The prescription....

I'm ba-ack. (I told you I would be!)

Like I said the other day in this blog post, I know I've been gone for a while. I really and truly didn't think I had many interesting things to blog about anymore -- that, in fact, is not entirely true. Heck, I'm a writer. I can find things to write about. TIME has been the factor, but...

But I've re-examined. I've had some changes going on in my life lately and perhaps they are bloggable. I'll take the risk and see what you all think.

In early April I had a scare -- a health scare. On a Sunday evening I drove myself to the ER with chest pain. I didn't feel well all day and couldn't put my finger on it. Then more symptoms, and a quick Google search, plus a call from a friend where I divulged my symptoms, and before you know it, I'm plugged up to machines and IV bags and spending the night in the ER.

No, I wasn't having a heart attack. I am grateful for that. But the next week was a flurry of doctor visits and tests -- including stress test and all that comes with it -- and the bottom line is, I now do have a cardiologist.
And even though my tests all came back normal, I'm "of a certain age" and there is heart history problems in my family, plus diabetes, and my doctor thinks I have sleep apnea, so the prescription was this: LOSE WEIGHT.

Consequently, I've added these things to my life:

Walking, generally every morning and sometimes evening. 

I now have a gym membership. 

And Zumba! OMG!!!!

(Okay, one Zumba class but I do plan to go back next week.)

And have changed my diet to this:

And this...

Yes, a plant-based diet. With restrictions on top of that. Doctor's orders. I will share more about how that is going for me in the coming days.

So yeah, there is a little bit to write about, and I'm planning on all of you holding me accountable, you here?
Okay, now that that is done....

Time for breakfast. Oatmeal, strawberries, and a drizzle of Maple syrup. (all plant-based and allowable!) Yum!

See you soon. (I have recipes!)

I've missed you....

Wow. Long time no see, Blogger. What have you been up to?

Really? Me? Oh, I've been up to this and that. A little more of that, than this.

Yes, it's true. I've been mighty AWOL from here. I know and I am sorry. Truly.

Yes, yes...you are right. I used to be here all the time. What can I say? Life interrupted my "life unedited" blog. It happens.

I could blame it on a lot of things but putting blame anywhere is never a good thing, right? Let's just say that I haven't made blogging a priority for some time now, and even though I think about it a lot, it never seems to get done.

I know. Sad.

You miss me, you say? You've missed when I used to post about all things cupcake? When I used to share random posts about what was going on in my life? Like, redecorating my office? When I used to take pictures of my food in recipes and then do a restaurant review? Really? You liked that?

Oh. Well then. But you really liked that stuff?

Yeah. I've heard others say that, too....

Well, thanks, Blogger. I really appreciate hearing that. This is something I need to think about a little bit...but guess what? I have sort of missed those "life unedited" posts, too.

Hm. Thinking. What IS going on with me? Is there anything interesting at all that I have to share? I just don't know....

But stay tuned. I just may have something for you....

Longer than eight seconds....

What lasts longer than an eight second ride?

Eight seconds is a long time for a bull rider to stay on a bull's back, but it's a really short time for reading a good book.

I'm really pleased to share the release of BROKEN! I have to admit. I do love the cowboys. Maybe you like them, too? And I hope you read for a lot longer than eight seconds!

In BROKEN we have a bull riding cowboy who comes home after being gone for some time, only to find out that the girl he'd left behind has grown up. Complications abound!

BROKEN is a sensual-to-sizzle romance, not quite as spicy as some of my other stories, but the sexual tension is high throughout. Here's more info on the story....

Rodeo took him from her once. Will it take him again?

It’s been a decade since Garth Nash left the Triple R Ranch to become a bull riding star. Now he’s back home to pay his final respects to the man he’d loved like a father, and to console the pesky tomboy he’d loved like a little sister.

But there’s nothing pesky or boyish about Amarilla Ray now. She’s a gorgeous, barrel-racing cowgirl who knows exactly what she wants—to compete at the Cowgirl Classic. Just once. And then she can get on with the rest of her life.

Rilla had loved Garth like a big brother all those years ago, but today, her feelings are taking turns in a whole new direction, and suddenly it feels like Garth just might be the rest of her life.

But rodeo took him from her once. And she knows he’s bound to leave again. Can she take the risk and fall in love? Can he? Or will rodeo win out again, and leave them both broken?

Release:  April 1, 2012
Category:  Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Western
Heat Level: Sensual-Sizzle
Length:  Short Novel 40,000 words
Price: $1.99 digital ebooks (not available in print at this time)

BROKEN is available at Amazon Kindle . Barnes and Noble . All Romance Ebooks . Bookstrand . Smashwords and at the Turquoise Morning Press Book Store.

Watch for BROKEN to come available in print, and also soon to Sony, Apple, Diesel Ebooks, and Kobo!

