Did you survive Thanksgiving? And if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, are you looking forward to the next few weeks of Christmas music, shopping, gatherings and good cheer? I am. This is, without a doubt, my favorite time of the year. So let’s start off the Season with a giveaway:

This week’s drawing (in honor of the holidays!) is for a Chapters book bag filled with, what else, books–a number of them signed, along with some fun author swag!

This is how you can enter for a chance to win:

1) Leave a comment below and tell me what is your … Read more »

I always love running into Sabrina Jeffries at conferences–we swap stories of our kids–but our stories have a very unique twist–we both have sons with autism. Sabrina has given me great advice over the years–her son is much older and she’s got this great, “been there, done that” attitude that really helps me meet the challenges that she’s conquered. She’s so giving, she even went overboard with answering down below. I owe her so much! All you need to know is that besides being a talented writer, she is a kind, lovely lady who always makes me laugh.

Here are … Read more »

My family is full of cooks. We all love to bake and cook and try new recipes, get together and share our discoveries. On the holidays though, we trot out the family recipes. The ones that have been passed down for generations. No one would think–horrors upon horrors–of doing anything but the recipes we all know and love.

In our family, that means “Tess’s rolls” (my mom’s recipe that she’s made forever), that cranberry relish we all love, and a few years ago, in what was dubbed Anarchy Thanksgiving, I snuck in a new dish, Spicy Pearl Onions. It was … Read more »

I posted something over on Twitter earlier this week about Thanksgiving coming and got a panicked reply back from Christina Dodd. “Not next week!” she hollered through the Twittersphere. Yes, people. It’s nearly here.

I’ve blogged about my Thanksgiving trials and tribulations over the years. Take Thanksgiving 2008, when my husband declared he was going to cook Thanksgiving. Lesson learned: a man who says he is going to cook Thanksgiving is only going to delegate. Don’t get sucked into the fairy tale that you won’t have to cook. I’ve also gone on about the stress of counting down to … Read more »

I’ve known Niki Burnham for a long time. I’m not going to say how long–but its been long enough that I can call her one of my dearest friends and best writing buddies. We’ve spoken on panels, collaborated on goals, traveled abroad together, and she’s one of my fav friends to hit a baseball game with.

Niki is a solid, go-to friend who is also a dang good writer. While I miss her adult contemporaries (The Knight’s Kiss, anyone?), her YAs are awesome. Just ask all her teenaged fans who LOVE her books.

So while I could have … Read more »

I have nothing pithy to say this morning. I spent all weekend buried in revisions for Along Came a Duke. (Before you ask, it is coming out the end of May.) I will say the changes my wonderful editor asked for were rather minimal, but you still have to go through a story with a fine tooth comb before the copy editor gets her hands on it.

(Insert the boo-hiss here.)

Poor copy editors. They are much maligned and so very necessary, but they are the bane of a writer’s life. So I like to make sure there is … Read more »

Eileen Dreyer, who has also written as Kathleen Korbel, and I have bumped into each other for years. At teas and conferences and always take the chance to catch up on our shared love of travel, Ireland and Broadways shows. So I knew if you didn’t know Eileen yet, you needed to meet her. She’s in one word a “hoot!” Here are Five Things about Eileen Dreyer:

1. Where is the most beautiful/romantic place you’ve ever been

Wow. So many in the world, but I’d have to say Venice. I’ve dreamed of going there my whole life, and we were

So I’ve got a brand new round of Five Things in motion–lots of new authors dropping by on Thursdays to spill five things you might not know about them. I came up with the questions after I polled you all a while back and asked you: what questions would you ask future authors. You can find that post here.

And thus was born a brand spanking new list of questions that I send authors and ask them to answer five of them, their choice. What are the questions that I picked up from your comments and now ask them … Read more »

I’ve enjoyed Lauren Willig’s Pink Carnation series for years, so I was a little starstruck to meet her this summer in New York and all-too-thrilled that she wanted to be a part of Five Things. So without further ado, Five Things About Lauren Willig:

1. Did you have a nickname growing up?

In college, one of my best guy friends used to call me “Emma”, because of my tendency to meddle (constructively!) in peoples’ love lives. Well, at least it was mostly constructive. Some of my best match-making has been done by misdirection. I had a particular talent for accidentally