Fall has always been my favorite season, despite the fact that it has meant going back to school for me and then for mine. I perk up in the fall, I get some energy for a change. Maybe this is a function of the temperatures finally dipping out of the nineties (ahem), maybe it’s something to do with the pituitary gland and the days being shorter. I think it has more to do with a sense of thwarting death and preparing for hardship.

My first indicator that summer is ending comes from the insects. The crickets no longer  sing just at night, they’re at it all day too. The stink bugs start invading the house as soon as the first cornfield gets chopped. When the last one comes down, the field mice show up in the basement, no matter how mild the weather. Then the geese start flocking, I’m feeding my horses in darkness at one end of the day or the other, and the deer have gone from that lovely, rich red  to the tawny dun of winter coats.

The bugs are getting ready to die, the deer are trying to procreate (automobiles in the path of true love notwithstanding) before they get ready to starve. Hard times are coming. On a biological level, I think this is motivating. In fall, I’m more likely to get around to reading the Susan Mallery and Loretta Chase I’ve been hoarding in my To Be Read pile. I take those walks that are good for my rumination. I throw stuff out that has been lurking in my closets for months if not years. In short, I get off my duff. I organize my nest because in the coming months, I’ll be seeing a lot of the place.

This is the only change of season that motivates me to act, though I enjoy all the seasons. But my experience of fall may not be yours. What about the coming cooler season appeals to you, and what makes you dread it? Do you enjoy stories set in autumn, or can you not recall the last one you came across? And if fall is your least favorite season, why is that? If nothing else, the shorter cooler days mean I spend more time reading in the evening, and that’s a wonderful thing.

One of the things about being the author of romance stories, is that it gives me a chance to write about one of life’s important passages — that moment when a man and woman leave their respective families, and through love, create a new family.

Read the rest of this entry »

Have I gotten your attention? Probably, if you’re anything like me. In fact, being the owner of 3 dachshunds and 1 cocker spaniel those words captured my complete focus and had me devouring what followed in the Wednesday edition of my local newspaper’s Letters to the Editors. Here one Charlotte Nettles told of the heinous poisoning, via antifreeze, and subsequent death of a most beloved family dog.

Read the rest of this entry »

object>I have deja vu. Last year I participated in a blog of the same title. Apparently many writers use music to lure their Muse out of hiding. Can’t imagine why…

So you’re home, after a long day. You’ve shuttled kids to activities, muddled through dinner, fielded, “I need that folder for TOMORROW” leading to an eight p.m. Staples run, and then from a separate, equally as stressed young adult, ”The printer won’t PRINT!”

Your spouse is away. Your Muse pricks up. You could get in one hour, if you want it badly enough. You briefly think of jabbing the pencil in your hand into her eye socket…but it passes. She can’t help herself. She’s a junkie. A word junkie.

A thesaurus wielding, plot juggling juggernaut. Sigh.

You slip into your bedroom, and open the document. You need to get ’in the zone’ and fast, or you’ll be snoring loud enough to resurrect the zombies floating around in your head. So you pop on the headphones…..BANG! Your there. 

Nothing gets me to the pages quicker than music.   

Read the rest of this entry »