I've been Poelled...

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So, I haven’t posted in an age, but in my defense, life has been a whirlwind these past few weeks. So many things to share, but I’ll have to do it in spurts because I am very quickly making some tweaks to my manuscript so that my new, fantastic, lovely, hilariously funny and uber-enthusiastic super agent, Barbara Poelle, can get it out on submission.

Next on the—

What’s that, you say?

Oh, yes! I DID say agent. And I am thrilled, Thrilled, THRILLED about her. It’s a long and wonderful story, one of those, that looking back, seems like it was meant to be, but the very short version goes something like this:

Author (that’s me) has her eye on Super Agent (that’s Barbara) for a long time. Author sees that Super Agent is judging a historical romance contest (that’s the Hearts Through History’s Romance Through the Ages Contest) and decides to enter, in hopes of getting first three chapters of manuscript in front of her.

In the meantime, Super Agent and another Awesome Agent (that’s Holly Root) donate an afternoon tea with them to “Do the Write Thing for Nashville” to support flood relief for that area after the devastating May floods. Calculating Author thinks… “Hmm…I can support Nashville AND put myself in front of Super Agent, who will have read 3 chapters of my work if I final in that contest I entered, and at best, make an impression, and at worst, be able to at least ask her why she hated my writing.” Author bids, bids, bids and wins! Of course, she also queries both Super Agent AND Awesome Agent, because Author is no dummy and Awesome Agent is…well…awesome.

Author finals in the contest, and the manuscript is off to Super Agent. Author also finals in the Golden Heart and the Daphne, which doesn’t hurt, all of which are set to announce at the RWA Convention in Orlando, FL.

RWA arrives. Author WINS historical romance contest (Yay!), Super Agent comes to awards ceremony herself to announce the winners and then FLOORS Author by offering representation publicly in front of a room full of people, declaring her willingness to “get into a monkey knife fight” to represent Author. Author’s jaw drops, but she can’t stay to play, because she has to dash upstairs, where she also wins the historical category of the Daphne (at which point, she sees Super Agent standing in the back of the room, jumping up and down with applause. Author’s heart melts a little).

The next day, still stunned Author (and friend, Gretchen Jones) have lunch with Super Agent and Awesome Agent, who both deign to wear Fez’s blinged out with “I (heart) Nashville and Heather Snow” on them, and Author doesn’t have to ask Super Agent why she hated her writing, because Super Agent LOVES her writing. Yay!

(Gretchen proceeds to take picture evidence of this Fez wearing madness, which is exhibited below)




Author receives several more tempting (and wonderful) offers of representation over the next week, and is grateful and humbled by each and every one. Author runs off to New York to meet other Lovely Agents, to make certain she makes the right decision for her career. Author is torn, because she loves each agent and thinks they are all lovely. Then Author goes home and secludes herself for three days, clearing her head, listing her pros and cons, and checking her gut and her references and comes to a decision.

On Tuesday, Author calls Super Agent. Super Agent doesn’t answer. Author then decides, what the heck…Super Agent is young, hip and addicted to her iPhone (as is Author) and decides to officially accept offer of representation by text. She texts:

“Well, I’ve been Poelled. Here’s hoping you haven’t been Snowed into thinking I’m a better writer than I am, oh agent mine, because now you’re stuck with me. Call me when you can.”

And much celebration ensued.

All hilarity aside, I am very excited to be represented by the talented, tenacious and absolutely wonderful Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Agency. Here’s hoping we have many happy, successful and lucrative years together…

I’m going to DisneyWorld!!! (and I didn’t even have to win the Superbowl)

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Well, I’m off at the end of the week to the RWA ® National Conference in Orlando (which will be held next Thursday through Saturday to culminate in the Rita/Golden Heart awards on Saturday night). I’ll be traveling with my friend and fellow writer, Katy Madison, for a little pre-vacation, conference and then some Harry Potter world Sunday at Universal…woohoo!

My goals for the week:

1. DON’T get sunburned at the parks or at the pool. I’m a red-headed, pale skinned woman who is wearing a strapless dress to the Golden Heart Awards. I do NOT want freaky awful tan/burn lines on my shoulders!

2. Try to find time to relax. It’s not often I get away by myself. While I love the husband and the boy, it will be nice to have a little time for me. I’m going to do my best not to fill every moment and just have a breather or two along the way.

3. Catch up with some friends. That might be hard with 3,000 attendees and a schedule that is packed to the brim this year between the Golden Heart, Daphne, & Hearts through History contests, along with other events I’m committed to (and TOTALLY looking forward to). But I hope to get to spend time with some lovely people I don’t see that often (you know who you are, so find me if I can’t find you!)

4. Enjoy some time with my MARA and MRW friends who are also attending. It’s so lovely to have chapter-mates who will be in Orlando, too.

