clinton and beth anderson divorce — You have NO idea how many of these I get every single month. Apparently a lot of people are obsessed with finding out the truth about myself and Clinton. So let me clear this up once and for all: I did NOT have sex with Hillary Clinton. (Bill is another story.)

sexy beth waiting — Is she already sexy, or is she just waiting to BE sexy?

leotard straitjacket — Folks, I get an awful lot of straitjacket hits. WTF???

kinky — Would this be Friedman, or just…Kinky?

sorority spanking — Makes you wonder what goes on in the average American mind nowadays, doesn’t it.

gym bloomers — Lonely for the Good Old Days, are ya? Oooh, those sexy blue bloomers. NOT.

anderson hot — Well, Beth thinks she is. Far be it for ME to discourage her. I have to live with her, after all. (For anyone who doesn’t understand this, see my very first blog entry in February, 2006. It’ll all become clear to you.)

hot local sluts — Those would almost certainly be my critique partners, right? Phone numbers available on request. Just send cash.

when a narcissist leaves you — Cross yourself, move to a different state (or country), and hope he never finds you.

spanking fun & games — More spanking games? America, what’s going on here? Are we a little angry at anyone in particular, like in the White House, maybe? Oops, mustn’t get political, right?

night sounds — A little serious BSP here: That would be one of my books. Even more serious BSP: Buy it, you’ll love it.

i can’t get over a narcissist — Yes, you can, as long as you keep far, far away.

neckedgirls — Pat Robertson, you’re not fooling me, I know that’s you.

boyfriend does not have a clue — Maybe he’ll get one when he becomes a man. But probably not.

spandex straitjacket — MORE straitjacket hits. Hmmmm…

typing games — That would be found on Yahoo or MSN chats, I think.

can narcissist really love someone — Yes. Himself. (I get TONS of narcissist question hits every month. Are there REALLY that many running around loose? Cheesh! Call the CIA or something!)

victoria secret ben wah balls — I didn’t know you could get them there! Maybe that’s where Beth’s husband got them?

beth games — Beth must have some kind of wild secret life I don’t know anything about because I get lots of these hits, too.

nascar babe — GUILTY! I got my Jimmie Johnson t-shirt yesterday to prove it, too!

pics of old gym suits from high school — Longing for those good old bloomer days, are ya? Whatever flips your switch, I say.

should get married at sixteen — NONONONONONONO! By the time you’re nineteen, and I know no sixteen year old girl is ever going to believe this, you’ll be an entirely different person, saddled with a man you don’t even know or like anymore, and a couple of cute little, but constantly hungry, wet rugrats with head colds. Don’t do that to yourself, I BEG you! Wait till you’re thirty is my advice.

afraidofme heroin washingtonpost — This one took me aback because there IS an “afraidofme” who posts on the comment pages of WAPO. I have no idea of his or her pharmaceutical choices, but he/she does come up with a lot of interesting political comments, some of which I agree with, some not.

how do i make him value me — First, make him give you diamonds, lots of them. Big ones. At least three carats each. Then hide them. He’ll value you, no problem, at least until he tracks down those diamonds.

how do i leave a narcissist — Walk out the door. Never look back.

real romance love letter — Maybe I should write those for people. I’d probably make a lot more money than I do writing novels. Come to think of it, MJ Rose wrote a BEAUTIFUL book about a fictional heroine who did just that.

hot yoga — I want the answer to this one, too. Maybe in the Kama Sutra pages, ya think?

her name is lola. she will be my yacht. — Okay, Barry, I know that’s you, but I thought you promised you were going to name your new yacht “The Hotclue”!

help on writting an mystery uthors synposis — Uh, hon, I think you need a little more help than that…

lisa gardner — And this poor hapless Internet searcher got me…but hi anyway, glad to meet you! Say hi to Lisa for me!

oh whatever makes you because i got what i wanted now — Is this by chance one of Beth’s ex-husbands?

turkey and dressing for 100 — I can only run screaming out of the room at the thought of doing this.

hot boys — What’s the problem? They’re lining up outside my door even as we speak. Come on over, I’ll give you a few of my leftovers.

