Fall’s coming and for me that sense of excitement is in the air. Even though it’s been longer than I care to admit since I was in school, I still love shopping for supplies. Ah, the excitement of a new binder or pencil! I also love to shop for new clothes, makeup… And I come up with a plan for reinventing or improving upon myself. Right now my goal is to work on improving my writing, so I thought I’d share with you a few authors who make me want to be better than I currently am, or who push me to pay attention to aspects of the craft I may not have focused on earlier.

As writers, we all have our strengths and weaknesses when it comes to getting the words on paper. I’ve always had trouble tooting my own horn because I figure there are always people willing to tell me I suck, but I will tell you all that I believe my strengths to be character and emotion. For the sake of my own ego I’m not going to delve into the plethora of weaknesses to which I subscribe, and will instead jump into my current list of faves:

Married With Zombies by Jesse Petersen. Can the Zombie Apocalypse save Sarah and David’s marriage? Does a zombie only want you for your mind? I had the privilege of reading an ARC of this fabulous book (Aug 31st) and I wish I could pace like Petersen does. The scenes progress at a clip that adds a level of anxiety to the reading, and you’re totally invested in the characters thanks to Sarah’s first person narrative. My characters tend to think too much, but the characters in this book *act*. Only afterward did I realize that there’s not a lot of description in the book — not of characters at any rate. And you know what? I didn’t miss it, because they’re so well set up and so real in their actions and dialogue, that I already have an idea of what they look like. That’s good writing.

Ilona Andrews is one of those authors who make it seem effortless. Her plots are smooth and manage to keep you guessing without jumping all over the place. Her characters are incredible, but it’s her world building that really makes me green with envy. She (Actually husband and wife team Gordon and Ilona) really knows her setting. I imagine it must be so incredibly real inside her head. But it’s not just setting, it’s what has happened to the world and how it affects characters as well. Genius.

Stacia Kane’s a relatively new author to me and already she’s inspired me to the place where I love how good she is and hate her for being so good! lol. She builds entirely real characters that are so full of flaws you shouldn’t cheer for them, but you do because they’re so completely and wonderfully human. Her world is strange and yet terribly familiar, her pacing a mix of languid moodiness and frenetic tension. This woman is the complete package, and reading her makes me want to be so much better myself.

These are just a small sampling of authors whom I hold up as examples of real story tellers. They suck you into their work and don’t let go until the end, leaving you with that good feeling of a satisfying ending, and the equally melancholy realization that it’s all over until the next book. They’re part of the yard stick upon which I measure myself. Now, I’m not trying to write like them, or beating myself up for what I perceive to be my own short-comings, but I think it’s healthy for authors to think there are those out there from whom we can learn and improve our own work.

So, who or what inspires you to do better?

The writing process is different and varied between writers and among different books. Some of us are planners, meaning we outline or use index cards or plot boards or any variety of plotting tools to find the road map for our story before we writer. Some are what we call pantsters (as in writing by the seat of your pants,) meaning we just start writing and figure out stuff blindly as the story unfolds before us. And still other are a mixture of both. You can also have the same MO for four books and then suddenly what has always worked doesn’t. It’s perplexing, but most of us writers have multiple tools in our repertoire so that we’re prepared for these issues. But no matter how we tackle our actual writing, most of us (dare I say all of us) brainstorm. We might not go about it in the same ways, but the what if tickles all of us.

For me this is often my favorite part, or at least one of my favorite parts. This is before I’ve written anything. Everything in the story still exists solely in my mind (meaning I haven’t yet had time to mess it up!) And the possibilities are endless. There are a ton of brainstorming methods and I use a variety on any one book. I do preliminary character work and digging around with my characters usually brings some plot issues to light. I love to play with office supplies – post-it notes, markers, index cards, fancy pens – and these can come in handy when putting together a story. But my absolute favorite way to brainstorm is with other writers.

