New Story!

I finished my first draft of Signal Hill right before the holidays hit (wheeeee!!) and vowed I'd let my brain rest while we traveled and celebrated and otherwise threw our lives into chaos. I sent my draft to a dear critique partner and left my laptop at home. But isn't that always when new ideas hit?

I developed a secondary storyline for Signal Hill and halfway through that draft, realized I was writing two seperate stories: Signsl Hill (speculative fiction) and a very nebulous contemporary story. I had characters and situations, moments within a story but no plot. I saved those scenes and left them drift into the back of my mind. Then I dug them out for a late night scene swap and couldn't let them go again. I almost never read contemp. I need that touch of the fanciful in my writing. I never expected to write a contemp romance.

But there it is, the story I can't let go. I've been hacking out my pitch on my phone between Christmas parties and while curled up beside the fire at my in-laws. I'm dying to get home to my laptop and start hacking it out. The story is coming fast and furious, filling those hours when I'm rocking my wee ones and as I fall asleep at night.

Working title: FALL. I'm pitching it as She's All That or Grease in reverse. Can't wait to share!

Pitch: Bria broke one of the cardinal rules of friendship: she kissed her best friend's brother. Sooo not cool. Besides, weird, artsy girls like her don't fall for jocks like Ben. The self-proclaimed Queen of the Freaks and the school soccer star? Never going to happen. But when a prank gone wrong puts Ben and Bria on clean up duty together, the sparks between them heat up the SoCal fall. Now she has to decide if she can be true enough to herself to step beyond her narrowly defined clique for a boy who might not do the same. Especially if it means losing her best friend.

A Bit of Anniversary Romance

Why do I write romance? Why do I swoon over kissing scenes and swap them with my critique partners with glee? Because I snagged my own swoon-inducing love interest and married him nine years ago today. Happy Anniversary to Joe Kaczorowski, the love of my life and the reason I think romance is so much fun.

Sullen teenage dating days

Wedding

Pre-kid vacation

The whole family, now complete

Don't Just Rage Against the Darkness

My children are not yet in school, so when the news broke today of the tragedy in Connecticut, I was able to hug them. But when the time comes, they will attend public schools.

I am a Christian. I was home schooled most of my life. I understand the impulse to protect our children. It's something I wrestle with everyday.

But I believe greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world. We have not been given a spirit of fear.

One of my children could be a victim of an unspeakable crime, no matter how or where they are educated. That terrifies me. But one of my children could also be the friend that sways a child on the edge toward the right. The friend that brings someone back from despair or gets help for someone in need. My children can be light.

When the darkness come, as it always has and always will, do not simply rage against it. Become light. Strive to do good. Reach out to the hurting world around you. Do not retreat from the world because it is broken. This is nothing new. Instead, find ways YOU can bind up the broken parts.