Things That Are Green Today – St. Patrick’s Day!

chicago river on st paddy's dayThe first St. Patrick’s Day Parade in North America took place in—drum roll— Boston in 1737!

For years my dh convinced our three sons that leprechauns snuck into our home the night before St. Paddy’s Day and colored all the drinks in the house green. The boys were all convinced because the beer was colored green and the bottles were capped! What fun those days were! J Sigh. The days of innocence.

St. Patrick’s Day was once a strictly observed religious holiday in Ireland. That means the pubs were closed and there was no public drinking—go figure!

The International Business Times published ten interesting facts about St. Patrick’s Day and I decided to share them with you:

1. St Patrick wasn’t Irish. He was born in England around 385 AD.

2. His given name was Maewyn Succat.

3. St Patrick was a slave. He was captured at the age of 14 and taken to Ireland, where he was enslaved for six years herding sheep before escaping and returning to his family.

4. He never drove serpents out of Ireland, because evidence suggests there were no serpents to be driven out.

5. St Patrick’s Day was first celebrated in the United States. Boston was the scene of the first Paddy’s knees-up in 1737.

6. It wasn’t until the 19th century that green became the colour of St Patrick. Before then it was blue, the colour of his vestments. Green was picked to commemorate St Patrick’s use of the shamrock.

7. There are nine cities, towns and boroughs in the United States called Dublin – they are in California, Georgia, Indiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia.

8. In Ireland St Patrick’s Day was an alcohol-free holiday until 1970. Before then it was considered a day of relgious observance, meaning pubs had to be closed for business. In 1970 it was reclassified a national holiday.

9. St Patrick’s Day is celebrated on 17 March because that is the day he was thought to have died in 461 AD.

10. In 2013 Census data revealed that the number of people in the US who identify as Irish-American are seven-times more than the amount of Irish people in Ireland itself.

Have a great St. Paddy’s Day!

Cheers,

Jianne

Facts and photo of the Chicago River courtesy: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/10-st-patricks-day-facts-you-might-not-know-1440389

Research Can Do You In!

Chest onlyOne of my favorite author activities is research. (I found the incredible cut guy in the pic doing research :)).  Unfortunately, research’s not a double-edged sword, but more a kazillion-edged one.

Research is exponential. You start off by looking up the exact date an event occurred, and the Google search engine gives you six different sites. Of course, being a conscientious and ethical writer, you must read and compare each site.

The first webpage mentions a precursor to the incident, and you need to know if it will impact on your storyline. So, off you go, and the whole scenario’s repeated ad infinitum. All of a sudden your carefully carved out block of writing time’s over and family and work responsibilities demand your attention.

Sound familiar to those of you who hold down day jobs?

There are so many other distractions, email, blogging, author loops, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads…I could go on forever. Add to that the pressure to devote time to marketing and — did I get in five minutes today?

We haven’t even touched on the notion of an actual social life.

I’m not what you could remotely call a social butterfly, networking or otherwise. By nature, I’m reclusive, and the strain to engage at large wirelessly makes my stomach clench and jerk. In 2013, sheer peer pressure made me cave, and I attempted to master too much at once. I spread myself thin and my writing suffered.

Not happening in 2014. In terms of my author persona, I have but two goals:

  1. Writing—No matter what I will write 1000 words 5 days a week.
  2. Research—If I’m in the middle of writing, and I need to look up a fact, instead of scooting online, I’ll simply insert three question marks. After I’ve completed my daily quota, then, and only then, will I research the point in question.

That’s it. Nada else.

Have a great weekend!

Cheers,

Jianne

Wilde Wolf!

chest - shower - ThomasJames18 (2)I’m hot and heavy into my new paranormal suspense, Wilde Wolf. My poor dh is going nuts as I ignored him for the whole weekend. I did take the time off to cook  him and my two sons an incredible dinner last night, but it seems that wasn’t enough. Sigh. When a story’s flowing like Wilde Wolf is, it’s hard for me to think of anything else. Also, it kind of pisses the dh off when I paste my pic of my new hero at my desk. Yeah, that’s right. That’s my vision of the hero of Wilde Wolf. Yummy, huh?

Here’s a little teaser from Wilde Wolf:

Jas cut in between Mishe and Tania. He turned, half-backing her, and she glimpsed the top of a white Navy cap emblazoned with a silver eagle and gold bands.

“Senior Chief Johnson, meet my father, Arman Prakov, my mother, Orlenda Prakov.” Tania scooted around Mishe and peered at the striking man standing beside Jas.

