I remember back in grade school, we’d spend a couple days before V-day decorating tissue boxes. Then the teacher would set them on the window sill, and V-day, we’d each go around dropping cards into friends’ decorated boxes.

There would be lots of treats, provided by parents, and a lot of fun for all or most all. I remember one boy in school hurrying before class started to get his v-day cards ready. This was very important stuff for 1st and 2nd graders and excitement charged the air.

I think what sticks in my mind is him trying to get the perforated cards off the sheet. (Do some still come that way?) My mom always bought separate cards with envelopes for me, and she also “helped” make sure each was addressed and ready to go before we left the house.

This boy was on his own, and clearly having a helluva time of it. The teacher finally pitched in and helped him get his cards singled out, but man that had to be frustrating for him. Embarrassing too.

I’ve always wondered why his mom (or dad) didn’t help him the night before. Why they bought cards that were tough for a kid to separate. I wonder if the memory of that one v-day sticks with him as well. I doubt I’ll ever know.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

In about three weeks, I should be holding my very first novel in my hot little hands. I can hardly wait, and yet life things (you know, the crap we can’t control?) is starting to happen.

My mother’s health has been dicey for a year, but after this last bout of pneumonia, she isn’t bouncing back. It’s scary, and sad, and leaves me with a very helpless feeling.

What’s worse is that my mom WAS my biggest cheerleader when it came to my writing, and she still is in many ways. She could hardly wait until I sold my first novel and was on my way to a soul satisfying career.

She is too ill to show much excitement now. Worse, I think her expectation of what this life-changing moment would be like for me is vastly different than reality.

If her health was better, I think she’d have enjoyed being a spectator at the conferences and author events. Now, I fear the upcoming Celebrate Romance conference, and my first book signings are going to be an endurance trial for her.

Send some good healing thoughts her way, and toss in one for me as well. It’s going to be a hectic March. 🙂

I was tooling around one of those funky shops that sell jewelry, handbags and other girlie stuff and found this keychain.

It was one of those OMG moments. I couldn’t believe how perfectly this fit my Born in a Brothel trilogy, and it’s been hanging above my computer ever since as inspiration.

See, the horseshoe is definately Cord Tanner, my 100% cowboy hero in One Real Cowboy. The dice? Gil Yancy, the cowboy with a gambler’s heart from My Sweet Thief. And the fourleaf clover is my Irish rebel hero in Once A Cowboy.

Neat, huh?

Thanks to the fabulous Justin Knupp at Stonecreek Media for putting my new design on my old blog. So easy for him, so unbelievably mind-boggling for me. 🙂