I’m receiving more and more requests to speak at various bookstores, readers’ groups’ meetings, chapter meetings, etc.

Frankly, whenever I get such an invitation I have a mild panic attack. My heart races and I feel a bit queasy. I hate that! I wish I were one of those authors who are so good at speaking in public–like SEP–or at least one who doesn’t mind it so much. I really would LOVE to do these things, but I’m just too shy. I freak out. I’ve been told it doesn’t show from the outside, but I don’t see how that’s possible when I’m quaking in my boots on the inside.

*sigh* I really need to get over this fear of speaking in public. Maybe I have to take some classes or something.

The Stranger I Married is now shipping from Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million, in addition to a few other online retailers!

For those of you subscribed to the Brava Book Club, TSIM is the lead title in the January shipment, so you’ll receive it that way.

As some of you know, I’m an Army veteran. My sister is serving in the Air Force. Her boyfriend also serves, and he’s just been deployed to Iraq. My sister is understandably a wreck, and I’m mad as hell that he’s going at all. (but that’s a rant best kept to myself)

My sister has asked for your prayers and well-wishes to follow Justin as he serves our country overseas.

Thank you.

Halloween 2007

1. Two Little Lies by Liz Carlyle
2. Secret Society Girl : An Ivy League Novel by Diana Peterfreund
3. Portrait of a Lover by Julianne MacLean
4. 18th Century Costume in the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside
5. Dangerous Liaisons : Fashion and Furniture in the Eighteenth Century (Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications)
6. Claiming the Courtesan by Anna Campbell
7. Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas
8. The Dark Highlander by Karen Moning
9. London’s Underworld: Three Centuries of Vice and Crime
10. Swept Away by Toni Blake
11. Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas
12. Three by Noelle Mack
13. Sugar and Spice by Leda Swann

I haven’t read most of these, sadly. I tend to buy the majority of my books in brick and mortar stores, so aside from the research texts, most of these books are pre-orders. You might note that the majority of my pleasure reading choices are historicals, with contemporaries taking up a distant second, and paranormals being nearly non-existent. I rarely buy paranormal books. Of the ones I do buy, they’re mostly futuristics. (which might explain why I rarely buy paras, eh? There are so few futuristic titles in paperback.)

Do you like to keep your books nearby?
Yes. I keep them in the master bedroom closet.

Do you collect them?
From certain authors I do, yes. And if I really loved a book, I’ll hang on to it forever.

Pile, stack, shelve, hoard them?
I have a bookcase, but it’s overflowing and now there are books pretty much everywhere in my closet. Piled, stacked, shelved, falling over…you name it. *g*

Or do you get rid of them, send them back to the library, give them away, once you’ve read them?
I give away the books that weren’t keepers for me, hoping that they might end up being a keeper for someone else.

I pulled an all-nighter last night and finally crashed into bed at 7:30 this morning. I slept until 10:30, then napped around 4 PM for about 30 mins. So I’m beat. Wiped out. I’m hitting the hay. *yawn*

I’ve started doing “get to know you” memes on Tuesday and Thursdays. My brain isn’t cooperating very much in the “think of something to blog about” dept. and it was either let the blog stagnate further, delete it altogether, or let someone else help me come up with topics. I’m going with the latter for now. Maybe you’ll learn something interesting about me, and maybe you won’t. *g*

In completely unrelated news, I love my editor Kate Duffy. Love her. As exhausted and out-of-it as I was today, she made my day with a much-appreciated phone call. Actually, appreciation is too mild a word. Deep gratitude works much better. She rocks and keeps me motivated. I’m hugely thankful to her for that.

10 Things You Love About the Holidays

(in no particular order)

1.) The smell of pine
2.) Watching how thrilled my kids get while opening presents
3.) Hearing my kids yell, “Mom! Look what Santa got me!”
4.) Having the whole family spend the day in their pjs. (It’s nice not being the only one. *g*)
5.) Listening to holiday songs
6.) Eating yummy food prepared by someone else
7.) Helping the kids assemble their gifts
8.) Watching my hubby dig through his stocking
9.) Watching holiday movies and tv shows that bring back memories
10.) Opening presents