Join to Win!

Happy Holidays!!!! I'm running a contest from now until the beginning of the new year. If you join my newslettter, you have a chance to win a $20 Gift Card from Amazon.com.  I'll announce the winner in my January newsletter. So join now!


CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO JOIN!



My sister, Delilah Devlin's Big Contest!

Check out My sister's big contest to welcome the release of her Viking book! You have a chance to win a $50 gift certificate!

Sing Along!

I love the Holiday Season! I think a lot has to do with the music. The songs we know the words to, the upbeat rhythm, the way you find yourself singing to the lyrics as you push your way through the crowded shopping centers...Oops, didn't mean to take away from the fun...Anyway you get the idea. I love to sing along much to my dear husbands chagrine. I find myself grabbing for a gallon of milk while singing Silver Bells, or humming to Winter Wonderland as I select the perfect gift for my daughters and son.

I can't help it, I love the music! What about you? Are you a sing-along kind of Holiday shopper?

Here let me get you started

"City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style
In the air there's a feeling of Christmas..."

Take it from there! I know you can!

Christmas Baking!

I spent all of Sunday doing all of my Christmas goody baking. I made 2 batches of Chocolate Chip Cookies, 2 batches of Oatmeal Raisin cookies (I snuck in some Cranraisins in them) and a batch of no-bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies, 3 batches of Banana Nut Bread and a batch of Divinity. Sadly, my Divinity didn't stiffen like it was supposed to.  Will have a remake on those. But yay on the rest! I've bagged and tagged and will begin delivery today of all the goodies. My daughter took 12 small bags of cookies to her teachers today. I'll be hand delivering a couple to friends with cookies, nut bread and gifts. Tomorrow we're going to a block party where I'll load up a plates of cookies and nut bread to take with me. I put them really pretty small serving plates I bought to give away with the cookies. I think it would be neat to give away a different colored serving plate each year. And I also put together a large tray of goodies for the folks at work. Of course I had to sing Christmas carols all day long to keep up the spirit. It was a lovely, scrumptious day!

What are your favorite Christmas goodies to bake at this time of year?

Historic Colorado Contest

The winner of this contest is Jeanne M.
Contact me at mylajackson at earthlink.net

to claim your prize!

Congratulations and Merry Christmas!

Tis the season to share gifts. Today I'm running a contest that will require just a little work on your part. Head on over to my website...don't worry, I'll post the link here...and find the two books set in the wonderful Rocky Mountain state of Colorado back in the gold rush of the 1800's. List them in the comments here on my blog for a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift certificate! I'll announce the winner on December 13th here on my blog, so check back to see if you're the winner! Now, here's the link: http://mylajackson.com/

If you think this contest is cool check out these other blogs for more Roses' Contests:

Brenna Zinn
Elle James

Shayla Kersten

Delilah Devlin

Cerise Deland

Eve Savage

Desiree Holt

Allie Standifer

Sunday Report Card

I'm pleased that I finished my Nocturne Bite (to be published under my alter-ego pen name Elle James). Then I was a slacker for the rest of the week. I should have been hard at work on my next in the Body Snatchers series I want to continue for Ellora's Cave. It just means I have to work hard this week to get that one written in just this week! Ack! I can do it! I can do it! Sometimes I feel like the Little Train that Could. And I can!

Now to find a really sexy hunk of a white-blond man for the hero of my next Body Snatcher book. His name is Torsten and he's HAWT! And my heroine, Luna, is totally KICKASS! I'm jazzed and ready to begin.

Branson Shopping

Tis the season to go shopping! My dear husband, daughter and I decided to caravan with another couple and their son to the outlet malls in Branson, Missouri. This trek is a two-hour drive if you go straight there, no stops. We made it in three hours, stopping for a hearty breakfast as Raspberry junction in Missouri. It was small, quaint and enjoyable to talk over breakfast with friends and just enjoy getting out together.

Then on to the outlet mall. That's where the real fun began. We could barely get into the parking lot because of the line of traffic and the limited parking spaces. That should have been the clue to turn and run right back home. But no, we found a way around the line and ultimately a parking place in the sea of cars.

My daughter and I are experienced shoppers (that doesn't mean I really like to) and we took the mall by storm. We were half-way around by the time our friends were a tenth of the way. We bypassed the Coach store and it's line snaking around the corner for some of the more interesting stores with far less of a wait. Inside we squeezed between aisles and people, finding the sales (snort, not that great for a recession) and made our purchases.

We did our part in helping the weak retail economy with our donation to their black line. Once we'd completed the outlet mall we headed for Branson Landing. Talk about really nice shopping. There we sat down to Linner (Lunch/Dinner combined) and ate until it hurt. Needless to say, shopping afterward was limited. We perused the shops hopping from door to door quickly as the temps had dropped and our appetites were quenched in the shopping arena. The sun set, the Christmas lights illuminated capping a beautiful day with friends.

The drive home wasn't even that bad. All in all a wonderful day, purchases made and time spent with family and friends. What more could you ask?

