Crabby Old Man

Pamela Tracy here. I don't get so many poems and jokes in my box anymore. I tend to delete them as I'm busy. This one, however, came with a picture of an elderly man. Last week, I put flowers on my dad's grave. I get to do that only every two to three years as I'm four states away from where I was raised. My dad was not a crabby old man. He was the best dad in the world. I hope your dad was standing next to mine in the race for best dad ever. I didn't see my dad often in his final years. This poem (maybe since I've just seen Water for Elephants) spoke to me. I also want to add a verse, one that has the inkling of what comes next: think Heaven.

What do you see nurses? . . . .. . What do you see?

What are you thinking . . . . . when you're looking at me?

A crabby old man . .. . .. . not very wise,

Uncertain of habit . . .. . . with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food . . . . . and makes no reply.

When you say in a loud voice . . . . . 'I do wish you'd try!'

Who seems not to notice .. .. . .. . the things that you do.

And forever is losing . . . . . A sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not .. . . . . lets you do as you will,

With bathing and feeding . . . . . The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking? . .. . . . Is that what you see?

Then open your eyes, nurse . . . . . you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am. . . .. . . As I sit here so still,

As I do at your bidding, . . . . . as I eat at your will.

I'm a small child of Ten . . .. . . with a father and mother,

Brothers and sisters . . . . .. who love one another.

A young boy of Sixteen . . . . with wings on his feet.

Dreaming that soon now . . . . . a lover he'll meet.

A groom soon at Twenty . . . . . my heart gives a leap.

Remembering, the vows . . . . . that I promised to keep.

At Twenty-Five, now . . . . . I have young of my own.

Who need me to guide . . . . .. And a secure happy home.

A man of Thirty . . . . . My young now grown fast,

Bound to each other . . . .. . With ties that should last.

At Forty, my young sons . . . . . have grown and are gone,

But my woman's beside me . . . .. . to see I don't mourn.

At Fifty, once more, babies play 'round my knee,

Open your eyes, People. . .This is the real me.

Dark days are upon me . . . . . my wife is now dead.

I look at the future . . . . . shudder with dread.

For my young are all rearing . .. . . . young of their own.

And I think of the years . . . . . and the love that I've known.

I'm now an old man . . . . .. and nature is cruel.

Tis jest to make old age . . . . . look like a fool.

The body, it crumbles . . . . . grace and vigor, depart.

There is now a stone . . . . where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass . . . . . a young guy still dwells,

And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells.

I remember the joys . . . . . I remember the pain.

And I'm loving and living . . . .. . life over again.

I think of the years, all too few . .. . . . gone too fast.

And accept the stark fact . . .. . that nothing can last.

So open your eyes, people .. . .. . . open and see.

Not a crabby old man . .. . Look closer . . . see ME!!

Once Every 13 Years

Nope, this isn't about a "Same Time, Next Year" kind of romance. Thankfully. Instead, I want to talk about the kind of event that can add local flavor to a story, to either humorous or serious effcts. To set the stage, watch this quick video from NBC News.

Yep, my fair city - along with lots of others - is experiencing the kind of invasion that appears only once every 13 years - cicadas.

Now, you can bemoan this, weeping in your coffee and keeping your windows closed (highly advisable). Or you can laugh and embrace it, like the little girl in the video. And here's a touch of trivia for those of you who know me from the Abingdon side of things: Joel Anderson, he of the posters, etc. in the video, is one of Abingdon's cover designers.

Cicadas are harmless, but they're about 2 inches long, fat, and they fly fast. So they HURT if they hit you, especially in the face. Having one unexpectedly zoom into your car as you're careening down the interstate at 70mph is not a happy moment (she says, trying not to remember...). On the other hand, watching tourists suddenly try to tap dance around their little bodies on the sidewalk is a whole new show in Music City.

One worthly of a poster. Or a really funny scene in the next book.

Comfort in the storm-- Lenora Worth

I don't have much to say today. My heart goes out to people all over the USA. We've had so many horrible storms this year. We've had flooding. We've had earthquakes in other parts of the world And while the world had not come to an end, it sure has taken a beating lately. This week I finished a work I'm progress, I'm proofing another one, I'm reading a book to offer an endorsement and I'm doing the usual marketing and promotional stuff. I'm trying to do the normal routine things but I find myself stopping to watch the news. I find myself stopping to pray. I shed a few tears. Then I go back to my make-believe world. Because sometimes reality bites. Sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction. Maybe that's why I love my happy endings so much.

