I finally got to see New Moon

It started out as an impulsive, spur of the moment decision. I'd gotten birthday money from my sister, so I decided to treat myself since I'd really bad week. I'd listened to the first book on my MP3 player while I walk. Plus I'd gotten a bit caught up in the hype, seeing the cast making their rounds of talk shows and the red carpet premier on E!. So when I saw New Moon had opened in my town Friday for an early afternoon showing, I got in line with all the Goth kids and giggling teenage girls.

I have to confess that standing there in the cold, listening to the kids talk, and text, and talk about their texting, I got swept away in the moment. For a bit I felt that flush of being sixteen again. That was until I discovered that I was only one in line who wasn't tech savvy enough to pre-order my ticket on line. (Shake my head and laugh.)

I didn't occur to me that it would be sold out or there would be a line at the movie theatre. I live in a small town where things like that hardly ever happen. Often if I go to an afternoon show during the week I am the only one there.

So I dragged myself back to the car while the kids in line all texted their friends about how the movie was sold out.

This afternoon I set out again, hoping that all the excitement had passed and that I could actually get a ticket. There was a shorter line. This time there were a few adults in the crowd, but the excited energy was still there.

So was the movie worth all the hype and two trips to the movie theatre?

YES! It satisfied all the swooning girls around me. What can I say -- it was trip back to high school with all the angst of first love that you just know you can't live without. And what girl wouldn't want to be caught between two passionate bad boys? Topped off with an ending hook that left us wanting more. It's a must see for the hopeless romantic in all of us who want to experience again that rush of first love and believe that anything is possible.

Oh my gosh I have two books as Epic award finalists

My week started off on a happy note when I learned that More Than A Wife and Secret Wishes are both Epic award finalists. Happy dance!!!

Secret Wishes is a Regency paramormal.

Emma Hamilton has loved Ross Stanton, Earl Brynmor all her life, but he only sees her as Brock’s annoying little sister. It takes two bickering sibling ghosts, a dead rake and a live rake to finally make him take notice of her. But he better hurry before she is forced to marry the wrong man.

Secret Wishes is available in ebook at http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/secretwishes.htm

More Than A Wife is the first book in The Bliss Society Series.

Meet the daring ladies of The Bliss Society. They want what their husbands’ give their mistresses… pleasure!


Andre Duncan, Earl Westbrook discovers how complicated life can be when you marry your mistress. The things he loved about Corina when she was his mistress embarrassed him when she became his wife. Can their love survive the changes they both have to make in order for their marriage to succeed?

More Than A Wife is available in print and e book from http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=705&zenid=b5d1dd89605e9762e9f66ce1e613589b

Watch out for Courting Scandal which is coming soon from http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/

The Bliss Society is at it again.

But this time Darcy, Francine and Corina may be getting in over their heads as they attempt two rescues at the same time. The innocent yet clumsy Isabel Lawrence has tumbled headlong into the life of the notorious Ice Earl, Jordan Lennox, and right into the vicious gossip pages. And then there’s the plight of Cecily, trapped in a loveless marriage with Simon Hammond, Viscount Byford. Not only was the marriage never consummated, Cecily’s father is determined to put an end to the relationship by taking his daughter back to America. As always, more than sex and marriage are at stake as The Bliss Society uncovers some family secrets and a scandalous affair sure to unhinge the ton.

For excerpts visit my website www.catherinestang.com

Survived Halloween

I am pretty proud of myself. I made through Halloween night without even tasting one candy bar from our candy basket. We even had kinds I like. Usually I buy candy that isn't my favorite so it won't call me all day. This year, though, since I was under the weather after a medical procedure my husband got the candy. And of course, he bought chocolate.

I was hoping we'd give it all away, but the crowd was light this year. We never get a large crowd of trick or treaters because we live in a mostly older neighborhood. This year, though, it was lighter than usual. Which was odd since it on a Saturday night and beatiful wether for it. We had a few little ones coming to door, but mostly they were older kids. (I think when we are taller than person opening to door then you stop trick or treating, but that's just me. Since I'm short, in my case that might rule out everyone, so I better rethink that.)

I didn't think much about the lack of visitors Halloween night until my husband mentioned that people all over town said that they saw the same trend. It made me wonder if all coverage of missing kids lately made parents think twice about taking their kids door to door. Not that I blame them. I have to admit that this year I felt a little uneasy opening the door to people I didn't know.

How did you feel about Halloween this year? Did you see less trick or treaters? If you had little kids, did you think twice about taking the door to door?

