People drive so fast...

...seriously, I feel like such a hick since I got back. People drive so crazy and fast, if you do the speed limit, it's like you will get ran over and a ticket for driving to slow!! Insane. It's huge here and so many people, guess I've been gone a long time. Still looking for a job, only been a couple of days so far. The car is running great, my brother fixed it and it's like a whole new car now. Thank goodness for that! Been getting in touch with people and making plans to go out and do things, will feel better once I am employed though. I've applied at restaurants and for some office positions. Not really wanting to go back into the office, but I'm broke so I have to take what comes my way. The best thing? Everyone noticing how much weight I've lost! My mom even said I was anorexic, it was great, then she proceeded to fix me the biggest sandwich ever! LOL
peace

People drive so fast...

...seriously, I feel like such a hick since I got back. People drive so crazy and fast, if you do the speed limit, it's like you will get ran over and a ticket for driving to slow!! Insane. It's huge here and so many people, guess I've been gone a long time. Still looking for a job, only been a couple of days so far. The car is running great, my brother fixed it and it's like a whole new car now. Thank goodness for that! Been getting in touch with people and making plans to go out and do things, will feel better once I am employed though. I've applied at restaurants and for some office positions. Not really wanting to go back into the office, but I'm broke so I have to take what comes my way. The best thing? Everyone noticing how much weight I've lost! My mom even said I was anorexic, it was great, then she proceeded to fix me the biggest sandwich ever! LOL
peace

People drive so fast...

...seriously, I feel like such a hick since I got back. People drive so crazy and fast, if you do the speed limit, it's like you will get ran over and a ticket for driving to slow!! Insane. It's huge here and so many people, guess I've been gone a long time. Still looking for a job, only been a couple of days so far. The car is running great, my brother fixed it and it's like a whole new car now. Thank goodness for that! Been getting in touch with people and making plans to go out and do things, will feel better once I am employed though. I've applied at restaurants and for some office positions. Not really wanting to go back into the office, but I'm broke so I have to take what comes my way. The best thing? Everyone noticing how much weight I've lost! My mom even said I was anorexic, it was great, then she proceeded to fix me the biggest sandwich ever! LOL
peace

I'm back mothafuckas!

Ok, since I got back to Cali (tonight at midnight actually), my ghettoness has come out...what I meant to say was...it's so lovely being here...again. No, it's not. Ok first, I lost the key to my car in windover Nevada, where I was stranded for three days ($245.00). So I finally got someone to make me a key (for a $125!) and then an hour after I left Windover, muffler blew the pipe out of manifold. I am so not shitting you (see how I cuss more since I've been here??). So I found a guy in Winnemucca, NV to "kind of fix it" my car now sounds like a 1970 Volkswagon Beetle, but I made it home ($95). I love our new place, it's great. I can't really drive my car so I'm way in debt and stranded, but hey, good to be home!! Now I warned you all I was going to bitch, to much traffic, to many people...to many rude people. I miss the nice quiet part of living in South Dakota blah blah...and it's all true. I'm hoping I made the right decision. On the other hand, I didn't wear a shirt all the way home and three truckers honked at me! and not the big fat greasy ones! ;-) I guess I'm glad to be here, but my car almost died, I'm broke as shit (see, still the cussin)but I'm here. I guess that's all that really matters. Ain't no place like Cali (AND I use bad English, oy vey!) Soooo...not Jewish.
peace
p.s. Miss Mantoan has this BEAUTIFUL marble cat, but he's such a bitch!!

I'm back mothafuckas!

Ok, since I got back to Cali (tonight at midnight actually), my ghettoness has come out...what I meant to say was...it's so lovely being here...again. No, it's not. Ok first, I lost the key to my car in windover Nevada, where I was stranded for three days ($245.00). So I finally got someone to make me a key (for a $125!) and then an hour after I left Windover, muffler blew the pipe out of manifold. I am so not shitting you (see how I cuss more since I've been here??). So I found a guy in Winnemucca, NV to "kind of fix it" my car now sounds like a 1970 Volkswagon Beetle, but I made it home ($95). I love our new place, it's great. I can't really drive my car so I'm way in debt and stranded, but hey, good to be home!! Now I warned you all I was going to bitch, to much traffic, to many people...to many rude people. I miss the nice quiet part of living in South Dakota blah blah...and it's all true. I'm hoping I made the right decision. On the other hand, I didn't wear a shirt all the way home and three truckers honked at me! and not the big fat greasy ones! ;-) I guess I'm glad to be here, but my car almost died, I'm broke as shit (see, still the cussin)but I'm here. I guess that's all that really matters. Ain't no place like Cali (AND I use bad English, oy vey!) Soooo...not Jewish.
peace
p.s. Miss Mantoan has this BEAUTIFUL marble cat, but he's such a bitch!!

