UPDATE: The winner is…Kerry!
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Tonight, be sure to step outside, and weather permitting, you’ll see a “super” blue moon!

What is that, you ask? Well, first, a blue moon isn’t actually blue. What it refers to is the appearance of a second full moon within a single month. What makes tonight’s “super?” A super moon occurs when the moon is closest to earth, and it makes it appear larger. So, tonight is a SUPER BLUE moon.

I’m a Cancer according to the astrological chart, so the Moon is my ruling planet. I pay attention to its phases, and I love to follow the pagan lore about the names of the full moons throughout the year. So, today’s puzzle, to commemorate the special moon tonight, is filled with the names of the year’s full moons.

Enjoy the puzzle! For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me whether you’ll step outside to view the blue moon tonight! If you “practice,” be sure to leave a clear jar of water outside in the moonlight! You’ll know what I mean. 🙂

Word Search: Names of the Full Moons

Do you even know from whence that expression was derived?

Lemme tell ya. It’s when you have two full moons within the same calendar month. What does that mean? It’s a very special moon that you save very special magic to work. And statistically speaking, it only occurs every 2.72 years, but you will have one at the end of this month and another at the end of January!

What does that mean for you? Make today count. Do something with someone you love. For me, I’ll be pounding out pages because that’s what I love and where I want my “magic” spent.

Have a great New Years Eve! ~DD

According to The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft, December’s moon is the Oak or Long Night Moon. In some places, the moon holds reign because night time hours surpass daytime hours—and I know, that’s only if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, but Idiot’s Guides aren’t likely to be read south of the equator, right? Okay, that kinda bothered me because “skeptic-logical me” came out to play.

My interpretation of what you’re supposed to do in December with all those hours of night? Fuck. A lot. And yeah, get things you’ve been promising yourself to do around the house done so you will be ready to start a bright shiny New Year.

Today, I probably won’t get a lot of writing done. I have to pick up those newly hemmed “booty jeans” from the tailor shop and get my nails done. And I have to start getting those guest blogs loaded so you’ll have a good reason to keep coming here while I’m gone.

I have to tell you about my dream. Last night, I was in Antonio Banderas’s arms. Antonio was a con man with a partner, and they were working a con in a bad part of New York. I went along while he played cards, mainly because I had a bad feeling and wouldn’t let him out of my sight. Well, someone drew a gun. The partner. And things went to hell. The game was happening in the back of a laundromat. The partner and Antonio put the other players into the washing machines to torture information out of them. Picture all those nude men with slick skin, wet hair and eyelashes, and suds sticking to their skin. I thought, damn I better not wake up now. But one of them drowned.

We had to run, change our names, and Antonio had to start a new con which involved essential oils for erotic purposes and which he demonstrated on me in front an audience. Can you imagine trying not to come when AB has slippery, oily fingers you-know-where? I wanted to cuss a blue streak when my electric blanket clicked and I woke up. Wonder what it all meant…

In just over a month, Sasha White and I will be boarding a ship sailing to the Caribbean! We’ve booked the cruise (got a great deal, yay bad economy!). We’ve booked our flights. Now, it’s down to our own personal lists of trip preparations.

As soon as we paid for the cruise, I headed to the post office to order a new passport. My old one was lost in the move from Texas. It only took two weeks for it come back! So, check!

I booked the flight and will arrive the afternoon before the ship leaves. Sasha and I are hoping to stay with a friend of hers who lives near the port. Otherwise, we’ll get a hotel and start the party!

This week, I will call for that doctor’s appointment and go through my closet to see what kind of cruise-worthy clothing I already have. Then I’m going shopping!

Is there anything you can think of that I’m missing on my list?

* * * * *

November’s moon is the Snow Moon. According to The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft, this is a “good time to work with abundance, prosperity, and the bonds of family and friendship.”

Well, I am looking forward to a cruise with a very good friend. I’m bonding with other writers over the NaNoWriMo challenge. And of course, Thanksgiving plans are well under way. So far so good.

