1. Relax with a quick summer romance before summer is over 2. Escape to a simpler time (Not easier, just simpler!) 3. Experience (vicariously) a Colorado summer storm 4. Stir up some strawberry lemonade (recipe in my newsletter) 5. Enjoy the fragile beauty of Colorado’s blue columbines
A week from tomorrow is release day for the last book in The 12 Brides of Summer collection – and my novella “The Columbine Bride” is in it! Today I’m sharing my inspiration for Buck and Lucy’s story. The tale includes many things I enjoy about Colorado:
1. Happy ending. 2. Dreams come true. 3. Hopefulness. 4. Bright future. 5. Love wins. Okay, I admit it. All five reasons sound suspiciously alike. But I love romance and August is Romance Awareness Month. Did you even know there was such a thing? It’s also National
If you’ve been following The 12 Brides of Summer, then you’ll know half of the twelve stories have been released. Book 3 is now available for download on your e-reader with three more summer-bride novellas. Stories include: Dog Days of Summer Bride by Margaret Brownley Music teacher
Nearly everyone has heard the optimistic adage, “Bloom where you’re planted.” Though it’s become cliché, most of us give it our best shot. But what if the environment is harsh, barren, and lifeless? What if we’re all alone? What if we’re some place we really don’t want
One of my favorite movies is Michael Mann’s The Last of the Mohicans from 1992, based on the 1826 novel by James Fenimore Cooper. The story captivates me with its internal and external conflict, historical setting, and romance of course. But quintessential antagonist, Magua (played by Native
Lucy Powell is a young widow with a hard summer ahead of her in my soon-to-release novella, The Columbine Bride. How soon, you might ask? Tomorrow! That’s right. July 14, 2015, Old West Summer Brides, book 3 in Barbour’s limited print collection of The 12 Brides of
The Fourth of July always leaves me grateful for the freedoms of this country, and especially for those who fought and died to secure those freedoms. But I’m also grateful that I don’t have to live independently—totally alone, counting only upon myself for everything. Thank God for
We’ve all heard it: “Train up a child in the way he should go.” It’s more of a principle than a promise, a good one to live by. My dad taught me how to drive a tractor when I was about 10, and his instruction included the
How far can you ride a sheep? Over the weekend, I attended the Top of the World Rodeo in Cripple Creek, Colorado, to watch our bullfighter son Jake save a few lives during the bull riding. He also chased a few sheep. Back in the 1800s, cattlemen
If you could be a tree, what kind would you be? No intent to wax poetic here. The great tree poem has already been written. But I’m serious – which tree do you like best? I love pine and cedar–the way they roar with the wind and
In preparation for Memorial Day at our house this year, I planted pansies and petunias in the back yard and stretched deer netting over the columbines and roses in the front to discourage nocturnal grazers. I also bought new lawn chairs. After setting everything up, I decided
My guest today is Dianne Neal Matthews, multi-published devotional author. Dianne’s inspirational words last week on the Christian Authors Network prayer link were such a blessing I asked her to share them with you, my readers, today. You’d think that anyone who writes daily devotionals begins
#Alwaysbeforeme In honor of Mother’s Day, I’m sharing a page from my devotional book, Always Before Me. Enjoy! Shiny Shoes The man with the shiny black shoes sat down on our living room sofa and told us why the US Army was a great career choice for
Comment to enter my #giveaway! When I was a young summer bride, newly arrived in Colorado with my cowboy, our first home was in Greely—feedlot capital of the world. Locals called the beefy fragrance permeating the shady streets and college campus “the smell of money.” But it