I’m going on vacation for 10 days to Disney World! Woohoo!!! Therefore, there will be NO MORE posts until after May 5th. Bummer, I know. So you’ll have to wait awhile for the next Random Pic of the Day, T-13, or Hottie of the Week. But I should have some great stories to tell when I get back.

See you on the flip side!

(:3 <- that's my Mickey-Ear smiley. LOL

~~Becka

This week’s Hottie should come as no surprise to those who regularly read this blog. You all know I am a LOSTie. Yes, even tho the mysteries royally piss me off and DH is getting jaded, I still tune in every friggin’ week. Mainly due to this man who plays Desmond on the show.

A hottie named Mr. Henry Ian Cusick.

I’ve mentioned this man before, probably on more than one occasion. I think he’s one of the hottest men on LOST. Maybe it’s that thick hair. Or it could be the accent. Perhaps the handsome, lopsided grin he gives from time to time. But I just can’t help wanting more of Desmond.

This week’s LOST episode *was* about Desmond, much to my delight. And that’s why I chose him for my Hottie. “We love Desmond,” I said to DH. “We do?” he answered. LOL For whatever reason, I like Mr. Cusick with the longer haired-scruffy look. He’s still hot without his beard and his hair cut/pinned back, but there’s something about the scruffage on this particular man that sets my heart all atwitter. Men like Sawyer on the show, while hot, would probably look a million times hotter GQ’d to the nines. But give me Henry down and dirty any day of the week.

There are certain men beards “work” for, and a beard totally works for Mr. Cusick. Wow. And I’m not overly fond of beards. I do love DH’s beard (when he keeps it trimmed short, no ZZ Top beards in my house, please). The beard needs to work on the man. It works on my DH. It works on my brother-in-law. It works on Henry. Mmmm….

Did you know Henry played Jesus in a movie called “The Gospel of John”?

I can see it now: “Blessed are the meek, brother.”

But in all seriousness, who wouldn’t become a Christian if Christ looked like that? **crosses self** (Forgive me, Lord. ) Now, I want to go find that movie and watch it. Hottest. Jesus. Evar. They have clips of it up on You Tube. You should go check it out.

This is going to be my last Hottie for a couple of weeks, since I’m going on vacation next week for 10 days (Disney World, YAY!!). So Desmond will just have to tide you over until next time.

Congratulations, Henry Ian Cusick. You’re Becka’s Hottie of the Week!

~~Becka

Okay folks, I have a fun idea. I just recently got some lovely bookmarks. I gave two to a real life friend of mine, who said she’d leave the second one on the table in the break room at her work, since she’d seen a few co-workers reading romance.

Here’s the deal.

I’ll send you two bookmarks, signed of course. (I’ll send you more if you request more). One bookmark you can keep for yourself. The other bookmark, I ask you give away to someone.
Family, friends, coworkers, or like my friend above, quietly leave it somewhere in plain sight at your work, church, school, the kids’ Karate class…

Let’s all help spread the Becka Verse. It’s my “price” for you to get a nifty signed bookmark.

If you want some, please send me your snail mail addy via email to rebeccagoings@gmail.com. Unless otherwise specified, I will only send you TWO bookmarks. However, I’m more than happy to send you more if you have more than one person (or places) you could give (or leave) them to (or at). Just let me know how many you want.

They don’t have tassles, they’re just flat bookmarks. But I’ve been taking down a few lessons I’ve learned when us Browncoats were promoting the TV show Firefly by what’s called “Guerilla Marketing”. You make the product (or author in this case) more prominent and more in the public eye than they would be normally. Move that particular author’s books so their cover is facing out in the book case, for example. Or giving away (or leaving) these bookmarks in random places where they’ll be seen.

Who’s with me??

~~Becka

Today’s T-13 is all about my blogs. I have a few author friends who are stunned by the amount I have. Heck, I’m just a rabid blogger. LOL I love blogging. It’s fun to instantly publish something to the ‘Net. Believe it or not, I have 13 of them (however, I kinda cheated on the 13th…) Heheheh

1.) Becka’s Babble ~ http://beckasbabble.blogspot.com ~ This very blog. It is my main blog. I write anything here, from personal to professional.

