Join me at the Mall of America on Saturday, August 17th! Over 50 authors will be in the Parkview Suite located inside Nickelodeon Universe.

Free to public 12:30-4pm.  VIP from 10-11:45am

For more details visit the Facebook Event page  
https://www.facebook.com/events/880151905515496/

Or go to the Royal Touch website and get your VIP tickets today.
https://www.royaltouchphotography.com/event

You can also pre-order any books you'd like me to sign at the event. Just submit the form and I'll make sure I bring enough. Thanks. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfZttXR8HTrrYKPW_X1Q0-6W3AFFtRo-DWcj5P4LqWT6h03NQ/viewform

​Dudley is a big dog, a Black Lab/German Shepherd mix. He's got a low, threatening bark that puts most people off their stride the first time they hear it. The kind that will keep people in their cars while he runs around marking every tire before heading back to the driver's side door to jump up and plant his enormous paws on their window with an eager woof of hello. 

We tell those poor souls that he greets us with the same bark, but he''s perfectly harmless - don't worry. They're usually only slightly mollified as we coax them out. Then, as soon as they acknowledge him with a tentative, "Good boy, good Dudley," he's on them, looking for attention, looking for pats, pressing and circling their legs like an affectionate cat ,only he's so solid he can shove them back with a heavy lean.

You'd think this dog would be fearless, but he's not. We've watched him chase cars, snowmobiles, even a Forest Service plane using our house as a focal point when they were dipping into our lake to fight a nearby fire. They'd follow our driveway down to the water and Dudley would follow them, warning them away after every loop. Once we watched in horror as he took off after a wolf a good deal larger than him. We thought we'd lose him that day for sure, but no.  He's chased deer, moose, even bear off our property. None of those things frighten him. Nope, he's afraid of stairs, the vacuum, the Swiffer I use on our wood floors, and now, the broom.

I have never antagonized him with any of those things, nor has anyone else as far as I'm aware. It simply is what it is. If I want him outside for whatever reason, all I have to do is go collect the vacuum. As soon as he hears it rolling down the hallway, he's at the door, his feet doing a frantic dance on the tiles. He wants out. Now!  I realize there are lots of dogs with these aversions, but the fear of stairs? That one surprises us. I've never heard of that before.

He's never been upstairs to our lofted master bedroom. Good for me, but weird.  Even when we have friends and family over for extended visits with their animals, he won't follow. He'll whine and carry on at the bottom of the steps, but he won't venture up with us. It's the same with outdoor steps. He will take longer, much more difficult routes up steep yards, bulldozing his way through thick bushes and stickers just to avoid the steps.

We stay with friends a couple of times a year and always take him along because his buddies are there and they can play and cavort. Those dogs have the run of the house because they don't shy away from all the staircases. Not Dudley. If we want to be downstairs in the family room playing Wii or watching something on the big screen television, someone has to put shoes on and escort our dog around the house so we can let him in the patio door on the lower level. We have never succeeded, no matter how many times or how many incentives, to coax him down a single step. Of course, the house is on a lake and there's a very steep staircase leading down to the boat.

You know what Dudley does? He braves the brambles, the wild, untamed hills on either side. When he comes to the eight foot tall concrete retaining wall at the bottom, he leaps to the grass below. He'd rather wipe out doing a belly flop on the lawn than face those steps.

As he sprawls lazily on our rug nearby, I wonder if he'd be so calm knowing our annual ice fishing trip is coming up. Too bad I can't tell him.

Okay, maybe I antagonize him a little.


​
*The blog post was originally shared in 2012. Rest in peace, dear Dudley. Miss you, boy.

***SPRING SALE! SAVE $2 ON THESE 2 TITLES***

CAUTION: Filling is HOT - She's done with men. He's in love again. What's it going to take to convince her to change her relationship status? 

FRIENDS AND LOVERS - Some you never forget. Some you never get over. Friends and Lovers. Read it today. 

Just a reminder that I'm kicking off Valentine's Day with a book chat at the local library. If you're in the neighborhood, join us. There'll be a reading, chocolates, Q and A, and did I mention chocolate? What's Valentine's without chocolate? Oh yeah, and I'll have paperbacks  so bring cash or credit card. You won't want to miss the special event price.

See you there.

Writing is a solitary endeavor. I knew that—was resigned to it. So imagine my surprise and excitement when I discovered there's a huge community of authors out there all willing to welcome one another and network.

I've connected with some incredible people. Even though I've yet to meet them face to face, I still consider a number of them among the best friends I've ever had. They've got my back and I've got theirs. We all know, intimately, how difficult the business is. It humbles, scars, and defeats so many hopefuls. None of us get through the trials unscathed. I'd assumed I would be treading those choppy, chilly waters on my own but found a chain of linked hands reaching out to me instead. Now I'm part of that chain. It's already stretched farther than I can see in the distance beyond me. We are not alone after all. I can't tell you how reassuring that is.

