Welcome to Fantasy Island! The Mermaid Celebration Continues…

It’s our one-year anniversary! The Waterworld Mermaids have dyed the lagoon hot pink, added glitter and cranked up the dance music for our weeklong anniversary celebration. Each day we’ll be hosting a mermaid scavenger hunt. At the bottom of each day’s post you’ll find three questions about the mermaids who blogged that day, the answers to which can be found on this site. Answer the questions and be entered to win that day’s prize. Plus, on Friday we’ll be giving away a $130 Visa gift card. To increase your odds of winning the gift card, answer each day’s scavenger hunt questions. Every entry you make Monday through Thursday will give you an additional entry in the big Friday giveaway of a $130 gift card. So jump in the lagoon and get swimming with your lucky fin!

 

Susan: Flash back to 1975: me deep into Europe on $10 a Day, convinced I could make a trip like that and survive.  I even applied for a passport!  Sadly, without traveling companions, my dreams had to wait. Even though I insisted it was possible to go by myself, nobody was in favor of my wild proposals, and my always-vivid imagination kept me quite safely at home.  But I could dream…

Flash forward twenty-eight years, and I am on a plane to Paris.  At last!  Dear One is meeting me there, having flown in from a business trip in Singapore.  Imagine me exiting Customs and seeing him on the other side of the glass.  How romantic!  We celebrate our Silver Anniversary in the City of Light.  We see the Bastille Day fireworks at the Eiffel Tower.  We have dinner with friends.  Really!  In Paris!  We get slammin’ service and free drinks!  We walk twice around the Arc de Triomphe because we’re too drunk to find our street! (boy howdy, was Dear One perturbed over that!)

When I come home, I have been deeply entrenched in the French language for a week.  I have apparently talked in French in my sleep.  For a few moments after returning home, I can’t read English.  On a shopping trip with SweetPea, I start to cry.  Why?  Because there aren’t any sidewalk cafes in upstate New York that will let you sit down and order a glass of wine.  I’m back in America.  I’m stuck.

This is my fantasy:  Let me do it all again before I die.

Masha – my dream vacation was and still is a cruise through Europe. One of the stops along the way was the Island of Capri. So far, that has to be the most gorgeous place on earth.  I was only able to spend a day, but the views were magnificent.  Perched off the coast of Italy, its windy cliff roads are peppered with beautiful white villas capped with red clay roofs. The cobblestone streets weave around quaint stores, but it’s the Blue Grotto that is a taste of heaven. In my wild imagination, I take a rickety taxi all the way to the top, pick an out of the way café, nestled amidst bright azalea bushes, and stare down to the blue Mediterranean as I pluck out my latest novel.   I imagine my family is along for the ride (although the kids are older.. as cute as they are, toddlers and neckbreaking mountainside drops into the ocean don’t mix), but every day I get a few slices of time to do my own thing before joining them on whatever adventure they cook up for the day.  But alas, for now, it’s back to the grind.

Loni:  I’m in a cottage in the quaint lake front town of Petoskey, Michigan one of the towns I grew up in.  The cottage is vintage Victorian but not overly done.  There is a wide front porch with a bench swing painted white, two large oaks out front and the breeze is gently blowing  the sheer curtains into my Shabby-Chic, decorated bedroom.  I wake to a breakfast of fresh strawberries and cream with banana nut muffins and hot, English Breakfast tea and orange juice out on the back screened in porch facing the English-style gardens.

My day is spent with my beloved (who is catering to my every whim) checking out the local shops along the lake front.  There are antique stores and craft stores, local artisans selling their wares and even a farmer’s market.  We pick up a loaf of fresh bread, olive oil, some deli cheese, meats and fresh fruits to make a picnic along with a bottle of a semi-sweet wine that will compliment the small picnic.  We spread out a blanket on the rich green lawn of the local park in front of the Stafford’s Perry Hotel under a shade tree and enjoy just talking and feeding each other bits of cheese and grapes.

We would take a walk along the lake front and let the breeze off of Lake Michigan carry our cares away.  It would be perfect because the following day, he would take me to Mackinac Island via ferry where we would continue my fantasy vacation at the Grand Hotel where I would revel in sitting in a white whicker chair on the worlds largest front porch, taking in the view of gorgous Lake Huron/Lake Michigan, the Mackinac Bridge and the boats out on the water, while the scent of fresh lilacs waft around me.

