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I know this will post on February 17, but as I write it, it's February 16, a very important date in my life. It's my parents' anniversary. And, as I write this, they're out to dinner, celebrating, just the two of them. It's #49 for them. I cannot believe it's that many years (though, given that I just turned 47 and can do the math, I shouldn't be soooo surprised, but still...). I've been around for all but 2 of those years. And when I was in college, of course, and then 3 hours away for the first few years of my marriage, but still, I've been here for those 49 years. And I'll tell you, one thing that has stuck with me is a saying my mom has always said, "It's a commitment to the commitment." She and Dad haven't always agreed on everything (which would be why I got to live in Spain when she was dead set against it). They've had their share of "disagreements." (She'd kill me if I had written "fights."...

Okay, there are only 10... but it sounded good as a title. Here are the answers: 1. leprechaun on the left from Genie Knows Best blonde mermaid in the middle = Angel from Catch of a Lifetime crystal and brass lantern lower right from Genie Knows Best 2. golfer merman. No named characters are golfers in the stories, but I have to think there's a course in Atlantis, so this could be from any of the Mer books. 3. 2 mermen in this picture. One with a cocktail in the upper left and another one on the bottom center in a red tshirt with weights. Again, could be from any of the Mer series. 4. in the center in the back is a mermaid in a shell. You have to look very closely to see it. There is also a genie bottle on a gold cord to the right of her, but the genie bottle decided to turn when I took the picture, so you can't really tell what it is. On the right upper corner is a purple and blue hummingbird butt. sigh. I know. But it's from I Dream of Genies. 5. Okay, trick q...

I have several silk trees in my house. I think they make the place look nice, especially with little white lights in them (which make great night lights), and, as opposed to real trees, these actually look good all the time for me. (I do NOT have a green thumb, unfortunately.) And the lights makes it feel like Christmas all year. I even have one in my office and, as you can see from the picture, it's a favorite hangout for my animals. Vixen insisted on being in this picture. Yes, she takes after me. :) What's nice about the tree in my office is that I have ornaments on it all year--that I've received from readers and friends to celebrate my stories. I've posted 5photos below. Let's see how many you all can find. A copy of Genie Knows Best to the person who gets the most! Bonus points for knowing which story they represent. Happy Holidays from under the sea and sands! 1. (3 in this picture) 2. (1 in here) 3. (2 in this picture) 4. (2 in this one) 5. (3 in this one...

It’s launch week for Genie Knows Best , the second in my Bottled Magic Series. ( Magic Gone Wild comes out August 2012). I had so much fun writing this story, from Samantha gaining a backbone, to Kal—the alpha male in a beta role—to Dirham the Magical Assistance Assistant and his girlfriend Lexy, and all the other not-so-mythical beings who inhabit Izaaz, the djinn city under the desert, complete with glass ceiling and the magical island paradise of Hufaidh , my imagination ran wild. So wild, in fact, that I couldn’t put all the scenes I came up with in the book. Here’s one of my favorites that didn’t make it in, but it’s a great intro to both Kal and Dirham that I thought I’d share it here. This happens right before the opening of the book that's in print. But before I do share the outtake, I wanted to mention that the first book in the series, I Dream of Genies , is available for FREE on Kindle, Nook, iBooks and other formats, but only for a few more days. So get thee to yo...

HOPE . It’s such an intangible thing, yet so powerful. I’ve found that I write a lot about it in my books without even knowing. I certainly didn’t set out to, yet as I move my characters along in their journey, I find that Hope in something is what keeps them going when things get tough. Maybe it’s because I can relate. Last night we, for whatever reason, pulled out the videos of our children when they were young. My oldest playing with a baby sibling. A couple of toddlers walking around in the playroom, toting noisy light-up toys behind them, or running across the room to jump into my and my husband’s arms, giggling hysterically when we’d fall back with them. Laughing at the dogs licking them or the cupcake they’d smashed on their head. The wonder of Santa and a first choo-choo train ride. Playing in the sandbox. Chasing seagulls on the beach. Eating cotton candy in the wind. Pure, unadulterated little people with the world at their feet. They could become anything. Such H...

Actually, right now, there's one MAJOR, HUGE, GINORMOUS, BIG way that I procrastinate. And I'm blaming science. And my mom. And cute little feathery things. Here ya go. Be warned, though, watching birds do almost nothing can get pretty darn addictive! Streaming .TV shows by Ustream I've seen the mama and the papa take turns sitting on the babies (which would get you in sooo much trouble in my world...). I've seen them take turns bringing home the bacon (well, fish, actually, but I'm betting the babies wouldn't mind some bacon. Kind of stir things up in the taste department.) I've seen one of the parents sleeping (head tucked back under wing) all night and the other, God-knows-where. Seriously - the eagle doesn't come home at night? What's he/she doing? Out visiting eagle strip joints? Going on a girls' night? Hooking up with strange eagles of the night? One wonders. Actually, I wonder. A lot. Too much... This morning I saw both parents feeding th...

Quick - name that movie! :) Okay, the movie poster was a giveaway, but it's on television as I write this (12:30 a.m. EST). I still haven't decided if it's a romance or not. I mean, we have the ol' boy-meets-girl, boy-wants-girl, boy-gets-girl, boy-screws-up, but in the end does he get her? And do we really want him to? I mean, yes, Scarlett changes through the movie, but she's still self-centered in the end. She's also not much of a heroine in the traditional sense - someone we want to root for. But she's a survivor. Whatever you think of Scarlett, she's a survivor. But is that enough? What is it about this movie that we love? What's making me sit here for three plus hours, watching something I've seen half a dozen times before? I know how it ends; I can repeat most of the dialogue and I know which scene is coming next. So what's the draw? Some would argue it's Rhett. Hmmm... I can't deny that. Clark Gable is pretty darn suave, and t...

...there was Eden. And Obo. No, I didn't name a hero Obo. The hero is Matt, but in the beginning of I Dream of Genies, it's Eden and the cat. I was reading a thread somewhere (and there are so many) where authors were talking about starting their stories. Some said they never know where to start; others nailed it every time. I'm a mix of both and this book was one of the ones where I had to rethink the opening. Originally, the book started with Eden face-down in Matt's lap... Not too shabby of an opening, I thought. But once I'd written it, I realized that it was too quick of an opening. Fun and funny, yes, but we didn't know the characters well enough to appreciate the scenario, so I had to take a step back and give the reader some background on the characters and the world. Plus, you had to know that Eden's been watching Matt run by every day and, hey, she's been confined to her bottle for almost eighteen hundred years... she's just a bit, er, fru...

Well, now you get to meet Obo. Felix, he's not. I'm not going to try to kid myself that you all came to see me for this launch party. After all the blog tours I've done, I know that readers really want to see the characters and learn the story, and one of the biggest scene-stealers I've ever written is Obo the cat. That's with a small "c," but that's only because he hasn't thought to capitalize it yet. But I'm sure that's coming at some point. Obo is a seemingly stray cat in Seattle, who stops by Murphy's Antiques to chat up Eden, a genie who's been sentenced to 3000 years in her bottle. He also hangs out at Matt Ewing's house for hand-outs. That's Obo, always cutting corners and looking for the easy way out. He's also only looking out for himself. I really had to corral him in this story; for Obo, it's all about him. And while he's enjoyable, it's only in small doses. Like your children, you don't have a...