Before we get to this Wednesday’s Wicked Excerpt, a big WOO HOO to the women of THE BIGGEST LOSER who finished 1 and 2 and may actually become the FIRST female Biggest Loser winner! Now, you can help make that happen since for the first time ever, THE BIGGEST LOSER is allowing the audience to chose who will be the third finalist!

So how can you help the women win? Vote for Mark to be the third finalist! Why Mark? He has less weight to lose and may not post as big a weight loss as Roger. Also, Mark has really shown that he’s a changed man in many ways. Give him a break since he would have likely been the women’s choice for the third finalist as well. To vote for Mark, please click here!

So now, here’s this week’s Wicked Wednesday which brings you yet a little heat from a story you’ve seen before — my urban fantasy involving a twist to the werewolf mythology, battles with vampires and a struggle for control in a werewolf pack. The tentative title is UNDEAD UPRISING and I hope you like this next free chapter that I’m offering you.

This is the continuation of the love scene between Ramon and Catalina as Ramon tries to help Catalina maintain her human form for as long as she can before her transformation to the wolf she hates.

For those of you who may have missed the first six chapters, you can read them here:

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6

He slipped his body between her thighs and brought his mouth to the center of her. As he nibbled and sucked at her clitoris, he slipped his fingers inside her vagina, his strokes sure and increasing in strength and penetration when she responded more eagerly to his caresses.

She pushed her hips up into his mouth and hands, pulled at the shackles keeping her prisoner. Every movement of her body, of Ramon’s tongue and lips and fingers, brought her closer and closer to the edge until finally, something inside of her — maybe the wolf that was so close to being released — took hold and sent her senses tumbling on a wild ride.

She gasped. Her head fell back as she called out her completion.

Ramon experienced her climax beneath his fingers as it crashed through her body. He heard her wild call. Not a gentle, satisfying release that would leave her sated, but a savage hunger that still wanted more because the wolf waited to emerge.

He sensed it in her body, although he didn’t know how, but he did. It brought both fascination and fear. Shooting but a quick glance at his watch to check the time, he confirmed that the moon would be rising shortly.

Catalina knew that the beast threatened as well, for she whispered to him, “Keep me with you for just a little longer, amor.”

He knew what she needed. Sex and pain helped her to keep control, if only for a few minutes more. That was important to her. But he couldn’t relent and make love to her. Doing so would lead them on a road to much greater agony.

Catalina watched as he stood and stepped away from her. For a moment he hesitated, standing beside the edge of the bed and looking down at her. She hoped he would undo his pants and release the magnificent erection beneath the denim. She ached to feel him inside her. To hold him. She yanked at her restraints, aching to hold him, but he had done too good a job. She could not get free.

“Easy, love,” he said, sat on the edge of the bed, and caressed her breast. “I’m not going anywhere.”

His hand trembled at her breast for a moment and his tender gaze met hers. “We both know we can’t.”

“I’m sorry. I know this hurts you.”

He grasped her nipple between his thumb and forefinger and tweaked it harshly, dragging a gasp of pleasure from her. With a tight smile, he wondered aloud, “Maybe I like the pain as much as you do? Maybe that’s why I linger here when I should leave.”

Even as he said that, the first stirring of the wolf crept into the edges of her consciousness. The wolf who devoured the scents of her musk, ripe in the air. The rapid beat of his heart and his unfulfilled passion. Saliva dampened her mouth at the thought of feeding on that passion. On his flesh. She shook her head, forcing such feral thoughts away.

“Por favor. It’s coming.” As her gaze met his, he recognized her plea for what it was.

“Stay with me, amor,” he said and slipped his hand down between her legs once more, found her with his fingers.

Sensitized from her barely completed climax, his touch immediately brought a response.

He stroked her roughly, rousing the desire she wrapped around herself like a protective cloak. She concentrated on the movement of his fingers. The slip and slide and pull of them. On the sensitive skin on her back, awakened with each restless shift of her body.

She howled, but the combination of pain and passion helped her drive the beast away. After the howl, she quickly met his gaze. His troubled eyes, dark with emotion, asked what he could not.

“I’m . . . here,” she confirmed and yanked at the chains on the wall in frustration at the rumble of the wolf in her voice. She closed her eyes, focused on his fingers caressing her nether lips and clitoris. Imagined that it was something else, stroking, bringing the heat of sexual release. A heat that felt almost cold now compared to the fire building within her body as it prepared to transform.

Ramon must have felt it also since he plunged his fingers inside her with more force, trying to satisfy her in the only way his honor allowed. A way far removed from what she wanted, but that she would accept . . . for now.

She called out at the pleasure of his fingers filling her and opened her eyes, kept them trained on his face as he pleasured her, his movements sure and strong, growing more forceful as her body responded yet again to his caresses.

Her breath rasped raggedly in her throat. Her body shook with not only the pleasure he brought to her, but with the awakening wolf as her muscles clenched and quivered, battling for dominance. She tugged at the chains and kept her mind centered solely on her lover as he moved his hand between her legs. As he dipped his head and suckled at her nipples and then, with a rough bite, brought a pleasure strong enough to let her hold onto herself. To keep the wolf in check.

He picked up his head at her human cry of satisfaction and knew that what was she needed. What she wanted. Pain. Human pain. Passion. A woman’s passion.

Replacing his lips with his fingers, he tweaked her nipples more forcefully. Buried his head in the crook of her neck and sucked until her skin bruised from the force of it.

“Dios, that’s . . . good. Harder, mi amor. Harder,” she urged him on.

When he tightened his fingers on the sensitive tips of her breasts and bit down on her neck, she cried out her need and raised her hips. He returned his hand to her center, increasing his penetration until it, too, reached the point of pleasure-pain. All that was within her consciousness now was his presence. His love keeping her with him until finally, regretfully, another climax ripped through her.

Ramon’s breath was rough with his own need as Catalina’s release rocked his senses. As she screamed his name in her human voice and struggled against the shackles to be able to hold him, he sucked in a breath and imprisoned the desire raging in him. One that wanted to tear off his clothes and plunge into her, howl like the wolf she would become as he imagined how she would feel surrounding him.

Somehow he drove that vision away and ran his hands up her arms, laced his fingers with hers to keep her human self with him.

She gripped his fingers tightly, but as her body relaxed, she softly said his name one last time.

She had lost the battle for the control she treasured so greatly.

This Tuesday Tip is a recipe for a very flexible, sweet and sassy salad!

