And now for something completely different...

Genies and magic and Mers, oh my!

Yes, amid all the wonderful women's fiction authors on this blog, you have moi - your resident whimsical paranormal author.

And stringing all those adjectives together makes for some very interesting descriptors.

For instance, am I a whimsical author? A whimsical person who just happens to be an author? Or, am I your resident? Or, what about, am I a paranormal being? A genie or mermaid, perhaps?

Interestingly, I am not your resident--but feel free to pay my mortgage it the mood strikes. I'm definitely NOT paranormal. Abnormal is arguable. Just ask my kids. You might have a leg to stand on with "abnormal," but definitely not "paranormal."

And as for whimsical, well, again, ask the kids. Especially Sunday nights when the weekend house party has finally ended and everyone's too tired to do anything, and the house looks like that television show, "Hoarders" but with no TV Host to come in and clean up, and school/work starts way too early Monday morning and I can't function in a house full of clothing strewn on the furniture, water bottles tossed about on the carpet (one of our cocker spaniels just LOVES opening bottles - click on picture to see YouTube video of her doing this), and plates and cups from assorted teenage gatherings are in many of the rooms: the living room, the family room, and, of course, the "man cave" in the basement that is so frightening I rarely venture down there... What was the question again?

Ah, yes, am I whimsical? I'd like to think that I am, but from the paragraph above, you can see that opinions will vary.

One thing I unequivocally am, however, and the kids (and pizza delivery guy) will attest to, is that I am an author. (Like my intro to the books?)

I write tongue-in-cheek, light-hearted paranormal romances. My first series is about Mers--men and women--and the humans they fall in love with. There's some lost treasure, a few bad guys, a couple of sea monsters, and a flock of (talking) seagulls. And talking fish. And talking sharks. And a lizard with a huge chip on his shoulder.

In Over Her Head, Wild Blue Under, and Catch of a Lifetime came out between June 2009 and February 2010. Recently, I was utterly flabbergasted and equally gobsmacked to learn that Wild Blue Under won a PRISM Award, which was just beyond thrilling for me.

The next series begins in January with I Dream of Genies, followed by Genie Knows Best and then Leave It To Genie, the last 2 of which I'm still working on. Le sigh... It's always so gratifying to hold the finished book in your hand, but putting it on the laptop? Bunches and bunches of long hours and hard work.

As you can probably guess, I'm a big fan of sixties' and seventies' sitcoms and could have a whole week's worth of blogs on the subject. (But I won't, never fear.)

As for what I've read this summer, I have to admit: not much. Deadline for a book was the end of June, and you know how crazy things get when deadlines are coming up (hence the homage to my pizza delivery guy), then came the RomCon Conference in Denver, upon which the familial unit piggy-backed an 11-day, fun-filled, but definitely not restful vacation driving through South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado, taking in such sights as Mt. Rushmore, Mt. Crazy Horse, the Badlands, Devil's Tower, Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, and the Budweiser Factory near Ft. Collins, CO. (Hey, it was free beer and air conditioned; a no-lose situation!) Then, a week at home before heading off to RWA National Conference in Orlando, and I realized I spent less time at home in the month of July than I did travelling. Phew! Even writing about it now makes me tired.

And, of course, I ended up shipping two boxes of books home from National, not to mention the ones I got at RomCon, so now my TBR Bookcase (I've advanced beyond The Pile) is bursting at the seams with books that I have no time to read.

Just recently, I started a new job and am trying to get the kids ready for school. Very hectic.

One book I DID read and thoroughly enjoyed, was our own Jenny Gardiner's, Winging It. I've heard Graycie's stories before the book, so it was nice to have a collection of them at my fingertips. Just the right thing when I need a laugh.

Which, if you saw the state of the family room this morning, you'd be doing, too. It's Friday, which means, the house is in pretty good shape. But it's the beginning of the Weekend Chaos, and add in the fact that this is a looooooong holiday weekend, and, well, I just don't even want to imagine what this place is going to look like come Monday.

Maybe I will go grab one of those books and just park myself in a hammock for a few hours to escape.

Happy Labor Day Weekend, everyone!