What are you doing to cope during this cruel spring??

Gadgets Are Taking Over

Last night my U-verse went out. I didn't have T.V., phone or Internet. I had tons of stuff to do on the Internet and sat in my chair staring at my computer that couldn't connect to the Internet. I was at a loss. Sad, isn't it. So I went to bed which was a good thing because for the past twenty-four hours I had been sick with a stomach virus. I needed the rest. God knew that and he took everything away from me that I had planned to do. Isn't it interesting how He works. I got ten hours of sleep which made up for not much sleep the night before. He told me He was in control, not me. And not to worry. I would get things done after I took care of myself. Have you ever had something like that happen to you?

Also, I discovered yet again how dependent we are on gadgets. I was upset it happened and frustrated. I felt cut off from the world. Not a bad thing really. When I woke up this morning, I could troubleshoot the situation more effectively. AT&T are coming out to fix my U-verse--I hope, and I am at a coffee shop with free Wi-Fi. Hence the post I didn't think I would have for today.
Sleep does wonders for a tired mind.

June I have a new Love Inspired Suspense out--Protecting Her Own. The second in my Guardians, Inc. series. The third in the series will be out in September called Hidden in Everglades.

Hometown Visits

Hi. My name is Liz Johnson. And I'm addicted to this season of American Idol. I just can't stop watching it!

In the past, I may have teased my roommate about her affection for the show, but I'm starting to understand it. Maybe, like me, you've made this show one of your weekly rituals. If so, you probably saw this week's episodes--where the top three contestants took trips to their hometowns. They were greeted by mobs of cheering hometown fans and visited areas of interest. Sweet Scotty McCreery visited the grocery store where he once worked. And in a particularly emotional segment, Lauren Alaina visited her hometown in Georgia, which was hit hard by the recent string of tornadoes across Alabama and Georgia.


Watching these clips got me thinking about my hometown. Really all of our hometowns. What is it about the town where we grew up that evokes nostalgia and a sense of belonging? I haven't lived in the smallish city in Arizona where I grew up in 5 years, but it's still home. Still the place where I know my way around and where I belong.

It also got me thinking about how authors--myself included--pay homage to our hometowns. Maybe it's the way we make our fictional towns resemble the real thing. Maybe it's the way we add our favorite restaurant into a story. Maybe it's the way we bring the quirky real characters to life on the page.

For me, it was in my first book, The Kidnapping of Kenzie Thorn, where my hero Myles reminisced about his high school football days at Yuma High playing the Kofa Kings. Neither school is my alma mater, but definitely a cross-town rivals. And when I shared that book with friends and strangers alike, they loved the Yuma connection.

So here's my question for you: Have you ever read a book set in a city you call home? Or have you written one and included some of your hometown favorites? What did you enjoy most about it?

THE OFFICER'S SECRET

By Debby Giusti

The cover sells the book…or, at least, catches the reader’s eye and hopefully her interest, as well. That’s why I was thrilled when I saw the cover for THE OFFICER’S SECRET, a May Love Inspired Suspense and the first book in my Military Investigations Series.


I had submitted photos to the Art Department of various quarters at Fort Knox, Kentucky, where I lived for a number of years. The large brick homes that surround the main parade field were built in the 1930s and provided inspiration for the setting of my story.

The book opens with the death of a female officer stationed at Fort Rickman, Georgia, the fictional Army post I created for the series. Maggie Bennett, the victim’s sister, finds the major’s body and calls the military police for help. They, in turn, notify the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, and CID Special Agent Nate Patterson soon arrives at the scene.

The cover sets the mood for my story and invites readers into the quarters where the major’s body was discovered. There they’ll find Maggie sitting in the living room, legs crossed and head in her hands. She’s understandably shaken by her sister’s death. Nate jots down Maggie’s terse answers to his questions, and although he’s attracted to the Alabama counselor, he knows she’s not being completely forthright. On the second floor, the crime scene investigators search for clues while, in the attic, the medical examiner prepares to move the major’s body to the morgue on post.

