This week I’ve asked my dear friend, Diane O’Neal to blog about her life and experiences. She’s a regular reader here and posts quite often, so you might “know” her, but since she lives, what I humbly think of, a most extraordinary life, I wanted all of you to get to know her a little better. We went to Italy last week, now join me as we tour the world with Diane:

Hi, I’m Diane O’Neal and Elizabeth asked me to be a guest blogger and to tell you a little about my life. I’ve never blogged before, but I … Read more »

If there has to be a plus to the high price of gas these days, I think I’ve discovered it. Have you noticed how much friendlier folks are at the gas pump these days? Not the poor clerk behind the counter who is taking abuse over prices he has no control over, but your fellow gougee on the other side of the pump. Instead of pumping gas and not making eye contact with anyone, or just staring at the ground until it clicks off, people are talking. They are even laughing. Well, it’s that pained laugh you make when you … Read more »

My books often get published in other languages, and I have to admit that I love it when my books get published in Italian. The covers are fun, the readers from Italy have to be some of the nicest folks and if they write me in Italian, I actually have neighbors from Italy who are more than happy to translate for me. So it was great fun to get contacted by Elisa Rolle, who has an Italian blog for romance readers, Rosa is for Romance.

She interviews romance writers and translates it all into Italian and her interviews are … Read more »

I went down to Book Expo last week. Actually, I went to Disneyland with the kids and the DH and snuck out Sunday morning to do Book Expo. Book Expo is the publishing trade show where publishers, book folks, booksellers, librarians and all sorts of book related industries come together to sell, showcase and buy the next big hottest books. I was signing at the RWA booth with my former Avon buddy, Christie Ridgway, who has a new book out this week: How to Knit a Wild Bikini. You know me. It has “knit” in the title. … Read more »

When I came home the other day and told my husband I’d seen a pirate ship parked alongside the road, he suggested that perhaps I was enjoying writing Dash’s story a little too much. You know, spending all day writing about a pirate, then seeing them everywhere. He also said something about being in need of a life, but I ignored that part.

Now anywhere else in the world, I would have probably said the same thing. But I live in Seattle. Have my entire life, and if you are from Seattle, you know that as summer approaches the pirates … Read more »

The weatherman made a huge mistake and we had a beautiful weekend here in Seattle–despite his dire predictions of rain and cold. So between writing 15 pages (which is what The Plan had me writing over the weekend) I also replanted my deck pots with new annuals,

planted a new rock garden in the front yard,

ignored the rock garden still to be planted,

walked twice with my old critique partner, Darcy Carson, went for a bike ride and out to dinner with the DH for our anniversary (15 years!), swam at the local pool with the kids, helped the … Read more »

I will modestly tell you that I recently won a Career Achievement Award for Innovative Historical Romance from Romantic Times last month. It was one of those really surprising moments–the sort of “I won? No way!” stunning shock, and the next moment where you either a) feel you must be really old to have a career that deserves recognition or b) that you actually have a career that someone could point out. Then you get to the real important part: gratitude and appreciation for being recognized by some of the nicest and kindest reviewers out there. I mean you, Kathe … Read more »

Part of this business of writing is promotion. Finding the right promo piece that will be different and yet far reaching. Something that isn’t going to take a pipeline of oil to finance, and in the bargain, will be easy to share with as many people as possible. Just call me brilliant because I think I may have put it together with the always talented help of Emily Cotler of Waxcreative and a few friends who wanted to test the waters of my grand experiment.

So I was surfing blogdom the other day (yes, when I should have been writing, … Read more »

So I really did let it slip in my Monday blog (down below) what it is I am writing. Yes, it is true, I am writing Pippin and Dash’s book. If you can’t recall who Pippin and Dash are, then you haven’t read This Rake of Mine or Love Letters from a Duke. I’m not holding it against you, but really this news is hardly going to be as thrilling to you as it would be if you’d read those books. So if you haven’t, stop here, go read those two books and then come back so you can … Read more »

I was asked recently how I start writing a book. Well, I’ll let you in on a super secret: it all starts with the right notebook. Really.

And it can’t be just any notebook. I like colored ones. I have two that I work between–one that is sort of lime green and the other is bright blue. I like those colors because when my office turns into a bomb scene, either because I am in full writing/research/what the heck did I call that butler mode, my office can get a tad bit messy. So a neon bright notebook stands out … Read more »