I Ain't Said Nothin' But A Word...

Jade and Leo are playing house. Technically, the couple doesn’t live together. He pays rent on one side of town and she pays it on the other. But they enjoy going through the pretense of doing what couples who do live together do. Jade spends five out of seven nights at Leo’s house. She cooks, cleans, and coddles his ego just like a wife would do for a husband. Leo is attentive to his girl and her needs and the couple’s relationship seems to be working for them. Other folks have begun to question just what it is this couple is doing or not and Jade realizes she truly doesn’t have any answers for them that might actually make some sense. She and Leo have never really discussed making their arrangement permanent. The discussion of marriage was a conversation held in passing with both acknowledging that marriage is an institution they might consider tripping through at some point in time. Just not now. When the conversation ended, they started playing house. As Jade told me her story I co

I love men. Some of you know that I particularly love OLD men. There is something about their geriatric spirits that gives me sheer joy. Most are acutely sensitive, exceptionally charming, easily moved to laughter and truly wise. They like to tease and a few can be quite fresh. It’s easy to decipher though which are quite harmless and who needs to be put in his place. They will talk for hours if you afford them the opportunity and most have the most amazing stories to tell. I’ve written about my dear old friend Mr. Ben before. In fact, Mr. Ben got his own label to make it easier for his fans to find him here. Mr. Ben acquired quite a following who still email me periodically to ask how the old guy is doing. Family and friends had written Mr. Ben off months ago. His failing health had him with one foot in the grave ready to kick off at any moment. Mr. Ben, however, had other plans. He’s still hanging in here, still doing what he does best. He has a home health nurse who comes in daily t

So, I had a great weekend. The weather was picture-perfect, the company was incredible, and I didn’t lift a finger to do a darn thing for three whole days. I had a wonderful time at Spring Fling. I met some incredible women who are writing some seriously wonderful stories. I have to shout out a hello to Diane, Claudia, Cheris, Sabrina, Virginia, Deborah, and Leceila! And I absolutely love book events where there is an enthusiastic audience of book lovers. I have to extend my thanks to Janet Morley at East Regional Library in Knightdale, North Carolina for a wonderful event. Getting back to my usual Monday grind didn’t do much for my spirit however. It took some serious maneuvering to get my mindset back on what I needed to do and then do it. When my work day was done I was out the door faster than fast. It was hot, sunny, and all I wanted was to be outside. I spent most of the afternoon and evening hiking a local mountain, reflecting on my past and my future. The days ahead are much b

In case you're looking for something to do on Sunday, come on out and say hello. There will be a room full of exceptionally talented romance authors and I'm certain it will be a great time! Spring Fling Festival Sunday, April 26, 2009 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm East Regional Library 946 Steeple Square Ct. Knightdale, NC 27545 Come meet your favorite Romance Authors for an idyllic afternoon of passionate enchantment on Sunday, April 26th at 2:00 pm. Authors will be reading from their latest titles/upcoming works in progress and are looking forward to greeting their fans in person and chatting! Special Guest Authors Include: Diane Chamberlain Claudia Dain Cheris Hodges Sabrina Jeffries Virginia Kantra Deb Marlowe Deborah Fletcher Mello Leceila Turnage Author’s books will be available for sale and autographing! “Romantic Refreshments” will be served! There will be prize drawings for attendees including chocolate, books, homemade herbal massage oil, and romantic dinners for two at local res

Author Bernice McFadden took the words right out of my mouth. And don't you just love this picture! WRITER-IN-WAITING Have a great weekend. The weather here is incredible. I'm feeling especially loved and though the clock continues to tick away with no responses of any kind in sight, my mood is exceptionally good. So, I'll continue to wait and try to have a darn good time while I do so. I hope your weekend is as good as I plan to make sure my own is. Enjoy!

For what you do to me....

