Summer has flown by. Two more weeks and we’ll be into September. Sometimes summer goes by so quickly I almost miss it so I thought I would list my summer specials.

1. Visitors.

I’ve had friends, relatives, kids and grandkids visit. It’s been busy but fun. Here is one of the grandkids who came for a few days.

2. Family dinner.

While kids were here from Colorado, several others gathered to enjoy a family dinner. About 20 of us visited and enjoyed each other.

3. The garden is in full swing.

Yes, that’s the peas that I had to weed in an earlier post. And no it’s  not your eyes. It’s the picture that is blurry. Sorry.

4. I went to a family reunion and saw relatives I haven’t seen in years. This is the lovely spot where we gathered.

5. I enjoy my flowers.

6. I finished the draft of a book.

This is my office when I finished. Lots of papers scattered around. I need things at hand when I’m working.

7. I have 2 books coming out this month. See home pages to see what they are.

8. I won first place with Darcy’s Inheritance in the Beacon Contest. http://www.firstcoastromancewriters.com/contest_pub.htm I am now an award-winning author.

I trust each of you is enjoying your summer to the max as well.

I love combining outings with research. My sister is visiting so we did just that the other day. First, we had lunch at a place called The Fireside Place.

It was built as a hotel in the early part of the 1900s. The owners gutted it down to the brick walls. Each room has a fireplace. It’s a picturesque place.

Then we visited the local museum and enjoyed a guided tour. So much information. Let me share just a tiny bit.

Dominion Dolls were made in Canada starting in 1911. The founder thought each doll should be unique like each child is. The earlier dolls had simple stuffed doll bodies. Later models had crude hands.

And then there is this old doll that the curator found in someone’s barn. It was in dreadful shape but her mother lovingly restrung the limbs and washed the little dress (original) until it is glistening white.

We ended the day at a little shop out in the country. We had coffee and dessert in their dining room which features two stories of windows looking out over the rolling landscape toward the mountains with flocks of sheep grazing close by.

BTW Barbara Phinney is the winner of Tricia Goyer’sss book. Congratulations and enjoy.

A few weeks ago I promised you a glimpse at other writers’ lives. Here is my next interview. I hope you enjoy hearing from Margaret Daley as much as I did.

Introduce yourself where you  live, what you write, your family.

I am Margaret Daley and I live in Oklahoma. I write for Love Inspired and Love Inspired Suspense. I have a wonderful husband of thirty-seven years and one son. I am the proud grandmother of three little girls who if I must say are adorable. When I’m not writing, I teach or tutor. I recently retired from teaching special education for twenty-seven years, but I’m going back in the classwork for the last two months of school year as a substitute in an elementary special ed class.
What brought you to writing?

I didn’t really write much other than what was required in school as a child. But I have always been a storyteller. I would make up elaborate stories when I played with my dolls or paper dolls (Boy, does that date me!).  One day I decided to see if I could put one of those stories down on paper. I haven’t stopped writing since then.
I’d forgotten about paper dolls. I had drawers full of them and created lovely tales for them.

Describe your writing area. Is there something special that seems to encourage you to write? Perhaps a memento that has special meaning, something that triggers your muse. Is there something people would be surprised to see?

I have an office in my house with lots of bookcases and a couch as well as my desk and chair. Two things are different about my office. The walls are hot pink and my husband years ago started framing all my books and they surround me on the walls while I write. When I begin to doubt myself and my writing, I can look at them and see that I have been able to do it over a career of twenty-eight years. And the hot pink walls are  invigorating. I didn’t think I would keep them long, but I’ve had them for years now. Also I’ve decorated my office with lots of flamingoes. They go well with my hot pink walls.
LOL. Dancing flamingos?? Sound like a title for a book.What is the wall paper on your  desktop? Why?

My three grandchildren–every morning I get to see them before I start to write. What a joy and a way to start my day!

I agree. My grandchildren are the best.