Excerpt: Body Snatchers by Myla Jackson

Copyright © MYLA JACKSON, 2010

All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.

Chapter One

Reggie Gallagher ducked behind the last in a row of Dumpsters and braced her hands on her knees, dragging in huge gulps of air. Sweat ran down the side of her face, and the black ribbed tank top she wore clung to her breasts. The coastal humidity and heat acted like a steam bath even when she was standing still. For the moment, all she could hear was the ragged gasps of her breath wheezing in and out of her straining lungs. And despite the retched stench of the waste beside her, she welcomed the respite from the chase.

Where was Madison? She’d been right behind Reggie until now.

The quiet of the alley was broken when pounding footsteps entered and raced toward her.

Risking a stealthy glance around the hard metal corner of the Dumpster, Reggie confirmed the runner, and she reached out to snag her and pull her in beside her.

“Can’t…stop.” Madison bent low, her shoulders heaving with the effort to fill her oxygen-starved lungs.

“Breathe,” Reggie ordered, and tapped the miniature headset positioned inside her ear like a hearing aide. “Where the hell are Jordan and Mike?”

“It’s…as…if…they disappeared.” Madison sucked in air and gushed, “Ah, shit! I can’t breathe. I don’t know if those guys saw me turn down here, but they can’t be far behind.”

“Then let’s go.” Reggie shot another glance around the corner of the Dumpster. The alley was empty. She waited another second and then grabbed her sister’s hand, pulling her along behind her.

“There!” The shout of one of their pursuers echoed off the brick of the multistory structures rising up from their concrete foundations. The buildings spread over entire blocks, channeling Reggie and Madison through the worst part of Houston, leaving few places to hide or take cover. How had the mission gone south so fast? Where was their backup?
“They’ll catch us at this rate,” Madison shouted between gasps. “Gotta split up.”
“No!” But before Reggie could tighten her grip, her younger sister pulled free and swung left, sprinting west, away from the downtown area.

Reggie glanced back at the group of six men closing in behind her. If she played her hand right, they’d follow her and leave Madison alone. The fastest runner on the team at the Paranormal Investigative Agency, she could outrun every man, except perhaps the boss. Tanner was made of iron and muscles. No one could outrun, out gun or outsmart him.

But if she wanted to live, Reggie had better make it her goal to beat all of his records and then some. She just hoped the hell Madison got away.
Summoning every last ounce of energy, she punched out, running straight for two blocks to ensure the bad boys behind her wouldn’t branch off and pursue her sister. Just as she was about to veer east, a shot rang out and something hard and fast slammed against her left shoulder, spinning her around so quickly she crashed into the brick corner of an office building.
Surprise numbed the pain for the first five seconds until her heart resumed function, kicking her blood through her body and out the ragged exit wound in the front of her shoulder. Her stomach lurched, and the pale glow of the streetlamps dimmed. No. She couldn’t pass out. Not now. Have to run. Have to get farther away from Madison.

As fog crept in around her peripheral vision, Reggie rounded the corner she’d been aiming for and set off at a swift jog, her pace slowing more each time her heels hit the pavement.

No. This couldn’t happen. She would not be another one of the victims she risked her life to protect. No way would the gang members or bloodsuckers take her down as they’d done her father.
Heartless bastards! All of them.

Although Tanner said there were good vamps out there, Reggie had it firmly in her mind that the only good vampire was a dead vampire. She repeated the words like a cadence, motivating her legs to keep pumping and her feet to continue moving away from her attackers.

“The only good vampire is a—” With only half a block between her and the six men, she reached the end of the street and swung a hard right, running into a solid wall of steel. Her forehead made contact and then her chest, knocking what little air was left from her lungs. The force of the collision made her bounce backward, her head snapping up. With no air to sustain breathing and her vision blurred, the ground sucked her downward. As her knees buckled, her mouth completed her sentence. “Dead vampire.”

“I like to think of it as the living dead.” A deep voice with one of those guttural and incredibly sexy foreign accents filled her senses, and strong arms reached out to catch her before she hit the pavement.

Would you change the past?

My best bud from high school just posted a blog about time warps and changing the past. It got me thinking about my past and if I'd change it in any way.

Sometimes I dream about what would have happened had I not married at the age of 19 and gone on to join the military and traveled the world as a single 2LT. What fun that would have been. As soon as I slip into regrets for not choosing that path, I remind myself that I have two beautiful children from that marriage that I wouldn't trade for the world.

The paths we choose are what makes us who we are. It's what drives us to greater knowledge of ourselves. Hopefully we learn to make better decisions, improve our communication and negotiation skills and grow up to be better adults. Bottom line...it makes us who we are.

Today I'm happy with who I am (I could shed a few pounds and be happier, make no mistake). I know what I want in life and who I want to spend my time with. What more could I ask?

By the way the picture is me with the curly blond hair (perms were popular then) as a LT in the Army Reserves in 1987.

