Because I couldn’t have imagined a year ago I’d have fans. Or that I’d publish two books in the space of a year, with the thirddebuting July 6th. Or that I’d final three times in the 2016 HOLT Medallion Awards.
I’ve met amazing readers. I’ve met amazing writers. I’ve made lots of mistakes. I’ve learned lots more.
And I’m so very grateful for all of it.
Have you signed up for my newsletter yet? I sent one out this morning with TONS of giveaways as a Book Birthday present to you! You can check the newsletter out here: http://eepurl.com/b3gE8L
** Please note if you email me to enter a giveaway (or two or three or seven), I take that as consent for you to be added to my newsletter list. But don’t worry – I only email when I have actual news (such as a new release or a sale), and I try to include a giveaway every time!
MUCH LOVE to all of you. I wouldn’t be here without you. THANK YOU.
A Man of Character can be yours for less than $1, but only for A Matter of Time…Don’t miss out on your chance to fall in love with the magic this Valentine’s Day!
A Man of Character: http://bit.ly/AManOfCharacter – Check out this whimsically magical romantic comedy, in which a bookstore owner must choose between fantasy and reality after discovering the men she’s dating are living versions of fictional characters she created long ago.
A Matter of Time: http://bit.ly/AMatterOfTime – A fun, emotion-packed Regency time-travel romance in which a modern-day Austenite’s dream comes true when she lands in the arms of an authentic Regency duke, only to learn some fantasies aren’t all they’re cracked up to be when he proves less than a Prince Charming…
“A love story and so much more, A Matter of Timeshould be on every fantasy, paranormal, contemporary and Regency romance readers “to read” list. I would definitely recommend this novel – you will be charmed, captivated, have a few good laughs and shed a few tears as you cheer Eliza and Dev on to find their happy every after ending.” – Marcy, Keeper Bookshelf
I admit it. I’m a total Crazy Cat Lady in the making. We have two, a darling, über-friendly tuxedo named Scilla, and a gorgeous but true scaredy-cat Maine Coon mix, Presley. I’d have more, but it’s either get more cats or keep the husband, and I’m rather fond of the husband. So, our tally remains at two.
Presley, Elvis’s inspiration.
However, I decided one way early on to indulge in my love for animals would be to include them in each of my novels, just for fun. They don’t and won’t necessarily play a main part or be central to any plot, but I feel most humans benefit from having a furry creature around, and how people interact with animals sheds a lot of light on a person’s character, don’t you think?
Einstein. I still miss him.
In A Man of Character, I mention two cats. One, Elvis, is the Maine Coon-esque cat that Cat and Eliza own. He is unashamedly patterned (and named) after my own Presley. And I figured since I had one of my cats thrown in there, might as well throw in another: Einstein, my first cat from when I was younger, also a Maine Coon mix. If you’ve read A Man of Character, you’ll notice I didn’t even change the name! William Dawes mentions his childhood cat, Einstein, and yes, they are one in the same.
English Foxhound Puppy, from Aboutdogenglishfoxhound.com
When it came to A Matter of Time, it seemed only natural to move from cats to dogs, not only because household cats were somewhat rarer in that time (though I’ve seen portraits of cats, so clearly people did keep them as house pets), but because a Duke’s estate was bound to have hunting dogs, and likely lots of them. So what better to include in a story than English foxhound puppies, especially an adorable one-eyed pup named Pirate?
In my current work-in-progress, A Scandalous Matter, I’ve given our hero a cat named Ada, after Ada Lovelace, the daughter of Lord Byron and one of the pioneers of computer science. Because there’s something about a man who loves a cat…
The then-boyfriend, now husband with Chazzy.
Speaking of which, for all my husband claims not to be a cat person, when we were dating and he first visited my apartment, my cat at the time, a little muted calico, Chazzy, promptly came out and sat right next to him and purred. This was a cat who didn’t come out for anybody. I decided then and there that was a vote of confidence in my boyfriend’s favor, so I married him. Okay, yeah, there were a few other elements involved, but I do love to tell that (true) story.
How about you? Do you like seeing pets or other animals included in romances? Or could you do without?
The ever-charming Eloisa James and I.The fabulous Sabrina Jeffries!With Pamela Morsi!With gracious & knowledge-generous Valerie Bowman.With the exuberantly charming Cathy Maxwell.Sue London getting silly at the West Virginia Book Festival.
met a ton of new people, and, even more amazingly, new fans! I, little ol’ Margaret, now have fans. What, what? But, yes, I do, like the oh-so-fabulous Annie, who even had lunch with me when she was in town.
Annie is a riot, y’all, and we had so much fun at our far-too-brief lunch in October!Long-time friends supported me, too, including my grade-school friend Heather, whose animals apparently also want to read A Matter of Time!Some fans read my books out loud to their babies!… While others forced their kids to do things like this!
solidified relationships and friendships within my Shenandoah Valley Writers critique group and more, and basically surrounded myself with writer friends the whole year through.
Maggie and Rebekah helped me celebrate debut day!And these fine characters cheered me on, critiqued my work, picked me up when I felt down, and celebrated my successes!
had the loving support of my family, including my very own computer-science-professor-in-shining-armor husband, who read BOTH of my books, just to support me (and help me find typos). He’s that awesome of a guy.
Thank you to the friends and family who’ve supported me, and the new readers who’ve picked up one of my books this year.
Thank you to the book bloggers and reviewers who graciously gave their time to review my books.
Thank you to Tessa Shapcott, my editor, for her invaluable guidance, and to Joy Lankshear, my cover designer and formatter, for making my books look better than I ever imagined they could.
Thank you to the fellow writers I’ve met on Facebook and Twitter, whose companionship brightens my day every day, and whose wisdom is lighting this crazy, twisting and turning path I’m on.
Thank you to the people who’ve liked my books enough to join my street team, Locke’s Flock, or to review them on Amazon or GoodReads, or even just to tell someone else about my books and/or me. All of those seemingly little things make a HUGE difference.
Simply put, I wouldn’t be here without you, and I wanted to express my gratitude as 2015 closes out and 2016 gets ready to begin.
A Man of Character: 
A Matter of Time: 
Thank you to everyone who took a chance on