Welcome to Fort Rickman, the sign on the cover reads, where secrets must be revealed and healed before the case can be put to rest. Or will Nate’s feelings for Maggie compromise the investigation and prevent him from realizing she may be the next to die?

Like the cover? Then read THE OFFICER’S SECRET, where love and suspense mix with faith for an exciting story you won’t be able to put down. Cross my heart!

Wishing you abundant blessings,
Debby Giusti
http://www.debbygiusti.com/

Visit me on http://www.seekerville.blogspot.com/ today where I'm giving away 5 copies of THE OFFICER'S SECRET!

What if? Lenora Worth

Hi. I'm late in posting today. I was out of town this past weekend with a group of women down at Gulf Shores, Alabama. We make this trip once a year and we always have a grand adventure. We sometimes play the "What if?" game and create crazy stories from things that happen on our trip. This year, a big storm came through in a fast and furious way. As we watched it from our fourth floor condo, we saw umbrellas and chairs flying through the air. Somewhere in all the excitement, a friend started videoing the storm and our reactions. It was funny but that wind was pretty scary and amazing. The funny part was how we were all chatting and gasping. We discovered we couldn't even open the front door of the condo because of the vortex of wind pushing through. But my friend kept on taping, her voice low and dramatic as she described the "danger". I told her on the way home I had an idea for a new book--Storm Warning. I think that title has been used before, but I like it. The heroine would be a weather girl and the hero would grow fresh produce. (Since we pass several fruit stands on our way to the beach and we never have time to stop or room to put fresh strawberries in the car.)

We had a fun, exciting trip even if we were packed into my Yukon like those strawberries are packed into a basket. We beached, shopped and found creative ways to shove our new stuff in our suitcases with the old. And yes, I bought shoes!!!

Don't you love playing "What if?" Sometimes, even vacation becomes the plot of a story.

Let's Talk Books

My name is Pamela Tracy and I am a Bookaholic. Yes, I am one of the 75% of Americans who read a book last year. Twenty-five percent of Americans didn't. Me? I cannot imagine not hearing the call of hundreds of unread books calling to my from my overflowing stacks...

"Pam, come read me! It's my turn. I promise I'm a page-turner. Remember how excited you were when you found me on the shelf. Please come pick me. I'm gathering dust here!"

I am a statistic as far as being a part of the "I read" portion of the statistic, but then my habits go off the charts, and I'm pretty comfortable that if you're reading this blog, you're off the charts, too.

The average American reads 3 - 6 books a year.

The average adult reads about 300 words a minute, that's 5 words a second. So, reading a typical Harlequin books, say my August release, at 214 pages, takes three and 1/2 hours. If I were to only read 6 such books a year, I'd have spent roughly 21 hours reading.

Six books, in one year, equals 21 hours of reading.

The average American watched television 35 hours a week.

In February, I started keeping track of what I read. I wish I'd done this years ago before I had my son, so I could compare my reading to when I had reading time against having to carve out reading time.

Here's what I know. I don't read six books a year; I read six books a month. Most of them are longer than the Harlequins.

What about you? How many books a year, month, week, do you read?

Pamela Tracy's next Harlequin is an August release.

The Officer's Secret Interview

Today we're welcoming US Army Criminal Investigation Division Special Agent Nate Patterson, the hero of THE OFFICER’S SECRET, by Debby Giusti, released in May 2011.

Wow, you've just had quite an adventure.

1. Tell us a little about yourself and how you came to be in the midst of such suspense.

I redeployed home from Afghanistan a number of months ago and am currently stationed at Fort Rickman, Georgia, an Army post situated near the small river town of Freemont. The CID handles all felony crimes, and I was called in to investigate the death of a female major on post.

2. So, during the book you met Maggie Bennett, the sister of the deceased. Tell us a bit about her. What was your first impression? When did you know it was love?

Maggie had found her sister’s body and was almost in shock when I arrived on the scene. As I questioned her, I realized she was not being completely forthright with her answers. As much as that troubled me, I was more concerned about my attraction for the Alabama family counselor. If I were being totally honest, I’d have to admit it was love at first sight for me.

3. What strengths/skills do you have? What is your greatest weakness?

I love my country and am committed to my job. I hope I don’t sound like I’m boasting, but I’ve received a number of medals and awards, and my superiors praise my ability to investigate crime and bring the guilty to justice. My greatest weakness is dwelling on what happened in Afghanistan and allowing my own guilt to control my life. Thank goodness Maggie was able to help me see everything in a new light.

