MISTY DIETZ (click for all posts by Misty)
Hey there! Thanks for visiting the blog! I usually have an opinion but am willing to be talked out of it. It helps that I’m easily distractible. Most of those silly tests (that I always take anyway) label me an extrovert, but I have no problem sitting quietly, listening to the voices in my head plot dark journeys for my characters.
I used to think hiking the Swiss Alps alone and losing and then un-losing myself in Berlin made me a semi-adventurous type of gal (or straight up stupid, your call).
Then I met my husband.
Him: “Wanna learn how to windsurf?”
Me: “Okay.”
Him: “Let’s move to Alaska for six months.”
Me: “As long as I get to pick which half of the year.”
Him: “When should we go hang gliding?”
Me: “Um…never?”
I like my feet on terra firma or in any kind of water, but damn, I really dig his untamed spirit. Some of my favorite things: dating DH, laughing with our children, watching people blossom, reading, writing, socializing, and teaching Zumba.
My motto: work hard and be nice. This is literally on the wall in our kitchen. (Some people call me Disney. I’m okay with that.)
I love tattoos, but I’ll never get one. Ever. Unless you can convince me why I should. Or shouldn’t. Bringing to mind my unfortunate pierced belly button incident. And epic fail hair-dying experiment.
Wait. What?
Did I mention I’m distractable?
PS. My debut paranormal romantic suspense COME HELL OR HIGH DESIRE will be coming out from Entangled Publishing in late summer/early fall (omg omg omg!!!). You can also find me here (website), here (Facebook), and here (Twitterville).
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JOSIE MATTHEWS (click for all posts by Josie)
I have a tattoo. Got it when I was young and impressionable…last spring. Did I say how young I was back then? Hopefully I won’t gain weight and have it start looking like a huge gnarly yam instead of the cute little swirly thing-a-ma-jiggy I designed for my back end.
What the heck was I thinking?
Yes, tis true, my husband and I often find ourselves often asking each other, “Is it time for your medication or mine?” But I truly believe a good mood altering drug is the key, at my age anyway, to seeing life for the wonder that it is. It has certainly allowed my husband and I to last through two teenage boys and twenty years of marriage. That and a lot of love and laughs.
Life is hard, and joyous, and confusing, and so entertaining at times. As a little eight-year-old girl said to me last week as I bent over one of my students to help clean dog poop from his shoes, “You have a tattoo!!! That’s a tramp-stamp, and my mommy says only tramps get tramp-stamps!”
Ahh…to be found out after all these years.
Aside from title of Bonafide Tramp, I also respond to the following monikers: Wife, Meanest Mother in the World (I tell my boys I’m not here to be their friend, I’m here to make them the best husbands they can be), Writer, Nurse, Landscaper, Runner, Amatuer Painter.
I keep telling my husband I have WAY too many hobbies to be holding down a full time job, but he isn’t feeling my grief.
Who the hell invented Women’s Lib anyway? Get her on the phone! I want my personal life back!
Hey Misty! How about tongue rings? I’ll meet you at Pididdly-Links-Piercings and Pawn-Shoppe at 4!
You can also find me here: http://www.josiematthews.com/
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RACHAEL SLATE (click for all posts by Rachael)
“The starry-eyed romantic”
Yep, that’s me.
Okay, so maybe growing up watching The Little Mermaid and reading Jane Austen has skewed my view on reality a teeny tiny bit. But I for one would much rather live in a world where love reigns supreme and happily ever after is one star-wish away.
Cue my three-year-old son running through the house covered in something. Ewww.
“Here honey, he’s your son!” *runs back into office and locks the doors, sounds of toddler screaming and husband crying out in frustration fades*
Ah… So where were we?
Happily ever after. What? Oh, you mean in the real world? Hmm… That reminds me. Misty, I will never forgive you for bursting my bubble by pointing out that I cannot go for a run and then eat the chocolate cake in my fridge. No fair.
*sigh*
In my real world, like any woman, I wear a ton of hats. These include: baker extraordinaire (seriously, I pay my babysitter in baked goods), marathon runner, culture/travel enthusiast, paranormal romance writer.
When my kids are not screaming I’m not playing World’s Greatest Mom, you can find me typing away, working toward getting published. Or staring at the screen, daydreaming.
While I may not break into song or swoon, I truly believe I’m living out my happily ever after. (Hey, I warned you I was a hopeless romantic!)
Love,
Rachael
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RENEE ANN MILLER (click for all posts by Renee)
Who is Renee? I’m a wife, mother, sister, daughter, but those labels only scratch the surface. I love romantic movies, dirty jokes, snuggling with my husband, gardening, and writing. Well, right now, I’m having a love hate relationship with writing, but that’s a whole other post.
Like Misty, I’m easily distracted. I can change subjects in the middle of my sentences. I call it a skill. My husband calls it confusing. Like Josie, I’ve been married a long time. And like Rachael, I enjoy a good Happily Ever After tale. Life’s complicated, why not!
Though I grew up in a household of hockey fans, my favorite sport is football. My husband and son participate in several fantasy football leagues, so it’s a main topic of conversation on Sundays. It goes to the old adage if you can’t beat them join them. Besides, where else can you watch alpha males with varying bulges muscles running around in tight pants.
I’d much rather be in my garden than cleaning. They’ve invented a machine to wash dishes and a robot to vacuum floors. I hope there is some genius out there working on a self-cleaning bathroom. Sign me up for one of those! I love the look of high heels, but most days you’ll find me in flats and sneakers. Last, but not least, I’m married to a wonderful guy who accepts me and all my quirks. Thanks, Honey!
I’m searching for a half-decent picture of myself. Would it be illegal if I used one of Cindy Crawford?
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ANGELA MCCALLISTER (click for all posts by Ang)
Bio coming this century…
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VONNIE DAVIS (click for all posts by Vonnie)
Bio should be coming sooner than Ang’s… 
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JODI ROPER
Director of Group Fitness, Personal Trainer, and Instructor at Courts Plus (and Misty’s boss where she teaches Zumba!). Jodi is not only a fabulous motivator, passing along words of wisdom like, “Never let success go to your head, and never let failure go to your heart!!” But she is also bucket loads of fun, smart, sassy, and a total inspiration.
This is one chick who practices what she preaches.
Have you ever met someone who’s run an “ultra marathon”? On a hilly trail? That would be a 50K, or 31.07 miles, people. Yeah, meet Jodi, y’all. She’s signed on as our resident fitness expert here at Chick Swagger. (Okay, so we had to beg, but we did it for you. We’re awesome like that.)
Jodi will post once in a blue moon – or maybe more often if you howl – on topics related to health, fitness and motivation. Be ready to be amazed and inspired to become your best physical self yet!
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