I’ve done big brainstorming weekends where a group of us pack up and head somewhere (usually the beach) and we do nothing but brainstorm and write and talk writing and eat chocolate for a couple of days. And it’s just heaven. There is nothing more invigorating than to spend time with my writer buds and discuss story possibilities. It’s a charge to work on their books too, really gets the juices flowing. Besides you never feel more brilliant, as a writer, than when you’re working on a friend’s book – that’s when all your great ideas come out. At least that’s the truth for me, it’s like when I’m working on someone else’s book I have more insight, more creativity. I think this has something to do with perspective, but that’s a whole ‘nother blog. But the potential in that initial kernel of an idea is heady and addictive (probably why I have 8, yes 8 new ideas I’m playing with right now). There’s so much to play with. What if I changed the time period? What if he wasn’t the villain, what if he was the hero? What if the heroine had this job? What if the hero was obsessed with this? Or that? The possibilities, as they say, are endless.

But we can’t escape our day-to-day lives every time we need to work on a new book. So we have brainstorming days where we get together and do what we do on our retreats, but in a shrink-wrapped kind of way. We talk faster, we take turns, we do chunks of the book rather than the whole thing or work on one single problematic issue.

Then there’s the emergency phone call or email. Just a quick shout-out for help when you’re stuck on a scene or a plot point or a research detail. Writer buds are the absolute best and I couldn’t write without mine.

So how about you? Are you close to your work friends? Do you have your go-to people whenever you have a problem that needs working out?

When Dorchester Publishing announced that it was going to an all digital format in the near future, I wasn’t terribly surprised.  It was fairly well known that the company had been struggling financially lately, and the Powers-that-Be likely thought by going digital and shrinking the editorial staff to the barest of minimums, they’d shave the cost of business and be able to stay afloat. 

It is true that electronic publishing, especially romance fiction, has increased over the past few years.  Several e-publishers have garnered much respect for their business ethics and superior products – that being their ability to put good novels in the hands (or devices) of readers. 

Another factor in the increase of e-sales has do to with there being more user-friendly devices available.  Those range from low-end $169 to top of the line $845.  There’s also a more standardized form of e-files and the several readers offer download files or apps so you can read most if not all of them. 

For years e-publishing has been touted as the wave of the future.  But according to the latest RWA statistics, it still only accounts for 5.4% of books sold while paperbacks account for 90.6% of the market.  But what would happen if those numbers were reversed?  What if print publishing was on the endangered list?

Here’s a short list of what would vanish if books became obsolete.

• Bookmarks.  No bound books, no need for book marks
• Book lights.  The majority of e-readers have backlights so you can read in a dark room.
• Bookstores.  Why build and staff stores if all they offered were downloads? 
• Book signings.  Impossible to sign a digital copy downloaded on a device.
• Book bags.  Hmm, you could use them for your groceries. 
• Libraries.  Okay, I suppose they’d be around to archive those old tomes. 

And that’s not touching on the industry that’s needed to get a book into publication, plus the staff and the cost of promotion to get books top shelf space in a bookstore. 

• Cover artists, models and photographers. 
• Printing houses. 
• Paper suppliers.
• Distributors.

I totally agree that having the ability to house hundreds of books in one slim reading device is fabulous.  But you know, I still love the tactile feel of a book.  If I drop it or it gets wet, it doesn’t break. 

So what’s your preference?  All digital reader?  A mix of both?  Or are you a lover of real books and don’t ever want to see them disappear?

The USA Network uses the title of this blog as the channel’s slogan. It’s a truthful one. The shows are generally a simple concept, but filled with interesting characters that keep viewers coming back, because we care what happens to them. I think this is perhaps the most important aspect of writing. The challenge is creating sympathetic characters. USA has a stable of them from shows such as Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, Burn Notice… the list goes on.

Your gratuitous hero -- Timothy Olyphant plays Marshall Raylan Givens on FX's 'Justified.' A less than perfect man and a fabulous character.

In my book When Seducing a Duke, I set out to create less than perfect characters. The hero — Grey — is a man who has done awful things, and if he hadn’t been injured, he probably would have continued on his path. Readers had two reactions to Grey: love and hate. Some thought he was fabulous and others thought I should be burned at the stake for writing such a man. To me, these intense reactions mean I did my job. I made him real. Was he sympathetic? Obviously a few people thought so, but even people who told me they tossed the book on several occasions admitted to coming back, because they had to know what happened with Grey and Rose. So, I won some and I lost some, and I’m okay with that.

I find perfect people very uninteresting. Luke Skywalker didn’t become interesting until the Dark Side started working on him. Han Solo on the other hand, was interesting right from the beginning. Jack Sparrow is interesting. In fact, anyone Johnny Depp has ever played is interesting, because he makes them 3 dimensional people.

