After a week in Portland and my second visit down there this year, can I just say, I love Portland? I’ve gone back and forth for years on my own, for booksignings, PLA, reader’s conferences and the wonderful luncheon the Rose City Romance chapter puts on each spring. This time I took the family. And once again, Portland stole my heart. While I’ve gone on in the past about the great food, the accessibility, let me share three more reasons to go there:

1) They don’t call it the Rose City for nothing. And last week the roses were in … Read more »

Every week I take my son Matthew to speech therapy and when we come home we drive through this neighborhood that runs alongside the freeway and take this little off-ramp out of nowhere up onto I-5. All spring, as I’ve driven up this ramp,  I’ve watched a plant growing atop one of the pylons that supports the freeway. Imagine my delight when the other week it went and did this:

Yeah! It bloomed. Isn’t that the most delightful thing you’ve ever seen. Flowers growing out of nothing but cement and whatever else is up there. It made me smile and … Read more »

My friend, Maya Rodale, drops by to talk about: Life in London

There’s nothing like living in a place to really know it intimately, and thus to write about it authentically. Since actually visiting Regency London is out of the question, the next best thing is living in London. I was lucky to get to do that.

Thanks to my graduate school program, I was able to spend 8 weeks in London on an independent research project. Topic: romance fiction, of course. As I was reading early 1800’s gothic romances and other novels, along with conduct guides and things like … Read more »

If you had told me, all those years ago when I started writing, that one day a book of mine would be redone as a comic book in Japan, I would have probably thought you were off your rocker. I kinda thought my agent was off a bit when she sent me the news. A comic book? Really? Of my characters?

Then the kid in me took over. OMG! I’m going to have a comic book!

So for all of you, here is the first sneak peak of Jack and Miranda from This Rake of Mine as manga characters:

I … Read more »

I have been absent, and my apologies. I am deep into writing right now and settling down to write more just isn’t on the agenda right now. But I took the weekend off to go to my aunt’s memorial service in Idaho, so I feel ready to type again and thought I would put something, anything up here quick before the glow wore off.

I blogged last time about looking for something to read, and not long after that, lo and behold, you would never believe what came in the mail. Yes, something cool to read. Finished copies of The … Read more »