Welcome to the launch of my new and first-ever blog. It’s been a year of “firsts” for me personally and professionally. 
Per the latter, It’s A Wonderfully Sexy Life is my a) first ever contemporary, b) first ever Harlequin, c) first ever paranormal and d) first ever Christmas book.
And I’ve just finished my second paranormal for Harlequin’s Extreme Blaze line. The Haunting will hit bookstores, both brick-and-mortar as well as online, this April 2007. The book begins with my heroine, Dr. Maggie Holliday, discovering a 150-year-old diary buried behind some loose wallboard in the attic of her newly purchased historic home in the Fredericksburg, VA historic district where I’ve made my home coming on six years now.
Having just moved from an historic home that (amazingly!) resembles my heroine’s Victorian dream house, I’ve been struck by all the miscellaneous “stuff” you discover when you’re ramping up to pack. I’d always seen myself as a neat nick but the whole house purge in preparation for packing indicated otherwise. In The Haunting, Maggie finds the diary, which happens to have been penned by her previous Civil War era incarnation, Isabel Earnshaw.
What hidden treasures (or terrors) have you found when ramping up for a move? Maggie’s move from the Washington, DC area to Fredericksburg, VA went considerably more smoothly than mine did. What was your worst ever absolute nightmare move? Or, on the perkier side, what the best move you ever made and why?
Whether we get there by the short, smooth easy road or the long, prickly bramble-riddled one, it’s my personal belief that we’re all always exactly where we’re meant to be.
Here’s wishing you a safe, joyous kick-off to the winter holidays…
Hope
Welcome to blogosphere, Hope! Looking forward to your upcoming posts. 🙂
Happy Holidays!
Thanks so much for stopping by, Beth. FYI, Beth is my fellow Medallion *and* fellow Harlequin author. 🙂 Hope
cool i loved your blaze book!!!!!!!!!! it was great and especially hot and sizzling. one of the best of the year, cant wait til your next blaze
Thanks so much, Kim. I’m so pleased to hear IT’S A WONDERFULLY SEXY LIFE helped put you in the Christmas spirit. 😉 I set the book in my birthplace of Baltimore, MD and revisiting (make, that researching) all the great restaurants, pubs, shops, you name it that Charm City has to offer was just so much fun.
My next Extreme Blaze, due out this April 2007, is THE HAUNTING. Set in the Fredericksburg VA Historic District where I’ve made my home coming on six years, it continues the paranormal thread I started in WONDERFULLY only instead of traveling back a week in time, my sexy hero turned ghost, Capt. Ethan O’Malley, must “cross over” after 145 years of “living” in limbo to reunite with the present day incarnation of his Civil War era sweetheart. As you may imagine, after spending 145 years apart, theirs is quite a reunion. 😉
We’ll be posting the cover and a sneak peak excerpt of THE HAUNTING as we get closer to the release date. In the interim, I hope you’ll check back to see other coming attractions as well as my monthly changing blog musings — always in the form of a question to readers.
Happy Holidays,
Hope
Hi, Hope! It is wonderful to see you here. Your site is fabulous.
I remember when I was VERY young, like 4 years old, I put my “night-night” (security blanket) in a very safe place, thus traumatically losing it, until we moved and found it stuck behind some books in a bookcase.
Maybe that began my love of books!!
Cheers,
Diane
A Twelfth Night Tale by Diane Gaston in Mistletoe Kisses Nov 2006
My worst ever move? Hmmm. The last one, at 7+ months pregnant. Since I couldn’t carry anything (doctor’s orders), and since I was only moving across town, I moved in a gazillion shopping bags with handles, no bag weighing more than a few pounds. My new neighbors must have thought I reaaaaalllllllyyy loved Trader Joe’s because I was unloading just so many bags, day after day, waddling from my car to my door.
And then, once moved, I had to set up the office, and once that was done we had to get the nursery ready and then there was this baby… Needless to say, said baby is nearly a year old and I am just getting to hanging stuff on the walls.
It’s hard to change homes. It’s hard to redesign websites… But the end result is so cathartic.
I just don’t recommend ever doing it in the third trimester, ah-hem.
Emily
that is great Hope, can’t wait
Thanks, Diane and Emily, for sharing your “worst ever” moving stories. As some of you may know, I recently sold my Victorian-style house — which just happens to look a heck of a lot like my heroine, Maggie’s house, in THE HAUNTING (coming this April). Parting with the house was tough but culling through my belongings was kind of cathartic. I also ran across, not a diary like Maggie, but a Christmas card from the 1920’s. I actually found it behind some shelving in the attic — hence the seeds of inspiration for Maggie finding a 145-year-old diary behind some loose attic wallboards. Of course, finding a diary is a lot juicier than a holiday greeting, tho I cherish the latter all the same. When I left the house, the greeting card went with me, sort a nice segue into a new phase of life.