 Do you have little routines you  follow in your writing time? Special music, special tea or coffee, certain cup  or pen or color of paper you prefer?

I love French Vanilla General Mills International Coffee (not what I call real coffee) and have several cups in the morning. I also love to check my emails then play a couple of mind games to get myself in thinking mode.

I’ve recently discovered several new flavors of GM International Coffees that I enjoy too-my special treat to get me back to work for an hour or two in the afternoon.

Do you have a favorite dead  author? Favorite research or reference book that is always at your  fingertips?

My The Synonym Finder by J.I. Rodale is the best thesaurus I’ve found and believe me I’ve got several. I’ve also got various research books that help me when I’m planning a murder (for anyone reading this, the murder only takes place on the written page).
 Okay, let’s be brutally honest.  What is your biggest distraction, perhaps self-made, during your writing  time?

Promotion “stuff”, emails and playing games instead of working-most of the time it is because I’m stumped and just need time to come up with something that works. Writing doesn’t always happen on demand.
What is your favorite thing about  being a writer?

Creating stories–brainstorm a plot
 

Your least favorite?

The line edits–not the editing of the overall story but the one where you check your word usage and other picky items.
 

Is there something you secretly  would like to change about your writing live? 

I love my office. I could use more storage area for my books but other than that there’s nothing I would change.
 

Thanks for sharing, Margaret. I’ve really enjoyed getting a glimpse of you at work

You can find Margaret at the links below. She is giving away a free copy of the book pictured to one person who comments on this blog. Too bad I have to disqualify myself.

 
http://www.margaretdaley.com/
http://margaretdaley.blogspot.com/

 The winners of the books given away by Ruth Axtell Morren are Dubby Giusti and Renee Ryan. Congratulations.

I’m behind with my blog, announcements re contest winners and–okay, I’m behind in just about everything. My excuse–and I’m sticking to it– is I’ve been sick with a cold all week.

First, the winner of my contest is Anne. Congratulations. The book is in the mail. ( As soon as I get it packaged up.)

Secondly, check out the post below this one–an interview with Ruth. It’s a great interview and if you post a comment your name will be entered to win one of her books.

Next item of business–check out this link for a fun spot-the-differences game featuring the cover of my May release. I’m thrilled they chose to use my cover. http://community.eharlequin.com/content/introducing-spot-difference

Speaking of getting on track….

I’ve been working on a story idea. By now I understand there are certain things each story must have–simple things like a hero and a heroine, a romance and some sort of conflict. I thought I had them all with this story but it just didn’t feel right to me. And I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Or at least I couldn’t seem to fix it.  But I am happy to report that yesterday bits and pieces of the cure came to me and last night, while I was trying to sleep (of course)  I think I figured it out. Now I just have to go back and fix the story which is about half written and then finish this draft. Okay it’s not exactly simple but at least I am finally on track.  

A few weeks ago I promised to introduce you to some of my fellow writers and let them share their secrets of what it’s really like to be a writer. Today I’d like to introduce you to Ruth Axtell Morren. I know you’ll enjoy learning about where she lives and the research she does. Here is a picture of her at a booksigning.

Ruth, introduce yourself-where you live, what you write, your family. 

I write inspirational historical romances. Presently, my husband and two of our children live in the Netherlands, but we’ve lived on both sides of the Atlantic and will probably soon be moving back to the coast of Maine, where we have another teenager.

What brought you to writing? If you’ve always wanted to write, why? What is it about writing that pulls at you? Did you write in secret early in your writing life?

I’ve probably wanted to write since I was about 11 or 12 and began to live in the world of books. I began writing my own teen romances back then, in secret, of course.

I think it’s the story that pulls me to write. I’ll get an idea about two characters and just begin weaving more and more details about it. Even with books that others write, I’ll continue imagining what happens after “The End” for a few days after reading it.

Describe your writing area. Is there something special that seems to encourage you to write? Perhaps a memento that has special meaning, something that triggers your muse. Is there something people would be surprised to see?

