Entertaining Kate #4

I like to do crafty things from time to time. I recently bought a loom kit with some birthday money. I went online and learned to knit a scarf using the rectangular loom, but it wasn't as easy as it looked because during one step--pushing down the loops--my loom had notches on each post. I believe the notches were designed to prevent the loops from coming off, but it also hindered my attempts to push the loops down. I dealt with it and I now have a pretty scarf.

However, when I attempted to learn how to make something with one of the round looms, I discovered that the loose pegs at the bottom of the box weren't extras, as I'd assumed. They were pegs that had broken off the looms! If you look closely at the photo, you can see where the pegs are missing.

I have the original packing slip, so I think I'll be fine. 

Dirty Review

I rarely get reviews on my books, so I'm always excited when someone takes the time to let the world what they thought of my story, even if they were less than thrilled. I can always take that constructive criticism and apply that to my future books.

Cecile Smutty Hussy had this to say:

If your man wants to read what you are reading, get him this book. Believe me, he will be able to relate to this book...

This is a new to me author and I was very entertained by Ms. Kate. She has a wonderful voice when writing. Her characters are real; well, as real as they can be on paper. But you will relate to them. No matter who is reading the book. The story line is something out of every man's fantasy. And it will leave him with a wet spot in his pants and a smile on his face!

This is an explosive, impulsive, high risk taking story that will...get you hot under the collar! 

Woot! She liked it. For the whole review, click here.

To buy Going Down Dirty by yours truly, click here. 

The iHatTrick

I just got the new iPhone for my birthday last night even though my birthday isn't for a couple of weeks. My son and husband couldn't wait to give it to me. I'm so excited. I now have the iMac desktop, an iPad2, and my new iPhone. They all talk to each other like a little passel of electronic employees.

I'm really excited about being able to take photos and share them super easily now. No bringing a camera with me anymore! My joy is only reduced a little because my youngest son is sad he has the crappiest phone in the family. If he didn't spend all his money on skateboard stuff, he might have the moola to subsidize a phone purchase or at least appear as if he's responsible enough with his assets to deserve a smart phone.

Destination: Art

I love the artist Dale Chihuly. If you've been to the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, you've probably seen his work on the ceiling (right.)

The photo to the left was taken at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix in 2011. It was freakin' hot, even at ten a.m. My sons and I were there to look at the plants, but were delighted to find some artwork of Chihuly's near the entrance. Those two "plants" on the right are made of glass. Even though they're this vibrating neon green, they don't seem to clash with the natural surroundings. Weird, huh!

Anyway, Chihuly is from Tacoma, Washington and in Seattle they've built the Chihuly Garden and Glass installation. I'm dying to go see it.

If I went there, I could also see the first Starbucks location, too. I've heard there are always long lines, but I wouldn't need to buy a coffee there. Come to think of it, a trip to Seattle would guarantee we'd have good coffee at least. There's nothing worse than going on vacation and having to suffer bad coffee. (Carnival Cruise Lines have horrible coffee, FYI.)

Favorite Quotes #11

Election day is not very far away. I asked for an absentee ballot and when filling it out, messed up and filled in the wrong bubble. The instructions said if one did that, to merely fill in the Official Sample Ballot and submit that instead. Unfortunately, I marked that thing up and crossed stuff out when I changed my mind a couple of times, so that solution was out. I went to the website and it seemed to me, although I'm not 100% sure, that I can just take the whole mess with me to my regular polling place and  get a new ballot. Cross your fingers for me. I really care more about this election than I ever have before.

So, here's a quote I think is appropriate this year, especially for my fellow Californians.


Our elections are free -- it's in the results where eventually we pay.

--Bill Stern, (1907-1971) actor and sportscaster

Entertaining Kate #3 - Movie Review

Hubs and I saw Looper. I really liked it. It was intelligent spec fiction. It didn't confuse me like Inception. If you saw In Time, that movie where time was currency and they had those countdown timers in their arms...? Looper was what that movie should have been.

SPOILER AHEAD

I really like Joseph Gordon Levitt. I liked seeing Bruce Willis in an action role, but as an antagonist. I am so used to seeing him be the good guy that I kept expecting him to change his stripes. I would see him about to do something horrible and think, "Oh, he's not really going to...Oh no! He DID!" I found it refreshing.

The only complaint I had was that Levitt looked weird. They did some weird make-up stuff to his face to make him look more like Willis and I don't think it really helped. In fact, some of the time he looked uncannily like Alec Baldwin. LOL

It's Research!

I needed to describe my hero's chest hair, so I turned to Hugh for inspiration. Can you blame me?

