writing, reading, and browsing

• I'm going to do it. At least I'm going to try. After starting and never finishing a multitude of stories, I'm going to write a novel. Next month. It will probably be terrible, but that's OK. I've signed up for National Novel Writing Month, affectionately known as "NaNoWriMo." My sisters and I have talked about doing this for a while, and last year I even joined a writing group organized by my friend Jen's brother ... and I got all of 1600 words down before I quit. That won't happen this year--I'm determined to finish!
• I just read Lonestar Sanctuary in an evening. It's the prequel to Lonestar Secrets, which I reviewed for Thomas Nelson. Lonestar Sanctuary was good, but I didn't enjoy it as much as Lonestar Secrets. For one thing, I had the bad guy pegged pretty quickly, though I couldn't figure out his motive. Also, I wanted to scream, "You're married; it's OK to admit you like each other!" at the two main characters a few times (I think I had that reaction while reading Lonestar Secrets, too). Here's a brief synopsis of the story:

Everyone close to Allie is dying. A madman is targeting her, and she doesn't know why. With no one else to turn to, Allie and her daughter Betsy head for the Bluebird Ranch.

Every day, Rick deals with the guilt of knowing he was responsible for his best friend Jon's death. When Jon's widow shows up at his ranch, Rick knows he must protect her, so he offers to marry her and adopt Betsy.

Rick and Allie's marriage of convenience soon turns into something more. But will Rick be able to trust Allie with his past--and will she learn to trust him with her heart?

Maybe I should be a book jacket copy writer ... what do you think?

• Have you ever clicked the "next blog" button at the top of my blog (or any other blogger blog)? I did tonight ... and I learned that Jennafer is moving to Disneyland, Kat really likes writing poetry, and J believes the Kremlin will be responsible for a nuclear apocalypse that will be blamed on the Jews and Americans--oh, and he was crucified in a past life and may (I wasn't clear on this point) be Jesus reincarnated. Then I got stuck in some horrible loop where clicking "next blog" sent me back and forth between a Japanese blog and this blog called "Robots 4 Change." J was definitely my favorite!