Yes, you read that right — Salad. I know I’ve avowed my aversion to the stuff in various posts, but this is one salad recipe that I love and will actually eat without much complaint. For those of you in the New York area, you may have seen something similar in Cosi, one of the chain sandwich shops. Nordstrom’s also makes a similar salad in their store cafe.

Why is it so tasty? Well, it’s got the sweet thing going, but also, you can mix and match any of a number of ingredients to make it just the way you want it. So, I’ll give you some of the variations and let you decide how to personalize.

Sweet and Sassy Salad

2 to 3 cups of greens (you can use romaine, red leaf lettuce, mesclun greens, arugula, spinach. I like it best with the mesclun greens. Definitely avoid the iceberg lettuce route)

1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese (you can also substitute blue cheese which is my favorite yum)

1/2 of a Ripe pear cubed (a nice crisp apple will also work)(if you like it sweet, use the whole fruit!)

1/2 of a tomato, cubed

Handful of dried cranberries (or raisins or currants)

Handful of pecans, chopped (or walnuts)

Handful of chopped scallions (but not onions unless you’re doing a mild Vidalia or Maui onion)

Put all of the above in a bowl and toss with a low fat balsamic vinegarette or another mild salad dressing. You don’t want to use a strongly flavored salad dressing because that will interfere/clash with the more delicate flavors of the fruits and cheeses. This salad is so flavorful, you may want to try it with just a hint of vinegar sans oil or even a citrus vinegarette.

A tip for chopping the nuts without having them go flying all around the counter — stick them in a sandwich bag, put them on the chopping board and with the back of your knife, just give them a few whacks. I guess you’re actually crushing them, but the nuts will break into the pieces and then you just empty the bag onto your salad!

Voila! A sweet and sassy salad that has a combo of things that are sure to keep you satisfied for a while, namely, some proteins, fats and carbs. One big dieting mistake is to just have plain ol’ salad with dressing and while the volume of the salad will fill you up, without any proteins/fats/carbs to sustain your energy levels, you are just asking for a major energy crash that will make you have hunger pangs.

OMG! I hope you will find this morning’s Guilty Pleasure especially guilty and pleasurable!! David Beckham. Bad boy, badder bod as this Emporio Armani ad demonstrates.

Also, if you haven’t seen BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM (where unfortunately he does not appear in the movie), check it out anyway. It’s a great movie about cultural clashes, male/female roles and racial bias. . . and of course, soccer. Did I mention the movie also features hottie Jonathan Rhys Meyers (currently of THE TUDORS) and a girl crush possibility — Keira Knightley?

As I promised, I chose a winner over the weekend for the Lisa Daily guest blog and give-away! FANNIE is the lucky winner! Could you please e-mail me your postal address?

Hope you all had a great weekend!

P.S. — Thanks to my sis for the inspiration for today’s Guilty Pleasure.

I got an e-mail today about Getting Clowned and I just had to check it!

Ringling Bros. Circus, which has been making its rounds in our area (Philly April 16-27), has a site where you can send a buddy an e-mail pie-in-the-face. Check it out www.igotclowned.com.

I don’t know about you, I’ve always found clowns to be kind of funny. My mom, however, never liked clowns. She had seen the famous Emmett Kelly and thought he was so sad. She could never shake his sadness whenever she saw a clown.

Anyway, start this Friday by clowing one of your friends with a pie-in-the-face! If you’re sending it my way, make sure it’s either cherry or peach and don’t forget the whipped cream!

Finally, a big thanks to the Maryland Romance Writers for a wonderful night! You rock!

Many thanks to Lisa for visiting with us yesterday and to all of you who took the time to come by and leave a comment! I’m running a little late, busy juggling things today, and will be picking a winner over the weekend.

Lisa has kindly donated a T-shirt and copy of the book for us and look for a winner to be announced on Monday morning!

Juggling. Seems like lately I’m doing more of that than I ever imagined. I’m running from the office to the house, working out, writing, preparing promo stuff, talking to the hubby and daughter, dealing with Spring and all the clean-up that involves around the house and yard. . .

Someone asked me how I do it all and there’s no easy answer. I do sleep, contrary to what some say about my being a vampire. I do eat (as we know sometimes too much! LOL!)

I do juggle a lot. I seem to have balls in the air all the time, but how do I keep from dropping one?

Well, it’s always a challenge, but I try to multi-task. I use every free moment I have to try and accomplish something. Hubby always asks me “What’s my schedule” and the reality of it is, I do have to schedule. Three hours to write. One hour on Saturday to clean in the yard. Another hour to do the weekly food shopping. Another hour to get to the gym, work out . . .

You get it. I do the same at work. Prioritize what’s urgent. Put together similar tasks to deal with them in the most effective way possible.

The same goes for writing. I try to get all the research done first and get it memorized so I don’t have to dig back for a lot of things while writing. I pre-write by using visualization techniques.

What’s that? Well, before going to bed, I watch the scene in my head, kind of like a movie. I do the same on the walk to work and on the walk back to the train station to head home. What does that mean? When I sit down to write, I’ve already got a movie of the scene that I’ve played and replayed in my head until it’s right. That lets me get to writing it right away rather than sitting there thinking about what I’ll write.

So, there’s some skill to the juggling and lots of practice and reinvention. If something’s not working right or using my time effectively, I stop and see how I can make it work better.

That’s my juggling act for today! I’ve got to get going because I’m headed off to speak with the Maryland Romance Writers tonight!

I was honored when Caridad offered me a guest spot on her fabulous blog for the debut of my novel, Fifteen Minutes of Shame – a story about what happens when America’s favorite TV relationships guru finds out her husband is cheating – live on national television.

Here’s an excerpt from my new book, Fifteen Minutes of Shame. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading!

Best,
Lisa

Wednesday, April 2, 2008 at 7:30pm, Borders, Signing & Launch Party, 1500 16th Street, Suite D, Oak Brook, IL 60523
Saturday, April 5, 2008 - 2:00pm, Signing & Launch Party, Borders, 600 North Orlando Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789
Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 7:00pm, The Debs Take Manhattan!
Special Debutante Ball signing with
Deb Lisa Daily signing Fifteen Minutes of Shame
and Deb Eileen Cook signing Unpredictable
Borders, 461 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10022

I hiss this to my best friend Jules, as I squat behind the smelly dumpster of a Gas-N-Go, trying to sneak a glimpse of my husband without getting caught.

“Damn.”