That would be my fantasy vacation: to live the dream I’ve had since I was a little girl in northern Michigan.

1.  What is Loni’s publishing status?

2.  What is Susan’s sign?

3.  What superpower does Masha want to have?

 

Thanks for joining us in the Waterworld Mermaid lagoon! Leave a comment with the answers to the following three questions (hint: answers found in the mermaid profiles) and be entered to win today’s prize—a signed print copy of our very own Susan Andrews vintage 1987 Harlequin American release, Fair Game.  A mint condition, unread and very rare copy of her Golden Heart winning story!

 

About Susan Jeffery

I am loving the challenge (sometimes) of re-entering the contemporary romance market after a lifetime of raising two fantastic children (it never ends, btw). Just when I thought I was done with kids, I accepted a position as librarian to 900 boys in a Bronx private school. I'm a vintage published author, Harlequin American #206 Fair Game (1987). Winner of the Golden Heart, 1986. Currently exploring the possibility of indie publishing under my new pseudonym (see fresh name, above).

78 thoughts on “Welcome to Fantasy Island! The Mermaid Celebration Continues…

  1. Ahhhhh, three fabulous fantasy vacations! Masha, you make me want to see Capri. Loni, I also need the Grand Hotel! One day, we’ll have it all.

    1. Hey, to me that’s a vacation–sitting, enjoying the scenery and taking a breath of fresh air. Where better than on a beautiful, (no cars allowed) island where they have you step back in time about a hundred years or so.

  2. Ohhhh, I do believe I read that story in a bathtub back in the day – refilling with hot water when it got chilly. Love the dream vacations. For me any vacation is a dream. 🙂

    1. Avery, were you also the one who managed to empty the hot water tank? Oh my stars, the yelling when Dad realized that I had used an ENTIRE tank of hot water for the house!

  3. Ladies, that was beautiful. Just beautiful. You are all masters of description, and I am honored to be in your company. Susan, your final line brought tears to my eyes.
    We have a very special prize today, a mint and very rare copy of Susan’s 1987 novel. In truth, I’d really, really like to win this one — I’m not allowed to enter, am I?

    1. Thank you, Pin. This is what happens when I’m bone-tired and trying to write after bedtime… I wish all the sisters could be in this drawing!

  4. Wow! Those were wonderful fantasy vacations described so beautifully it felt like we were there with you. Reading them one after the other also felt like three ladies out on separate journeys with a remarkable yet hidden connection…I wonder how they would all meet up? Cool collaboration.

    Susan, you know every single one of us mermaids wants a copy of your book! This is a huge tease to your fishy sisters!

  5. 1. pre-published PRO member
    2. pisces
    3. Being able to listen in on people’s conversations

    1. Tanya, welcome! You are entered and have a chance at an old-school romance title! (How DID they manage to hook up before cell phones and social media???)

      1. The Old Fashioned Way…they ran into each other during an awkward moment. There’s a car commercial that gives a great example of this. I’ll have to find out the name of it so I can look it up on YouTube to show y’all. It proves the point exactly.

        1. Oh yeah, awkward? Ya think? She wins a date with him in a television show! And then they have to run away from the papparazzi and where does he take her??? To meet his family, of all things…

          1. Well, getting chased is rather awkward and meeting the family can be a tad awkward at the start before they warm up to you. There are degrees of awkwardness.

  6. And once more, I attempt to win a prize…futile at best. (A variation of the slogan I post on pre-stamped postcards I sent to Fangoria magazine back in the day when they had their contest drawings in their issues before they moved them to their website. Some of the things I wrote on the blank side were hilarious and even puzzling. Some of the entries actually won. Some day, I’ll tell you of the most memorable one.):

    1. Loni Lynne’s status is a pre-published PRO. Course, as the saying goes “Never give up on your dreams.”. I’m sure she’ll be published soon enough and it will be glorious. Furtherest I’ve gotten in the publishing game was a reviewing gig on a long-ago website (which I was fired from THREE TIMES and will not get into for the moment) and a few letters in the local newspaper plus one honorable mention on a contest they held dealing with Harry Potter’s possible future around the time THE DEATHLY HOLLOWS had arrived. (I think I got the unedited version still saved up somewhere.)

    2. Susan Andrews sign is a Pisces. I am a Leo, who shared birthdays with Sandra Bullock and Mick Jagger. Go figure. I’m still stunned over that.