made me go barefoot — No problem there either. Mine BEG me to go barefoot.

in a train wreck with the narcissist — Correction. The narcissist IS the train wreck.

coughing up a fur ball — Sarge says to tell you Hey, and she’ll be doing her own 2007 Furball Year End Blog sometime this month. Man, has she got a looooong list THIS year!

worst spanking from wife — Did it hurt-ums? Did ooo wike it?

pekin — Someone from my checkered past trying to track me down, maybe? Well, here I am, in the flesh, so to speak.

how hots a turkey supposed to be — 175 degrees. Then cover it with foil and a big folded bath towel over the foil and let it sit in its own juice for a while. (Well hey, I have to make a serious, rational comment ONCE in a while, right? I KNOW this works.)

beth glitters — Well, she thinks she does. But really, I’m the one who glitters 24/7, not just once in a while, like her.

anderson map — Now I could understand this if you asked for a Hotclue map, which is far more interesting than any old Beth Anderson map.

pictures of hot christmas girls — Well, we all know what you want in YOUR Christmas stocking this year, don’t we.

love me hot — Yes I do. You KNOW I do, and so does Beth and so does Sarge.

sign your relatives are like fudge — This conjours up a fascinating picture to me, of my relatives, anyhow.

christmas rhyming clue — And did you find anything that DOES rhyme with Christmas? Please share, and also, share what rhymes with Orange.

gabrina garza take me out — Hmmm…I foresee a potential problem here…

picture of a hot fudge sundae — One of my relatives, by chance? One who blows hot and cold at the same time, maybe? Food for thought.

narcissistic boyfriend replacing you –You should be so lucky. Pray for your replacement, it’s the charitable thing to do.

homemade hot clue — At home, abroad, on a boat, on a plane…

limerick barry manilow — Barry, quit posting here. I’m still mad at you for not naming your yacht after me.

100 things to make from a cardboard box — This would be one of Beth’s husband’s relatives trying to save money at Christmas, LOL!

hot sexy pekin men –Well, I just bet there are a lot of them, now that you mention it.

bare picture of most beautiful girl of afghanistan — Oh oh. bin Laden, get off my blog.

inserting ben waa balls — This is a hydraulics question I’m not prepared to answer at the moment. Actually, I could, but Beth won’t let me.

want a nice hot women — Just ONE? But wait, we got a problem here. “Women” is plural, right? (What did you say your phone number was?)

examples for a 250 word mini saga — I have never written or spoken only 250 words on anything in my entire life. Any takers?

hot sex nabors — Jim, what are you getting into now? Just sing Back Home Again in Indiana once a year at the Indy 500, that’s good enough for me.

beth anderson nude — You really, REALLY don’t want to see that.

clue to hidden christmas present — The ben wah balls, I take it?

That’s it for this time, folks. Come back again next week, we’ll leave the porch light on for you. Beth is in the kitchen whipping up a big batch of Egg Nog right now.

We love you, you KNOW we do!

Hotclue Herself
Beth Anderson
and Sarge.

OH, but I found SO much more.

In fact, I couldn’t stop watching, even when I found it was much different than I’d thought, and I want to tell y’all in case you see it’s on TV sometime and think it doesn’t sound all that interesting.

Oh, but it is. It IS.

The people doing this special chose one small family among the hundreds of penguin families on one breeding ground in the Antarctica and followed them over the course of several months and horrific weather changes.

After the mother and father’s baby penguin was born, the mother had to leave to replinish her system with food after her long pregnancy. It’s the custom among penguins for the father to take over care of their progeny when the mother has to leave for food, so the father swept the baby under HIS tummy, where it could be warm, and the mother took off with all the other new mothers to head for the ocean where they could eat and store food in their bodies to bring back to their babies. This is a long, long trek both ways. It takes days and sometimes more. But on they plod toward the ocean.

While the mother was gone, a horrible winter gale swept in. All the male penguins, hundreds of them, huddled together, switching places from time to time so the guys on the outside wouldn’t bear all the brunt of the wind and bitter cold. The mother was gone for a while but the fathers took great care of their little ones. In fact, it was quite touching to watch, especially when the father had to cough up a special secretion to feed the hungry baby when its mother was late getting back, because he knew the baby would die without food.