He glances in the general direction of the dumpster and I panic. I nearly fall over backwards and accidentally drop my cell phone into a murky puddle. It hasn’t rained in weeks, and I fear toxic waste, or worse, old convenience store hot-dog water as I fish out my phone and wipe it off on my sweatpants. It leaves a sort of greenish smear, and I don’t even want to imagine what it could be.

Last week I was on national television, wearing a cute little non-mommy outfit and my favorite pair of Christian Louboutins, talking about how every woman deserves a fabulous life, and how they too can snag the man of their dreams. This week I’m crouching in filth, looking a lot like a homeless person because I forgot it was my turn to drive carpool this morning and I rushed out of the house wearing dirty sweatpants, the “Who’s Your Daddy?” t-shirt I slept in and a pair of sparkly pink flip-flops. I can’t remember brushing my hair. Or my teeth.

“Are you there?” I whisper to Jules, “sorry, I dropped the phone.”

“What on this earth are you doin’?” she asks, in that honey-dipped drawl all men melt for. Jules is a flesh and blood, eighth-generation Southern belle. She hasn’t left the house without earrings since puberty. Any two-hour car ride with her includes a picnic basket fully stocked with ham biscuits. She’s always polite, and she’s always enviable. Jules would never be caught squatting behind a dumpster spying on her husband in her pajamas.

The truth is, I have no idea what I’m doing.

“He’s supposed to be in Atlanta.” I can feel myself rambling, “I packed his suitcase myself.”

“Are you absolutely sure it’s him?” Jules responds gently, “maybe it’s just someone who looks a lot like him.”

“You mean like an evil twin?” I crack, “no, I saw him straight on. It’s Will.”

Something is definitely up. Will exits the store carrying a small paper bag. He looks both ways before stepping off the curb and then opens the door of his silver SUV and slides into the driver’s seat. What’s in the bag? I wonder. Condoms? A microwave burrito?

“Maybe he’s taking a later flight,” Jules offered.

“Maybe.” I don’t think so. We live in Sarasota, a small city with a small airport. Usually the first flight is the last flight. Plus, Will does this Atlanta trip at least once a week for a liquor client based in Georgia. His flight leaves at eight-thirty-seven in the morning and he usually makes it home the next morning around the same time.

“Damn.” I can’t decide if I should hop back in my car and follow him to see where he’s going, or throw myself in front of his car so he knows he’s been busted. I panic and the moment passes. He drives off, and I stand, frozen in my puddle of muck until his car passes the intersection. My big opportunity to catch him the act of whatever’s keeping him from Atlanta has vanished. I feel like a jerk, but I don’t know if I could stomach whatever I might learn.

Normally, Will is not the kind of husband you worry about. He’s a blue-suit-wearing/sex-on-Friday/baseball-on-Saturday kind of guy. But my imagination starts churning and I envision all sorts of sinister possibilities: He’s having an affair. He’s an undercover agent for the CIA. He’s lost his biggest client and he’s too chicken-shit to tell me. I feel the early tinglings of panic.

“Or,” says Jules, “maybe his trip just got cancelled.” Leave it to Jules to be rational. “Why don’t you call him?”

Why don’t I call him? Genius! Jules is a genius! I’ll just call him and he’ll explain everything and we’ll laugh about the whole thing. I hang up with Jules and speed-dial Will. No answer. Crap.

His phone clicks over to voicemail immediately, which means the damned thing isn’t even turned on.

I get back into my car, which is parked high-speed-chase-style behind the dumpster. (Okay, so I wasn’t exactly focused on my parallel parking skills this morning when I swerved into the Gas-N-Go.) I was driving home after dropping off our carpool kids at school and almost drove over the median when I saw Will’s car pull into the parking lot.

As I head home, I try to clear my mind and think rationally. I take a deep breath and try to figure out how I’ve gone from “happily ever after” to panicking that my husband is an international terrorist/philanderer/pathological liar within the space of a few minutes.

It’s probably nothing. Crap, it’s definitely something.

I pull into our gated community, slowing down so that the scanner can read the barcode on the side of my gas-guzzling mommymobile. I inch forward until the nose of my car is just inches from the flimsy stick otherwise known as the “gate” designed to keep all manner of undesirables out of my neighborhood. What’s funny is that where I live in Florida, nearly all of the communities are gated communities. I’m not sure that we even have “undesirables.” If we do, knowing my neighbors, they’re special ordered from Barney’s. If you travel down any semi-main road here you’ll see guard shacks and electric gates every few miles. The parking lots at Whole Foods, Nuovo, and Siesta Beach are all populated with cars bearing the telltale barcode sticker on the rear window.

Sometimes, I can hardly believe I live here. Overnight, I went from a single-girl shoebox of an apartment, (apropos, I think, since my most prized possessions were primarily shoes) where I felt like I’d hit the jackpot if I was lucky enough to get an up-close parking space, or an open lounge chair at the pool, straight to suburbia (Do Not Pass Go) where my wedding ring and barcode sticker grant me an all-access pass to the gated kingdom of Botox moms.

And although I never had trouble fitting in, even after three years, I still kind of feel like I really don’t really belong here.

I hit redial on my phone. Will’s voicemail clicks on. Again. The gate is stuck. Again. The guard is busy with the line of cars in the visitor’s lane and doesn’t look up from his clipboard. He waves three cars through, barely glancing up. Apparently, all you need is a pizza or a lawnmower to gain entrance to this gated haven in suburbia. The front of my car is now practically touching the gate. It’s not moving. I roll down the window and wait patiently because I don’t want to be one of “those” women – who wave their manicured nails out the window for the backhanded salute, while they lean on the horn with their elbows, demanding priority service.

I try to catch the guard’s eye, hoping a little smile and a wave will do the trick.

“That lane is for residents only”, he shouts to me over the sound of a muffler-deficient station wagon filled with mops and Brazilian housekeepers.

“I am a resident.” I shout back, smiling purposefully. “The gate is not working today.” He rolls his eyes at me. Will and I have lived here for the entire three years we’ve been married. I go through this gate about six times a day. I call the guard shack about twice a day to add our friends, the bug man, the pool guy to “the list.” The man with the clipboard is Frank. He has two kids, and works the day shift at the North gate. He looks at me as though he has never seen me before.

“You need a sticker,” he says authoritatively.

“I have a sticker. Can you please just raise the gate? I’m really in a hurry,” I plead. All of a sudden, I’m flashing back to the scene from that old movie Trading Places where Dan Ackroyd has just gotten out of jail, and when he gets to his house, not only will his key not work in the lock, but his butler pretends he’s never seen him before. OhMyGod, I’m going to have to move in with a hooker.

