Laurie G, won it by a mile! She transposed two of the Quills, but got all the others perfect! Laurie, email me your snail mail at Emily at emilymckay.com.

In case the rest of you are wondering, here’s the true identity of all the Quills:

The diamond pendant: Kristan
The fruit basket: Robyn
The library book: Terri
The love letters:Jaunty
The wedding band:Cindy
The groceries:Me
The clean car: Shana
The tae know do belt: Katherine

Thanks for playing!!!

Before I began writing books, I was reading them. From the time I learned to read in first grade, a love affair was born. I adored nothing more than curling up in a chair on a rainy–or a sunny day–and being transported to other worlds.

The books I read taught me so much, about places I’ve never been, about different cultures, about what I wanted in a man. That’s why I quickly grew to love romance. The men were heroes, the women strong and independent and good triumphed in the end. What was not to love?

I love writing books. It is a passion for me. However writing does have a downside. I don’t have time to read as much. But lately I’ve made a conscious effort to make reading part of my week. That’s why I thought it might be fun to talk this week about what we’re all reading.

On Debbie Macomber’s website, her tagline is “Whereever you are…Debbie takes you home.”

Debbie has a real talent for bringing her characters to life. This book is no exception. We follow three characters in this story. They each have their own story to tell even though they’re interwoven. Here’s the blurb from Debbie’s website:

There’s a new shop on Seattle’s Blossom Street—a flower store called Susannah’s Garden, right next door to A Good Yarn. Susannah Nelson, the owner, has just hired a young widow named Colette Blake. A couple of months earlier, Colette had abruptly quit her previous job—after a brief affair with her boss. To her dismay, he’s suddenly begun placing weekly orders for flower arrangements!

Like everyone else in Lydia’s knitting class, Alix knows there’s a solution to every problem…and that another woman can usually help you find it!

It’s a difficult task to make all these stories come together but Debbie does it….in a wonderful way. I’d highly recommend it!

Now tell me…what are YOU reading?

Fall is in the air. The drop in temperature means something different for everyone. For some, it’s splendid fall foliage. For others, it’s football and tailgating. Some love the back-to-school sales and vast array of new office and school supplies.

Me, I have one slightly unusual fall tradition. I clean out my car.

For someone who’s lived in Texas as long as I have (almost thirty years now), I’m surprisingly wimpy about the heat. I just don’t like dripping with sweat. So I never clean out my car during the summer. Once I’ve gone through the torture of driving around in a hot car, unloading the kids, purchases, shoes and wet swim gear, the last thing I want to do is got back for another sweep to put away books and collect art work, empty water bottles and that big barrette my daughter just had to wear but then yanked out because be it was “pokey.” So these things collect over the long summer months. Then in the fall, once the temperature drops to a moderate eighty-five degrees in the shade and then I’ll do a big clean out. It’ll stay pretty clean for a few weeks. Then things will start building up again. The holidays will hit and find numerous excuses why I should keep putting it off.

I’d like to say all the mess is due to my children. But I’d be lying. My car was a mess even back in college. I come from a long line of messy car drivers. (Mom, Dad, Sis … If you secretly read this blog and never told me,  I’m sorry to speak ill of you. But you know I’m right.) I think it may be a genetic disorder. Congenital Car Disfunction, or CCD, perhaps?

In honor of my newly clean car, I thought we could play the car game. I quizzed some of the other Quills about the strangest things they’d found in their cars. If you can match all the strange items to the correct blogger, I’ll send you a copy of my latest book, Winning it All.

Playing with us today are: Robyn DeHart, Kristan Higgins, Katherine Garbera, Shana Galen, Terri Brisbin, Cindy Kirk, me (Emily McKay) and, of course, Jaunty P.Quills.

1. I found a half carat diamond pendant. Small but pretty, you know? Very exciting. I tried to return it to the previous owner and the dealership, but they all said it wasn’t theirs…
2. Okay one time I got in my car to go home from work (this was around the holidays) and the whole ride home I kept thinking I smelled fruit, which was weird because my car is normally pretty neat and tidy. When I got home I realized there was a huge fruit basket in my backseat. Strange for a variety of reasons – 1 I didn’t purchase any such thing and 2 my car is always locked. So it was quite the mystery for 24 hours as we tried to figure out where the fruit had come from. The next day at work I sent out a mass email to the whole university explaining the situation and asking if anyone had lost a giant fruit basket and sure enough a woman came forward and realized she’d put it in the wrong car.
3. Not terribly strange but we did find my son’s library book that had been missing for four years…it had slid beneath the back seat and into some storage compartment I didn’t know we had
4. I’m constantly finding love letters left in my car by the many women who admire my sleek and glossy quills
5. I once found a man’s gold wedding band in a car we’d purchased used.
6. I once an entire bag of groceries left in the trunk. Nothing went bad, because it was in the winter and it had only been a few hours. But still, how did I put away the groceries without once thinking, “Hey, didn’t I also buy a box of cereal, three cans of black beans and a head of lettuce?”
7. My car is really clean and orderly. Can I still play?
8. a white tae know do belt

Let the guessing begin!

