A moment of silence please for a brave and hardy (and I do mean HARDY) little Logitech mouse, who withstood hours of LineRider drawing, endless clicks on Buzz Lightyear uTube videos, and at times, we are sad to admit, ruthless banging when a page refused to load. This mouse, who spent his life in the merciless hands of two small boys has sadly given up the will to click.

Where other brands of mice have lasted a month, a week, an hour in the presence of He-Who-Makes-Mice-Tremble (yes, an hour is his personal record for breaking a mouse) this wee, … Read more »

How exciting! It is 2008! I can’t believe the last year passed so quickly, but that just seems to be the way of getting older and more settled with your life–time seems to speed up–just when I could really use a few extra hours in the day.

Speaking of getting older, the other day my DH and I were discussing getting a babysitter and the oldest hero asked for “a boy babysitter.” My husband was a bit taken aback by this, and then I chimed in that when I was little, my brother and I had a boy babysitter, whose … Read more »

Recently, there was a poll in England for the most ridiculous British laws still on the books. As a writer of British set fiction, I try very hard to adhere to what is lawful and historically accurate. So I’ve made a note of what not to do in my books, as being both ridiculous and unlawful:

1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament. (Thankfully, I haven’t done this to anyone, but I am sure there are plenty of times I’ve wanted to send a really annoying character off to their death. Now I know where not … Read more »

I love bumper stickers. I’d probably have my car covered with them if it weren’t for my husband who finds them abhorrent. So I enjoy bumper wisdom wherever I find it and occasional I see a bumper sticker that just resonates. This was one of them:

Wag More,
Bark Less.

It was just a little black and white square stuck to the back of a non-descript little old beat up car, and I just stared at it. It took me a moment to get it. I was like, Wag what? Then I got it. And I smiled. And I loved … Read more »

For those of you answering that it is time for Love Letters from a Duke to be released, you are wrong. That happens tomorrow. No, it was time for me to get an alarm clock.

Mine had an unfortunate accident early in the summer. For those of you who thought it might have lost its life in an early morning completely accidental shove off the nightstand, you would be wrong. It died of ants. Yes, you read that correctly. Ants. We came home from vacation and ants had taken up residence in my alarm clock. Our neighborhood is like ant … Read more »

but Julia Quinn copied me. Oh, yeah. She copied me. I don’t think I’ll probably ever be able to say that again, so I have to admit to a certain smug satisfaction in it. Not I’m not pointing any fingers or bitter about it, but she saw my most excellent idea and stole it without blinking. If you are wondering what I’m talking about, I direct you to Exhibit A.

Are you as shocked as I was? Oh, yeah, Julia’s calling it “Bridgerton Couture,” but you, me and any jury of our peers would agree that this is nothing … Read more »

Captain Slash, the infamous highwayman of Northampton, died this day in 1826. He’d been terrorizing vendors at a horse fair in Boughton when he was apprehended and subsequently hung. To get the better of his mother, who had predicted “he would die with his boots on”, he kicked them off just before he was hanged. It is said that the highwayman (that obviously not even a mother could love) now haunts Boughton Church, especially at Christmas. Now there’s a guy you’d really like to sing carols with, eh?… Read more »

Oh, yeah. Be warned, ye who is tempted by stationery stores, fancy pens and other writing doodads. This is writer crack. Worse than Godiva. When this comes out of the mailbox, my Visa groans. And why wouldn’t it when it holds little wonders like this:

And who wouldn’t be enticed by a leather box. But wait, there is more. You plug the box in the wall. Inside is a little power strip where you can plug in all your assorted charging codes and then your cell phone, PDA, iPod, etc, all rest happily atop it while they get their little … Read more »