    3. Masha Levinson wants the ability to listen in on people’s conversations. Course, I suspect she prefers the telepathic/enhanced hearing over the electronic version since the latter…would raise a few awkward questions and possible lawsuits. 😉 The ability I would love to have is to understand everything through extremely fast learning and intelligence. (No magics involved, please. I’m Old School Hard Science & Fringe. If it ain’t hard-wired or genetically enhanced…it’s just crazy.) Course, I would prefer learning normal practical things like new languages, financial matters and everything automotive since I’ve had some bad luck dealing with cars and cash. (If I can learn enough to be self-sufficient and keep a ride from falling apart…then I can do bigger things to make this planet a little less insane and a lot more fun. I wouldn’t run for high office, though. Just keep me behind the scenes to keep the Great Machine purring and allow me to enjoy some pleasures of life like pizza and movie and maybe attending Comic and Dragon Cons for life! 😉 )

    Okay, let’s see if I get lucky or something.

    1. Thanks for the comment and I am still writting away–as I like to say, “Someday my Print will come.” 😉

      Good luck and thanks for joining us today!

      1. Well, keep at it and don’t let the rejection slips get ya down. They’re a great learning experience. (Course, it would be nice if they were a little more interactive like the Net so you can correct and re-edit. Sadly, that’s asking a lot from editors who have to deal with a million things.)

    2. Does it count that I met Sandra Bullock’s mom and sister? My dog got to play with their dog at the park. I know… cool, right? LOL! I was visiting a friend who went to school with Sandra and her sister. ;-D

      1. Good enough. I once had a close Groupmind gig with Peter Beagle that’s one of my greatest life experience. It was him and a few fans who got lucky enough to attend. Man, the Q&A was mind-blowing to say the least.

        1. Oooohhh, I bet! So jealous! You do know that you have to come back and swim in the pond on a regular basis because you rock!

          1. Oh, I do not! I’m just a dude who digs the Odd, the Strange and the Unique and occasionally raise some Hell and Conscience. (And perhaps some Undead things, but that incident’s been sealed by the courts. 😉 )

    3. I think luck is on your side with the entry. And to be fair, I’m not partial whether the listening devices are of the telepathic kind or peering into places I shouldn’t be. This, after all, is a fantasy, right.. 🙂 I think it stems from the fact that when God (or Darwin, whoever you believe helped us onto this Earth) was giving out paranoia, I got in line three times. But for now, I will settle for remaining wonderfully ignorant. Actually, sometimes it’s best not to know.

  7. Good luck everyone! Don’t forget to leave a comment and answer the questions for each day’s post this week so you have more chances to win! ;-D

  8. I’m with Avery! While all of your fantasy vacations sound incredible, at this point ANY vacation is a pretty fabulous thing! ;-D

    1. Vacation is a word to describe a near-mythical event or creature in my life. At the moment, I’m allotted three weeks of vacation time at my job and every one gets used up on extended days off when things are slow, when I get sick or if Mother Nature decides to send over a hurricane to shake the roadway to pieces. (I think we’re due for one of those this year in Northwest Florida. We’ve been lucky since Hurricane Ivan give or take, but that luck can’t run forever.)

      1. Then you and my sister-in-law will be hatin’ life together. I’ll never forget living in coastal North Carolina… 5 hurricanes in 3 years… enough said.

        1. I’ve ridden out quite a few storms. Only once did I and my folks had to leave Destin because of Opal. Granted, that hurricane doesn’t hold a candle to Katrina and the hell she unleashed, but Opal did her harm in so many ways. I still have the newspaper copy of all the damage. Have to remember to scan it. Have to remember to get the attachments to the scanner/printer since the wires are missing!

  9. I really, really, REALLY wish I could enter. It’s not fair. As in not FAIR GAME. LOL. You guys have such wonderful, descriptive scenes for your dream vacations. Mine is just KIDS NOT FIGHTING. That’s it. A nice vacation where nobody touches anybody else, nobody looks at anyone else, and nobody argues over anything. That’s it, really. Of course, my husband is allowed to touch. All he wants. 🙂

    1. Haha, Kim Mermaid, mine is 31 days of eating properly prepared rolled tacos in San Diego! Oh wait, that’s actually going to happen this summer!!! hehehehe! Yay for me!

