In my recent research for a new book, I spent a great deal of time trying to find the perfect setting. I finally settled upon Morocco. It’s a beautiful and exotic place with a culture all its own.While reseraching the arcitecture there I came across a type of palace called kasbah.Here’s what the Encarta Dictionary says about the word:

cas·bah (plural cas·bahs) or kas·bah (plural kas·bahs)

noun
Definition:

1. N African fortress: in North Africa, a fortress or palace

2. older district: in North Africa, the older part of a city or town, often the market area

[Mid-18th century. Via French < Arabic qaṣbah "fortress"]

Upon further research, I found that kaspahs were a “place for the local leader to live and as a defense when the city was under attack. A kasbah has high walls which usually have no windows. Sometimes, they were built on the top of hills to make them easier to defend. Some of them were also placed near the entrance of harbours.” (wikipedia)

“To protect themselves from invaders, the Berbers (people of the Dades Valley region in Morocco) erected literally hundreds of kasbahs. The 25 Kms of good, though very winding tarmac road from Boumalne du Dades passes directly through this forest of ochre fortresses.” Morocco-travel.com

Note to self: talk dh into this for an anniversary trip…

Contrary to what men might have us believe, they don’t always know better. For starters, they’re always getting lost (at least the man of my house is.) And sometimes the simplest way to do something is right in front of their face but they don’t see it until you point it out to them. :-)

Now, I love my man, and I wouldn’t change him. But we just had a funny little incident that I thought I’d share.

Yesterday my mouse stopped working. And I don’t know about you, but I can’t live without being able to point and click. I’ve just not grasped how to use keyboard shortcuts and all that jazz. So anyway, I gave up on the mouse and went to read Susan Mallery’s latest. (I’d give it a 5 out of 5 btw, but what else is new? She’s Susan Mallery after all.)

So today I come in praying for a miracle that the mouse is working. Nope. We switch the buttons and so I’m cruising along clicking my right mouse key. Joy. So finally, I get a little tried of all this mouse nonsense, I mean it was working perfectly well yesterday.

Then I had an epiphany. About ten years ago I had a printer that would occasionally go on strike. Since it was on a roll out thingy in the desk, close to the floor, I used to threaten to kick it. Again… frustration. Not that I ever kicked it, I swear. But the threats always worked, oddly enough. Printer would start printing. I’d be happy… until the next time.

So back to the mouse. I thought about threatening it, but at this point I was pretty frustrated so I gave it a good whack against the mouse pad. Yes, I know. I’m abusing my hardware…. DH says to me, “you know, I don’t think hitting it is going to help.” How like him. It takes a whole lot to get that man frustrated. Not being able to do my work for two days… oh I was way up there on the frustrated scale.

So I clicked the left mouse button……. and what do you know. It worked!

“Well, it worked. The left mouse button is working again,” I told him triumphantly.

See…. men don’t always know better.

And at least my mouse is working again, thank goodness!

Stay tuned for the word of the week.

Don’t forget to sign up for my interviews only list where I post my interviews before I post them here or anywhere else. You’ll get awesome author interviews right in your inbox.

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Now for the interview…

MC: First off, do you prefer to be called Lori or Loribelle?

LH: Either one is fine really. My family tends to call me Lori Belle and my friends and husband call me Lori, unless it isn’t getting my attention lol.

MC: Who are some of your favorite authors? Books that have inspired you?

LH: I love so many. Christine Feehan, Suzanne Brockmann, Jayne Ann Krentz, Gennita Low, Guy Gavriel Kay, Tony Hillerman, Nevada Barr, Anne Rivers Siddons, Pat Conroy…I could obviously go on all day.

As for inspiration, anything that sucks me and turns off my inner editor is an inspiration. All those authors I listed can do that.

MC: Tell us about your books. How many have you published so far?

LH: I have seven available now.

MC: What’s coming up from you?

LH: Books three (Chasing the Moon) and four (Call of the Moon) of the Lunar Mates series should be out in December and January, and I have a short suspense called Fireworks that should be available from Samhain Publishing sometime next spring.

MC: Who are you published with?

LH: Cobblestone Press, Samhain Publishing, and Freya’s Bower

MC: Like many writers, you seem to have a love/hate relationship with writing. What advice do you have for new authors & writers?

LH: Lol, I see my personal blog is catching up with me! I think you have to really love it, have to really know this is what you’re supposed to be doing with your life. Because, seriously, there are some days that are awful. If under the frustrations and the set backs, writing is something that defines you and you love it, don’t ever give up. The hallmark of every best seller is perseverance I think.

MC: If you were to compare your work to other authors, who would you say that your work most resembles in plot, tone, or voice?

LH: I can never answer this question. There’s almost always some suspense in my work, either in paranormal or military or civilian law enforcement. I think I’m not as dark as Christine Feehan and maybe a little darker than Suzanne Brockmann.

MC: What’s something readers may not know about you?

LH: I rarely eat chocolate. I know, that’s evil, huh? But it gives me migraines so I have to have a serious jones to eat it.

MC: How about some fun questions? Do you have a motto?

LH: Never quit!

MC: How about a favorite phrase?

LH: I say alrighty then way too much lol.

MC: Give us five words that describe you.

LH: loyal, nosy, determined, cynical, and opinionated

MC: Is the glass half full or half empty?

LH: Depends on the day really.

MC: What are your hobbies?

LH: Photography, reading, hanging out with the kids

MC: Favorite food?

LH: It should be illegal to turn down lasagna!

MC: Favorite beverage?

LH: I tend to rotate between sweet tea, Diet Coke, and French Vanilla cappuccino.

MC: Worst fear?

LH: Failure because I wasn’t gutsy enough to go after what I wanted.

MC: Favorite movies?

LH: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Four Weddings and a Funeral, the original Star Wars series, Serenity, Buckaroo Bonzai, Underworld, Blade, The Mummy (1 and 2)

MC: Favorite TV shows?

LH: Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Jericho, The Nine

MC: If you could travel to any time and place, when, where and why?

LH: Into the future. I can’t wait to see how technology and society develop.

MC: Do you have a favorite sport?

LH: Fast pitch softball. My daughters’ sport.

MC: How can readers get in touch with you?

LH: My website and blog are at www.loribellehunt.com. By email I can be reached at lori@loribellehunt.com

I’ll be there… I hope you will too.

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They’re such diverse people. I love gardening. Other authors I know love birds. These authors… they love yarn. Yes, it’s true. These yarn fantatics have teamed up for form a blog about Romancing the Yarn.

I wonder if I could start a blog about authors who love coffee.

Or maybe authors and their cats…

Whatya think?