A drop-dead walking testosterone hunk. His wide shoulders and military stance, spine board-stiff, seemed vaguely familiar.

Heat scaled her throat when she visualized the broad back of her gym lover. For long moments all she saw, felt, and smelt was the fragrant steam in the shower stall coating her skin while he hammered into her. Flustered, she stared unseeing at the medals above the man’s left pocket.

“Pleasure to meet you both.” Senior Chief Johnson shook her father’s hand and tipped his hat at her mother.

“Senior Chief Johnson is the lead trainer for BUD/s Class three twenty-one. I signed the contract for the class two weeks ago.” Jas made the announcement in such a blasé tone that, at first, the meaning of what he’d said didn’t penetrate Tania’s gray matter.

Her jaw dropped. She snapped her teeth together so hard they squeaked. Omigod. Jas had signed up for SEAL training.

Dad’s complexion turned a painful red. At any point, Tania expected to hear him roar.

“I’m certain there’s been some sort of mistake.” Arman crossed his arms and wolf-stared the senior chief.

“No mistake, Dad. I enlisted four weeks ago. Contracts are signed. I leave for Coronado in the morning.”

“Jashuka—this can’t be true.” Her mother wailed as she grabbed Jas’s forearm. “What have you done? Arman, do something. My baby’s not going to war.”

Red blotches stained Jas’s tanned cheeks. “Dad, Mom, let’s take this discussion elsewhere. Breede, Mishe, Tania, Senior Chief Johnson, we’ll hook up with you in the dining hall in a few.”

“Problem, Jas?” Another man in uniform emerged from behind the senior chief.

That voice.

It couldn’t be.

She craned her neck and met her gym lover’s contemptuous glare.

Tania’s knees wobbled. She grabbed Mishe’s arm.

“No, sir. A slight misunderstanding. Easily remedied.” Jas addressed his answer to the man who’d screwedTania silly not five hours ago. “Senior Chief Smith. This is…”

She didn’t hear a word beyond that. Her mind froze. Her fingertips iced over. His musky aroma surrounded her like a whirling top, wrapping tighter and tighter until all she smelled was him, them, sex.

“This is my sister, Tania. Senior Chiefs Johnson and Smith are the lead trainers for SEAL Class Three Twenty-one. Of which I am part.” Jas elbowed her when she didn’t respond.

Hope you enjoyed!

Cheers,

Jianne

Happy Birthday to My One and Only!

abstract-party-1Today is the dh’s sixtieth birthday.

Wow!

Bart eyes onlyI can still remember the first time our eyes met across the bar on our college campus, The Keg. My hubby has the twinkliest blue eyes in the world. He’d spent the summer working in construction, and was tanned a glorious nut brown, and his blonde hair was almost shoulder length (a real hippy back then) and bleached to a remarkable sunlight hue. Broad shoulders, and an ass so grabable that I literally salivated. Heck, I fell hard and fast. He was and still is the one – my one and only.

Without a doubt, I can say we’ve both had an incredible ride. Life has been good to us. We have three amazing sons who we not only love, but like. Our boys turned into wonderful men, and we’re both so proud of them. This year we’ll celebrate our thirty-sixth anniversary, and you know what? There’s no other person whose company I’d rather keep. We’re friends, lovers, and mates. I couldn’t ask for more.

So Happy Birthday my Viking!

All my love always,

Your,

J

 

More Good News!

DeathBlowYesterday, my fellow LLL (Love, Lust, and Laptops) author and buddy, Cherie Nichols, emailed me that Vengeance Hammer, Vengeance Warriors #3, was nominated forLR Cafe’s  for the ‘Best Historical of 2013’ Award.  

I am so thrilled. What a year this is turning out to be! So far, I have two TOP PICKS from Night Owl Reviews AND a best historical for 2013. I’m tickled pink about the Vengeance Hammer nomination as the second book in the series, Death Blow, won Passionate Plume’s Best Historical of 2013!

Here’s the beginning of Arianne of Night Owl Review’s  Death Blow TOP PICK: logo - nowl top pick

I loved this second book in this historical, paranormal romance series even better than the first one, “Malice Striker”. Death Blow has a hot alpha Viking male and a spitfire heroine who is part human / part Vanir goddess. Sparks of attraction fly between the two main characters in the books from the beginning. This book also has some terrific sex scenes that start at the beginning of the book.

You can read the whole review here: http://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Reviews/Arianne-reviews-Death-Blow-by-Jianne-Carlo

I like 2014!

What a great way to end the week!

 Cheers,

Jianne