My new baby :)

Isn't he sweet? Well, he was until the little shit starte chewing on one of my books!! He's a 9 wk old yellow lab and the kids are calling him Max.

Winner!

I have a blinding migraine fast approaching so if I don't get back to you tonight, I will in the morning. Lesley is the winner. Congrats! And thanks everyone for playing. I really want to go to the beach now. Lesley, contact me at annmarmck@yahoo.com and let me know what format you'd like.

Thanks again, everyone :)

Contest Anyone?

I'm leaving for the RWA conference tomorrow and will miss the release of my Midsummer Night's Steam for Samhain this Friday the 13th, Fantasmagorical. :( BUT, I'd love to give out and early bird copy!! This is a m/m/f menage--notice the m/m part of that menage in case any of you don't like m/m stories. Just leave me a note, telling me about your best vacation spots and I'll choose a winner at 5 CST tonight. I'm leaving at 10 am so be sure to check back to see if you won so I can send you a copy. Otherwise, it might not be so early bird :)

YIKES!

It's been two freakin' months since I wrote in here. Here is my hand for anyone who wants to slap it! It's been a busy, busy, busy, non-stop summer and blogging has been the furthest thing from my mind.

So I have a new cover... :) You can see it above because I can't seem to get it to go where I want it, LOL. It's The Strength of Three. Christina, Jon, and TJ from Two Sighted. If you've read it, then you've already me them. It's SUPPOSED to go out the end of August. Cross your fingers.

I also wrote and sold a m/m short story to Samhain for the 2008's m/m Valentine's anthology!! Look for Court Appointed in late January. We're working on cover ideas and blurbs as we speak so hopefully I'll have something soon.

Today I joined Alison Kent's challenge: Seventy Days of Sweat-The writing challenge. We have seventy days to finish a novel length book. This is perfect for me since Ultimatum is due Oct. 1 and since I haven't started it yet...

As for Ultimatum, it's been pushed back. It was supposed to come out later this year, but because things got very hectic for me, I've had to do some rescheduling. It's given me a much needed breather when I needed it most.

Fantasmagorical releases one week from today!! Woohoo! Unfortunately I will be at National next week so I won't be here to see it go live. Perhaps I'll give one away early next week.

I hope everyone's summer is going well and if you're going to National, I'll be at the signing, if my plane actually lands on time.

These are hilarious!

Thirteen Last Minute Things To Do Before RT Annmarie McKenna

I shouldn't be Thirteening today. I need to be doing a million other things, yet here I sit feeling guilty for not being able to blog at all since last week. So here's my list of 13 make-me-even-more-nervous things to do before Tuesday.

1. Print some copies of Fantasmagorical Covers to give away.
2. Find 2 baskets. One for holding name slips for the basket giveaway, on for the actual basket.
3. Pray that the Gods are on my side and my magnets actually make it to Houston and are printed correctly :)
4. Organize clothes. I have done nothing but promo items for this trip so far.
5. Get my hair cut. That's later today.
6. Sleep. Yep, I haven't been doing that so well lately.
7. Make a list of ALL the things I do that my hubby doesn't know about, for the kids. Boy is he in for a shock.
8. Buy food for said kids so hubby doesn't have to cook.
9. Go to the Bank.
10. Find a few more items to go in the gift basket.
11. Organize between my mom and my hubby the kids schedule while he works.
12. Pack.
13. Try not to have a nervous breakdown.

Everything else, is there anything else?, is good to go. I think. I hope. Next year won't be so bad will it? At least then I won't be a virgin anymore and will have an idea of what's about to happen.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Free Read--squeee!

I have a fun free read in All Romance Ebooks Newsletter this week. You can check it out here: http://allromanceebooks.com/newsletter46-2007-04-13.html It is a newsletter so there's a interview before the vignette :) Squee! Let me know what you all think of my first attempt at a super short freebie :)

I've been tagged

First off, I just wanted to thank Beth Williamson for tagging me this morning. It was awful sweet of you hon. Just can't thank you enough :).