I'm back mothafuckas!

Ok, since I got back to Cali (tonight at midnight actually), my ghettoness has come out...what I meant to say was...it's so lovely being here...again. No, it's not. Ok first, I lost the key to my car in windover Nevada, where I was stranded for three days ($245.00). So I finally got someone to make me a key (for a $125!) and then an hour after I left Windover, muffler blew the pipe out of manifold. I am so not shitting you (see how I cuss more since I've been here??). So I found a guy in Winnemucca, NV to "kind of fix it" my car now sounds like a 1970 Volkswagon Beetle, but I made it home ($95). I love our new place, it's great. I can't really drive my car so I'm way in debt and stranded, but hey, good to be home!! Now I warned you all I was going to bitch, to much traffic, to many people...to many rude people. I miss the nice quiet part of living in South Dakota blah blah...and it's all true. I'm hoping I made the right decision. On the other hand, I didn't wear a shirt all the way home and three truckers honked at me! and not the big fat greasy ones! ;-) I guess I'm glad to be here, but my car almost died, I'm broke as shit (see, still the cussin)but I'm here. I guess that's all that really matters. Ain't no place like Cali (AND I use bad English, oy vey!) Soooo...not Jewish.
peace
p.s. Miss Mantoan has this BEAUTIFUL marble cat, but he's such a bitch!!

Echelon Press Seeking Young Adult and Children's E-Books

Echelon Press is agressively seeking Young Adult and Children's E-books ranging in length from 10,000 to 90,000 words.

This is for electronic publication only, no print rights are retained, allowing authors the freedom to continue submitting works for print publication.

No advance is offered. Authors earn 50% of net income on all actual sales.

For submission guidelines, please visit Echelon Press Submissions.

Jeep Alarm & Zoom

Well today I took my jeep in to get an alarm installed. I have been wanting to do this since I bought it back in September, but things kept popping up and funds have been unavailable. Well today was the day, I took it in and paid $700.00 to have install very cool alarm. Of course I find out that none of the doors are electrical so they couldn't install the automatic door openers and a few of the extra opinions weren't available. But I did get the perimeter sensor since my Jeep can be topless and I don't want people to be able to grab anything from inside my jeep. So while this was going to take four to five hours to install I decided that I would have lunch with a friend and go to the movies. I wanted to see Superman Returns ( I know I can't believe I haven't seen it yet either), but it wasn't playing anymore so instead I went and saw Zoom with Tim Allen. I thought it was a cute movie. Kind of like Sky High but with less of a story. It seems just when this movie gets going it ends. Also the final battle is about two minutes and resolved way to quickly. I like the idea of the movie just needed more of it.

Blog Readers

Hello my little blog readers. Its a rainy Fri morning here on my tiny Fl island. I'm contemplating taking the pooch out for a walk (contemplating).

I decided to look back over all the blog entries I've done to see who has left a comment (because sometimes I feel lonely--I love comments)

Anyhoo, I want to give a shout out to Lacey, Marie, Heather, Dolores, Jocelyn, Mary, and Erin for leaving comments on my two blogs. You guys rock!

Now I know there's more of you out there that read my prattle--so leave me a comment, it makes me feel loved.

The only problem is I don't know how to respond to comments or rig them so they go straight to my Outlook inbox. Is that even possible?

I'm so horribly, blog-technically challenged.

What do you collect?

As a kid, I used to collect Koala Bears. Statues, cards, stickers, anything that had a Koala on it. When I was in the 6th grade a teacher, my favorite teacher, Mr. Hirons...the only Science teacher I ever liked...got me hooked on them with the whole "it's not a bear, its a marsupial" speech. They really are quite interesting. Anyways, it got to be very space consuming with all those little items, so I took up a new collection hobby...mugs...I know. What was I thinking...that didn't last very long either. So anyways, I moved on to something smaller and kinda cool.

I collect post cards. Everywhere I visit, city, place, park, I buy a post card. When my friends travel internationally or anywhere...I have a bunch from a friend who got married in Scotland... I have them send me a card. I keep them in picture boxes and I periodically go through them and look at all the cool pictures.