The mother eventually came back, took over her baby’s care, sweeping it under her tummy again, nourishing and keeping it warm as possible while the fathers all headed for the ocean so they could eat.

Also, the mother began at this point to teach the baby little things, just as a human mother would do. Up to this point, the baby had pretty much been a teeny blob who traveled around by walking ON its parents’ feet while still being kept protected under their stomachs, only showing its head to squeak for food, then right back under the parents’ stomach.

Now the father, having eaten after his long trek to the ocean, came back and took over the baby’s care so the mother could go eat again. The baby was growing now and beginning to explore. Unfortunately, it explored a little too much and died.

Here’s the part I thought was so profound, so agonizing, that I actually sat and cried, totally mesmerized by this panorama when the mother came back.

The breeding grounds, where they spend most of their time, is a huge, crowded place, with hundreds of penguins roiling around all the time. Still, the mother found the father and then she started looking around for her baby.

She spotted it on the outside of the mass of milling penguins, went over to it, poked it with her beak, obviously trying to make it get up. It took her a minute or so to realize the baby was dead.

The minute she did, she started to wail. There was no mistaking it. This female penguin was in deep, agonizing grief because her child was gone forever. I saw unmistakeable pain, both in her cries and her body movements. Never mind that they’d have another baby next mating season. This mother loved THIS baby.

I’ve never been so awestruck by anything in the animal world. I actually could not believe it. The love and caring in this little family was SO evident nobody watching this story unfold could possibly miss it. No script here, this was real.

One of the reasons this hit me so hard was that all through this two hour special I had been thinking, these are families, and for some reason all they DO is live to have babies and take care of them. They go to the breeding grounds to have them, then they take that tremendously long walk over ice, in terrible conditions, to jump into the ocean and eat so they can feed them. They do this over and over, and I found myself wondering, why? What’s the purpose of all this? Why were these particular animals (or mammals) even put in this terrible, cold place only to have to struggle day in and day out, only to have more baby penguins and go through terrible conditions all through their entire lives just to do this?

Well, I don’t know the answer. I guess that’s up to a Higher Power to tell us one day. But for now, to me, seeing this devotion, this caring, this deep love, I found myself thinking, wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if all humans did the same thing. Love our kids and do everything in our power to take care of them, to raise them right.

Just think. If humans ALL did this, we wouldn’t have the kind of problems we have. We wouldn’t have kids turning to gangs and drugs and murdering each other. We wouldn’t have people all over the world ignoring the inevitable results to kids, anybody’s kids, by going out and blowing up people and buildings and even entire countries.

We wouldn’t have politicians worldwide ignoring the future of today’s kids while they wrangle for centuries over money and oil and territory and ancient blood feuds. There wouldn’t be any blood feuds, because if the people feuding gave one second’s serious thought to the effect on their children instead of their own anger, they’d realize how stupid blood feuds actually are.

If only WE ALL thought long and hard about our children and everyone else’s children all over the world, before making even more mistakes than we’ve already made, there’d be a lot less bloodshed worldwide, all of it completely unnecessary.

Think grandkids, not oil and more money in your bank account. That’s what animals do. Should we not try to be at least as good to our children and grandchildren as they are?

There’s a lot to be learned from a little movie called March of the Penguins. That was my personal epiphany the other night. Not that I didn’t know all these things anyhow, but somehow, watching a two hour special about penguins brought it all home to me in a most profound way.

I hope you get to see it yourself soon if you haven’t already. I don’t see how anyone could fail to be tremendously touched by it.

Hey, y’all, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you come back again next week. You never know what’ll happen with Hotclue between now and then.

We love y’all, you KNOW we do!
Hotclue, Beth and Sarge, who just scratched on the back of my chair and said “Hey!” (Or was that “Treats!”)

