Samhain Publishing Ltd. Weblog

It's Better to Give. Right?

“It’s better to give than to receive.”

We’ve all heard the saying, right? I pondered the truth behind the saying as I stood in the long line to buy a present for my husband. The department store’s sale had brought out the customers and I was one of the many happy people doing their holiday shopping. Or at least I thought so until I checked the expressions on my fellow shoppers’ faces and had to reconsider the validity of the saying. If giving was so wonderful, why did they look so annoyed?

The older gentleman standing a few feet away of me from kept shifting from one foot to the next. Obviously his feet were hurting him. The lady in front of me had a death grip on her small son and kept scowling at the cashier. She contributed to the overall dismal attitude by offering the cashier some holiday advice to “hurry the hell up”. Mrs. Claus she wasn’t. To top it all off, the two teens jostling me from behind kept complaining that this Christmas was going to be “crappy”. (Actually, they used a more colorful word that I can’t write here.) They also blamed their parents for losing their jobs and having no money to buy them the gifts they wanted. I was shocked.

Would You Create Magical Happiness or Magical Mayhem?

Wouldn’t it be nice to wave your hand and have all of life’s problems disappear? Wouldn’t you give anything to wiggle your nose and miraculously housetrain the new puppy? (I just got a new puppy so this wish would be at the top of my list. I swear if that little stinker sneaks away to do his business in my closet one more time… )

I used to think that if I knew magic I’d use it every day. Laundry would wash itself, get ironed to perfection and dance up the stairs to the bedrooms. My home would suddenly be in Architectural Digest and sit on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. I wouldn’t even bother entering the lottery. After all, if I could wish myself rich, I wouldn’t waste my time standing in line at the local convenience store, waiting to do a Quick Pick. And think of all the books I could write if they magically wrote themselves and, of course, dominated the best seller lists!

But I had to wonder. After all my selfish pleasures were attended to, would I use my magic for good─or to create mayhem? We all have a good and a dark side to us, so which one would win out?

The Magic of Magical Mayhem

Magical Mayhem is the title of my latest paperback release. I love that title. Why? Because I know that if I had any magical ability, I’d wreak some mayhem of my own. Oh, I don’t mean I’d harm anyone or break a few laws. No way. Instead, I’d use my powers to better myself. For instance, if I had the ability to form my body into any shape I wanted, I wouldn’t choose to have a body like a Victoria’s Secret model. Seriously. Shoot, I’d wave my hand and instantly drop the extra pounds that have grown way too familiar lately. I’d grant my fondest wish and be the best that I could be─without joining the military.

But, unfortunately, I don’t have any magical powers. Unless you count the ability to make grown men gag when they eat my cooking. (Trust me. It’s that bad.) I do, however, have the ability to create beings with all the magical powers I would love to possess. So, if you’re in the mood to imagine yourself as the heroine of a supernaturally thrilling romance, give my book, Magical Mayhem, a look. You may just find yourself casting a spell of your own.

Beverly Rae
Giggle, Gasp & Sigh with a Beverly Rae Romance

Tweet, Tweet! I’m All A-Twitter for Twitter!

I have a confession to make. Until a couple of months ago, I’d never heard of Twitter. Heck, I’d only recently discovered Facebook. (Yes, I’m that techno-challenged.) I’m from the generation where cell phones (“portable phones” as they were called way back then) were bigger than a shoe box. CB radios were the hot item in my time and every car had an antenna on top. (Wow, does that make me sound as old as I think it does?)

The Weight of Writing

I am not a skinny woman. Not even when I was younger and many pounds thinner would I have been considered skinny. But since I began writing, I have noticed that putting my backside in my office chair every day has had the negative effect of increasing the size of said backside. I wonder. Could there be a correlation between writing and weight?

If I Buy, Must I Wrap?

I love to shop. If I weren’t an author, I’d be a personal shopper. I don’t care what I’m shopping for, or why I’m shopping. I just want to shop. This, of course, means that I love the holiday season and all the “necessary” gift buying.

I love strolling down the aisles of the department store, searching for the perfect gift. I enjoy taking my time to browse. After all, it’s the act of shopping that sends delight through me─not the act of buying. Which is a good thing, right? Otherwise, I’d be a shopaholic with horrific credit card debt. As it is, I’m one of those rare breed of people. I’m a thrifty shopaholic.

So You Think Your Hubby's Hot?

Okay, maybe he is. But Jennifer’s new hubby is really hot. How hot? As hot as a demon from waaay down under.

Jennifer Randall, pretend real estate agent by day and real Protector, marries her hubby after a whirlwind romance and then finds out about his Otherworldly persona. Not to mention she now has a ghoul of a brother-in-law. But that’s not the worst part. She has a huge decision to make. Should she help her hubby regain his mortality─or should she save the world? Sheesh! What’s a girl to do? Shag him? Or shoot him? Personally, I might do both. Shag him─then shoot him.

Find out what Jennifer decides to do in I Married a Demon, available now at MBAM!

Beverly Rae – www.beverlyrae.com
Giggle, Gasp & Sigh with a Beverly Rae Romance

Reality Bites

I’m standing in the midst of a group of people who sit quietly, respectfully, with the air of those who share a common problem. Mindful of their gazes locked on me, I stick my sweaty hands in my pockets and pray I don’t faint. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes for a moment to gain what little courage I have left, then blurt out the words I’ve never uttered before tonight.

“My name is Beverly and I am a reality show junkie.”

Don't you wish you could go TO FAT AND BACK?

Naturally, we’d all rather not go to the fat part of the equation but, being very familiar with the problem of weight control─or lack of control in my case─I can’t help but wish I had a magical pill, a fantasy wand, anything that would help me return to my formerly thin self. Okay, okay. My formerly not-thin-but-not-fat self.

I’ve had the idea of going to fat and back stuck in my head for years. At last, however, that nagging thought did prove useful. How? By becoming the basic idea for my new book, TO FAT AND BACK, releasing today.

Curses!

I remember two things happening on the day I found out I was pregnant.

First, my husband and I jumped for joy, hysterically laughing with joy. Once we’d calmed down, we went to our favorite restaurant to celebrate. He drank a glass of our favorite wine and I, already stepping into the role of a good mother, stuck with a Coke.

The second thing that happened was, right in the middle of toasting our happiness, I remembered the only mean thing my mother ever said to me. Granted, she’d been justifiably angry that day, but I recall being so stunned to hear anything except loving words come out of her mouth that her words were forever burned into my memory.

She said, “I hope you have a child just like you.”