My Blog Been Nominated for an Award!!

Great news, my blog has been nominated for another award!

I would like to say a big thank you to Cat from:

Catherine Garnell's Blog

Who so kindly nominated me!

There are a few rules one must follow before accepting the award and they are as follows: 

Nominate 15 fellow bloggers who are relatively new to blogging.
Let the nominated bloggers know that they have been nominated for this award.
Share 7 random facts about yourself.
Thank the blogger who has nominated you.
Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your post.


7 Random Facts About Me:

I love the color green.
I write in the middle of the night.
I love glitter and all things sparkly...ooh me too!!
I own far too many books...yes here too!
I love to dance.
I try to always have my toenails painted RED!
My coffee generally tastes like mocha ice cream.

My Nominees are:

http://spewsofmyviews.blogspot.com

http://lynnthompsonbooks.blogspot.com

http://montanaromancewriters.blogspot.com

http://heatherthurmeier.com

http://www.taramillsromance.com/blog.html

http://kwana.com/

http://www.candacesamsbroomflying.com

http://nikkielocke.weebly.com/blog.html

http://elizabethpalmerauthor.wordpress.com

http://www.amandalvshalaby.wordpress.com

http://www.mollykategray.com/

http://www.bethyarnall.com/

http://www.melinenadeau.com/blog.html

http://katefellowes.wordpress.com/

http://erinrichards.blogspot.com

Rionna Morgan with Kat Martin

I am honored today to pause for a moment and chat with New York Times Bestselling Author, Kat Martin.  I can tell you that I have been a huge fan of hers since I read Night Secrets over a decade ago.  She has an amazing ability to pull her readers into a story where the mood is sensuous; her characters are powerful, and her plot is original and fresh. One may think, oh I'll just read for a bit and suddenly hours have slipped quietly by and the book is half finished.  

Against the Sun Book Trailer

Kat Martin...Contest!

Rionna:  Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?  

Kat:  I was born in Bakersfield, California, graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where I majored in anthropology and also studied history.  After college, I ended up in the real estate business, which was a fantastic career.  That’s how I met my husband, Larry, who sold ranches and farm property.  He had written a western novel called Shadow of the Mast.  It was wildly romantic and I loved it. That is how I started writing--over twenty five years ago.

Rionna:  How did you choose the genre you write in?
Kat:  I’m a romantic person by nature.  Once I discovered Anya Seton and some of the other older romance writers, later Kathleen Woodiwiss, I was hooked.  It was a perfect fit for me.

Rionna:  Do you work with an outline, or just write?
Kat:  I do both.  I used to have the entire book plotted, but now I don’t have that much time.  I definitely have the story idea front-to-back.  I just fill in the scenes and make the romance happen.

Rionna:  Can you tell us about your upcoming book?
Kat:  AGAINST THE SUN is my latest, out the end of May, it’s big Jake Cantrell and Sage Dumont’s story, which deals with a visit to Texas by a Saudi Arabian sheik and his family,  The sheik is there to negotiate a three hundred million dollar oil-well equipment deal with Marine Drilling International, Sage’s family owned company.

Jake is hired to act as Sage’s bodyguard and teach her the protocols she’ll need to know in order to complete the sale.  Customs like not showing the bottom of her foot, which is considered an insult, or making the okay sign, which is giving someone the evil eye.

Because of the research involved in getting the customs, clothing, and attitudes of the Saudi visitors correct, AGAINST THE SUN is one of the most difficult books I’ve ever tackled.  I’m proud of the way it turned out.

Available at these book sellers:

Indiebound

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Rionna:  Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or is it purely all imagination?
Kat:  Since I’ve done a lot in my life, pieces and parts of all my books come from personal experience, but all of those are turned and twisted and changed, making them fiction.  One of the ghost stories I wrote, The Silent Rose, was based on a terrifying incident that happened to my husband and me in a bed and breakfast in Connecticut.  I planned to change it, make if more fictional, but in the end, the first sixty pages were exactly what happened to me in the house.

Rionna: What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

Kat:  I can’t say I have a favorite chapter.  I see the book as a whole.  I like writing sex scenes.  They’re crucial points in the development of the romantic relationship.  They aren’t just about the graphic act of sex but the ramifications of the act at that point in the love story.