The Snow Moon is also the time to “use divination to get an idea of what is up ahead.” Sounds like it’s time to pull out the tarot cards and rune stones or maybe it’s just a warning to start my New Year’s resolutions early. For an inveterate planner, it’s never too early to start a new list!

Yesterday’s winner has been selected, but I’m gonna make you read to the bottom because I’m not done talking yet!

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Another friend of mine, Lorie O’Clare, has a brand new book out now! She never disappoints and this one looks hawt!

Detective Rain Huxtable works alone, and she likes it that way. But when a fourth spouse turns up dead in Lincoln, Nebraska, Rain’s superiors call in help from the FBI. They’ve either got a serial killer or a hired murderer on their hands, and their solution is to team Rain up with Special Agent Noah Kayne – and send them undercover as a married couple.

Noah is infuriating…and infuriatingly attractive. Rain wants no part of this charade, but with four people dead under suspiciously similar circumstances in a matter of months, she has no choice but to play the part of a doting wife and investigate a close-knit group of suburban couples. It’s hard enough to keep up a professional facade when the heat between her and Noah burns so dangerously. But it may be even more dangerous for Rain to let her guard down once she realizes that the couples involved are playing a very sordid – and deadly – game…

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October’s moon is the Blood Moon. Sounds spooky, huh? According to The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft, it’s also known as the Hunter’s Moon, and is a time to set new goals, seek protection, and spirituality. Makes sense, right? You’ve harvested the crops and have winter to get ready for.

What does that mean in a metaphysical sense? A season of action and growth has ended. Now’s the time to tidy up, get out the sage for some smudgin’. Before too long we’ll be wearing sweaters and staying inside more. So take a little time to get prepared, emotionally and physically—don’t you need to pull out the winter coats and clothing? Maybe prepare some clove oranges to keep the smell of sunshine inside and your spirits high.

Okay, have I kept you in suspense long enough? Yesterday’s winner (by random number generator), of her choice of SUNSTROKED or THE HOTLINE by Cathryn Fox is…Maribel!

While The Cat’s Away Countdown – Day 6…

September’s Moon is the Harvest Moon. According to The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft, it’s “a time of protection, prosperity and abundance.”

There’s energy in this month. It’s time to harvest grain—which translated means September’s a time of prosperity. Winter’s beckoning, but for now you can celebrate.

I’ll be thinking of you. And missing my daily blog. Maybe. Depends on how well the ladies and I get along. Six days of togetherness? Don’t they say that three days is the rule—after which company and socks begin to stink? I know I mucked that one up, but you get my drift. Can’t wait to share pictures!

I’ll recap the last week.

As you can see from the progress bar to the right, I finished Unbroken, then wrote a quick short story for Cleis’s upcoming Girl Crush anthology (which got accepted yesterday—woot!). Unbroken is a very sexy cowboy story about a couple having to get past infidelity. The Cleis thing was a short challenge for myself—just 3000 words about a lesbian affair. And don’t forget about my new release, Eye of the Storm. It’s my 11th for the year!

We had so much rain this past week that the pool cooled from 90 to 80 degrees and I had to drain off the excess water three times. The ground is so saturated, a large apple tree fell and knocked out a portion of the back fence. The deer gorged on the leaves of the tree—so there’s your silver lining.

My daughter and I threw around ideas for a Young Adult novel, and I think I have the opening scene for something really spooky. Will have to do a lot of plotting for this one because there will be a larger cast than I normally deal with and a spookfest I have to nail.

Then I went on a reading binge of intrigue books. At the end, plots started swirling in my head, and I came up with one that I’d love to start writing, but will require research of its own.

So, this next week will be spent in geek-mode, reading through my library of occult books and surfing the net for bomb-making and Homeland Security-related articles. But I can’t spend the whole time reading, so I think I’ll start a new story, something quick and light that I can pound out in between all the hard, boring work.

According to The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft, August’s moon is the Wyrt moon. WTF does that mean, you ask? Wyrt is the Old English word for plant, so Wyrt moon refers to the Plant or Herb moon. It’s time to collect your magical herbs, time to reap the harvest.

What does that mean in a metaphysical sense? This is the time to reap what you sow. So hope like hell you’ve built some great karma.