Archives for “Barbara O’Neal”
I am not a big jigsaw kind of person. There are just so many other things to do, and a puzzle takes awhile and it’s sort of irritating to bend over the table and…well, I just don’t really like them. Except, one day I was browsing in Barnes and Noble and spied this one, Doors [...]
50 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Wednesday, May 29, 2013 at 1:58 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, blog for women, Christie Ridgway, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, goddess blogs, jigsaw puzzles, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, Madeline Hunter, Rachel Gibson, romance fiction, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch, women's fiction.
We all have them. Those moments of shining clarity—an hour or a day that stands out from all the rest. I remembered one this morning. It rolled out from beneath a piece of dusty furniture in my brain, an aquamarine marble. In the clear glass, I saw a very hot summer day. I’m rushing across [...]
49 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 1:12 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, Christie Ridgway, Claudia Dain, contemporary romance, dogs, goddess blogs, happiness, historical romance, joy, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, Madeline Hunter, memories, pets, Rachel Gibson, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch.
(Note: there are no spoilers in the following post.) I’ve been watching the new season of Game of Thrones, which is to my mind a much more involving and engrossing fantasy than Lord of the Rings ever was. (Heresy in some circles, I know.) I adore the strong female characters, and am fascinated by George [...]
58 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Friday, April 19, 2013 at 1:40 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, books, Christie Ridgway, Claudia Dain, handsome men, historical romance, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, Madeline Hunter, Rachel Gibson, romance books, romance writer, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch.
My friend Jo Beverley posted this video to an email loop the other day. She showed it to me the first time when we were in Australia a few years ago. We’d gone to the Romance Writers of Australia conference in Melbourne, then traipsed around Tasmania, and then made our way to the Great Red [...]
36 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Wednesday, April 10, 2013 at 1:05 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, blog for women, Christie Ridgway, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, dancing, happiness, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, love, Madeline Hunter, Rachel Gibson, romance novels, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch, the goddess blogs, women's fiction, writing, youtube.
Last night, I desperately wanted something sweet, but I’m dieting, so there are no cookies or cakes or candy in the house. I prowled around my kitchen, opening the fridge, the cupboards, growled, closed them again. At last, I spied a banana—Eureka!—and sliced it into a little bowl, then drizzled a little chocolate syrup over [...]
51 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Friday, April 5, 2013 at 1:59 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, blog for women, Christie Ridgway, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, food, goddess blogs, historical romance, hot fudge, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, love stories, Madeline Hunter, Rachel Gibson, romantic fiction, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch, the goddess blogs, women's fiction.
Last night, I was prowling around my house like a restless cat, tail switching, peering out the windows, going in circles around and around, lighting in a chair for a minute, checking my laptop for a minute, drinking a glass of water, peering outside again. Tail switching, switching. And I suddenly thought, what is this [...]
75 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Thursday, March 21, 2013 at 1:57 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, boredom, Christie Ridgway, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, exercise, flu, goddess blogs, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Austin Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, Madeline Hunter, Rachel Gibson, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch, what I do when I'm not writing, writing.
People talk about walking down memory lane by looking at photos or meeting old friends. The main place I meet the past is in the kitchen. Sometimes in the recipes of course, written in my grandmother’s hand, or my ex-husband’s, or my mother’s. But more, it’s in the pots and pans. Have you ever noticed [...]
71 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Friday, March 1, 2013 at 1:15 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, cooking, food, goddess blogs, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, kitchen, love story, Madeline Hunter, memories, pans, pots, Rachel Gibson, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch.
It is February which means I have survived the worst month in Colorado, which is always January. The days are short, ending claustrophobically even before I’ve started dinner, and it is often bitterly cold. The worst is the boring weather–indifferent, icy sunshine pouring from a frozen blue sky, day after day after day. I ache [...]
74 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Wednesday, February 6, 2013 at 1:16 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, blog for women, catalog, Christie Ridgway, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, conservatory, gardening, gardens, goddess blogs, greenhouse, historical romance, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, love stories, love story, Madeline Hunter, Rachel Gibson, romance, romance fiction, Sabrina Jeffries, seeds, spring, Suzanne Enoch, writing.