“You need a sticker,” he says again, pressing the magic button inside the guard shack.

Access at last. I peel through the gate, squealing the tires as I turn onto my street, popping my car into the garage like a pinball going down the chute for the last time. A wave of dread and denial washes over me like sewage.

Crap. Crap. Crap. Get it together. Get it together. Get it together.

Let’s review, okay? What did I really see?

Generally, I try not to be the overreacting type. I am in fact, a quite rational, thirty-one year old author and stepmother of two kids, Lilly and Aidan. Obviously, the Prince Charming I’d envisioned from the time I was eight years old was not exactly a divorced guy with two kids. But the kids I once thought would be a burden have turned out to be the center of my life.

Will is thirty-six, was formerly married to a formerly sane beauty queen (Miss Arkansas, if you must know) and we, the two of us, have custody of his kids, children I consider to be the most amazing six and eight-year-old on the planet. (Of course, I’m crazy about them, so I may be a little biased.)

Will and I have been married three years. We met when I was on tour for my first book, Secrets to Make the Guys Go Gaga and he was the PR guy who landed me a spot on Soap Talk. (Don’t laugh, it’s a real show.) After years of writing toothpaste jingles, and doling out dating advice to my girlfriends over margaritas, I figured a dating book was a good start to the dream I’d always had about becoming a “real” writer, not just someone who made a living spinning canned meat and golf spikes to the American public.

So, by sole virtue of my ability to turn a phrase and peg a loser at 500 feet, I’ve now become a dating guru.

To be honest, I’ve spent my whole life trying to make sense of men. Both my parents died in an accident when I was just a baby, and I was raised by my Grandma Vernie and her four sisters in an estrogen bubble. They were a wild, strong, loving, tight knot of Southern women; all of them had been married at one time to men they adored. Unfortunately, they were all widowed long before I hit kindergarten -–husbands had a habit of croaking at a very early age in our family. Great Uncle Joe was a legend, he’d lived to the ripe old age of 43. Until junior high, my only personal experience with how the male sex was supposed to operate came from secondhand stories the Aunties told me under the influence of bundt cake during our seven-hour Yahtzee marathons, late night reruns of Gene Kelly movies, and old clippings they’d saved from 1950s issues of Good Housekeeping on how to keep your husband happy. The first of my beloved Aunties, Ila Mae, passed away when I entered high school. My grandmother died the next year. By the time I was 19, they were all gone. And I found myself orphaned for the second time.

I thought that once I wrote the book, Oprah would call, and I’d be instantly catapulted to fame and riches. (Which, I’ve since learned, is a common fantasy among clueless first-time authors.) Instead, it brought me to Will, who told me, “Unless you’re a celebrity or a celebrity’s personal trainer, nobody cares whether you wrote a book or not.” When he booked me on Soap Talk, he told me, “I had to beg, borrow and steal to get you this one.”

I was grateful and horribly disappointed at the same time. Like finding out you’ve won a 5.7 million dollar lottery, and then learning you’ll be getting a nickel a week for 324 years.

Eventually, after a few years of dismal sales, the book took off and became a bestseller, surprising everyone including me. I was catapulted to the dating expert hall of fame. Producers and agents started calling, and suddenly I had a weekly guest spot on a big national TV show, my own radio call-in program, and even my own perfume. Two years after my book hit the shelves, I was recognizable to every woman in America under the age of sixty. Darby Vaughn: The Dr. Phil of Dating.

I dial Will’s phone again, and this time he picks up on the first ring.

“Hey!” I say quickly, attempting to sound like my perky, usual self, rather than the dumpster-diving maniac I’ve become in the last 17 minutes or so.

“Hi sweetheart,” he answers offhandedly, “I can only talk for a second, my flight was delayed and I’m already late for the meeting.”

“What do you mean? You’re still here?” God, I’m an idiot. Talk about freaking out over nothing. A sensation of reprieve rushes over me, and I feel the sickly-sweet relief of someone who’s just stepped off the human centrifuge ride at the carnival.

“Did you miss your Starbucks this morning or something?” he teases, “I’m in Atlanta, remember?”

My heart drops. “Wait, you mean right now?”

“Jesus, Darby. I’ve only been making this same exact trip for two years. What’s up with you today?”

“N-nothing,” I choke out, and my brain starts spinning again. My mind goes from zero to divorce court in 3.6 seconds.

“Um, when will you be back in town?” I ask cautiously.

“Tomorrow morning, same as always,” he snaps, and then softens. “Sorry, Darby, I don’t mean to be so cranky. I had a bad flight and it’s just sort of put a damper on my morning.”

“It’s okay…” I say numbly, unable to think of anything else at the moment.

“Hey babe, I’ve gotta run. Love you, love the kids.” His phone snaps off before I have a chance to respond. Instead, I throw up.

I scramble to aim for my open car window. Bad aim or bad luck, I miss the mark and vomit oozes down the inside of my door, and down the window crack.

I am not going to have a breakdown in my three-car garage.

**FIFTEEN MINUTES OF SHAME is now in bookstores everywhere.**

Today’s Tip is for all my friends in the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Pants! I know that we’ve all hit the Diet Wall, namely that weight that you can’t seem to break past no matter how hard you try.

It’s frustrating to be stuck there. Right now I’ve been stuck at this weight for about two months and although my pants are fitting a little loser and I’m feeling good, well . . . Frustrated.

I’m sure you’ve all had similar feelings and what we all ask ourselves is, “WHY?” What are you doing that’s resulted in the Diet Wall?

Well, it could be combination of lots of things and here’s some things for you to think about.

1. Are you eating enough? Yes, you read it right. Eating enough. In their haste to lose weight quickly, many people go on what are termed “starvation diets” where they severely restrict their calorie intake. So not good for a variety of reasons, including the damage to your health. In addition, going on such restricted diets sends a message to your brain that you are in a starvation mode and so your brain will slow your metabolism. So, make sure you’re eating a reasonable amount of calories and make those calories count by making them nutritious calories.

2. Are you doing the same ol’ same ol’ exercise routine? Imagine only eating cheese sandwiches every day for lunch (although I know someone who did this for nearly a decade). You’d get bored, right? Well, your body may be bored if you do the same exercise routine every day, not to mention that like any repetitive activity, you could be stressing out certain parts of your body. I had a recent experience where I developed some hip pain. I’d been religiously doing the elliptical trainer almost every day. How did I get the pain to stop? I started alternating between a stationary bike, walking on the treadmill and the elliptical trainer.