Help Maddie James with Murder!

A NEW RELEASE for me = a TWO-FOR-ONE deal for you!

My romantic suspense novel, Murder on the Mountain – revised and updated – is now available in digital formats!

Murder on the Mountain was previously published in 2008 but the book never made it to Amazon Kindle. Now, this re-release from Turquoise Morning Press brings it to Kindle, as well as to many of your favorite e-tailers.

To celebrate this special release, if you purchase Murder on the Mountain from Amazon between the dates of February 15 and February 20, 2012, I will give you TWO FREE KINDLE EBOOKS!

I have to confess, I have an ulterior motive for this special promotional offer. I would love to see Murder on the Mountain get pushed up into the Top 100 Paid Bestseller lists at Amazon, following in the footsteps of some of my other bestsellers. Crazy For You made it to #8 in Contemporary Romance last fall, and I wonder if Murder on the Mountain can make it higher?

So, here’s the plan. If you decide to buy Murder on the Mountain at Amazon, can you buy it between February 15-20, 2012? Here’s all you have to do:

1. Buy Murder on the Mountain at Amazon between Feb 15-20, 2012. (It’s a steal at $1.99!)
2. Forward your Amazon Kindle purchase confirmation to me at maddie@maddiejames.net. (Be sure to remove any personal information on that email, of course, but your confirmation must have the details of your Murder on the Mountain purchase.)
3. Let me send your free gifts. Tell me in the body of that email which TWO of the following Kindle ebooks you would like:

• Crazy for You
• The Heartbreaker
• Falling for Grace
• Bed, Breakfast and You
• Rawhide and Roses
• Freshly Dead

That’s all! Easy peasy, huh? Thank you! And I look forward to hearing from you all!

p.s. If you want to help spread the news about this special TWO-FOR-ONE offer, feel free to share this blog post, share on your Facebook page, or tweet the following tweet:

Help @maddiejames with Murder! Check out her TWO-FOR-ONE offer for Murder on the Mountain. http://tinyurl.com/6q3hhym #TMPress

Freshly Dead - FREE today at Amazon!

So, everyone likes free,  huh?

Okay, so today is your chance to get one of my books for free! Have Kindle? Or Kindle app? Then you have no excuse. 

FRESHLY DEAD, book one in my Southern fiction, romantic comedy ghost story is now available for FREE on Amazon for today. If you haven't  picked up your free copy, you have until midnight Pacific Time to run and get it!

Check out this new book of mine, written in a slightly different voice than some of my other work. Still Maddie, still romance, just tossing in a ghost, a little mystery, and a lot of Southern sass. 

So hey, here's a sample okay?

Excerpt from Chapter Two of FRESHLY DEAD: 

“And there he was, standing there all smug and proper looking, freshly dead, with that pasty pale face, and trying to order me around. Men.”

Mitzi took a quick glance around the darkened bar and snatched up the shot glass of liquor the bartender just handed her. She licked the back of her hand, shook on some salt, lapped it clean away, then slammed back the hefty shot of tequila. Instantly, she bit into a slice of lime, shivered and gasped. Marla, her other sister, the one who liked sex and tequila (thank God she had one sister who was normal), stared at her.

“What?”

“Freshly dead?”

“Yeah, like in just murdered.”

“I think you need to lay off the tequila, sister.”

“I’m tellin’ ya….” Marla glanced at her watch. “That’s your third shot in…thirty minutes.”

“I’m fine, Marla.”

“Well, just watch it.”

She reached up and grasped her sister’s shirt collar to pull her face closer. “Mar, I just saw a real live freakin’ ghost of an estranged hubby today. Don’t hassle me about the shooters.” She let go, and Marla sank back into her bar stool. “And he tried to kiss me.”

“Ewe!” Marla shook, her face twisted into an oh-that’s-so-gross look. “Crap, Mitzi. That is so wrong.”

“Tell me about it.” She waved toward the bartender. His back was turned. Dammit.

Friday Feature -- Another great book for you!

Hi all. Happy Friday!

It's time again to share one of my favorite books with you. Jan Scarbrough's, Secrets, is a great story about finding love again, reuniting, and coming clean with the past. It's emotional and a very satisfying read. Check it out!


Secrets
by Jan Scarbrough
Formerly Titled A Father at Last (Same book, new cover and title!)

A 2011 CAPA Nominee from The Romance Studio


With her daughter all grown up and married, single mom Kelly Baron can start her new life in North Carolina, responsible only for herself. But first she must help her mother by returning to the small Indiana town she fled years ago. Newly divorced lawyer, Rob Scott, seeks solace in his small-town roots. The last thing he’s looking for is a relationship—until he runs into Kelly, and the secret she’s been keeping from him for twenty-one years.