Congrats to Virginia C who was the randomly chosen winner of THE MAKING OF A DUCHESS and Christie Craig’s DIVORCED, DESPERATE, AND DECEIVED. Virginia, email me at shana@shanagalen.com so I can get your address and send the books!

Thanks for all the great comments!

I’m something of a pessimist. Yes, I admit it. I am the person who worries about things before they even happen. I worry about things happening that never even happen. You might say it’s a bit of a waste of time and energy, but I also think it’s part of the job description. What if I never asked what if? I don’t think I’d be a very good writer.

But there are times when I feel I come across as all worrying and no enjoying. So today I wanted to make sure the world knows how much I love my job (even though I sometimes worry about it).

Writing is the best job in the world. Here’s why.
1) My office is just down the hall. No commute, and it’s close to the kitchen.
2) I can wear whatever I like. No dresscode.
3) I can work (or not work) whenever I want. No boss.
4) I get to make up stories and characters, and I get paid to do so! No boundaries.
5) Reading is part of the job. I have to read others’ books to keep up with the market (yeah, that’s why I have that huge TBR pile) and I read lots of research books filled with interesting tidbits. I’m always learning.

What is your dream job? Why? I’ll pick one lucky person to receive a copy of The Making of a Duchess and I have an extra copy of Christie Craig’s Divorced, Desperate and Deceived. I’ll send that along as well.

With my daughter settling into her busy high school routine, I’ve been assessing my fall writing goals.  I want to make the most of the hours that she’s away at school to wrap up almost-completed projects and start new ones that are teasing my creative muse.  I’d love to double my daily writing progress.  After all, I’m up at 5:30 a.m. (yawn!) to see that my daughter eats a few bites of breakfast before my husband drives her to the bus stop.  I pick her up just after 3 p.m.  So, that’s a decent chunk of time for me to work.

Of course, it’s not as simple as ignoring the rest of my life to don my fluffy feather boa and glam high-heeled slippers, haul out my box of chocolate truffles, and boot up my netbook to churn out brilliant pages (as if that happens anyway!  I don’t own a feather boa, my slippers are cozy and practical, and I rarely eat chocolate truffles.  Besides, I usually rewrite everything at least four or five times before I’m happy with it). 

There are doctor, dentist, and orthodontist appointments on the family schedule.  There’s also all the household chores: grocery shopping, housecleaning, and laundry.  I have critique meetings on Wednesdays (a highlight of my week!) and my husband usually has at least one evening meeting which means dinner has to be on the table early, and then there are school events plus trips to the post office and dry cleaner’s.  And the pet store.  How could I almost forget that?  Here’s what happens when our kitty, Kai, thinks my writing is taking a priority over his supply of cat treats (Yes, those are his fangs on my netbook!).

So how does one claim what’s left over of the daily routine so those hours or parts of hours don’t just slip away?   It takes planning, but I’ve found a few ways to maximize my available writing time.

1.  Pen your writing sessions into your calendar like an appointment.  I find that if I do this, it’s more of a commitment than telling myself “I’ll write sometime today.”  It also focuses my creativity.  Hours before I even sit down at my netbook to get started, my mind is thinking about what I’m going to write.

2.  Invest in a slow cooker/crock pot.  This is one of the greatest kitchen inventions!  Yes, it means putting all of the dinner ingredients into the crock pot in the morning, so the dish is cooked by dinnertime, but the process saves time overall, and the meals are delicious.  My family’s favorite slow cooker dinners include beef stew and spaghetti bolognese.

3.  Write on a computer that you use exclusively for writing.  I have two computers.  I use both, but most of my writing is done on my netbook, because I can tuck it into my bag and head off to Borders to write (especially on those days my mischievous kitty tries to be “helpful” by pawing the mouse and chewing on the cable).  Using my netbook, I can check email and swing by Facebook any time I want—but I don’t.  Not ever.  On purpose.  It’s all too easy to get distracted and end up spending half an hour web surfing.  So, I do all of my email and social network stuff on my other computer.

