home sweet home

true love, the wedding was very sweet

my friends the mules

a place to...plot, nap, hide

coffee anyone?

my office

HOME SWEET HOME!

I would love to say I have an office where I sit for hours each day, typing away. The truth is, I spend most of my time in the recliner with Fox News or CMT playing in the background. There are times when I want silence and the TV gets turned off. If I need a change of scenery I take my computer to the front porch. Sometimes I need a nap, I mean I need a place to plot the story, so I head for the hammock. And sometimes I need a distraction so I go outside and talk to the mules, or I dress my dog up in a wedding dress. :-) Actually my daughter did it, but the cat thought it was kinda hot.

Writing Q & A

The kids went back to school. My house is quiet. The dogs are even quiet.

That means it is either time to drink coffee on the front porch, or time to work on the next book in the cowboy series. But being a multi-tasker, I can do both.

As I put these two characters together, I wondered what the rest of you are working on. If you're writing, what are you writing and how is it going?
Do you have trouble spots that you're struggling to fix, or characters that won't bend to your will?

If you have any writing questions, questions about my books, or questions about Love Inspired, feel free to ask away. If I have an answer, I'll give it. If I don't, I'll find someone who does. Or I'll make something up.
But with the kids in school, we might as well spend time talking.

I'll start the discussion with: How do you all come up with characters?

country life

Living in the country is not always PEACEFUL.

For the last few nights we've had a middle-of-the-night visitor. A coyote.
He slips around in the dark, probably eating leftovers that I toss over by the fence. But in the process of scavenging for food, he wakes up the entire house.

Or should I say, he wakes up the dogs and they wake up the entire house.

Last night I caught him in the act. I woke up and couldn't sleep, so I was in the recliner at 3:00 am when I spotted him heading for the front porch! What is it about 3:00 am and my life. Wasn't it just a month or so ago that 3:00 was the time that someone decided to ride horses down the road in front of my house?

Back to Coyote at 3 o'clock. There he was, slipping up the porch, probably for cat food. But that kind of freaks me out, because we have floor to ceiling windows and I picture him peeking in at me.

stay tuned for more quiet nights in the country
The minute the dogs spotted him, or smelled him, they went crazy. At 3:00 am.

TEN WAYS TO PROCRASTINATE

I'm working on a new cowboy story, and I'm loving it. But sometimes my brain needs a break. I write a scene or two, and then I have to do something kind of useless as I think of the next scene or what kind of trauma to hit my poor unsuspecting couple with.

So I've developed my Top Ten Ways to Procrastinate.

Starting with number 10:
10: check email. At least six times in a row. Within a five minute time span. Anything can happen, you know.

9: Check facebook and stalk other people through their status updates.

8: Check email again. It's been ten minutes, you have no idea what can happen in ten minutes.

7: Read Fox News headlines, look for dirt on stars and politicians and mumble things like, "Are we really surprised, and yes, Brad Pitt is a pinhead for saying he wants to run for Mayor on a NO RELIGION platform." He used to go to church in Springfield.

6: Check email again.

5: Update twitter status. Not that anyone reads twitter other than other people tweeting. And when did adults start using words like TWEET.

4: Call a friend (notice it is step four in this program)

3: Make coffee

2: Call another friend

THE NUMBER ONE WAY TO PROCRASTINATE....

1: Look up insane articles on the pain tolerance level of redheads and actually be proud that you have a mutated gene that allows you to endure 25% more electrical shock than average people.

eye serum and reality

Here is a moment of reality. We celebrated our 23rd anniversary this week. Twenty-three years and we still like each other, still have fun, laugh at stupid things, do stupid things. And, silly us, still think we're twenty.

For our anniversary we went to Branson. Not a big deal, but we had a blast. I love the Branson Landing. I love sitting outside at Garfields, watching boaters on the lake, listening to the band. But right away we got caught by a kiosk vendor peddling miracle beauty products. So, now for reality. We're walking down the sidewalk and Michell (a guy) approaches us. "Come, sit here, let me show you this miracle from the Dead Sea." (insert cute accent)

Sure, why not. I sit down. Michell begins to rub my hands with Dead Sea Salt scrub. My husband and I are laughing, thinking this is fun. Michell asks what I do. I tell him I write romance novels. He asks if I can put him in a book. but make him tall. Of course I can, but he'll have to be a bull rider. As I scrub my hands, Michell begins to touch my face, look at my eyes. A little freaky, but okay.

And then he says, "I have something to get rid of those wrinkles, too."

Michell was no longer cute or funny. And he'll never be a hero in a book. HEROES DON'T NOTICE WRINKLES. But I bought the stinking bottle of eye serum and I have to admit, it works.

time for school!

I'm a bad mom. I admit it, I am SO READY FOR SCHOOL TO START. And I'm pretty sure my kids are ready. We're at the end of our 'bonding' rope. We've had togetherness. And now, time for them to GO TO SCHOOL.

This is how I know it is time.
At the beginning of the summer, the kids liked each other. (and I liked them) They played games together. They talked. They watched TV. They made plans for vacation.
Now they're starting to say things like: "Mom, she keeps looking at me."
or, "Mom, he won't stop breathing."
Looking and breathing are not optional.

I just caught my daughter chopping something up. A banana. Because the dogs might like a treat. THE DOGS DO NO EAT BANANAS. They've never eaten them. How bored do you have to be to think dogs eat bananas?

And worse, I've realized I kind of like watching Wizards of Waverly Place.