Archives for “Lori Handeland”

We’re GIVING it away here on Mt. Oly! (And by ‘it,’ we mean ‘books’ and by ‘giving,’ we mean — Actually, we really mean ‘giving’ when we say ‘giving.’) So jump in, buckle up your seatbelt, post an entry, and BAM, you’re entered to win a SIX BOOK PRIZE PACK. Yes, it’s THAT easy. Why? [...]


Do you ever see something and love it, and wish you’d thought of it?  Do you ever see someone and think, I wanted to be that person?  It doesn’t happen to me very often, but my admiration for brilliance has me wondering sometimes if it’s too late to re-invent myself and come up with the [...]


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 [...]


For the past two days it’s been windy here. Not just a bit breezy, but WINDY. In the mountains and canyons, gusts up to 90 mph. On the news they showed a guy riding a skateboard and holding an umbrella, using it as a sail. And of course there are fires burning, because in Southern [...]


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 [...]


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 [...]


Since my sister died, my family rents a cabin each year near Gatlinburg and we spend a week-long family power week. Last year, we had a gorgeous five bedroom cabin on a mountain, great hot tub, lovely deck, huge coffeemaker, lots of hot water, four spacious bathrooms, pool table and game room — it was [...]


(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 [...]


  So I’ve got a new list of things I just don’t get.  Is it just me?  Here’s my top three things: 1.  With almost every purchase, someone wants my email address.  Sephora, Best Buy, Office Max, Nordstrom’s — the only place that hasn’t asked me for my email address is the grocery store.  I [...]


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 [...]


In the newspaper biz, when a reporter said “I’m on deadline,” it usually meant he/she had to get a story in by a certain time that night in order for it to appear in the newspaper the next morning. A deadline for a book writer is a slightly different animal. Technically, once I sign a [...]


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 [...]


My dad killed people. No, he wasn’t a serial killer. He was a Marine in WWII and he killed men, lots of men, at close range. He killed them with bullets and he killed them with bayonets and he killed them with knives. There’s a famous quote about Henderson Field on Guadalcanal (one of my [...]


I never went on one of those wild spring break trips in college.  I was not the type to sleep in my car, live on the beach.  Let’s face it.  I was never a candidate for “Girls Gone Wild.”  My idea of a wild night is more than two glasses of vino. The very first [...]


My blog really has nothing to do with the Ides or Bewaring, but I just wanted to use that title. What I actually want to talk about is wedding dresses. I’ve never worn a wedding dress. And unless Nathan Fillion or Gerard Butler finally start answering my tweets, it’s not likely to happen. Even so, I [...]


It’s been a bad week. A week ago today, one of my oldest friends, a sorority sister, died. I can’t imagine my life without her. But now my life is without her. I’m having a tough time. A few days later, my mother-in-law died. She was the kindest, most loving woman. She loved me unconditionally [...]


So I’m at dinner with a 20-something and a 30-something.  The waiter takes our drink order and then asks to see the ID of the 20-something.  I was shocked!  Offended!  Why her and not me?  Because in my head, I am still the same age as her.  I’m ageless.  I’m just me, the same person [...]


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 don’t know about you guys, but if a man has a square jaw and steely blues, I’ll look. But if he’s also a reader, then I’ll chase him around the world and hunt him down like a Wildebeast – Er, I mean, I’ll look twice. Yes. Look twice. That’s what I meant to say. [...]


As I sit here we are expecting 6-12 more inches of the white and fluffy.  As my yard already looks like this   I’m not happy.   The first few snowfalls are so pretty.  When the boys were small a snow day was a holiday.  (They still are, but once you aren’t in school any [...]


Yesterday’s post by Suzanne Enoch about her collection made me to think about what I do when I’m not writing. Other than reading research books, my favorite thing to do is attend estate sales. Because this is Florida, most estate sales are living estate sales — the owners of the property are usually moving in [...]