Also, maybe you’re exercising too much or including too many aerobic activities. Hubby got me a personal trainer for a few sessions to help with my getting healthier and the personal trainer suggested not doing more than 20 to 30 minutes of aerobics a day as anything more than that will actually slow down fat loss. His suggestion was to combine aerobics with weight training and that suggestion is one I’ve seen over and over again from various sources. The weight training helps build muscle and muscles are leaner and burn more calories. However, muscle weighs more which could mean that you won’t see a drop in weight, but you will be thinner and stronger.

3. Are you eating the right things? My friend Carole Carson, author of FROM FAT TO FIT, has often mentioned that the “right diet” is the diet that is right for you. I hear people talking all the time about “the lose the belly fat” diet or one where you only eat citrus for days. Yikes! Like everything else, moderation is the key and also, finding out what works best for you. Some people do well eating carbs and for people who are exercising a lot, carbs are an essential part of their diet to keep their bodies fueled. Other people do better with more protein in their diet. What’s right? Well, for starters, check with your doctor and discuss your medical needs with him before starting. Once you get started, listen to your body to determine what works best. I know that I’ve discovered that cutting back on carbs helps me lose weight and that’s one of the things I’ve been bad about — eating more carbs lately. So I’m going to try and watch that for the next week or so. If you do eat carbs, make them multi-grain carbs which are great for your body.

4. Treat yourself every now and then. Yep, you can treat yourself every now and then and that’s good. Why? You don’t feel so deprived and are therefore more inclined to stick to your new food lifestyle. What’s a good treat? For me, I’ve turned to those 100 calorie packs and dark chocolate. Why else is a treat good? A boost in calories may be what you need to get yourself going again. Even Bob mentioned that on The Biggest Loser recently.

5. Make sure you’re drinking enough water! This is a tough one for me since I hate plain old water. I’m a diet soda girl which isn’t all that good either, so I’ve cut back to two sodas a day. But seriously, water is essentially important, especially if you’re dieting. Why? Well, our bodies are an amazing collection of sensors and much like the brain knows when to slow the metabolism when you’re starving, your liver is the filter for all the toxins in your body and when they build up, it may slow down certain functions to avoid creating more toxins. How do you keep your liver working? Well, water is important for helping to flush the toxins from your system. Can you drink too much water? Yep, you can, so again, moderation is key.

So, I hope today’s Tuesday Tip gave you some things to think about based on my personal experience with many many years of battling the bulge. Be sure to check things out with your doctor or health professional. Make sure to stay safe and be reasonable! The idea of losing weight is to be healthier and being healthy is the most important thing to keep in mind.

Copyright 2008 Caridad Pineiro Scordato www.caridad.com

So sorry to be late with today’s Guilty Pleasures Monday, only it was quite a weekend! I was busy finishing up A SOLDIER’S SECRET CHILD which will be out from Silhouette Romantic Suspense very soon and getting to work on the proposal for the next book in THE CALLING series — VENGEANCE CALLS (#11 if we count the two novellas!)

Of course, doing the synopsis for that one got me thinking about the two that preceded it. You may remember that bad boy Blake will be the hero in #9 - FURY CALLS. Blake’s been in a number of books already, but had a sexy time with Stacia in DESIRE CALLS, which is still a free read at eharlequin.com.

Stacia is the heroine in #10 — ARDOR CALLS and as you can guess from her various appearances, it’s going to take quite a man to be able to stand up to her and reach her heart after the nearly two millenia that Stacia has been a vampire. The hero in ARDOR CALLS — Alex Garcia — is someone you’ve seen already in DEATH CALLS. He’s Diana ex-love and a Miami DEA Agent.

Alex is sexy and slightly exotic, much like Stacia. He’s also determined and passionate. So far, the sparks are flying in the draft I’ve done and I hope you’ll think so as well when I get the okay to post an excerpt. In the meantime, here’s my idea of what Alex might look like as he takes a dip in the South Beach waters. FYI — this novel in THE CALLING will be set in Miami and I hope you’ll enjoy the tropical change of pace.

Also, for those of you with the Kindle, Amazon has an amazing price on the entire CALLING Collection — 9.99!

Marzo e pazzo! That’s what the Italians say — March is crazy!! They are so totally right. Besides the weather, there’s March Madness and it’s especially crazy at my house this year since Villanova made it into the tournament and is now in the Sweet Sixteen.

Nova will be playing tonight at 9:40 against Kansas and it’ll be a tough one. Kansas is the #1 seed and Nova is #12. #12 seeds are 0-13 in the tournament. Of course, you can never count out Nova’s spirit. Just look at their Cinderella upset over Georgetown in 1985. I’m hoping this will be another Cinderalla season.

So you know Nova is my alma mater and they recently featured me in their Alumni magazine. You can click here to see it and head over to Page 36 for the article! I was really honored to be chosen.

Here’s one last — GO CATS!!

But March is also crazy because it’s the end of Spring Training which means that next week, the baseball season starts!! Like every year, my family’s got high hopes for our METS. We even managed to get tickets for some of the last games at Shea Stadium which will be torn down this season and replaced by Citifield.

It’ll be sad to see Shea go. History was made there with the ‘69 and ‘85 Mets. With the Beatles performing there for some of their first U.S. concerts in the early 60s.

Despite that, I’m looking forward to the new Citifield which will have more amenities and which is being built to look like the old Ebbetts Field of the Brooklyn Dodgers. It’s a way of honoring that field and the team that left NYC. One day I’ll have my daughter post all about the Mets connections to the Brooklyn Bums.

For now — GO METS. GO CATS. Hope you all have a great weekend!

I have a confession to make. I’m a science geek. Always loved messing with all those test tubes and doing experiments which is I guess why I was a science major in college.

One of the best Christmas presents I ever got was a chemistry lab and you can bet that I did every single experiment that came with that kit and proudly showed them to my mom who appreciatively murmured her approval at the bits of black gunk floating around in the test tube.

If Fate hadn’t thrown me a curve, I probably would have continued to pursue some kind of career in the sciences, but instead I ended up in law school and eventually, took up writing again.

Writing is a wondrous thing in so many ways, including allowing me to explore my inner geek again! I’m happy to say that I accepted a two book deal from Grand Central Publishing for a new paranormal romantic suspense series which relies heavily on science. TAINTED BLOOD, the first book in the series, is about a gene therapy victim who finds herself not only developing superhuman powers, but also accused of a murder she did not commit.

