It is time again to vote for our upcoming Hunk of the Month.

I tried to find some nice, sexy guys in big, warm sweaters & other winter attire, & then I realized…geeps! what’s the fun in that?

So I went in, let’s say, the opposite direction…

The Twins

Beach Bum

My, What a Big Cigar You Have

Hunk Absolute

Let the voting—& drooling—begin!

I’m blogging today at Brava Authors, chatting about Christmas, vampires, & THE BITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS.  I hope you’ll drop by & show me some post-holiday love, even if you’ve heard it all before. :dracuulla

As usual, the holidays have put me behind.  I don’t know how it happened…I never really make big plans over the holidays—especially with a deadline looming—& yet every year, things seem to get completely out of hand.  Cards & gifts & meals & visits (affectionately known this year as “Prep & Landing”) just seem to pile up & throw me off track.

So I’m getting to my Desire line edits much later than I’d like…& later than my editor will probably appreciate.  (Sorry, Charles! Hope you can forgive me…& will maybe return to a bunch of work waiting for you at the office that would make you push these to the back burner, anyway. :angel )

But I can’t help appreciating all of the wonderful notes he wrote in the margins to cheer me up while I’m fixing other problem areas.  Thankfully, there aren’t many of these, but a couple are going to take some work. :smash

So far for HER LITTLE SECRET, HIS HIDDEN HEIR, I’ve received:

5 s

8 s

1 “Love this prologue!” (Yay!)

1 “ this opening, Heidi!” (Yay again!)

1 “ this chapter ending!” (Triple yay!)

1 “Oh, he’s a smooth one—I’m really taken in by this guy.”

1 “Gotta love Helen!” (Helen is the heroine’s aunt…she’s not terribly fond of the hero in the beginning. *g*)

1 “Heidi, you wrote the book on sexy!” (Well, not yet—at least not literally. But it could happen. :Bigthumbs )

1 “Nice chapter ending—a zinger!”

1 “I’m a sucker for the drama in this chapter, Heidi!”

6 Ha!s

1 “Ha! Love it!”

1 Hee-hee

1 “Probably my favorite epilogue ever, btw.”  (Wow, I’m kinda flattered by that one.  And intimidated…what did I do & can I ever do it again? :cry )

& 1 “Love the way this book transports me to a world of hope & love…& baked goods. The perfect blend!!! *g*” (Awww.  Everything is better with baked goods, though, don’t you think? :chocolate )

What I’m learning is that…

I apparently don’t know how to spell “Croesus,” & spell check didn’t catch my mistake.

I don’t know the difference between “capital” & “capitol.”  (Do I really need to?  Okay, maybe I’ll work on it. :tpspspspt )

The word “progeny” is plural, not singular. (Huh. Who knew? Well, okay, probably lots of people other than myself, but it’s not exactly a term I use very often in everyday conversation. :goofangel )

I am the queen of alluding to something one place, then explaining it a chapter or two later. (This is where simply trusting me to fill in all the blanks really comes in handy.  Hint-hint. :winkwink )

&…  Folks who live in small towns are way different from those who live in the big cities.  (So now I’ve got “A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock ‘n Roll” playing on a loop in my head. :sadheart )

For those of you who have been paying attention, I was kinda sorta supposed to announce the winner of my “Bloody Good Holiday Giveaway” yesterday.  But I didn’t.  Neener-neener-neener. :tpspspspt

But since there’s enough going on at the moment & we’ve all gotten caught up in the holiday hubbub—not to mention the ever-looming deadline that’s stressing me out more by the day :cry —I’ve actually decided to extend the entry deadline until the end of the year. So now, a winner will be chosen on Friday, December 31, 2010 & the winner will be announced during our Happy Sunday post on Sunday, January 2, 2011.

If you haven’t yet signed up for my Newsletter, now is definitely the time!

And if you missed the original giveaway post, I’ll include the contest rules & a list of prizes here as a recap.  Enjoy!

CONTENTS

Naughty & Nice fleece throw

It’s a Wonderful Life DVD (to go with “It’s a Wonderful Bite,” of course)

Twas the Night Before Christmas DVD (one of my favorite Christmas specials ever…& to go with THE BITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, of course)

To All a Good Night anthology by Donna Kauffmann, Jill Shalvis, & HelenKay Dimon (the Jill Shalvis story in this one is so good!)

Naughty & Nice bedroom slippers (complete with jingle bells!)

Betty Boop “Naughty is the New Nice” t-shirt

Halloween cookie cutters…bat, spider, jack-o-lantern, ghost, black cat, tombstone, & coffin (It’s cookies for Christmas, but with a decidedly dark twist—what could go with my holiday vampire collection better than this? )

bloody fangs necklace

vampire fangs whistle

rubber glow-in-the-dark fangs (for the vampire who’s afraid of the dark)

Naughty or Nice pin

peppermint & cinnamon Before & After Mints

plum-scented Vampire Blood anti-bacterial hand gel

Gal Talk holiday sticky notes…”it’s too late to be good,” “naughty or nice,” “i want it all”

Happy Holidays Swankie hankies

two Christmas ornaments…”On Dasher, on Dancer, on Amex, on Visa!” & “When you stop believing in Santa, you get underwear!”

RULES

To enter, you must sign up for my Newsletter. (And remain subscribed, of course.) (Note: If you think you might already be signed up, but aren’t sure, please sign up again…a major catastrophe has wiped out all previous subscriptions prior to October 2010.)

Contest will run until Friday, December 31st. Winner will be announced on my WIPs and Chains blog the following Sunday, January 2nd). (Be sure to stop in & check to see if you won, as you will not be contacted otherwise.)

U.S. residents only, please. (For the prize, because of the high cost of overseas postage rates, but everyone is welcome to sign up for my Newsletter!)

Winner is responsible for providing mailing information as soon as the contest ends.  If winner does not contact me with her mailing information within seven (7) days of the contest winner announcement, another name will be drawn & a new winner chosen.

Good luck & Happy Holidays!