Dear Reader,

flowerpots_150It’s taken a while, but spring has finally sprung in Colorado. I have a couple of pots of flowers on my porch and have added some flowers around the light pole out front. I was all ready to plan some more flowers over the weekend, but I’ll be keeping a better lookout for snakes. Yes, snakes!

snake_100I drove into the garage after my doubles tennis match yesterday (I won!), then came around the car to remove my racquet and bag–and stopped short. A big, fat, sandy-colored snake was coiled not two feet from me. I knew it wasn’t a rattler, because we were so close it would have been rattling, nor did it have a diamond-shaped head. I solved the problem by closing the garage door and shutting it out. The snake was gone by the time I ran around to look from the front door, but I now I know . . . they’re out there!

I spoke at the Superstars Writing Seminar in Colorado Springs a couple of weeks ago, which meant I had to stay in a hotel. Naturally, I lost one of my diamond drop earrings down the sink! I immediately called for the hotel plumber. This is the stuff of romance novels. A plumber arriving late at night to rescue my diamond earring from the drain. And then the plumber arrived–a very capable gray-haired lady, who took apart the drain and retrieved my earring! Still laughing at that one.

I tried something last weekend I’ve wanted to do all my life–sweep rowing. This is the kind of rowing in a very long (20-30 foot) shell with 12-foot oars, eight rowers and a coxswain (pronounced cox-n). There’s only one place to put a single foot getting in, you’re sitting in a tiny wooden movable seat, and the shells are so narrow just getting in and out was a challenge, let alone rowing in sync with seven other people. I had a great time and have one more adventure I can cross off my bucket list.

Cowboy_120_2013Coming Soon

Just one book to mention here. THE COWBOY will be in stores in July with a new cover. It’s the first book in the Bitter Creek Series. Read more here.

I’ve finished MONTANA BRIDE, which is scheduled for publication January 7, 2014, and I’m hard at work on my next project, which is a series of contemporary Bitter Creek novels. More about that next month.

Hope you’re enjoying summer activities with family and friends.

Take care,