So the geek in me has been busy researching all kinds of things, like gene expression and splicing. Unusual diseases and using gene therapy treatments to cure them. Lots of fun stuff.

It helps that I took genetics, immunology, biochem and a bunch of other higher level science classes during college and I’ve been keeping up off and on on with what’s happening in the bio/genetic engineering world just ’cause it’s so interesting!

I know, I know. Geek. I’d be the perfect match for CHUCK or the guys from THE BIG BANG THEORY. But that’s okay.

Someone’s got to love the nerds. Of course, the hero in this book, Mick Carerra, is anything but a nerd. He’s ex-military and a man with a past who knows only one thing — he’s got a check with a lot of zeroes to compensate him for bringing in our gene-challenged heroine.

This book is slated for publication some time in 2010, so I’ll keep you posted on the progress!

On another note, I’ve got a friend, Lisa Daily — who’s a syndicated columnist, author, media personality — and she’s got a book out right now that you might like. Lisa will be visiting on April 2nd to tell us about her new release and offer up a prize to anyone who posts a comment on the blog. So please drop by then!

For information on Lisa in the meantime, you can visit www.lisadaily.com by clicking here.

Spring is here and as you know, I was complaining about the chill in NYC/NJ. My Blog Buddy Karen T. sent me this picture of how her Easter Sunday looked — CHECK OUT ALL THE SNOW! Brrr….

Way cold and so to help Karen and others still suffering from the effects of winter, this Wicked Wednesday brings a little heat from a story you’ve seen before — my urban fantasy involving a twist to the werewolf mythology, battles with vampires and a struggle for control in a werewolf pack. The tentative title is UNDEAD UPRISING and I hope you like this next free chapter that I’m offering you.

In this scene, Ramon is aware that Catalina’s father wants her to soon choose a wolf as a mate and is therefore denying Catalina’s demand that he help keep her wolf at bay by making love to her. Since pain will also restrain her transformation, Catalina has challenged him to bring her pain and Ramon is struggling with that request. For the rest of the scene, check out the free excerpt below.

For those of you who may have missed the first five chapters, you can read them here:

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5

Catalina’s words, ripe with her suffering, scourged his soul because he knew he could end her pain . . . for now. But despite knowing that she welcomed more from him, he could not give into her or to himself. Beginning something even for only the next few months would only make it harder on both of them after the Gauntlet.

She would be bound to another. No alpha wolf would tolerate his touching her. Only at the thought of someone else beside her, inside her . . .

Cold settled within him. Dead kind of cold.

But he would not love her this night or any other. He slipped the first restraint around her wrist, fastened it and said, “You know I cannot.”

“Tighter,” she commanded.

He yanked the fur-lined leather cuff just a bit more securely. Repeated the procedure with her other arm, giving one last tug to make sure the bindings were snug and then firmly chained her to the wall. The metal chain clanked noisily as she tested its strength with a pull.

“That’s it.” Her words were followed by a little mew of sheer pleasure.

He examined her face and after, her marvelous body. She was responding to the pain from the earlier whipping and from being shackled. Her nipples had remained stiff peaks and her legs shifted restlessly on the bed.

How many times had he seen her like this? How many times had he touched her? Wanted to make love with her before the moon rose and he lost her to the werewolf? Before he lost her forever?

Too many and yet, not enough. No matter how many, it could never be enough.

“Finish the job. That’s what you want since all I am to you is a duty,” she challenged, almost as if she perceived his weakness. The animal inside would recognize it. Play on it, knowing what he desired more than anything — to have her.

It wasn’t what he had wanted at first, in the days after the other wolves had saved him from a vampire attack and he had become indebted to them. It had happened slowly over the years as he had seen Catalina’s strength, goodness, and finally, her vulnerability. The last had stolen his heart despite the fact that he was human and she was wolf. Regardless of the nearly decade difference in their ages.

“What I want, amor, can never be,” he said and cradled her breast as he did as she had commanded. She gasped as he passed his thumb across her erect nipple.

“Don’t leave, Ramon. Por favor.” Catalina raised her hips in invitation.

He couldn’t refuse her plea any more than he could her command. Not when times like this were finite in number.

Slowly he inched his hand downward over her smooth skin and muscles which quivered as he got closer and closer to his destination. He met her gaze as he finally passed his hand over the dark auburn curls at the juncture of her thighs. The heat in her gold-green eyes confirmed she wanted him to touch her there again.

Catalina spread her legs and he slipped his hand down, parted her lips and sought out the center of her. She was damp and oh so hot that he groaned at the thought of what it would be like to be inside of her. His erection swelled painfully against the denim of his jeans. Somehow he controlled himself. He couldn’t take her that way.

The way others might have it occurred to him, recalling the two guards who had been there before him. He knew they had been her lovers. But he wouldn’t take her while she was chained. While she lay defenseless.

Taking a deep breath, he bent and suckled one of her nipples, teethed it gently and then just a tad harder as she raised her hips, giving him access to the swollen bud of her clitoris. As he loved her with his mouth, he scissored her clit between his fingers, massaged it until she writhed against the pallet. She dug her heels into the thick padding to urge her hips up to his hand.

Catalina sucked in a breath as he gently bit her nipple again. She pulled at the shackles at her wrists. Even with the soft fur lining, the edges of the leather chafed her skin painfully. As her back rubbed against the sheets, the welts on her flesh protested the contact. The slight sting as his teeth caught the tip of her breast combined with all the other sensations swamped her senses.

She cried out his name as he increased the pressure at the nub between her legs and after, trailed his mouth down her body until he rested between her legs. He paused but a moment to look up at her, as if asking permission, not that she had much choice.

He could do as he wished with her shackled to a wall, and yet honorable as he was, he wouldn’t do what she didn’t desire. His integrity being the reason why he was the one she wanted the most.

In answer to his unspoken query, she parted her legs in invitation.

Copyright 2008 Caridad Pineiro Scordato www.caridad.com

One of the hardest things to understand as a new (or even established writer) is POV - Point of View.

When I wrote my first novel, I didn’t even have any idea what POV was. I had been a biology major and although I’d been writing since the fifth grade, I had never had anyone talk to me about POV. The end result was that my first completed book was 1200 pages long and in a POV that pulled the reader out of the story.

So how do you know what POV you’re using and how do you keep that POV firmly focused?

