Samhain Publishing

My life has been completely insane for the last few years, and with signs it may now be settling down, I’ve started thinking again about my future. So today we’re going to play the three wishes game.

If you had three wishes, what would they be? And lets just be selfish for the sake of this exercise, no world peace or saving the environment. As women we usually don’t spend enough time being selfish, so today I’m asking, what do you want for you.

Honestly my wishes have changed a lot over the years, but theres a couple that always stay the same, here they are…

My Three Wishes

1. To go to Disney (land or World, I’m not a picky woman lol) for a week, every other month. this place has always been home to me, anyone who knows me know this. I don’t live within walking distance like I did most of my life, but if I could just get away every other month, I think my soul would find a lot of peace in that

2. I want my dream garden. I think when I was younger, this was probably dream house, but now, I have a picture of a garden in my mind. It’s large and filled with flowers and ponds and fountains, tons of wild life and all my favorite flowers. It’s a place to think, pray, escape.

3. And of course, to live happily ever after with Dale. After all, every girl wants to live happily every after with their prince.

Okay, those are my wishes, leave yours in comments and have fun with it!

While you’re here, don’t forget to check out my Samhain title, One Night on a Balcony. One hot summer night and a scorching balcony interlude light the fuse of hidden attraction between neighbors Jill Reed and Cole Adams.

Samantha Lucas
www.samanthalucas.com
“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” ~ Walt Disney

I don’t know about anyone else, but my life has been a teeny bit insane of late. About a week ago, I think I clearly hit my emotional limits as I spent most of last Friday crying for really no reason at all. lol So Saturday came and Dale took me out for dinner and a movie, and man, did we both need the down time.

So here’s my question for you all, what do you do to recharge?

Here’s my top five…

1. Going out to eat!

Of course if done too often you weigh five hundred pounds and are broke, but I do love a night out at my favorite steak house.

2. Playing computer games

The Sims2 is my very favorite, as anyone who reads my blog on a regular basis can attest to. lol I’m in the middle of creating my first legacy in the Sim world, of course I’m only on my second generation and my twins Liam and Lillian have gone away to college…of course Lillian is a bit of a free spirit (with some definite hussy undertones lol) and she dropped out right away. Liam however, is planning to be a doctor…see, I get lost in that game forever! hee hee

3. My garden!

Of course no longer living in sunny southern California, I don’t have a garden year round, but even planning my garden for the following spring is great fun to me. This year of course, living in my very own first home that I bought all by myself (case anyone missed the fifty blog posts I made on that subject lol) I get to start a brand new garden from scratch and OMG am I excited!

4. Going to or planning trips to Disney World lol

Of late I’ve been planning my Disney World wedding! That’s ridiculously fun. Although one night I did get carried away with the planner and created a fourty thousand dollar wedding…but in my defense, we did have our own personal fire works display!

5. And last but certainly not last…reading!

I get lost for hours in a good book as I’m sure you can relate. The best ones I’ve read lately have been Tangled up in Love by Heidi Betts and Star Bright by Catherine Anderson, but I honestly read so much that to list all I’ve read recently would be a blog post in itself!

So that’s my list, if you want more info to any of thes fun things, I have a sister blog to this one on my site today, with links. While you’re here though, don’t forget to check out my Samhain title One Night on a Balcony and see what Jill and Cole do for fun.

Samantha Lucas
www.samanthalucas.com
2007 CAPA nominated favorite author
“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” ~ Walt Disney

In the movie Runaway Bride with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, the end always made me roll my eyes. I mean it’s a movie, just get to the happily ever after! However, recently, I’m going through my own metamorphosis in much the same way as Julia’s character does at the end and it’s given me a new perspective.

