the collection because SOMEDAY I’ll get around to reading them.  And option 3 is simply impossible.  If I have to explain why, I have to wonder what you’re doing at this blog.

So I vote for option 4.  That is, everyone stop writing for a while.  Take some time off, take that vacation you’ve been dreaming about but couldn’t find the time to go.  Spend some time with the family, recharge your batteries, and give me time to catch up. 

This is obviously the best solution going.  It’s a win-win for everyone.  The authors get time off, I get time to catch up, and by the time I’m done and books can be written again, the authors will have spent years creating the stories and they will be the best anyone has ever read.  I appreciate everyone’s cooperation in the resolution of this situation and promise to notify the proper authorities when this bookshelf is empty.

Am I the only one carrying extra cargo that is weighing this ship down?  Do you have a TBR shelf or room?  If you have no books mounting up and staring at you with their sad little spines begging you for attention, lie.  And since I’m glutton for punishment, what books are you drooling to get your hands on over the next few months?

So we’ve been on the new ship for a while now and I don’t think we’ve actually given everyone the tour.  We really do have lots to see and check out, besides all the hard bodies.  But since this is a Sunday and I’m obligated to present Hottie material, I’ve decided to sprinkle this post with various miscellaneous crew members.  I doubt anyone will have any complaints.

We start with a quick announcement.  There is an awesome auction going on right now over at the Eloisa James and Julia Quinn Bulletin Board.  A member on the board recently lost her husband.  So the wonderful authors along with Kim Castillo, the board moderator, called on some friends to help raise funds for a grieving family.  And boy did they come through.  Tons of booty for the bidding including ARCs (Advance Reader Copy) of highly anticipated summer and fall releases.  You can also get your hands on entire collections of series, most autographed, and other various goodies.  The auction runs through June 27 so get yerself over there today and lets get those bids going!

Now to the tour.  If you glance over to the left side of our page (past those gorgeous abs), you’ll find a list of rooms aboard the RWR.  First we have the Articles of Piracy.  This is where you’ll find our fantastic theme song as interpreted by our Captain.  And a bit of the origins of this little group.  But be warned, one read through and you’ll have the song stuck in yer head all day.

Hope you’re not afraid of heights because now we move up to the Crow’s Nest.  This is where you can find out who’ll be taking over the helm over the next several months.  Our guest blogger Pirates are always feisty and fun so missing them would be a crime, I tell you.  Be sure to check the Crow’s Nest regularly and mark yer calendar so as not to miss a thing.

Coming down out of the clouds we find Fore & Aft.  This is where you’ll find all the scoop on this mangy crew.  Most of it’s true, I promise.  Though we are writers of fiction and pirates to boot, so you can’t expect total honesty.

This next room might surprise you.  Yes, even pirates have Guidelines.  Actually, Captain Jack demanded we give him a place to spout his wisdom and so the Guidelines was born.  You’ll find everything you ever needed to know about being a writer the pirate way.  And really, isn’t that the only way?

We wrap up the tour by Going On Account.  This might just be the best room and yer right lucky we’re lettin’ ya know about it.  This is where the secrets be.  All kinds of treasure about writing, craft, and other writer sites where you can gain even more treasure of yer own.  You didn’t really think we came up with all this brilliance by ourselves did ya?

So, that’s the Sunday Hottie tour of The Romance Writer’s Revenge.  I do hope all the hotties you encountered along the way were to yer liking.  And not TOO distracting.  They are an attractive lot aren’t they?

Oh, can’t forget to mention this Friday (the 13^th!!!) we welcome Loucinda McGary to the ship.  You may also know Ms. McGary as Aunty Cindy of the Romance Bandits.  Her debut novel, The Wild Sight, hits stores in October and she was kind enough to agree to an interview with none other than moi.  Yeah, I was amazed too.  But the interview turned out great and she’s loads of fun so be sure to stop by this Friday and help us give her a warm pirate welcome.