I also have a bunch of author post cards. When authors have new books out they sometimes get post cards made to send out to advertise. Do you read these cards? You really should. You might find some really cool books to read. What if they were autographed? How cool would it be to have postcards autographed by authors?

If you contact the authors on this Blog, I'll bet they would send you an autographed post card.

And what if I hooked you up and said that everyone who asks for an autographed post cards will go into a drawing to win a FREE autographed book from one of the authors. You don't have to contact me, just hook up with the author here on our Blog and we'll figure it out!

I know it sounds cheezy, but DO NOT post your address on this Blog, e-mail the author of your choice privately and make sure you have your folks permission to give out your address.

And do us a favor...we really want to get things rolling with our Blogs so if you could PASS IT ON!!!

Karen...the Big Cheeze at Echelon Press

Echelon Press Free Book Day!

For today only, as a special thank you, Echelon Press is offering readers the chance to read one of our books for FREE.We know how tight money is, but we think that once you read us, you'll come back for more. So it is not a totally selfless gesture.Send an e-mail to admin@echelonpress.com (subject: FREE DOWNLOAD) with your e-mail adress in the body and I will personally send you a FREE download (PDF) copy of eitherTHE ROSARY BRIDE (mystery) or AIN'T LOVE GRAND (romance). You just tell me which one you want and it's yours. (You can click on links to read the blurbs)E-Mails must be received before MIDNIGHT to qualify for FREE BOOKS.

Warmly,the staff at Echelon Press

Job Update

Well it's been one week at the new job and things are going pretty good. The first week was a bit tough because we got the avids in, had to set up my office, phones, internet, computers and such. I started to digitize but since this format and systems were new to me it took some figuring out, but I finally figured out the bugs and started to digitize in the footage. I also had to hire two assistant editors which is always tough, but I think I found two really good people. So this week will be better since I'll have my two assistants finish digitizing everything that's been shot so far and prepare the stringouts for the editors who start next Monday.

I got my cover copy!

Hey everyone,

My editor just sent me the cover copy for my first teen book. Here it is...

Coming summer 2007 from Puffin Books!

Sixteen-year-old Kelly James is in a lot of hot water. When David, her incredibly nice, not to mention super cute and irresistible, college RA, asked her to uncover some top-secret information, she thought why not? All she has to do is hack into the government's main computer system. Simple enough for a computer techie genius like herself. But a few hours later, she is caught. Only this isn't a run-of-the-mill arrest. Rather than serve a jail sentence in a juvenile detention, she accepts the option to change her identity and enlist in a secret government spy agency that trains teen agents to go undercover. After all, she has no family or friends at school. What does she have to lose? Instantly, Kelly Spree, a.k.a. girl genius GiGi, is born. And as if that wasn't overwhelming enough, she discovers that David works for this agency as well. Before she even begins to understand what is going on, she's sent on her first mission as an undercover model. Her partner? None other than David himself!

What If You Had A Time Machine?

Over the weekend, I watched the ancient version of "The Time Machine," starring Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux (equally ancient actors). Although the "special effects" (I use that term loosely!) are totally antiquated, it was still fun to imagine going back or forward in time.

I started wondering whom I'd want to see, or where I'd want to go if I could "time travel." I'd first want to go forward about 200 hundred years…and hope Earth was still here! I've always been a space buff, so maybe I'd get to take a trip to Saturn, Mars, or beyond. Maybe a wormhole would take me beyond our galaxy, just like Jodi Foster in "Contact." I can't imagine anything more thrilling, at least until I threw up from motion sickness!

Then, I'd want to go back in time to around 1850 so I could meet my great-great grandfather and warn him that he was about to disappear. He left Southern Indiana on a flatboat trip down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and was never seen or heard from again. It's assumed that he was murdered and the produce he was carrying, was sold. But, what would happen if I could go back and warn him? Would his oldest son's life (my great-grandfather) be changed forever? Would I even exist?? Scary thought.

The third book in my series, "Cynthia's Attic: Curse of the Bayou," is based on his disappearance, and how best friends, Cynthia and Gus, travel back through time to try to save him from imminent danger. Since I don't have access to a time machine, guess I'll have to be content creating my own story and ending.

Where would you go? Who would you want to meet?

