As you can see, all look ready to fly at any moment. No fuzzy down remains, not even on their heads. Hubby took this picture for me one sunny morning. The very next day, I exited the house with dogs, taking them across the deck to let them out in the yard.

Pandemonium ensued under the covered entryway.

It seems we’d interrupted Mrs. Phoebe in the act of convincing her offspring it was high time they struck out on their own. As is the case with many of our own offspring these days, they had grown fond of Mama waiting on them wings and feet while they were busy creating a mess and generally becoming nest potatoes. She was having none of it.

I shrieked and ducked as one bird buzzed the top of my head. The three dogs (remember, they’re bird dogs) started barking and jumping for the birds. This is not a large enclosure, folks. Excited by the noise, another birdie left the next. They circled. The dogs went crazy. I tried to herd dogs and protect my head.

One escaped to freedom. Mama Phoebe chased the baby a ways, then returned to shoo the others, one of whom had just decided to return to the next. Oh, no. Not having it. She came in toward the nest, flapping and tweeting. Not in the same way we tweet, mind you, but from the results she got, I interpreted her message as, “Get out, you ungrateful child. I’m not your chef and maid. Go get your own breakfast!”

With a soft flutter and a tiny shriek, the nest was bereft of life. I let the dogs out and went back to check. Nothing. Not even a stray feather. Plenty of fecal sacs scattered about, the only evidence of their quiet beginnings.

My little entryway felt hollow and I missed seeing the little heads popping up, the flurry of feathers from parents swooping in with worms and bugs. For several days the nest was a silent symbol that life is constantly changing.

Then another change took place. I glanced out on a sunny morning (the habit was hard to break) and there was Mama Phoebe cleaning out the nest. Two days later she began sitting on her newly deposited eggs while Mr. Phoebe brought tasty morsels to nourish his broody mate. The cycle of life has begun again.

Last Spring, I wrote a guest post about a pair of Phoebe’s and their amazing nest building on practically nothing. I also wrote on my personal blog about my rescue of their baby’s foray into my pool and his eventual demise.  Then, here on PFHT last month I wrote about the pair of Phoebe’s that had returned and subsequently abandoned the nest they’d built last Spring. You may remember speculating on the scenario that might have caused the problem and some were optimistic about the pair returning.

You were right. Amazingly, the pair did reappear a week or two later!

It seems that because Mr. & Mrs. Phoebe’s 2011 nest held up well, they spent their nest-building time at a romantic getaway. After a lovely vacation kanoodling and cooing in the unusually warm weather, Mrs. Phoebe wasted no time filling her nest and keeping her precious eggs warm. They’ve been sitting the nest long enough for the babies to hatch and are now bringing in tidbits of food and dropping the fecal sacs on my deck. (Bless their hearts!)

Other changes have taken place because of our warm Spring. Trees have bloomed and leafed out. The horses are finding plenty to graze on in the pasture. Daffodils have bloomed and gone, replaced by a profusion of roses, pansies and geraniums. Our tomato plants are knee high and already have fruit on them. Onions and leeks have been in the ground for weeks. Next weekend we’ll plant the rest of the garden and may even uncover the pool.

My, what a difference a month makes!

This year, they returned and settled in to spiffing up their tiny home. There is a double window and two French doors that look out onto this porch, plus it’s our path to the larger yard. All those factors mean little privacy for the feathered pair. The Phoebe’s were nervous with us moving about, but they’d gotten over us last year and I assumed would again.

Then a day went by and I didn’t see them on the nest. Another day went by. Was I simply missing their visits, or had they abandoned it? I asked Hubby, but he hadn’t seen them either. For the third day in a row, the Phoebe’s were nowhere near the nest.

