I have a confession to make. I put inside jokes in all my books. I can’t help myself. They amuse me. I am writing along and I put them in and then I spend a few minutes doing the “Do I? or Don’t I?” back and forth.

And they usually always end up in the final book. I realized I have always done this as I was rereading and cleaning up my first three books ( Brazen Angel, Brazen Heiress and Brazen Temptress) for their digital re-release. I was reading Brazen Angel and came to the following lines, … Read more »

So nothing got done around here. Because it snowed. Truly, life comes to a grinding halt in Seattle when it snows. And that is my excuse and I am sticking to it.

I did though get a bunch of stuff done over the weekend, including cleaning out my office closet, wherein for a while it appeared my office had exploded. But do know that everything found its way back to where it belongs and I know I need to do some fun prizes that include bookbags. I have a plethora of bookbags. LOL. And penchant for buying notepads from Levenger. … Read more »

If you are like me, you are always seeking out the books and teachers who inspire and motivate writers and non-writers alike.

To that end, I polled a bunch of friends, tweeps, and writers from all over and asked them: What writing books do you love? What has done the most for your creativity and career?

What I was looking for were books to fuel a year of creative growth, gaining and honing my skills and perhaps learning a few new tricks. Who doesn’t like new tricks?

So I present this recommended list of writing books. I have read some, … Read more »

First things first. Winners. We’ve got two this week. I love sending these out but at the holidays it is just sort of special. So claim them early so if you have a moment to spare, you’ll have a brand new pile of books to pick from!

The first winner is blog post #21, Betty Hamilton, who posted on December 5, 2011 at 9:35 AM and said:

What a wonderful Christmas present winning this would be!! I plan on doing a lot of Christmas cookie baking this week!
Merry Christmas!!! and TY for the contests!

I hope Betty baked … Read more »

I love crafting or making holiday gifts–especially all those small gifts you have to take to parties or because all of a sudden you remember you forgot a gift for someone. I think something you have made or put together yourself just means a little more than a bottle of wine you snagged on the way to a holiday party.

So here is something I am doing this year: Homemade Seasonings.

I got empty spice jars at a local wrap and container store, and then I mixed several large bathes of my favorite Taco Seasoning and a favorite Steak/Chicken Rub, … 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 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 »

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 »

While at the Emerald City Writer’s Conference Booksigning (Good heavens! Is that a mouthful or what?) I conned my friend Shannon McKelden into going around for me and buying books. I was trapped signing but she wasn’t signing this year, so I gave her my parameters: books my blog readers would love, and sent her on her merry way.

I am happy to report, she came through for you in perfect form!

I have books. A big fat bag of autographed books to give away. Plus I have some great Avon bookbags to add to the stash. And bookbags from … Read more »

I am going to make this announcement short and sweet, because I am in the home stretch of finishing up Along Came a Duke and don’t want to dally around the issue. So here it is:

Last week’s blog winner is: PhyllisC, commenter #29, who also tweeted as MamaCrab01.

(NOTE: There seems to be some confusion about this blog–this is not a contest, just the announcement of last week’s winner, which was Phyllis, who has already contacted me and will get this box of books. There is no current blog contest.)

Thanks everyone for playing along and when I get … Read more »