4. What scares you?

Losing Maggie.

5. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Life is great now that Maggie and I are together and we both have God in our lives. If I changed anything, it would be never to have turned my back on the Lord.

6. Where are you in your faith at the start of your story?

After what happened in Afghanistan, I didn’t want anything to do with God.

7. Where are you in your faith at the end of the story?

I needed the Lord’s help in order to save Maggie. God was there when I needed Him. Actually, He had been there all along, I just wasn’t able to accept Him into my life.

8. You've got a scripture at the beginning of the story. Tell us why this scripture is significant.

“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

The truth had to be revealed before I could be free from the past and able to live fully in the present.

9. If you could be a dessert what would you be and why?

Peach pie made with Georgia peaches, of course, because I met Maggie in Georgia and my life was changed for the better.

FEATURED BOOK: THE OFFICER'S SECRET BY DEBBY GIUSTI

In the middle of the night, Maggie Bennett finds her army officer sister dead in her military housing. She's devastated by the loss of the estranged sibling with whom she was trying to reconnect. But as U.S. Army criminal investigations agent Nate Patterson begins asking questions about the officer's suspicious death, Maggie can't tell the handsome man everything she knows. Except that her sister was definitely murdered—for a secret Maggie can't share. Then she walks into the killer's trap and has to trust Nate with the truth…and her heart.

Confessions of a rule breaker!

Howdy, all. Dana Mentink here.Sorry I'm late, but Blogger was down for a while. I’m humbly blogging about a new fact I learned today. Did you know that it’s against the rules to use a Facebook page to host a contest? Am I the only one that didn’t know that? Frankly, I’m surprised. Even ‘author pages’ are not permitted to host contests or request participation in contests through FB. That means you can’t have people ‘Like’ a page as a way of entering a contest or promotion. Wowzers. I’ve been breaking rules all over the place! So what can you do? Apparently there’s this thingy called a canvas page that one can use instead. This, of course, is more technical info than I can absorb.

I am, by nature, a rule follower, and I am, by circumstance, half way through a monthly contest, hosted on FB. Acck! Criminal! Sinner! RULE BREAKER! How to correct this problem? Not sure. Redirect folks to finish out the contest on my website? But that would mean posting the details to the FB people. It’s also against the rules to alert friends via FB that they won the contest. Oh gee! Now what? Does any savvy reader/author out there have a solution to this? I love hosting contests, especially the kind I’ve been trying lately where there’s a different question every few days and folks can tell a bit about their lives. So what to do, what to do? Any ideas, gentle bloggers? Are you going to miss those Facebook contests?

Here’s a link to the official FB rules if you want to see for yourself.
https://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php

Ideas--Ideas by Leann Harris

Yesterday, Barbara, stole my thunder. Where do writers get ideas? They hang in the air. Really, if your brain is geared for "what if" then you see story ideas everywhere. You read the paper and there's an idea. You miss you 20th high school reunion, there's a story idea (which I did. I got ready to go the weekend after the reunion, but what a great for a story. Hero and Heroine make the same mistake.)


I will say, ideas fly at you. Now writing those ideas and plotting them is a whole other animal. And that idea might undergo some changes and morphs into another thing, but the ideas are just waiting. I had a book come from a teasing session with my husband one afternoon in the kitchen. We were throwing around titles and he came up with "How Tall is Red?" I liked that title so much, I did a book around it. I thought of following that book up with the other titles, "How far is Yellow", "How Deep is Blue", "How Wide is Orange." You get the idea. How Tall is Red did get published, but the name was changed to Undercover Husband. I still used the line "How tall is red?" The heroine got a note from her dead husband with the book title on it.