The writer in me began fabricating their story. Had Mr. Phoebe found a younger chick and a new nesting spot? I hated to think he’d be so disloyal, but we all know it happens. Perhaps the sorrow of the drowned fledgling had been too much and they decided to find a safer place in which to nest. Here, I feel obliged to point out that said fledgling was a French fry short of a Happy Meal to have gone back into the water after I’d rescued him the first time. Or perhaps having their summer home at Grand Central Burnside didn’t sit well with the Mrs. and she demanded a new spot lest she lose her wits?

Come on, help me spin the tale of the missing Phoebe’s. What do you think happened? I can’t wait to see what twists you incorporate.

Thanks for your understanding.

When I took up writing romance, one of the hardest things I encountered was devising enough conflict between hero and heroine. I’m eager for that happy ending. I can see them together already.

But that wouldn’t make for a very exciting read.

Right now, I’m very wrapped up in my latest work in progress (WIP), a medical romance. It consumes my days and I’m falling in love…with the characters. So, why not write about what I’m consumed with?

In the beginning of Prescription for Love (working title), the hero and heroine both see in each other the same undesirable traits their former spouses had. In other words, they’re attracted to a type, but it remains to be seen if they’re also different enough and willing to change enough to find happiness with each other. Each secretly envies some trait the other has, wishing they could be more like that and the attraction is more reluctant than I’ve ever written. It’s a new slant on the initial conflict for me. These two aren’t starry-eyed young twenties, they’re a bit older and one hopes, wiser. But with past emotional hurt comes baggage that must be dealt with.

In the following snippit (very much a rough draft), this is Lanna’s assessment of her new tenant. To give you a little setup, he’s arrived at the beach house he rented to find the caretaker is late. A neighbor directs him to the first aid station on the beach where she works for a kind of Baywatch facility and has since her workaholic husband’s death. Tom’s wife ditched her family to become a Hollywood reality show wife (think Housewives of Atlanta/Orange County). His twins and nanny are in the ladies room.

- – - – -

“Where do you refer cases needing follow up?” Tom asked as they stepped out onto the beach.

Lanna kept her pace sedate though the sun was warm, even for April. “We give patients a brochure with three choices. The local hospital, the nearest after hours facility and Bailey Cove Wellness Group.”

“In that order? I’ve heard BCWG is the best in town.”

“It’s a fair statement, but we don’t play favorites. Our list is in alphabetical order.”

“Well, at least we made the cut.”

“Ah. You must be the wellness group’s newest recruit.” She had to give him props for hawking his interests so soon, though it didn’t bode well that he was all business at the beach.

“Guilty as charged.”

Lanna halted outside the women’s facilities to wait for the rest of their party. “How was the trip?”

“Fine. Did you not get the message that we were arriving today?”

“I did and told Slade to send you over if I ran late. Since you found me, I guess I now owe him a beer.”

The slight hitch of his brows let Lanna know he wasn’t pleased with her answer. Such a stuffed shirt. He made her shoulders tight. Already she didn’t like him and it wasn’t because he was essentially filling the position her late husband, Garry had filled. They’d had a string of temporary doctors filling in over the last year. She was used to it.

No, something about this guy just rubbed her wrong. Probably steam pressed his socks and sorted his canned goods in alphabetical order. Maybe he’d loosen up at work. Otherwise, he’d never fit in with the casual, family-like atmosphere she and Garry had deliberately fostered among the colleagues at BCWG.

Lanna relaxed when Hargrove’s nanny and kids reappeared at the Ladies exit so they could continue on their way. The less she had to do with this uptight guy, the better.

- – - – -

And so even their initial meeting has conflict undercurrents. Without knowing it, they’ve each presented to the other traits that are deemed undesirable because they echo what they didn’t like about their former spouses. He – all business. She – too laid back and flippant, shows no regret for missing their appointment.

Though we’re also writers, the members of PFHT do our share of reading, just like we suspect you do. Do you have favorite themes or conflicts that you find yourself selecting over and over in your reading material? A favorite author because of the type of character’s, setting or theme that re-occurs?

