Archives for “contemporary romance”

Yes, I know I’m behind the curve on this. Yes, I know every author and their mother (maybe even their father) has a street team. But I thought it would be fun, so I’m doing it, too. For those of you who are even more behind than I am, a street team, according to Karin [...]


We all need good thinking places. Maybe you’re having a problem at work. Maybe you’re trying to come up with a good birthday present for your mother-in-law. Need some great advice to write in a graduation card? You need the right place to cogitate before taking pen to paper! Driving the car often helps me [...]


 I just got back from RT, where I met lots and lots of readers (and booksellers and other authors, but mostly readers). It was so much fun! And here’s why I love it: They talk about characters as if they’re real. They notice things about my books that I don’t notice. They remind me that [...]


Once upon a time this phrase was popular due to a commercial.  Alka Selzer.  I had to look that up.  I remembered the phrase but not the product.  A common complaint for me with commercials. There have been several things that I have resisted trying, thinking I would NOT like them and been pleasantly surprised [...]


Not really.  But doesn’t it seem like everything you buy these days come with points?  I figured out a long time ago that signing up for points at Office Depot doesn’t work for me, because I really need to spend more than $75 a year to earn anything.  The only thing I do enough of [...]


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 [...]


I have some of the most ill-behaved and spoiled dogs on the planet. If you do too, and you’re like me, you’ll appreciate the two news articles I recently found titled, Least competent Dogs: (1) A Palm Bay, Fla., police officer was sent to the hospital in February after a supposedly highly trained K-9 bit him [...]


I just returned from a lovely week in the Smoky Mountains with a few of my writer pals. We had a great time, especially since the sun shone and the temps were in the 80s.  I will not mention what the temps were in WI when I left.  It makes me twitch.  While I was [...]


  This past weekend, I left my 75-degree weather for the Grand Rapids, Michigan area to attend a writers’ retreat (hello, Mid-Michigan RWA! I loved my visit!). They told me it was going to be cold, maybe snowing and I should bring a “jacket.” Jacket?! To my SoCal soul, snow means boots, hats, mittens, scarves, [...]


I saw Thor for the first time last month. I enjoyed it moderately. But after watching it, I confess I didn’t get why everyone is so gaga over Chris Hemsworth. I mean, he’s cute and all, and I do like his blue eyes. But he’s blond. And I just don’t go for blonds. In fact, I [...]


I am not a fashionista. Which is not the same as saying I don’t like fashion. It is the same as saying I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it, or even noticing it. But when I do notice, I really notice. And this season I am noticing. Maybe it is just me [...]


(First off, sorry for the ear worm…but it’s so apt!) I had to read this memoir for research. Yes, I did! Not because I’ve always had a little crush on Rob Lowe. It had nothing to do with that! I’m really, truly writing a book that has a hero who was a one-time teen heartthrob [...]


As we’re all readers here, I’m sure we have great reading memories spread over our entire lives.  (Some lives, at this point, a lot longer than others.  Achem.) I remember my mother reading to me at night.  I’m sure she read Golden Books (remember those anyone?) because I had a ton on my shelf, but [...]


Believe it or not, April Fool’s Day jokes go back a long, LONG way. Someone did a spectacular one in 1860 when they invited people to watch the washing of the white lions at the Tower of London. The prank apparently drew lots of people; the only problem was that by 1860 the lions had long [...]


My son’s wedding is in about a month, so I have begun a Big Clean-up. That is when I amaze myself by going through and throwing out everything in sight. I get ruthless. Fortunately it does not happen too often. Only at times like this. You know–weddings, moving, those kinds of times.  I have a [...]


HEAR YE, HEAR YE, RESIDENTS OF MT. OLY. Ye olde royal writer, Karen of the Hawkins — hold on. That ‘Ye olde’ part doesn’t sound right to me. Let me start over. *ahem* HEAR YE, HEAR YE, RESIDENTS OF MT. OLY! Ye bonny writer (oh yes, that’s MUCH better) doth declare this to be FAIRYTALE [...]


I’m one of the several Goddesses that have new books coming out today. Yay! The Love Shack (click for excerpts and buy links) is the latest in my Beach House No. 9 series (after Beach House Beginnings, Beach House No. 9, and Bungalow Nights) and though it can be read standalone, if you’ve enjoyed the [...]


Many Cajun recipes begin with “First you make a roux”: crawfish étouffée, gumbos of all kinds, jambalaya. Roux is sort of the Cajun equivalent of white sauce–flour browned in oil until it is just this side of burned. Roux is essential. The thing is, everyone makes their roux differently. I make it the way my [...]


I didn’t mean for it to happen, honestly. My writer friends and I went over to B&N for coffee during our girls’ night out, and we behaved as usual, talking, laughing, enjoying being together. We were in the coffee shop (this is important–pay attention). I went to get more coffee, and a gentleman in a [...]


Yes, my revised version of By Love Unveiled, which was first published in 1993 under the name of Deborah Martin, comes out tomorrow. Just so you’ll know, here’s what I did in revising it: Tightened up the writing (gee, I’ve learned a lot in 20 years; who knew?) Made some of the motivations more believable [...]


Recently I saw the movie Knight and Day (yes, it has Tom Cruise in it–I was sucked in by the opening, forgive me, but at least I saw it free on TV!). It had everything that ought to produce a good romantic comedy–likable characters, a quirky plot, good pacing, and most importantly, a happy ending. But [...]


As the Superbowl this year had no green and no gold (to both mine and Karen’s heartbreak) I actually watched the commercials.  If the Packers were playing I would need the commercial breaks for important things like . . . well, you know.  But for most of the first half I could do important things [...]


Cilantro is the Spanish word for the leaves of the coriander plant (it’s also sometimes called Chinese parsley). It’s used the world over under different names, so I grew up being forced to eat it occasionally. Believe me, I wish I could like it. It’s IN everything–my favorite Mexican food, my favorite Thai food, my [...]


Do you ever get obsessed with a song? And no, I don’t mean those earworms, where you hear a catchy tune and can’t get it out of your head for a while. I’m talking about a song that you like so much that you listen to it all the time. That you hear it in [...]


I’m sure I’m not alone in having made some new discoveries this year. Some of them were good, some of them were bad (for me), and some of them were downright weird. But they will (partly) define my year. So let’s share our new discoveries. Here’s mine: Best new-to-me show: Rizzoli and Isles. I just [...]