I like to use a technique that I call the POV camera. What’s the POV camera? Think of the character telling the story as a cameraman focusing a camera on the scene. That character can only see what’s happening before the camera lens. Keep that in mind as you consider the three most popular POVs in fiction, namely, Omniscient Narrator, Third Person and First Person.

What are the traits of these POVs?

• Omniscient Narrator (3rd Person): An Omniscient Narrator is someone who can see everything and comment on it. Think of the Omniscient Narrator as a cameraman perched up high up on a boom crane filming everything that’s happening down below. He says everything and can skip from one person to another and tell/see everything about them.

  With an Omniscient Narrator, there isn’t anything that is unknown. The Omniscient Narrator can tell the reader everything about everyone.

  Sounds good, right? Well, the problem is that when you tell the reader about everything, you don’t let them engage in the story. You don’t trust them to figure some things out for themselves and get involved by trying to figure it out.

To do Omniscient Narrator right is a difficult task, so I would recommend you stick to the one of the other two POVs.

• Third Person: Third Person is probably the most common POV in modern fiction today. Basically, Third Person is when one of the characters in the story is telling the tale. Because of that, think of the camera that characters would be holding and what that character would see. Those are the only things that the POV character can describe. So, that character can’t describe how they look (and please, stay away from looking in the mirror shots if at all possible!).

  Also, the POV camera can’t read the other person’s mind, so the character can’t know what the other person is thinking, they can only guess at what they are thinking.

  That helps build conflict and tension. It also allows the reader to guess at it. In addition, because you are seeing things through this character’s POV camera, you are getting to know the character by how they react to what’s happening. This builds a relationship with the character.

  In romance, we do jump to the POV of other characters, usually “head-hopping” from the hero to heroine. How do you do it right? Don’t do it too often and don’t give away too much information when you do “head-hop”. And to keep things straight, remember the POV camera and what the character can see through that lens.

Last, but not least is First Person which has become quite popular in certain genres, such as chick lit and even urban fantasy (think Anita Blake). What is First Person POV?

• First Person POV: “It’s all about me.” The “I” and nothing else. First Person is when one character is telling the entire story and uses “I” (first person singular) whenever the character is describing what’s going on.

  So, the POV camera is much like Third Person, but everything is filtered much more personally by the cameraman. Every piece of information, even that of other characters, is touched by/colored by the First Person cameraman.

  What does that create? Sometimes a greater sense of intimacy since you get to know the character very well. It can also be misleading if the First Person cameraman isn’t dealing with reality (think about using a soft focus lens on an older woman at a minimum or totally choppy and jumpy like someone wired on drugs).

  Done well, First Person can be very very effective. Done poorly, you get tired of hearing “all about me” all the time.

Personally, I really struggle with First Person. I find it very difficult to always be working in the “I” and prefer third person. I think the important thing to consider when deciding what POV to use is, which do you feel most comfortable in? You need to find you voice and what POV works best with that voice. Then you can start writing and remember — Put yourself behind the camera so you can be sure that what you’re doing is right for the POV you’ve chosen.

Good writing to you all!

Copyright 2008 Caridad Pineiro Scordato www.caridad.com

It’s supposed to be spring, but here in the NY/NJ area, it’s still way too cold. However, the crocuses and daffodils are up and so I have to assume spring is really on the way, although it can’t come soon enough for me.

Because of the cold, I was thinking this morning, what would drive away my chill and so today’s Guilty Pleasure Monday is Josh Holloway from LOST. He would absolutely keep my warm on the coldest winter night. There’s something about that whole bad boy thing and his dimples which is totally hot.

So who would keep you warm on a cold winter night? Inquiring minds would like to know your all time favorite guilty pleasure.

Speaking of LOST, I’m a little upset now that we know who are the Oceanic Six. SPOILER ALERT- don’t keep on reading if you don’t want to know more.

Okay — so I’m so upset I lost two of my favorite guys in the real future world, Sawyer and Jin. What’s with that?

And finally, a little overdue, the last b’day blog winner is Earlene Gillespie! Please e-mail me with your postal address so I can send the prizes. As for all the other winners, I’ll be following up if I haven’t heard from you and also, sending out the prizes in the next week.

Thank you all for sharing my b’day week and visiting the blog!

Barbara is an amazing supporter of fiction for women and of romance! She was nice enough to read HOLIDAY WITH A VAMPIRE and include it with her Christmas selections.

Please drop by on this Fun Friday and wish Barbara a Happy Anniversary. You can click here to visit her blog.

And now — drum roll please — for the winner of Thursday’s B’Day Blog Contest — G. Kelly! Please send me your postal address so I can get your prizes out to you!

I’ll be posting the winner of Today’s contest on Monday, but also, starting on Monday I’ll be taking a week off! I need to finish up some writing projects and also, recharge the creative batteries, but I’ll be back on March 24th to share some fun new things with you!

I hope you all have a great weekend and St. Patty’s day on Monday! ttys.

Only some short thoughts today since I’m off in Milwaukee for some business. A really nice city Milwaukee, but way cold. Last time I was here it was -20. Today is supposed to be positively balmy at 40 degrees!

I love traveling and seeing all these different places. As a writer, it really helps to experience new people and places. Real life knowledge of the area, foods, language, etc. help to create realistic scenes for readers.

Will I set a book in Milwaukee soon? Maybe. But for sure I’ll be setting my next paranormal romantic suspense series in the Philadelphia and Jersey Shore areas. I’ve been busy visiting those locales to get info for the new books.

New books, you ask? Yep, some new books I’m working on and I’ll be spilling the beans about those soon!

And now . . . the drum roll again . . .

The winner of Wednesday’s B’Day Blog is Jeanne, my Cat Lady! Congrats Jeanne! Please send me your postal address.

Today’s Wicked Wednesday is what I’m calling FRESH BLOOD, namely, a free read that you won’t find in any of THE CALLING vampire novels.

This FRESH BLOOD free read occurs in the months after the conclusion of DEVOTION CALLS. I’ll be posting more FRESH BLOOD shortly to add some behind the scenes action for you to enjoy until the release of the next three THE CALLING novels in late Spring 2009. You should be seeing FURY CALLS, ARDOR CALLS and VENGEANCE CALLS by the middle of 2009!

If you like this FRESH BLOOD, also check out the DELETED BITS which are scenes that either totally ended up on the cutting room floor or have new sections you might not have seen in the original THE CALLING vampire novels.

Don’t forget that you can still read the free e-novella DESIRE CALLS at Eharlequin.com. You can click here to read it!