Entertaining Kate #2 - Movie

Hubby and I rented Albert Nobbs the other night. I loved it. First, because it was a period piece, and I love the costumes and sets that go with historicals, especially since they go to a lot of trouble these days to remain true to the time. Like remember Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra? I remember that looking so sixties!

Here's a short blurb.

Albert Nobbs struggles to survive in late 19th century Ireland, where women aren't encouraged to be independent. Posing as a man, so she can work as a butler in Dublin's most posh hotel, Albert meets a handsome painter and looks to escape the lie she has been living.

I don't usually find myself caring so much about a character, but there was something about this woman that made me want her to be happy. At first, I was just curious to find out why she was posing as a man. I also wanted to find out why she was saving all that money. (Not a spoiler, you find that out pretty quickly.) By the time the painter arrives on the scene, I'm hooked. The actor who plays that painter is AMAZING.

I also really appreciated the fact that the gay agenda wasn't being forced down my throat, as is so often the case. (And don't get me wrong. I support many of the gay issues. My oldest son is gay. But I don't agree with everything the GLBT juggernaut stands for and it annoys me when they use entertainment to try to manipulate me into believing in this or that.)

Anyway, this is a great movie. I would watch it again, and I don't say that about many movies.

Hockey Tradition

Since 1995, whenever a team wins the Stanley Cup, each player (and other members of the organization such as coaches, equipment handlers, etc.) gets one special day with the famous trophy. I think this is such a terrific tradition.

I tried to win the opportunity to take a picture with the Cup at my local rink, Ice Station Valencia. I thought it would be a fantastic way to inspire my muse as I write the first of what I hope to be many hockey themed romances. Full of hope, I bought four raffle tickets, but alas, I didn't win. :(

Still, here are some of my favorite photos taken this summer, celebrating the Los Angeles Kings' win.

Dustin Brown's kids make a chocolate milk jacuzzi out of the Cup.

Mike Richards is concerned about the Cup's ability to swim.

Captain Dustin Brown at the grocery store. I notice he's in the kitty litter aisle... Please, Dustin, not in the Cup!

The boys celebrate in Vegas. YUMMO.
(Photo by Al Powers of Powers Imagery LLC)

Last Line Last Night #1

A while ago I was posting the last line I wrote the night before. I thought that might be a fun feature to bring back. It doesn't take up a lot of your time or mine. :) This is from my work-in-progress, the hockey book, of course.

“Wild horses couldn’t drag me out of this bed.”

If Only...

...I could be a water girl in this room. It's the National Hockey League Players Association meeting.

Just look at all those yummy hockey players all gathered together. The photograph alone makes my knees weak. I can't imagine what being there in person would do to me.

I'd probably need to smoke a cigarette. And  I don't even smoke.

Going Down Dirty!!

I'm really excited to announce the release of my first EC for Men story, Going Down Dirty. Unfortunately, I'm caught with my pants down (sorry about the pun!) because I had no idea it was coming out today, so I wasn't able to prepare my usual week of new release blog posts.

It's a short story, so I suppose maybe it doesn't deserve an entire week of build-up. LOL

Anyway, Ellora's Cave, the publishers, tweeted this about it:

A tweet from a model starts one man's ultimate fantasy. NEW RELEASE. GOING DOWN DIRTY by @Kate_Willoughby

I enjoyed writing this pure male fantasy without the pressure of building a romantic relationship. I hope readers enjoy it too.

Wheelchair Update

When Once Upon a Kiss came out, I promised to put aside a portion of each sale toward a wheelchair for a needy person. (See the sidebar on the left.)

I'm pleased to announce that I'm almost to the 25% mark! It's taken a while and I still have a long way to go, but I'm determined. I want to thank every single person who has bought a copy of that book. I couldn't do it without you.

Favorite Quotes #10 - I Love America

...the essence of America, what really unites us, is not nationality or ethnicity or religion.  It is an idea.  And what an idea it is.  That you can come from humble circumstances and you can do great things, that it does not matter where you came from, it matters where you are going.

   My fellow Americans, ours has never been a narrative of grievance and entitlement.  We have never believed that I am doing poorly because you are doing well.  We have never been jealous of one another and never envious of each others' successes.

   No, no, ours has been a belief in opportunity.  And it has been a constant struggle, long and hard, up and down, to try to extend the benefits of the American dream to all.  But that American ideal is indeed in danger today.  There is no country, no, not even a rising China that can do more harm to us than we can do to ourselves if we do not do the hard work before us here
at home.