I added my picture of Halloween parade when I was a kid. I'm the cat and my mom made all our costumes. This was actually taken at school. We use to come back after lunch in our costumes.

So what do you remember from Halloween past? Do do things differently now than you did as a kid? How do you feel about that?

New Contract!

Good news! Donna and I got a contract for Courting Scandal. This will be the second book in our Bliss Society series. Now, you will all get to find out what happened after Isabel runs in to the Ice Earl and dumps punch all him. Wink. Wink. I promise it will be worth the wait.

I'll let you know when we get a release date. I'll get a cover and excerpts up on my website as soon as I have them.

Have a great week!

Longview Literary Book Festival

I'm going to be a part of the Longview Literary book festival. There will be authors from all genres there. The event runs October 2 -3 at the Longview Community College at 500 S.W. Longview Road in Lee's Summit, Missouri from 10-6 each day.

Here's the press release with all the details:

More than 25 Authors, Groups at MCC-Longview Literary Festival (Longview)

Nearly 20 authors and seven literary groups are scheduled to attend the second annual MCC-Longview Literary Festival October 2 and 3. The Festival, which brings published and well-known authors to the community, will be held 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Mel Aytes Education Center at MCC-Longview, 500 S.W. Longview Rd.

"This is a rare opportunity to personally talk to writers. We have so many great, renowned and published authors right here in our area," said Susan Satterfield, Festival chair and MCC-Longview humanities instructor.

Featured speaker and children's author Richard W. Jennings will speak at 3 p.m. Friday. Jennings co-founded popular book store, Rainy Day Books, and has written novels, short stories, essays, articles, and children's activity books.

The more than 25 guest authors, publishers, and groups also include comedian Bradley Meehan, columnist and Kansas City Star editorial board member Lewis Diuguid, award-winning journalist Charles Gusewelle, and KCTV5's chief meteorologist Katie Horner.

Guests can enjoy panel discussions, readings, presentations, open mic sessions, and an opportunity to meet authors and purchase books. Events and authors cross numerous genres including short story, comedy, fiction, non-fiction, children's literature, romance and news/editorial.

Discussions on topics including "How Not to Get Published," "What Writers Read," "Scriptwriting," and "The Poetic Life" are available especially for aspiring authors.

"This Festival is a celebration of the imagination. Books help us learn about ourselves and those around us. We're celebrating different authors and genres of literature," said Satterfield.

For more information on the 2009 MCC-Longview Literary Festival, please contact Susan Satterfield at Susan.Satterfield@mcckc.edu or call 816-456-3156.

Visit www.mcckc.edu for more about what this school has to offer.

Hope to see you there!

Need a day to recover from my days off

I went to Virginia this weekend with my husband to visit our son at college for the first time. I sure love that part of the country. It's great to see your kid happy and enjoying college life. The time, as always, went by way too fast.

Now, I need to day off to get back in the swing of things. I swear it takes a day to get caught up from being gone.

This weekend I'm headed up to Lee's Summit, MO for the Longview Literary Book Festival. There will be authors from all genres there. They have a large book fair. The festival runs Oct. 2 and 3rd at Longview Community College. I'll post a list of events and list of authors as soon I get one.

Defining Dressed UP

I was reading an article the other day by a young guy who was wondering if men wearing ties was becoming a thing of the past. Hummm... It made me think about how we look at being dressed up.

As a young girl, getting dressed up meant wearing a dress with hose and dress shoes. (I always loved the ones you could pretend you were tap dancing in.) There some places that was the mode of dress you were expected to wear period. No arguing.

I can remember my mom having fit when I wore -- gasp-- pants to church. LOL.

Those days are gone.

Over the years of going to my son's music concerts and other school programs I always found it interesting to see what kids considered as being "dressed up". I could almost pick out the kids whose parents probably had a say in the outfit they wore. Nothing seemed off limits.

So I circle back to guy with ties -- Will they go the way other fashion statements?

Have you ever been invited somewhere and wondered what to wear and then got there to find everyone dressed every which way? Do we dress up any more?

Maybe that depends more on your age than anything else. We went on a cruise and we bring didn't dress up clothes, so we didn't eat in the dinning room on formal nights. I noticed that others our age and younger also tended to do the same thing. With a few exceptions. The ones that got really dressed up for dinner where the older couples who where closer to my parent's age.

So has our society gotten so laid back that we've given up "dressing up"? What do you think?

Or maybe it's more parts of the country rather age?

Let's hear your thoughts...