It’s crazy to think about it, but next week, my husband and I will be celebrating our 25th anniversary. I’ve been married for more than half my life, and I’ve known that man for thirty-one years. Sometimes I think I know him better than I know myself. (Shh, don’t tell him I said that, though. […]
Have You Heard the Rumor about Me?
Perhaps you were fortunate enough to have seen the cautionary tale from VeggieTales about the Rumor Weed. If so, you know how quickly a small comment can grow into a monster, destroying people’s lives while singing a pretty catchy song (You’re singing it now, aren’t you?) If you haven’t seen it, well, my guess is […]
Tragedy and Romance (+giveaway)
I’ll be the first to admit I tend to lean toward uncomplicated, happy romances by default. Like bacon and cheese, such books make up the majority of my dietary preferences, literarily speaking. However, these aren’t the books I savor. They aren’t the ones to win awards and acclaim and get talked about nonstop. I could […]
It Sounded Romantic
As a teenager, I always loved when an author described the heroine as having tendrils of hair that had come loose from whatever updo she was wearing, be it a braid or a chignon or ponytail, etc. As I’ve gotten older, though, and had my own hair have those loose pieces more and more, I […]
How They Met #Giveaway
Part of the fun of writing contemporary romance is creating unique, fun, or interesting ways for the hero and heroine to meet. Over the years I’ve used real-life things to inspire cute meets in my books. Like the time back when my husband was a youth director. We took a busload of teens to a […]
The Writer and the Rider
When my husband first asked if I was okay with him buying a Harley, I said, “Honey, I’m a romance writer.” Meaning, “Yes.” First of all, he’d supported my dreams of writing, so I wanted to support his dream of riding. Secondly, I thought riding a motorcycle would be like I’d written it in my […]
Quiz: Could You be a Heroine in a Romance Novel?
It’s wedding season! I love hearing all the stories of how couples got together. It inspires me to write better because, really, there are a lot of overused tropes out there. I’ve overused them myself. Though I’m happily married, and I feel like my love story would make good fodder, do I really have what […]
What About Setting? #Giveaway
I write in layers. That means, my first draft is mainly dialogue, character thought, and emotion. Once I complete the book, I go back in and add setting, description, movement, body language, and timeline. I used to weave my setting and timeline in as I wrote the first draft. Until my editor asked if I […]
Where To Next?
I find myself fantasizing about locations lately—specifically getaways. See, this August marks my twentieth wedding anniversary. We haven’t gone anywhere without the kids for longer than a weekend, but this year we decided to plan a *real* vacation, just the two of us. And after being cooped up for over a year with hardly more […]
A Day in the Life (part 8)
When we left our intrepid couple last month, things were getting just a little bit flirty between them. In a slightly awkward kind of way, of course. If you want to refresh your memory on any of the previous installments, you can find them here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6. and Part […]