This beautiful community of writers lifts and supports one another like the prettiest bra. It holds us in, holds us up, yet allows for movement and adjusts for comfort. What a wonderful thing. They promote and encourage each other, weigh in on important questions, and readily share the knowledge they've gleaned along the way with no strings. It's the most unselfish amazing group of people I've ever seen.

I love being part of the writing community.


*This post originally shared on my old site 4/13/2014.​ 

Every writer knows the tension and anxiety that comes with getting reviews. Just reaching that stage is an exercise in rejection.

You have your beta readers and critique partners telling you when something isn't working. Then, there's the submission process. Hello disappointment!  If you're fortunate enough, someone will offer you a contract. In truth, that happy little bubble of validation is a delicate thing. One prick, and poof, it's gone.

Our literary creations are as close to our hearts as our children or treasured pets. We put a lot of thought, time, energy, ourselves, into them. We bleed, cry, laugh, and bond with our characters. But there comes a day when we have to gather up those pages and send them out into the world without us. It's a lot like seeing your child onto the school bus for the first time. Scary, and for some, a little traumatic.

Will people be kind to your brainchild? Will they treat it gently, understand why it developed this way rather than that? There are so many variables to take into account. Some people prefer plot-driven over character-driven stories. Others might be sensitive to certain points-of-view. Sentence structure and flow can be wrong for the reader, so a writer's voice will bother them.

Waiting for feedback, knowing how varied opinions and tastes are, can be downright nerve-wracking for a writer. We clutch those positive responses to our chests and let out the shaky breath we'd been holding. But what about those sharp critiques that cut us to the bone? What about those dismal stars with no explanations whatsoever? 

We're told even negative reviews are still good because most people understand tastes really do vary. Our friends and supporters encourage us to shrug them off, ignore them. You'll never please everybody. All true. But even thick skin isn't impervious to abrasions. 

This is why I want dragon scales. Something lovely, iridescent, and hard to penetrate. Wouldn't that be great? Since I'm at it, maybe I'll throw some wings into the fantasy, too. I'll swoop out of the clouds and chase down those nasty negatives and with a delicate, modest little belch of flame, turn them to ashes that disintegrate on the wind as my wings sweep me up into the deep blue sky once again. 

Oh sure, there will still be arrows turned in my direction, but they'll bounce off my diamond hard armor and find no purchase in the tender flesh beneath. I'm thinking blue scales. I could disappear against the sky and ride my fantasy like a wind current. 

Who wants to join me in a free spirited frolic? What color scales would you choose?


​
*This post originally shared on my old blog 2/16/2013.

​It happened again. I was at a dinner party several days ago and the woman sitting next to me, having heard I'm a writer, asked what I write. I answered romance.

At seeing the change in her face, my husband instantly jumped to my defense, completely offended by her unchecked disdain. I love him for his noble reaction and pride in me. What I don't understand is why it would ever be necessary.

Everyone knows there are crap books out there. Hack writers abound in every form of fiction and non-fiction alike. These days, with vanity presses and self-publishing, there seem to be even more. Smart readers take the time to look at the sample of the writing provided before hitting the Buy/Add to my Cart button.

So why is romance viewed so differently? Why do romance writers tend to lose some of the cachet other writers enjoy? There seems to be an unspoken assumption that writers separate out according to ability. Like cream, if you will. We all end up where we belong, based on aptitude. 

Bull.

I enjoy writing all kinds of things, most writers do, but I made a choice to focus on romance. Why? Because, like so many other women, I was once a little girl who loved reading fairy tales. I enjoyed stories with happily-ever-afters and romantic endings. They weren't simple or stupid. They taught love, sacrifice, noble actions, risks, and sometimes even death. Who wouldn't get excited about all that?

Romance is a broad label encompassing all of these things and more—updated for grownups. These stories touch on human frailties and strengths, kindness and cruelty. Within the various genres under the heading of romance are mysteries, suspense, ghost stories, and thrillers. You'll find historicals and sci-fi. There are badass warriors and wrenching death scenes, characters with pure hearts or evil intentions. Some stories will be filled with fantasy, others grounded in reality and utterly recognizable to the reader. There may even be sex. 

So what sets romance apart from other forms of fiction? Their focus on relationships and a happily-ever-after. Love isn't shoved into a closet, downplayed, glossed over, or ignored outright. Why should it be? What are we embarrassed about? That we might possibly discover we care? That these characters might form a bond before our eyes and...oh no, pair up? Heavens! 
  
I'm making light of people's discomfort with their emotions. Why? Maybe because acknowledging and embracing them takes courage. After all, we're at our most vulnerable when we take our emotions out of our drawstring bag and let someone else play with them. But denigrating love and romance because it makes you uncomfortable is a shabby thing to do, especially if you've never read one. So give them a fair shake before casting judgment on the quality of an entire genre and the writers who've chosen to create these works.

You might be surprised.


This post was originally published on my old website on November 4, 2013