I first met Kathy at a Kansas book group. I’d been invited to speak and, boom! Just like that, a friendship started. Every time I am in Kansas, Kathy comes to see me. We laugh, we catch up, and she takes a picture of us holding previous year pictures. It is our inside joke and then we laugh about…
Here is a hard lesson I had to learn: there are tougher things to being an author than getting the book published. I believed that once I had published my first book, all would be known to me. I could trust I had arrived. I had met the hardest, and biggest, hurdle and my course…
I have not been blogging. HIS LESSONS ON LOVE released the end of January. But it was not a “normal” release. All eformats of the book hit the virtual shelves but the paper copies were delayed about a week and a half. However, all is good. My readers are with me, and new readers will find me. I’ve been in this…
I went to Booklovers Con (https://www.bookloverscon.com ) a few weeks ago. Yes, right before Christmas but not a moment too late. I had a great time. It is true I pretty much have a great time everywhere I go, but this Con was valuable because it reminded me of how important readers are to my creativity. First,…
I am past ready to do something fun. I want to meet people in person, especially readers. I need to be out in the world. For that reason, I’m heading to Orlando December 16 – 19 for the Booklovers Convention. I know it is a few weeks before Christmas. That is a stressful time and yet,…
Inquiring minds want to know I belong to a Romance Book Club. We just finished a contemporary where the romance was life altering, and life affirming. . . but the ending was not a scene of them entwined on the couch planning their nuptials or dreaming of spending every moment together until they both lost…
It isn’t unusual for authors of other genres to read their work at book signings. However, in Romance, we haven’t done it that often until Hope Tarr, Maya Rodale, and others started Lady Jane’s Salon in NYC. Now there are a host of Romance genre reading programs, many using the “Lady Jane” in the title,…
I received a request for general rules on how to end a good, loving story. Or any story for that matter. Although I HATE writing rules, here are my thoughts. Good endings wrap up loose ends. All questions should be answered. When I start your book, you and I have a pact: I’ll read to the…
I need to be around readers, especially those who love the Romance genre as much as I do. It is easy to trivialize what I do. Reading for pleasure in a world full of problems? Ha! But then I connect with readers who value feeding the imagination, who believe reading makes their individual worlds better…
My friend Tim Jungr always introduces the last speaker at WRW’s Writer’s Retreat. It’s a tradition that has become one of my favorite parts of the conference. He’s witty and wise, a fabulous writer (three Golden Heart nominations). This year I was the speaker he introduced and he made me laugh so hard tears came…