heidi's blog

running a new contest

I'm packing to go out of town yet again, but before I leave, I thought I'd let everyone know that I've got a new contest up & running on the Contest page of my website (http://www.heidibetts.com/contest.html).

This time, I'll be giving away a green M&M cookie jar, a bag of M&M Minis, & an autographed copy of my February Silhouette Desire, SEVEN-YEAR SEDUCTION. I hope you'll take a minute to check it out, &--if you're not already signed up--join my Mailing List for a chance to win.

Good luck! And I'll chat with you all again Monday!

posted by Heidi Betts at 10:36 AM 2 comments  

what are we reading these days?

Okay, I didn't mean to disappear for two whole days, but when I tried to post last night, the site was down. Sorry about that.

And since I haven't asked in a while, I'm wondering what everybody out there is reading. Anything exciting or really good that I should add to my TBB list?

My reading is slow-going, as usual, but I'm working on three books at the moment: Kill the Messenger by Tami Hoag, Beyond Innocence by Emma Holly, and Code Name Cassandra by Meg Cabot.

Cassandra is actually the second book in Cabot's "1-800-WHERE-ARE-YOU" YA series. I'm reading them all in a row & enjoying them a lot. There's only one thing I can't seem to wrap my mind around... Shouldn't that be "1-800-WHERE-R-U" to fit the normal number of digits in a phone number? Yes, I realize it's insignificant, but it bothers me. :-p

How about the rest of you? What are you reading these days? Enquiring minds want to know.

posted by Heidi Betts at 10:11 AM 8 comments  

today is earth day!

Let's all do something to help the environment & make the planet a cleaner, better place.

*If you don't already, start to recycle. Recycle everything--plastic, metal, paper, cardboard, glass, tires, appliances, used motor oil...everything, everything, everything.

*Stop using Styrofoam. Styrofoam is evil; it is positively ruining our environment. So for Earth Day, why not make the decision never to use the vile stuff again?

*Take your own containers to restaurants. You can not only cut down on waste by not asking the restaurant to supply containers for your leftovers, but you can avoid Styrofoam, too, since that's what most restaurants provide. (I recommend Glad brand resealable containers...they're easy to carry, easy to see through, & can be refrigerated, microwaved, washed, & reused. They can also be recycled down the road & come in a dozen very convenient sizes.)

*Gas prices are already high enough, & those exhaust fumes aren't helping anybody. Why not walk as much as you can--to the corner store, the post office, or even all along the strip mall instead of moving your car closer to the stores you want to hit?

Can you think of any other ways we can help to save the environment for both ourselves & future generations?

posted by Heidi Betts at 1:10 PM 0 comments  

holy crap, I'm plotzing!

Seriously, I think I'm dreaming. Did I have a stroke & pass into the land of Oz? I keep pinching myself, & it definitely hurts, but maybe I'm just imagining the pain in my unconscious, dream-like state.

I got another phone call. (You know, for a girl who normally hates the phone & will only answer if I think it's going to be important, I am suddenly starting to form a real fondness for that little invention.) This time, my agent says he has some new & very good news for me.

Okay, I'm at a complete loss as to what it could be, but I'm totally willing to listen.

There's this anthology being put together...maybe more of a collection, really...for HarperCollins, of hot, sexy paranormal stories. Kim Harrison (OMG, Kim Harrison!) & Marty Greenberg are editing, & there are going to be a number of other very big, bestselling, headlining authors involved. (Remember those "Love in Vein" paranormal erotica collections a few years ago, the ones Poppy Z. Brite edited? Well, it's sort of like that, only they want to go in much more of a romance direction this time. I think, if I understand correctly.)

Anyway, he got me in! My agent got me into this fabulous, wonderful, sure to be a blockbuster collection of sexy paranormal stories. I will not be one of the headliners. In fact, I sort of envision a cover with very large font announcing, "Edited by Kim Harrison & Marty Greenberg...with stories by [Very Big Name Author], [Another Very Big Name Author], & others..." I will, of course, be one of the "others," named only on the Table of Contents page. LOL

But who cares?!? I am going to be working with...involved with...linked to...some of the biggest names in the business. And I get to write a hot, sexy paranormal story--which, with that many authors involved, probably won't even need to be very long. I already know what I'll write, too. I actually worked up a proposal a while back for a very sexy dragon novella, & my agent said it will be perfect. Weeeeee!

I was too dazed to ask for any of the pertinent details while we were on the phone. I have no idea when the deadline will be, or when the book will be out, or even who some of the other authors are. And at the moment, I don't care. I'm sure I'll find out when I need to know.

