Archives for “romance novels”

My Cyber Friend

Let me tell you how I met Lori Handeland/Austin. We were at an RWA conference in New Orleans. We were on a sight-seeing/research trip to The Oaks plantation. We started talking in the gift shop, realized she had my first agent and I had her second agent, and that my second agent had been her [...]

41 Comments. Posted by on Thursday, June 13, 2013 at 5:58 am.

Filed under Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, My Life As A Plebe, , , , , , , , , , , , , .

The Evolution of a Cover: Same Book, New Look

Years ago I wrote a series about four guys who had a zest for living, and parlayed that into the Thrillseekers Anonymous, a business that caters to the rich and powerful.  An A-list wedding causes havoc in All I Need is You (Wedding Survivor). Stunt training reveals some old dangers in One More Night (Extreme [...]

38 Comments. Posted by on Monday, June 10, 2013 at 3:48 am.

Filed under Julia London, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Mission to Mars

There’s a mission to Mars in the planning stages. The deal is this: you apply to go, it’s a 6 month trip, and it’s one way. Thousands of people have already applied for this opportunity to travel to and die on the Red Planet. The participants will be on camera the entire time since this [...]

62 Comments. Posted by on Monday, June 3, 2013 at 5:00 am.

Filed under Claudia Dain, Claudia Welch, Goddess Grins, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Things I’d tell sixteen year old me . . .

I’d tell sixteen year old me that the best things in life will be my kiddos and not to let one second of laughter or giggles be pushed aside for house cleaning or ‘must dos’ that aren’t ‘must’ at all. I’d tell sixteen year old me not to marry a man who ‘needs’ you. Look [...]

92 Comments. Posted by on Friday, May 3, 2013 at 4:27 am.

Filed under Goddess Classics, Karen Hawkins, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Least Competent Dogs

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 [...]

51 Comments. Posted by on Friday, April 26, 2013 at 1:39 am.

Filed under Rachel Gibson, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

The First Two Rules of the Reading Universe as Written by a Very Cantankerous Reader

All readers have them, but some ignore them, while others follow them to the letter. What am I talking about? RULES, people. That’s right: RULES OF THE READING UNIVERSE. These are the two rules I hold nearest and dearest to my cranky book-reading-and-lending heart: Rule #1: When borrowing a book, thou shalt RETURN SAID BOOK [...]

127 Comments. Posted by on Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 4:37 am.

Filed under Goddess Readers Speak Out, Karen Hawkins, , , , , , , , , , , , , .

WOOOHOOOO! It’s PRIZE PACK FRIDAY!

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? [...]

362 Comments. Posted by on Friday, April 12, 2013 at 5:34 am.

Filed under Goddess Readers Speak Out, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Happy Dancing All Over The World

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 on Wednesday, April 10, 2013 at 1:05 am.

Filed under Barbara O'Neal, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Is It Just Me (again)?

  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 [...]

84 Comments. Posted by on Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 4:12 am.

Filed under Julia London, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Spring Break!

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 [...]

63 Comments. Posted by on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at 2:26 am.

Filed under Lori Austin, Lori Handeland, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Let it Snow

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 [...]

88 Comments. Posted by on Friday, March 8, 2013 at 2:02 am.

Filed under Lori Austin, Lori Handeland, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Dream a Little Dream

I tend to remember my dreams. My mom swears that she almost never does, and I know if I don’t consciously think about how I spent the night, by that afternoon I have a hard time remembering my five hours as a lumberjack, followed by an hour or two of driving a cruise ship through [...]

76 Comments. Posted by on Friday, February 22, 2013 at 4:03 am.

Filed under Suzanne Enoch, When Goddesses Fall To Earth, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Ooo, Baby, Baby

I could hear this song in my head but I had to go and look it up to remember who sang it.  The Miracles.  Oh yeah!  And also Linda Ronstadt. Why do I care you ask?  Because we have a new baby in the family and I am very psyched.  What is it about babies [...]

87 Comments. Posted by on Monday, February 18, 2013 at 2:57 am.

Filed under Lori Austin, Lori Handeland, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Why Yes I Did Watch the Commercials

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 [...]

79 Comments. Posted by on Tuesday, February 5, 2013 at 2:13 am.

Filed under Lori Austin, Lori Handeland, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

When Creative Disruption Bites

I keep reading articles about how fast the world is changing. I have to agree. The work world, the online world, the publishing world, the educational world— all my worlds seem to be undergoing major upheavals that the optimists call “creative disruption.” MBA types insist it is a good thing. It is one of the big, current, [...]

