Exit Strategy

While on blog hiatus last week, I had the pleasure of reading Kelley Armstrong's Exit Strategy.
First, my standard disclaimer:
I'm not a book reviewer, just a reader. Go read Mrs. Giggles or Smart Bitches if you want the low-down on a book, blah blah blah...

Back to the topic. I've never read anything by Kelley before, but have brushed shoulders with her at Toronto Romance Writer meetings (she rocks, btw - smart, funny, confident and generous with her knowledge/experiences) so was eager to see what this New York Times Best Selling Author (squee, Kelley!) could produce. I purposely didn't start with her paranormal Otherworld series (saving those up), but with her 'try something new' book in which the heroine is a hit-man. Or would that be hit woman?

I loved it. I was expecting romance (she is a member of the TRW afterall!) but alas, aside from some serious electrical currents running between the heroine and two of the male characters, there were no nekkid mambos. Not that I was disappointed. Frankly, I would have been more disappointed had Nadia/Dee (her name/her alias) let down her guard by letting down her panties.
I'm not good at sum-ups, so I'll direct you HERE for the blurb and just give this book a very strong recommend. Now I'm off to email Kelley and BEG her to hurry up with the sequel...

Attention Writers!

Attention fellow writers --
Robin L. Rotham (Alien Overnight) has a brilliant piece on writer's craft today at 6 Degrees of Sexy. I urge you to spend a moment and absorb some of her fantastic insight on the writing process!

Me? A Blog Star?! Well Golly...

My most excellent buddy, critique partner and fellow cat-mom, Thomma Lyn of Tennessee Text Wrestling did me the honor of passing along a Blogging Star award.
Thanks, TL - I'm all a twitter!

This award is for bloggers who shine their light throughout the Blogosphere. Some do it with humor, others with creativity, and others with their kind and thoughtful natures. We all know more than a few of them so why not give them some recognition?

Here's what to do if you receive this:

• Proudly display it on your blog along with a link to who gave it to you.
• Mention that it originated here at Skittles' Place so I can follow its journey.
• Pass it on to any blogger(s) you think should have it.

I'd like to pass this shining star on to
1. Red Garnier - I met Red through Ellora's Cave (we shared the release date of our debut EC books) and I felt like I had an instant BFF. She's warm, funny, a very talented. I can't wait to meet her in person at next years RWA Nationals.
Her new website and blog will look perfect with a blogging star award!
2. Rhian - her humor, creativity and love of books and authors keeps me checking her site daily. If you haven't joined Rhi's tribe yet, what are you waiting for? Go!!
3. Amy & Christine - yes, I'm cheating and putting two people in spot 3, but honestly, these two amazing sister-friends totally rock. I had the pleasure of meeting both and competing along side them in Test the Nation: Know Your Language (which airs Sept 9th at 8pm on CBC!). They're two of the brightest stars in the blogosphere, so put your sunglasses on and check them out.

15 Hours and Counting, and Oh Nuts!

It just dawned on me that school starts tomorrow...
*guffaw*
Seriously, I've been counting down since July 3rd or thereabouts. Now that we're down to less than 15 hours, I'm practically vibrating with anticipation. My oldest son will begin grade 3 and my baby boy, who's not such a baby anymore *sniff*, will begin Montessori preschool 3 precious mornings per week. But young Sweetness doesn't begin until next week...
WAHOO!!
If I seem a tad excited it's because I'll have roughly 7 hours per week of dedicated writing time. SEVEN! That might not seem like much to you, but to me -- every minute of that will be golden. And quiet. And productive (hopefully).

My sister and brother-in-law left yesterday. We had such a lovely visit -- I was a very sad bear when they left, knowing that I probably won't see them again until next summer :(
I shall dedicate this week's TT to things we did on our visit.

Here's the latest conversation overheard in the Kinson household:

Sweetness (aka 3 yr old boy): My nuts hurt.
Light (aka 7 yr old boy): Do you have to go pee?
Sweetness: No. There's no pee in my nuts. They just got stuck in my willie.
Light: Pee doesn't come from your nuts.
Sweetness: ye-es!
Light: No it doesn't! Pee comes from inside your tummy. Nuts just hold the ingredients for when you and your wife want to have your own kid. When she goes to the hospital, your nuts crack open.
Me: (trying to quell my silent but hysterical laughter) Honey, I don't think they crack open exactly...
Light: Well of course not. They're not really nuts like peanuts. They're made of soft stuff, like boogers...