Rionna:  What project are you working on now?
Kat:  I’m working on the next three AGAINST books after AGAINST THE SUN.  I’m thrilled that readers want more stories that feature the hunky friends of the Raines brothers, who appeared in the first three books.

Rionna:  Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers?
Kat:  Persistence is the key.  Keep writing.  Don’t let anyone stop you from fulfilling your dreams.  Listen to other people’s advice, gather all the facts and information you can, then decide what you want to write.  And don’t give up.

Rionna:  Now for the clever-silly question, if you were a t-shirt, what would you say?
Kat:  KAT MARTIN MEMBER WORKAHOLICS ANOYMOUS.

Rionna:  Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans?
Kat:  Thank you all for being so supportive over the years.  You make all the hard work worthwhile.

For a sneak peak at AGAINST THE SUN...click here!

Thank you so much, Kat Martin, for visiting with me today.  It has been wonderful getting to know you.  And I can't wait to open the pages of AGAINST THE SUN and sink into the amazing story I know it will be.

All the Best,
Rionna Morgan

Just a Little Longer

They had nothing to say to each other.  The time for any speaking had already passed.  Now here they were, at the end of all things.  In the dim light of the hospital room, the wife curled her fingers around the quiet, cool ones of her husband.

She couldn’t see beyond the tears.  There was nothing to see as it was.  They had walked all the paths of their life together and instead of looking forward to the new path she’d take without him, she looked back.

There had been the greatest of joys.  The births of their children, the giggles they made as they learned to walk and run and play.  The pride they felt together when they saw their children step out onto the path that they would walk, leading them to the futures in their lives. 
 
There had been the greatest of adventures.  Standing on the Cliffs of Moher looking out across the world, feeling the winds of the ages fiercely blow across their faces.  Jumping, shrieking from an airplane, soaring on the currents, falling towards the earth, landing always together in the arms of each other.

There had been the greatest of sorrows.  Saying goodbye to the dearest ones, their parents, their friends, even a child.  The dark, cold nights standing hand in hand by the graves, wishing to hear their voices just once again.

She knew she couldn’t go on without him.  She knew there be no good found in tomorrow if she tried.  Her friends had faded with time and distance.  Her children had children of their own.  The lonely house on the hill was all that waited for her. 
 
She crawled up on the bed beside him.  Her body shook with pain.  His last breath, he’d taken, yet she searched for warmth in vain.  Couldn’t I just close my eyes and drift away with him?  Can’t we travel that next journey together.  It hasn’t been that long.  Won’t you come back and take me with you.  Wait for me.  I’m coming.  

Yet, she looked up and in the saddened shadows of the room saw a drifting, glowing magic surrounding his earthly form.  He smiled that blessed smile, the one that had coaxed her heart into loving so many years ago.  “But don’t you remember, we promised to see other again.  In the next life, in the next journey, I’ll be there waiting for you.  At the rising of the moon, at the setting of the stars, I will be there.  We will meet, we will remember, we will love and live again.”  

“Okay.  Okay,” she said.  “Just a little longer.  I’ll stay just a little longer.”

RED

It was the red that made her do it.

The rebellious red of her toenail polish--the color she wore the day she slammed the door on her father’s yelling voice and slipped into the driver’s seat of her souped-up red corvette.  Leaving a rooster tail of red Oklahoma dirt flying as she pulled out of the drive.   

The loving, strength red of her mother’s ruby ring wrapped around her finger.  The only remnant she has of the rosy memories of her childhood before her mother’s death.

The ripping pain, shredded life red of the blood soaking her shirt.  Her rebellious nature, her stubborn will had made him mad again.  And this time--the only time--he’d hit her.

She tucked her babies safe in their seats and started the car.

She went back in to finish what he started.  She pulled a box of matches from the cupboard.  She struck one and let it fly.

She could hear the red flames crackle as she walked away.

At the first red light, she made a plan.  Her long blond hair would turn to red.  She’d find a new town, a new life, a safe place for her babies.

Looking into the rear-view mirror, she trembled a bit as the red fire truck flew past, sirens blaring.  Her babies were safe.  Their soft red curls formed halos around their heads as they slept and dreamed the easy dreams.  She smiled and pressed the red of her lipstick against her mouth.