What about you? Do you wish you could go back and do life differently?

Check or carry-on?

As I pack my bags for a week-long trip to Phoenix, I struggle with the check or carry-on issue. Now that the airlines charge for every bag you check, it pushes people to carry their bags on board. That then leads to less of everything. Less shampoo, less hairspray, less toothpaste and then having to pack your liquids in a plastic bag and run it through the security scanners seperately. How many of you forget you bagged the liquids and left them tucked in a pocket of your carry-on until after you've already been scanned? That's me!

I'm fast at unpacking and repacking my computer. I wear slip-on shoes for easy on and off and I don't wear excessive metal in belts or jewelry that might set of the alarms. Really, traveling by air has become a big hassle. But then again, I'm not big on really long road trips, either, so I deal with the trouble and get on with it.

Essentials in my travel? My computer. I can't go a whole week without access to the internet. It makes me completely crazy. I carry notepads because on the plane I usually get some really big guy in front of me who leans his seat back as soon as the plane takes off. Can't open the computer if someone's laying in your lap. A notepad is fine for those occasions and gives me a chance to just think...about jabbing my pencil into the guy's ear that's laying in my lap. No really, I would never! But I might write a character gone off the deep end by inconsiderate air travelers.

Oh, and since I'm a writer, when I'm writing mystery or suspense, I find that I want to ask questions that aren't appropriate for air travel. Like, How would you hide something the size of an airplane while in flight? Uh. No. Not a good question to ask of the flight attendent. And lord forbid you should mention the H word. You know...the one where you're saying the short form of hello to Jack! Nope, can't ask that question. I can't even spell it in a blog for fear I'll end up on a list somewhere.

So back to the original question. Check or carry-on? Spend $25 bucks to have the airline delay your luggage or pack less and carry-on...The answer I'll leave floating out in airspace. Hopefully we won't run into it on my flight tomorrow. That and dodging geese are my greatest flying fears.

Making Progress

I spent yesterday sitting with my high school senior daughter and her tutor preparing for the ACT test. She needed help with math and science and feels "weird" about being alone with a tutor. Actually, the tutor was cute so I had no problem sitting there with my little laptop, plotting a story I hope to put straight to Kindle. My darling sister has been through all the ropes and hoops so I'm hoping to learn from her experience.

But first, I'm working this week on my third in the BOUND and TIED Series I have coming out with Samhain Publishing. Can't wait to get started. This series is based in the 1860's. The first two books take you to the mining country of Colorado. The third will bring you back east to the Mississippi River and the gambling boats. Can't wait to write Rosalyn's story. Yay! Wish me luck!

The big "O"

The best feelings are those that have no words to describe them...Michelle Hammersley

Sometimes when I'm writing a sex scene, I find it difficult to describe the feeling of the big "O". It can be different for everyone. A really good one is hard to describe and sometimes harder to achieve!

I was researching how to achieve the big "O" on the internet and found an article that said that

to men, "O" comes naturally. But for most women, they have to learn to reach "O". It's not just hitting the right spot physically, it's about reaching it both physically and mentally.

I find that to be true. Getting in the mood is important. I do it by reading something really sexy.

What do you do to get in the mood?

Birthdays and Bucket Lists

It's my birthday and I'll be busy all day and well into the evening. But it's a good time to stop and reflect on the decades gone by. Seems like the BIG ones are the birthdays that I have to take stock of what I've accomplished and what I have yet to accomplish.

Ten years ago I looked at my life and decided if I was ever going to write a book, I'd better start then or it was never going to get done. Now I'm a published author and writing full time! Amazing! I've checked several items off my BUCKET list and added a few, mostly dealing with travel and one dealing with making the NY Times best sellers list.

But all in all it's been a fantastic life so far. Can't wait to see what's coming up next!

BOUND AND TIED

I'm excited to announce the start of a new wild west series called BOUND AND TIED coming out with Samhain Publishing, starting October 26th with the release of HONOR BOUND a story set in the 1860's.

Two lonely miners in the Colorado Gold Rush and one tempting widow-turned-thief get tied in knots over each other...

When what feels right could get a man killed

Zach Braun struggles to resist his unnatural desire for his claim partner, Jake. The two rugged miners have been alone in the mountains for months, with no women. Exhilerated by the discovery of gold, they give in to their lust and discover sexual delights in each other.

A witness to seduction...

Widow Honor Whitaker, is on the run from her Indian captor, when she stumbles upon two men whose sexual activities make her want to join them. Determined to retain her independence she takes what she needs from a cabin and runs.

When a thief attempts to steal their gold, Zach and Jake aren't quite sure what to do with her, so they tie her up. They are shocked to discover their thief witnessed their sexual antics and that she was aroused by what she saw.

Together the three learn to let go of social mores and to accept what feels good as right, not the devil's work. But their newfound delight in each other might come to an end when a savage comes to claim what is his.

Watch for the next book in the series called DUTY BOUND due out in January of 2011! Jake gets his girls!