Right now I’m working on a project where the heroine is… different than those around her. Because of how I’m setting her up, there needs to be aspects of her that might be unsettling to some readers. I realized I was hesitating to do this because I’m worried readers might not like her.

Here’s the thing — I don’t think readers need to *like* a character, they just need to be able to *understand* the character. My job is to bring them deep enough into the heroine’s head to make that happen. I’ve often thought that to be a writer a person has to be something of a psychologist as well. A great example of this are the writers of the show Dexter. I say the ‘show’ because I haven’t read the books. Clearly they know what they’re doing if they can make a serial killer into a hero, but Dexter’s first person narrative is crucial for getting inside his head and seeing his struggle with his own nature. I find him fascinating.

Another way to make characters more realistic is to give them friends and family — even if it’s only one or two people. Parker on Leverage didn’t have a family growing up, and she’s aware that she’s broken in many ways, but now she has people who care about her and vice versa, and the writers are doing a great job of exploring how that character reacts to these relationships. This is why I watch so many cable shows now. I think the smaller networks take more care in building characters than trying to build platforms for their advertisers. But that’s a different soapbox.

So, as I visit my family (and take notes! lol), I want to know who some of your favorite characters are (TV, movie or book) and why these creations are like real people to you.

Meanwhile, look for new characters from me next June with the release of When Tempting a Rogue.

When I first read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it was way back when the second book had only been in stores a few months and most of the world hadn’t yet been bitten by the HP bug. It took a few chapters, but when we got to Diagon Alley I knew I’d stumbled upon something special. I remember feeling like I witnessed history in the making, feeling assured that once the books caught on, we’d have another Narnia Chronicles on our hands. The most vivid emotion though was that this book was the first time I’d read something as an adult that made me feel like books used to when I was a kid. I realize that is a terrible sentence, but hopefully you know what I mean. In short, I was mesmerized.

I quickly devoured the book, then the second, then waited impatiently for the third (which totally blew me away) and about this time word started spreading and the world was about to catch HP fever. It was the first time I remember ever dreaming about characters from a book and it happened more than once. The characters, the world was so real to me that when I was intrenched in one of the books I was completely surrounded. I remember catching myself before telling a friend that the next time I went to England I wanted to make a special trip to Hogwarts.

This last month, that silly fantasy of mine came true. Or as true as it can within our Muggle world. While in Orlando for the RWA conference, me and Emily and my mom made a side trip to Universal Studios to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We got up super early, we hired a car to take us to the park and we walked the long way to the entrance of the park. But we’d been smart and we’d pre-purchased our tickets so we were able to just walk right in. We made a beeline to the HP area (mostly we followed the crowd because that’s where everyone else was going too!)

And then we rounded a corner and there it was, across the way, but Hogwarts rose up from a hill just like I’d seen in my mind so many times. I’ll admit it, I got a little misty and giddy and started snapping pictures. We kept our trek through the park, passing by some really cool looking other areas, but we were on a mission.

Suddenly we were there, right up to Hogwarts door. There’s a ride in the castle, but I had read enough stuff on-line before hand to know that my motion sickness would probably cause trouble, so mom and I headed into the tour line where we were able to just walk through the castle while Emily went on to the ride. (she’ll have to tell you about it when she returns from her family vacation) Inside the castle we saw the hall of portraits where some of the pictures moved and talked. Then we saw Dumbledore’s office and the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and the entryway to the Gryffindor common room with the Fat Lady’s picture. It really was totally magical and my only complaint was that I wanted it to be longer. I wanted to see the Great Hall with the floating candles and I wanted to see the actual common room and the floating staircases.

But never fear once we were out of the castle (dumped conveniently into Filch’s Emporium, a gift shop where I purchased my own copy of the Maurader’s Map) we walked strait into Hogsmeade. Now technically this was a mixture of Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, but it was just fantastic. We bought wands and we had butterbeer (so tasty!) and we saw the Hogwart’s Express (another misty moment for me!) and we bought chocolate frogs in Honeydukes and went into the Owl Post. And I have to take a moment to personally thank all of the English families that were there that day, their lovely British accents really added to the experience for me. Then in the bathroom (which they called “public conveniences”) you could hear Moaning Myrtle whine and cry.