And get this...Kim Harrison (OMG, Kim Harrison!) is going to be contacting me. Don't know when, don't know how, but Kim. Harrison. Me. In touch. E-mailing. Talking. Appearing together between the covers of a book.

Oh, yeah, I'm plotzing, all right.

And I almost forgot! The title of the anthology--at least at the moment--is HOTTER THAN HELL. How cool is that?!? :-D

posted by Heidi Betts at 10:35 AM 3 comments  

did somebody sprinkle fairy dust on my head?

Seriously. Because I'm suddenly feeling very, very lucky. Or maybe I should say very, very blessed.

I've always said that this business--as well as life in general, really--is sort of a feast or famine proposition. Either nothing is going on & you could just about slip into a coma from all the monotony, or everything is happening at once (be it good or bad) & you feel like tearing your hair out from the stress & busy pace.

I've also always said that when it comes to good news in this business, when it rains, it pours. Truly, on several of the loops I'm on, things were dead quiet all winter. Nothing was happening, everyone was just moving along, working on their current projects & minding their own business. Then suddenly, just about the time the snow started to thaw, there seemed to be this dominoe effect of good news. People getting new agents..selling first books & fifteenth books...finaling in contests...hitting bestseller lists. Like, every day, someone seems to post some new piece of good news. Which is great, I just find it amusing that we, as a group, seem to hit dry spells together, & then get flooded with exciting news together.

Anyway, I've been lucky enough to be able to celebrate the three contest finals for WHEN THE LIGHTS GO DOWN, which have happened really close together. Then I was invited to participate in the "Dakota Fortunes" continuity series. And now...

drum roll, please... :-)

Late yesterday, I was asked to be part of a "sexy beach read" anthology for Harlequin in the Summer of 2007. I'm so excited! I've never done a novella or been part of an anthology before, but have always wanted to! And Stephanie Bond and Leslie Kelly are the other two authors who will be participating...could I be in better company? :-D

Of course, I'll also admit to being a little nervous, since the outline is due soon after I'll be turning in the manuscript I'm working on now, & the actual story will be due soon after my deadline for the "Dakota Fortunes" book. But I can totally do it. If worse comes to worse, I just won't sleep, eat, go to the bathroom, breathe... :-P

Then comes the part where I'm on my own for coming up with the "sexy beach story" idea altogether. That's kind of nice; it will offer me a lot of freedom. But it also means I'll have to do a bit of thinking (uh-oh :-p) & brainstorming, since I don't actually have a beach-themed plot in my head at the moment. Something will come to me, tho, once I've had a little time to let things simmer. I even have a couple of friends in mind who will totally come to my aid if I need someone to brainstorm with or bounce ideas off of. (They don't know it yet, of course, but they will. :-))

So that's my news for today. Still doing a little happy jig...in between swigs of cough medicine, because dancing apparently makes it harder to breathe when you've already got a chest cold. :-/

posted by Heidi Betts at 10:58 AM 2 comments  

but I'm feeling much better now

Okay, I'm really not. I'm feeling marginally better; sometimes I think I'm getting better, then sometimes I go back to thinking I'm at death's door. :-p

But I got a phone call this morning that definitely perked me up a bit...

WHEN THE LIGHTS GO DOWN is a Finalist for Oklahoma Romance Writers' "National Readers' Choice Awards"!!!!

Yee-haw! Suddenly, I'm really glad I answered the phone. LOL I was in the middle of hacking up a lung when it rang, & seriously considered just letting it go to voicemail. So happy I didn't! :-D

This is so exciting! That makes three finals all for the same book, which makes me want to pinch myself. Of course, I'm also starting to develop a complex. I mean, I did have two other books out last year besides LIGHTS... Were they awful? Were they no good? Did everybody hate them? I know, I know--I shouldn't think that way, & these things are all very subjective, anyway. One person's Sistine Chapel is another person's Velvet Elvis, right? LOL

I can't wait to share the news with my agent & editor, except I can't seem to get e-mail to send this morning. Called my ISP & they're "working on it," but there's no telling how long I'll have to sit on my little announcement before I can start contacting everyone I know. (I'd call, but I sound like I've been smoking three packs a day for twenty years, & no one needs to listen to that. :-P)

posted by Heidi Betts at 10:45 AM 6 comments  

pez she sez

Yesterday when I posted, I forgot to mention the Pez Museum! How in heaven's name could I forget to mention the Pez Museum when it was such fun?!?

Just around the corner from the Crayola Factory was a small building that housed the Pez Museum and Purple Cow Ice Cream. (Everyone said the ice cream at the Purple Cow is fabulous, but I didn't try any. Maybe next time.) But the Pez stuff was cool. It was just this little room filled with displays of dispensers, but I had no idea so many characters had been manufactured over the years. They had big ones & little ones...Star Wars, Pink Panther, Pooh & Friends...everything.