4.  Keep a lined notebook in your purse.  This has been a lifesaver when I’ve had to wait at the dentist’s office because they’re running behind schedule.  I’ve used the time to write—longhand, as I used to when I was a teenager (It’s still my favorite way to write).  Some days, I’ve managed to pen two or three pages that, with a little tweaking, have been excellent additions to a scene.  I’ve even outlined character sketches and bare-bones plots.  Above all, I’m using that waiting time to write.

5.  Reserve one day of the week as “Errand Day.”  This has been one of the most helpful changes for me.  Instead of going to the post office every time I have a package to mail, I now go once per week, and mail everything all at once.  I also keep errands for that day: picking up clothes at the dry cleaner’s, buying vitamins at the health food store, and so on.  Taking care of errands all at once saves time that can be better spent writing.

How do you make time in your busy schedule to write?  If you’re not a writer, what tips do you have for finding time to work on your favorite project?

***

Catherine’s latest book, A Knight’s Persuasion, Book 4 of her Knight’s Series, is still available.  She will be signing this book and her previous Knight’s Series novels at the November 6 Romancing the Holidays Charity Book Signing to raise funds for the non-profit Adult Literacy League; 20% of proceeds from book sales will be donated to the ALL. 

More than twenty authors will be participating in the event that will run from 2-5 p.m. in the center court of Altamonte Mall in Altamonte Springs, FL.  The first 100 book buyers will receive a fabulous goody bag stuffed with free books, bookmarks, pens, and more! 

For more details, including a press release and .pdf flyer for this event, please visit Catherine’s website.

Here in Michigan, we refer to our state geography by holding up our left hand (palm out) and pointing to areas of our “mitten.” It’s great, because when someone speaks of a town I’ve never heard of, all they need to do is just point to a spot on their hand and I know exactly where they mean.

This past week, my husband and I spent a week in “the thumb” – everyone from Michigan will know exactly what I mean, especially if I mention that we were on the Lake Huron coast.

For various reasons, we hadn’t had a chance to take a vacation all summer, and this turned out to be the perfect week. We’ve been renting the same cottage on the lake for the past few years, and it was great, as usual. There’s a large front and back yard that’s completely fenced in – which is perfect for us, because with our two Labradors, we need to have a way to keep them out of the water. We have to pace their swimming time, you see, because they’re both getting up in years and they get really sore if they swim too much. And I honestly believe they would never stop.

The water of Lake Huron has been quite murky the past couple of years. My scientist husband says it’s polluted, due to runoff from the farm fields nearby. Seems that lots of Michigan farmers are planting corn for the ethanol – and the fields are thick with it. So when you go down to the beach, you can’t help but notice the brownish-green hue of the water that’s thick with residue, and it goes out at least 100 feet from the shore. Not exactly what I remember from my childhood.

I spite of that, we had a very relaxing, enjoyable week. I read three books, took numerous walks, and went exploring around the tip of the thumb. The weather was on the cool side – I don’t think it got much past 75 degrees, and we had one rainy day. Which was fine because it was the day my sister and her husband came up to visit, and we played euchre all afternoon during the rainstorm.

I feel relaxed and ready to tackle my 19^th book, which I started before we took our break. The synopsis and outline are written, the characters’ conflicts are all on paper and ready to be put into scenes and chapters.

How was your summer? Did you get a chance to take time off? Are you inundated with kids’ sports (as we were for many years) or caught up in work?  If you could do anything at all during the summer months, what would it be?

is Johanna Jochum.

Johanna, please email me at emilybmckay at gmail.com with your snail mail address and I’ll put the book in the mail for you. Thanks for playing!

In the twentieth century, people would often ask, “Where were you when you heard Kennedy had been shot?” referring of course, to President John Kennedy being gunned down in Dallas in the early 1960′s.

In the twenty-first century, another tragedy has spawned another question–Where were you on 9/11?

On this day, let us take a moment to remember all who lost their lives on that horrible day….and to reflect on where we were when we heard the news.

I was at home getting ready to work. I heard on the radio that a plane had hit the twin towers in NYC. I turned on the television and they were saying they thought it may have been a small plane that had gotten lost. Then, while I was watching, the second plane hit the tower! That’s when everyone realized this wasn’t just an “accident.”

I watched for a while–horrified–then went to work, listening to the radio on the way. When I got to work everyone was huddled in our downstairs fitness area around the televison watching the news. We watched as the towers collapsed. It was…surreal.

What do I remember in the aftermath of those days? Flags. Blocks after blocks of houses in town proudly flying the American flag. People who had never flown a flag before, even on Independence Day. Stores unable to keep flags in stock.

Those are my memories.

Where were YOU when you heard about the planes hitting the twin towers, the Pentagon and crashing into a field in Pennsylvania?