All in all, it was, well for lack of a better word, magical. I loved every minute despite the fact that it was like 1000 degrees outside. I can’t wait to go back again someday with The Professor.

So how about you, what fictionalized world would you like to see come to life? If you could step into any book you’ve ever read, which one would it be? One lucky commenter will win a collection of books I brought back from the conference.

I’m an admitted chocoholic, especially the dark rich kind.   But I won’t turn my back on milk chocolate either.  Though I really try not to overindulge, I almost need that little bit of chocolate every day. It makes me feel good. Satisfied in that deep hmmm way.

Best part.  It’s a feel good treat that is also good for you, at least the dark chocolate is with its increased antioxidants.

Ok, so what is the connection between chocolate and love? (Besides the, come-on, who doesn’t love chocolate?)

Scientifically speaking, true love is a chemical alteration of the brain when adrenaline-like neurochemicals surge to fuel the attraction between a couple. Let me get technical for a moment. Those chemicals are phenylethylamine (the same chemical in chocolate–yes!), dopamine (which makes you feel marvelously good), and norephinephrine (the thing that makes our hearts gallop when with are with that special someone) Sigh

Those three little chemicals have the power to suspend logic in the brain, hence the assurity that one has truly fallen head over heels in love. These babies are the infatuation chemicals, and you can blame them for getting you hooked up with Mr. Wrong in the first place. Finally a reason!

How long does this infatuation stage last? Experts say this rush of chemicals can end anywhere from six months to three years. After that you either take a look at your partner and go eck!

Or you have landed on genuine, real love. Congratulations!!!

The RITA Award Ceremony is an exciting end to the RWA conference, and a special moment for the finalists.  One of these authors will win the coveted RITA statue for Contemporary Series Romance.

Not-So-Perfect Past by Beth Andrews
Nina Carlson knows all about Dillon Ward. Knows he served time in prison. Knows nobody pulled out the welcome mat when he moved to Serenity Springs. But that doesn’t stop her from renting him a place to live. And when someone crashes into her bakery, he’s just the man to fix the damage.

And Nina isn’t the only one who thinks Dillon’s the perfect man for the job: her two kids have taken a shine to him. Still, she can’t afford to get close to Dillon, even if he is tempting her to toss out her good girl shoes. Because it’s not that she doesn’t trust him. It’s that she doesn’t trust herself.

From the Outside by Helen Brenna                           
With rumors he has a mistress in every major city, rookie NASCAR driver Roberto Castillo is the quintessential playboy.  That is, until Cargill Motorsports orders him to clean up his act.  Fortunately, he’s found just the girl to put a shine on his tarnished public image. 

There’s not a girl in America who could out-wholesome pretty actress Mallory Dalton.  When Roberto suggests they date–for appearances only–Mallory knows that Roberto’s bad-boy reputation could ruin her good-girl image.  But maybe that just what she wants …    Unfortunately, even the best laid plans can … backfire.

The Snow-Kissed Bride by Linda Goodnight
A secluded cabin nestled in the Rockies is the perfect place for Melody Crawford to hide from the world. With her two faithful dogs, she fearlessly puts her life on the line to rescue missing people…but the rest of her life is a mystery.

Ex-army ranger John North needs Melody-s help–she knows the unforgiving mountains better than anyone. Melody sees John as an outsider, but this enigmatically beautiful woman calls to the man inside him. She needs to trust him, and, come what may, he-ll break down her barriers–kiss by snowy kiss….

Single Mom Seeks… by Teresa Hill                                                 
Gorgeous men were like fudge…   Delicious, sensual and mostly bad for you.

At least that’s what single mother Lily Tanner thought. Especially when Nick Malone moved in next door. Nick was a feast for her eyes, all rippling muscles and perfect proportions. After her disastrous marriage, Lily wanted nothing to do with men ever again. Yet when Nick needed help keeping the salivating neighborhood housewives at bay, he turned to her. His idea was simple: pretend they were a couple to ward off the others. But his methods–close contact and lots of touching–were wreaking havoc on Lily’s convictions. Because, as with fudge, after just one taste of Nick Malone, she wanted more!