5. Be a good networker and make new friends. Not my strongest suit, but I will do better this year. I will! Hey, I still have at least one friend I met at my first RWA conference in 2007. (Michelle Marcos, I love you!) And I met some fabulous new friends at this year's Chicago North Spring Fling who are actually still talking to me, so there's hope for me yet :)

6. Enjoy the moment. I am thrilled and honored to be a first-time Golden Heart finalist this year, and I hope to soak in every bit that I can and bond in person with the other incredible finalists I’ve been getting to know on-line.

Heather’s Historical Hodgepodge won’t be updated for a couple of weeks. I’ll be gone next Tuesday, then I’ll be travelling to retrieve the boy from Nanny and Poppy’s house (who are so graciously spoiling…er, caring for their grandson while I am away).

See you on August 10th (unless, by some crazy fluke I actually win the Golden Heart…then I will have to post something!).

Either way, I promise pictures!
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The Dastardly Doings of Lord Derek Dammit…

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Lord Derek Dammit is a bad bad boy…but can you blame him? Despite his noble birth, from the time he was stitched and stuffed, people have been smacking him about, taking out their frustrations by grabbing poor Derek by the legs and whacking him against any hard surface they find, screaming “Dammit Dammit Dammit!”

It’s no wonder why, after a life-time of such abuse, Lord Derek was rotten to the core. He escaped his familial home and fled to London, taking out his own frustrations against anyone he came across. But one day, he went too far…



Charged with impersonating the Queen’s guard (not to mention improper pinching of the Queen’s guard’s arse), Lord Derek was exiled from the British Isles and decided to start anew in the Colonies. He made his way west, causing trouble everywhere he went until he landed on the beautiful island of Hawaii.

There, Lord Derek Dammit’s life changed forever, as life often does when one meets his true love.



Her name was Darla—the most refreshing, unconventional chit Lord Derek Dammit had ever encountered. Cupid’s arrow quite knocked Derek off of his feet. While he hid his noble birth from her, three blissful days were spent by Darla’s side strolling along the famed black sand beaches of the Big Island and making love at sunset at the southernmost point of the northern hemisphere.

But while his time with Darla was the closest thing to happiness he’d ever known, Lord Derek’s demons wouldn’t let him be. A life-time of anger and fear roiled within him, keeping him from being able to truly experience the peace and pleasure love offered. His growing closeness with Darla terrified the normally tough, cold Dammit Doll. So one night, after Darla had slipped off into oblivious and sated slumber, Lord Derek left her a brusque note:

Been fun, babe, but I’ve got to move on. There are more beaches and more cotton stuffing to explore…

And he left, like the bad boy that he was.

Moments after he’d walked away, Lord Derek knew he’d made a mistake. Yet he also knew that if he stayed, he would make Darla miserable. No Dammit Doll would be able put up with his mercurial moods and his bad boy ways for long…he would only ruin her life, turn her into a bitter, brittle shell of the Dammit Doll she was. So he stayed away.

But the days that followed were torture for Derek. He heard tales of Darla’s devastation, stood hidden at the airport window and watched as she flew away, back to the states. He couldn’t stand the pain, and turned to hard drink, going on a week-long destructive bender all over the island.

But one day, he went too far…



Charged with destruction of a sacred tombstone in the Hawaiian Catholic Cemetery, Lord Derek was transported from the Hawaiian Islands to Alcatraz Island.



During his time in the clink, Lord Derek realized he had much to lament in his life, but his biggest regret was letting Darla go. He had to win her back, tell her the truth about his identity and beg her forgiveness and her hand in marriage. It took much doing, but he learned that Darla would be at the Romance Writers of America national conference in Orlando, at the Moonlight Madness Bizarre.

He made plans to surprise her there and to do his best to convince her that what she’s read in all of those romance novels is true: that a reformed rake of a Dammit Doll makes the best kind of husband…

Come to the Mid-America Romance Author’s booth to see if Lord Derek Dammit was able to win back the love of his Darling Dammit Darla…

For the next installment of the Dammit Doll story, visit award-winning author Carla Cassidy’s blog at www.carlacassidy.wordpress.com this coming Friday, July 16.

Or to read Dammit Darla’s side of the story, visit author Jackie Bannon’s blog at http://jackiebannon.blogspot.com/2010/07/dammit-darla.html

(This post is a fun and farcical advertisement to entice you to visit the Moonlight Madness Bizarre at the Romance Writers of America conference in Orlando on Thursday, July 29 from 8 p.m. to Midnight where my chapter, Mid-America Romance Authors will be selling a delightful array of whackable Dammit Dolls for writers, complete with different verses aimed at expressing the unique frustrations of the publishing business—each ending with “Dammit Dammit Dammit”, of course. Please come by and see us if you will be in Orlando, or stop by the MARA site.) www.mararwa.com/authors/dammitdoll.htm