74 Comments. Posted by on Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 3:21 am.

Filed under Madeline Hunter, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

My Favorite Present

Now that the holiday season has passed us by (at last!!).  I have unpacked and put away the gifts and chosen my favorite.  It is my new Keurig Coffee Maker.  For years I looked at this item in stores, considered, picked it up, put it back, didn’t get it.  Rinse, repeat. I am a coffee [...]

99 Comments. Posted by on Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 2:13 am.

Filed under Lori Austin, Lori Handeland, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

What Do You Bring to the Table?

After a long holiday season, I got to thinking about the things people ask me to bring to the table.  The actual table.  As in food.  We all know Julia gets to bring the booze. I never get to bring the booze.  But they don’t let me bring anything difficult to make either.  IV says [...]

88 Comments. Posted by on Friday, January 11, 2013 at 2:38 am.

Filed under Lori Austin, Lori Handeland, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

The Magnificent Six

Some authors use photos of their characters to get an image in their heads of how these people appear.  I’ve always been the type who shied away from that because I could never find exactly what was in my head in the real world. In truth, physical descriptions of my “peeps” are hard for me. [...]

38 Comments. Posted by on Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 2:24 am.

Filed under Lori Austin, Lori Handeland, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Fallback Gifts

I went Christmas shopping for the family yesterday. Nothing about it was easy. This was especially true shopping for my two sons. They are young men now, so forget about toys or even video games. I know little about the music they listen to, so CDs are not possible. I have no idea which movies they have already [...]

87 Comments. Posted by on Thursday, December 20, 2012 at 3:48 am.

Filed under Madeline Hunter, When Goddesses Fall To Earth, , , , , .

For Refreshment Only Sundays (FROS) offers a little break from the holiday madness . . .

It’s tough being the Purveyor of All Things Holidayey, as most of us are. It’s difficult finding just the right gift at just the right price. It’s exhausting shopping the sales day after day. It’s frustrating when other relatives casually mention that oh, yes, THEY got CHILD X the thing you mentioned that YOU were [...]

20 Comments. Posted by on Sunday, December 16, 2012 at 8:53 am.

Filed under Goddess Eye Candy, Karen Hawkins, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Driving Meanies

One day, I was driving in one of those pretty but impractically designed shopping centers.  There was a huge median full of Crape Myrtles.  At a stop sign, I stopped, looked both ways–or at least as far as I could see around the trees–and went.  But someone was coming and when we saw each other, [...]

67 Comments. Posted by on Friday, December 7, 2012 at 4:14 am.

Filed under Julia London, , , , , , , .

All I Want for Christmas

MY two front teeth are intact.  (Knock wood!)  Thank you very much. What I’d really like is for those on my Christmas list to tell me what THEY want so I can buy it without exerting any brain power.  My brain power is being drained by 1871 Kansas at the moment and not available for [...]

56 Comments. Posted by on Monday, December 3, 2012 at 8:21 am.

Filed under Lori Austin, Lori Handeland, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Black Friday and the Absurd Idea to Venture Out

By the time you read this, you have probably recovered from your tryptophan-induced coma, and you are at work, or at home playing, or, if you are in the United States, chances may be very good that you are standing in line somewhere waiting to check out.  Today is Black Friday, when hordes of Americans [...]

50 Comments. Posted by on Friday, November 23, 2012 at 4:00 am.

Filed under Julia London, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Mr. Darcy Goes to Camp

You may remember that back in March my DH adopted a puppy. Well, Mr. Darcy has, I hope, now reached his full height. The middle sized dog we compromised on is looking pretty big to me. I think that once adolescence is over and he fills out, the “middle sized” label won’t fit. Already he [...]

49 Comments. Posted by on Monday, November 19, 2012 at 3:24 am.

Filed under Madeline Hunter, , , , , , , , .

Time Travel-Yay or Nay?

I’ve written in a lot of genres, but I have yet to write a time travel romance.  This isn’t because I don’t like them, because I do.  A single whiff of time travel in a back cover blurb or review and I’m there.  Same thing with movies.  Planet of the Apes, Peggy Sue Got Married, [...]

335 Comments. Posted by on Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at 2:46 am.

Filed under Lori Austin, Lori Handeland, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .