I knew I wanted to be a writer ever since I was very young. I’ve actually been preparing myself for this all my life. Here are some of the things I did to acheive my goal.

1.) At the age of 7, I was bitten by the writing bug and wrote several original stories with colorful construction paper covers.

2.) I read many books voraciously as a child.

3.) I wrote many more short stories after reading my first romance at the age of 12, this time with romantic elements.

4.) I got heavily into poetry and filled notebooks with my own rhyming verses.

5.) I wrote a few short stories when I was 13 about a magical crystal, determined to get them published “someday”. (Now, these stories are The Legends of Mynos).

6.) I passed my handwritten stories around to my classmates, my first fans, who threatened me upon pain of death if I didn’t show up to school the next day with a new chapter. LOL

7.) I submitted a short story to a contest at school and won Honorable Mention.

8.) I took a typing class to learn the keyboard.

9.) I took Advanced Placement English and Creative Writing courses along with Psychology in order to learn more about the written word and human behaviors.

10.) I read many, many romances in order to get a feel for the voice, formula, pacing, point of view, etc.

11.) Participated in many writing exercises, short 1,000 word scenes that weren’t part of a story, merely just part of a scenario you had to write about. Two of my books came from those writing exercises. ON EAGLE’S WINGS and UNDERNEATH THE MISTLETOE (in the Mistletoe Magic Anthology).

12.) I did a lot of research on many different publishers, submitting one book while writing another – never stopped writing, which is why I have such a large backlist nowadays.

13.) Even though I eventually got published, I have never assumed that I know it all, and therefore, I continue to learn about my craft on a daily basis.

~~Becka

http://www.rebeccagoings.com/

Well guess what? It really IS my birthday! On this day, October 9th, 1974… lol Yup, I’m not ashamed to say I’m 33 today. ACK. I remember thinking about my 30’s as a kid and how OOLLDD that was. *snort* Now that I’m here, it’s not so bad. Only 7 more years ’til 40. Now THAT will be weird. o.O

Don’t forget I’m holding a week-long birthday party on my author loop, The Magic of Romance, at http://groups.google.com/group/themagicofromance . And not just me, but my author friends are getting into the groove as well! I’m giving away all kinds of prizes, there’s fun excerpts and all around yakking that’s pretty darned fun. I think the first day of my Birthday Bash was smashing, if I do say so myself.

I hope to see YOU there sometime this week. If you’re an author, come participate and join in the fun promo op. If you’re a reader, then come on down and learn about some new and exciting authors. I’m running all kinds of contests, so you might be a winner! Woohoo!!

Now that I have a bunch of new shows that I’m watching this fall on TV, I have a new crop of men I’m watching (and drooling) over. Like this man, the man I chose for this week’s Hottie. Of course, he’s not entirely “new” to me. He’s also on HBO’s hit mini-series, Band of Brothers. Who is this man? Mr. Damian Lewis.

Now, if you haven’t watched Band of Brothers, go rent it/netflix it/buy it right NOW!!! It’s an EXCELLENT series that follows Easy Company of the 101st Airborne throughout WWII, and it is just amazing. This is where I first “met” Damian (who plays Major Richard Winters), and I must say, I never knew how red his hair was until recently.

Mr. Lewis stars in a new TV show called “Life” on NBC. It doesn’t offer anything “new” to the viewing world, other than a quirky main character who’s pretty darn likeable, and is actually one of the sexiest red-headed men I know.

True, Damian isn’t the World’s Hottest Man, but he has these mannerisms and coy grins that make your insides melt. I don’t know what it is about him. Did you know he’s British? Yup, just like Hugh Laurie, Damian puts on one hell of an American accent. Wow, is all I gotta say. In fact, his accent was so good, his CO-STARS on Band of Brothers didn’t believe he was a Brit. Funny, eh? Like I’ve said once before, we love Britain.

Congratulations, Damian Lewis. You’re Becka’s Hottie of the Week!

~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com

Okay, yeah, I’m a romance author, so you might be thinking if I want to see any of these plots come to fruition, I’ll probably have to write them myself, of which I will laugh in your face and show you my current “works in progress” (or WIP) file. It’s pretty long… I have no more time for anything new. LOL Maybe someday.

But aren’t you tired of the same ol’? Here are some romance plots I want to see more of in eBooks:

1.) Unicorns in fantasy. Unicorns that are NOT shifters. Just give me a dang unicorn.

2.) Vikings. Where o’ where have my Vikings gone?!

3.) Medievals. Good Lord, trying to find a Medieval romance in an eBook is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. (I tried to think of a different analogy, honestly I did.)

4.) Exotic locales. Give me some Egypt/Rome/Greece/Persia for crying out loud. Many thanks to Ciar Cullen for bringing me to Central America in Mayan Nights.

5.) A futuristic with NO aliens. Where are my “Firefly”-esque romances? (Westerns in space! Booyah!)

6.) Overweight/ugly/scarred hero/heroine. Seriously, folks, have any of you SEEN “The Enchanted Cottage?” If not, turn on your American Movie Classics channel and see if it’s airing anytime soon. People such as this make for an interesting read, and yes, even a horribly scarred hero/heroine can be seriously sexy.

7.) Indians. Am I the only one these days writing about Indians/Native Americans in romance? I know there are a few other authors exploring this, but let me tell you, ON EAGLE’S WINGS remains one of my best sellers of all time. Is it the storyline? Or the fact that Eagle is one of only a scattered few Indian heroes in eBooks?

8.) Ghosts. With all the paranormal romances going on these days, you’d think the ol’ haunted mansion ghost love story would have come into play by now. Where are they?

9.) Mystery romance. I’d love an “Agatha Christie meets Nora Roberts” type of story. Sure, there’s romantic suspense these days, which may or may not have a mystery to solve, but I’m talking about the “old timey” Ms. Marple/Poirot kinda mysteries.

10.) Revolutionary/Colonial romance. My good friend Phyllis Campbell has written a Colonial romance, Pretend I’m Yours, which I’ve heard is an excellent read. Thank you, Phyllis! I’ve often wondered why there aren’t that many romances in eBooks from this era, heck, in ANY format of book. I LOVE Colonial, as it’s one of my favorite periods in history. I want more “Last of the Mohicans” type romances.

11.) High seas historicals. Yes, there are a few of these, but not enough. You’d think the whole “pirate mania” would have produced scads of pirate-y goodness, but eh, not really. Some, but not as much as say… shifter romances. And why does the ship captain have to be a pirate? What about some Horatio Hornblower heroes? Mmmm… Ioan Gruffudd…

12.) Canadian romance. Seriously, folks, I read one historical Canadian “western” with a Mountie for a hero and hot damn if I don’t still remember that book to this day. Should we all be USA romance snobs? And in that same vein, what about Australian cowboy romances? Anyone remember The Man from Snowy River? *sighs dreamily*

13.) And last but not least, I’d LOVE to see some sheikhs in eBook romance. I know for a fact one is coming out this month from Samhain Publishing. WHEEEE!!! But ONE, folks? We’re talking hot desert sands, sultry desert nights, and steamy, schwetty LUV. Oded Fehr, anyone? I’ve been pondering writing a sheikh romance for awhile now. I know of a few authors who write them for New York, but I’m thinkin’ we need them in eBook as well. Of course, if I ever DO write any sheikhs, it would probably be in a world of my own creation, because I have some wild ideas for them that probably wouldn’t gel with their history and religion. LOL

Anyone with me on my list of what I want to see more of in romance eBooks?!?

~~Becka

http://www.rebeccagoings.com/

Okay, people, seriously. I must be getting old because I’ve never gotten so sick before consecutively in my life. I’m sicker than a dog right now. Full blown cold. I blamed our friend Kyle who came over sick last Friday, who I tried to stay away from, btw… Now I learned today that he has Walking Pneumonia. Poor, poor guy. But holy crap!

I hope this cold is all I get. Right now, my head feels like it’s going to explode. I hope it doesn’t -that would make quite the mess… My nose is stuffy and my eyes are watering, as if I’m forever on the verge of sneezing. What’s that all about?

I thought I wouldn’t get a good night’s sleep last night, but I slept like a rock. In fact, the alarm went off this morning and I was like, “Really? It’s morning already?”

The cold medicine I’m taking ain’t doing shite. It’s like Comtrex nasal congestion stuff… yeah, ain’t workin’. Not even remotely.