Mary Cunningham
www.marycunninghambooks.com
Cynthia's Attic: The Missing Locket
Cynthia's Attic: The Magic Medallion

My Last Outing with My "Little"

Well today was my last outing with Sean. I thought I had a few more weeks and was planning a big event for our last outing. But today when I picked him up I saw a UHaul in front of his place. I asked him when they were moving and he said Monday, which is two days away. It was too late in the day to try and do something big like I hoped to do so we decided to go to Venice beach. He had mentioned that he wanted a tattoo, and of course he is only 12 and his mom would have killed me so instead I got him a Henna Tattoo, which last two to three weeks. He got a huge dragon on his right arm, it turned out pretty good. We then rented "choopers" 3 wheeled bikes and rode along the beach for about an hour. After the ride he wanted to jump into the ocean for one last time. So I sat on the beach while he played in the water for an hour. It was a fun day but also bitter sweet since it was going to be our last outing. I gave him my numbers and email address and told him if he ever need to talk or if he comes to visit to give me a call. It was only for a short time but I really enjoyed hanging out with my "little" brother.

Pilots For Dummies

I'm blogging from my hometown of Athens, TN. Go Cherokees! I did a booksigning yesterday for DESCENT INTO DANGER, and I'm heading to Brentwood (near Nashville) today for another signing. My dad's putting me up at his place and driving me around town/state. He's being a total selfless sweetie.

Of course when you come back to your hometown you see lots of faces from your childhood. Like Amy (I rode the bus with her) and Jeff (my sister's friend) and all the Hockmans(they live on the land across from my childhood house) and Robin and Pam (we used to go to the same church). What's funny is everyone looks pretty much the same (minus wrinkles and gray hair).

But back to the title of the entry. Pilots For Dummies. I was sitting in the Charlotte, NC airport on a layover and there was this pilot sitting beside me reading Pilots For Dummies. I'm not kidding here. Anyway, I'm thinking, "Phew. Glad he's not my pilot." And then they call my flight and the pilot guy gets up and walks straight through the SAME TERMINAL AS ME! Yikes!So I get on the plane and have a seat and think, "He's probably just on my flight. Surely he's not flying the plane." Well, then, the pilot's door opens and guess who walks out? HIM! So I keep scoping things out and he turns out to be the co-pilot. BUT STILL! COME ON PEOPLE!

New Job

Well as Gene Simmons Family Jewels comes to an end (Aug. 18th). I got a phone call today asking if I was interested in workng as Post Production Supervisor for a new TV series for the LOGO network called " Curl Girls" It's a six part series about six lesbian surfer girls, their lives and loves.

Being so busy with my current job I hadn't even started to look for more work so when I got this call I was surprised and pleased. A former co-worker/Producer recommended me, THANKS Leslie. It starts a few weeks into September which is nice because I can take off a few much needed weeks.

I accepted the job which will run until mid November. Then if things go well I will take off the month of December for the Holidays and start a new job in January, possibly Family Jewels season two.

My Show just Premiered

Well the show I have been working on since Jan. finally had it's premiere. Gene Simmons Family Jewels. They aired two episodes back to back. Harry and I went to the premiere party tonight. It was at Gene Simmons' house. It was a lot of fun. It was good to see former co-workers. It was also fun to see Gene and his family in person. I have seen them for the past seven months on TV but never got to see them in person. Gene was a friendly host and came over to a group of us and put his hand on Harry's back and introduced himself to everyone and shook everyones hand. I've seen the house on Video but it doesn't do it justice. It's in the middle of Beverly Hills up a very private driveway, very nice. All in all a great night. Everyone laughed and cheered in the right places. I hope this is popular so there can be a second season.

Really awesome weekend

Well, hey everybody. I'm new to this blog, but not new to blogging. Shannon Greenland's my name and write romantic suspense and young adult. I thought I'd share my really awesome weekend with you all.

The launch party for my latest book, DESCENT INTO DANGER, was Saturday night. My family drove in from all over, and my friends, too. We partied down at Sliders Seaside Grill, located right on the ocean. The manager gave us the whole outside with a tiki bar and live music. There was great food, nice ocean breeze, setting sun--you couldn't have asked for a better setting. People were so loving it, they ended up staying hours past time to continue partying.

My next launch party will be my first teen book, THE SPECIALISTS: MODEL SPY. I'm definitely having it at Sliders Seaside Grill because they so totally rock!

