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Summer’s last hurrah and a book by Joan Johnston… What could be better? How about an early autumn booksigning
(above, photo from Seattle, Oct 2, 2004) and getting to talk with lots of wonderful readers? posted: 10-13-04
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Thousands of women in formal wear and a few lucky ones with golden statuettes clasped in their hands. That's RWA's big night. I love seeing all my friends dressed to the nines and having a great time. Fun. In the picture from left to right: Me, Shirley Jump, Lissa Manley, Lisa Gardner, Terri Reed, Nicole Burnham with her newly won RITA for Best Short Contemporary Romance. posted: 9-14-04 |
I went searching for inspiration and knowledge at a writers' conference in beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico.
posted: posted: 4-30-04
I have no idea what he is looking for.
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Found the end of the Santa Fe Trail ...
And ended up finding the perfect example of character motivation in Susan Elizabeth Phillips' excellent novel Ain't She Sweet?
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How I spent my winter vacation... Life is sometimes soooooo rough. --Leah
posted: 3-01-04
And a wonderful romance novel to warm your heart. I recommend Nicole Burnham's latest Silhouette Romance, ONE BACHELOR TO GO. This talented author swept me away and made me smile. |
Beautiful sunsets to warm your soul...
Nothing like the tropical sun to warm your body...
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Nothing like
subzero temps to make a girl long for an afghan
and a really good sweeping historical. Or better yet,
a really good sweeping historical hero! Like the one in Linda
Needham's latest, The Pleasure of Her Kiss.
Once again Ms. Needham has made me fall in love with one
of her heroes. Makes me want to write a hero who is literally
lord of his domain. And wears knee boots and  breeches!
So, this kind of explains
my penchant for rich heroes in tuxedos, doesn't it. I can
still see Brendan in MacDougal
Meets his Match...Though I have to say the thought
of a man in a cowboy hat and boots like Mitch in my upcoming
book The Cowboy can warm
me up nicely. Or a man in uniform, like Rick in The
Marine...Okay, pass the ice water!
Or a snow bank! And see, I'm
not alone when it comes to the impact of a wonderful romance
novel hero. With the added bonus of being able to make
snow angels (below). Always fun.
--Leah
posted: 1-13-04
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posted: 1-13-04
I love travelling (who
doesn't?) -- is there a more fabulous city than New York?
Here I am, just a smidge too far away from the Statue
of Liberty to fully appreciate her.
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Beginning. Middle.
End. posted: 7-06-03
A linear journey, right?
Sometimes. Sort of.
Actually, not so much. At least in my world.
It’s roughly the beginning of
summer, but I’m at the end of the copy edits for my January ’04
Harlequin American Romance, MACDOUGAL MEETS
HIS MATCH. Can’t wait to tell you about that one!
I’m also at the beginning of
a four book series for Harlequin American called THE LOST MILLIONAIRES.
Though at the same time, I’m strangely at the oh-so-lovely middle of
the first book in that series, with the working title THE BAD BOY,
as well as the middle of
a year with only one book out. And I’m seriously missing
my fan mail. But you can’t do much about a stolen computer
with the back-up disk left in it. Lesson learned, there.
It’s a distraction,
but I’m beginning to
get excited about speaking at my local romance writers’ group,
Rose City Romance Writers, July 12, signing books at the Romance
Writers of America’s Readers for Life Literacy Autographing
event July 16 in New York City, and speaking at GSRWA’s Emerald
City Conference October 4. By then I’ll be in the middle of
writing book two of THE LOST MILLIONAIRE series, THE COWBOY. (You’ll
have to wait to find out the working titles of three and four --
keep checking my coming soon page --
but I bet you can guess them.)
Blessedly, I’ve
yet to reach the end of
my rope.
posted: 1-07-03
As we all know,
the holidays are a time to be thankful for the precious gift of
family and friends. So, I have found, is the time right before a
book deadline. When those two events occur simultaneously, then
you can bet I’m doubly thankful for the generous people in
my life. It’s tough managing the real world when I am so engrossed
in an imaginary world. One with gorgeous men totally in my control…
Thank goodness I
don’t have to go it alone. My husband’s a great cook --
and even if he weren’t, the fact that he’s willing to
try makes him a gem -- the rest of my family helps out, there always
seems to be a neighbor wanting to watch my boys if I need them to,
and my writer friends are there with understanding or a cracking
whip, whichever is most needed. The support and help I receive makes
me feel rich, indeed.
 While
my latest book, BIG-BUCKS BACHELOR,
isn’t a holiday book, per say, the characters -- hunky Jack
Hartman in particular -- come to realize the value of being connected
to those around them. Though he fights it tooth and nail -- silly
man -- Jack ends up being rich in so many ways.
Now, if only I could
win the lottery, Id have a lot in common with good old Jack.
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posted: 9-01-02
I
love my children more than anything in this world. They are my light, my heart,
my reason for living.
But it’s
time for them to go back to school. And I’m not talking about the calendar.
Despite
the fact that they are a great source of cheap entertainment, their spontaneous
adventures play havoc on my routine. A writer needs routine.
Believe it
or not, the muse can actually be tricked into arriving on your shoulder when needed
if you stick with a routine. Or so I’m told. My memory isn’t that good.
Granted,
I have been known to work successfully as chaos reigns (I wrote part of my upcoming
February release from American, BIG-BUCKS BACHELOR,
while watching Mickey, Donald, and Goofy conga by. I bet you’ll never be
able to figure out what part!), I am much more productive when the boys are in
school.
Not to mention having the time to indulge in my newest guilty
pleasure, visiting www.eHarlequin.com
and reading the free, online stories—and, no, not just my own, SEX
AND THE SINGLE STYLIST. But trust me, that particular story is not one to
read with curious school-age kids popping up behind you.
Those online
reads are good enough to make the most loving mother contemplate boarding school…
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posted: 7-02-02
Longest
day of the year. The dog days of summer.
Implications are that summer
days drag by, that they are more than long enough to get everything
you could ever possibly want to do done.
Not from my perspective.
Maybe because my plans tend to
be on the overly optimistic side. Namely, that the weather will
be nice enough to make those early morning outdoor swim lessons
for the kids so pleasant they’ll be raring to go each and every
a.m., that we’ll actually arrive at the pool on time. So nice,
in fact, we could go straight from the pool to the golf course for
a day to make their dad jealous, or to soccer/baseball/tennis/basketball/etc.
camp with enthusiasm and energy drawn from the sun.
But we live in Oregon.
And each
summer I fool myself into thinking I’ll hop out of bed with the dawn to exercise,
write the pages I need to finish my current work in progress weeks before its
deadline, thus being free to whisk the boys off to a nifty, educational park on
the other side of town before the crowd arrives. But
what really happens is I stay up too late becoming far too emotionally invested
in the latest reality based television show and am too tired to get out of bed
any earlier than I absolutely must to have the boys at the pool not too late,
in the rain. Then I spend hours trying to reach my writing goal because I am distracted
by my fantasies about summer and can’t accomplish much.
Which actually works great for
the boys. All they really want to do during the summer is hang around,
playing with the dog, available for any friend who might wander
by to hunt for frogs or have water balloon fights with.
The days whiz by so fast, the
next thing you know, the opportunities are gone.
Summer is over.
Time
to start planning for next year.
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posted: 4-01-02
Like
bellybuttons, we all have one. A perspective, that is. But each and every person’s
perspective, their take on life, is unique to them. No two people can view the
world exactly the same way because no two people can live the same life. Even
Dolly, the cloned sheep. Surely she sees things a little differently than the
original sheep does. The simple fact we know Dolly’s name but not the name
of the one she was cloned from tells us Dolly has experienced different things.
She has the perspective of a famous sheep. That must be more interesting than
the stand-in-the-field, get-chased-by-a-dog sheep.
While I’m not
as famous, or infamous, if you prefer, as Dolly, this spot on my website is for
my perspective: whether I am sharing my take on a few recent releases or talking
about raising kids while having a career. It’s my column, of sorts.
Our perspective is shaped by so many, many things unique to us. My perspective
is formed primarily by the fact that I’m the mother of two boys. Having boys,
in and of itself, is not unique, but because one, as a two year old, “actually
preferred just jelly” on his PBJ only to go on to develop a burning curiosity
about what a dog treat “really” tastes like, my perspective is just
that much different.
And from a very young age, I viewed the world from
the perspective of a romance writer—though I didn’t realize it until
adulthood. While I have only recently found publishing success with my stories,
I have always “rewritten” life to end happily. I can’t help it.
Recent world events have made it clear that not every story can have a happy
ending, no matter how strong the imagination, but I’m still going to use
this space to occasionally share my own definitely romantically skewed take on
life. My aim is to entertain, but if you find yourself identifying your own perspective,
more the better.
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Back to the current
perspective.
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