 In our house in Maine, my husband and I shared an office overlooking a large front yard and evergreen forest beyond. Now, in Holland, I have a cramped corner of the bedroom. I’ve put up some maps of Europe and England, since many of my stories take place in England and made the space my own, with a bookshelf near at hand.

What is the wall paper on your desktop? Why?

A view of Mt. Katahdin in Maine, Maine’s tallest mountain and part of the Appalachian Trail. My daughter and I took a trip there the summer before last and did some hiking, though we didn’t hike all the way to the top. It was part of a research trip of mine for The Rogue’s Redemption, so it is a memory dear to my heart, both because of my daughter’s company and that of my characters.

This sounds like wonderful fun.

Do you have little routines you follow in your writing time? Special music, special tea or coffee, certain cup or pen or color of paper you prefer.

 Right now, there’s too much Internet, a habit I’ve got to cut down on soon! That’s the blessing and bane of having high-speed internet. Wait till I go back to Maine with either dial-up or hopefully, something a little better.

I do like to listen to Christian CD’s during the first draft phase. Sometimes, it will be one artist’s CD which will get me through many scenes. Lately, I haven’t done so much, maybe because deadlines have been drawing closer-so many books, heroes, heroines, the music starts all jumbling together.  I did listen to a lot of Church of England services on BBC Radio over the internet with their hymns for this last manuscript which features an Anglican curate as the hero. It was very inspiring. It drew me back to my roots in the Episcopal Church, which I haven’t been to in years.

Do you have a favorite dead author? Favorite research or reference book that is always at your fingertips?

Right now, it’s Grace Livingston Hill. Also, George MacDonald.  I just discovered Sorrell and Son, by Warwick Deeping’s 1925 moving novel about a father and son in post World War I England. Loved it!

Okay, let’s be brutally honest. What is your biggest distraction, perhaps self-made, during your writing time?

 As I said above, the Internet! Checking emails, etc. In defense of this, writing is such a lonely occupation that the Internet is our way to connect to other writers and the publishing world as a whole.

What is your favorite thing about being a writer? It could be flexibility, informal dress requirements, creating stories-anything that comes to mind.

The thrill of hearing from a reader who got as involved in your characters as you did while you were writing about them.

Your least favorite?

Slogging through those scenes where the ideas and words don’t want to come.

Is there something you secretly would like to change about your writing live? Perhaps the surroundings, the chair, anything.

Have enough money and time to travel more for my research.

Thanks for sharing. We’ve enjoyed getting a glimpse of your writing life.

You can find out more about Ruth by following these links.

http://www.ruthaxtellmorren.com/

http://ruthaxtellmorren.blogspot.com/

Below is the cover for Ruth’s book, Hearts in the Highlands, a Love Inspired Historical due out in April. Be sure and pick it up. The second cover is her February  book with Steeple Hill, The Rogue’s Redemption, that she mentioned researching with her daughter.

Ruth is giving away a free copy of each of these books to two lucky readers. In order to get your name into the draw post a comment on this blog. 

Welcome. Here I am back again with a new blog to go with my new website. Be sure and check out the web page before you leave. You’ll see the new books I have coming out.

 This month saw the release of the first books in the new Love Inspired Historical line. This is the line I will have books coming out with in May 08, Aug. 08 and Jan. 09 (for starters). I’ve been so looking forward to reading the first of these books. But guess what? No one in my town has them on the shelves yet. I am so disappointed and keep hoping they’ll show up. Better late than never, right?

Of course, I can order them on line from www.eharlequin.com but I wanted to buy them off the shelf. There is just something about picking up a book and carrying it to the cash register that isn’t equalled by getting a parcel in the mail.

I hope in this blog to share bits of my world as a writer, a mother, a friend, a wife, etc. I plan to invite other writers to share the secrets of their writing life so drop in often to see what others are doing.

Also, to anyone who leaves a comment before the end of March, I’ll enter you in a draw for my latest book. I am looking forward to seeing lots of you visit my blog and my site.