I want to give a shout out to Susan Wise who won my quarterly contest. Susan (if you're reading this), I put your prize in the mail today!

Hey, I celebrated my birthday on Saturday, too. I almost forgot with all the hype over my launch party. Everybody wish me a happy birthday!

Come visit me at www.shannongreenland.com

The Adventure Begins!

Hi everyone! My name is J.R. Turner and I write action, adventure, thrillers, and oh-yeah romance :) If it explodes and someone finds love, I'm totally there. My favorite movies range from The Chronicles of Riddick, to Sahara, to the X-Men triology. Love those stories!

I think the coolest thing, and something I often talk about when I do speaking engagements, is that everything we see on T.V. or in the theater, all started out as something someone wrote. Without writers, without people who thrive on getting these imaginary (and often totally awesome) characters and worlds down on the page, we wouldn't have all these great adventures.

One of my first steps into getting down some of the stories I've got floatin' around in my noggin' was through a character I named Sara Stark. She is one kick-butt chick with a whole lot of sass and savvy. Very cool.

This is her story here:



"This night should be special…for family, but instead, Sara Stark is surrounded by danger at every turn. With Tropical Storm Allison bearing down on her home, Sara must face a blonde, blue-eyed snake worming her way into the Knight family. With Drake about to leave for London, she has only one shot at unmasking the deceiver, only one tube of Icy Hot, and only one chance to save him–the night before."

I'm totally thrilled to share with y'all something else that totally Rocks! If you get a copy of The Knight Before and send your receipt to admin@echelonpress.com you'll get the full-length novel "Stark Knight" as a free download. Ain't that cool? :)

Hope you enjoy hanging out with Sara and Drake as much as I've enjoyed writing them. They're soo full of surprises!

Warmly,
J.R. Turner

It's Rally Time...

...So the Sturgis Rally is going to be starting this weekend and when I checked my schedule, I seem to have been made a permanent fixture of the restaurant! Because I never leave!! I'm doing 10 days straight, 12 hour days. Then I get my b'day off (go me!) then I do another 8 days straight. THEN I get to pack up my car and drive back to California! woo hoo! I can't believe it's almost over, back to civilization and culture and art and people who don't say Git R Done. Back to real Mexican food and 24 hour restaurants, like Jocelyn commented on one of my posts, being from Cali rules! Ok so you know I'm going to complain when I get back BUT for now...I'm anxious to go!! Oh and thanks to the people at Beautiful for posting more pics of my man Joseph Sayers, he's so hot! Well maybe, just maybe...the next time I blog it'll be from me and Miss Mantoan's lair in California!!
peace!

It's Rally Time...

...So the Sturgis Rally is going to be starting this weekend and when I checked my schedule, I seem to have been made a permanent fixture of the restaurant! Because I never leave!! I'm doing 10 days straight, 12 hour days. Then I get my b'day off (go me!) then I do another 8 days straight. THEN I get to pack up my car and drive back to California! woo hoo! I can't believe it's almost over, back to civilization and culture and art and people who don't say Git R Done. Back to real Mexican food and 24 hour restaurants, like Jocelyn commented on one of my posts, being from Cali rules! Ok so you know I'm going to complain when I get back BUT for now...I'm anxious to go!! Oh and thanks to the people at Beautiful for posting more pics of my man Joseph Sayers, he's so hot! Well maybe, just maybe...the next time I blog it'll be from me and Miss Mantoan's lair in California!!
peace!

It's Rally Time...

...So the Sturgis Rally is going to be starting this weekend and when I checked my schedule, I seem to have been made a permanent fixture of the restaurant! Because I never leave!! I'm doing 10 days straight, 12 hour days. Then I get my b'day off (go me!) then I do another 8 days straight. THEN I get to pack up my car and drive back to California! woo hoo! I can't believe it's almost over, back to civilization and culture and art and people who don't say Git R Done. Back to real Mexican food and 24 hour restaurants, like Jocelyn commented on one of my posts, being from Cali rules! Ok so you know I'm going to complain when I get back BUT for now...I'm anxious to go!! Oh and thanks to the people at Beautiful for posting more pics of my man Joseph Sayers, he's so hot! Well maybe, just maybe...the next time I blog it'll be from me and Miss Mantoan's lair in California!!
peace!

The Teen Scene

The Teen Scene

Win a free book! The first Teen reader of the day to post a message, wins a free download of "Cynthia's Attic: The Missing Locket."