Okay, this blog post is going to break the rules. I’ve got three topics here and am giving each one it’s own spotlight. So let’s go!

I know a lot of folks, most of us, look at January 1 as the beginning of the new year and the perfect opportunity to make a fresh start. We have resolutions, new diets, we throw things out of the closet we don’t need or no longer want to indulge in, all of which makes sense. The beginning of a brand new year and getting started on the right foot is soothing and invigorating–and critical to the human condition. We aspire to change even if we don’t always succeed. But as much as I love the first day of a new year, I am a huge fan of September.

It is my favorite month (but the other 11 are  high up there on my list of good, too:), but September is the beginning of my ‘new year’. Of course, it stems from years of going back to school and raising a child and the excitement of a new school year. But I love the  gradual change in season. The visual stimuli of color and cooler breezes and the anticipation of change. It relaxes me and the pressure is off. I’m not competing with the rest of the world’s new year’s resolutions. It’s all about September to me:)!

So what do I have in mind for this fall?

The past nine months, I’ve been thinking, breathing, doing nothing but writing books, working on getting an agent, working on getting published, writing more books–you get the picture. The most important thing I’ve learned so far in my new full-time writing world (or almost full time:) is that writing requires physical energy. A back that doesn’t hurt, lungs that don’t split in half when you have a deep belly laugh (that’s a shout out to a friend who needs to take better care of herself), and having the patience and confidence to do what you know you can do. In other words, taking better care of me has moved up on the list of things that MUST get done. All of us know how easy it is to forget about ‘us’. Women forget routinely, men do too. So I declare September as the month for you to redo, re-commit, re-challenge yourself to do more for yourself! I know I am.

Guess what I learned this weekend at the Writers’ Police Academy?

I write romance. I love a good mystery, suspense or thriller, but I need the love:)! There was so much fantastic information at WPA14, I couldn’t begin to share half of it, which means if you write romantic suspense and give a damn about authenticity in your stories, you MUST sign up and support WPA. But I’m a romance writer. And there are only so many facts I will have on a page.  But later this week, I will be blogging at my website about WPA14 – so stay tuned.

Outlander on Starz…

There is no logical reason for me to write about Jamie Fraser here – except why the hell not? Obsession is a wicked, wicked, beast. But Jamie is a sexy beast of a man (on the page and on the screen)…that’s all folks!