Captain's Log, Stardate 11.16.2009 And now, here’s me and Cara! Cornhusker Dreams is a compilation of your three Nebraska WW2 historical romances (three for the price of one!). For each of the three books, tell us what you liked best about writing each story. Great question! Canteen Dreams was very special because it is based in part on my maternal grandparents story. My grandmother would tell you I borrow their names, but there is more to it than that -- I wanted to honor my grandparents and their generation. I am humbled and amazed by their sacrifices. I also thought the North Platte Canteen was an amazing story that reinforced how special that generation and that time was. It also gave me the opportunity to pay tribute to the role my hometown played in the war. Sandhill Dreams shifts focus to the northwest corner of Nebraska and the tiny Fort Robinson. While it has played many roles during the years, its job in World War Two was to train war dogs and pack mules. I f...

I just came back from ACFW conference where I chatted (briefly) with Susan May Warren. She is just the nicest person ever! I didn't get a chance to read the book below yet, but her novel Finding Stephanie was a finalist in the Long Contemporary Romance category of the Book of the Year Contest (seems like Susie does nothing but final in all these contests!!!). Camy From Susan May Warren: Shoot...football season is over. I'm so sad....as we all know, I love Football... So much so that I wrote a FOOTBALL STORY! Okay it's not JUST about football. It's about Christmas. And small town life. And church Christmas Teas. And family....and traditions. And the crazy things we do for each other. Basically my favorite things about the season! Yes. I LOVE Christmas stories - and every year I read aloud to my kids (okay, my college kid MIGHT be too old), the Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever . And recently Dave Barry's, The Shephard, the Angel and Walter the Christmas Miracle D...

Captain's Log, Stardate 11.14.2009 I’m at Girls, God, and the Good Life talking about inexpensive Christmas gifts. Check out my ideas and leave any of your own!

Daddy's Rules for Dating …10 simple rules for dating my daughter Rule #1 If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a package, because you're sure not picking anything up. Rule #2 Do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will remove them. Rule #3 I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don't take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise. You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will tak...

Captain's Log, Stardate 11.12.2009 Aside from the fact she’s an excellent category coordinator for me for the ACFW Genesis contest, Erica is one of the nicest people I know! And today I get to feature an excerpt of her debut novel! The Bartered Bride by Erica Vetsch Duluth, Minnesota in 1905 boasts more millionaires than any other U.S. city. Tycoon Abraham Kennebrae intends to marry his grandsons off to three of the wealthiest heiresses in town and allow Kennebrae Shipping to gain control of Duluth Harbor. Tempests rage, in the board room, the ball room, and on treacherous Lake Superior. Will hearts and helms survive? Will God prove Himself sovereign over wind, waves, and weddings? Jonathan Kennebrae, oldest of the three Kennebrae brothers, finds himself backed into a corner. Marry heiress Melissa Brooke or lose his own considerable inheritance. Can he find a legitimate reason to avoid the wedding and still keep his fortune? But as the wedding day approaches, does he wa...

Captain's Log, Stardate 11.11.2009 I discovered pate sometime after college. I never ate much (if any) French food growing up, and never even heard of pate except that I read about it in a novel. I think it was one by Betty Neels. Anyway, I saw some at the store. You might know what I’m talking about—a nice slice of a pate loaf, all pinky with speckles, in shrink wrap, in the deli section along with all the fresh cheese assortments. My first taste was absolute heaven. OMG that stuff is like crack. I don’t know why I like it so much. I mean, it kind of looks like SPAM all ground up and then mashed together. But then again, I’ve always loved liver, and pate is mostly liver. Oh, and fat. And I’ve always loved fat, too. :) So anyway, I’ve been feeling sick, and I usually resort to comfort food when I’m not feeling well. So while I had abstained from eating pate (I think I haven’t had any in over a year), I bought some and some French bread a few days ago. Yummy! The best is when I toas...

Fit to Be Tied by Robin Lee Hatcher Who says a woman can’t do a man’s job? Cleo Arlington dresses like a cowboy, is fearless and fun-loving, and can ride, rope, and wrangle a horse as well as any man. In 1916, however, those talents aren’t what most young women aspire to. But Cleo isn’t most women. Twenty-nine years old and single, Cleo loves life on her father’s Idaho ranch. Still, she hopes someday to marry and have children. Enter Sherwood Statham, an English aristocrat whose father has sentenced him to a year of work in America to “straighten him out.” Sherwood, who expected a desk job at a posh spa, isn’t happy to be stuck on an Idaho ranch. And he has no idea how to handle Cleo, who’s been challenged with transforming this uptight playboy into a down-home cowboy. Just about everything either of them says or does leaves the other, well, fit to be tied. And though Cleo believes God’s plan for her includes a husband, it couldn’t possibly be Sherwood Statham. Could it? Excerpt of cha...