Woo-hoo!  This month is the third aniversary of Petit Fours and Hot Tamales existence as a blog. We so appreciate our readers and wanted to give back to you all with bounty to be won all month long.

Sound good? It does to me too.

Our celebration extends the holiday spirit of giving. I love it! This year, we’re adding occasional Good News days to our lineup where we’ll give you the scoop on our schedules and career milestones. You’ll be privy to any contests we’re running, any outside promotional where you could win prizes, where we’re guest blogging and giving away swag, when our next book is scheduled for release and all the juicy tidbits in-between.

And speaking of swag, I’m giving away a gift bag full of goodies including:

• a copy of my Bittersweet Obsessions excerpt booklet
• an Annie Rayburn bookmark
• a magnetic notepad set with matching sticky notes featuring a winter motif
• Vanilla & cream scented tealight candles
• an assortment of fragrant teas to warm these cold winter days
• a lovely cornflower blue artglass necklace
• a decidedly feminine 3-subject spiral notebook
• a pretty but small magnetic 2012 calendar, perfect for the fridge or filing cabinet.
  and
• a download of my novella, Phantoms & Fantasies

For more information on either Bittersweet Obsessions or Phantoms & Fantasies, click here.

All you have to do to get your name in the drawing for this bag of goodies, is to comment below, telling us what brought you to our blog, what you enjoy about it, or perhaps what you’d like to see us do in the future. We want your feedback!

by Annie Rayburn/Carol Burnside

Dear Santa,

This year I haven’t a clue what to ask for other than a finished kitchen renovation, and I think that’s a little out of your realm. So this year I’m giving you an unlimited supply of my short story, Insight to distribute freely through December 25th. Mind you, since Insight is erotic romance, this is an adults only deal .

All you have to do is leave a note under the tree for adult readers to go to Smashwords and download it – FREE!

I know you have many children on your list and many elves hard at work, but the Marines fill in too. For the less fortunate, I contributed new, unwrapped toys to Toys for Tots. I know those handsome, uniformed, strapping, heroic—Whew! It’s warm in here.— sexy Marines will make sure you get them before you take your around-the world ride. I’m also reminding my friends to contribute so more needy children will receive a gift for whatever their holiday celebration.

Oh, and Santa? Don’t forget to download a copy of Insight for Mrs. Klaus’ e-reader too.

Happy Holidays!

Annie/Carol

Names are very important. They define us. They encircle us. They are a first impression of one often gets of a person. Therefore I put a lot of effort into naming the creatures and critters and little person I birthed.

Initially, my names for my critters were uninspired. Two guinea pigs were named Flossy and Jelly based upon their coat textures. A cat was named Spot because she had them. Her son was named Sloppy because the wee kitty had a white bib and a big black dot under his lip on his chin. I know, right? Awful.

Later, as a teen, I named a few cats Chi Chi (after a restaurant I liked), Easy Rider (don’t ask!), and Animal (because he just was an “animal”). Then I got married and I begged my husband for a cat. I got an orange and white tabby. He was a mess. I named him Ion to honor a mythological God for my side of the family and to honor physics for the darling husband who is, yeah, a physicist. Later we adopted a long hair tabby and named her Sierra. My next door neighbor’s daughter was named Sierra (they moved in after I named the cat) and when the cat died, my darling daughter walked around the neighborhood telling everyone that Sierra had passed away. Oh, my poor neighbor got a lot of frantic phone calls that day.

After Ion left us, we got Clancy. She is my infamous Dowager Feline who is 18 years old and still kicking around. We named her after a “famous literary figure” who is called “Tom Clancy.” What is funny is that my husband was pretty miffed that the name Clancy was taken by the cat when I got pregnant.

