Marin Thomas - Welcome

Dear Reader,

Happy May!

I'm pleased to report the spring cleanup in the yard is complete! I'm waiting for Mother's Day to plant flowers in the gardens and flowerpots on my patio but first, I need to catch the rabbit in my yard.

I've declared an all-out war with the rabbit in my garden--this year the fat little bugger ate my tulips to the ground. I broke down and bought a rabbit trap--don’t worry for those of you who love the furry, flea-carrying critters--it's a "friendly" trap. When I catch the rabbit I plan to relocate him to a forest preserve not far from our house. The directions say to leave the trap in the yard for a few days without setting the trap door--so the rabbit will become acclimated to it. Okay--I did that. BUT--now that I've set the trap door to close when the rabbit enters the cage--the goofy animal won’t go in! I've used lettuce, carrots and sunflowers to entice the critter inside but so far he's resisting. Soooo……..it's time for a Wabbit Contest!

MARIN'S ELMER FUDD WABBIT CONTEST

I'm kicking off the month of May with a new contest. Send me your Elmer Fudd suggestions for baiting a rabbit trap. What foods should I use to bait the trap? Know any tricks to entice the rabbit into the cage? Or maybe you can suggest where in the yard I should put the trap. If you send me a suggestion I'll enter your name in a drawing for an autographed copy of one of my backlist titles. Next month I'll announce the winner and post my progress on capturing the critters.

To enter the contest send your name and Rabbit advice to marin@marinthomas.com with WABBIT in the header.

The winner of last month's contest is Rosie from New Mexico. I'll be sending both Rosie and her friend Margaret a book from my backlist.

A Coal Miner's Wife won't be available until August 2008, but you can Pre-Order the book at www.eharlequin.com or www.bn.com or www.amazon.com or other on-line retailers.

I attended the Chicago-North RWA Spring Fling Conference and enjoyed meeting local booksellers and librarians as well as writers from Wisconsin and Michigan . I also sat in on several workshops and picked up great writing tips from the conference headliners. All-in-all a wonderful weekend!

Other exciting news to share…the first book in my McKade Brothers series, Ryan's Renovation has been re-released in Germany . For those of you who speak or read German...

Schnell erkennt die Architektin Jennifer, dass Aaron noch nie auf dem Bau gearbeitet hat. Doch etwas anderes beherrscht der attraktive Mann perfekt: Er küsst einfach himmlisch, und wenn er sie streichelt, ahnt Jennifer, wie aufregend die Liebe mit ihm sein muss...

Stop by www.harauthors.blogspot.com to see what the Harlequin American Authors are up to. I blog on the 16th of each month and would love to see you then. We are also giving away books each month to one lucky winner who joins our discussions.

Please click on the Library Form link if you'd like your library to order one of my releases.

For those who prefer to read books on Adobe eBook, Microsoft eBook or Mobipocket eBook, stop by www.ebooks.eharlequin.com or visit other on-line retailers for the electronic version of my books. Also for those of you who own Amazon Kindles...my books are now available in Kindle Editions.

Don't forget…author Brenda Novak's Silent Auction for Childhood Diabetes begins this month! Check out the great list of items up for bid at www.brendanovak.com I've donated an autographed copy of my *Hearts of Appalachia* books including A Coal Miner's Wife. Like last year, I intend to throw in a bonus book from my backlist for the winning bidder of my Appalachian series. I hope you'll consider donating to this worthy cause!

Appalachian Favorite:
PICKLED CRAB APPLES

• 6 Cups Vingar
• 8 Cups Brown Sugar
• 2 Teaspoons Cloves
• 1 Stick Cinnamon
• 8 lbs Crab Apples

Boil together 6 cups vingar, 8 cups brown sugar, 2 teaspoons cloves, and 1 stick of cinnamon. Leave the stems on 8 lbs of crab apples. Add to syrup and boil until fruit is tender. Remove the fruit and pack into jars. Pour in syrup. Seal.

In a Pig's Eye...by Anne Bertram
Paint one's tonsils-- to drink whiskey. "What say we find a bar and paint our tonsils?"

**MARIN'S ELMER FUDD WABBIT CONTEST**

MARIN'S ELMER FUDD WABBIT CONTEST