Life is short--Pray hard and play hard, too!

Life is too short for drama & petty things, so kiss slowly, laugh insanely, love truly and forgive quickly!"--unknown

I don't know who wrote that, but I wish I had! It truly describes my feelings about life. We just don't have time for pettiness and unforgiveness. Life is a gift from God to relish and live as fully as we can. One thing I've learned along the journey is an absolute truth: Happiness is a choice that we make or don't make. And every moment we spend fussing or unhappy is a moment we'll want back some day.

Be blessed and joyful today and every day throughout this holy season of Jesus' birth.

FINISHED!

The only thing more fun for an author than starting an exciting new book is the pleasure of typing "The End". Yesterday I finished a 2009 book for Harlquin Romance which, as yet, has no title. Today I'm working on AFS or the art fact sheets Harlequin authors fill out to help the art department come up with the perfect cover. Most people don't realize that the authors don't create the covers. In fact, we don't have total say on the title either. That's why the book I just finished has no name. :-)

Anyway, back to the AFS. These are extensive questions about the book that include a short synopsis, three scene ideas that show the tone of the story, a ton of information about the characters' looks, personality, and character, plus descriptions of the setting, which in this case is the glorious Rocky Mountains. Preparing the AFS is a great deal of work, but the end result is a better cover.

Thanksgiving tradtions at our house

Thanksgiving was awesome at our house! We were incredibly blessed to have family, friends, and folks we hadn't seen in a very long time come for dinner. Being a traditional family, we had all the usual things with the addition of fried wild turkey. If you haven't tried this, friends, it is incredibly good.

After everyone was shamefully stuffed, several of the men headed for their deer stands to hunt while others plopped down to watch the Dallas Cowboys. We ladies purused the sale papers for Friday's big shopping day and later, played some dangerous games of Scattergories and Scrabble. For a person who makes a living with words, I am really, really terrible at Scrabble. But the fun and laughs and commraderie are worth the humiliation of getting 'whupped' in word games.

So, what does your family do on Thanksgiving?

EGG-splosion

Someone once told me never to put a cat in the microwave. Well now, that made perfectly good sense. I don't cook cats. Why would I ever consider such a thing? However, I do cook eggs, but I learned a valuable lesson about microwaves and eggs. Never, ever try to boil an egg in the microwave. Here's egg-zactly what happened.

I boiled an egg the regular way and after peeling away the shell, I was egg-zasperated to realize the inside was still a little soggy. So I popped it into the microwave for a few seconds. All was well until I removed the egg and cut into it with a knife. POP! Suddenly, I was blinded, momentarily thank goodness. When the smoke, or I should say, egg cleared, I was covered with yellow dots. I was covered, my kitchen was covered, everything except the chicken salad, the real destination for my egg, was covered. I'm not egg-zaggerating. My daughter and I spent the next thirty minutes removing egg from some strange places including the ceiling .

After all the egg-citement my chicken salad sandwich remained eggless. I wasn't about to try that egg-speriment again!

Bet you don't want to come to my house for Thanksgiving dinner!
Linda

FREE Booksigning in Dallas!

I'm back. My goodness, it's been a busy year. But if you live in the Dallas area I am coming your way! June 13, Friday from 10-11:30, I will be with 39 other Harlequin/Steeple Hill authors at the Dallas Hyatt Regency giving away free books! Yes, free. Can you believe it? It's a promotional opportunity in conjunction with the Romance Writers' of America's national conference. I am so excited about meeting some of you and giving you a free, autographed copy of my brand new August release from Love Inspired--MISSIONARY DADDY.

Don't miss it! Be sure and tell me you read about it on my blog. I can't wait to see you!

Blog suspended

Hi all,

I just haven't had the time to adequately spend here, so
I am temporarily suspending my blog until life allows more time.

Take care, God Bless and I'll be talkin' at ya soon!

SEASON FOR GRACE hero

We're having a huge winter storm and my internet is in and out so I'll make this fast. Collin Grace looked an awful lot like Colin Ferrel in SWAT.

Happy Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to my American friends. I must admit I overindulged a little yesterday. But all the family was here and the weather was around 80 degrees of sunshine and fun. We rode the horse, 4-wheelers, and played a crazy game of basketball. Remind me next time that I need to get in better shape before subjecting my back and knee to the rigors of guarding two 10 year olds. Or better yet, tie me to the recliner so I'm not tempted to play. :-)

If you haven't checked out the www.pinkheartscoiety. blogspot.com , please do so today. They have up a 'pretend contest' to choose the hero of my latest book, A SEASON FOR GRACE. It just hit the stands this week. If you like emotional, heart-tugging stories with a hero to fall in love with, please grab a copy. It's the first in a series called the Brothers' Bond. I love these three brothers and think you will too. I wasn't too crazy about the cover, so don't let that keep you away. What's inside the cover is far better than the cover itself.

Have a great day!

Copies in other languages

One of the coolest things for me as a writer is receiving copies of my books in other languages. Nope, I can't read them, but it's fun to know people all over the world read my stories! I've never stopped to count but my Silhouette Romances have been published in quite a large number of languages. So if anyone out there reads something other than English or you have a relative who does and you'd love to give them a little surprise, let me know. If I have a book in "your" language, I'd love to send it to you, free of charge.