Naming cats is one thing, but a child? Oh dear. Now I really wanted to do right by my daughter. I’d spent years being teased due to my maiden name moniker. Here is the entire name: Christine Johanna Henrietta Doorenbos. Try filling out forms with that name! It’s Dutch tradition to name children after their relatives. Johanna and Henriette were my Omas. I’m grateful to my mother for Christine. Really grateful. I am even more appreciative of my  husband’s last name. It was a no brainer to go from Doorenbos to Glover. I love my family history, but going through elementary school with the nickname Doorknob was not fun. There were other nastier versions. And they hurt.

The last thing I wanted for my daughter was a moniker that would lead to potential grade school bullying and harassment. I agonized over her name. I knew her middle name would be Anna (after my mother). I immediately eliminated all S, G, N, and F names for her because of the resulting monogram. I finally settled on M and T names. Her name starts with an M. Mallory. It’s unique and it suits her. But it’s not so different that she’ll get teased.

Whew. Problem solved. Other than my penchant for forgetting names or renaming people in my life, I was in the clear after I named my chick. But then I became a writer. Oh oh. What would I do?

My first attempts at naming my characters were abysmal. I just pulled names out of my head and threw them on the page. This continued till I met my critique partners. They promptly informed me that I shouldn’t have all my character names starting with the same letter or I’d confuse the readers.

Good tip. I began looking in my old baby name books. I considered the names more carefully. I thought about how they meshed with each other. I was on a roll. But then I discovered something after I wrote my fourth book that threw me off my Name Game. I went back to my second novel and revised the first chapter for a contest. As I looked at the old files, I realized I had used every single name in the second book throughout the next two books I had written! AACK!

So now I am going through my old manuscripts and writing down all the names I have used. I am taking my time in naming my new characters for my four book series that I am currently working on. I have taken to reading the obituaries, spam names, high school programs, and the wonderful book CHARACTER NAMING Sourcebook put out by The Writer’s Digest for surnames and first names in order to keep my character names fresh, unique and meaningful.

And now, in a desperate attempt to get more names in my repertoire, I’m asking for your baby naming stories. How did you derive your children’s names? Will you share your tricks for naming characters with me?

Did you know that today, the 15th of November is always America Recycles Day, National Bundt Pan Day (I know. Weird, right?) and believe it or not… it’s also I Love to Write Day!

How serendipitous is that?

When I learned of this obscure celebration, it was and it wasn’t so serendipitous. On one hand, it was great, seeing how I’m a writer looking for today’s subject. But I wasn’t feeling the joy because this year has been the worst yet for me in terms of feeling the urge to write, the need to get words on paper and finding inspiration. Many of you here know what an emotionally devastating year 2010 was for me. Multiple family members with health issues, three deaths, etc. But I’d also sold a book to Red Sage and had to keep pushing myself to finish rounds of edits and publisher info sheets for cover art and such. I had a contract, therefore no choice but to meet my obligations. Having something else to concentrate on was both a blessing and a curse.

During the first part of this year, I concentrated on getting Insight and Phantoms & Fantasies self/Indie published. Then Bittersweet Obsessions released on June 1st and I could relax a little.

Promotions were a different animal from the creative writing. Sure, I had to write guest posts and such, but I didn’t have to dig for character motivations and build a plot. Everything in me shied away from the creativity of fiction writing. I’m an empathetic person during the best of times, eyes prickling hot at Hallmark commercials and such, but suddenly I was crying over even small kindnesses portrayed on gritty police procedural shows.

Digging into a character’s emotional state was beyond my tolerance. You see, my empathy extends to my writing, my characters. If they’re sad, I’m sad and crying with them. If they’re cracking a joke, I’m chuckling along too. Digging into their emotions meant dealing with my own, and I still felt too fragile. Readers of Bittersweet Obsessions wanted to know if Klaus’s story would be next, so I started it, but couldn’t get past the first chapter and a little planning.