Art after Life

Lately, I've been asked where I get my ideas. I usually smile and warn them that they'll be in my next book! I get my ideas from them!
But it's a legit question. Where do we get our ideas? And since Love Inspired Suspense has murder, blackmail and other evil deeds, yes, I'd like to ask us all, "Where do we get our ideas?" I'd hate to think that some of the authors are living these lives!
Yet, often, something sparks our interest. With Deadly Homecoming, a news article talked of one island's residents taking the law into their own hands, forced to it because the police's hands were tied.My most recent submission, not yet accepted, started as I watch a friend suffer with dementia and his wife's difficult decisions. Mix that with a pancake supper at a local maple syrup operation and you have bitter and sweet rolled into one angst filled story.
But now I have several others brewing. A new friend is hoping to buy a house, and we looked at it, and my mind whirled. An old place, full of questions, secrets, even a telescope from the Cold War in the attic. I can imagine a story with a cover like my second LIS book:
And another writer, a friend of mine, Lina Gardiner, told me of a painting she just bought. It turned out to have a secret face in it. Whoa! What if there were more secrets in it?
Life is full of questions. Don't look for the answers. Look for the what-ifs.
Then you'll have a the starts of a story.

Threat of Exposure Interview

Today we're welcoming Brock Martin, the hero of Threat of Exposure (book 5 in the Texas Rangers Justice continuity series) by Lynette Eason, released May 2010.

Wow, you've just had quite an adventure.

1. Tell us a little about yourself and how you came to be in the midst of such suspense. After Gisella rescued my hide, I found out we were going to be partners. Her captain, Gregory Pike, had been killed and his killer was still out there. We figured out a clue we needed to track down and ended up in Boot Hill, TX. We were decidedly unwelcome in this little town, but we were determined to find the answers we were looking for in spite of the danger that dogged us constangly.

2. So, during the book you met Gisella Hernandez. Tell us a bit about her. What was your first impression? My first impression of Gisella was that she had perfect timing. She saved my life when an informant sold me out and tried to kill me. I thought she was just beautiful and I was mad a the powers that be who would send a woman into this kind of situation. I mean, I respected her position with the Rangers, but this was a highly sensitive dangerous thing she was involved in. It scared me.

3. What strengths/skills do you have? I’m good at my job. I can be patient when needed, but also act when it’s necessary. What is your greatest weakness? I’m a bit of a rogue. Up to now, I’ve been kind of a one man show. I need to slow down and realize having a partner is a good thing. I need to learn to think about others and how my actions will affect them.

4. What scares you? At first, I was really afraid to put my heart out there. I’d seen first hand that the job and relationships don’t mix well. But Gisella was just irresistible. And now I’m scared to death I’m going to lose her.

5. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I wouldn’t be so influenced by my past.

6. Where are you in your faith at the start of your story? Not really in a good place. I believed in God, but had a hard time believing he really cared about me. I’ve been so busy rescuing other people, I didn’t realize that I was one of the ones in need of rescuing.

7. Where are you in your faith at the end of the story? Gisella showed me the way back to Christ. Watching her, listening to her share her faith, all made me realize what I was missing. I wanted what she had.

8. You've got a scripture at the beginning of the story. Tell us why this scripture is significant. Psalm 7:6 – “Arise, O Lord, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies. Awake, my God; decree justice.” This book was about justice. Finding justice for their captain, putting away one more bad guy in the name of justice. It’s also about God’s justice, that in the end, he will rise up and defeat our enemies. Justice.

9. If you could be a dessert what would you be and why? Chocolate. Everyone loves it.

FEATURED BOOK: THREAT OF EXPOSURE BY LYNETTE EASON

Pages full of indecipherable codes are all that stand between DEA agent Brock Martin and drugs crossing the border. But if he wants to crack the case, he'll have to work with Texas Ranger Gisella Hernandez. Brock feels the case is way too dangerous for a female agent—especially one who refuses to admit she needs protection. Yet as they work together under the most dangerous threat of exposure, Brock discovers Gisella is stronger than she seems. And that his cowboy heart isn't so tough, after all.

Grand Jete

This week I’ve been having issues with my ankle, due to a problem with a pair of shoes a couple of weeks ago. The truth is, the shoes stirred up a problem I’ve dealt with since I turned 13.

Long before music videos had been created, I would dance to songs on the radio, making up the drama in my head. Songs of the 60s and 70s were ripe with tragic teens, crushed love, and social change. All these mini-dramas eventually turned me toward screenwriting for awhile. But in the meantime, they were responsible for a life-changing injury.

Deep into the story and song one day, I took off running and did a “grand jete” from our living room into our den, which was one step down. Grand jete, is French for “great leap,” and you can find a demo of it here.

Only I had never taken ballet. I was not lithe and limber. My landing spot was a concrete floor. Definitely NOT the smartest thing I've ever done.

I came down on the side of my foot. The sound as I landed bore a loud resemblance to a teenager grinding the gears on a manual transmission. The screams that followed went on for a long time and even brought the neighbors over. Not a break, just the worst sprain ever. I used crutches for six weeks.

The first week I set the crutches aside, I re-sprained it. The ankle has been weak since. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve sprained it. I can twist it stepping off a curb or putting my foot down wrong on a stair. I've fallen holding my baby. Twice. High heels are a nemesis to be feared. Just looking at a pair of stilettos makes my palms sweat.

Six years after the initial sprain, the weakness led to me breaking the ankle while I was snow camping, seven miles from the trail head.Six weeks in a cast. But when I got an invitation to go rappelling and rock climbing, I took the cast off with the help of my roommate, and off we went. This is a picture I took during that trip.

So what does this have to do with writing? Plenty. Because it’s about taking a leap (submitting) and falling (rejection). It’s about trying again and falling, taking yet another sprain to your ego. It’s about taking a fall so hard, you feel broken.

And it’s about slowing down to heal but not stopping.

It’s also about more than writing. We all make leaps of faith, but just because you know it’s what God wants for you doesn’t mean the way will be smooth. Or easy.

It'll just be worth it in the end.

Does Motherhood lead to danger and suspense--Lenora Worth

All this week, the authors of Love Inspired are sharing about motherhood. You know--the joys, the thrills, the spills, the headache pills. And in my case today, the suspense of it all!

Being a mother can be suspenseful. When my daughter was young, we had to move across the country. I was driving the Chevy Blazer, loaded with plants, a turtle in a dishpan of water and my daughter. My husband was up ahead in a U-Haul truck. He told me (this was before cell phone days) that if I needed him to flash my head lights. We'd been an hour out, when I looked in the rear-view mirror and say a giant grasshopper hovering on a fern leaf right behind my head. Not just any grasshopper--but what we call a Georgia Thumper. Ugly and big. I didn't say anything to my daughter but I immediately starting flashing my light. My husband pulled over and came to the window. "What is it?" he said. We'd only been on the road about an hour. "There is a Georgia Thumper in here," I replied. "And I'm not driving across the country with him."

My husband managed to get the big ugly grasshopper out and sent him back toward the state line. My daughter told me, "Mom, bugs are our friends. I don't know why you're so scared." I didn't have the heart to tell her we'd probably brought along a few lizards in our fern, too. But much later as it got dark outside, her bravery seemed to end. She pushed down in her seat and finally said on a wail, "I want outta here."

So did her mother. I also remember one night when my son was young and a group of boys were sleeping over. But we had some weird neighbors like the ones on that movie "The Burbs." So we all lay down on our stomachs in the dark and stared out the bay window, watching a strange white van that kept creeping by the burb house down the street. In all the excitement, I felt a hand on my back very near my bottom. I said "Uh, whose hand is that?" One of the boys, thinking he was holding onto a buddy, said on a low whisper "Sorry, Miss Lenora."

Ah, the drama, the suspense of being a mother. You never know what's around the corner. Spilled milk or water balloon fights. Your son's friend swimming in suspenders and shorts or a group of boys driving up in a pick-up with their own version of a hot tub in the truck bed. Your shy well-behaved daughter getting into a cat fight behind the bleachers at a football game. Never a dull moment, being a mother. But you also get pretty hand-made cards that you keep forever and coffee mugs that make you smile. You get long phone calls where you put on your counselor hat and short phone conversations where you know you've overstepped your bounds.

Being a mother is the toughest job of all. It doesn't hurt to have a little covert training. Because we know that a mother will fight for her children to the finish. And then some. Happy Mother's Day. And if you want to read some other cute Mother's Day stories, you can follow Lyn Cote and others on e-harlequin at:
http://community.eharlequin.com/forums/love-inspired/humorous-family-stories-lyn-cote
or go to the Craftie Ladies of Love Inspired blog at: http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com
We'll be posting around the Internet all week long! We'll be mothers forever!

Remember to Trust

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a do-over, shelve the past and start with a fresh slate. Would I be the same person I was before?