Now then, I am supposed to blog about 5 Things I Obsess About. Beth, we are oddly alike which is a little scary. The problem is, I don't have five things. I am the opposite of obsessor, LOL. Seriously. I don't care if the house isn't clean, or the wash not done, or there's dishes in the sink. I'm a blue jeans/shorts and t-shirt type of girl, wear my hair in a ponytail on a regular basis and don't use make-up. Damn. What does all that say about me? Well, here are a few things I do obsess about.

1. Money--all the time. Who doesn't? Keeps me up in the middle of the night. Why?

2. Pleasing people--I have this intense fear of pissing someone off by my actions or words, intentional or not.

3. Being on time--I hate when people are late. Once in awhile, yeah, okay. There are reasons that might hold you up now and then. But on a routine basis just for the attention? Uh-uh. Doesn't fly.

4. All right I do obsess about finishing my projects on time though my editor will say I sorely suck at accomplishing that. Yet I don't like to leave my house late. I think it stems back to pleasing people. If I don't get it done, who will hate me the most? Thankfully my editor's whip is soft.

5. And last but not least I fear what most people in this country fear. Okay, maybe not an obsession, but it weighs heavily on my mind...making sure my kids grow up to see adulthood in the same way we all have and not from the inside of some bomb shelter. There, I said it. Ack. To over the top? I don't worry about the fringe being straight or the blades of grass all being equal, when I worry, it's about the big things in life, LOL.

And that's a little tidbit into my neurotic mind. Now I'm going to tag Nicole Austin

Thirteen Books I've Read A Million Times Annmarie McKenna 1. All The Queen's Men...Linda Howard 2. The Perfect Man...Linda Howard 3. Dying To Please...Linda Howard 4. Heartbreaker...Julie Garwood 5. The Secret...Julie Garwood 6. The Bride...Julie Garwood 7. Sweet Nothings...Catherine Anderson 8. Storm Warning...Dinah McCall 9. The Ugly Duckling...Iris Johansen 10. Hawk O'Toole's Hostage...Sandra Brown 11. Remember Summer...Elizabeth Lowell 12. The Guardian...Dee Henderson 13. Kiss and Tell...Cherry Adair Links to other Thursday Thirteens!1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Winner

LOL, I think I offered a contest for commenting on my new digs :) The winner is...Erin the innocent! Congrats Erin. Email me at annmarmck@yahoo.com for a GC to Samhain or a download of any of my three available books or wait until I get Two Sighted in my hot little hands :)

Thanks everyone. I love the new look ;)

Happy Hump Day!

Sweeeeet!

Check out my new digs :) I had my web designer make my blog match my web pages. Yeah. I love it! Thanks, JoAnn and Jaymi at J-J Designs. They make my life a hell of alot easier since I'm clueless.

Rainbows and Elbows

Who says you can't lick your own elbow? My daughter came pretty darn close. I don't have the foggiest idea why she was trying but I ran and grabbed the camera. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up.

My kids found this rainbow this evening after a round of thunderstorms moved through. It was purty. And since we just recently had St. Patrick's Day, they begged me to take them to find the gold!

Check it out!!

Seeing Eye Mate is a finalist in the Fantasm Awards for Best Werewolf Romance!! Of course I'm in there with Lauren Dane, Keri Arthur, and Angela Knight but hey, I am uber excited about it :) I wasn't even aware of the awards. Someone else had to tell me which leaves me red-cheeked. You can vote for your favorites here:

http://www.geocities.com/ctmrrsn/form2006.html

Thanks for the nomination!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things my kids want to do today (Spring Break)
Annmarie McKenna



1. Go to the Zoo
2. Go to Tumble Drum
3. Go to Chuckie Cheese
4. Go Ice Skating
5. Go to the Park
6. Go golfing
7. Go Swimming
8. Basketball
9. The Movies
10. Camping
11. the Arch
12. Play outside with friends
13. The Carousel






Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

(leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)




Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Two Sighted

My beautiful new cover courtesy of Vanessa Hawthorne :) May 8th is getting closer and closer!