  10. Yes, we promise. We are leaving entries for all days open until 11:59pm EST on May 13th. Drawings will be made from each day’s entries for the daily prize, and all entries will be put in the pot for the grand prize drawing of the $130.00 Visa Gift Card/

  11. Ohhhhh … I found the blurb for Fair Game:

    It was the date of a lifetime.

    Julie Turner wished she had never agreed to be a contestant on Love Life, a popular TV dating game. And she never thought she would win. But now she and Marcus Allen, star of daytime TV, had to spend a week together in Atlantic City, being wined and dined and photographed. Any other woman would have jumped at the chance, but Julie didn’t like publicity and wished she were back in the classroom, teaching her fourth-graders how to spell.

    Julie never expected Marcus, hunk extraordinaire, to turn out to be a nice guy, or for his fabled charm to be for real. How could she resist a man who whisked her away from the prying eyes of the media to a homey seaside hideaway in Maryland?

    1. Now I’m doubly bummed I can’t enter. Grrrrr.
      That sounds awesome.

  12. Okay–I’m simple. 🙂

    I’m vintage, classic and wish for a quieter, more relaxed time. But I would love Susan and Masha’s dream vacations, too. Not sure how much a weekend (or night) is at the Grand Hotel–will have to look that up but I know it used to be expensive. And the Perry Hotel (my father worked there years ago–briefly when it was called the Perry-Davis) was still an elegant hotel made for an elegant summer retreat town. My mother used to clean some of the Victorian ‘summer cottages’ during the off-season so I remember the lavish homes.

  13. 1. Not-yet-published PRO
    2. Pisces
    3. Fly-on-the-wall/listening in on conversations

    My dream vacation…Hawaii, two weeks, my entire family and all my friends around, no calories count, no kids fight, and I stumble onto the set of Hawaii 5-0, where they beg me to be an extra and then I get The Call that I’ve sold in a huge multi-book deal. And I wear cool shoes the whole time.

    When I daydream, I do it BIG, people. Just saying!

    1. Holy Cow, Kimberly!
      I just want to be a part of that dream vacation. That’s awesome. Can you squeeze in a small multi-book deal for me, too? I’ll pull along a suitcase of uber-cool shoes for you! I promise! That way you change them at will.
      My grandparents used to watch the old Hawaii 5-0 Every.Single.Night on the other side of my wall. They were hard of hearing, so it was super loud. That theme song just about broke my poor eardrums. There were many nights they watched back-to-back episodes. Drove me nuts!

      1. Yes! There will be huge book deals for all on my vacation. No dream is too big 🙂

        Now I’m humming the Hawaii 5-0 theme song, and possibly day-dreaming of Alex O’Loughlin…hehe…

  14. Thanks for the wonderfully guided tour! I loved the inspiration too; now if only I could decide whose dream vacation to sabotage in my next novel…

    1. What is Loni’s publishing status?
    Pre-published PRO member

    2. What is Susan’s sign?
    Pisces

    3. What superpower does Masha want to have?
    Being able to listen in on people’s conversations

  15. Good Morning Mermaids! Err…afternoon…OK so I have been wasting the day away in bed, reading. Then I thought to myself, get out of bed you lazy girl, the mermaids are waiting in the pond. *G* When I am done here, it is likely I will be back to reading.

    Loni: pre-published PRO member (not long now, I am sure!)
    Susan: Pisces (Hey! ME TOO! I am a water sign all the way)
    Masha: Being able to listen in on people’s conversations (yup. that would be awesome)

    Great vacations stories/fantasies. Someday I hope to travel. Have a great day!

    Ursula (aka Sparkley Spice) [email protected]

    1. Yay, thanks for coming by, Ursula! The pond wouldn’t be quite so nice without you!

    2. Good Evening Sparkley Spice, I second Pintip and wish you a whole nother load of good luck!!!

    3. Hey Ursula,
      Welcome to the lagoon! Thanks for the comments. Sometimes you just have to stay in bed and read… I think I’ll do that Sunday. 😉

  16. Love these fantasy vacations. I am planning for a European cruise someday, too. Though recently I watched Enchanted April and thought it would be amazing to rent an Italian villa for a month and just write. That would be fabulous. My short-term goal is to return to Kauai again. I was only there for two nights on a tour and didn’t get to see the whole island. It is what I pictured Eden to be like. It’s where they filmed the opening shot from Fantasy Island and several other movies like Indiana Jones. My goal is to go to the place where they filmed Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indy runs across the field with the natives giving chase. I’ll don my Indy hat while my husband films me running and yelling, “Start the plane!” Maybe I can pay some people to chase me?