One angle of our journey to NZ was a plunge into nature and wildlife. The mountains are very steep and craggy, and that’s coming from a Rocky Mountain baby, so while we admire them and did get in a couple of hikes, mostly our immersion was in the sea. The ocean, which is magical and [...]
54 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at 10:29 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, blog for women, Christie Ridgway, Claudia Dain, dolphins, goddess blogs, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, love story, Madeline Hunter, nature, new zealand, ocean, Rachel Gibson, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch, travel.
I have been home from a month in New Zealand for exactly 47 hours of this writing. Christopher Robin and I traveled there to see his brother and family, and while we were there we saw a world of wonders, including a whale and dolphins and seals, glow worms (best to know less than more) [...]
59 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Friday, January 25, 2013 at 1:20 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, blog for women, books, bookstores, Christie Ridgway, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, goddess blogs, historical novels, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, Madeline Hunter, new zealand, Rachel Gibson, romantic fiction, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch, travel.
I start out my mornings (sometimes in the dark) looking at these steps. It’s a bit hard to tell from this picture, but it’s four steep flights that snake between houses to take you to the next street (I live in a hilly location). Once you cross that street above, there is yet another set [...]
94 Comments. Posted by Christie Ridgway on Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 3:21 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Christie Ridgway, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Austin, Lori Handeland, Madeline Hunter, Rachel Gibson, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch, Uncategorized.
This is the season when we are meant to be giving out to the world, giving thought to spiritual matters and pondering the sweetness of sacrifice. Usually, I’m 100% behind those ideas, but this year, I bought myself a present: This is not the greatest picture of my new baby, and she is not quite [...]
67 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Thursday, December 13, 2012 at 1:03 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, blog for women, Cars, Christie Ridgway, christmas, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, goddess blogs, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, Madeline Hunter, mini cooper, Rachel Gibson, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch, the goddess blogs.
We are not big gamblers around this house, but when the Powerball gets to a big enough pot—and it is currently at around $500 million—we buy tickets. I mean, why not? Everybody has an equal chance to win. It could be me. Or you. What we do love in this house is playing the “What [...]
55 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Thursday, November 29, 2012 at 1:55 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, blog for women, Christie Ridgway, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, fun, goddess blogs, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, lottery, Madeline Hunter, money, romance, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch, the goddess blogs.
When I was a child, you were expected to make it to dinner every night as much as possible. Sometimes, my father worked late, but mostly he was there. We had a table that was small by today’s standards, white with a gold pattern in leaves around the edge, and avocado metal legs to go [...]
56 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 2:00 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, blog for women, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, dinner, family rituals, goddess blogs, historical novels, humorous blog, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, romance, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch, the goddess blogs.
You guys know the Neon Trees song, “Everybody Talks”? The chorus begins with the words”It started with a whisper” and that line pretty much sums up something that happened to me last year. Right after SEAL Team 6 became (more) famous, I saw a photo of a real SEAL taken in 2007 that accompanied a [...]
50 Comments. Posted by Christie Ridgway on Monday, November 12, 2012 at 4:21 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Christie Ridgway, Goddess Eye Candy, Uncategorized.
Do you remember the first time you signed into an online service? I’ve been thinking about this lately, how the Internet has changed our lives. Mainly, I’m thinking about women and the internet, because I do think it’s had a profound impact on our lives. I’m writing a novel about four food bloggers, so blogs [...]
51 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 at 1:28 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, blog for women, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, goddess blogs, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, love story, Madeline Hunter, Rachel Gibson, romance, romance fiction, Suzanne Enoch.
Yesterday, I made soup. I thought at the time that it might be a good blog, using the ingredients of the season, moving from summer to fall (in the Northern Hemisphere). The recipe was intriguing: butternut squash and apples, with bits of spice. I had a day of errands, so I prepared the soup early, [...]
