Maple Street Book Shop party goers
Party Goers and What’s Up Next
The launch of Big Easy Escapade in New Orleans was a success! We had a lot of friends and family who made the trek there to support us, (it was an easy sell considering the weekend was full of gumbo, hurricanes and beignets!), and we met some new Fanz as well. We appreciate everyone’s support and hope you’ll help us spread the word on the Getaway Girlz series. We’d like to write full time, ya know.
We also had a successful launch of Big Easy Escapade in Fort Worth this past weekend. We started the weekend with a signing at Barnes and Noble, then had a party at Blue Mesa Grill. The queso was hot, the margaritas were blue and the cake was chocolate, which made pregnant me happy!
What’s next, you ask?
We’ve started working on book 4, Upstate Uproar, and while we’re not committing to the exact month it will be out, we’re looking at the second half of 2014. The Girlz visit the Adirondacks in upstate New York, put up with paranormal activity, befriend a rescue dog and make deadly discoveries. It’ll be up to them to set some old wrongs, right! Stay tuned…
If you’d like to receive our occasional emails, shoot us one at fanz@getawaygirlz.com. We’ll put you on the list, but won’t bombard you, promise. Plus, your info is safe with us, we’ll never ever share.
Until next time, happy reading!
Words You Will or Won’t Find In Our Novels
I read a book recently that had a lot of big words in it, words I’ve never heard of. While it’s great to be literate and have an expansive vocabulary, who talks that way?
Words you won’t find:
Defenestrate – definition: To throw something out of a window. – Can’t the author just say the character threw something out the window?
Farctate – definition: The state of being stuffed with food. – I’d just say I was stuffed. Throw in the towel, maybe defenestrate it.
Gambrinous – definition: To be full of beer. – If I was full of beer, I probably couldn’t remember this word, much less pronounce it.
Grapholagnia – definition: The urge to stare at obscene pictures. – I think my co-author suffers from this. JUST KIDDING!!
Lethologica – definition: The inability to recall a precise word for something. – If I can’t recall the correct word for something, I damn sure won’t be able to recall this one!
Words you will:
Taxidermied – We know it isn’t a real word, but if the dead animals have been stuffed and we need the word to be in past tense, what else do you call it?
Jalopy – I like this word. It’s kinda fun to say.
Mumbo-jumbo – Sometimes there’s just no better way to describe the way characters talk, or the legalese of bicycle renting contracts and mortgage documents.
Oh-shit handle – What else do you call the handle in the car? If you need to grab the handle, you’re probably going to scream, “Oh shit!”
Chupacabra – The elusive, blood-sucking creatures in south Texas and Mexico. Creepy! One creeps into Rocky Mountain Mayhem.
Destination Needed
We’re in need of a destination for book 5. We need a trip!
We’ve done thorough research for book 2, Rocky Mountain Mayhem, and we’ve done lots and lots of research for book 3, Big Easy Escapade.
Book 4, Upstate Uproar, has been researched, though I’d love to go back.
Tough job, I know… but where to go for book 5?
It’s difficult not to book a flight to Denver and drive up to Bachelor Gulch. The steam room and outdoor hot tubs at The “Ridge” are calling my name.
It would be my pleasure to go there again.
It’s equally as difficult for me not to book a flight to New Orleans.
Gumbo..
Jazz…
Po boy’s…
I gotta stop or I’ll be on the next plane!
We’ve got take this trip within the next year and we need new and exciting, yet affordable and not too terribly far away by plane.
Belize? You betta Belize we’ll have a trip down there someday, when it’s time take the series back to a beachy destination.
Santa Fe/Taos? Interesting part of the country, but not yet.
Vegas? We’ll never get Johnell out of the casinos.
San Francisco & the wine country? I love it out there, a definite contender.
New York City? There’s so much to do that we may all go in different directions, defeating the purpose of the trip.
Wherever the destination, you can bet:
- We’re gonna have a damn good time.
- We will be loud – hey, it’s a bunch of girls, what else would you expect?
- There will be drinking involved.
- We’ll talk about our significant others, or lack thereof.
- It will wind up in a book, so watch out girlz!
What’s it gonna be girlz? Wine Country Chaos or ???
***UPDATE***
Thanks to a fabulous suggestion, book 5 “research” trip will be on a Dude Ranch in Bandera, TX – the cowboy capital of the world! Yeeeeehhhhhhaaaaaaw!
Over and out!
Robbyn, the Ry in Rylen
Rye Toast
Ry Post, sounds like rye toast, which is funny since I can’t stand rye bread and therefore, rye toast. It is one thing I don’t think I’ll ever come to like, no matter how much my tastes change over the years. And my, how my tastes have changed over my thirty-some years (let’s not get into too much detail, shall we?).
I like tomatoes now – there, it’s out of the bag – those of you who know me must be shocked. I’ve always hated tomatoes, picked them off a burger (back when I ate burgers – more on changing tastes), looked at tomatoes in distain and could never understand someone’s (Mom’s) affinity for them. Now I get it, though I need their taste somewhat disguised and I don’t like it when the little cherry tomatoes pop in my mouth, it’s too slimy and tomato-y tasting. Guess I still have a little ways to go with this whole tomato-taste-changing-life-event, though I doubt I’ll ever be one of those that takes a big bite out of one like they would an apple. Yuck!
I like fresh asparagus now. I mean I really, really like it. Used to couldn’t stand it, except in my grandmother’s asparagus casserole properly drenched in cream of mushroom soup and melted cheese. Who wouldn’t like that (Dad)? Now it’s great perfectly steamed with a little olive oil and cracked black pepper. On the grill, wrapped in foil, best achieves this.
And Scotch, yummmm. One of my favorite changes in taste, just wish it would have happened sooner. Like when I bartended at Morton’s and had many of Scotland’s finest at my fingertips and could have partaken freely (like that jack-ass bartender Chris) during my shifts. But NO, I didn’t like Scotch back then. I was stuck with finishing off what was left in a bottle of wine (sometimes half) from the guests. Tough, almost torture, especially the Chateau Haut Brion and Chateau Lafite Rothschild. Scotch just sounded tasty to me recently and so I had a Glenlevit and water and sure ’nuff, it was good. I’ve evolved further and I like my scotch on the rocks, but not too many rocks. Don’t want to water it down. Maybe I’ll get to where I like it neat, we’ll see.
My favorite taste change of all is books. I’ve not only expanded what I like to read, I’ve gone from being a reader to being a writer. It started with an idea that wouldn’t let go and here we are, three years later, publishing our first novel, writing our second and have all sorts of ideas for the series. That equates into lots of trips you Getaway Girlz out there. Woo hoo!
I never had plans to be a writer and I can say Johnell didn’t either. I just had to do it. I knew it was the direction I needed to take and I convinced her to take it with me. I’m glad she did and boy, do we have fun! You always hear people say to do for a living what you loved to do as a child. I distinctly remember my Mom saying to me, more than once, that all I liked to do was have fun. Well, why not?! Who doesn’t?! And now my tastes in having fun have changed. The fun bartending job was replaced with the fun mortgage career (thanks to great co-workers) and now to my true passion, writing, which is the most fun of all.
I hope you’ll join us on our adventures of traveling, writing and having a fabulous time. We try to entertain, not bore, even though I started out this post talking about rye toast and how much more boring can you get than that? Pumpernickel?
Seriously though, if you ever see me eating a piece of rye toast and enjoying it, please get me to the nearest hospital. Something is wrong.
Over and out!
Robbyn, the Ry in Rylen