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Category: My Books

The novels I’ve written and/or the characters in them.

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Romance Novels Can Be as Addictive As Pornography?

The piece cites that romance sells more than inspirational/self help, notes that women prefer romantic stories to porn and points out that some women who read romance leave their hubbys - so it's an addiction.

Absurd.  Completely nuts. And that's the Duck Lady sayin' that!

If you're addicted to romance - DON'T TREAT IT, FEED IT - BUY MORE BOOKS & MAKE SURE A LOT OF 'EM ARE OURS!!

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This Grey's Finale, "Unaccompanied Minor" had a big ole' meaning that none of the fans were aware of until a day after the episode ended. When Shonda Sunshine revealed the secret, many of the fans were still in shock - a little like those relatives of the plane crash victims. While fans still reeled from the emotional trauma, Sunshine dropped the big one. This epi was written to begin the end for the original cast. Most of the Grey's originals' contracts have only 1 season to go. Some of them, like Ellen Pompeo - Meredith - have indicated that they don't plan to renew.

Sunshine says that's why this epi set next season's focus to be on the original cast members.  This is how the end begins for Grey's Greatest. If imagining Shonda's version of riding off into the sunset doesn't get your creative juices flowing then call the coroner -- you're most likely dead.

So, lets dust off the swami turban and recall where this epi left everyone and imagine how Sunshine may be setting up their exits. Before we begin individual prognostications, it's important to check out the writer's blog, Grey Matter, done by Debora Cahn, who did an ab fab job of writing this tearjerking episode. Debora says that the heartache flu that swept Seattle Grace's favorite couples was caused by something fans have adored about Cristina and Meredith from day one: their independence. If the cause is who they are, then is there a cure? Perhaps Sunshine envisions Mer and Cristina growing into old crusty ladies who can never give enough to a partner to stay in a relationship.

Are Mer and Cristina destined to spend forever alone together, growing ever older and crustier?

...continue reading "This Is How The End Begins For Grey’s Greatest"

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Boogle on over to the Marianne's Blog - All Day, All Night ... Romance Divas. 'Tis my day to blog. You know the song that says You Give Love A Bad Name? Well, I'm blogging about a book that I gave a bad name.

Check out the post and HOLLA back with suggestions for a new title!!

http://alldayallnightromancedivas.blogspot.com/2011/05/title-trouble-rescuing-good-book-with.html

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Hey there sweeties, it's the big old fat guy! Guess what? Mary Anne's FINAL INSTALLMENT of the serialized e-book The Duke of Eden is FINALLY AVAILABLE TO YOU, OUR FAITHFUL READERS!

NO MORE WAITING! CLICK HERE TO BUY IT NOW! WOOT!

Of course, I've changed the Complete List of Books page to reflect the newest addition to her growing library of offerings, so if you're a new customer you can cruise through that page to see if you want anything else to load up on your e-reader, including our first book bundle and the other 2 parts of Duke.

For all of you return customers, thank you so very much for your support. Mary Anne has been very appreciative of your continued patience and your enjoyment of her work. She's got a couple of other things she wants to do with The Duke of Eden novel itself, and then she wants to move on to some other exciting writing and bundling for you, the readers.

So stay tuned, and stay ducky!

AOFM out.

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As promised, this is a short note to advise that I've just published Part 3 of Duke, the final part - to Amazon. It should be available very soon.

I'll now take the full book and do an edit. It will be published to Amazon sometime fairly soon - within the next 4-7 days, most likely. The full may include some edits based on reader comments - so don't miss it.

I'll let you know when the full book is published. But Part 3 will be up as soon as Amazon's KDP wizards work their magic.

Let me know what you think of the ending!

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This is a quick update for the fairly large number of folks waiting for the last part of The Duke Of Eden which I've been serializing on Amazon. Last night, about 10 pm, I finally typed those precious words - THE END.

Today I'll be editing Part 3. When it's done, it'll go to Hubby The Magnificent who will wave digital chicken bones over it to get it formatted. Then we'll post Part 3 - exclusively to Amazon - and we'll update the blog to let fans know it's on the way.