I’m even thinking about springing for a Jimmie Johnson sweatshirt, and if (IF???) he wins the championship and breaks Jeff Gordon’s record of four straight wins in the trophy races this upcoming Sunday, I’ll have to ask Count Baballalapaloozo to buy me an entire wardrobe ’cause those Nascar clothes are pricey. Nice, but WHOO HOO pricey!

It’s the Count’s fault anyway, he took me to one of the races over the summer, I got one look at Jimmie Johnson, who passed close enough by me that I could almost touch his gorgeous, tight little butt, and I fell in lust. Good GOD, Did I Ever!

I didn’t touch him though, his extremely lovely wife (I gotta admit this is true) was with him, so I left him alone. But I can dream, can’t I?

Yanno, it’s not so much his astonishing good looks, because NASCAR drivers are all, by nature, good looking and sexy, a girl’s wet dream every Sunday afternoon. I haven’t seen a single one I’d kick out of my gold-lined faux lepoardskin sleeping bag.

In Jimmie’s case, it’s the way he drives. He’s sneaky and he’s smart, the smartest one in the Nascar league, far as I can see anyway, although that might be colored by my overwhelming lust–er–admiration of his tight little butt. (OMIGOD, he is SO cute!)

Please, Santa, PLEASE put Jimmie Johnson in my panty hose this year for Christmas. The ones I’m wearing on Christmas Eve, okay? His wife would never know, right? How could she, when Beth swears I’m just a figment of her imagination.

Don’t believe her, folks. I’m as real as they come.

I’m probably years behind everyone else discovering NASCAR. I do that because I’m so busy all the time and things just sort of pass me by. CD players were out for ten years before I bought one. DVD players, I have to refer to the written directions every time I use mine. I was years behind on buying one. So you can imagine my astonishment when I recently discovered NASCAR has been running for a lot of years. It’s way older than I am. I won’t speak for Beth, she keeps track of her own years, but this has been going on forEVER and it all just went right over my head.

No longer. The fun to me, besides all the good looking guys to look at, is watching, over time, all the different drivers’ styles and what it is that makes different drivers either win or lose. In Jimmie’s case, he hangs back and sneaks forward toward the end of the race. Others try that, but never with his panache. It’s just the way he does it. (I wonder if he’s that way when he makes love? There’s a thought…)

If y’all haven’t been watching NASCAR races because you’ve heard them referred to as Rednecks Only, that’s just not true. NASCAR racing is a billion dollar business. Watch it a few times, you’ll be as hooked as I am.

For now, GO, JIMMIE JOHNSON! Hotclue’s got your back!

Thank y’all for hanging in here with Beth and me over the past months. I wasn’t much help, honkin’ all over the world with Count Babbalallapaloozo, but I intend to help her out all I can from now on. Y’all know how helpful I CAN be, right?

Just remember, we love y’all, you KNOW we do, so come on back and see us again soon, ya hear me?

Love, Hotclue Herself, no matter what Beth says.

Hotclue: Welcome to my little home away from home, Gabrina. Tell us a little about yourself and your family.

Gabrina: I’m so glad you invited me over! Hotclue, I just love what you did with the place–it’s much more organized than my real and/or virtual home! Well, if you want to know about me I’m fairly regular other than my unnatural obsession with independent league baseball and my love of dogs. In fact, I have a pointer/hound attempting to lick my wet hair right now since he’s got some sort of weird shower fresh fetish. (Yes, I will shower again to get the dog saliva off.)

H: I hear you have a sideline rescuing dogs and cats. What got you started doing that? What’s it like at home when you rescue a whole passel of dogs or cats? About how long, on average, does it take for you to find them homes? Have you ever not been able to find a home for any of them?

G: I got started in rescue after seeing a listing for 8-week-old lab puppies being put to sleep. I drove a total of seven hours to pick up the puppies, an adult male lab, and a beagle/basset hound mix. People don’t realize why they need to have their pets spayed or neutered until they see for themselves a wiggly little puppy who will be put to sleep. Rather than just tell others they should do something about it, I do transport runs and volunteer my time at adoption events every week. It’s an incredibly satisfying but often frustrating experience. There really isn’t an average time for adoptions. Sometimes a dog you’d never expect to go gets adopted when you walk in the door. The pointer/hound I mentioned has been adopted and returned three times now. He’s a very laid back and curious guy, but he’s been adopted by people who just didn’t meet his criteria. I’ve had him for eight months now; he’ll either find his forever home or live with me forever. And just in case you want to meet him his name is Fieryo from the book and musical Wicked.

