You’re walking down a street past an open window, and all of sudden, you’re in your grandmother’s house, a pot of her red sauce bubbling on the stove and the family gathered for Sunday dinner. You look around, startled—it’s Tuesday, your grandma’s long gone, and you’re hundreds of miles from your childhood home. But someone is stirring up memories, in the guise of marinara and fresh herbs. Or you’re sitting in a conference room. Others file in, and for no reason at all, you flash on your college boyfriend, a man you’ve barely thought of in thirty years. Only then do you realize someone in the room is wearing his cologne. Before your conscious brain even recognized the scent, and put it in context, your memory took you back. We’ve all had that experience. Turns out, our sense of smell is related to memory more closely than any other sense. Researchers have identified a physiologic reason for that connection. Smell is one of the oldest senses, and it’s located in the limbic system, the same part of our brain where memory resides. Our senses of touch, sight, and hearing are located in other regions, making their connection to memory less…

A cozy mystery, by nature, should always be a little scary. But can it be funny as well? Hey, I couldn’t help myself when I wrote CREPE FACTOR, the newest installment in my bestselling Scrapbooking Mystery series. The novel is set in New Orleans after all, a city that prides itself on being magical, crazy, and downright irreverent. So of course my plot enjoys a hearty wink and a nod from the infamous Big Easy. As do my characters. There’s Carmela, of course, my main character and scrapbook maven who owns Memory Mine Scrapbook Shop in the French Quarter. When she’s not arguing with her ex-husband Shamus Meechum (alias the rich rat) over doggy custody of Boo and Poobah, she’s chasing down bad guys, rushing out for oyster po-boys and beignets, worrying about keeping her figure and what New Orleans’ industrial strength humidity is doing to her hair, and being driven to distraction by the phony French Countess Saint-Marche who owns the glitzy shop Lucrezia next to hers. Add to this lethal mix Ms. Ava Gruiex, a self-proclaimed hoochie momma, wearer of all things leopard and leather, Botox fan, and owner of Juju Voodoo. Ava is Carmela’s best friend and…

I loved, loved, loved writing REMEMBER YESTERDAY, and one of the reasons is my hero, Tanner Callahan. He might just be one of my favorite heroes. Here’s why: He’s hot — and he knows it. Tanner is tall with long black hair that brushes up against his eyes. He has a six-pack, well-defined chest, and long ropey muscles. His uniform of choice is black thermal shirts and cargo pants, clothes that are just as appropriate for the science labs as well as the hoverpark. All the girls love him, and he’s more than happy to revel in their attention. Tanner is also seriously smart – like the one-hope-for-our-future smart. He was recruited to work in TechRA, the Technology Research Agency, when he was a kid as a result of his off-the-chart test scores. He’s also a super fast hoverboarder and can beat anyone in Eden City in wind sprints. And yet, he never performs tricks. Any tricks. He won’t go near the vert walls, and nobody is sure why. As Jessa says, “The problem with Tanner Callahan is that he always thinks he’s right. The bigger problem is that he usually is.” Despite his arrogance, though, Tanner is secretly afraid…

Cowboys make great heroes. They’re strong and rugged and oh so sexy! I’m originally from a small town in Kansas where I grew up on a farm and was riding horses as soon as I could get my feet in the stirrups, and I know there is just something special about the country and small town life. But what is it about those men that wear boots and Stetsons that makes us swoon and sigh and dream of riding off into the sunset on the back of their horse? Here’s my list of just Five Reasons We Love Cowboys… John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Scott Eastwood, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, and of course, the man who put ‘sexy’ in the phrase ‘sexy cowboy’…Sam Elliott. Enough said. Cowboys are raised to be gentleman with a code of honor and a respect for women. They open doors, say ‘yes ma’am’, and generally have a sense of chivalry. And there’s something about that deep slow drawl that feels like warm honey dripping down your spine. Cowboys are rugged. They’re tan and have great muscles built from working outdoors hauling bales of hay and driving…

Sometimes the smallest of actions reaps the biggest outcomes. What to one person, acknowledging a waiter by name, thanking for the refill of water for a parched customer, is a truly small thing but the action can brighten a day. I’ve always loved the commercial that has person after person passing it on, and watching the smiles on each person growing bigger and bigger. One job growing up that I never understood was the task of going to an older person in the community and cleaning or straightening up as an act of stewardship. I always thought, why can’t they do it? As the oldest it was my job to make sure our house was clean, the supper on the table when my father came home, so surely, this old woman could clean her own house. I was put in charge of our house when I was eleven and this woman was ancient. And I was definitely not being paid for it. This was worse than babysitting, also a task I never looked forward to doing. But my grandmother insisted I go once a month and spend Saturday afternoon helping Mrs. Curtis. So, grandmother’s word was law and off I…

