First Love... Final Frontier.

I don't think anyone who knows me can possibly refute the fact that the giant flashing neon NERD sign on my forehead can actualy be seen from space. It's because that's where the first love of my life spent most of his time. And I wanted to make it easy for him to find me. That's right. Go ahead, mock me all you want...

My first crush was Captain James Tiberius Kirk, commander of the starship Enterprise.

(And, no. I don't mean William Shatner. I mean Captain Kirk. There is a subtle distinction.)

I think it was the twinkle in his eye. Or maybe the buckle of his swash. Or the fact that he was a master of the flying drop-kick. Or the fact that every other female he encountered in his galaxy-spanning romps virtually fell swooning before him - I knew a good thing when I saw it.

What can I say. I love a man in uniform. Even if said uniform is occasionally (well - in an evil mirror universe kind of situation, anyway) sleeveless and made of sparkly gold fabric!

I know other girls who went the Nurse Chapel route and threw their affections at the chilly, logical feet of that alluring Vulcan, Mr. Spock, but not me. I was a captain's woman. My favorite episodes where usually when there were 2 of them - Captain versus Captain. Double the fun!! Heh. I always thrilled to the sight of Jim Kirk beating the crap outta Jim Kirk. Actually, I was always thrilled just about any time he got in a fight. Might have had something to do with the rippability of those Star Fleet uniforms...

(I like my heros tenderized!...)

But there was a vulnerable side to the good captain, too. You could see it whenever tragedy struck in his love life - like when he had to let Edith Keeler die so that history would return to normal. Or when he lost his beloved Mirimani in the episode I lovingly refer to as the "Wow, Kirk Looks Hot in Buckskin" episode.

(...and tender!)

Seriously. You have no idea how much I wished I had long black hair and a headband after I saw this one.

Also? He was good with animals! Who doesn't love that in a man?

Okay... maybe not so much with reptiles.


Nowadays, I still carry a torch for James T. Kirk. And you know what's cool about that? Because I'm in love with the character, not the actor... well, now I get to crush on a whole new hot young Captain of the Enterprise.



Ooh! It's like first love all over again, but in High Def with remastered special effects!!


See what I meant about the sign? Now everyone point to my forehead... all together now... "NEEEEEERRRDDDD!!!"


*happy sigh* You bet I am. First-love and foremost.


Now go! Tell me about your first hero crush! And DON'T FORGET TO SPREAD THE NOVEL GIRL BLOGOVERSARY CONTEST LOVE!! (Rules on the sidebar!)

Who Says First Love Can't Last?

Thanks for stopping by for the start of our blogoversary celebration! Don’t forget if you comment on this post or any of the others this week and/or do the things listed on the sidebar >>>> you’ll be entered to win TWO Dorchester books compliments of Tracy this week, and be entered for our grand prize that we’ll give away at the end of the month -- $100 to Amazon!! And be sure to stop back again next week for new prizes and more chances to win!

And now for my take on first love! It’s interesting that Tracy picked this topic, because first love is a topic I seem to always touch on in my young adult novels. Though The September Sisters is the story of what happens to Abby after her younger sister disappears, in many ways it’s also a story of falling in love for the first time. In Abby’s case, first love comes in the form of her new neighbor, who like her, is dealing with loss. In my upcoming book, The Life of Glass, Melissa struggles to define what first love really means as she sorts through the love stories of people in her life, and then, ultimately must discover her own first love. Even in the YA book I just finished drafting (the details of which, I’m not ready to disclose yet) there is, at the core, a 16-year-old girl who falls in love for the first time.

Maybe it’s because my own first love made such a big impact on my life. And I’m not talking about my first crush (totally unrequited, I might add), my first celebrity crush (Jason Priestly) or even, my first boyfriend (a relationship that was totally platonic and with a guy who now only dates other guys). I’m talking about the first time I fell in love, the first time I actually felt real love. That story goes something like this:

I was 15 and had just started my sophomore year in high school. He was a drummer in the school band (I played the clarinet.), and he was cute, smart, funny, and really nice. Just when I almost got up enough nerve to tell him how I felt, he started dating someone else, and I was crushed.