AND NOW — The winner of Tuesday’s B’Day Blog Contest is LISA R.! Please e-mail me your postal address so that I can get those goodies out to you.

Without further ado, here’s today’s Wicked Wednesday FRESH BLOOD!

**SPOILER ALERT**This may reveal
some information from the conclusion of DEVOTION CALLS.**

Diana Reyes stared at the pile of files precariously stacked on the side of her desk. Earlier that night she had just finished the last of the paperwork from the day before when an apologetic clerk had dropped this fresh load in her office.

Anger surged through her at the thought of another day at her desk, checking references and other information so that the subjects of the files would receive their proper security clearances. This wasn’t why she had joined the FBI, but then again, there had to be some kind of punishment for failing to prevent the deaths of so many agents during her last real assignment.

Those deaths and the nearly crippling injuries to her partner David Harris weighed heavily on her mind as did the personal aftermath from the night of the failed raid.

The santero’s words to her from months earlier still troubled her.

I can’t heal what you have.

What she had, Diana thought, laying her hands out before her and staring at them hard.

Human hands. Warm and filled with life. But within that life was something new. Different than before. And something that worried her still.

Deciding that she couldn’t linger a moment longer, she escaped the confines of her office, racing past David’s empty one and onto the elevator.

Out on the street before Federal Plaza, she stopped and breathed in the warm summer air. Thick and humid. The faint scent of garlic wafted from the Italian restaurant a few doors down. Her stomach growled with hunger.

She hadn’t eaten dinner that night, but she’d grab a bite later with Ryder.

Right now, she had something else to do. Something that called to her more than the physical demands of her body.

With a blast of inhuman speed, she surged to the nearby subway entrance. She stopped to catch a breath and still the wild beating of her heart. A wave of weakness ripped across her body, reminding her that all was not right.

The superhuman healing and powers that had taken over her body after her injuries during the raid were slowly leaving her. Worse, even her everyday tasks seemed to take more of her energy than before.

She worried that soon she might not have the strength left for even the every day things and after that . . .

Diana drove that thought away and headed for the subway for the trip up to Spanish Harlem.

Ricardo may have told her that he couldn’t heal what she had, but she had never asked him just what that was.

She intended to do so that night.

Have you seen that new Propel commercial telling you how many sit-ups/walking/jump roping you have to do to make up for drinking that other exercise water?

It says something like “492 situps to burn off this water”? I thought 492 situps to burn off 100-something calories? Wow, like can that be right? Do you wonder sometimes how many calories something is or how long it takes to burn it off?

Well, here’s some good tools for you from Kraft Foods (yes, I do love that site. Lots of great stuff!)

You can click here for all their calculators! Some of the ones you might want to use:

Calorie Burn: Find out how long you need to exercise to burn off that donut.

Food analyzer: Not sure how many calories in something? Check it out here.

So — how long would it take to burn off those 100 calorie packs? Here goes:

30 minutes of slow walking
20 minutes of fast walking
10 minutes on an elliptical trainer

Hope these calculators help you when you’re stumped!

But now for the fun part!

WOW — what a lot of March b’days in all the comments yesterday! Hubby and I had a great time down the shore. Although it was wet and windy, it was lots of fun.

I’ll be writing to each and every one of you who left a comment, it just may take a few days since I’m also trying to put the finishing touches on my next romantic suspense book — A SOLDIER’S SECRET CHILD — which will be out this August!

And now . . . drum roll please . . .

The winner of Monday’s B’day Blog Contest is Stacia H. Wow — a real person named Stacia like from DESIRE CALLS and the upcoming ARDOR CALLS. Too cool.

FYI — word is that the next 3 in THE CALLING will probably hit the shelves in late Spring 2009. Sorry for the wait, but I’ll try to offer you some free reads in the meantime!

I must confess I heard mixed buzz about TROY, but finally gave in and bought the DVD. I so hated Brad Pitt’s role in this movie and nothing about the incredibly buffed bod could make up for it, except . . .

Today’s Guilty Pleasure Eric Bana. He just stole the show! Totally heroic and sexy. I was like WOW! This is a man!!

You can catch Eric now in THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL with Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johanssen.

What else is up for today? The first winner of this week’s B’day Blog celebration: Alyssa! Happy belated b’day to you as well and I’ll be emailing you to get your book selection and address.

WHOA! It’s my b’day and also, happy b’day to my hubby, nephew, best friend’s daughter, colleague’s wife, hubby’s aunt, Rita’s niece and a whole mess of other people born on my b’day.

Well, can I still call it my b’day since I share it with so many other people? LOL! Since I’m about 12 hours older than hubby — a fact he never lets me forget — I guess I can!!

So, we’re starting a celebration today that’s going to run all the way to next Friday! Anyone who leaves any kind of comment on the blog will be eligible to win a copy of SOUTH BEACH CHICAS and your choice of either HOLIDAY WITH A VAMPIRE or MOON FEVER or SECRET AGENT REUNION along with a t-shirt and some other goodies.

If you’re also a member of my newsletter/contest loop and are the daily winner, you’ll get an extra special treat — a copy of one of the out-of-print CALLING vampire novels as well as another special treat. If you haven’t already signed up, it’s not too late to do so. Just click here to get to the contest page and sign up.

Sis and I played hooky yesterday and went to the Philly Flower show. We had a blast and I’ll be posting photos from this year’s show soon for you to check them out!

Have a great day and a great weekend! Good luck with the contest. Remember, just leave a comment on the blog any day from today to next Friday and you could be a winner.

It’s been interesting watching all the primaries and caucuses and seeing what’s happening with the nomination process for both the Democrats and Republicans. The ups and downs of the various candidates has been fascinating.

What’s also fascinated me is the all too common comment I hear from many people. What comment?

I’m voting for (fill in the blank) because he/she is black/a woman/a Republican/a Democrat.

You may have guessed from prior comments that I tend to be conservative by nature, especially fiscally. But I’m liberal in lots of other ways and because of that, I generally try to listen to what each of the candidates is saying before making up my mind.

I don’t normally do the “just because” vote. I won’t vote for someone just because they are female/black/Latino/Democrat/Republican/ex-Met/writer/TV star/author/from New Jersey/New York/green-eyed/brown-haired/ . . .

You get it. So in 2008, I’m going to listen carefully, read even more carefully and vote for someone because of what they stand for and what plans they have in place for this country. I’m not going to vote for anyone, whether it’s Clinton/Obama/McCain just because . . .

Copyright 2008 Caridad Pineiro Scordato www.caridad.com