To quote from the classic novel, A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” This in large part has been my experience with the topsy-turvy, take no prisoners world of publishing. Like many aspiring writers I fanaticized for years what it would be like being a published author, such as seeing my novel proudly sitting on the bookstore shelf, or greeting eager fans waiting to get my autograph, or going on talk shows to share pearls of literary wisdom in front of enthusiastic audiences. But like most dreams, the reality has not quite lived up to the fantasy. How many of us have toiled in front of our computers for months and years, honing our work, polishing it to a high sheen, hoping our story grabs the attention of an acquisition editor. After receiving one rejection after another, in the mail comes THAT letter, the one that says The Really Smart Publishing House wants to publish your story. I’ve had the privilege of getting that letter. When it finally happened for me, I felt like I was on top of the world. A publisher actually wanted to publish my novel. But…

All Isabelle, my heroine in ALWAYS WITH YOU, wants is to be loved without conditions. She’s eighteen, has healed from a health setback, and after losing her mom years ago and being raised by an emotionally distant father and grandmother, wants her Prince Charming. In her mind, she doesn’t care what faith or race or background he is because she’s certain that when her heart tells her who this destined man is, she’ll have no problem recognizing him. In the meantime, she’s not especially seeking him, will wait patiently, and is ready for love when it grabs her. Love, in the very real body of an attractive young man, pays a needed visit just in time to even call him a true hero! Tyler intervenes when a gang of punky teens has less than stellar plans for Isabelle. But, many eyes around her small Adirondack town, let alone her own dad, are suspicious of the community where Tyler lives. She’s forewarned of possible dangers, but chooses to see only the Wonderful in Tyler and The Faithful, and that’s with a Capital W. What causes a fairly intelligent woman to fall for a man that society sees as less desirable? In…

Developing characters for my romance stories requires inspiration. My volume of names is usually where I start. It lists the meaning and origin of names, as well as associated gemstones, colors, and elements. It helps tremendously with character profiles, but sometimes I need visual inspiration. This was true in writing The Song series. If you haven’t read the books, let me share what the trilogy is about. Two of the alpha heroes served as Army Rangers along with their friends. The team was facing death when Dalir, an ancient warrior, gave them a second chance at life. He also shared one of his special abilities with them: Time travel. They use this gift to protect people. When they’re not facing danger, they play music. Their band, Thane’s Redemption, gives them an outlet from the stress of their quest and serves as a cover between missions. In short, hot guys in a band with supernatural abilities, teamed with an equally tough, drool-worthy, ancient warrior, on a mission to save the world. A dream team was a great visual aid and inspiration for writing the books. Here are my picks for The Song series alpha males. Kit Harington as the hero in…

Tell us about your Love Affair with Writing My love affair with writing began in the third grade when I read The Chronicles of Narnia and fell in love. I fell in love with Narnia (my deep imprint for how Faerie should be), and with storytelling. I decided then I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. I wrote my own Narnia story, but with a few twists. What I remember now is that there was no High King, instead a High Queen. I think her name was Louise. Instead of centaurs, I had bucentaurs (half-human, half-cow). These creatures I found in some forgotten mythological resource or from browsing in the dictionary. The other detail that comes to mind all these years later is that in this Other World country there was a Plain of Fire and a Plain of the Moon. The former, golden grass; the latter, silver. I had it “bound” in a 3-ring notebook wrapped in a blue-and-white cloth I rescued from my mother’s scrap basket. I’ve never looked back. I’ve been in love with writing, with storytelling, and with one author or another ever since. I try to write every day, even if that…

Being possessed by a character is a kind of out of body experience. For me, it’s as if someone or something real has taken over my mind, and I have no choice but to hold on for the ride. Most times the experience results in those light bulb moments when I actually believe I’m brilliant—or rather the characters that have spun themselves out of dust and cobwebs are brilliant. I’m just along to document their lives in ways readers can connect with. Case in point, I’ve been writing romance fiction to the tune of somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 plus books. Only rarely does a fictional character charge at and through me like Winter Barstow has. Sad to say, Winter existed long before I completed a story that satisfied both of us. Death Chant, I believe, does that. It’s a book of the heart. All I can do is hope readers of this romantic suspense with paranormal elements in the form of a ghostlike wolf will understand why I feel the way I do. Getting back to Winter, I can’t recall when she first started insisting I listen to her. I initially became aware of a lonely voice visiting…