I gave myself a stern talking to several times, not that it helped. Others have encouraged me, and I appreciated their support, but the words still didn’t come. Gradually, though, I began to yearn for the feel of creating new characters, exploring their lives, helping them find their happily-ever-after’s. The anniversaries of the trio of deaths came and went. I survived and felt somewhat stronger. I re-read notes I’d made for new stories, but didn’t feel inspired to write them. Nothing spoke to me.

Every morning, I’d awaken, wishing a new story idea would be there like a gift waiting to be opened. Today it was there. It was there!

I eased from the bedroom quietly, went to my computer and began to make notes on the three strong, independent women clamoring to tell me their stories. They’re friends with uniquely personal sorrows and triumphs to share with me. They have hurts to heal and better days ahead, much like me.

For me, today is definitely I Love To Write Day!

Have you ever hit a writing slump that it didn’t feel like you’d ever get out of? Or do the ideas come to fast for you to get them all down? I’d love to hear your experiences too.

Case in point: I procrastinated big time about this post because I knew my subject matter was the blog tour/promo push I have scheduled for the rest of October. No biggie. I’d just dash it off in a fun and breezy style that fits the blog tour. Easy.

My method of procrastination was to schedule #CrainyLove tweets, Facebook blasts, and write the promotional posts for next week. Because it’s October and Halloween is approaching, I’m promoting Phantoms & Fantasies. Turk and Zeenie’s story begins on Halloween, a day that holds horrific significance for her.

At first glance, the schedule looks fairly innocuous. See?

Monday – Pamela V. Mason reviews Phantoms & Fantasies on WriterMason.blogspot.com

A copy of is also being given away in The Romance Studio’s Book-a-Day Giveaway!

Tuesday – Tami Brothers will interview me at TamiBrothers.blogspot.com. Read what I have to say about the hunks in my books and the males inhabiting my home.

Double whammy Tuesday: I’m also blogging on Petit Fours And Hot Tamales so there will be extra giveaways. Comment both places for an extra entry into the Grand Prize drawing!

Wednesday – Come read a hot excerpt from Phantoms & Fantasies on Sandra McGregor’s new blog, Life, Love, and a Good Book

Thursday – An interview with Turk, the hunky hero in Phantoms & Fantasies on Mary Marvella’s Pink Fuzzy Slipper Writers blog

Friday- Linsey Lanier’s blog will host a fun game of Spin the Bottle, which Crainy would YOU kiss?

Saturday – I will choose a grand prize winner from all the comments throughout the week right here (my blog) on October 22nd! Because my books all revolve around matters of the heart, the grand prize will be a beautiful collection of semi-precious heart pendants and necklaces encased in their own wooden jewelry box. I’ve received one of these collections from a Secret Santa one year and just love it! (Sorry, USA shipping only.)

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday’s posts weren’t of the creative kind. Monday is on Pamela’s shoulders. I answered questions for Tami and picked out what I hope is an interesting, steamy excerpt for Sandy on Wednesday. So far, so good.

Then came my pesky interview with Turk. For some strange reason I still can’t fathom, I asked him to be honest. Who knew the man would be so obedient? It’s not that I didn’t like the results, but really, I can’t pretend in this post that it’s a fun, breezy week if he’s going to make my gut twist with his answers. I began falling for Turk all over again, when I’m supposed to be thinking and writing about Klaus, Klaus, Klaus. You don’t suppose that was deliberate, do you? Hmm…

But I digress. Friday? Yes, that should be fun, fun, fun! I can’t wait to see who chooses whom and why. And Saturday, definitely a breeze. All I have to do is draw a grand prize winner!

Overall, I guess it’s mostly fun and breezy with a smattering of heat and heartfelt emotion thrown in when you least expect it. I hope you’ll follow the links I’ve provided and join me, Pamela, Tami, Sandy, Mary, and Linsey this week as we embark on our first ever Georgia Romance Indies Blog Tour.

Thanks for reading my promo plans. For being such great sports, I’ll give away copies of Phantoms & Fantasies to TWO lucky people who comment today.