2.) B*E*A*S*T* ~ http://beastseries.blogspot.com ~ Yup, I have a dedicated blog for my BEASTie boys. This blog is written from the perspective of the characters in the books. Unless it’s an obvious excerpt, every entry is original material you will not find in the novels. I try to update it once a week, but my schedule has been kicking my ass lately. I’ve been lagging. Right now, it’s focusing on the third book in the series, NATURE OF THE B*E*A*S*T*.

3.) Legends of Mynos ~ http://legendsofmynos.blogspot.com ~ Just like my BEAST blog, this is a dedicated blog for my fantasy series. I have detailed character profiles on this blog, and I’ve also been using it to give the reader thoughts and feelings of the characters that aren’t in the books. This blog is currently focusing on the second book in the series, THE WOLVERINE AND THE JEWEL.

4. Magic Mavens ~ http://magicmavens.blogspot.com ~ This is a blog I share with three other excellent authors. Donica Covey, Phyllis Campbell, and Ciara Gold. We’re all on my author loop, The Magic of Romance, and we thought we’d band together and “share” our audiences. We also have our own monthly newsletter you can join.

5. Writers Across Time ~ http://writers-across-time.blogspot.com ~ This is another group of authors, mostly from Samhain Publishing, who’ve banded together through our love of historical romance. There are ten of us over there, and each of us blog twice a month, Monday thru Friday. My days are the second and fourth Thursdays of the month.

6. The Guffaw ~ http://theguffaw.blogspot.com ~ Did you know I draw crappy cartoons? Well, now you do. I have a comic dedicated to being an Uber Geek (echo echo). If you’re not a geek, into geeky things (like knowing useless pop culture trivia) you probably won’t find it funny. But hop on over and see if it’s your cup of tea. I draw single paneled comics with stick figures in MS Paint. The art sucks, I freely admit, but it adds to the charm, I think. LOL

7. MySpace ~ http://blog.myspace.com/rebeccagoings ~ I pretty much use this blog as a “news” blog, since my Babble blog is more for fun stuff like the T-13, Random Pic of the Day and my Hottie of the Week. I keep readers updated with my writing progress on my MySpace blog.

8. Amazon ~ http://www.amazon.com ~ If you look up my books on Amazon, you’ll find my “plog” on their “buy” pages (whatever plog stands for). I haven’t updated it since last month, but I do keep it in the back of my mind. I usually post to it when something really cool happens. Since I haven’t updated in about a month, that gives you an idea how often something “cool” happens in my life. LOL Actually, I could update about the award I just won…

9. Gather ~ http://rebeccagoings.gather.com ~ I found out about Gather from a man who joined my author loop and said “Come on over!” It’s a website of networked friends, and you write articles and post pictures. It’s not like MySpace. It’s more like a blogging atmosphere, as people can comment on your articles and such. But you join different groups and those people can see your posts. I’ve made a few good friends on Gather. **Waves at Cindy K. Green**

10. Samhain Publishing Blog ~ http://www.samhainpublishing.com/blog ~ True, I only blog one time every three months on this one, but it still counts, yo! So far, I’ve posted twice since the Powers That Be started this project. It’s been wonderfully received. I love the blogging concept for a publishing house to showcase their authors.

11. Fantasy and Enchantment ~ http://fantasyandenchantment.blogspot.com/ ~ This blog came into being when a bunch of Samhain authors wanted to do offshoot blogs for the different genres we write. There is also a paranormal blog as well as an erotic one, etc. However, I don’t know the URL’s for those, sorry. I actually haven’t blogged to this one YET, but I need to get my name into the calendar. Probably sometime after my vacation. Wheee!

12. Bebo ~ http://rebeccagoings.bebo.com ~ I was introduced to Bebo about a week and a half ago. It’s pretty cool, easy to use. I’m still getting the hang of it, and only have about 55 friends. So if you’re on Bebo, befriend me, dammit! Not sure how often I’m going to blog over there, as you can see I have quite the load already, but I’m going to try and blog there at least once a week.

13. Rebecca Goings ~ http://www.rebeccagoings.com/blog.asp ~ Okay, okay, this is the one I “cheated” on. This is a blog I USED to have. It is now defunct. But it’s still up! This blog used to be my main website, until I realized I was getting too many fans to just have a “blog” for a website. So I hired a web designer (Dawn Seewer of Dagian Designs RAWKS!!) and used that blog as my “official” Becka Blog. But it was boring **snore**. No one ever visited it. Everyone visited my Babble blog. Hmm. Wonder why…? Anyhow, I decided to axe that blog in favor of this one for my “official” official blog.