H: Tell us about your writing time. How do you manage that, with a full time job, two sons, a husband and all your animals?

G: You forgot my biggest reason to slack off, which is baseball. I do a lot of writing at night and sometimes early in the morning. Because of my real job I’m often away from home for up to sixty hours in a week, so that doesn’t leave me a lot of time. I do mini outlines while I’m in the car–at red lights and train crossings, and at baseball games when I think of something I want to add or need to do. It’s funny where ideas strike you and what sort of notes you have. Today I found a note I’d left for myself that just said “Snavely. Kitten wax.” That’s all it said, and for those of you wondering what in the hell that means I’ll tell you in April when the book comes out.

H: Is your family supportive of your writing?

G: The better word for it is tolerant. I can’t even tell you how many times on vacation someone would yell for me to turn off that (insert word here) computer. They’re starting to understand it’s a career, especially after all of the stories I’ve sold this year to magazines and to book publishers, so it’s nice to finally have something I absolutely love turn into more than just a crazy hobby or a dream. I think they all know that even though I went to school for a career in the medical field, I should have stayed with writing since it’s where I ended up anyhow.

H: Where do you like to write best?

G: Somewhere close to my foster cat Jack, who either enjoys the soothing sound of typing or the heat from my laptop. I have a microscopic desk in my room which I swear some day I’ll turn into an actual office instead of a partial toy room and canine lounge. I used to write downstairs while sitting on the couch but something about Spongebob doesn’t quite do it for love scenes. Now I’m surrounded by my dogs and foster dogs and the occasional cat that wanders in to see if I’m sleeping yet since my head and pillow are prime real estate.

H: I’ve heard you described by a reporter as a “writing machine”. Do you like to do newspaper interviews? What is your ideal reporter like?

G: You must think you’re interviewing someone important with a question like that! I honestly do much better with interviews when they involve talking about my foster dogs than I do my writing. My ideal reporter is someone who comes up with interesting questions.

H: How do you plan to market your new book, THE COUNTESS OF SUBURBIA?

G: COUNTESS is my first full-length novel at Amber Quill Press. It’s set in Northwest Indiana, where I grew up. As far as I know, other than A CHRISTMAS STORY there aren’t many books about my area. I wanted to do a book set here since I love the people and all the stuff to do. I had a lot of fun adding in landmarks and making up a few places to add variation. All my friends who came to visit from out of town got to take the Countess of Suburbia Tour, which I might turn into a bus tour in a few years. Get your hotels booked now, folks!

H: What was your inspiration for COUNTESS? How long did it take you to write it? How long to sell it?

G: It was actually supposed to be a short story for a contest, but after I finished the first chapter I went back and read it, cracked myself up, and thought this isn’t a story. It’s a beginning to a story. From there it just sort of happened, which really isn’t a fascinating story in and of itself, so let me make something up and I’ll get back to you. It took me about a year to complete from first draft to final draft and then another two years before it sold. It sat at another publisher for quite some time, so I had a lot of confidence in it well before AQP contracted it. (Okay, I thought about it and I’m back. I’ve decided to let my readers guess as to my wild adventures with handsome British photographers, which led to the humorous and sexy romance between Miranda and Garic. I can say no more.)

H: Tell us something about the book itself.

G: It’s funny in parts, sad in others, but most of all I hope readers find it honest and real. Once I started to tell people about the premise, I had lots of women say “Oh! I’d read that! My (husband/boyfriend/fiancé) cheated on me and I would have loved to have bought a billboard to tell him we were through!” There are a lot of women who have gone through divorces and breakups similar to Miranda’s, and I tried to give her as much uncertainty and heart as women in that situation feel. Should she go back to him for the sake of her kids? Is she able to go it alone? There is romance, but it’s also about finding your spirit after you have children and a failed marriage.