Midsummer Night's Steam

MY COVER! It's lickalicious as Beth or Ally so eloquently put it :)

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Reasons I Won't Get Any Writing Done Today Annmarie McKenna 1. My son :) Need I say more? 2. Have to create this TT and cruise others. 3. Have to take my 5 yr old to the doc. She hurt her finger yesterday and today it's a pretty shade of blue and nice and swollen. 4. Parent/Teacher conference. 5. Shopping. No seriously. I have an 8 yr old and a 2 yr old who don't fit into their warm weather clothes anymore. 6. I'll probably have to go to lunch while I'm shopping. 7. Take one kid to gymnastics. 8. Pick her up, drop the second one off. 9. Pick that one up. 10. Dinner. 11. Emails. God those suckers are addictive. 12. Can you say, PROCRASTINATION? 13. Survivor. :)Is it even on tonight? Hmm...I think it was on last night. Maybe I will get some writing done after all... Thursday is not such a good day for me. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Slash and Burn

I'm part of a new m/m blog called Slash and Burn! Come check us out now and then. I believe there will be prizes given away this week to those who comment :) Join Ally Blue, Amanda Young, Anne Cain, Barbara Sheridan, Joely Skye, Leigh Ellwood, and Olivia Lorenz as we chat about Samhain books as well as other publishers and anything else we can think of LOL! Drop by and let us know what you think, please! The first post should be up later today.

Disney on Ice--money, biting, and men, oh my!

Okay, I admit it. I took my four kiddos to Disney Princesses on Ice last night. First off, we got lost. I had directions, but the highway sign didn't say the name of the street I needed. It was more a comglomeration of "downtown" than anything. It was also the last exit for downtown so I suddenly found myself crossing the river into another state. Nice. I calmly *snort* called my hubby and asked him how to get back.

I told myself the event was all in the spirit of providing my three girls and one son a night of over-expensive fun, filled with $10 cotton candy, $4.75 bottled water, and $3.50 popcorn. Don't even mention the "toys". There was nothing under 12 bucks. While my kids begged the entire night for one of said light up tieras, wands, spinning princesses, or singing roses, I held strong. "We'll share mommy!" Pfft. My kids can't share the popcorn w/o dumping it all over the ground, how would they share a cool light up toy?

No.

So I compromised and told them I would take them to the Disney Store today so they could pick up some similiar, and much cheaper, trinket that will quickly find its way to lost or broken anyhow.

So, post biting incident between the 2 yr old son and 6 yr old daughter--the boy drew blood in front of 5000 people for God sake!--we settled in to watch the show. The first part was a scene from Aladdin. O. M. G. The guy who played Prince Ali Ababwa can grace one of my covers anyday! He had a body to die for. He needed it for all the lifts and twists they did.

The show was really good. It even entertained my 2 yr old son for the entire hour and a half. He sat on my lap for the whole thing and, aside from turning to me after each segment and saying, "Is it over?", he watched the every minute of it. And I must say, the fire breathing dragon from Sleeping Beauty was the best :)

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things To Do On A Rainy Day with Four Kids Under 8 Annmarie McKenna1. Visit the Rec Plex for swimming, ice skating, rock climbing. 2. Play games--Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Go Fish, etc. 3. Read Books--just not mommie's books :) 4. Paint 5. Get out the kids cookbook and let them make whatever they want. 6. Put up a tent and have an indoor campout. 7. Picnic on the carpet. 8. Head to the movies. 9. Tumble Drum is always a winner. For the kids at least. 10. Grab your umbrella and galoshes and join the raindrops. You know you want to... 11. Mud wrestling. Take lots of pictures. 12. Put on a fashion show. Even my 2 yr. old son loves this. 13. There's always Cat in the Hat... Links to other Thursday Thirteens!1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants