Good morning! Thank you for inviting me to stop by on my blog tour this month. I Love This Bar is on the book shelves ready for my readers to bust down the book store doors to get at one. Did I mention that my imagination often times runs wild and free and I get these amazing images in my head about how much my readers love my books? I Love This Bar is the first in the four book Honky Tonk series with Hell, Yeah coming out in August; My Give A Damn’s Busted in October and Honky Tonk Christmas in November. The series is centered around an old beer joint in Mingus, Texas called The Honky Tonk and the four bar owners who have no intentions of ever giving up their saloon…and the four sexy cowboys who are determined to change those sassy women’s minds. Daisy O’Dell is the first bar owner you will meet. And Jarod McElroy is that amazing cowboy on the cover of I Love This Bar. Want to read an excerpt that will tell you exactly what happened between them there at the first? Is that a big “Hell, Yeah!” I hear surrounding my…

Have you ever pretended you were someone you’re not? Have you ever masqueraded as someone famous or gone along when you were mistaken for someone else? I haven’t, but I’ve always loved stories where the heroines were in disguise. Think of Shakespeare’s THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, TWELFTH NIGHT, or AS YOU LIKE IT. Those are some of my favorites. And the best part? When the ruse is discovered, of course! And maybe reading Shakespeare all those years ago in high school and college was part of the inspiration for Sarah in my next novel, THE MAKING OF A DUCHESS. Sarah is an orphan and a governess for one of the top men in England’s Foreign Office. She’s a quiet, unobtrusive sort of woman who minds her own business until one day her employer tells her he needs her to become a spy. And the man he needs her to spy upon? Julien Harcourt, duc de Valére. Sarah doesn’t know anything about Julien, which is a good thing. If she knew how wealthy he was, how powerful, how intimidating, or how handsome, she would never have accepted the assignment. She’s pretty reluctant to accept anyway, but her employer makes her an…

I belong to a writers’ goals group. We happen to know each other through RWA, but other than that most of us have little in common. We write in all different genres, some have children, some don’t. Some work outside the home, and some write full time. Some are published, some aren’t. What brought this group about and keeps it together is a common purpose. We all want to reach our individual goals. What makes it work and continue to succeed is how we want the other members to reach their goals too, regardless of what those goals are. And our goals are as different as we are. One member had the courage to pitch to an agent with an unfinished manuscript. When said agent requested the full manuscript, she was honest and said it wasn’t finished. You’d better believe we were there, making sure she finished it! One member had never finished a manuscript. We were already chilling the Champagne, knowing she’d make it–and she did. Another member sold a four-book YA deal on a proposal! You can bet we’ll keep track of her progress. The general public has no idea how hard it is to stick to the…

My favorite way to learn history is to come across it via fiction. Of course, since my favorite kind of history is not the chronicle of kings and queens, but everyday history–what people ate, how they lived, what they did to get away from it all–it is these details and quirks of history that stay with me. For example, in Laura Kinsale’s FOR MY LADY’S HEART–for my money, one of the best medieval romances ever written–the hero is a knight, the heroine is far above him in worldly stature: she is a princess. On the run from danger, it is the two of them against the world. One scene in the book has her giving him an orange and a stick of violet-scented sugar that made up part of her meal. And this is a paragraph from that scene: He sucked the fruit, allowing the rich bitter juice to run on his tongue. He’d had oranges in Aquitaine a few times, at feasts and Christmas–but to eat one every day as she did was something utterly beyond his experience. And the penidia: he’d never tasted white sugar but once, a score and more Christmas gone, a child at the high…

Of all of the aspects of writing I’ve encountered as a reader and a writer, I think the question “Where do you get your ideas?” is one of the most common questions about writing, since everything grows out of that seed: plot, action, characters, setting – the entire world. However, of equal interest to me is how an idea develops; stories and characters take on lives of their own, and the final result might be something quite different to what the author originally intended. My first – and as yet unpublished – novel took that kind of left turn. I’d never written anything resembling a book, so when I decided to try it, I opted for a form with which I was familiar: a mystery of the Agatha Christie type. That idea lasted about two chapters, and the characters and plot took the bit in their teeth, and I simply held on. Lovers’ Knot, published this past Spring by Running Press, however, was a bit more straightforward. It didn’t veer off into unknown territory, but grew slowly and broadly from a simple beginning. I had been asked to write a short story for a friend’s anthology, as story with two…