H: How would you prepare yourself for a radio or television interview?

G: Lots and lots of Crown Royal, obviously.

H: Does criticism bother you personally?

G: Yeah, for a bit, and then I get over it and figure out how to change what’s wrong or hopefully not make the same mistake twice. My beta reader Jax can tell you how many times I’ve maybe argued just a tad but then gone back and made all the changes she thought needed to be done. I haven’t had any scathing reviews, so either I’m giving them the slip or I’ve done something right.

H: Why do you write?

G: Because I really hate folding laundry and doing dishes, and after a full day of working for a laboratory that serves over twenty hospitals, I just want to sit down and disappear into my own little world. I keep saying I want to take over the world and by creating new people and places, I’m one step closer. Well, in the imaginary sense at least.

H: What’s your favorite genre to read?

G: I’ve read everything this past year from historic romance to suspense thrillers to fantasy. I like character driven stories and a little humor added, especially since at work I devour audio books.

H: When was the very first moment when you realized you were going to be an author? How old were you, where were you, what set it all in motion for you?

G: I’ve pretty much been writing since I was a fetus. My mom laminated my very first book, which I wrote in third grade. When I received a typewriter for Christmas it was sort of like Ralphy in A Christmas Story where it was the only thing I wanted–and luckily I didn’t shoot my eye out. When I really got serious about writing I was in high school. My English teacher, Mrs. Weiss, who sadly lost her fight with cancer, inspired me to become a writer. She used a poem I wrote to summarize “Romeo and Juliet” in classes after I graduated, which was the first time anyone had ever said they thought what I was writing might be worth reading. I’ll never forget her and I thank her for giving me that extra push and a little confidence to do what I wanted to do.

H: Tell us where we can get your books.

G: Most of my books are available at http://www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/bio_Garza.html with an older release at www.lulu.com/gabrina . You can win free copies of my books at my website if you enter my contests. Each month I have a contest and sometimes I even give away bigger prizes, like gift cards for free gas. Bookmark it because ya never know what I might have going on!

H: Is there ever a time when you just can’t write, no matter how free your time is at the moment? Have you ever had serious writers block? If you did, what did you do about it?

G: Yes, I get very distracted by dogs, email, instant messaging, and porn. Well, okay, not porn. But I have a very busy household and a demanding job, so it’s always a matter of telling myself to go ahead and goof off for thirty minutes, then get to work. Whenever I feel like I just can’t get a chapter done and I have no idea if I can go in the direction I intended, I leave the story alone for a bit and work on something else. Even if it’s only for a few hours it helps clear my mind, focus me on a different, sometimes clearer channel, then I can go back, reread what I’ve got, and figure out why I’m stuck. I’m doing that for the book I’m writing now called ONE LAST KISS. It’s a vampire erotic romance and for the last two weeks I’ve been frozen. Tonight I have an idea where I’m going, which came to me during a baseball game. How exactly blood sucking undead fits into baseball is beyond me, but I’m going to have to dedicate that book to the Railcats!

H: What’s your favorite, the first draft, or the editing to perfect it?

G: First draft. I hate reading, rereading, rereading, read again, change this, read it over, find another mistake, and read it again until I want to bleach my eyes. The first draft, though flawed, is the most fun because it’s new to me and I get to see my characters develop beyond that initial thought of “Hey, wouldn’t it be really cool if…” By the time it gets to galleys I’m usually far enough removed from it where I can go back and enjoy reading it. So I like the beginning and the finished part, the middle is where I cry and moan.

H: How did you prepare to write your first book?

G: You have to prepare? Crap! I need to jot that down. Hold on a second.

H: Tell us about your website and blog and discussion group. What’s the link? Do you do it all yourself?