After that, I'll go back to do a full edit of the entire manuscript. It'll take longer, but when it's done, we'll publish it on Amazon. Then Hubby The Magnificent gets out his heavy-duty digital Voodoo equipment to format it for Smashwords. The meatgrinder there is tough, boys and girls. After we have it formatted and it's ground into their system, it'll be available at SW and distributed to B&N, Apple, Sony and Kobo.

But good news - in the very immediate future - sometime between tomorrow and Wednesday (Good Faith Estimate) - fans will be able to pick up the last part, Part 3, of The Duke of Eden. It could go up and be available as early as late tonight, but that would be a bit of a stretch since we don't have the Professional Voodoo package to work with and yours truly is a slow editor!!!

But Part 3 of The Duke Of Eden will be appearing on Amazon VERY, VERY SOON.

Keep your eyes on this blog because when we hit publish, we'll let you know right here.

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**Note: This blog is a slightly revised version of one I posted earlier at the Marianne's Blog. The original post is here. I've updated it because Mrs. Santa didn't come through at Christmas. I hope you'll go to the Marianne's Blog and check out all of the fine posts by the talented authors I blog with there. (Clears throat) And yes, this is a bit of shameless self and cross promotion.

But I especially want you to check out the Marianne's blog on Monday, 4/18. That'll be my day to blog and I'm doing something special. Because I'm almost finished with Part 3 of The Duke of Eden, and it and then the full book will be available soon, I'm doing a little preview on Monday. ON 4/18 DUKE OF EDEN FANS WILL BE ABLE TO EXCLUSIVELY READ AN EXCERPT FROM PART 3. So don't miss it. Check out my post at the Marianne's Blog on Monday, 4/18 to get a glimpse of what's ahead for Brand and Adria**

...continue reading "What Romance Novel Hero Should Mother Nature Send Your Way?"

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I know that rainbows exist and people say there are pots of gold at the end. Some people also claim that they do outlines that plot a complete book before they ever type the first word. I'm willing to believe that both things are true. Of the two truths, I'm more likely to find the pot of gold than I am to outline a book. My creative process just doesn't work that way.

 I suspect that the outline method works for organized souls. I imagine those writers entering a state of harmony with the universe as they fill their roman-numeral-bearing outlines from "Chapter One" to "The End." I suspect that on lots of those writers' desks you'll find the Zen Desk Gardens with all the sand and the little rake. Can't you just see one of them building up a little sand mountain as they wrestle with a plot dilemma in the "Chapter Seven" section? Perhaps other of the Zen-organized authors have desktop water fountains or rock gardens. They plot their books as they live their lives - calm, organized and focused. 

...continue reading "The Duke of Eden – Plotting the Ending"

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Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

 The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost (1915)

This week in the publishing world brought the stories of 3 authors: Amanda Hocking, Barry Eisler and Connie Brockway. All are taking different paths and I wish all of them well. But looking at them raises interesting questions and yes, it did remind me oh-so-much of the poem by Robert Frost. Mr. Frost's poem is one of my all-time-faves, and any time I'm in a position of "choosing" - first I consider myself lucky - and then, I reflect on Mr. Frost's words. I wonder if these words went through Amanda's, Barry's and Connie's minds over the past few weeks?

...continue reading "The Roads To Publication"

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Hello my chitterlings, it's the Mad Fat Guy, updating the blog while the Crazy Duck Lady keeps chugging on the last installment of The Duke of Eden, among other duties.

I just wanted to draw your attention once again to the fact that Mary Anne's faerie romances are now available as an e-book bundle. When you purchase these 3 books in her Forever series, you're getting one of them for FREE!

The bundle is now available for your Kindle, and we've recently uploaded it to Smashwords where it soon will be ready for download. I've added the bundle to our sidebar on the right and, of course, to the book list page. As other sales venues open up to our bundle, I will be updating that page so keep watching.

And for those of you who've already purchased one or more of Mary Anne's books, THANK YOU! We hope to see more of you in the near future.

Fat Guy out.