Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

The one thing all of us have in common is reading. No matter how busy I am, I try to take some time to read every day. Most of the time, I can fit about a half hour in. Sometimes I can manage an hour. Sometimes I have to wait in the doctor’s office or have my hair cut, and then I can really carve out some reading time. Yes, I am one of those people. Since I don’t have much time to read, I don’t have a favorite place to read. I can and will read anywhere. My husband doesn’t read much and likes to watch sports, so I often read in my bedroom, just because it’s quiet and I can concentrate. The problem with reading in bed is I usually fall asleep. I probably get more reading done at my daughter’s after-school activities. I always bring a book to gymnastics and ballet and find I can keep up with both the plot and the lesson for the day. I’m surprised I don’t see more moms reading while waiting for ballet to get out. Scrolling through one’s phone seems the most popular option....

At the start of each year my sister and I sit down do our tarot cards for the next twelve months. One card for each month and one for overall—so 13 in total. I don’t know when this ritual started or what we hope to prove but for a few hours, usually with a glass of wine, we shuffle and deal and examine and make guesses. We look back at last year’s and sometimes we can go oh yes, March was 2 of coins and I was juggling a lot of different projects which ties perfectly (hindsight is 20/20). At this time I also like to look back at the good things the year brought: things-that-made-me-smile-in-2011 In December I also like to clear my writing desk and make an attempt to look super organised for January (so far looking good as I can still see my writing desk—my desk at work is a lost cause, A1 plans take up a lot of space). This year I also took down two years’ worth of goblin notes which I’d stuck to the wall behind my desk. I also removed some paint in the process—woops. This wa...

by Libby Malin www.LibbysBooks.com So it came to this -- I cleaned my office. I can hardly believe it. No stacks of stuff sitting around the floor. No piles of papers waiting to be shredded. I can actually see the surface of my desk. I'm lucky enough to have a home office, a room on the second floor of our house that overlooks our back yard. In the spring and summer, I get to watch as robins, finches, and blue jays cavort at the bird bath (those robins are territorial, let me tell ya) while I write. While the landscape outside is pastoral, for a long time the scene inside has resembled the aftermath of a natural disaster. My office is small, with just enough room to fit a desk and table comfortably (and a cot when our house explodes with guests at holiday visits). It used to hold a gigantic filing cabinet, but that's gone due to my cleaning purge. For a long time (too long to admit to!), I put off this cleaning project. I'm one of those people who can write in the midst of ...