Condoleezza Rice

New Cover Art

Got the new cover art for my upcoming release! Here it is. I'm excited.

Entertaining Kate #1 - Movie

Rented Goon. I think It was the last of my hockey movie list. It was surprisingly cute, laugh-out-loud funny in a lot of places, and I really liked it. It showed a gritty side of hockey that wasn't present in Mighty Ducks, for example or Mystery, Alaska. The skating looked much more realistic than it did in Mystery. The main character is adorable, honest and sincere, despite his brawny abilities.

Labeled an outcast by his brainy family, a bouncer overcomes long odds to lead a team of under performing misfits to semi-pro hockey glory, beating the crap out of everything that stands in his way.

My only complaint: why didn't they have subtitles for the hearing impaired, something I'm starting to become??? They had them in Spanish, and that was it. Boo.

A New Print Release!

Today is a wonderful day.

The Be-Wished series, five years in the making, consists of four books: All In, A Wolf at Her Door, Once Upon a Kiss, and Just Winging It. The first two stories were published in their own print anthology last year called Wolf Wishes. 

Now, the second volume, Midnight Wishes has been published in print!

I hadn't seen the cover until today, but I love it. As an author who has most of her stories sold digitally, it's exciting and special when you see your work in print. One of these days, I'll do a book signing. Maybe at the Romance Writers of America Conference or the Romantic Times convention next year.

Until then, I'm just thrilled to have these books available.

Ideas Aplenty

LA Kings Goalie, Jonathan Quick
Photo by Kaz Andrew (cc)

I am 24K into this hockey story. It's still going very well. The hero and heroine, Tim and Erin, are getting along famously. In the course of writing and doing research for this book, I keep getting ideas for future books. So far, I have premises for seven more hockey books, including but not limited to:

• a player who meets a special woman on his Day with the Stanley Cup
• a player who is obsessed with educating himself since he never went to college and his father deemed him a "dumb jock."
• a woman who sings the national anthem at one of the Barracuda's games and flubs it up.
• a prodigal son/hockey player who returns to his hometown to meet a woman who has no idea who he is which surprises and sort of offends him.
• a former puck bunny, now successful businesswoman, who meets up with one of the players she did many years ago
• a woman who owns a sports training center for the whole athlete

So far, I'm looking forward to writing more hockey books. I'm also looking forward to hearing from a real life hockey wife who blogs--A Day in the Life of a Hockey Wife. I emailed her some questions that she says her husband, a professional hockey player somewhere in Europe, will answer for me. Woot. I can't wait to see what he says.

Favorite Quotes #9 - Hockey Humor

I went to a fight the other night and a hockey game broke out.

Shane Doan and Dustin Brown

--Rodney Dangerfield

I used to dislike hockey because of all the fighting. I thought it was unnecessary. I thought the refs were idiots for letting it go on. Now, I'm coming to understand why it's a necessary part of the game. 


Obviously, hockey players have to be tough, which is why they make such wonderful romance novel heroes. We might marry accountants and lawyers and such, but we fantasize about big warriors, which is sort of all a hockey player is. 


Pictured is the captain of "my" team, the LA Kings, Dustin Brown. He's got the most adorable kids. His wife must be pretty. 


I hate her.


LOL. 

Favorite Quotes #8 - Aliens Among Us

“People say, 'I'm going to sleep now,' as if it were nothing. But it's really a bizarre activity. 'For the next several hours, while the sun is gone, I'm going to become unconscious, temporarily losing command over everything I know and understand. When the sun returns, I will resume my life.'

If you didn't know what sleep was, and you had only seen it in a science fiction movie, you would think it was weird and tell all your friends about the movie you'd seen.

They had these people, you know? And they would walk around all day and be OK? And then, once a day, usually after dark, they would lie down on these special platforms and become unconscious. They would stop functioning almost completely, except deep in their minds they would have adventures and experiences that were completely impossible in real life. As they lay there, completely vulnerable to their enemies, their only movements were to occasionally shift from one position to another; or, if one of the 'mind adventures' got too real, they would sit up and scream and be glad they weren't unconscious anymore. Then they would drink a lot of coffee.'

So, next time you see someone sleeping, make believe you're in a science fiction movie. And whisper, 'The creature is regenerating itself.”
 
― George Carlin, Brain Droppings

Love It Wednesday #7 - Lime!

I love Key Lime Pie, so when Starbucks came out with their Refreshers last summer, I was in heaven.

But then the drinks went away after summer was over. I was sad.

