Omigosh!  Pardon me while I hyperventilate. There will be a short intermission. . .

Okay, a little better now. You see, I’m blogging about one of my Silhouette Romances, The Trouble With Joe, which has just been re-released, and I thought I would mention when it was first published, so I just checked.

Twenty years ago. Somebody please tell me I’m doing the math wrong.

Nope. Twenty years. 1994.

Time really does fly by. The Trouble With Joe seems so much younger somehow. I remember everything about writing the novel. I was on a deadline and decided to write about something I was familiar with. So for no better reason than that, Corey Haskins, a particularly troublesome six-year-old went to live with Samantha and Joe Giovanelli.  You see I had a daughter we had adopted as a six-year-old myself, so that part was a slam dunk.

Notice I didn’t say “troublesome” again? My daughter just might read this blog, although these days SHE has a seven-year-old daughter, so she could well relate.

My original title was The Trouble With Corey, only my dear friend author Jennifer Green mistakenly called it The Trouble With Joe in a letter to me–she knew the plot. I realized how much better that was, and so the new title was born.

The Trouble With Joe went on to win what at the time was a prestigious award, The Janet Daily Award, for the romance that best portrayed and dealt with an important social issue. My book deals with infertility and older child adoption. I never saw it as a social issue novel, but the judges did. I wasn’t even there to accept the award at the national RWA conference in Honolulu. I truly never thought the book had a prayer of winning.

Sadly the award was discontinued after Janet Dailey admitted she had plaigirized Nora Roberts, so I was one of only a handful of recipients. The end of the award was just one sad part of a truly sad event for the writing community.

When my publisher said they were going to reissue it and would I mind looking over some new editing they’d done to bring it into the twenty-first century, I rolled my eyes.  But wow, I’d forgotten how much I liked it.  The editing was fabulous, just a few small changes to update it. Air bags, for instance. (We had to talk that one over.) Luckily, as I read, I found myself smiling. The book really didn’t need a lot done to it. It’s still a story I can be proud of and even more interesting, absorbed in. I was cheering for everybody as I read, and hoping it all turned out well.

And if I wasn’t sure, who would be?

As I read I found myself wondering, what ever happened to Corey? Because she turned twenty-six this year!

Breathing deeply again. She’s old enough to have her own book now.

The re-release also includes Someone Like Her, a novel by Janice Kay Johnston, one of the other authors of The Christmas Wedding Quilt, the anthology that debuted last November. Again, I’m in good company.

My Celebration Giveaway ends soon, and ten readers will win copies.  But wait, there’s also a Goodreads giveaway. So you have another chance.

If you don’t win– and you’ll know very soon–you can find The Trouble With Joe at your favorite bookstore or online at:

• Amazon
• Barnes and Noble
• Books-a-Million