My brother would have loved it, so I picked up a postcard & some Pez refills in fancy flavors for him. :-)

So there...I made up for forgetting the Pez Museum the first time around. :-p

posted by Heidi Betts at 4:00 PM 3 comments  

I'm back, but I'm siiiiiiiick

I'm back from my visit to the Pocono-Lehigh RWA Chapter. It was a really fun weekend; I'm glad I went!

It sprinkled a bit on the way--bringing on flashbacks of the last time I'd travelled in that direction, in my desperate attempt to get to the NJRW conference last October :-P--but the entire trip actually passed much more quickly than I'd expected, & thankfully without incident.

The hotel was great! They had a fitness center (only 3 machines, but it was still nice, & I used one of them Saturday morning), a small pool (I hadn't packed a suit, of course, but next time I will!), & continental breakfast. They also had coffee & hot water for tea available 24hrs. That was especially nice, since I was fighting with my sinuses & allergies all weekend, & having hot mint tea 'round the clock really helped!

Friday night, I had dinner with three of the PLRW members, which was fun. Then Saturday morning, I gave my talk. There were actually more people in attendance than I'd expected for Easter weekend. I'm so glad! I had visions of only 2 or 3 members showing up & the Chapter basically thinking my visit had been a complete waste of time. :-p

But they were a great group! They seemed to enjoy my talk & had lots of good questions afterwards. At the very end, I signed books & got a chance to chat more one-on-one with everybody. All in all, I'd say the weekend was a great success. :-)

After leaving the library where the workshop was held, I probably should have just headed home, but instead went downtown to the Crayola factory. I'd been hearing about it & wanted to check it out for myself. Well, the place was really set up more for kids than adults, but it was still neat. They even had a room where they were showing how crayons were made. I got there at the very end of the process & didn't feel like sticking around until they started over again, but that's one thing I actually would have liked to see. Maybe next time.

And would anyone be surprised to hear that I found the gift shops the most fun of all? Yeah, probably not. :-P Not the Crayola one so much as the one for the Canal Museum. (Everything was sort of connected, in this big building that took up the entire block.) I got the most adorable planter with about six frogs perched all around the edge, a set of three frog figurines that do the "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" thing (too cute!), & two pairs of dragonfly dangle earrings. I'm not even a huge fan of dragonflies, but I couldn't resist. One is what they call "swing" earrings, with both sky blue & turquoise stones...I know just what top I'll wear them with! :-) And the other has little amber teardrop stones...I have no clue what I'll wear those with yet, but I'm sure I'll find something.

Soon after that, I did head home, & that's when I realized I was in for the big C-O-L-D. (Now referred to as "The Cold From Hell.") I've had sinus trouble all winter--for some strange reason, since I've never, ever had sinus problems before--& just have not been able to kick it. Like I said, even before I left, I was fighting it & had a horrendous sore throat. I wasn't sick, mind you. I felt fine, except for those sinus symptoms that are more annoying than anything else. (And wouldn't you know that I've been fine the past few weeks, but they'd crop up again right before I was heading out of town for a speaking engagement. You know, the kind where your throat is kind of, um, necessary. 8-P)

So anyway, on the way home, I started coughing, & just from the way my chest felt, I knew I was in for a doozy. Sure enough, I am now sick as a dog. Whatever was rolling around in my nose & throat before moved down & has taken up residence in my lungs. I just hope I didn't make anyone else sick. I don't think I did, since I wasn't really close enough to breathe on them for long. And I swear that if I'd known I was getting sick instead of just dealing with a sinus infection, I would have warned them all to keep their distance. I'm also glad that I didn't feel like this while I was there because I probably would have just laid my head down on the table & said, "Here are my notes, pass them around." :-P

The trick now will be to get rid of this, whatever it is before I'm supposed to head out again for the WRW Retreat in Harpers Ferry, WV, next week. Ugh. I do not want to be sick for that! If I am, I probably won't even go, but that's an even more depressing thought than being miserable all weekend. It doesn't help, either, that everyone I talk to says that this (whatever it is) has been going around all winter & lasts for weeks. Sorry, but I don't have weeks. It's got three days, tops, to move on--or find another host body to infect. And I'm taking every over-the-counter cold remedy I can find to help it along. LOL

So that's the recap of my weekend. I hope you all had a Happy Easter...or maybe a good Passover...& are feeling better than I am.