Now they're back!! Forever! The refreshers sold so well that the powers that be decided to make them a core drink. The Berry Hibiscus Refresher is yummy, but can't compare to the Cool Lime, at least for me. If you put a teeny bit of vanilla syrup in it, it's like Key Lime Pie in a cup.

Here are some facts about the refreshers that I spouted about eighty zillion times yesterday when I had to give out samples for four hours. Refreshers:

--are made with green coffee extract
--have a little more caffeine than a Coke (40-60 milligrams)
--are made with real fruit (blackberries and limes) and real fruit juice
--contain 50-70 calories in a grande

If you'd like to try one, go to a participating Starbucks this Friday between noon and three. They're giving away free tall Refreshers, one per customer. :)

Re-boot

So, I got this great idea for the hockey book, tentatively titled CHARMED.

Unfortunately, it necessitated a rewrite of the beginning. LOL. I laugh because this is my M.O. I start and restart and restart my books. Such is the life of a writer who plots as she goes. Here's the new opening...

The San Diego Barracudas reload with Locke, Stoccetti and Barringer, but will they be shooting blanks this season? Marc Stoccetti left the Oilers under a cloud, but Coach Marchand thinks the seasoned center still has some pow left in him. Personally, I’m not sure. All three of these guys are on the far side of their prime, but Lord knows the Barracudas are a young team in need of strong, experienced leadership. 

--Breakaway Baby, a hockey blog

“How old were you when you lost your virginity?”

Marco Stocchetti was jogging on the treadmill with his two good friends in the Barracuda's workout room. Christian Barringer had asked the question.

“I was ten,” Marc said.

Simon Locke, captain of the team, laughed. “The fuck you were.”

Marc chuckled. “All right. I was sixteen.”

Barringer nodded. “Hey, I was sixteen, too. Marissa Clairmont.” He sighed. “What sweet fucking pussy she had. I swear to God it tasted like peach pie.”

“I lost my cherry to Alison Chase,” Marc said. “In the back of her car.”

“Oh yeah? What did she taste like?” Barringer asked.

Marc shrugged. “I never went down on her,” he admitted. “But her mouth always tasted like Big Red gum.”

Barringer nodded as he adjusted the speed on his machine. “There was an old lady on my street when I was a kid who gave out Big Red on Halloween. You’d knock on her door and she’d give you one stick. That pissed me off so bad. I used to think she was cheap, but now I realize she was probably just on a fixed income.” Barringer sighed. “Maybe I should look her up. See if she needs some money.”

Locke cleared his throat. “If you two are done with your stroll down memory lane, I’d like to get back to the matter at hand. You can’t have the number sixteen,” he said to Marc. “That’s Carpenter’s number.”

“Shit.” 

Favorite Quotes #7 - Ouch!

As you know, I'm writing a hockey romance. I thought it appropriate to post a hockey player quote. This one made me hoot.

"I'm just glad it wasn't machete night."

—Bob Froese after Rangers fans threw mugs on the ice during mug night.

Love It Wednesday #6 - Potayto Potahto

Today I'm crowing about a recipe that I tried out today on my family. I never thought much about anchovies before except that they were sometimes put on pizza. Recently one of the magazines I subscribe to, Everyday Food, did a feature on anchovies. One of their recipes sounded interesting, and it was terrific.

Anchovy Potato Salad

1 pound russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
coarse salt
1/2 celery stalk, diced small (I used a whole one.)
1 scallion (I used two)
1 large hard-cooked egg, chopped
1 cup Spicy Anchovy Mayonnaise (recipe to follow)

In a medium pot, bring potatoes to a boil in salted water over high. Reduce to a rapid simmer and cook until potatoes are tender when pierced with a bowl, about 10 min. Drain, transfer to a bowl and let cool, about 30 min. Stir in all the other stuff and season with salt.

To store, cover and refrigerate, up to 3 days.

Spicy Anchovy Mayo

Combine 1 cup mayo, 2 tsp. Dijon mustard, 1 tsp. red pepper flakes, and a small tin of anchovies, finely chopped.

Let's Start at the Very Beginning

...a very good place to start.


Points if you know what song that is. :)

Kings at TAO in Vegas, celebrating the Stanley Cup win.

I have started a new story. I always have to start at the beginning and move forward sequentially until I get to the end. That's the way I have to write. I can't skip around like some authors.

Anyway, I'm really excited to have begun a new project. It's got a hockey player hero. I have recently developed a crush on the entire Kings hockey team. Are these guys cute, or what!


As usual, I had a false start:

“Seriously?” Jack Pomerantz scowled at the Honorable Judge Wanda Weisgarten. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

Jack’s lawyer brought a fist to his mouth and discretely coughed the words, “Shut the fuck up.” 