Welcome to my life.
I wonder what it would be like to have girls *takes a moment to imagine a quiet game of Barbie-dress-up...*

Body Language Basics II

Hey! What are you doing over here?
I'm at Six Degrees of Sexy today with the second half of Body Language Basics: Anger, Aggression, Fear and Anxiety.
Go on, get outta here...

To the left

I'm right at this very moment trying to get my 3 yr old to sleep. I'm sitting on the end of his bed -- and he's singing, in a whispery 3yr old way, "To the left, to the left, evwyting you own in the box to the left..."

AH HA HA HA AHA HHHAAAAA HA HHAAA AHAHAHAHAHAHAA

Go over to Six Degrees of Sexy and read Christine's take on Colette Gale's Unmasqued, an erotic twist on The Phantom of the Opera.

The Book Meme and other things...

Got this from Sparky Duck -- You've all seen it, done it, I'm sure. Here's me:

You're To Kill a Mockingbird!

by Harper Lee

Perceived as a revolutionary and groundbreaking person, you have
changed the minds of many people. While questioning the authority around you, you've
also taken a significant amount of flack. But you've had the admirable guts to
persevere. There's a weird guy in the neighborhood using dubious means to protect you,
but you're pretty sure it's worth it in the end. In the end, it remains unclear to you
whether finches and mockingbirds get along in real life.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Pretty much sums me up!
Truth? I don't really get it...

Then there's this one (also from the Sparkster)

Your Mind is PG-13 Rated

Your mind is definitely a little dirty. You're naughty, but not trashy. You don't shy away from a dirty joke, and you're clearly not a prude.

Do You Have a Dirty Mind?

I was really hoping for the NC-17 rating and even did the quiz a few times to try and change my outcome (without REALLY lying... *wink*) but alas, - I remain safe for teens. Shit.

My big sister is here - YEAY!! (and by 'yeay' I mean she does the dishes and folds laundry) so I won't be around much this week.
*cue heart clenches*

God laughs

I had a religious experience yesterday, but you'll have to go over to Six Degrees of Sexy to find out about it.

Cop Out Friday...

Because I don't have time for a 'real' post, I leave you this:

An elderly couple, Margaret and Bert, were vacationing in California . Bert always wanted a pair of cowboy boots. So seeing some on sale one day, he buys them, wears them home, walking proudly.

He walks into the house and says to his wife "notice anything different about me? Margaret looks him over, "nope"

Frustrated Bert storms off into the bathroom, undresses, and walks back into the room completely naked except for the boots.

Again, he asks, a little louder this time "notice anything different NOW?"

Margaret looks up and says, "Bert, what's different? It's hanging down today, it was hanging down yesterday, and it'll be hanging down tomorrow."

Furious, Bert yells, "AND DO YOU KNOW WHY IT'S HANGING DOWN MARGARET?"
"Nope", she replies.

IT'S HANGING DOWN BECAUSE IT'S LOOKING AT MY NEW BOOTS!!!"

Margaret replies, "Shoulda bought a Hat, Bert. Shoulda bought a Hat."

No Thursday Thirteen for two weeks.

No Thursday Thirteen for me. Alas, my Sweetness (aka 3 yr old) is sick so I've been on puke-watch all day...

Happy TT to you all. I have house guests next week, so I'll be back with my 28th TT in September...

~ Wylie

Monday Monday and another Unofficial Poll

Only 14 more days until school! WOO HOO

Amy has a book review up at Six Degrees of Sexy today. It's an Under the Covers erotica tale so go check it out...

Happy to report that kitten Lady Grey is happily playing this morning, so it looks like she too has recovered from the mysterious kitten ailment. Now I've got to wean them off milk-as-a-special-sick-kitten-treat. It is bad for them right? Thomma Lyn?? Or can I safely give them a bowl of cream every now and again?

I read Red's Divine Assistant this weekend and urge you to add it to the top of your TBR pile. It's part of Ellora's Cave 'Torrid Tarot' series, featuring the Nine of Pentacles. It's a lovely romantic tale with terrific likable characters, a good dose of humor and, it should go without saying - some very hot interaction between the h/h. Well done, Ms Garnier. And I look forward to more of your contemporaries!