A month later, they broke up, and shortly after, the two of us ended up at a party together. I’d been telling myself that I didn’t like him anymore, that he was never going to like me back. But suddenly, that night at the party, I think he saw me, really saw me for the first time. We started talking, then dancing, and then, right there in the middle of the dance floor, he kissed me. The next week we started dating and . . . we’ve been together ever since. That was nearly 16 years ago.

In my case, my first love became my best friend, my husband, the father of my children. And maybe that’s why I always think of first love as such an important part of a coming of age story, because I’m still reminded of it in my own life. Every. Single. Day. That overwhelming feeling of falling in love for the first time is something that really, truly has stuck with me all these years later.

Paul Davy, Davy Paul

Happy blogoversary to us, happy blogoversary to us, happy blogoversary dear Novel Girls, happy blogoversary to us! YAY, we've made it a whole year. And it's celebration time. We're giving away prizes and making this a special month for all who follow. Please take a moment to move your eyes over to the right and study the rules. We have Tracy to thank for putting them together.

Now, on to her suggested topic.

My first love? That's easy. But I'll have to go ahead and fess up right now. I was a two-timer. A non-committal flaky eight-year-old with a cheating heart.

I'd flop from Paul to Davy and then back to Paul again "as quick as a jack rabbit," (as we liked to say in those days). My school notebook stored the evidence. It had a huge red heart drawn on the front with a big Paul written in the center. If you turned the notebook over you'd have seen Davy, etched in a different color fat magic marker, but having the same big red heart drawn around his name. On the inside of the notebook one could see how I'd practice my cursive - Davy, Davy, Davy, Davy, Davy, Davy, Davy, Davy, Davy, Davy, Davy, Davy, and on the back - you guessed it - Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, Paul, in slightly slanted rows extending from the top all the way to the bottom of the notebook.

Now, I'm assuming that y'all know who I'm talking about. As the, a-hem, elder of the group, sometimes I forget that my childhood escapades may have preceded those of my fellow Novel Girls. I'm betting that you've probably figured out the Paul part - McCartney of course - but you might not have guessed the identity of Davy. It's Davy Jones, lead singer of the Monkees. Wake Up Sleepy Jean? Just look at that baby face.

Can't you see how being in love with one brought on the temptation to rove the eyes toward the other?

I gotta say beside their beautiful faces, the British accents did me in. And they still do even to this day. I can hear a British guy with long hair say, "Hi Luv" and before I know it I've planned the wedding and picked out the flowers.

And oh my gosh, let's not forget the souvenirs. I was obsessed with buying their bubble gum cards. It was a banner day if you got a Davy card in your pack and a Paul card was even better. I'd even switch off lunch boxes every other day. Monkees to Beatles and back again. AND WHERE IS THAT HIGHLY VALUABLE MEMORABILIA TODAY? Who knows. Gone by the same wayside as my original Barbies. Sheesh.

On Saturday mornings, I was plastered in front of the TV waiting on the Beatles cartoons. Each show was titled after one of their songs and of course were goofy and funny. Then the Monkees would come on at 11:00. I'd wait all week and when the opening would come on I'd be in Monkee heaven. "Here we come, walking down the street, get the funniest looks from everyone we meet, Hey Hey we're the Monkees, people say we monkey around, we're too busy singing to put anybody down." Sorry, y'all, I just had to make sure I'm still on my game. The words are just as fresh today as they were 40 years ago.

And speaking of today, the young girls think the Jonas Brothers have something special going on. "Where's their own TV show?" is all I have to say.

As an end note. Please be sure and check out my website for my Whistlin' Dixie In a Nor'easter debut give-away contest. By the end of the week, I'll be offering my own fun! Happy Wednesday all. I'd love to hear about your own boy-band crushes.

Don't Laugh

Welcome new and old followers to the kick-off of our Blog-o-versary month! I seriously can't believe that I've been blogging with these fab ladies for a year now. It's also strange to think that a mere year ago, we were all anxiously awaiting our debuts--and now, some of us have TWO books out (Tracy, I'm looking at you!) and more scheduled for publication. Ah, the difference a year makes.

