Birthdays and Parties and Weekends, Oh My ~ by Magdalena Scott

I love birthdays--mine or someone else's. I love cakes and candles and okay, I'll admit, even minimalist me enjoys a little bit of gift giving.

The flowers here were a birthday bouquet from a previous time, since I don't have anyone's permission to post a photo of them blowing out candles. Even though those are the most enjoyable birthday photos.

Sigh.

This weekend I was able to participate in two birthday events. One was for my son who is in his 20s. It was a delight to celebrate this wonderful young man who has made me more proud than I could ever have imagined. I found the perfect card that made me cry. (How do card writers do that?) We had a fun dinner with my son and his wife on Saturday night at a noisy eatery they hadn't tried before. The food and drink were yummy, and visiting with them always makes me grateful they have each other, and I can be a part of their lives.

Sunday afternoon was quite different--a party for a three-year-old girl. Her mother had moved the family into a new home and totally redecorated it in a short time. (Wow. To have such energy!) The gathering was fun for every age (60+ down to 18 months), and incredibly well organized. It was a treat to watch the interactions of this group of grandparents, parents and their darling kids. After gifts were opened, the kids all got to go play at the park. And they each had a bottle of bubbles! and a bucket and scoop to play in the dirt. Gotta love that!

Now that I write fulltime, I try to get as much work done as possible Monday through Friday, so I can give myself weekends off. It's not just party-party-party, of course. Goodness no.

Um...except this coming Saturday is a day-long Kentucky Derby Party. I hope there will be cake. And mint juleps.

What about you? Do you still enjoy birthday parties? Do you attend a Derby Party? (I have cousins on the west coast who attend one in their neighborhood each year, so it's not impossible.)

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USA Today Bestselling Author Magdalena Scott writes sweet romance with small town settings. Visit her website: www.magdalenascott.com.

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Bestseller!

 Here are links to buy the bestselling box:
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October 9, 2014 would remain embedded in the memories of fourteen authors as THE day they fulfilled their dream and reached their goal. It's difficult to describe the joy that we shared on our loop and in our homes when we read that SWEET CHRISTMAS KISSES was  a BESTSELLER #51 on the USA Today bestsellers list.

When I read the caption, the emotion made me speechless for a moment, then I jumped from my chair, kept mumbling, Oh my God, Oh my God, and fell back in front of the monitor. My husband saw my face pale and rush to my side. "Are you OK?" He thought I was having a heart attack.


What a giddy feeling. But soon I shouted at the top of my lungs, "I'm a USA Today Bestselling Author," and I couldn't stop laughing and babbling. We had a drink to celebrate reaching this milestone.

When I attended my first RWA National Conference in 2004 and saw some 4,000 writers, bustling in the ballroom for lunch, my stomach had constricted. If all these people were competing to be published there was no way on Earth I would succeed. And yet here I am, ten years later, standing on the top of the mountain, screaming, "TaDa!"

SWEET CHRISTMAS KISSES made it to the USA Today bestsellers list for three weeks. We have a lot-- a huge lot--of readers to thank for appreciating, buying and loving our sweet romances.

How did it  happen? With hard work, perseverance, a lot of support, a good network, and a "little bit of blooming luck", and mostly an amazing team of determined authors who gave it their 101%.

Thank you my Sweet Christmas Kisses fellows for making the impossible reachable.

HER CHRISTMAS CRUISE, my contribution to this box, will take you on a wonderful cruise to Spain and Italy with Julia and Tony.

The perfect fiancé is a cheater and the fabulous Christmas wedding is off. But the would-be honeymoon cruise may fulfill the dreams of Julia and her unexpected companion.

Although it's so difficult to climb that ladder of success to the USA Today bestseller list, three authors did it again with another box, Ten Christmas Brides, which became a bestseller on October 29, 2014.

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A USA Today Bestselling Author, Mona Risk recently received an OUTSTANDING ACHIEVER Award at Affaire de Coeur Magazine. She’s a two time winner of Best Contemporary Romance of the Year at Readers Favorite, a winner of Best Romance Novel of the Year at Preditors & Editors Readers Poll, and an EPIC’S award finalist.

You can find her at www.monarisk.com or sign up for her newsletter here.

The Right Place by Mona Risk

How often have you heard people saying, “Poor guy, he was at the wrong place at the wrong time?” Being a thoroughly positive person, I will analyze how being at the right place at the right time affected my life.

I married my husband because we were both at the right place at the right time. We lived on opposite sides of the country, but I spent a vacation with my cousins in a different town and he happened to be visiting friends in the same place and attending the same organized tour where we met. Voila. Many, many years later we are sitting across from each other for better or worse.

