Things are finally starting to happen . . .

So I know I've been totally rotten about posting lately, but like a lot of the other lovelies, things have been crazy around here for the last two months. Closing out last semester (I'm a college professor as well as a writer), surviving the holidays, opening this semester, and taking care of three young boys I'm lucky I remember my own name most days.

It's been seven months since I sold my first novel, The Turn for Home, and I finally have a definitive release date-- it will be a Super Everlasting November 2008 release (which is earlier than originally planned and for that I am incredibly grateful). My first short story, No Apologies (cover to the right) is available at www.eharlequin.com starting February 1st, and I just sold my first two single title novels to NAL. So though it seems like it's taken forever to get this writing career of mine off the ground, things are finally starting to happen. And I couldn't be happier . . . or more grateful.

Thanksgiving Rituals

I know this is supposed to be Writer's Wednesday, but as Thanksgiving is tomorrow I thought I'd deviate a little from the schedule. I've been cooking all day-- doing the baking, pre-cooking the sweet potatoes, making the stuffing, etc. so that tomorrow will be a fairly restful day and I can spend it with my family (watching football with the boys) and our guests (more of the same).

I have to admit, I haven't been near a computer all week-- at least not to write anything more in-depth than a couple of blog posts. But sometimes, I think what I've done this week-- clean, cook and ready the house for Thanksgiving-- is as important to my writing as sitting in front of the computer and pounding out the words. Because it's renewed me (except, of course, for the cleaning which just exhausted me) and reminded me how grateful I am for my family and friends and all the other wonderful things in my life.

I wish all of you a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving, filled with love and happiness. May each of you experience peace and happiness as this holiday season kicks off.

It's finally getting cooler . . .

So, it's finally Fall down here in Texas-- the temperatures have dropped into the seventies, the air is crisp and clear and my favorite time of year is just around the corner. In honor of it finally getting cooler, I'm posting one of my all-time favorite recipes for a mediterranean stew.

Vegetable Stew

3-4 tbsp. margarine or butter
1 large onion, grated
1 1/2 lbs. stewing beef
3 cans tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
2 lb bag of frozen green beans or peas


Start by melting the margarine in a Dutch Oven and grating the onion into the warm pot. Let the onion cook for a couple minutes and then add the meat. Brown the meat on all sides, then turn the temperature down, put on a lid and let the meat and onion stew for about an hour. Add the three cans of tomato sauce and six cans of water (2 per each can of tomato sauce). Salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and then cover, reducing the heat. Let stew for 2-3 hours. Then bring the mixture back to a boil and add-- gradually, to keep the temperature high-- the frozen green beans or peas. Let cook for at least another hour. Serve in a big bowl over rice.

This recipe is great if made in the morning and allowed to sit all day. It's also wonderful the next day-- of course, we rarely have leftovers in my house-- my boys love this stew.

Enjoy:) and Happy Halloween everyone!

Happily Ever After

It's Monday, so I'm supposed to talk about my love affair with my husband-- how we met and all that good stuff. So here goes.

I met him at a dinner party when I was in my first year of grad school. I had been dating another man pretty seriously at that point but the second I met the man who has now been my husband for eleven years, I was well and truly hooked. Thank God he felt the same way.

He asked me to marry him on our second date (four days after we met). I laughed at him and told him there was no way that was possible (after all I had fallen asleep on him at the midnight movie on our first date-- although, I guess it had to be love if he was willing to forgive that--LOL!) Anyway, though I turned him down originally, he asked me to marry him again one week later and this time-- even though my best friend and I had agreed it was nuts that he'd asked the first time and decided I would cool things off-- I said yes because I couldn't imagine a time when I wouldn't love him.

We were married two months later (I was just twenty and my parents were completely freaked out). I got pregnant on the honeymoon, had a baby nine months after we got married, and though we've had our share of ups and downs I've never looked back. Three kids and eleven years later, I love him more now than I ever did then and am so grateful that he stuck around despite our inauspicious beginnings. We've created a pretty good life for ourselves and our family and I've never once regretted saying yes when the whole world thought I should say no.

Apple-Picking Anyone?

I live in Texas, where it is still in the high eighties and nineties most days-- even though fall is almost officially upon us. But I was born in Detroit and have many fond memories of going apple picking at the end of September and the beginning of October, as the air turned crisp and the apple crops came in. My mom's favorite place to apple pick was Blake's Apple Orchard, where we would start the day with warm cinnamon-sugar donuts and fresh apple cider before spending hours plucking MacIntosh and Granny Smith apples from the trees. Then we would return home and mom invariably would make the biggest, fullest, best apple pie in the whole world. I still can't smell the combination of apples and cinnamon without thinking of those days.


But as it is still hot here in Austin, instead of giving you my mom's apple pie recipe I am instead sharing the absolute best apple dip you'll ever taste. Bring it to your next gathering or simple keep it in the fridge for your kids' after school snack attack. Mine absolutely love it.


1 package cream cheese
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup Heath Toffee Chips (next to chocolate chips in the baking aisle)
Splash of vanilla


Let the cream cheese come to room temperature and then mix all of the ingredients together. Let chill for half an hour to an hour, and then serve with sliced apples.

Try it-- you'll get rave reviews :)