Exciting News!

The lovely ladies at Scribble Chicks have invited me to join them! I'll be chiming in on Fridays with things I've learned (so far) about writing. I'd love for you to join me there and check out the posts on the other days too--it's a blog I've loved to read for a while so I have a feeling you'd love it too.

Stuff on my Mind

I've been working on a lot in my mind lately. Actual that statement is truer than I realized. Even as I was typing it I'm thinking to myself that I HAVE been working on a lot in my mind. Stories that I want to submit. How I should best be potty training my two year old. Whether I should watch Gilmore Girls during naptime or do laundry.

Important stuff.

But not as important as what else I've had on my mind lately.

Here's my question. How does your faith change your life? (Actually, let me have a couple more questions) To what degree is there separation between what's 'spiritual' and what isn't?

I've been trying to make my whole life more...whole. Not separating vacuuming and prayer time. Turns out they go very well together.

But especially in my friendships, I'm not sure where the line is. Are we supposed to have friends that we talk about our relationships with God with and friends that we don't, ever? I don't think so. I think we're supposed to talk about things like that will all of our friends.

Here's my next question. How do you make that natural? I know our conversations are an overflow of our hearts, so deepening our own relationships with Christ is first. But if you have a friend you haven't had these talks with and you want to, how do you go about doing that?

Maybe you're asking these questions too. I wish I could answer them for you and help you. Instead I'll just keep working through this in my mind. Feel free to chime in with help. I'll let you know if I figure it out.

Thanks for listening.

PS. Exciting blog news coming Friday!

New Look

I'm thinking after however many years of having this same background, it's time for something new. So look for a new background coming...sometime this week.

The problem is (well, this isn't really a problem, it's actually a HUGE dream come true and exciting news all rolled into one!) I have a book contract! And since this is the only website I have, anyone who reads those 'Dear Reader' letters in the back of the book and decides to visit my site will land here. Which is great. And awesome. And I'm looking forward to it.

But for some reason I feel like girly purple with bows on the background doesn't exactly say "I write romantic suspense."

At the same time...is there a blogger background that says that? Besides, you know, like crime scene tape?

(As I pause and decide that's not such a terrible idea...)

I'm starting to ramble, here, so I'll spare you. All of this to say two things.

1. I need a new look. On my blog. Although if my hair would hurry up and grow out so I could try new things with it too, that would be okay with me.

2. I seriously am blogging more this year. That's 3 posts in January, folks. Three. Count 'em.

2a. If you leave me some comments, I'll blog more... ;)

2b. Okay. Back to rambling. More later this week...

The Trouble With Cowboys Review

            Anytime I’m in the mood for a romance, Denise Hunter is one of my first picks. Her characters always have unbelievable chemistry between them, as well as believable obstacles keeping them apart, and The Trouble with Cowboys, the third in the Big Sky Romance series, is no exception. The book follows Annie Wilkerson and Dylan Taylor, both of whom readers of either of the first two books in the series will recognize. Annie has a problem—to attract more readers, she needs to change the column she writes for extra money into an advice column for lovelorn readers. The only problem is that she knows nothing about love or romance. Dylan needs help with his ailing horse and Annie is the best horse trainer there is so they decide that Annie will help him with his horse in exchange for help with her column.

            Dylan is attracted to Annie but she rebuffs him at every turn. Though she hates to admit it, she’s attracted to him as well, but a cowboy is the last kind of man she’d willingly fall in love with. Dylan works throughout the story to prove to her that her assumptions about all cowboys aren’t necessarily true and acts gallantly in several situations where a lesser man might have done otherwise.

            I enjoyed the pacing of this book and the fact that Hunter is such a master at getting the characters close and on the brink of love and then pulling them back again with some obstacle. I had already read the second book in this series, but I haven’t read the first and I’m planning to go out and buy that one whenever I get the chance. Denise Hunter has proven at this point that she’s capable of writing excellent romance after excellent romance, and she’s becoming one of those authors whose next book I’ll anticipate and probably buy soon after it releases.

Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book by the publisher for review purposes. I was not required to write a positive review.

Bad Blogger!

So I've been a delinquant blogger. It's true.

Can this be one of my New Years resolutions? Blogging more?

One of my resolutions is to get more organized. Perhaps if that had worked last year I would have been organized enough to make an actual list of goals on January 1st to help guide me in the new year. As it is, I count it impressive that my house is finally less cluttered (having a baby does crazy things to your housekeeping skills. As in, takes them away.) and I'm just planning to go throughout the whole year calling anything I come up with that I should be doing a 'belated' New Years resolution.

That works, right?

Anyway, I'm up to my ears in writing deadlines. Off to meet some of those and then we'll talk some more later this week. Honest.

I hope you had a great Christmas!

What I've Been Reading...

            There are some books that are so well crafted, their word pictures and themes so carefully chosen and woven into the story that it’s difficult to write anything in review that would do them justice. The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck was that kind of story, the kind that left me speechless and unable to say anything about it other than “It was beautiful. Go read it.”

            For the sake of this review, I’ll try to find a way to explain the elements of the book were so stunning, but in case my words fall short, as I suspect they will, please know that it was beautiful. Go read it.

            The women in the novel are all from different walks of life, even different time periods. They’re united by a wedding dress—one that is always in style, and always fits its owner perfectly, no alterations required. As the story progresses, the woman who currently owns the gown seeks to track down its owners and in the process learns those women’s stories and comes to a more full understanding of love and marriage.

            Love is a major theme in the book. God’s love, people’s love, its all there. The faith elements are woven seamlessly into the story in a way that is natural and unforced. I enjoyed and would rank it as one of my favorite romance books of all time. It’s the kind of book that I’ll recommend to people over and over, and much like Francine Rivers created a modern-day Christian classic in Redeeming Love, Rachel Hauck has done so with The Wedding Dress.















I'm required to tell you that I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review (positive OR negative--depending on how I felt about the book). I loved it and would have told you if I didn't so opinions are certainly my own. ;)

Nap Time for Toddlers!

Ever trained a toddler to sleep in a big kid bed?

If you have kids, I'm hoping the answer is yes. Otherwise, I'm not sure where your kids are sleeping... ;)

I went into Little Man's room Thursday morning to find that he was one step from out of his crib entirely. I think he was just trying to decide if the drop to the floor was worth the freedom. So we went out and bought him a twin mattress.

Overall it's been going very well. I remember being scared as a kid, so I did sit with him till he was almost asleep the first few nights (I know, some of you are throwing things at me now) but I'm trying to be in there for a shorter and shorter time each night as he gets used to it. Overall bedtime seems to be going excellently. It's naptime we're having issues with. I'm thinking we're about 50/50 on that--probably because he KNOWS he's tired at bedtime, but doesn't always recognize that at naptime. And who can blame him. He's not even two.

This, I'm reminding myself, is why kids have parents. Or one of the reasons. We know what's best even though they sometimes don't. I think before I had kids I thought parents pretty much just babysat all day and "raised" their kids periodically. I'm learning now that the "raising" part happens all day. How do I react when he disobeys? What am I teaching him through every. single. event. that happens during the day? Have you ever really stopped to ponder how amazing toddler's brain capacities are? They're learning SO MUCH and I'm so thankful God has opened my eyes to see how much I'm teaching him during the day.

He's down for a nap now (haha, at least, I'm hoping so. He's pretty quiet so we'll see. If he's still quiet in fifteen minutes I'm going to take a nap too. Adults have no need for sleep training. We loooove sleep.) and I'm glad for the time it's giving me to refresh my perspective. I love my little guy and I know every day how much of a privalege it is that God gave him to us to raise. But I want to make sure I make the most of every opportunity for that, while balancing discipline with love and the understanding that he IS just a kid, and a very little one at that.

What are some things you've learned about parenting? It's true, don't you think, that it's the hardest and most rewarding jobs ever?