As for me, I'm going to go lie down before I fall down. :-(

posted by Heidi Betts at 11:10 AM 4 comments  

getting ready to take off

I'll be packing today for my trip to Easton, PA. I'm giving a workshop (my one on "Writing Category") Saturday morning for the Pocono-Lehigh Chapter of RWA, but it's quite a trip all the way across the state, so I'm taking off early.

I'll also be traveling in the exact same direction as I tried to last October for the NJRW conference. You know, the one where it rained so badly there were big accidents on I-80 that closed the highway for hours upon hours, & I ended up turning around & coming home. :-( I sure hope nothing like that happens this time. Yes, it's supposed to rain again, but I'm hoping it's not quite the downpour we got last Fall. And I'm leaving a day early, so hopefully that will help. Keep your fingers crossed I make it all the way there without incident. :-p

I've already got my suitcase out & am pretty sure I know what I'm going to wear. Lord, it's been such a long, hibernating winter, I can't remember the last time I got dressed up. And it sort of hit me like a lightning bolt last night that, Oh! I'm going to need shoes! LOL Yes, I actually had my outfits all laid out...& was apparently planning to go barefoot the way I do around the house. Then I had to dig thru my closet & try to find my dress shoes because I tend to pack them away after the "conference season" has ended.

But I'm getting there. I have my list & think everything I might need is on it. Now it's just a matter of finding it all & getting it packed.

Also found out today that my new bookmarks (the second order to replace the icky ones) have been shipped & should arrive early next week. Not in time for this workshop, obviously, but that's okay; I don't really need them until the end of the month.

See you Sunday (or maybe Monday), I guess!

posted by Heidi Betts at 10:47 AM 2 comments  

just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water

Got my earrings, but not my hair dryer diffuser thingie.

And then, I made a very big mistake. Right before bed, I decided to watch the last half hour of Open Water. The beginning had been kind of slow & boring, so I figured I'd just zip thru the end & be done with it.

Uh-huh.

And I should warn you that there will be SPOILERS in here, so if you haven't seen the movie & don't want to know anything until you do, stop reading now.

Now, I like scary movies--usually. Of course, I try not to watch them at night, because if I do, I tend to have nightmares afterwards. But I never expected this movie to get all that frightening. I was even reading at the same time, only watching with half an eye (you know what I mean :-p) so that if it got too intense, I still wouldn't be all that scared.

Oh, right! When I saw all those sharks swimming around in a big cluster, I just about wet myself. I have this thing about sharks...I love them; I think they're magnificent creatures & should never be killed, even if they bite someone. But I also have a VERY healthy respect for them. Meaning that if you go into the ocean, you're essentially walking right into a shark's kitchen, & if you get bitten or eaten, it's your own damn fault. You knew the risk. It's not like they come on land to get to us. (Unless we're talking about that "Land Shark" on SNL. :-)) So even tho I like the ocean & will dip my toes in occasionally, you will not catch me swimming out to sea or deep sea diving or doing anything else that equates with knocking on a shark's front door & asking, "What's for dinner?"

So then, thanks to seeing that many sharks all swimming around together & knowning that bought people bought it in the end, would you be surprised to hear that I didn't sleep very well? Snort. I didn't have any full-blown nightmares where I was lost at sea or getting attacked by Great Whites, but I kept seeing shark faces & remembering the movie. That was enough to make me toss & turn a bit.

And then today, I was talking with a friend about the film, & she told me that there's a question as to whether things really happened the way the movie depicted. I knew it was based on real events, but I don't remember hearing the controversy of whether the people had died or faked their own deaths. That's very interesting.

I did have two problems with the film, tho... Well, three, if you count that I don't know how they know what happened out there if there were no survivors, but...

#1--I don't know about you, but if I'd been in that situation, I'd have tried to swim for one of those boats at the very beginning. I don't care how far away they were, at least by swimming, I'd have had the chance of getting close enough for them to notice me. I would not have just stayed where I was, bobbing up & down, waiting for Jaws & his cronies to eat me.

#2--I can't believe that the guy got bitten by a shark, was bleeding all over the place, then had time to bleed to death before the sharks came back & finished him off. And her, too. I mean, once there was blood in the water & the sharks knew that what they'd been bumping into was food, they'd have gone back & had themselves a little two-course meal.

Am I right? Or am I the only one who thinks this? Well, no, I'm not, because my friend agrees with me. :-) But did anyone else notice these tiny details & wonder about them?

I don't know about you, but I'm going back to my favorite shark attack movie of all time: Deep Blue Sea. Those sharks may be genetically altered, but they're still not as scary as the ones in Open Water. Because the ones in Open Water were real. Yikes.

posted by Heidi Betts at 6:22 PM 4 comments