Very Good Girl

Y'all know I love perfume, right? Well, I'm a sucker for a beautiful bottle too and I'm in love with Very Good Girl's. It is so sexy, alluring and provocative. It makes me wonder what kind of character would wear such a shoe. Is she a man (or lady) killer? Or is she dressing up in her best friend's clothes for a first date, trying to be someone she isn't? I haven't smelled the scent yet, but it's on my list to get. If nothing else, she is a great muse for a future story (I hope).

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year y'all! I hope 2022 is an amazing year for all of us. Like every good American, I've made some New Year's resolutions. I need to take off those last 15 pounds and I'm determined that I'll be ringing in 2023 15 pounds slimmer. I also have a writing resolution (which is appropriate, no?). I haven't submitted a story for publication in a long long while. I'll think of stories and not write them. I'll write stories and not edit them (my usual sin). I'll edit stories but not submit them (for fear they're not good enough, or worried they need yet another round of editing before I send them off). This year I'm shaking off the all of those inhibitions and worries. As the great Wayne Gretzky said, you miss 100% of the shots you never take. So by December 31, I will submit at least one story (hopefully more). Do you have a New Year's resolution? What is it? I wish you luck and hopefully a year from now we can report back and share our success (positive thoughts only y'all ;))

A Few of My Favorite Things (The Christmas Music Edition)

I'm one of those grumpy people who doesn't want to listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. Except for this year. This year November hit and I was like, bring on White Christmas with a side of Last Christmas. And all of the other comforting songs that I need this year to make 2021 better. Oddly enough, I was today many years old when I realized that all of my favorite Christmas songs are about relationships. Celebrating relationships, longing for lovers and trying to seduce a hottie. What can I say, I really do love love, even subconsciously. Here's my list of (sort of) Christmas love songs. You know them and probably love them too.

1. Please Come Home for Christmas--It's a toss up between the Eagles and Bon Jovi versions. My absolute favorite Christmas song.

2. Baby It's Cold Outside--So so wrong, but so so right. Glee's version is hands down the sexiest version out there.

3. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)--Mariah's version is great, but this song belongs to Darlene Love.

4. This Christmas--The Christmas season doesn't officially start until I hear Donny Hathaway croon this song. It's everything.

5. River--My newest favorite Christmas song. It just breaks my heart to hear it. But then I have to hear it again. And again.

Fall in Love With Midland

So my newest favorite country band is Midland. I mistakenly caught them in concert a few years ago when I went to a Little Big Town Concert with Kacey Musgraves as the opening act. Well, Midland was also opening for them and at the time I thought, hmm, these guys are pretty good. And they've only gotten better. They're old school, a little tongue in cheek and their music ranges from great line dancing songs to ones that will break your heart, to others that make you want to fall in love right along with them. If you haven't checked them out, don't wait. They're too good to sleep on.

Mama Mia

I'm starting a new story and my hero (who still doesn't have a name) is super hot. And blond. And super hot. I'm still figuring him out and his story, but his hotness defintely plays a major role. Randomly looking through a fitness article I came across this guy. Lord help me, that body. I have found my inspiration for Hot Blond Guy. Hopefully this pic inspires you too.

Censorship or Justice?

I normally use this space to tout the things I love about writing, romance and the world. But today I’m going to discuss something that I hate. I know, hate is for Hitler, but this subject has been rolling around in my head for weeks and today I realize that I truly do hate it. Full disclosure, I don’t know the whole story. I’ve read literally two articles about it and am very likely making some assumptions, but such is life. The writing life. Karen Witemeyer won the Vivian Award for best romance book "with religious or spiritual elements” for At Love's Command. But RWA took it back because some people found it offensive due to how the subject matter was handled in the book. For those that don’t know, the Vivian is the top award in the romance writing world. The book centered on a hero who was involved in the massacring of Native Americans and finds redemption through God. Sounds like a pretty basic plot for Christian romance but it upset some folks. For years marginalized people have been made to be plot devices and their stories have been used for the white Christian gaze. Quite frankly, they are sick of it. I get it. I don’t read books about slave owners/former slave owners. And I might be offended if one won the biggest award in the romance world. But the writer in me cringes at the idea that a book that has been identified as excellent, would lose out on an award simply because it offended people or because it was from the (possibly narrow) viewpoint of a certain group of folks. That feels wrong to me and like something that could lead to censorship, if not by the industry then certainly the author. Realistically, we don’t all have the same perspective on our country’s history. Realistically, the “winners” have been able to shape the narrative. Realistically, this has angered minority groups who finally have the power to push back. And certainly I don’t blame them. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t set right in my spirit to go down a slippery slope of determining whose story gets told and whose doesn’t simply because it could offend someone. Instead, I want the stories written by people of color to be read and feted alongside those written by white folks so that people can see our worlds from our point of views and acknowledge our greatness.

Love at First Sight?

You'd think that as a romance writer I would be a hopeless romantic. In fact I took a quiz from Psychology Today and I had a decent hopeless romantic score, 74 out of 100. And one of the questions got me thinking. It asked if I believed in love at first sight. And I do, in sweeping romance novels and heart warming movies. But in real life? Nah son. Love at first sight is the height of romantic ideals and finding your soulmate just by looking into their eyes, is a literal dream. But I don't think you can know the soul and worth of someone just from how well they fill out a shirt. To love someone truly, you have to know them as a person and not just as a sex object or even a love object. Which means I don't believe in throwing caution to the wind and swooning over love. I might write about it (sometimes)but in real life I can't sign up for it.