What do you do when you've got a booksigning at Borders and you're knees are knocking? You recruit your mentor and all around fabulous person to sign with you! This past weekend my darling mentor Penny Warner, author of more than 40 books herself, the latest of which is The Nancy Drew Handbook, did a book signing event with me at Borders. It was a fantastic day and we both sold out our book supply. It was so wonderful to see our friends, family and interested book lovers there to welcome us. The Borders people were faboo to work with. Imagine my surprise the next morning when I went to Safeway and saw my book on the shelf, right across from the cottage cheese! I was so excited I had to drag a poor, unsuspecting clerk over to look at it with me. Boy. Borders, best friends and a book in the dairy aisle. It was a big weekend for this little writer, I'll tell you.

Take a look at this beauty, made for my humble garden by my dear father in law. Imagine all the time, patience and craftsmanship that it took to make such a lovely thing.



Windmills are like writers, really. Endlessly spinning in different directions, taken hither and yon by inspiration, and a deep yearning to move someone else. The effort can be beautiful, frenetic, and just plain futile sometimes, but you can’t really choose not to, any more than a windmill can decide not to turn. It just does, because that’s what it was made to do. What wind moves you, friends? Tell me.

Well I'm just tickled. I feel so fortunate that Harlequin really listens to the author's thoughts when designing covers. The Killer Cargo book that comes out this month has a great cover that captures the mood of the story. They say covers really sell the book. So what do you like in a cover? Photos? Simple drawings? Elaborate pictures with clues about the book? Do tell.