G: My website is slowly evolving from mass chaos to organized mess, sort of like the universe in general. I’m doing it all myself right now. You can read excerpts, enter my contest, subscribe to my newsletter, or join my bulletin board by logging onto www.gabrina.com . The bulletin board is just for group discussions and general debauchery. I’m gathering an army of literate people to help take over the world. Join! Join right now! I also try to keep my blog updated though when I go back and reread the archived posts it sounds like I’m drunk since one message is “Yay! Book comes out tomorrow!” and then right below it is a message about a dog being put to sleep at a shelter. This coming week I’m going to just type in a bunch of words and see if I get lots of hits to it. It’ll be something like banana splits, hand job, voyeurism, royal crown, i love tanner townsend, and my dog is named doyle just to see what happens. No real message, just key words people might search for.

H: How do you manage two young kids and a husband and a house and pets and a life? Have you had to give up anything you really didn’t want to?

G: I tie up the husband (not in a kinky way, we’ve been married for 9 years and married people don’t do that!), lock the kids in the dog kennels, and write all day long. Before your readers call the cops, I’ll be honest and say I really have no idea how I ever get anything done. I have a very helpful family and they want me to succeed so they do everything they can to help me out with the kids and with taking care of my husband, who is completely helpless, which makes it so easy to just tie him up because he never sees it coming!

H: Do you have any major hobbies? What do you really like to do for entertainment?

G: I used to be a lot of fun and go out to movies, live music, etc. but right now I’m managing my time down to the minute. One day I hope to be fun again. For now I’m just a writer.

H: What bothers you most about the publishing world? What do you think can be done about it?

G: You know it’s just very hard to be a new writer and hope to sell books without spending hours and hours of time promoting. People with day jobs and families I think have it the toughest since you can’t spend all of your time writing or you miss out on family, and if you don’t write you don’t make money, and if you don’t make money, you can’t cut back on your hours at your real job so you can stay home and supposedly spend all day writing. I have to budget my time, which I’m no good at doing. If I have the slightest reason to slack off, I always consider it, which is why I’m often up well past my bedtime writing.

H: What are all of your currently upcoming books, titles, a short description, genre, pub date if you have it.

G: My September 2007 releases are COUNTESS OF SUBURBIA, a contemporary romance set in Northwest Indiana about a suburban mom who tells her cheating she wants a divorce by buying a billboard. (The e-book is already available, the print book will be available any day now at Amber Quill Press and soon at Amazon.com.) My erotic romance for September, ALL WET, is part of a series called CIRCLE OF FRIENDS. It’s a heat level 3, the hottest Amber Heat offers. I love the cover of this one! You can see if for yourself here http://www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/AllWet.html All three stories in the trilogy are about high school friends who reunite as adults and have a lot more fun than they ever did in class. In October 2007 I have two more erotic romance books coming out, the first an adult fairytale called JAX AND THE GIANT’S BEAN STALK. You can probably guess what it’s about! Later in October I have my first gay erotic romance called TAKE ME OUT. It’s the first in a trilogy of baseball related m/m books and it’s about two independent league players who start out as roommates by accident and discover they have an attraction neither of them can deny. I have more books coming out at Amber Quill Press from December until February of 2008 and throughout the summer of 2008, so keep a look out!

H: In your heart of hearts, where all things secret are kept, what do you expect to be doing in five years? Details, please.

In five years I hope my work schedule eases. I love what I do for a living outside of writing and hope to have a little more time to myself to focus on my career as an author. I don’t know if I’d ever quit my real job since it’s the only time during the day where I’m usually alone in the car and able to either listen to books or just focus on the road, but it’s mentally draining at times (I work for a lab and handle very time sensitive specimens…that’s all you want to know). In the meantime, I’m enjoying my son starting his first year of soccer, the dogs coming in and out of my house, and all the hectic but rewarding aspects that come along with being a writer. It’d be nice in five years if I had an actual office overlooking a nice meadow or wetland but somehow I imagine in five years I’ll still be at my microscopic desk with Jack sitting next to me and hopefully my dogs, who are getting older, still laying around wondering just what in the world is so interesting about that glowing box their mama is always staring into at night.

H: If a budding author asks you for writing advice, what’s the most important thing you’d want to tell her?