And there you have it. Thirteen of my blogs. Geebus. I’m writing all the damn time. But not necessarily on any of my manuscripts. LOL

This is strictly a brag post, so if you don’t want to read blatant bragging about how great the Goings’s are, then turn away!

If you don’t mind so much, read on. LOL

First of all, you guys know I won Author of the Year 2006 from Champagne Books this year.

Woohoo!

Well guess what? My daughter won a sweet award from her Karate dojo here in Oregon for Student of the Year in her class! Check it out:

She was sooo excited to get this award. We went to a banquet where the kids got to play and there was an awards ceremony and everything. Too cool. She is so proud of that thing, as are Mommy and Daddy. Our daughter’s first award. **dabs eyes**

May it be the first of many. And isn’t it AWESOME?!? I wish I had an award that looked half as cool. All I get are electronic graphics. LOL

~~Becka

I have quite a lot of author friends, and I know a few of them read this blog. I did a little survey, both online and off, unofficially, of course. But here’s the jist.

Readers like signed swag. And by swag, I mean bookmarks, business cards, post cards, notepads, etc. Now, I’m not suggesting you sign every page in a notepad (lol) but maybe the first page. The reason is simple. People like “personal” touches. People like to know you “cared” enough to sign something. From the people I “surveyed”, they are more likely to keep something that has a signature vs. something that does not.

I know authors out there who buy their swag in the thousands. Like between 5K to 10K bookmarks/business cards, what have you. When seen as a whole, YES, it does look daunting to sign so much. But who says you have to do it all in one sitting?

I recently sat down to sign 200 items for some RT giftie bags Samhain Publishing is putting together for the upcoming Romantic Times (RT) Convention in Houston, TX. They’re actually putting together 500 gift bags, but I only had 200 items to give. Sad, I know, but I signed every one of them. And you know what? It didn’t take that long.

I put on some music, got into a groove, and once I got going, it took me maybe a half-an-hour, but that’s only because I took a break. Even ten minutes every day, you can get about 100 items signed. Compared to the thousands some of you have, it might not seem like a big dent, but what can it hurt?

How cool would it be to make it big like Nora and have some fan in Tennesee somewhere have an “original” signed bookmark? It could even become a collector’s item (dreaming big here). But you get the idea. Take some blank swag to work and sign them at lunch. Sign them in your kids’ Karate class. Sign them during your usual promotion time. Little here little there will eventually get the job done.

I’m not saying every author has to do this, as I know some authors have bookmarks and what have you that have designs on both sides, and therefore no room for a signature. However, sign what you can. It really does make a difference to a reader. And send more than one item to someone who won a contest. I usually send three signed business cards with the prize, and now that I have bookmarks, I’ll send those as well. Your readers can keep them, or hand them out to family and friends who will then spread the word.

Bottom line: Sign your swag. Readers will love it and you won’t regret it. But a word of advice… Take breaks often. LOL You think your hands hurt after a day of typing? OY!

~~Becka

Since I’ve been telling you all about this book, I thought I would regail you with the HIGH NOON video I’ve put together. Enjoy!

~~Becka

I cannot believe it’s taken me so long to post this man as my HotW. As you know, I usually post my Hottie after someone I saw in the past week, either online, in music, or on TV. Well, DH just ordered an awesome DVD entitled Done the Impossible. If you’re a Browncoat, you should buy it. Such a great documentary.

Without further adieu, this week’s Hottie is none other than Mr. Nathan Fillion.

Nathan plays Capt. Malcolm Reynolds in TV’s Firefly and the movie Serenity. Or, as he’s more affectionately known by the masses, Captain Tightpants. (You’ll see why in a moment. lol)

Nathan is a hottie for the obvious, his good looks. But also, because he’s such a nice guy. He strikes me as the kind of guy you want to invite over for a barbeque and a brewsky. His sense of humor is right up my alley, and I think hanging out with him would make for one amusing evening.

