We’ve all talked a lot about blogging in the last while, among the Berkley Babes, discussing this one and others, and I think calling an end to it is just a reflection of how the blogging world is evolving.  Most of us have individual blogs now, and that, with lots of other commitments, mean we are all just so darned busy.  Best of all, most of us are super busy with writing!

     I have begun my own blog, which, as the name of it indicates – Donna Writes Romance – is mostly about writing, but also a bit about my history in the publishing business, how I began, how others can try to get published, writing in general, but also some semi-personal stuff.  Like my mother’s adventure in a hip-hop clothing boutique.  LOL!

     Of course there will be more about the release of Awaiting the Fire (Berkley Sensation – September 2007) and everything that comes after!

     So, here is my blog address: http://donnaleasimpson.tripod.com/donnawritesromance

     My site: http://donnaleasimpson.tripod.com

     And my e-mail address: donnawritesromance@yahoo.com

     And it’s not really goodbye, since I’m sure we will be guest blogging on each other’s sites/blogs, etc..  All in all, it has been fun, and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the other Berkley writers this way.  What a talented and diverse group!

     So, I hope I’ll see you all; drop in and check out my blog!!

Best wishes!

If you’ve been reading here regularly you’ll know that we’re disbanding the Between The Covers blog.  It’s sad because I’ve gotten to know my fellow Berkley Babes and I think the world of them.  But in a way, it’s good news too because the reason for disbanding it is that we’re all just getting so busy.  Busy is good, not just with writing and our own careers, but with life in general.

It’s good to get busy with life, because if we don’t live and enjoy life, our writing suffers.  Then you might not want to read our stories anymore.

But, have no fear.  We’ll all still be around the web on our own sites (I blog on my own blog every day and plan to have these lovely ladies as guests often) and chatting with  each other as well, so keep your eyes open…and enjoy life!!

Hugs,

Sasha

Life is speeding by, with daily changes occurring at a mind-boggling rate. Now we have all kinds of blogs, and MySpace and myriad other chat rooms and events on the Internet. It’s almost too much to take in. Life in the fast lane for planet Earth.

Even our TV shows reflect the changes in our society. I’m amazed by the programming, the CSI shows, the police and medical dramas, the wide array of paranormal and science fiction shows, and the reality shows. Wow. People talk about how romance novels aren’t in touch with the real world, but if that’s true, neither is television. But what do the nay-sayers know? Do we want the real reality? Personally, I’d prefer to be entertained, and to enter a world (even if it’s make believe) where the sky is the limit.

I’ve always done that with romances, and now, to some extent, I can do it with certain TV shows. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of time to watch TV, but I’m definitely into Dancing With The Stars and American Idol. I’ve been glued to the TV when they’re on, and voting like a maniac when the show goes off the air. I also love Medium (cool woo-woo stuff) and House (snarly House, super melodrama, usually with a happy ending), and The Dresden Files (which appears to be off the air now) and CSI. Cool, cool stuff that gives me fodder for my books.

So, what cool TV shows do you like to watch?

~ Catherine  

Another spring tradition for us is a place called Brighton Dam.  I tell people that if they live around here and don’t go there in the spring, they’re crazy.  It borders a reservoir, and the water commission made the acres along the water into a wonderful park.  There are lots of natural trails leading through acres and acres of azaleas.   They’re fantastic now.  Many of the bushes are twenty or thirty years old, and they tower over you.  So you walk through a wonderland of natural beauty.  Or you can climb the hill and look down on a panorama of pink, salmon, purple, and white bushes.  The National Arboretum has similar trails.  But it’s farther away.  So we’re more likely to drive the fifteen minutes to Brighton.

A new tradition I’m going to miss is the BJ blog.  You know by now that we’re not going to be posting every day anymore.   So I won’t be writing you here.  But you can visit me at www.rebeccayork.blogspot.com.  Or at my web site: www.rebeccayork.com.  It’s being redesigned.  And it’s going to look fabulous.  But it’s not quite ready for prime time yet.