G: Check out Beth’s website because she lists all sorts of great tips! I’d also say join a critique group, read everything you possibly can in the genre you want to write because there is nothing worse than hearing someone say they want to write a book about this powerful ring and the most unlikely hero who must destroy it to save the world. That was called “Lord of the Rings” and it’s already been done. Learn what’s out now, what’s been done, and how you thought it worked or didn’t work–and why. Then when you sit down to write, it should make it easier to find where your plot holes are located and when your story is dragging.

H: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us that we haven’t covered?

G: The animal rescuer in me says have your pets altered! No, that cute little kitten is not guaranteed a home because 75% of cats born are put to sleep–so don’t let your animals breed and if you need help, ask a rescue if they can assist in getting your pets fixed low cost. I’d also like to say I’m donating 100% of profits this quarter from SEX BETWEEN STRANGERS to animal rescue, so check it out at www.gabrina.com/books.htm and click the link to buy. You get a book to read, animals get a second chance.

Gabrina, thank you for all the trouble you’ve taken to answer all my questions. It was great having you here and I hope your success in the future is all you dream it will be.

Folks, I have to apologize for my long absence, but life interferes sometimes. Actually, the truth is, I told Beth I was going to spend the summer on Count Babbalallapaloozo’s yacht, and she threw a fit and refused to be here if I wasn’t at least part of the time. She said she wasn’t about to sub for me all summer while I had all the fun. (The witch!) So even though we’ve both been neglecting you shamefully, we love you all, you KNOW we do! I’ll be back next week with, among many other things, a peek at my adventures this past summer. We’ll leave the porch light on for ya and the apple pie (which Beth will bake) will be warm!

Love, Hotclue Herself

A six year old girl with her mother and some friends, stands near the fountains at Meridian Park in Baltimore, staring at the colored water in the fountains as they spray far above her head. Many years later she’ll still remember the cool wet spray on her warm arms, and the soft pastel bursts of water, with fireworks in the distance against this Fourth of July night sky.

A nine year old girl in Pekin, Illinois, longs for just one box of the black snakes that when lit, snake along the sidewalk to the delight of all her friends. Everyone but her has their own box. She didn’t have a quarter in time to buy one and by the time she did, the store had run out. She vows to herself that next year she’ll have her own. She never does, and she never forgets watching on the sidelines while everyone else had fun on the Fourth of July that year.

A fifteen year old girl in Washington, D.C., watches the Fourth of July fireworks across the Basin with her first serious boyfriend. The night is dark and romantic and nearby, fireflies dot the landscape while fireworks light the sky, a truly magic moment. She decides right then that the red fireworks are her favorites. She never changes her mind about that, at least.

Four years later she stands with her first child, a daughter, watching the same fireworks, remembering the little girl and her first sparkler. Her daughter sleeps as the red, white, blue and yellow flowers burst across the sky. In a couple of years this child will hold her own sparklers. Life moves on, marked, in part, by Fourth of July in America.

Many years later, in a small town outside of Chicago, the same woman sits with a noisy, wonderful group of good friends, eating grilled corn on the cob, swimming in the pool. There are no children. All their children are grown and gone, so the adults present revert to their own childhoods, lighting their own massive fireworks display, laughing, oohing and aahing at the colors flashing far above their heads, loving their lives and each other. This will be the last time these friends are all together on Fourth of July.

A few years later the same woman rides in her car with her husband, returning on Fourth of July night from a trip downstate to see their grandchildren. The sky is black, there are no street lights on the expressway this far out in the country. You can’t see the towns they pass, but far in the distance, in every town, there are bursts of wild color, beautiful multicolored night flowers in the sky, haunting reminders that everywhere on this night, someone is watching those celebratory fireworks with their own children, loving their lives, their holiday, and their country.

I hope you all have a safe and happy Fourth of July, folks. Hots and I love you all, you know we do. Please come back soon, and remember, as I am on this day, that in spite of all the politically inspired shennanigans going on here recently, how lucky we really are to live and love each other in this United States of America.

May God preserve our union and our way of life and watch over our soldiers in the Mideast. We pray they’ll be back home with us to celebrate our next Fourth of July.

Beth Anderson and Hotclue Herself. (And Sarge says ‘hey’.)