I’ve befriended him on MySpace, and yes, this is REALLY Nate, not some imposter. If you’d like to befriend him as well, Nate’s MySpace is: http://www.myspace.com/nathanfillion

How am I so sure it’s really him? Because you just cannot imitate his sense of humor. If you “knew” him from interviews and such, you’d know. DH and I have not met Nathan, but a friend of ours has, and was even nice enough to get us an autographed pic of him. It says “Jim & Rebecca– Stay Shiny! Nathan Fillion” As you can imagine, it is prominently displayed in our home theater. We also have a picture autographed by Morena Baccarin and another one of Adam Baldwin, however, Adam’s isn’t yet framed. He signed a print of Jayne from the Serenity comics. Too cool.

I’ve lost count how many people DH and I have converted into Browncoats. It really is too bad there will be no more Firefly/Serenity. Perhaps it will now live on in comics and fan fiction.

Okay, remember Nate’s nickname Captain Tightpants? Check it out.

Ahem. Okay, Nate is circumsized, we know that much. LOL Aw, we lubs ya, Nathan!! Women everywhere are thankful for two things. Your tight pants, and your nekkid scenes in Firefly. LOL

Nathan actually has a new show coming out called “Drive“, which is airing this Sunday. It looks really interesting. It’s about an underground coast-to-coast race, and the contestants are blackmailed into racing. Nate’s character’s wife is kidnapped, and will be returned to him if he wins. The premise isn’t like a “Fast & Furious” made for TV, rather it’s about a cutthroat race, no rules apparently, with all these people who have real, life-threatening reasons to race cross-country. Check it out. It’s already lined up in our DVR to record! Yay!

Nate, you’re the only Hottie I’ve had that I can honestly say seems like a good friend of mine even though I’ve never met you. Keep on keepin’ on, brotha.

Congratulations, Nathan Fillion. You’re Becka’s Hottie of the Week!

~~Becka

Today’s T-13 is about TV shows I watch. DH and I don’t watch much “live” TV. We have a DVR, so we record most everything and then watch it later so we can skim the commercials.

1.) LOST ~ While I’m pissed off their “answers” to questions raises more questions, I’m still hooked. And I’m also pissed the characters don’t ask the questions I would ask if in the same damn situation. Kate and Juliette are chased by the black fog and not 30 seconds after it leaves, Kate’s upset that Juliette had a key to her handcuffs? WTF? ASK ABOUT THE GALLDARN FOG, WOMAN!! Or even the force field. Or where they came from. Why are they in the commune? How do they know so much about them? Ack, I’m pulling out my hair.

2.) Heroes ~ I. Love. This. Show. It’s the best show on TV, in my opinion. It doesn’t pull any punches. It’s in your face. There’s no such thing as “long, drawn out” storylines. Wham! Bam! What the hell was that? OMG, effing awesome! And it’s still ONLY in it’s first season. Holy crap, how can they top it?

3.) Grey’s Anatomy ~ DH and I just recently got in this show, so we’re not watching it week to week yet. We’re still on the Season 2 DVD’s. But it’s a really good show. We’re love it so far.

4.) Thank God You’re Here ~ an improv comedy show that just premiered on Monday. It’s pretty darn funny. But it’s one of *those* shows that will probably be canceled if it doesn’t catch on quick.

5.) Planet Earth ~ If you don’t have an HD TV, I’m sorry for you. This show is AWESOME. It’s on Discovery HD and the images they’ve captured are so amazing. My only nitpick is Segourney Weaver (the narrator) says “planet Earth” way too many times. “This is the biggest desert on planet Earth.” “This is the only place this species is found on planet Earth”. LOL Other than that, go watch this show in HD. You’ll be amazed.

6.) Prison Break ~ DH and I used to watch this show religiously. However, now our ardor has cooled since they’ve broken out of prison. We have about 5 episodes yet to watch on our DVR. Not sure if we’ll go back to it. As much as I luv Wentworth Miller, even the intrigue about the President isn’t enough to keep me going. I’m not interested in the side plots. I just want 100% Linc and Michael. Unfortunately, they pepper the show with the other prisoners’ stories. Boring.

