Horace Celebrates The New Year

"You are so taking me to the party!" Horace hopped up and down on the polished wood surface of Stasi's dresser as she rummaged through her closet.

"No." Her word was muffled but that didn't stop the power she exuded.

The six-inch grayish stone gargoyle snarled as he absently chewed on a razor sharp claw. "It's New Year's Eve."

"And your point is?" Stasi pulled out a cobalt silk strapless dress with a flirty hem that revealed more than it covered. She hung the dress on a nearby hook and returned to the closet to find shoes.

"I don't want to be alone."

The 700-year plus witch ignored his mock-sorrowful tone. "You won't be alone. Bogie isn't going either." She looked over her shoulder and smiled at her beloved and magickal Yorkie/Chihuahua that tended to float along the floor instead of walking and disappeared if he thought he was in trouble. At the moment, the dog was sleeping peacefully in the middle of her bed and looked as if he could care less the New Year would ring in in a few short hours.

"You're going off to have champagne and all sorts of fun food while I have to stay here and dogsit?"T

his time Bogie did raise his head with a curled upper lip and snarl sounding.

'Yeah, well, you'll probably go out and find yourself a dog to hump while I'm stuck here listening to everyone shout "Happy New Year" and doing the kissy face thing. What've I got?" Horace marched across the dresser surface, only barely avoiding kicking perfume bottles into the air but aware the consequences weren't worth the crime. Not when Stasi's best friend was an expert in revenge spells and Stasi would let Blair loose on him. He may be a gargoyle, but he wasn't stupid.

Stasi ignored his mutterings and stuck him in a drawer while she dressed. He was still complaining as she and Blair swept out the door to their party.

"You'll be sorry!" he shouted after them.

"There's pretzels in the cupboard!" Stasi called back to him.

"Pretzels. Big friggin' deal. I get crunchy salty twists while all over the place midnight madness is going on." Horace skidded to a stop and ran back to the back door. He smiled as he watched Stasi and Blair drive off.

*****

"Some guys don't understand boundaries and a New Year's kiss doesn't mean a tonsillectomy," Stasi grumbled as she drove the SUV down Moonstone Lake's main street leading to the building that housed her and Blair's shops and second floor apartment. "

What is this?" She slowed down at the cars lining the road and lights flaring from the building on the corner. A building that shouldn't be that lit up.

Blair leaned forward. "Your shop is open!"

Stasi ended up stopping her vehicle in the middle of the road and jumped out, running over to her lingerie boutique's front door that stood open while women roamed in and out.

"Great sales in there and they're even serving champagne!" One woman walked out with an armful of bags. "75% off!"

Stasi's voice strangled inside her throat as she stared at her shop sadly depleted of stock while women, obviously coming back from parties elsewhere on the mountain, had stopped in for a midnight madness sale.

A smiling Horace sauntered out of the dressing room behind a shapely brunette. He didn't look the least bit guilty as Stasi loomed over him.

"What have you done?" Magick flew around her like a tornado.

He shrugged, looking not the least bit guilty. "I told you not to leave me alone."

Happy New Year from the Hexy Witches!

What Are Your New Year's Resolutions?

I used to make them then realized they’d be forgotten all too soon.

I do have goals. I know what I intend to do the coming year for my writing. Such as I have a few new projects in the works and hoping to see them through. My agent and I do the cheerleader bit “Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate? Each other!”

And another goal is walking Barney a few times a week. Yes, it will be good for me and even better for him since I’ve learned that mini Schnauzers are prone to gain weight. He’s gained two pounds since he came to live with us in July and he looks more roly poly now. So we’ll do the walkies.

I’ll also be teaching some writing courses on line which I’ll be talking about more soon.

So what about you? Do you make resolutions and keep them? Make them and not keep them? Or just totally ignore them?

Linda

Merry Christmas!

A wonderful holiday to you all.

Love,

Linda and the witches

Nick's Holiday Hell

Many men would rather poke their eyes out with a stick and Nick, Jazz's vampire honey, is no different as you can see.

"Have a wonderful Christmas!" one perky clerk chirped.

"Only fourteen shopping days left!" Another had to chime in.

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!

I saw Santa kissing Santa Claus.

All I want for Christmas is ---

"Peace and quiet," Nick growled, literally, as he prowled the mall from hell. He really should have chosen the Magick Mall for his gift shopping needs, but since they don't have a Nordstrom, Sephora or Victoria's Secret, he was screwed and doomed to shop at the mall that offered all three and more since he doubted Jazz would appreciate receiving a check or even gift cards. Not to mention reloading her Starbucks card wouldn't go over too big either. No, he had to vampire up and do this thing.

He hadn't celebrated the holidays in decades and couldn't remember if he and Jazz ever had, but he vowed he'd do what it took to do it this year, even if he began to think a stake through the heart wouldn't be all that bad after all.

And what idiots are at a mall at eleven o'clock at night?! Other than him, that is. And all for those holiday bargains. The late night shopping hours were great for him since he was a vampire, although he could venture out during the day when it was cloudy. But we're talking sunny California and lately, December was more like July. Hence, his showing up now.