Let's see, I have Italian, Greek, French, Polish, Dutch, Portugese, Swedish, and more. Ask and I'll see if I have the one you want.

Can't beat a deal like that!

MARRIED UNDER THE MISTLETOE

Word is out that MARRIED UNDER THE MISTLETOE, my November Harlequin Romance is on the shelves. I'm very excited. This is my first book for the new line and I have loved working with the editors in London to make it a very special story. I do hope you'll give it a read and let me know what you think.

Along with a Top Pick of the month review, Romantic Times Magazine, the guru of romance novels, called it "intense" and "a powerful character study with a lovely romance".

Check it out!!

IT'S ON THE SHELVES!

I am thrilled to announce that my first book for Harlequin Romance is now on the shelves. This, of course, is not my first book, but this is the first I've written for the new line. MARRIED UNDER THE MISTLETOE is a heart-tugger about an abused woman's struggle to learn to trust and love.

Romantic Times Magazine, the guru of romance novels called it "intense" and "a powerful character study with a lovely romance".

The reviewer gave it 4 1/2 Stars Top Pick of the month!!! I am thrilled about that.

Please grab a copy and let me know what you think.

Hugs and happy days,
Lg

A fun new blog

If you like fun blogs about romance novels, check out this new one: www.pinkheartsociety.blogspot.com

I've been asked to write a piece for it next month, so be looking for me over there.

And don't forget MARRIED UNDER THE MISTLETOE hits the stands the first week in November. I'm thrilled to tell you that this book received a 4 1/2 star top pick review from Romantic Times Magazine. I hope you like it!

Thrilled

I finished a book today. Whew! To a writer, "the end" are the sweetest words on the planet. I think it's going to be a good book in a great series for Love Inspired, "Tiny Blessings".

With this book, I will officially be out of contract and hope to take a couple of months off. I've been working very hard for the last couple of years with no breaks. The timing couldn't be better because my eye doctor says I need surgery to remove a growth on one of my eyes. I get the willies thinking about having eye surgery, but I'm ready to get it over with and move one.

Anyone out there have eye surgery? How was it? How long were your eyes out of commission. Scary thing for a writer. Well, for anyone.

Married Under the Mistletoe

An excerpt from my next book, Married Under the Mistletoe, is on the "Smooch of the day" at www.cataromance.com !!

It's always fun to be involved in things like that. I hope you'll check it out. This little book comes out Nov. 1 and I'm so excited about it. Can't wait to hear what you think!

Book covers

Book covers. As a writer I know how important that first glimpse is to grab a reader's attention. If the cover flops, the book, no matter how good, may also flop. Scary business, especially considering that we authors have very little say in what the covers look like. BUT I am absolutely thrilled with my latest one. MARRIED UNDER THE MISTLETOE, my November release is lovely. Harlequin out did itself to come up with beautiful covers for this new line and I am so pleased to be part of it.

Since I'm too much of a doofus to post the cover here, would you please click here and go have a look. It's so pretty. I'd love to know if you agree. http://thebridesofbellalucia.blogspot.com

Let me know what you think.

Brides of Bella Lucia

The Bella Lucia Brides series from the new and wonderful Harlequin Romance is off and running. The review so far are great, including mine, but I'm saving that news until next month when the book actually starts hitting the stores. But let me say in advance, I am very, very, very pleased and excited.

Here's the list. Don't miss a one:

Having the Frenchman's Baby by Rebecca Winters
Coming Home to Cowboy by Patricia Thayer
The Rebel Prince by Raye Morgan in September

And now for October don't miss Ally Blake's "Wanted: Outback Wife" The cover is gorgeous, too.

Passwords

Am I the only writer on planet earth that cannot remember her blog password? While I admit to being woefully remiss in blogging, from time to time I have a thought to share. But for the last several weeks I've been trying to figure out how to reclaim my password and user name. I even forgot that. This is what happens when you have too many passwords and too many user names. Awk! Anyone have a handy-dandy method for remembering these crazy things?

Great on-line read

Okay, ya'll, I just read the cutest story by Liz Fielding on eharlequin. It's a kick off read for The Brides of Bella Lucia series that is now in full swing. Go get a free taste of the delicious stories waiting for you in that series

http://thebridesofbellalucia.blogspot.com

or at eharlequin. com to the online reads.

Liz never fails to deliver a lovely time.

You gotta do this!

Have you heard about the new search engine that automatically contributes money to your favorite charity? According to one of my own personal favorites, His Kids Too!, it's legit. www.goodsearch.com actually donates to your chosen charity every time you use their search engine. Now how awesome is that?

Cruise the web and help someone in the process. I love it!

DIET CHOCOLATE?

Yes, I noticed that my last two blogs were totally conflicting. In one, I talk about Turtle Cake, the delicious, rich, fattening dessert that readers seem to love. Then the next is about dieting. Unfortunately, I do too much of the turtle cake and not enough of the dieting. But I have lost 5 pounds this summer. Does that mean I can make Turtle Cake now?

Got some great news from London. I'll share that with you tomorrow. Right now, I have to vaccuum the floor and then get to work on MISSIONARY DADDY, my latest series book for Love Inspired.

Be blessed and blessed today!