Nicholas has an interesting post, which links to a scientific news article about instantaneous travel and how it effects the way we look at space/time -- I won't go into to it here -- you must go read it yourself, but it left me with this question:

If you could time travel, where and when would I go and why? Remember, you can't change anything... just have a wee look!

Me? There are so many... but for starters I would like to have a peek at an original production of a Shakespeare play at the Globe.

Kittens x 2 = Timewaster to the power of 10

Kitty update:
Just after I posted the TT, I noticed little Black wasn't her happy peppy self. She ended up being very sick with some mysterious virus - we're still waiting for the results of her test - ... in fact, the vet told me to prepare the children for the worst. She had her little neck shaved for a blood test (who knew a little squeaky kitten could howl like that!), given medication to bring his little fever down and instruced to force fed a bit of water.
Okay - just between me and you, I gave her milk, which is supposed to be a big no-no, but I figured it couldn't hurt her any worse and I wanted to make her potentially last days happy ones. I also spent three days just cuddling her. BIG TIME WASTER, that! Can't type, can't do housework, can't write,... you get the picture.
I intended to separate the two sisters, but before I could, Lady Grey (official name of grey kitten) started exhibiting the same symptoms. :(
Happy to report that Black, whose official name is now Licorice (can't manipulate the 3 yr-old like I thought we could) is feeling great. We still don't know what was wrong, but she's back to her bouncing-off-the-walls cuddly self.
Lady Gray is still not her little self. I have managed to get her to eat, but alas, she still won't leave her warm bed...

Thanks so much to everyone who came up with excellent, imaginative names for the kittens. We had a lot of fun reading them all, but in the end, the kids won out. Lady Grey actually came from someone's (Daisy Dexter Dobbs, I believe) suggestion of Earl Grey, with a slight feminization.

Wish I could share exciting writing news, but alas, my days have been filled with litter and cat fur!

Thursday Thirteen #27 - Name our pussies!

There are two new additions to the Kinson household. Introducing our pussies!

BLACK KITTEN and GREY KITTEN. If only we could agree on names...

Now that your mind is out of the gutter ~ we need help naming the wee beauties. They're two-month old sisters, very active, somewhat noisy, affectionate, cuddly and soft as... well, kittens!
My youngest son is quite stuck on the name Licorice for little blackie, (but he's 3 and malleable) while older son refers to little grey as Grey (he's more imaginative when getting out of chores. Trust me.)

Please help! Here are 13 options, so vote for one, or come up

with your own suggestion:

1. Vixen (black) and Prancer (grey)
2. Licorice and Nibs
3. Roxy and Lulu
4. Sooty and Smokey
5. Goblin and Ghost
6. Sugar and Spice
7. Betty and Veronica
8. Flopsy and Mopsy
9. Raven and London (as in fog)
10. Velvet and Tinkerbell
11. Elvira and Avalon
12. Espresso and Biscotti
13. YOUR SUGGESTION

*Thanks TL, for some of these suggestions!

Thoughful Blogger Award

Thanks so much, Kristy, for honoring li'l ole me for a Thoughtful Blogger award. I get this nice little banner to post on my sidebar ~ but best of all, I get to pass it on!
I nominate Thomma Lyn, Sparky Duck, Amy Ruttan and Christine d'Abo
and The Goddess Rhian

Cause y'all ROCK!!

Body Language at Six Degrees of Sexy

I'm blogging at Six Degrees of Sexy today. Thanks everyone, for your help in narrowing down a topic. Body Language was an overwhelming favorite - so go check it out!

Housekeeping and Informal Poll

I've been a naughty little blogger...
Can't keep track of all the stuff I need to so I'm appealing for some extra brain power:

I was tagged for a few memes this summer and inevitably put them off until 'after vacation' but I stupidly stupidly didn't bookmark them and as I have the memory span of a bag of frozen peas, please help!
If you've tagged me for a meme and I haven't posted, please will you remind me? Or link me back to the original?

And I've been terrible with keeping up my blog links, so if I've neglected to list your blog on my sidebar, please speak up and I'll be happy to add you.

