It's My Birthday - and YOU can Score Some Gifts!

I'm a little late in posting this due to some personal matters requiring my attention. Read on to see some of what's going on – and how you can score some gifts!

It's the official first day of Summer, and even better, it's my birthday today! The year I was born, June 20 actually fell the day before Father's Day, so my arrival was a gift for my dad, who  became a dad for the first time that year, (No, I am absolutely NOT going to give a clue as to when that occurred! LOL!).  Another factoid – my younger sister was born the day before Dad's birthday, so we were both "presents."

Being that I was born right as Summer began, it also makes sense that is my favorite season. There are a few reasons for that – as a kid, a big one was the fact that my birthday always coincided with the last few days of school. Think about it, what are the two most important days in any kid's life? Birthday and the last day of school! There were some years that the last day actually fell on my birthday – does it get any better than that? Lol

A while ago, I realized another factor played into my love of Summer. It's something I've paid more attention to over the last few years, (though of course there are always exceptions) and it's that people's favorite season tends to be the one they were born in. Sort of makes sense to me. I always say I'm going to look more deeply into a possible link, because I think I can use that theory in some way, shape or form in some upcoming book (well, at least on the ever-growing list of the ideas, anyway).  But it could play heavily into many of my books, especially the paranormal, though even the historical settings of my books could use the idea as an added layer to the world and characters.

Of course, the excitement over my birthday is a lot different now. I don't mind. It's still awesome to be the recipient of good wishes and such. But the fact is, it's not as big a deal as it used to be. The world and all the obligations keep turning, and work and responsibilities still need attention. Now, however, what I really find interesting about my birthday is all the different people who share it, or the events that took place on that day.

Errol Flynn 1909 - Actor
Olympia Dukakis 1931 - Actress
Danny Aiello (Daniel Louis "Danny" Aiello, Jr.) 1933 - Actor
Brian Wilson 1942 – Musician, Beach Boys
Bob Vila 1946 - Television host ("This Old House")
Tina Sinatra 1948 - Producer, actress, second daughter of Frank Sinatra
Lionel Richie 1949 - Singer, musician
John Goodman 1952 - Actor
Michael Anthony 1954 – Musician, Van Halen
John Taylor 1960 – Musician, Duran Duran
Nicole Kidman 1967 - Actress

That's some fine company to be in! And check out a few notable events from this day:

1782 - The US Congress approved the Great Seal of the United States.
1791 - King Louis XVI of France was captured while attempting to flee the country

1793 - Eli Whitney applied for a cotton gin patent. He received the patent on March 14.

1837 - Queen Victoria ascended the British throne.
1863 – West Virginia became the 35th state to join the US.
1910 - Fanny Brice debuted in the New York production of the "Ziegfeld Follies".
1947 - Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was murdered in Beverly Hills, on order of mob associates angered over the costs of his project, the Flamingo resort in Las Vegas.
1948 - "Toast of the Town" debuted on CBS, hosted by Ed Sullivan.

There's a lot more, but those were just some fun facts I stumbled across, while researching for various books.

And, as much as I do love Summer, there are pitfalls – the sorts of things that never occurred to me as kid. Would not have been in the universe of my imagination back then! lol The biggest problem - productivity falls way down. While there's Summer camp, it includes all sorts of extra activities – or at least driving to those activities. Family vacation is way more than its week or so away – never mind the pre-planning. Vacation is bookended by laundry and shopping and packing and unpacking. The next thing you know, it's time to bring DD back to college and prep the Little Guy for middle school. It goes fast – way too fast, if you ask me.

So what I plan with this post is to give some of you a chance to slow down the craziness of Summer – curl up with a good book, on me! That's right, for my birthday, I'm giving away presents – two people who comment will be randomly selected to win a $20 Amazon gift card, a copy of any of my titles, and some fun goodies to go along with it.

So tell me, what's your favorite part of Summer?

Age Brings Wisdom, Right?

Today's my birthday. I usually love my birthday, even if it does signify getting older and all that goes along with that. This year, I'm not as enthralled as I usually am, even if I am only 29! I refuse to divulge it even in my own home because my son is a blabbermouth - no chance of his learning my real age until he's at least to this point, so I will always ever refer to myself as 29. Though he's likely to remind me that now I'm 30.

I don't know if it's because I've finally reached the point that I don't care anymore, the day is no different than any other, or the fact that I'm approaching a milestone that I really don’t want to approach. Maybe it's because I still need to lose about 30 lbs. and start working out regularly, like I used to (curse you Curves, for closing all the damn locations near me!), because I need to start feeling younger again. Or maybe the fact that I now need glasses and will be getting them in a week or so is hitting home. The tests the doctor wants me to take. Hey, other than the standard female things, when did I start needing a doctor regularly, damn it?

Lately my 16 year old heart has been feeling more 30-ish and that can't be a good thing, can it? Somehow, it bugs me. I want to hold onto my youth and keep partying like I did when I was 19, and I find it's not so easy anymore. Not that I'm going to give that up – just have to get and keep my partying self in better shape, for better stamina! :D

One thing I've also noticed is that I've been making my heroines a little older than I used to, well, except for Marissa in Warrior's Vengeance and the heroine(s) to come in the sequel/prequels, the time period kind of needs them to be fairly young. Not sure why my more modern heroines are older, and the really odd thing is I find myself feeling more maternal toward my heroines rather than identifying fully with them. It's weird, how my perception of them has changed. There's less of "me" in them than there used to be, and they have complete personalities of their own. Maybe I've finally gotten to be old enough that I realize that fairy-tale ending ain't never gonna happen for me, so I'll give it to them.  Or maybe it's that I've changed so much over the years that the parts of me that are in my heroines are not parts of me that are still relevant to me today.

Maybe I'm just getting better at compartmentalizing and sorting. Though I would rather have this skill applied to my home and office, rather than the emotional and rambling train of thoughts, thank you very much. I find plotting comes a little easier – is that because I've garnered enough knowledge in my advanced years to be able to make sense of things that I used to just wing without any sort of reasonable explanation? (Is that last sentence even grammatically correct?)

Anyway, a lot of this has come to me over the last couple of days, as I approach my day, realizing how short the span is separating me from that horrifying number and fighting it as hard as I can. But there are positives, especially when it comes to writing.

I'm better disciplined (though not by much), and I am honestly secure in knowing what I put into words is thousands and thousands of times better than what my first attempts look like. I'm good, damn it, and it may have taken a while to get to that point, but every minute, even the depressing I'm-giving-it-up-can't-do-this-anymore ones, were worth it. I feel confident in giving advice and support to newer writers. I didn't have that confidence for a loooong time. I feel like I know what I'm doing, more often than I feel like I don't. Why the hell did it take so long to tip the scales the other way?

As for acknowledging today, I'm going to do my best to keep the day in general low-key, though I'm not past using it to my advantage when I need to. ;) But I want it to be a regular day amidst the insanity of all the others. We'll see how that pans out. Since everyone except me and the little guy have plans tomorrow, the odds of it being a quiet normal day are actually pretty good. I'm hoping, anyway!

And since it’s a birthday, it's time for presents! I'll give a few commenters a copy of any one of my titles, winners' choice.