Aloha All,
Although everyone thinks that we live in perpetual summer here in Hawaii, I felt official “summer” slipping away this week. The air has a bit of Fall in it (stop laughing!) and the early mornings are cool enough for a blanket on the bed again.

I’ve spent the last few weeks of summer traveling, connecting with family and old friends. My mom and I went off on a road trip (over here we call it holoholo) to Montecito, Santa Barbara, Santa Inez and Solvang. We had a wonderful time and voted Montecito and the Montecito Inn our favorite day and night.

Now I’m back on island and have asked Steve to chain me to the desk. Though the weather is stellar, I’ve got to stay put because I’m aiming to finish the first draft of the third book of the Irish Angels Series by October 31st. (Don’t worry, you haven’t missed the second book…HEART OF LIES…which will be published in March.)

Sometime soon three more lucky readers will be chosen to win autographed copies of one of my books. Spring winners are posted on the Guestbook page of my website at www.jillmarielandis.com Summer Winners will be chosen and posted soon.

Until next time, take care,
Jill Marie

Happy 4th of July to one and all!

Whether you are at home celebrating in peaceful solitude or you are out and about in a crowd, pause and remember our troops who are facing real life fireworks to keep us all safe and sound here in the USA.

Today I’m announcing the Spring 2010 Winners of an autographed copy of a Jill Marie Landis novel. Winner are Cindy Woolard, IN, Tracey Donopo of PA, Candace Weiss of CA, and Brenda Chaffman of FL. I’ll be mailing your books out to you sometime next week.

Until next time,
Aloha!
Jill Marie

Aloha All,

It’s June. The weather is balmy and not too humid. The trades are nicely cooling things off here in Hawaii. There’s just enough rain to keep everything green and it’s been raining mostly at night. Ahhh…summer.

Hopefully next week I’ll be drawing names for more winners of autographed books. Folks who sign in on the guest book are eligible for being in the drawing. I choose 4 winners quarterly. This month the autographed copies will be HEART OF STONE.

Names of winners will be listed on the website.

Have a lovely end of June. Choose to be joyful.
Jill Marie

Aloha All,
The sun is shining and the wet spring weather has left the island. That means it is getting harder and harder to work indoors so I’ve been writing at the beach.

Stella Cameron was “in residence” in our bungalow for a few weeks and now that she has gone back to the Pacific Northwest there is no one to spur me on and inspire all-night writing sessions. (Stella writes all night and takes cat naps during the day! Not for me!) While she was here she got hooked on hula and took a beginning class.

My group or “hui” is learning a wonderful new hula about the sun shining all around, how it can be a kapa or cape, the rainbow is my hat, the stars like the ribbons in my hair. Such lovely lyrics. Kakuna O Ka La is the title.

Friends from Park City were in town and just left. Lopaka and Kaila Seaman. I taught them how to stand up paddle on Sunday and we had many laughs.

Hope you have some sunshine in your own life this month as everyone looks forward to summer. Sending along prayers, love and wishes for a dry spell for Nashville. We were to have our annual Romance Writers of America conference there, but alas, the hotel was/is underwater. The conference was moved to Orlando and it seems very far away, so I’m going to spend time with my family in California instead. Can’t wait!

Until next time,
Jill Marie

Aloha all,
My life tends to go in binge and purge surges. This month a tsunami of book activity seems to have swept through my days. Since my second book in the Irish Angels series (Heart of Lies) is finished, I’ve been working on the third (Heart of Glass) while awaiting edits. And I’m polishing up my special Hawaiian project that’s near and dear to my heart. (News to follow hopefully sooner than later).

This month Kristin Hannah and Stella Cameron are on island. We had a fabulously fun booksigning that got raves from friends and fans who attended. The folks at Borders had a good time, too. Big Mahalo to Helaine Perel, General Manager, and David Metzer, super bookseller who is always in our corner!

Last night the three of us were featured at the Kauai Backstory reading event. We were overwhelmed by the size of the crowd…huge for Kauai…and had a great time connecting with aspiring and published writers. We were amazed by the quality of their work. A good time was had by all and we went out to dinner with our hubbies afterward to Gaylord’s Restaurant next to Kauai Community College where the event was held.

Last but not least, today is the day Stella Cameron’s third book in her Court of Angels series is released. OUT OF SIGHT is urban fantasy, paranormal romantic suspense at its best! Don’t miss it and while you’re shopping, pick up the first two books, OUT OF BODY and OUT OF MIND.

Aloha All,
I was wandering around in a daze after finishing my last book…Heart of Lies, Book 2 of the Irish Angels Series…but the daze has worn off.

What’s been going on since then? I’ve been catching up on a raft of home improvement projects, pulling together a plot for the third book in the series as I wait to hear from my editor about any revisions I might need to work on for “Lies.” In between I’ve been dance dance dancing the hula with my group of lovely hula sisters, laughing with our teacher Beverly Kauanui, and generally having fun.

Tomorrow morning I’m up and at ‘em early, driving into town to catch the 6:30 a.m. flight (what was I thinking!) to Oahu where I’ll speak to the RWA Aloha Chapter at Kapolei Library at 10:00 a.m. I’m doing a workshop on plotting and pulling a book together–out of thin air seems to be the magic way writers do it!

If you are on Oahu and interested in writing, hope to see you in Kapolei.

Until next time,
Jill Marie

Aloha All,
Happily, I reached my deadline on time and Book 2 of the Irish Angels Series is off to the editor’s desk. For a week afterward I wandered around with a glazed look in my eyes, feeling as if I should be doing something but nothing came to mind. Oh, there is a list of projects to catch up on a mile long, but somehow I was just mentally and physically done for a while. Thankfully the wandering has passed and I’m finally catching up on life.

This month HEART OF STONE is being reviewed and mentioned on many blogs, thanks to the hard work of the folks at The Book Report and to friends who generously have given me some shout outs. There have been some lovely comments made. Amazon appears to be out of the mass market edition already (in under two weeks!). I guess that’s good news. Hopefully there are more copies on the way.

We have a guest here from Molokai. Since Jack has been here before, no need to run around showing off the island. We are enjoying our little town and all it has to offer.

Last night, Lori and Bill Marston hosted a NOODLE PARTY. Kristin called from Washington and I had to tell her, “I can’t talk, I’m off to a noodle party!” She said that wasn’t something you hear all the time. I guess that’s true. The chef, Stanton Pa, had a wok the size of a washing machine basket and he commenced stir frying a mountain of chopped veggies and sliced meats and it was fabulous. Naturally there was a table laden with pupu (appetizers) of all types.

Hawaiian music filled the air. There’s nothing like the sound of ukuleles and guitars, voices lifted in song, and the occasional hula. Especially at sunset and later on in the dark. The rain held off and a good time was had by all! We were so caught up in the music that Lori tactfully taught us all how to end a party by announcing, “Be sure to take food with you when you go!”

Thanks Lori and Bill for your “little” affair!

Until next time,
Jill

Aloha Again,
What a day! HEART OF STONE is on sale. Janet Melton, former Borders Romance bookseller reported in that she got a call and was heading to Terre Haute, Indiana, (just down the road from her) to pick up a copy or two! Mahalo, Janet.

You should be receiving an email soon with yet another reminder. (Hey, it works for my prolific bestselling friends who tell me email reminders aren’t a bad thing!) It will also include a trailer link.

In case you can’t wait, here you go : you may have to cut and paste this in your browser url line:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR9_grZ2nq4

Speaking of waiting, for those of you I notified last week about winning an autographed copy, hang in there. We had a little tsunami this weekend (little being a GOOD thing!) and I am finishing and emailing off book #2 in the Irish Angels Series today. I WILL be mailing out your books before the end of the week.

Take care and stay warm and dry.
Spring is just around the corner.
Jill Marie

Aloha All,
HEART OF STONE should be arriving at stores today or very soon now. I’ll be posting a trailer link sometime today. It’s wonderful! I hope you enjoy it.

Yesterday I dropped by Petticoat Junction as a guest blogger at the Petticoats and Pistols Blog site and received lots of great comments on the question I posed about what makes a Western romance a western. Do check out the website and meet these wonderful Western writers of all kinds of fiction! Some of those “Fillies” have been friends of mine for years. Add your two cents to the discussion.
www.petticoatsandpistols.com

Today another friend and fellow writer, Christina Dodd, has a new book being released. It’s hard to keep up with the prolific Ms. Dodd’s book but we do try!

Multi-mega bestselling author Christina has been to Kauai to share a fun float in the bay with me and Kristin Hannah. Her daughter has been here, too, and it was great to meet her.

Christina’s latest is IN BED WITH A DUKE and it’s book #8 in the Governess Bride Series. Her description of the book: “He wears a mask when they make love. What else do you need to know?”

Warning: If you like your historicals tamer or sans love scenes, this one is probably not for you but if you are a fan of sexy historicals, check out IN BED WITH A DUKE.

Take care and keep reading,
Jill Marie

Hi All,
Awakened at 4:15 a.m. Saturday by friends phone call. Coconut wireless calls started. We had until 6 a.m. when sirens were to go off. We live in hurricane country, so we have already got everything for an emergency in place. Food in plastic bins, etc. Grabbed the important stuff (you realize none of it is really that important as you hear the sirens!) business papers and some blankets, towels, lap tops and two cars and took off. Oh, and a canoe (since we had extra time and in case we had to fish to survive later)!

Went to high ground to friends’ house in Princeville, a community up the hill from us. A big thanks to artist Grace Hodgeson and Steve Perry, members of the ukulele band.
There were 6 of us watching tv. And watching. And waiting and thankfully, nothing happened…just surges that were pretty big in Hilo like really weird tides. Anyway, all clear sounded. We came home.

We had vacation rental guest from New Hampshire here. They were to depart that a.m. anyway. We sent them on to town in the dark. They made it out by plane once the roads opened, but only after hanging at the Costco (see #5 below).

Good news?

1. Our own home evacuation system works.
2. The Island evacuation system works. Saw no riots, no traffic jams. Everyone helping everyone.
3. They had to announce on the news that: You should NOT surf during a tsunami!!
4. And Only 2 cases of Spam allowed per family at the stores.
5. When in doubt go to Costco. The beach front hotels sent all the tourists there. Provided hula, music and food for them!
(If you have to be caught in a disaster, this is the place.)

It was a good test run.
Everyone very thankful and blessed that nothing happened.

Thank you to everyone who lives on high ground who called offering for us to stay with them, to Bruce Cosbey who offered to come down with his truck if we needed to haul things out.

And to Richard Porto who said that if we were washed out, he’d swim out after us.
“Rich Would Go!”

Now I’m back to putting the finishing touches on Book Two of the Irish Angels series and awaiting Book 1, HEART OF STONE, to hit the stores this week.

Until next time,
Aloha,
Jill Marie