And finally - I need a good topic for my writer's craft segment for Six Degrees of Sexy so I'm doing an informal poll. What topic would appeal to you:

1. Organizing your workspace - from home office to laptop on the couch
   
2. How to use descriptive settings to further characterize your hero/heroine
3. Body language basics
   

Thanks for your input!

PS - If you haven't read Nicholas's hilarious Thursday Thirteen from last week (the one about the socks), get over there. That boy shows some imagination that I'm sure will inspire other TTers!

Books and Movies

I just finished Eve Silver's latest, Dark Prince, and she remains The Queen of Sexual Tension. It was a stay-up-'til-4-in-the-morning book. As soon as the budget allows, I'll be picking up her new Eve Kenin book, Driven. It will be interesting to see what she can do with an edgy urban fantasy...

Also devoured Robin Rotham's latest EC Quickie Seniorella. It was the first BSMD book (don't ask me what the stands for, except that it's tres kinky!!) I ever read. The story premise was wonderful -- a play on the old Cinderella-fairy-godmother theme -- with a kickin' twist. It was excellent, but I do have a confession...
I am TERRIBLY, NIGHMARISHLY claustrophobic, so the bondage scenes had me more panicky than hot -- which is a true testiment to Robin's ability because her descriptions were so detailed and damn realistic that I could feel my blood pressure rising to danger levels. So this may not sound like much of a compliment, but it is indeed!!

I caught two movies during my holiday:
The Bourne Ultimatum - AWESOME. My rating system for action-adventure movies is rather unique... I judge a movie by how many fingernails I chew and this movie was a NINE FINGER NAIL MOVIE. It would have been a ten but I purposely saved my index finger for emergency itches.
I sincerely hope that this won't be the last we see of this series, though I've heard a rumor that Matt Damon has no wish to continue. I wish he would.

No Reservations - with fellow Bermudian (well, technically she's just a resident) Catherine Zeta-Jones and devilishly handsome Aaron Eckhardt (who was terrific in Thank You For Smoking -- if you haven't seen it, do).

Nothing blew up, there was no bad language, no baring of breasts, no edge-of-your-seat drama. In short, the PERFECT movie to take my 87 year old mother to.
Don't misunderstand -- I liked the movie just fine. It was very touching, sweet, easy to watch, believable, and well acted (little Abigail Breslin had me in tears more than once). No, it won't win any awards, but I wish Hollywood would make more of these kinds of movies. They don't offend, don't shock, don't keep you up at night, and don't rock your world (and don't cost 200 million to make!!!) but they leave you feeling happy -- and I can't think of a nicer way to spend 2 hours. Sort of like reading a nice romance novel...

Lake Superior & the Sleeping Giant

... and, she's back!
Miss me? :)

We visited my childhood stomping ground of Thunder Bay, located in Northwestern Ontario, about 40 miles north of the US/Canada border. Scenic-ly speaking, it's one of the most gorgeous places on earth - rugged landscapes and craggy granite shores, a thousand shades of green in the endless miles of boreal forest - spruce, poplar, birch and maple as far as the eye can see - sitting on the western edge of Lake Superior.

I made a point of learning a few facts about this Great Lake so I had something useful to share with my kids as they waded up to their knees in the frigid waters:

• It's the largest of the Great Lakes in both area and volume. (Okay - that one I knew)
• It has more water than the other four combined - Huron, Erie, Ontario & Michigan.
• At it's deepest point it's 1332 feet!! Average depth is 480 feet.
• Thousands of streams and about 200 rivers feed into it.
• It's approximately 350 miles long and 160 miles wide -- about the size of South Carolina (or is it North Carolina... I can't remember!! Help?)
• The water surface area covers 31,700 square miles and there are over 2700 miles of shore.

From the shores of Thunder Bay you can see the side of a peninsula which resembles a giant laying down, arms crossed over his chest. This is our famous Sleeping Giant. There is a lovely Native Indian (Aboriginal/First Nations - whatever is p.c. at the moment - take your pick) legend accompanying the Sleeping Giant:

On an island just outside Thunder Bay, now known as "Isle Royale", there lived a great tribe of Ojibwe Natives. Because of their loyalty to the Great Spirit, and their peaceful and industrious mode of living, Nanabijou, the Spirit of the Deep Sea Water, decided to reward them. One day he called their Chief to his great Thunder Temple on the mountain and warned him that if he told the secret to the white man, that he, Nanabijou would be turned to stone. The Chief gave his promise, and Nanabijou told him of the rich silver mine, now known as "Silver Islet". The Great Spirit told him to go to the highest point on Thunder Cape, and here he would find the entrance to a tunnel that would lead him to the centre of the mine.