    Yes, I am a geek.

    1. PRO
    2. Pisces
    3. Listen in on conversations

    1. Jennifer,
      If you want to pay my way, I’ll be glad to chase you! 🙂
      Just keep it in mind.

      1. I’ll chase Kim while she’s chasing you to make it even more exciting! Good Luck Jennifer!!!! For movie related fantasy vacations, I’ve got to admit I’d love to take a trip to Forks, WA.

    2. Jennifer,
      I lived on Oahu for four years–(military/Navy, hubby was Army). We took a weekend trip to Kauai–the Indiana Jones scene was filmed near the Fern Grotto! It was so cool to see it! Went back to Oahu a few years back (after nearly 20 years). Not quite the same but it was nice to take our two minnows (one is a native Hawaiian mer-girl).

      1. Thanks, Loni! I will have to remember it is Fern Grotto. Sounds like a nice trip on which to take your two minnows. I’m sure they loved it!

  17. OMG! That is hilarious! I love it Jennifer, that is an awesome goal!

    Of course this comes from a woman with one daughter who wore a tiara to school today, and I must say it complemented her Star Trek shirt beautifully. The other daughter is currently playing a little ditty from Lord of the Rings on the violin. And I have a 16 pound cat who fetches, sits for treats, and opens doors. No one in my house is completely normal. But hey, we kinda like it that way… Bwhahahaha

    1. Dana Mermaid, give those beautiful girls some more fishy love from us!

  18. 1. What is Loni’s publishing status? pre-published PRO member
    2. What is Susan’s sign? Pisces
    3. What superpower does Masha want to have? Being able to listen in on people’s conversations

    [email protected]

  19. My dream vacation is a long trip around the world. Just take off for a year and stop here and there. I want to go to the Taj Mahal, Bhutan, New Zealand, Seychelles, Madagascar, and so many more places.

    1. Not-yet-published PRO
    2. Pisces
    3. Listening in on conversations

    1. Shannon,
      There is a cruise ship called, “The World” where you rent a cabin and it literally travels to all ports of the world. You’ll have to look it up but it sounds like it might be up your alley. (Price wise–not sure but always nice to dream!)

      All the best and keep dreaming. Good luck on the contest! 🙂

  20. Dream vacation would be traveling thru Europe and then Asia. I went to Paris and Germany on a very tight budget to visit my sister-in-law who was studying abroad. I would love to go back to Paris where I wasn’t eating just bread and cheese and staying in hostels. So with that being said we were no drunk when we decided to visit the Arc de Triomphe, we didn’t know that was a tunnel to the arc. So we crossed the circle. Needless to say the drivers were not too happy with us. 🙂
    1. pre-published PRO member
    2. Pisces
    3. Being able to listen in on people’s conversations

  21. JoAnna,
    Crossing the circle of the Arc de Triomphe sounds like trying to cross DuPont Circle at rush hour in D.C. Don’t want to do that again, drunk or sober 😉 !

    Thanks for dropping in!

  22. 1. Not yet published PRO member
    2. Pisces
    3. Being able to listen in on people’s conversations

    Sorry to be un-creative but going to the beach and reading a nice romance novel or any other non law school book would be my current dream!

    1. Hey Lana,
      A vacation is doing what helps you relax. I take mini-vacations whenever I can (even if it’s at home turning off all electronics and settling in with a good romance book). Man, I haven’t done that in awhile either! 🙂

      Treat yourself to a mini-vacation. Sounds like you deserve it.

      All the best! And good luck to you in contest entry!

    2. I’m with Loni on that — it’s called refreshing your spirit! Let’s all try to do more of this, so we can be better writers!

  23. Hey fabulous mermaids! I’m back. I enjoyed reading about the fantasy vacations.

    Answers:

    1. Loni is a pre-published PRO member

    2. Susan is a Pisces

    3. Masha’s superpower would be the ability to listen in on people’s conversations.

  24. 1. pre-published PRO member
    2. Pisces
    3. ability to listen in on people’s conversations

    bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

Comments are closed.