7.) Avatar: The Last Airbender ~ Yes, we watch a cartoon. It’s AWESOME. If you’ve only seen glimpses of it and thought it was weird, well, what anime isn’t weird?? But this show has the added bonus of being created by American guys. So that strange Japanese humor isn’t there. The characters are animated with American body language and humor, and the plot throughout is wonderful, not to mention the imagination behind all that bending. “Bending” means able to manipulate by some magical force the four elements of nature: Water, Earth, Fire, Air. Only the Avatar can bend all four. Otherwise, you’re only a specialist in one element. Excellent show. And where the HELL is Season Three, people???

8.) The Sopranos ~ If you can get past the cussing, murder, and general disregard for human life, then you’ll like this show. It’s “glory days” were around Season 3. DH and I have watched all the seasons. This last season has been luke-warm, but we’ve been with it this far, seems like we should at least finish the show.

9.) Stargate SG1 ~ As if this wasn’t obvious for those of you who visit my BEAST blog. LOL Love this show. We haven’t watched this show from day one, but we HAVE bought and watched all the seasons. Has this show come back from it’s long-ass break yet? DH and I have it scheduled to record in the DVR, but all it records are fricken’ repeats. If this show is ending, they better get their heads out of their butts and air the final shows already!

10.) Stargate Atlantis ~ Another obvious show I watch. I love Dr. McKaY and Col. Sheppard. And I can’t help but pray to the Stargate gods that DJ Yummy will find a permanent home in the Pegasus galaxy. DJ Yummy = Daniel Jackson = Michael Shanks. Whew baby!

11.) Battlestar Galactica ~ Excellent show, actually nothing like the original show of old with the same title. Sure, it’s got humans battling the Cylons, but the producers have made the show their own, with KICK ASS space battles and great special effects. The jittery camera and zoom in shots they do all the time in space was lifted right from the Firefly/Serenity ‘Verse. Of course, it could be because the SAME company does the effects for BG. Did you know there’s a shot in the movie pilot that shows the Serenity ship from Firefly flying in the sky? The show earned the ultimate “cool” factor from me because of that.

12.) House ~ Love this show too. DH and I have actually stopped watching this season, because we didn’t set it up in our DVR and now we’re too far behind to try and catch up. But we WILL watch this season when it’s available on DVD. In fact, I’m going insane from not having my House fix. Don’t you DARE say one word about what’s going on right now.

13.) The Office ~ DH and I have watched this show from day one, even the original BBC “Office” starring Ricky Gervais. My God, everytime I watch this show, I fear I’m going to pee my pants. It’s that “uncomfortable” kind of comedy that really tickles my funny bone. Dwight is so over-the-top it’s fabulous. I just wish the writers would get off their butts and give us some payoff between Jim and Pam. I mean come on. Quit stringing us along already!!

There you have it. Thirteen shows I watch.

~~Becka

Whew, sorry I’ve been so long in updating my Babble blog y’all, but I’ve been so danged busy these past few days. A lot has happened… My book THE B*E*A*S*T* WITHIN won “Honorable Mention” in the Golden Rose Awards for Best Paranormal Romance of 2006 (which means it didn’t win the award, but got runner-up. Cool!!)

Not only that, but yesterday, I also won the coveted Author of the Year award from Champagne Books for outstanding achievement in excellence for all the hard work I do promoting and chatting and mentoring, etc. This one was a biggie. This award is like winning the “Best Picture” Oscar. LOL I was so floored and stunned that I’m still smiling about it. Now, I have a sweet writing credential that shows other publishers that Champagne Books chose me over all their other authors as the example to strive for.

Am I bragging? HELL YES!! LOL Seriously, folks, even though I’ve won a few awards these past few days, I haven’t let it go to my head. Getting awards is merely the icing on the cake. It’s not why I strive to be an author. I just want to tell my stories and make some people happy along the way. If y’all want to recognize me for the stories I tell, I ain’t gonna stop ya! ;D

But let’s get to today’s random picture. I wasn’t even *looking* for the random picture when I stumbled across this. Anyone here old enough to remember the Unknown Comic? If not, he was a comedian who wore a paper shopping bag over his head with eye holes cut out. I particularly love this picture because he has a smaller lunch sack covering his Johnson. The official title of this picture:

“Unknown Comic Centerfold“

Whoever thought of this picture was a genius. LOL Thank you, whoever you are, for the laugh.

~~Becka