Welcome to my daily blog. If this is your first time, I'm a romance writer and a misplaced city girl currently living in the wild Sierras. I tend to have a lot of I-Love-Lucy moments that I share here but sometimes we talk about books, TV, and our favorite cookies. Okay, my favorite cookies. In any case, please feel free to comment by clicking on the Comments at the bottom of any entry. If you're too shy, that's okay, just know I love having you.

October 6, 2009 | Filed under: Stuff

I forgot! Kensington has reprinted last October’s novella into mass market. It used to look like this in trade sized paperback:

I know, right? Drool Town. But this year they put it out in mass market, so if you didn’t get it, it’s now a little cheaper. It’s not the same cover either. It’s this:

And it should be on the shelves right this very minute, but if it’s not, you can get it online here if you’re interested.

Excerpt:

For two months, Maggie Bell walked by him every day on her way out of the office, and every day she took in that tall, leanly muscled body, those incredibly well-fitted Levi’s hanging low on his hips thanks to his tool belt, and forgot everything else just to take it all in.

Take him in.

As the guy in charge of retro-earthquake fitting her building, he usually carried a roll of architectural plans in one hand and a radio in his other as he dealt with his men, looking confident — not to mention smoking hot — and every day she thought the same thing.

Yum.

Oh and while we’re discussing books, what are you reading right now? I am reading copy edits of the last Wilder brother, Instant Temptation, and also last pass pages for Slow Heat. I’d love to hear what YOU’RE reading!

October 5, 2009 | Filed under: Stuff

Not too long ago my baby turned fifteen.

Fifteen.

Of course I had her when I was twelve, so …

Okay, I wasn’t twelve. But I was VERY young. Ahem. Back to the story I’m trying to tell. She was my third pregnancy, and I didn’t intend to have three kids. Hell, I didn’t intend to have any kids as young as I did, but I had finally figured out what caused the problem. It was Alpha Man. Every time he passed me in the hallway I got pregnant.

ANYWAY. We were living in Los Angeles, the land of the HOT HOT HOT. It was early December and I was tired of the HOT HOT HOT. So we drove up to Lake Tahoe to visit Alpha Man’s uncle. Thing is, having been raised in LA, we had no idea what we were in for. It was like two degrees outside, and it got dark at four in the afternoon, and David’s uncle was a heat fascist. He wouldn’t let us turn on the heat.

I’ve never been so frozen in my life.

Or bored.

Several weeks later, back in LA, sometime between Christmas and New Year’s, I came to the realization that throwing up every morning like clockwork might mean something. A pea in the pod something …

Thunk.

Shortly after New Years, we got a belated Christmas card from Alpha Man’s uncle. In the card was a deck of cards and a condom. The note read: The next time you’re bored, try using one of these.

I’d say that I still haven’t forgiven him but it’s hard to begrudge the situation when out of the deal I got the sweetest, most laid-back, easy-going baby of all time. And it’s funny, but she never seems to mind the cold …

October 2, 2009 | Filed under: Stuff

From two weeks ago when summer was still here and the colors hadn’t started to turn yet.

When I could still go outside in shorts and a tee, sniff sniff.

Unlike today, when I needed sweats, scarf and gloves. But I digress. Back a few weeks ago I could sit on a rock in the sun and work.

When I could lay back and close my eyes and plot.

Hey, someone has to do it.

October 1, 2009 | Filed under: Stuff

… does the cat sit on my chest at five in the morning at stare into my face until I crack open an eye and yell “WHAT?”

… does the teenager insist on saying “I can’t possibly know how hard high school is!!!”. Right. Because I was never 15.

… does Alpha Man ask me every morning where his wallet is? Where his phone is? Where his keys are? WHY? Do I ask him where his head is????

… do I insist on eating pizza rolls even they always, ALWAYS, give me a stomach ache?

… can I never beat Alpha Man at pool?

Sorry. I had to get those questions off my chest. Thank you for listening.

September 30, 2009 | Filed under: Stuff

Update: Randomly drawn winners are Rosie G and Terri W … please email me with your snailmail and a few book choices, thanks for playing!

Original Post:
I’m sure we each have our own ways to get over the workday hump. Me? I email with my good friend Nicole. She’s a writer too, and we often critique each other’s work. Actually, I send her my work-in-progress and beg her to fix it. Hey, what are good friends for?

But it’s not all work. In fact, much of Nicole’s and my time is spent decidedly goofing off. We both sort of have a Ranger obsession. Ranger as in Carlos Manoso, one of Janet Evanovich’s characters from her Plum series. I’m hoping the majority of you have read at least some of those books because the thing Nicole and I do to alleviate our boredom is pretend we’re Ranger and write ridiculous and amusing journal entries.

Shall I share? Okay, what the heck. Just remember, BORED people, so don’t hold it against us.

Ranger Journal Entry from One For the Money:
Just got back from uncuffing hot little wannabe bounty hunter from her shower rod. Utilized extreme peripheral vision from army ranger training to check out the goods. Day-um. Did I mention she was cold … and wet? God loves me. Slipped up several times on my ghetto-speak this week. I’m thinking that from this book on, I’m limiting speech altogether. Chicks dig that silent mysterious crap. On a positive note, she seems rather negative in her feelings about Morelli, so I’ll likely have zero problems closing the deal. No way am I going to have to wait seven more books to see her naked again.

Ranger Journal Entry from after Lean Mean Thirteen:
Am back on Haywood after dropping Steph off at Morelli’s. Without her underwear. I’m on 5 watching the monitors, because I figure Morelli will show up at the front doors, gun in hand, in less than five, four, three– Yeah, there he is, looking pissed, too. He wants her panties back. No problem. They’re right here in my pocket, and they’ve got my name all over the ass. I’ll be happy to hand them back … Better get going, he’s pounding on the door. With any luck, I’ll be pounding something entirely different by dawn …

I know, we’re silly (Nicole has a few on her blog from us as well, so go peek if you’d like!) But since I shared, you have to share. Help us out, write a journal entry from your favorite character, whether it’s from TV or a book or hell, your make-believe friend. Come on now, don’t leave me hanging out here all by myself … (And if you can’t come up with a journal entry, that’s okay! Not everyone is as crazy as I am, I get that. You can just tell me your favorite character of all time.)

And since I’m one, lazy, and two, still grieving the loss of my dear editor (see yesterday’s post), rather than write any more, I’m going to simply tell you that I’m going to pick a few random comments from today and give away copies of my books.

So get cracking and talk to me.

September 29, 2009 | Filed under: Stuff

I am not big on goodbyes, for any reason. So this kind of goodbye, the permanent kind, sucks. This past weekend the romance genre lost one of its greats. Kate Duffy, editor extraordinaire. The first thing Kate ever said to me after she bought me to write for Brava was “we are going to make wonderful books together”. The last thing Kate ever said to me was “we are making wonderful books together”.

She was my first single title editor, and she by turns scared the crap out of me, and made me feel like I could do anything. We did nine books together, and she was right. It was wonderful.

I’m not sure how to say goodbye to her. She truly had a piece of my heart, and I’m not sure that the genre will be the same without her.

Kate, I hope there are romance novels in heaven.

(Here’s my only picture of Kate, at a cover shoot for my book Instant Attraction, mugging with the model for that cover. Oh how I wanted to be there in her place …)