What I will tell ya is that there is no huge sigh of relief once your book is out. There's always the next "step" to worry about--sales, edits for contracted books, trying to get another deal, paperback releases, etc. I've really learned to stop focusing on what comes next and just enjoy each step of the journey. (Well, I'm a'tryin' anyway...)

So, enough about my musings on the last 365 days. Let's talk about this week's topic--First Love. I have to admit, I was a little worried about what to post today. You never know when your ex-boyfriends and first loves are going to google you and I'd hate to document my romantic mishaps to live on forever via the interwebz.

But then, I remembered my true first love: Corey Feldman. Yes, the star of many awesome cheesy '80s movies. It started in the early '90s, right after I watched the movie The Goonies. It was the height of "The Coreys" fanaticism. I faithfully watched all of his movies--Lost Boys, Dream a Little Dream, Stand by Me, convinced that although he was like eight years older than me, that we'd someday get married and live in Hollywood together.

Ahem.

I even made my mom buy all of the teen magazines like Tiger Beat, so I could put up posters of him in my room. As if that wasn't embarrassing enough, I'm pretty sure I also wrote letters to his fan club. I mean, seriously. This was also around the time of my New Kids on the Block obsession, so I guess there was no accounting for taste in the '80s/'90s. (Which is probably true given the old pictures of me wearing things like stonewashed jeans decorated in neon day-glow splatter paint--complete with matching jean jacket. Foxy!)

So, don't forget to leave a comment, even if it's just to laugh at my grade-school crush. You'll be entered to win this week's fabulous prizes--two Dorchester books!

Rules are posted below (shamelessly stolen from Tracy's post...hee hee!):
___________________________________________________________________
The Novel Girls Blogoversary Giveaway Extravaganza!!

There will be one winner chosen each week of posts (5 weeks = 5 winners!) and one grand prize winner chosen at the end of the month (chosen from all entries received from now until the end of September) who will then receive a $100 Amazon Gift Certificate. You can increase your chances of winning thusly:

1 point for commenting (one comment entry per post, per day)
2 points for being a new follower of TNG
2 points for already being a follower
2 points for tweeting about this contest
3 points for adding TNG to your blog roll
5 points for posting this contest on your blog

All you have to do is tell us in your comment where you've spread The Novel Girl love and we'll tally up your points and put that many entries into our sorting hat until it comes time to choose our winners! And remember, the more days you leave a comment, the more chances you'll have to win the Grand Prize, even if you've already won a weekly prize.

Blogoversary! Contests! And...A Story of First (and Unrequited) Love

Have you heard? We're having a month-long party here at The Novel Girls in celebration of our one-year blog anniversary! That's right, it's actually been a year. I know, I can hardly believe it myself, but I swear it's true. Really. Trust me on this.

And in honor of all of you: our readers, commenters, lurkers, and um...even those of you who happen by here after searching for some really odd stuff, we are giving away some great prizes. There's five of us TNGers, and look at that...there are five weeks in September. Can you guess what that means? Well, you don't have to, 'cause I'm going to tell you.

Each week beginning with this week, one of The Novel Girls will choose the topic AND offer up a prize, and the rest of the girls will write about that topic. At the end of the month, all entrants (even the five weekly winners) will be entered into winning a grand prize. Cool, eh?

So how can you win? Here are the rules...(which, by the way, will also be posted in the sidebar. If they're not there now, they will be soon. Promise!)

The Novel Girls Blogoversary Giveaway Extravaganza!!

There will be one winner chosen each week of posts (5 weeks = 5 winners!) and one grand prize winner chosen at the end of the month (chosen from all entries received from now until the end of September) who will then receive a $100 Amazon Gift Certificate.

You can increase your chances of winning thusly:

1 point for commenting (one comment entry per post, per day)
2 points for being a new follower of TNG
2 points for already being a follower
2 points for tweeting about this contest
3 points for adding TNG to your blog roll
5 points for posting this contest on your blog

All you have to do is tell us in your comment where you've spread The Novel Girl love and we'll tally up your points and put that many entries into our sorting hat until it comes time to choose our winners! And remember, the more days you leave a comment, the more chances you'll have to win the Grand Prize, even if you've already won a weekly prize.

Contest is open to any and all! Good luck!
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Sweet, huh? Also, you'll have to check in each week to see what that week's prize is anyway, so you might as well rack those points up with a comment a day.