That was when the story was going to be about a player with a drinking problem. Now, it's going to be about a player with a superstitious nature and something to prove to the world. The beginning, now focusing on the heroine, is this:

The closest Erin Collier had ever gotten to a celebrity was when she’d been at Disneyland and heard that Channing Tatum had been spotted on the Matterhorn. She’d kept her eyes peeled the entire day, alert for a crowd of giddy women, but never spotted him. The most she could claim was that maybe her butt and his butt had shared the same bobsled that day.

I'm really excited about this story.

Favorite Quotes #6 - Write, write, write

I learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it.
Ernest Hemingway


I've started a new book. I was inspired by my team's win of the STANLEY CUP. I sort of got obsessed with hockey players. They're so darn virile. Like modern day gladiators. The last two stories I wrote were for men, so I want to get back to writing something for my own sex. 


I chose this quote because I write pretty slow. I need every trick I can find to help me produce more quickly, so this quote reminded me of something I used to do...stop in the middle of a sentence, where I know exactly what was going to come next. Then, when I start each day, I can really START. 


P.S. I never really did enjoy reading Hemingway, but maybe someday I'll give his stuff another chance.

Love It Wednesday #5 - I Scream!

This week I praise this book by David Lebovitz. I made the recipe below which is KILLER. I don't even like sour cream, but this ice cream is to die for and so easy to make.

Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

Yield: Makes 1 1/4 quarts ice cream

ingredients:

1 pound fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vodka or kirsch (I left this out)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

directions:

1. Slice the strawberries and toss them in a medium bowl with the sugar and vodka or kirsch, if using. I left the alcohol out. Stir until the sugar begins to dissolve and all of the strawberries are coated. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

2. Pulse the strawberries and their liquid with the sour cream, heavy cream, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor until almost smooth, but still slightly chunky.

3. Refrigerate mixture for at least one hour. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Recipe from The Perfect Scoop

Favorite Quotes #5 - Don't Worry...

Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.

Abraham Lincoln (not pictured)

Love It Wednesday #4 - My Journal

I always loved the idea of a diary. I tried to keep one several times as a child, and never succeeded past a couple of weeks. Then, my beloved sister introduced me to the 10 Year Journal, a journal that only allows you four lines per day. Each page is dedicated to one day of the year. For example, the first page is January 1. The first four lines of it are for 1/1/06. Beneath that are four more lines for 1/1/07, and so on.

To my surprise, I have been able to keep with this format for over five years now, only missing a few days here and there. It's terrific to be jotting down the day's events and be able to look back and see what was going on last year on the same day, or even three years ago, or four. I've heard of people giving it as a wedding gift so the newlyweds could keep track of their new life together.

It's so easy to keep up with it since it only takes a couple of minutes at night. I highly recommend it, newlywed or not. :)

Favorite Quotes #4 - My Kind of Medicine

Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out, but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake.

~Author Unknown

Love It Wednesday #3 - The Los Angeles Kings

A few months ago I started going to the Los Angeles Kings Hockey games with my husband. I don't like crowds and have never been a fan of any sport. The baseball games were always super boring. But I actually had fun at the hockey game, even if I didn't understand what was going on a lot of the time. Puck in the opponent's goal = a good thing was about all I understood.

Fast forward to today. I am a bonafide Fan.

• I arranged my schedule so that I could watch the games on TV.
• I own team paraphernalia. I want to get a jersey to wear to the games.
• I actually enjoy the post game. (I'd always mocked my husband for listening. Me: Why do you have to listen to them talk about the game we just witnessed for ourselves???)
• I want to cruise the streets of Manhattan Beach (where most, if not all, of the players live, in hopes of spotting one of them.)
• I just re-read SEE JANE SCORE by Rachel Gibson, a book on my keeper shelf about a reporter and a hockey player, it's as pertient today as it was when I read it years ago. I loved this book and still do.

So this week's thing I love is the Los Angeles Kings, the 2012 Stanley Cup Champions. I was at Game 4, the game where they could have swept the series, but they lost. They lost again in New Jersey, and then won the cup at home on Monday. When the season starts again in the fall, I will be buying myself an official jersey to wear to the games.

Favorite Quotes #3 - My Name is Inigo Montoya

Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a little while.

That's from one of my favorite movies, The Princess Bride. I remember my dad raving about this movie. Said it was the funniest thing he'd seen in a long time. He was right. 


Last week he told me he thought the new show "Veep" is the funniest show he's seen in a long time. I watched two episodes. 


Yawn.