He hated shopping. He tended to order his clothing on line and have them delivered. But he doubted that Jazz would appreciate the personal touch, although he did find something for Krebs on line and even an elegant dog bed for Fluff and Puff that he knew they'd enjoy reclining on when they were on Jazz's feet. He even picked up a few DVDs for Irma's collection.

Now was the most difficult, yet interesting, shopping chore ahead of him.

"Would you like to try our new perfume, Midnight Madness, for your lady's pleasure?" One clerk asked, holding out a crystal bottle.

He reared back and just barely kept his fangs hidden. No way he could tell her he could smell that one and more.

"No thanks, but I may be back." He knew Jazz loved different perfumes to wear according to her mood and that one should work for her.

And what did Nick learn? That Sephora held more smelly stuff than his enhanced senses could handle. That he could see why Jazz spent a small fortune on skin and body products and he REALLY WANTED OUT OF THERE.

Victoria's Secret was another hellish trek as overeager clerks were only too happy to assist him and he didn't think it was because they were thinking of sales. Not when he kept finding notes with names and phone numbers tucked into his jacket pocket. He winced at the grand total of his purchases, but the idea of Jazz modeling the colorful silk chemises and thongs he picked up helped soothe the pain.

By the time Nick left the noise and mayhem of the mall and walked out to his Jeep Wrangler, he experienced something he hadn't felt in centuries.

He had the headache of all headaches and the knowledge the way things were going he'd be doing this again on Jazz's birthday.

"This was much easier in the Dark Ages."

Hiding Behind Words

A writer’s life is a solitary one.

We sit at our computers writing words that turn into sentences into paragraphs into pages and ultimately into a finished book.

One of the good things about this? You can be anyone you want to be.

Why is that important?

I’m shy. Oh boy, I’m sure there are friends laughing themselves silly at that declaration.

But it’s true. Growing up I was painfully shy and why I buried myself in books and writing stories. Call it the peril of being an only child with an overactive imagination.

But it was the beginning of what I do now. Back then I wrote about characters that became real to me, my very own invisible playmates. I could thrust myself into a new world where I was brave and confident. Where I could be anyone I wanted to be. Not the shy gawky kid I was.

I was very lucky. Teachers encouraged my love for reading and my need to write stories. Thanks to them I grew in that respect.

What it showed me was that my characters could say what I didn’t have the nerve to say. Do what I wouldn’t be able to do.

Talk about the perfect way to be what you want to be!You run into a rude person in a store. So many things you’d love to say to them, but you don’t.

No problem, go home, create that character for a book and blast them. You’ll feel so much better. Maybe that’s why my favorite alter-ego is a pair of man-eating bunny slippers.

And even now I’m shy. It can be difficult for me to enter a new situation unless a friend is with me. I’ll do it, but I may not be as talkative as I normally am.

So what about you? Do you have the shy gene? How do you cope?

Linda

When Old Friends Meet

There’s nothing better than good friends getting together.

So many of my friends live in other states, so our communication is email and phone. Face to face is only at conferences or if we’re just darn lucky.

One of those times was last month when awesome buddy Beverly Barton was in San Diego speaking to my RWA chapter along with equally awesome Linda Howard and Linda Winstead Jones.

Beverly and I planned to have dinner after the meeting and we made sure the last third of our divahood, Paula Detmer Riggs, would be there also. Quite an undertaking when I live here, Beverly’s from Alabama and Paula lives in Oregon. But we did it!

We sat in the restaurant for hours just talking and laughing. What mattered to us was having this time together. And as you can see by the pictures, we did have fun. Paula’s the brunette in front, the laughing blonde and I’m the redhead.

We don’t know when we’ll be able to hook up together, but you can be assured when we do, we’ll be having just as much fun even if we’re in wheelchairs or using walkers!

Linda

30 Years and Still Hexy!

Thirty years ago today I managed a personnel office where I placed executives in the accounting field. I also had written two romance novels.

I’d begun reading romances and tended to say, “I could write one of these!” After all, I had wanted to be a writer since the day I could pick up a crayon.

They say write what you know, but I’m not entirely sure I did that since I chose a ballerina heroine and we won’t even talk about my time in ballet class. And I even based the heroine’s looks on my best friend, who was also my first beta reader.

What I thought would take a short time to write actually took close to nine months and after I finished that book, I wrote another. Now it was time to find out if my efforts could find a home.

Silhouette Books was brand spanking new, not even on the shelves yet, and looking for authors.

What a great place for my books! A month after they were submitted to the publisher, I got THE CALL.

And what a day for that. It was my wedding anniversary and I had a gorgeous silk plant arrangement in my office courtesy of my husband, good boy for remembering, and I had lunch with a client who, for some reason I talked about my writing, and he was genuinely interested! Who knew I’d return to my office and be there for barely five minutes when my agent called to say Silhouette wanted to buy both books? I’m sure the entire building heard my screams.

What a beginning for me.

A month later, I was writing full time. Ironic thing about that was because my boss fired me accusing me of writing my books on company time. Considering all that I did, there was no way that happened, but that was fine. It meant I had to see if I could make it as a writer.

So what do you think? I’m still writing 30 years later.

And an easy way for my husband to never forget my anniversary!

Linda