This weekend a man asked me how old I was. I couldn’t help but think back to a time when I would have told him I was “old enough to know better and young enough not to care”. These days my pat response is to smile politely, raise my eyebrows ever so slightly and just not answer at all. And my reality is I’m really not that old but for some strange reason I feel practically ancient. There’s a part of me that seriously misses that youthful spontaneity when you just didn’t give a rat’s ass. You could kick up your heels, raise a lot of hell, and not feel guilty about doing so. Then life steps in, slaps the crap out of you, and has you asking yourself what in the world were you actually thinking. I’ve witnessed sister-friends, who have reached this place I find myself in, actually attempt to reach back into the annals of their heydays to jumpstart their midlife transitions. Inevitably the results are not pretty, most coming across as frustrated, desperate women trying to be twenty again. I

Janet married a man, who has a kid, who has a mother. Janet’s man and his baby mama are cordial at best, the two clearly not on the same page about how to best raise the child they are supposed to be parenting together. Recently, Janet had to acknowledge that she and her man aren’t on the same page either. Janet made the mistake of interjecting her opinion into a conversation the man was having with his kid. Her man, disagreeing with her point of view, politely advised Janet and his son that she wasn’t the child’s mother. She wasn’t the one raising him. He was. He didn’t complete the statement but Janet finished it for him. Her opinion didn’t matter. Not with him. Janet asked if she was wrong to be hurt. Realizing that at point in their union that she and her man could be at such odds over such an important aspect of their relationship, has been a touch shy of devastating. SIGH. I don’t know if Janet wanted to hear what I had to tell her, but speaking from experience, I told Janet to l

With the Easter weekend upon us I can’t help but reminisce about past Easter holidays. As a little girl it was the one and only time my mother purposely dressed my younger sister and I in identical outfits. There was a four-year age difference between us. She and I had very different likes and dislikes, so suffice to say, that one Easter outfit would be the bane for one of us, sheer delight for the other. Being the oldest, I typically got my way more times than not. There were a few times though where I was forced to don more lace and crinoline than should have ever been allowed. My baby sister tended to lean toward very girlie, frilly outfits. My mother always let us dye a dozen eggs. I can still smell the vinegar we used to mix the dye tablets with to get those brilliant pink, blue, and green colors. Then she’d let us go hide them in the yard. After we hid them she made us wait ten minutes to go back out and pick them all back up. I caught on quick that our Easter egg hunt wasn’t muc

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy With increased rejections, decreased royalty payments, and there being an unsettling funk over the publishing industry as a whole, this was a pleasant surprise. Then again, not really, when I consider that recently an event coordinator advised that there would be no books for me at a book event I was committed to participate in. According to the distributor, TO TAME A WILD STALLION and TO LOVE A STALLION are now out of print and my other titles are out of stock indefinitely. Other romance author friends have noted the same thing. It would seem that none of our books are available so somebody must be reading something. It's nice to know that despite the current economic conditions, folks is still getting their groove on! Go Harlequin! Go Harlequin! Go Harlequin! Go Kimani! Go Kimani! Go Kimani! (Doing that happy dance! Clapping my hands! Shaking my hips! Stamping my feet! Happy, happy, happy!)

Although it is as cold as a witch's proverbial right now, it is spring and things are blooming. To kick off the season, I am participating in a wonderful event this month at the East Regional Library in Knightdale, North Carolina. So, if you're in the area come on out and say hello. There will be a room full of exceptionally talented romance authors and I'm certain it will be a great time! Spring Fling Festival Sunday, April 26, 2009 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm East Regional Library 946 Steeple Square Ct. Knightdale, NC 27545 Come meet your favorite Romance Authors for an idyllic afternoon of passionate enchantment on Sunday, April 26th at 2:00 pm. Authors will be reading from their latest titles/upcoming works in progress and are looking forward to greeting their fans in person and chatting! Special Guest Authors Include: Diane Chamberlain Claudia Dain Cheris Hodges Sabrina Jeffries Virginia Kantra Deb Marlowe Deborah Fletcher Mello Leceila Turnage Author’s books will be available f

My boy John felt it necessary to “skool” me in the fine art of MAN-ese. It would seem that I didn’t have a clue about all the nuances and subtleties that a brother can come at a woman with. According to my friend John, men have a language all their own and we women really don’t have a clue. Now mind you John is an old school playa’ with the heart of an ancient soul. John was quite serious with his "skoolin'". He and I went at it for over an hour. He broke it down into 5¢ words to that I could better understand him. Every now and again I had to toss in a $2 word to balance John’s food stamp expletives. John was very theatrical in his demonstrations, utilizing props and aids to get his point across. Even when I got it, John wanted to make sure. My friend John and I roll like that. Boyfriend and I have known each other for more years than I can count. He will sweat a sister hard when he’s interested. John swears that the Time Gods have something against us since he was singl