Revealed: a Prince and a Pregnancy by Kelly Hunter
When heiress Simone Duvalier sashays back into Rafael Alexander’s life, Rafe can’t wait for her to head back home and leave him to his empire-building in Australia. They once shared so much, but all that remains are memories and the desire to bed her…

The Christmas Love-Child by Jennie Lucas                             
It’s Christmas time in London, and unwittingly Grace is swirled into the sumptuous and scandalous world of Prince Maksim Rostov. When the unworldly secretary learns he took her innocence in exchange for a business deal, broken-hearted she flees.

But when Maksim discovers Grace’s pregnancy secret, the ruthless Russian drags her to his guarded mansion in snowy Moscow. There he’ll keep her as his captive bride and unwilling princess….

One-Night Mistress…Convenient Wife by Anne McAllister
Three years ago Natalie was utterly humiliated when handsome, debonair Christo Savas rejected her clumsy advances. Now, suddenly, unexpectedly she finds herself at Christo’s beck and call.

Natalie is older now, wiser by far. She won’t fall for him again — she hopes.

But Christo has other ideas now that the little firecracker has grown up. Now he is more than ready to take what she once offered. He wants just one night to satisfy his desire — But one night is never enough!

Duty, Desire, and the Desert King by Jane Porter                      
As the black sheep of the Fehrs, a powerful desert family, middle son Zayed has sworn off love and marriage. This playboy prince is happiest when cruising the casinos of Monte Carlo. But then family tragedy leaves him as heir to his kingdom’s throne. Custom dictates that a wife must be seated beside him, and he’s got just the bride in mind…

Rou Tournell is a feisty, independent woman — and if she won’t marry Zayed for duty, maybe desire will help persuade her…

I Still Do by Christie Ridgway
Shy librarian Emily Garner needed to live a little. And a chance meeting with childhood love Will Dailey proved Sin City was the perfect place for a wild weekend. So wild, in fact, that they barely remembered getting hitched….

Will hadn’t seen Emily in years…and now she was his wife! She was every bit the schoolboy fantasy he remembered. But he’d spent the past seventeen years weighed down by family responsibilities, and now all he wanted was to enjoy the carefree bachelor life. He didn’t want to be tied to sweet, beautiful, deliciously innocent Emily…did he?

Good luck to the finalists!  It’s easy to see why these books were nominated just by reading the back blurbs. 

What about you?  Have you read any of these novels?  If not, which ones would you buy based on the back copy?   I’m giving away three novels to three commenters – your choice, first come, first serve.    So share your thoughts for a chance to win:  Duty, Desire, and the Desert King by Jane Porter,  One-Night Mistress…Convenient Wife by Anne McAllister, or The Christmas Love-Child by Jennie Lucas.

When I was a kid, we spent the summer weekends at the lake. Many times those were long weekends which made the fun last longer. We swam, we boated and generally lazed around for a few days eating most of our food over an open fire.                 

I wouldn’t trade those memories for anything, though I’d always wished my family was the type who took the long vacation far from home. I can only remember us doing that a few times, and it was pretty clear my dad wasn’t the type who enjoyed driving endlessly.  We weren’t the Art Griswold family vacationers, but it was dangerously close to it!   

I was in my twenties before I ever visited Disneyland in LA, or saw Mt. Rushmore, or spent a vacation at a posh resort. Sorry, I don’t count the little cabin tucked in the woods by the lake that was little better than shelter from the sun and rain. 

On my first trip to California, I soaked up every detail with glee, something I’m sure I wouldn’t have done when I was much younger.  I fell in love with the beach, with the soothing sounds of waves lapping on sand and rocks.  It was a whole new world to this Midwest girl!  It’s still a  favorite place to unwind. 

I think Webster’s Dictionary defines vacation perfectly, (especially 2 a & b.) 1: a respite or time of respite from something 2 a: a scheduled period during which activity is suspended b: a period of exemption from work granted to an employee for rest and relaxation 3: a period spent away from home or an act or instance of vacating.

Yeah, rest and relaxation.  Now that’s a vacation!

What about you? Did you have favored vacation spots with your family? What’s your rest and relaxation ideal getaway?

Today is the last day to enter the giveaway at Jaunty Quills.   All you have to do is comment for a chance to win a Sony e-reader!