The heroine in my May release, "Witness on the Run"—out today!—loses her memory after witnessing a murder, runs for her life, and is clipped by a car. Due to her temporary amnesia, Robin is challenged to take a look at her life from a whole new perspective. She also must depend on a virtual stranger, private investigator Jake Walters, to keep her safe. Not easy for a gal like Robin, who not only feels totally disoriented, but isn’t one to trust easily on a good day.

I was inspired to write this book because it’s all about trust, both trusting a stranger and trusting in God’s love. Although she’s desperate to remember the face of the killer, she’s also anxious about the memories that start to surface, painful memories of loss and grief. Luckily Jake’s faith in God gives him the strength to be a rock for her, and to inspire Robin to open her heart to God once again – a true gift.

Before I sign off here’s my gift to you, one of my favorite websites!

http://www.gimmeglutenfree.com/

It’s loaded with amazing recipes. Maybe you can find something to make for Mother’s Day. The Chocolate Lava Cakes are truly amazing!

William and Kate Are Missing

They have left on their honeymoon. At this time of writing the blog, I don't know where they are going on their honeymoon. It was a top secret. As a suspense writer I could come up with a whole suspense plot out of the fact they are off the radar screen, so to speak. So to tie the wedding of Kate and William to a suspense blog, my question to you is where have they gone on their honeymoon. My guess is a privately owned island somewhere, let's say in the Caribbean.Of course, if they want to really get away from the reporters, they probably should board a spaceship and honeymoon out in space. Where do you think they are?

Murder at Granite Falls Interview

Today we're welcoming Carrie Randall, the heroine of Murder at Granite Falls, in the Big Sky Secrets series, an April 2011 Love Inspired Suspense release by Roxanne Rustand.

Wow, you've just had quite an adventure.

1. Tell us a little about yourself and how you came to be in the midst of such suspense.

When I fell in love with a bad boy charmer who followed the rodeo circuit, I had no idea how that mistake would haunt my life later on. Billy was a handsome, daredevil bull rider, but he was also turned out to be possessive and lazy, with a mean streak a mile wide. Leaving him was a dangerous move, but my brother Trace (who had his own book, FATAL BURN) took me to his ranch. I was safe there--safe enough to finally develop the courage to move out on my own again. I moved to another town where I thought Billy couldn't ever find me and I would feel safe. Was I ever wrong...and worse, Billy wasn't the only threat to worry about, once I got there!

2. So, during the book you met Logan Bradley. Yep--I got a job teaching summer school in a small mountain town, with the promise that I would become full time in the fall. The tourist trade in those parts ratchets up the cost of living during the summer, and the only place I could find was an apartment above a river rafting office, quite a ways out of town. Logan and his sister own this business and business was good...until he was framed for a murder last summer and had to go to trial. Needless to say, there were a lot of townsfolk who still thought him guilty no matter what the jury decided--and then there was plenty of gossip being fueled by someone who wanted Logan out of the picture. At first, I was wary of him. But after getting to know Logan, I couldn't believe the gossips were right--even when another murder took place soon after I moved there.

3. What strengths/skills do you have? What is your greatest weakness?

I think I'm a good teacher. I sure love my job, and the kids in my classes! I can't believe our society doesn't value dedicated teachers more. We are educating the future generation, and where will they be without a quality education? Weaknesses--it's hard to know where to begin, because there are so many ways in which I should be a better person.

4. What scares you?

After dealing with my ex-husband Billy, I find my heartbeat faltering when anything goes "bump in the night." Unfortunately, he taught me that evil can lurk in dark places, and that some people take real pleasure in hurting others. But I take great comfort from my faith, and one of the verses I call to mind is, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." Psalms 23:4

5. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I would be taller. And, I would be more patient and more trusting.

6. Where are you in your faith at the start of your story?

After Billy, my faith was shaken. There were times when I prayed for help and I didn’t seem to immediately receive the answers I wanted. But in time, I realized that my prayers were answered. Not in miracles heralded with thunder and flashes of lightning, but in the people God brought into my life just when I needed them most. And, in the events that helped me become stronger and helped me escape my former life.

9. If you could be a dessert what would you be and why? I guess I've been rather like crème brulee in the past--soft-hearted on the inside, but with a brittle, protective shell of wariness and fear. And now? There's so much joy in my life; everything seems brighter, with more possibilities. Hmmm....maybe a nice rainbow sherbet?