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Bestselling Author
Amanda Scott
Dear Readers,
The Ultimate Compliment:
It's definitely time for a new letter, so I thought I'd share a chuckle with you. I spend a large portion of each summer at a lake in the High Sierras near Tahoe. The road from the highway ends at the waterfront, and all transportation beyond that point is by boat or on foot. About two-hundred cabins are scattered around the lake, but there are no phones, no sewers, and no electricity.
Summers at the lake have been part of my life since I was three-years old, so, I am particularly fortunate that, as a writer, I can carry my work with me. Sitting at a table on the porch with jays squawking at me (one ancient one from right at the edge of the table), and with chickarees and chipmunks screeching for handouts, is not quite as convenient as sitting in my home office with my desktop computer and laser printer, but there are distinct advantages. The air is pure and fresh, and so clear that the surrounding mountains look even closer than they are. Sunlight warms breezes that stir papers on the table, the sounds of lapping water and motorboats soothe the ear, and my companions and advisors—the aforementioned wildlife—provide entertainment and amusement.
Not that there are not occasional annoyances. Mosquitoes and biting flies can be irritating pests, and we occasionally get gale-force winds; but I use a laptop, taking the battery a mile to the store each day (by boat) to be recharged, and I get by. I also make a point of reducing my usual working hours, so that I can spend time with family and with friends that I've known all my life (not to mention swim, hike, canoe, and other fun things—even just doing nothing).
Because of the lack of electricity, we generally use propane to power our lights, refrigerators, hot water heaters, and stoves—and many of us use heavy duty twelve-volt solar batteries to flush electric chemical toilets. One such battery recharging daily from a small solar panel can provide enough juice to run the toilet, power a light in the evening, and (if one is not greedy) will continue to operate the toilet the next day while recharging itself from the solar panel. The store at the end of the road stocks my books, and the response has been wonderful, but one couple took such delight in one of them that they provided me with a truly unique compliment. It seems that Bob was reading the book aloud to Joanne, chapter by chapter, night after night, until they both got so involved in the story that it became harder and harder to put the book down. I met them in the store the day after they finished, and they greeted me with, "Hi, we haven't been able to flush our toilet for three days, and it's all your fault!"
Best wishes,
Amanda Scott
amandascott@worldnet.att.net
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BORDER FIRE
Zebra Books |
Amanda Scott launches a new trilogy that transports readers to tumultuous 1596 Scotland, where the leader of the country's most notorious band of reivers has met his match in a headstrong English beauty...
Bold and brazen Rabbie Redcloak was notorious along the Scottish-English border, but few were aware of his true identity—Sir Quinton Scott, heir apparent to the most powerful Scottish border lord.
Captured by the formidable Sir Hugh Graham, Quin calmly awaited the hangman's noose. But his rescue came with the impetuous Janet Graham who ventured to the castle's dungeon. Lured by Quin's seductive charm, Janet plotted his daring escape. Fearing for the safety of his rescuer if he left her behind, Quin had no choice but to take the silver-blonde beauty with him, risking his very life—and his heart.
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In Association with Amazon.com
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HIGHLAND SPIRITS
Zebra Books |
He was the darkly handsome man who haunted Pinkie MacCrichton's dreams since childhood, a ghost who wandered the woods with his deerhound near her brother's Highland castle. Over the years, Pinkie's imagination had endowed her apparition with many virtues, so that he had become the perfect man against whom she judged all others. But then Pinkie travelled to England for her London Season—and encountered a brooding stranger to whom she felt a compelling attraction.
Michael Mingary, Earl of Kintyre, was disturbed by the shy Campbell heiress, and bedevilled by his own troubling dreams of a ghostly Scottish castle. But he couldn't afford to be distracted from his family's crushing debt to the Campbells. An arranged marriage between his sister and Pinkie's wealthy brother seemed the only way out, until Pinkie made an outrageous proposal of her own to this man she barely knew—gambling everything on a magnificent dream of love.
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In Association with Amazon.com
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Links: Amazon Books Kensington's Interview Manderley Books Writepage |
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