I had to take my daughter to a consult with the orthodontist today (which is free in the state of Oregon) and I considered canceling, but she’s only in the office like once a month or something crazy, so I decided to suck it up and go. Come to find out that yay! My daughter doesn’t need braces… now. The orthodontist wants to see her back in a year to go from there, since dd’s mouth isn’t quite big enough to fit her adult teeth… Doc wants to see her when she grows a little bit and then talk about braces. **shudder**

Anyhow, so I’m thinking to myself that I’m already out… might as well go to Costco. I needed to go to the store, and despite the fact my DH will be on vacation Thursday and Friday, I decide to go. I knew I’d just keep putting it off, and while going to the store wasn’t quite an epidemic yet, I didn’t want it to become one.

Dear. God.

I came home, had the kids help me put away the groceries and COLLAPSED for about 2 1/2 hours this afternoon. Of course I was interrupted THREE times by kidlets wanting to go to so-in-so’s house, someone fell and hurt their face, can I play outside… So I took my kids aside and told them to RESPECT my naptime! They never wake up their daddy…why do they wake me up? I have no idea. I told them to be quiet and said they could watch a movie, but they still managed to have the volume up to “ear bleed”, however, I was too damn comfy/lazy/sick to get up and yell at them (because they wouldn’t have heard me anyhow).

Despite all this, I did manage to get some sleep. But I haven’t been this sick in awhile. Hearing that our friend has Walking Pneumonia does nothing to bolster my mood. I had that a couple of times. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Of course, the first time I got it, it was really bad because I just thought I had the flu and didn’t see the doctor right away. Second time it was under control right away.

Pray I don’t get it again. Thanks a lot, KYLE. lol

**crawling away to find my warm, soft bed**

~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com

Okay, okay, so you’ve seen my choice for last week’s Hottie, Zachary Levi. Well, if you watch CHUCK at all, and if you watched tonight’s episode, then you’ll know that Chuck (spoiler)
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was being tested by that doctor guy in the “home theater” of the Buy More store. When he saw the pictures of gov’t secrets that are inside his head, he began rattling off the “secrets” encoded within the pictures, and one of the things he said was, “Oceanic flight 815, shot down by a….” and then they cut real fast to another “secret.”

I caught this while watching the show, because Oceanic flight 815 is the airplane that crashed on the show LOST. Little bit of “geek” trivia there. DH and I thought it was awesome that they wrote that in… But the plane was shot down? Hmm… Perhaps that brings in a cute little nugget of the LOST mystery we don’t know about. And all this time, we thought it was a massive Electro Magnetic Pulse… LOL

Just thought I would point out the cool cross-show mojo goin’ on NBC right now.

~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com

Spread the word! Feel free to copy the above pic and post to your blogs if you’re so inclined. EVERY AUTHOR I KNOW is invited to come and play the entire week of my birthday. My birthday is Oct. 9th, and I’ll be giving away mystery wrapped birthday presents to one random person on my loop each day. It will be a BLAST!!

NEXT WEEK! MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I couldn’t post to my blog this weekend. Well, I could have on Saturday, but I opted to finish reading my print galley for THE WOLVERINE AND THE JEWEL, which will be coming to print March 25, 2008 (my wedding anniversary!). Anyhow, I did want to say that I have picked a Hottie (for last week), and let me tell ya, this guy is HAWT!!

If you haven’t watched CHUCK, one of the new shows this fall, you’re missing out. Well, if you’re a geek (or nerd) and appreciate tongue-in-cheek action flicks. The main character is quite the nerd, but he was so dang cute! I decided to look him up online and my thoughts were confirmed. They make him look geeky for the show, but this man is smokin’! Who is he? Mr. Zachary Levi.

First glance of him as Chuck and you might think, “Eh, Becka likes those nerdy types.” Well, to prove that haircut/clothing/stubble make the man, here’s another more “worthy” picture of him:

Now, there are some awesome pictures of Zachary on IMDB, but alas, I could not steal them, as much as I wanted to. LOL But aside from the fact that his last name is my son’s first name, that is not why I like this guy.

He’s just so…likeable. His smile is like “the sun breaking through the clouds”. It’s really expressive, and he seems like such a nice guy. Of course, I don’t know him from Adam, so he could be a total asshat for all I know. *snort*

But I will continue to watch CHUCK (it’s on tonight!!) and drool. Congratulations, Zachary Levi, you’re Becka’s Hottie of the (Past) Week!

~~Becka
http://www.rebeccagoings.com/