A Rose By Any Other Name–Robin, Rachel, Ruth, Rita?

What’s in a name?  If you’ve ever named a child, or even a pet, you know the answer.  We don’t take this lightly, do we?  “Oh, we’ll call the new puppy Rover, that’s easy.  We’ll call the new baby Jane or Mary because they’re easy to pronounce and spell.” Rover, Jane, Mary?  All perfectly good…

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Happiness Key: Alice’s Story, Part Three

Today marks the end of both Alice’s story and all the character blogs for the women of Happiness Key.  Thanks so much to all of you who let me know you’ve looked forward to them.  Remember, if you’re tantalized by these sneak peeks, my publisher is offering a coupon good until the end of July.  Not…

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Happiness Key: Alice’s Story, Part Two

New to my blog?  We’re exploring the backgrounds of the characters in my latest novel, Happiness Key.  If you go here, you’ll find a list of all the blogs in this series, beginning with Tracy, then moving on to Janya and Wanda.  This is part two of Alice’s story, which began on Monday.  Alice is…

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Happiness Key: Alice’s Story, Part One

When Happiness Key was still just an idea, I had a fantasy about writing the novel completely in first person, using the viewpoints of all four major characters. I love first person, use it exclusively in my mystery series, and would love to use it in my other novels.  But once I started the character sketches…

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Happiness Key: Wanda’s Story, Part Three

This week we’ve been peeking into Wanda’s background.  Wanda is one of the four women of Happiness Key, and she’s a character in more ways than one.  In the end, any day I had to write a scene from Wanda’s point of view was a good day.  It still is, since she appears in Fortunate Harbor, the…

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Happiness Key: Wanda’s Story, Part Two

Welcome to the second peek at Wanda, one of the four women of Happiness Key, my latest novel from Mira Books.  Wanda was the character I thought I’d have the most trouble writing about.  Each woman in the story is very different, and I suspected Wanda might be hardest to get to know.  But that…

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Happiness Key: Wanda’s Story, Part One

Welcome to the on-going peek at the characters in my new novel Happiness Key.  If this is your first visit?  Before I began work on the book, I did a first person character study for each of my four main characters.  I’m sharing excerpts from those here, to help you become better acquainted with Tracy,…

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Happiness Key: Janya’s Story, Part Three

Not tired of contests yet?  I promised a link to the newest one at Fresh Fiction, of which Happiness Key is a part.  You can find it and me right here. And to end the week, the last part of Janya’s story.  To the delight of my parents and to my own great joy, Darshan asked…

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Happiness Key: Janya’s Story, Part Two

In an exploration of the background of the characters of Happiness Key, I’m sharing Janya’s story this week.  Remember, my publisher is offering a coupon good all month:  Here’s part two. Darshan was, on first sight, the end of all my childish dreams of a lover and husband. He was better than any dream, the…

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