Reviews


“Ms. Scarbrough has a way of involving sensuality without going in-depth so that younger readers cannot enjoy the book.” ~The Romance Studio

“I thoroughly enjoyed this story and felt that I was watching it unfold in front of me as if I was another character in the story.” ~NOR Reviews


“With a story that rings so true, the reader will feel like they had heard it at the local beauty parlor. The craft of this author keeps this story novel.” ~The Romance Reviews


Release: January 3, 2011
Category: Romance, Contemporary, Category Length
Heat Level: Sweet
Length: 136 pages
Price:  $0.99 digital; $8.99 print

Author Bio: Jan Scarbrough dreamed of being a writer since she reported on freelance writing for a career project in the ninth grade. After majoring in English at Western Kentucky University, she taught high school English. Since 1982 she has made her living as a writer—a technical writer—but didn't have the nerve to make her novel-writing dream come true until after a life-threatening illness in 1988. Jan is member of Romance Writers of America, has been active in her local Kentucky RWA chapter, and is a member of Novelist, Inc. She has over twenty novels in print.

Reflecting...

As 2011 draws to a close (approximately one hour left as I write this) I sit reflecting over the past year of my writing career. There were some unexpected surprises along the way and I have to say that I am most grateful for everything.

2011 provided me with my first Top 100 bestselling romance novel on Amazon. In fact, I had a total of 5 novels place in that Top 100 bestselling list, with one of them landing as high as #8 in Contemporary Romance, this  year. This was a first in my fifteen year career as a published romance novelist. I also had two additional titles place in Top 100 bestseller lists for smaller categories. What can I say? A banner year.

The thanks go to all of you, who bought and read my books. Without you, I wouldn't have a career, and I'm forever grateful for your readership. I hope the stories entertained, made you laugh, cry, sigh... Hey, whatever they are supposed to make you do, I hope they did!

There were two other significant events that contributed to my writing year. The first, is the growth of Turquoise Morning Press. You might know that I am the owner of the publishing house, although I do that work under my "real name" and not my Maddie James pen name. Still, I make no bones about the fact that I'm also my own publisher. (Yes, I still have an editor!) In this new age of publishing, it makes sense if I am publishing other author's works, to also publish my own. Will I always put everything in my own house? Perhaps not, since all eggs in one basket may not necessarily the best thing, but I certainly do like being in control of my career. :) But me aside, I have to say that I am totally into being a publisher, and love working with authors and helping them to move their careers forward. It's a joy to work with each of them every single day. I love being writer and publisher.

Enter another unexpected surprise. In 2010, I was freelancing and writing full time, with TMP emerging early in the year. Then in April of 2011, I was presented with the opportunity to go back to work full-time for my previous employer. It was not in the 2011 plan to do this. After some thought and discussion, I decided to accept. It threw a kink in the plan, yes. I had to reshuffle the workload, and hire and train more staff at TMP, yes. I had to re-prioritize my role in the company, yes. And more....

Backlist Friday - Kentucky Blues by Cat Shaffer

I met Cat Shaffer many, many years ago and our writing careers have sort of paralleled each other over time. I remember an RWA conference many years ago, where we were waiting for agent appointments, lamenting over the fact that either a. ) our careers seemed to have stalled, or b) we were not where we wanted to be at this point in our writing careers. We both said, "we need a five year plan." 

That was way past five years ago and today, Cat is a multi-published author writing under two pen names and for two publishers (let's not forget she's also a managing newspaper editor and writes tons of non-fiction on a regular basis). We still talk about that day years ago and our five year plans, and how far we have come. 

I've recently started featuring a backlist book from one of my author friends on Fridays, so I'd like to introduce you to Cat, and her Kentucky Blues....

 
Kentucky Blues
by Cat Shaffer

Elise Drummond never forgot her first love—and never expected to learn via the grapevine that he was back in Brookville and living with her mother. Sam McCade had broken her heart, and she wasn’t about to let him destroy her mother’s as well. A quick trip back to Kentucky to lay down the law and she could head back to the safe life she’d built for herself in Kansas City.

When Sam McCade went “on the run” in the middle of the night to save his sister from her abusive husband, there was only one person he could trust to help them, Hannah Drummond. He expected the local gossips to have a field day with his return to Brookville, but he never dreamed Elise would roll into town to check out the situation for herself.

Reviews
“A truly good read, perfect for an afternoon swinging away with the wind chimes playing and the spring sun shining.” ~Amazon Review

“…a large dose of sexual tension--the chemistry between Sam and Elise sizzles--some great suspense that keeps the pages turning and you have a sure winner in this story of love lost, regret and redemption. If Kentucky Blues is typical of Cat Shaffer's books, prepare to add her to your automatic read list.” ~Amazon Review