Well, as anyone whose been reading my posts lately can tell you, I’m waist-deep in nostalgia so far this year — I have been going to concerts presented by some of my favorite oldies (RAIN-Beatle tribute group, James Taylor, Carole King, Pat Benatar -this weekend, SIR PAUL MACCA in August!!!) and spending time with my favorite 80s-heartthrob Rick Springfield…

(forget those rumors that people around here were spreading about my disappearance with him and I don’t care if this photo makes it look like I was hiding out, I was home writing a book on deadline like a good writer should!)

Overall I just feel as though I’m constantly looking to the past.

Tomorrow is the king of all nostalgia days for me — my baby (aka almost-19-year-old child #3) graduates from high school!!

I can’t imagine how this happened though I think I figured it out – by the grace of God! LOL – I mean the graduation part of course.  But this kind of caught me off-guard. Because of the length of time between having my boys (5-5&1/2 years between each of them) I have had ‘school-age’ kids for half my adult life. . . or maybe more? I even remember having one in elementary school, one in high school and one in college at the same time once.  I’ve been the room parent, the fashion-show working, cake baking, car-washing, spaghetti-cooking, raffle ticket-selling, chaperoning, gift-wrapping, soccer/t-ball/baseball mom for so long I’m not sure I know how not to be…all those things!

So, this is not really empty-nest syndrome since he’ll still be living here at home while attending a local college, but it is a line of demarcation of a sort. Another of his steps towards adulthood and independence (pray God!)….the end of an era….

Any of you out there facing the same thing? Any strategies to suggest to me to make it easier? Post a note either commiserating with me or suggesting ways to celebrate and I’ll choose a winner to receive a book and a small giftie. (And yes, I know I am really, really behind in sending out blog prizes but I haven’t forgotten! I have a list and I’m checking it twice…oh, wrong day!)

Thanks in advance for all your suggestions. I’m going to read them tomorrow to keep from crying during the graduation so go for humor….LOL!

Terri is now awaiting the release of book 2 in her Knights of Brittany series from Harlequin Historicals — The Mercenary’s Bride is a July release and will be out this coming week! Stop by her website for more info on her current and upcoming books, her events and signings and other info… www.terribrisbin.com She’ll be posting a complete list of contest and blog winners there in early July, so if you’ve commented or entered, stop in to see if you’ve won! Otherwise, she is gathering together her prodigious TBR pile and getting ready for a few weeks without a writing assignment! Woohoo!

Gosh, do you ever feel like no matter what you do, you’re a day late and a dollar short? Pardon the cliche but I do! Like Punxsutawney Phil, the famous Pennsylvania groundhog, I am raising my head out of my den and looking around a bit.  And yes, I am more than a month later than that fateful day each year in February.

I faced a couple of deadlines, four trips out of town, work, family commitments, allergy attacks and all sorts of other diversions and activities and now just realized that Spring is only days away — but I’m not done everything I need to do this winter!  As those of you who follow me on this and a couple of other blogs, I am waaaaay behind on naming prizewinners from blogs in January and February…and March.  And everytime I think I have some time to spend to get caught up on things, I’m wrong and discover too many other things that needed doing.

Yes, caught like a mouse on a wheel that just keeps spinning around and not going anywhere…or at least not far!  And, making me even more nervous is that the Spring is my ‘busy’ time of year!

So, facing many undone tasks, what am I going to do? Heck — I’m taking a couple of good books and going fishing!  Well, not literally, just figuratively!  I have a meeting this weekend in Orlando….(stay with me….) and it happens to be across the street from one of my favorite places on earth — Walt Disney World! So, I’m dropping out for a couple of days ahead of the meeting, joining thousands of high school and college students and taking a Spring break.  I plan on strolling through Epcot, listening to the musical acts (including special Flower Power concerts) , enjoying the scenery (including the flower show) and maybe riding a few rides…or not.

So, I hope you’ll all pardon me while I head off for a few days….I really need it! Carry on without me….until next week…read amongst yourselves…enjoy the Spring weather…look for robins and budding flowers. I promise I’ll be back….

Terri

Terri will be back shortly to celebrate the upcoming release of her Spring novellas – “A Night for Her Pleasure” in PLEASURABLY UNDONE from HH and “A Storm of Love” in UNDONE from Brava. Oh, and she needs to write the next Harlequin Historical ‘Knights of Brittany’ story, too!  No wonder she’s gone fishing!  For more info, please visit her website at : www.terribrisbin.com

PS –