Who here’s a romance reader? I hope everyone raised their hand. :) Whether you are one or you know one (or many), I’m sure you have some expectations of what a typical romance reader is like. She likely has a TBR pile several miles high. She knows from first glance what TBR stands for (in […]
The Power of the Epilogue
Happy February! How is 2020 going so far? I can’t complain. We’ve had pretty mild weather for Ohio, and found our routine after Christmas. Now it’s time to see what God has in store for the “love month.” Speaking of love… When Entrusted first released, a reader expressed her disappointment that there wasn’t a wedding […]
Dressing Characters
by: Staci Stallings When readers think about the joy an author must feel when creating characters —the sheer exhilaration that here is a person under your complete control, that you can mold and form and make them do whatever you want (HAHA right!), I’m quite sure very few of them ever think about the issue […]
Football, Romance, and the Underdog
It’s Bowl Season in America. No, no, no. I’m not talking about red crystal dishes filled with lemon drops and candied almonds. I’m talking football. The college football bowl season kicks off today, and a whole slew of bowl games is scheduled over the upcoming weeks. People tend to either like football or not like […]
Nancy Naigle: Delicious Snickerdoodle Recipe
From Julie Arduini: Merry Christmas from Julie Arduini! As I type this we are 85% decorated and our shopping is well underway. We’re excited because our entire Wisconsin family (we’re a blended family so we have two adult children there, their spouses, and our three grandchildren) driving before Christmas to kick off the week. I’ll […]
Loneliness v. Connection
Have you ever felt like you didn’t fit in? Like you didn’t belong? It’s a lonely place to be, isn’t it? And loneliness… Well, let’s just say that loneliness isn’t fun. We might feel lonely at school, on the job, or even at church. Sometimes we feel lonely within our own families or even in […]
Doin’ It Right by Mary Manners
“If you’re going to do something, then do it right.” Those words, spoken by my father, came to me the winter of my thirteenth year as I delivered newspapers along my route on the streets of Elmwood Park, a suburb of Chicago. It was the winter of 1976 and we were in the clutch of […]
My Second Chance at Romance
There was a time when I quit writing romance. Ten years ago, I sold my debut novel, Love Finds You in Sun Valley, Idaho, then my husband left me. Being that I’d sold the book on proposal alone, I had to write a love story as my own marriage fell apart. I didn’t believe in […]
Backstory
By: Staci Stallings Many, many moons ago on a writing loop I was on at the time, there was a massive discussion about backstory. For those who don’t know, “backstory” refers to a character’s story that happened before the current story starts. Basically, where did this person come from and how did they get here? […]
Food in Romantic Fiction
Ah, food. One of my favorite subjects. If you follow me on Pinterest, you’ll get a taste for just how much I love food in all its forms. Cooking, baking, eating, sharing, and even reading about it. It’s our fuel for life. We fuel our bodies, our spirits, and our relationships over food. Today, I’d […]