And guess what? This week is MY week. That's right, all mine. I pick the topic and this week's giveaway. Soooo, what's the prize?

TWO books of the winner's choosing from Dorchester Publishing, delivered right to your door. Any two books you want from their massive lineup of titles. Even cooler, a good portion of Dorchester's titles have "Browse the Book" widgets right on the book description page, so you can read a few a chapters before deciding.

Okay, now that I've written enough for two posts, I'm actually going to write my post for the day....ready? Yes? Just scroll down...

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Choosing a topic for us here at TNG isn't easy. I mean, we've already talked about a lot of different things on this blog, and Maureen jumped on "Reality Shows" before I could even blink. Sigh. So, after flipping through old posts, trying to come up with something that resonated with me AND that we haven't done before...I settled on First Love(s).

Really, not a huge surprise, as I am a romance writer, after all. Love is sort of my thing.

So, on to my post! Here...we...go...

There are actually two first loves I could talk about, and as luck would have it, both are also stories of unrequited love. However, this post is long enough, so I'll just share one of the stories...the better of the two, and it's actually about a boy's first love for me.

They say love starts young, and oh were we young...like kindergarten age young...and he wooed me with all the fervor that a five-year-old boy can have.

His name was Danny and he lived across the street from me. I remember his first and last name, I remember a lot of the methods of devotion he bestowed upon me, but sadly, I don't remember what he looked like. I'm sure he was quite cute, though. I mean, come on, he had to be. To this day, I haven't met a Danny who isn't cute.

Anyway, Danny liked to give me gifts. He started with drawings, colored pictures, and ripped out pages from his story books. Quickly, he moved on to bouquets of flowers (oh, okay, dandelions...but come on, he was FIVE), and often he would bring cookies from his home across the street to share with me at mine.

I remember I enjoyed this attention. For one, I always had someone to play with who...well, doted on me. And for two, who doesn't like free cookies? Until the day he kissed me, that is. Sure, it was only on my cheek, but...ew! I so didn't get why he did it. I mean, yuck, kissing???? I'm pretty sure I said the word "yuck" right after the kiss and right before I scrubbed at my cheek with my hand. And then, if memory serves, I ran inside and refused to come out until the next day.

My reaction troubled him. So much, that he upped the game in impressing me. Now, instead of sweet gifts, that in his mind, took little effort, he went hunting and gathering for me. You know, it's that "man gene," and yes, it exists in five-year-olds. What did he hunt and gather for me? Worms. Ants. Spiders. Caterpillars. Even a few frogs. Some tadpoles, too. He even put many of these "gifts" in boxes for me to open.

After a while, he tried to kiss me again, but he must have figured he'd worked hard enough to bypass the cheek, cuz he went straight for the lips. My reaction was not any better than the first attempt, though. Danny, rightly deciding that his attention was better spent elsewhere, picked another girl on the street to devote his time and affection on. I even remember her name.

Carol. Who apparently appreciated all of his gifts far more than I did, because...

Once the attention stopped, I wanted it back. I started giving Danny gifts...drawings, colored pictures, cookies...heck, I even went so far as to give him some of my books. WHOLE books, not just ripped out pages. But alas, his affection was not to be returned.

Hmm. On hindsight, I should have given him a box of frogs...

So yeah, that's my story, and it is (believe it or not) completely true. I learned my lesson, though...and the next time a boy came calling (3rd grade, also a Danny), I let him kiss my cheek.

Novel Girl News!

This upcoming week marks the one year anniversary of The Novel Girls blog! We also have two book releases this month: Lisa Patton's debut, WHISTLIN' DIXIE IN A NOR'EASTER, and the paperback release of Lesley Livingston's WONDROUS STRANGE!

To celebrate, we're going to have a month of giveaways -- one prize each week by a different Novel Girl AND a grand prize at the end of the month: a $100 giftcard to Amazon!! Stay tuned, and check back for the details each week.

And in more Novel Girl News, last Sunday Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'easter was picked as a "Southern title to consider" in the Atlanta Journal Constitution under the "Fall Books Preview" section."

Cheers!
The Novel Girls