Celebrating an anniversary with my hero

I also got my first big job because a recruiter called the Chemistry Department’s Lab looking for soon-to-be graduates, and I happened to answer the phone. He insisted I come for an interview although I wasn’t graduating for another six months. They offered me a part-time and later full-time job. I stayed with this company until I took an early retirement to write.

Working long hours

My first book was published because I was at the right place at the right time. More precisely at a conference. Picture me walking to a workshop, passing by the room where editors held the pitch session and taking a peek through the door. An editor sat by herself because the writer never showed up. What a waste of precious pitching time. The coordinator asked me if I wanted to talk to the editor. I wasn’t planning on pitching, but I decided to give it a try. I sat across from the editor and explained I really wasn’t prepared. “Why don’t you tell me about the story you really love?” Once I started I couldn’t stop, and she said she loved it too. A month later I signed my first contract. Seven years later, I have fifteen books published, and I am writing a new one.

My friends threw a big party to celebrate my first book

Editors insist we should not build a story on coincidence. Is being at the right place at the right time a coincidence? Or fate? A part of our destiny? Or as a friend of mine often tells me: it is meant to be. What’s your opinion on that subject? Have you been at the right place at the right time? Did it make a difference in your life?

About the Author: Mona Risk recently received an OUTSTANDING ACHIEVER Award at Affaire de Coeur Magazine. She’s a two time winner of Best Contemporary Romance of the Year at Readers Favorite, a winner of Best Romance Novel of the Year at Preditors & Editors Readers Poll, and an EPIC’S award finalist.  Mona has published several boxed sets:

Holiday Babies Series--Christmas Babies, Valentine Babies, and Mother’s Day Babies.
Doctor’s Orders Boxed Set: Babies in the Bargain, Right Name, Wrong Man, and No More Lies.

Find Mona on Facebook, or Twitter, or visit her website.

Anxiety and Excitement by Mona Risk

When I decided to quit my job seven years ago to fulfill my dream of writing romance novels, I was determined to make it an early retirement, a fun time to relax. RELAX.

R-E-L-A-X.

I had more than my share of angst and excitement with exams and waiting for results, dating and waiting for a proposal and a wedding, raising children and waiting for them to grow up and turn into a man and woman of values, happy and successful… Work has been a hectic roller coaster of ups and downs with contracts and fun trips, with deadlines and late hours in the lab— that often extended to the wee hours of the day to deliver sample results on time to the customers.

I’ve spent my life worrying about one thing after another, torturing myself with anxiety and then celebrating with excitement. Overworked and burned out, I needed my early retirement to read, write, walk, exercise, and start living without pressure or stress.

Celebrating the publication of my first book in 2008

Little did I expect that writing romance novels would soon turn into an obsession, an addiction consuming my life and a new career bringing again a whole new set of anxiety and excitement. Participating in contests and waiting for the phone call announcing the finalists; submitting to editors and waiting for the letter or the email with so much hope and so much anxiety, only to be crushed by a form rejection. With time the rejection turned into a two-page letter with suggestions and request for revisions, and then finally the “call” came, bringing such a delirious happiness.

So why the stress? The anxiety that burns my stomach and dries my throat? 

After twelve books published and republished—all became bestsellers at Amazon— the ups and downs continue, waiting for reviews and fan letters, promoting, blogging, participating in book signings…

Is it part of my nature to take everything to heart, to grind my teeth or bite my nails while waiting for others’ approval?

Do you suffer a hundred deaths when you wait for the results of an important project? Does it cause you physical distress to wait for and receive what you want so badly?

Holiday Babies Series: 3 bestsellers novels, about holidays, twin babies and humor.

About the Author: Mona traveled to more than fifty countries on business or vacation. Eventually she left a scientific career to share with readers the many stories brewing in her head. She writes contemporary romances, sweet or not so sweet, with suspense elements or medical themes. Sprinkled with a good dose of humor, her stories are set in the fascinating places she visited, from exotic Belarus, and historical France, to the beaches of Greece, the monuments of Egypt and the mysterious Islands of Seychelles--or more simply in Ohio, Florida, Boston and Washington, DC. Her titles garnered many awards. A winner of Best Romance Novel at Preditors & Editors, Best Contemporary Romance at Readers Favorite, Epic Award Finalist, first-place wins in Enchanted Quill, Launching a Star, and Wallflower. Find Mona on Facebook, or Twitter, or visit her website.