It’s time again for another reading wrap up. In April I was able to read 10 books. I know a lot of people who read more than that, and just as many who read less. I really don’t care how many anyone reads (with the exception of my friend Yvonne with whom I have a reading bet) as long as they read. What was special about this month was that I read three library books. I read THINK TWICE by Lisa Scottoline, which was a first time, read for me from this author, and I really enjoyed it, and look forward to reading more from her in the future. I followed that up with WILD RIDE by Jennifer Cruise and Bob Mayer, and was really glad that I had gotten that from the library rather than investing in a Kindle version. The final library book was THE SHADOW OF YOUR SMILE by Mary Higgins Clark. It’s been way too long since I read a book by Clark, and after closing the last page of THE SHADOW OF YOUR SMILE I’m ready for another. Thankfully I can just go to the TBR for a backlist book. I also read MORE THAN…

I read 117 books in 2005. That was down a few from what I read in 2004, but as I read quite a few e-books in ’04 and not nearly as many in’05 I think it was pretty equal. The one thing I’ve noticed is that I used to read a few historicals. Now I’m reading all contemporary. I still have a bunch of historicals to read, and have gone through my pile thinking should I dejunk these or not? I just can’t bring myself to do that as they’re by authors whose historicals I have read in past years, and enjoyed. It’s a good thing that books don’t require refrigeration, or spoil. They might age, but hopefully I’ll look at when they were written and be able to remember what was happening in that era and think yes this book is true to it’s birth year. Someone asked me to name my best read of ’05. That was hard. It’s much easier to tell what I truly didn’t enjoy. As I do a quick skim of my list I realize that there was nothing there that I would really have kept if I were a true book keeper. At…

CHERRY ON TOP by Kathleen Long (this was a new to me author. I read this book for review for a friend’s website, and really enjoyed it. If you like romantic comedy and you haven’t tried this author I think she’s one to watch for.) COMFORT AND JOY by Kristin Hannah (This I read for review. I love Hannah! I read this all in one day a couple of Sundays ago. It was a wonderful way to waste a Sunday. This is I believe her first Christmas Novella. If it’s not then I’m going to have some searching to do.) FIRST LOVE by Julie Kenner (The last book in The Bridesmaid Chronicles. I thought these books touted as single titles had a category feel to them. They weren’t in depth, and quite easy reads. Not keepers, but if you’re looking for something to fill in these might do it for you.)HARBOR NIGHTS by Marcia Evanick(Read this one too for review. It was the first time I read this author, and I was hooked. Kept thinking I’m off to bed, but found myself having to stay up and finish.)HARD EIGHT by Janet Evanovich (I’m so behind in this series that I…

Well, it’s been forever since I posted about what I read. I know you’ve all been sitting on pins and needles just waiting for me! (If anyone including me believes that then I think we all have another think coming!) Before I get to the fun stuff let me take a moment to offer my prayers and thoughts to any and all who might have been affected by Hurricane Katrine. If anyone knows where I might donate some mens clothing I’d love to know about it. Mike has a bunch of stuff from his skinny days that he can’t wear, and probably won’t ever have need of again. I tried to do some searching, but seems like everyone needs/wants cash. That is unfortuantely not something I can really offer at the moment. School has started, and I’m looking to books to escape. I’ve read some good stuff, and some probably not so great stuff. I have to stretch my memory skills to remember what I read in August. Oh wait…I can use my booklist! Ahhh…the one area of my life that I’m almost totally organized in. Here goes..in no particlar order:Almost Perfect and Just Perfect by Julie Ortolon. These are…

Well, I’m still searching for what happened to my summer. If anyone finds it please let me know. While I’ve been searching I’ve also been reading. I haven’t read as many books as this same time last year, but I’m pushing hard to get close. I finished Conspiracy in Death by Robb. I didn’t care for this one as much as I have some of the previous ones. For some reason I had trouble getting my brain to engage, and realize that I did know what the words on the page meant, and even worse than that that I truly did know how to read. At some points it seemed like I was just staring at the page wondering what those marks on the page were. Once I got my brain to function properly(yes, some of you might argue that it’s still not doing so) I was able to read the book. I do firmly believe this brain glitch detracted from my fully enjoying Conspiracy in Death. From there I read First Kiss by Kylie Adams. This is is the second book in the Bridesmaid Chronicles, and one that did nothing for me personally. The heroine is self centered, and…