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Arizona

More Honeysuckle and Sagebrush

One thing I’ve found to be a certainty, is that things always change. The honeysuckle of my youth has become the sagebrush of my now… but in my mind, they both have a special place. I look at them a bit metaphorically, the sweet smell of the honeysuckle has become the useful wisdom of the sagebrush.

In quiet moments of pondering and staring off into the distance, memories of growing up in the “South” invade my mind. I remember my grandmother teaching me how to make biscuits, and teaching me to never devalue myself. She would tell me, “You’re just as good as anyone else, not better than them, but just as good.” We’ve all had someone in our lives who’s built us up and encouraged us. You know that voice that stays with us, the voice we hear repeating what was said, long after it’s said…

I’m drawn to that sage wisdom that sticks with you, and have found it in different places and people throughout my life. This is something I try to infuse into my characters as I write. Everything from “Don’t sit on your spurs,” to, “Don’t let a bad situation define who you are,” are included. With loads of humor of course!

We all have a journey to take, mine has been full of challenges that have helped me to become the person I am now. There have always been ways for me to find happiness on this journey, even if it was to stop and smell the honeysuckle or ponder the uses of sagebrush.

Honeysuckle and Sagebrush

Growing up in Georgia was full of lush green trees, honeysuckle and kudzu everywhere, and full of warm humid days and nights. Living in Arizona has some stark contrasts to my place of origin. Not many trees, there is a bit of honeysuckle growing in the back garden, (it has to be watered a lot), there is heat out here too, but, it’s not the humid sticky heat I grew up with. I’ve often pondered the commonalities and the differences between here and there when I’m writing my books. There are quite a few of both.

The south I grew up in was full of life, manners, and vivid culture. I try to infuse that into my southern ladies as they come to life in my stories. The ladies are spunky, feisty, and usually well mannered, most of the time. They do show the southern temper flare on occasion, but always seem to rein it in before things get too far out of control… well, except for Hannah, sometimes she seriously wants to punch someone.

When a southern lady meets a cowboy gentleman many odd things can happen…. And in my stories the odd things do happen. If that were the only differences between the girls and the boys it would still present loads of fun and lots of stories… but, that’s not the only difference. The girls grew up on a totally monogamous lifestyle and move to Arizona to meet the cowboy gentlemen and live in a polygamous lifestyle. This provides so much more opportunity for humor, culture shock, and exploration.

As I have asked before… have you ever wondered what polygamy would be like without the villains or media hype? In my books I explore what it’s like when normal people are simply living their lives in a normal way, polygamously.

New Parish

I’ve finished my newest book! The name of my latest adventure is “New Parish”!

Now I’mCanyon 2 waiting on a smart, energetic, and resourceful agent to take on the challenge and walk through the rest of this adventure with me. So while I’m waiting, I’m of course, writing…

The “New Parish” story goes like this: Sarah, (main character) has had one too many bad dates, she has dreams of being a mom but she’s had all she can take with dating losers and jerks.

Sarah meets a new friend, Mary, at a children’s center where she volunteers, this new friend comes from a community where they use a very unique dating and marriage system. Sarah’s intrigued with Mary’s lifestyle and begins an extensive investigation trying to decide if this is a viable option for her.

Sarah gets the low down on how they live when she visits New Parish and asks some of the women there to tell her about the process “warts and all”.

Sarah meets two men in New Parish, one is very handsome, well mannered, well dressed and almost perfect. The other is a rough edged cowboy who completely blows her away at first sight, she never seems to be able to stay up right when he’s around. Sarah had never been a clumsy person until she met him, this annoys her to the enth degree!

This is not a mushy romance… it’s a romantic comedy adventure and I can’t wait till everyone gets to read it!