I hope to see you soon.
Rebecca

The series is about a psychic fashion designer/soon to be a vintage dress shop owner, named Madeira, Maddy Cutler, who gets vibes, and snapshots in her mind’s eye, from vintage clothes that help her solve murders. (She’s psychometric, like my heroine in SEX AND THE PSYCHIC WITCH.)  Maddy’s mother was a witch, and, yes, eventually, the heroine will realize she has power too. The first book surrounds her sister’s wedding, an antique wedding dress, and the murder of the woman who wanted to take the bride’s place at the altar. I’m jubilant, psyched, ready to dance . . . except for the part of me curled up in a corner saying, "What did I do? What did I do?" 

Jumping out of one’s comfort zone is not always easy. I learned that when I wrote my first contemporary, THE KITCHEN WITCH, after nine historicals, but it was a great move creativity-wise, plus it put me on the bestseller lists and turned me into a paranormal comedy writer, which I love. I trust that jumping out of my comfort zone again to write mysteries will be just as rewarding. Plus I still get to keep writing bewitching romantic comedies.  Yay!

Change is always difficult, but change can be good as well. Sometimes that’s a hard pill to swallow when change is imminent, like now, with the blog. But the fact is that the Berkley Babes are so talented, there’s always a deadline looming, and it turned out that we all needed to strike a better balance.  We’re not really leaving you, because we all blog elsewhere. As a proud member of the delightful and talented Witchy Chicks, I’m extending a warm invitation from all of us–Candy Havens, Yasmine Galenorn, Linda Wisdom, Lisa Croll DiDio, Kate Austin, Madelyn Alt, Terese Ramin, and me, Annette Blair, to drop in and say hello.  http://witchychicks.blogspot.com/

Don’t forget that in a few weeks, August 7th to be exact, my newest releast, the first in my Triplet Witch Trilogy, SEX AND THE PSYCHIC WITCH, will be available.  Harmony, Destiny and Storm were introduced in THE SCOT, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE, so you might already know them.  In SEX AND THE PSYCHIC WITCH, the first triplet story is Harmony’s: 

He’s her psychic pot of gold . . . In an archaic island castle haunted by a malevolent spirit, the magnetic attraction between a psychometric witch and a sexy powerful castle-owner leads to the fulfillment of unspoken fantasies, and a struggle for dominance, in and out of bed.

Hi, everyone! Remember my "Name that Kitty" post many months ago? Welll, you did name her!

I am pleased to introduce you to "Cleocatra" (She’s the one on the right of the cat-triangle, sitting on the television cable box with her sisters.)

The gray kitten is "Rebel," the longhaired cover-girl kitten on the left is "Bo-Bo," and we just couldn’t think of a name for the little one on the right.

Well, you all helped us out with many suggestions, and my husband and I chose "Cleocatra," among the many names suggested. Thank you Berkley Babe Blog readers! You have named our kitty, and I will always think of this blog when I call her name.

And now to *sniff* sadder news…as the other members will be posting soon, the Berkley Babes will be disbanding this month. This is one of my last posts. But it is only the end of the beginning of blogging for me (as Winston Churchill once said - not the blogging part, of course).

Anyway! I want to invite you all over to my new Website, which should be up by the end of June….

CoffeehouseMystery.com

Espressos * Lattes * Muffins * Murder

The site is going to be my own version of an internet coffeehouse. After five books published, I thought it was about time Cleo Coyle founded a place where fans of the series can check in, make comments, ask questions, and I can blog about coffee, crime, and generally blow off steam (excuse the pun)!

Anyway, I know enough about coffee and coffeehouses to start my own dang place for real, but I’m a full-time writer and don’t have the time, so I have to content myself with the internet variety.

I hope you’ll all check in to see if it’s your cuppa tea….or java! Cute baristo sightings welcome on the message board, as well as sharing of your thoughts, gripes, and recipes.

Luv, Cleo Coyle…author of the Coffeehouse Mysteries, where coffee and crime are always brewing…

#1 On What Grounds; #2 Through the Grinder; #3 Latte Trouble; #4 Murder Most Frothy; #5 Decaffeinated Corpse (coming July 2007 - just two months away!)…and stay tuned for #6 in 2008…French Pressed!