Apparently the Chief and his people found the mine, for the Ojibwe became famous for their beautiful silver ornaments. So beautiful indeed were they, that the Sioux warriors on seeing them upon their wounded enemies, strove to wrest their secret from them. However, torture and even death failed to make the gallant Ojibwe divulge their secret and the Sioux chieftains had to devise another scheme to find the source of the Ojibwe silver. One day they summoned their most cunning scout to a pow-wow and a plan was formed.

The scout was to enter the Ojibwe camp disguised as one of them. This he did and in a few days succeeded in learning the secret of the island of silver. Going to the mine at night he took several large pieces of the precious metal in order to prove to his chieftain that he had fulfilled his mission. The scout however never returned to his camp, for on his way back he stopped at a white traders post to purchase some food. Having no furs or money with which to pay for the goods, he used a piece of the silver. Seeing such a large piece of the gleaming metal, two white men sought to obtain the whereabouts of its source, in order to make themselves fabulously rich. After filling the Sioux scout with alcohol they persuaded him to show them the to the mine.

When almost in sight of "Silver Islet" a terrific storm broke over the Cape. The white men were drowned and the Sioux man was found in a crazed condition floating aimlessly in his canoe, but the most extraordinary thing that had happened during the storm, was that where once was a wide opening to the bay, now lay what appeared to be a great sleeping figure of a man.

The Great Spirit's warning had been fulfilled and he had been turned to stone. On a little island at the foot of the Sleeping Giant, can still be seen the partly submerged shafts of what was once the richest silver mine in the northwest.

Did I mention that I'm part Sioux? That explains a lot... I'm probably a direct descendant of the crazed one in the canoe!

Now I'm going to spend the next few days catching up on my blog reading, my book reading (Seniorella, here I come!) and writing - none of which I did while on holiday!

Cheers.

On Vacation

Wylie's Gone Fishin'...

Be back next Wednesday, August 8th. In the meantime, go over to Six Degrees of Sexy and join in the treasure hunt -- you could win a free e-book!! But you got to enter before this Thursday at midnight!

I know, I know, it's getting old...

I know the bragging is getting old, but people, please humor me one more time...
Destiny by Design just got an AWESOME 5 STAR review from JERR. If you just can't take it anymore, go file your nails or something...

Title: Destiny by Design
Author: Wylie Kinson
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave Publishing
Publisher URL: www.ellorascave. com
ISBN: 9781419910913
Reviewer: Mahaira Fatima
Rating: 5 Stars
Heat level: H

Ellis Strathmore, a talented novice is all set to make her presence felt at the Oak Ridges Development Competition with her innovative design within a budget. Armed with her unusual approach to decorating, she is known to drive the workers crazy as she wants everything to her specifications. Simon Callon has made his name in the construction business and he doesn’t need fancy-pants designers telling him how to do his job. Tempers clash and passion flares as paint jobs go bad and things get out of hand. Who is sabotaging the competition and their newly found love?

Ellis is so kooky and fun that you can’t help but love her to bits. The ‘room whisperer’ routine had me laughing out loud in no time as Ellis had her brainstorms. Simon is likable and more. Their relationship feels spontaneous and the heady scent of romance mingles with that of wood polish and paint. Sexual tension is high and the sex is very imaginative. The showers and painting scenes were steamy and the closet scene takes the cake. The explicit scenes are not abundant but just right to flavor the already scrumptious story. It is not as if the storyline hasn’t been used before but the humor and entertainment value set it apart. Ellis’s gay assistant, Remi is a hoot and her former boss and nemesis Cynthia Travers is deliciously conniving and realistic. We get an insight into the competition, the decorating business and a little mystery all at once, with the plot never faltering anywhere. The author has taken great care in tying up loose ends and in answering questions, proving her talent. Destiny by Design is wonderfully heart warming with a well-balanced plot that will have you cheering for the characters and their author in no time!

Mahaira Fatima
Just Erotic Romance Reviews
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/justeroticromancereviewsnewsletter/join

Squee!
That's it, I promise. No more. I'm going to write...