103 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at 1:36 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, blog for women, books, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, food, goddess blogs, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, Madeline Hunter, Rachel Gibson, recipes, romance books, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch, trouble.
Music is one of my favorite things. All kinds of music, from classical to Celtic to blues and rock of almost any variety (hold the Guns & Roses, please). But I admit to being a Top 40 fan. I always have my car radio tuned to the local pop station, and I know every song [...]
54 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Wednesday, August 22, 2012 at 1:03 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, goddess blogs, great guys, humor, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, Madeline Hunter, music, pop music, Rachel Gibson, romance books, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch.
Are you sick of me yet? I don’t quite know why I had so many blogs scheduled over the past few weeks—we sign up for days, so I did it, but I am not sure what I was thinking. Oh—maybe that by now, The Sleeping Night would be getting some traction. The long tail model [...]
53 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Tuesday, August 7, 2012 at 1:38 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, blog for women, Claudia Dain, historical novels, historical romance, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, Madeline Hunter, Rachel Gibson, romance novels, Sabrina Jeffries, susan mallery, Suzanne Enoch.
This won’t be long—I’m afraid I still don’t really have much of a brain. So little brain, in fact, that I forgot I was supposed to blog, so it’s Thursday night and I’m sitting in the breeze blowing through my window, thinking about what will be fun for you. But maybe what’s fun for me [...]
51 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Friday, August 3, 2012 at 2:13 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, blog for women, Claudia Dain, goddess blogs, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, love stories, Madeline Hunter, Rachel Gibson, rita awards, Romance Writers of America, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch.
When I was a girl, I had pen pals. Lots of them. I wrote letters to anyone who would write me back, as a rule. That included my grandmother, friends from camp, a cousin who went to jail for a short stint, my uncle who wandered, my friends who moved away. I also had actual [...]
The past few days, I’ve been trying to get my clothes together for the Romance Writers of America conference, which will be in Anaheim next week. Now, a lot of writers find the conference grueling or exhausting, but I love it. It IS exhausting, but only because I stay up late talking to my friends [...]
70 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Wednesday, July 18, 2012 at 2:18 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, blog for women, Claudia Dain, goddess blogs, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, Madeline Hunter, Rachel Gibson, romantic fiction, Sabrina Jeffries, susan mallery.
I love forbidden love stories. It started with Romeo and Juliet, which I saw as a thirteen year old in a revival of the Zefferelli version with Olivia Hussey as Juliet, one of the most beautiful Juliets ever with her endlessly long black hair and buxom figure. (Not to mention some seriously great gowns!) For a [...]
36 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Monday, July 2, 2012 at 2:58 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, alpha males, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, goddess blogs, historical novels, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, Madeline Hunter, Rachel Gibson, romance books, Sabrina Jeffries, susan mallery, Suzanne Enoch, the goddess blogs.
Last Sunday morning, Christopher Robin headed out for a run. About a half hour after he left, my phone rang. “We have a situation,” he said. My mind immediately raced to all the disasters it might be: he’d fallen and broken an ankle….had a car accident…been bitten by a rattlesnake. And I didn’t have a [...]
85 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Friday, June 1, 2012 at 2:56 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, cats, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, goddess blogs, historical romance, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Lori Handeland, Madeline Hunter, pets, Rachel Gibson, romance, Sabrina Jeffries, Suzanne Enoch.
The writing life leads to a lot of strange interests. You write a book about a medieval weaver and have to learn everything about natural dyes and various forms of cloth, and so you carry around that knowledge ready to answer trivia at any second. (Who knows what “woad” is?* Ten points. Even better, who [...]
80 Comments. Posted by Barbara on Friday, May 18, 2012 at 2:00 am.
Filed under Barbara O'Neal, Barbara O'Neal, Barbara Samuel, bestselling romance writer, blog for women, Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, dyeing, gardens, goddess blogs, Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Madeline Hunter, medieval, Rachel Gibson, romance writer, Sabrina Jeffries, soil, susan mallery, Suzanne Enoch, the goddess blogs, verimiculture.