There’s nothing like a three month road trip to make you learn a whole lot about yourself. lol I have discovered that I love the sound snow makes when it crunches under my feet. I don’t like french fries near as much as I thought, but I do love breakfast foods, especially omelets. I’m far more adaptable than I’ve ever given myself credit for. I love New York state. I don’t need much, materialistically speaking, to make me really happy and I used to be far too vain for my own good! lol

In a lot of ways, I’m discovering myself for the first time, without parents or family expectations on me or even my own expectations of what a wife and mother is. I feel free and that’s a HUGE gift. Best of all though, I’m learning the difference between girlhood love and adult love.

I married my first husband at twenty two, but not just any old twenty two. I was a very shy, very sheltered, very naive twenty two. I had no idea what life was about, let alone love and marriage. I loved my ex very deeply, with all the exuberance of a girl. Loving Dale is teaching me what it means to be a woman who loves a man…ooooh there’s almost a song in that! LOL

Something about being with Dale brings out the best in me. Maybe it’s because I never want for anything and since I always know he’s there and completely dependable, I feel I can spread my wings. Maybe that sounds weird, but he makes me want to do better and try harder.

For most of my life I’ve felt like I couldn’t handle anything. I’ve forever been told to toughen up and grow a thicker skin which left me feeling emotionally fragile. Yes I’m way more sensitive than most people, but Dale never makes me feel ashamed of that and knowing it’s okay to feel what I feel, allows me to move passed it quicker and that is making me stronger.

I swear I’ve laughed more and cried less in the year and four months I’ve known Dale, than I have my whole life. I never knew life could be like this and let me tell you, there is no better way to get to know someone than to travel with them!

But what does any of this have to do with you? lol

Well, all this life reflecting has made me realize just how lucky I am to be a published author. What an amazing, humbling thing to have someone else be willing to spend their very hard earned money on something I created. That’s not a small thing to me and I want to thank everyone who’s ever bought one of my books. Though I’ve been very quiet this year, with writing anyway lol, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and planning and made a few really important decisions for my future as an author.

It’s a strange game, that of publishing, and though I know exactly what to write to make a lot of sales, there’s no point in that for me. I’ve always heard, write what you love, and that’s my intention. I’m writing now with a new integrity for my readers and the people who specifically look for a Samantha Lucas book. The stories I write, move people enough that they write me to say so and that’s always been my main desire as an author. I hope to always be able to write stories that tug on the heart strings, excite and engage the reader. While I enjoy writing a lot of different things, my heart is fully engaged in the longer stories of deep soul-mate love so expect to see more of those next year in three new series I’ll be writing for three of my publishers. More info on the characters you’ll be meeting and the towns they live in will be in future blog posts on my site.

To further thank you, this Christmas, I will be giving away a free download at samanthalucas.com. Stay tuned to my site as Christmas grows near, but it’s a sequel to one of my more popular series. I hope it will be all you’ve wanted and waited for.

Also, in the coming year, look forward to a lot more from me in general. This year was a rocky one personally and that took it’s toll on my writing. I’m back now though, writing with a vengeance and hope to put out a lot of wonderful stories in 2009. I’ve also got a thing or two up my sleeve that I hope will be exciting, including more free reads! It’s all in the works for the coming year and I hope you enjoy.

If you aren’t familiar with me or my writing, while you’re here check out my Samhain title One Night on a Balcony then come by my site at www.samanthalucas.com and wander around to see what else I have to offer. I blog most Sundays about my travels and life and I’d love to have you come check in with me when you can.

The holiday season is in full swing now and I’m feeling very lucky to be traveling. I get to see the snow and the lights and decorations, it’s fabulous! I hope you all are enjoying the season, don’t forget it’s not about the gifts, but about the love. Until we meet again, take care and remember to enjoy the little moments of bliss life sends you, often those are the very best ones! ~ Samantha

Samantha Lucas
www.samanthalucas.com
2007 CAPA nominated favorite author
“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” ~ Walt Disney

The Slipper and The Rose ~ A British film version of Cinderella with a lot more story..and singing! Starring Richard Chamberlain and Gemma Craven, I have the soundtrack and often listen to it when I’m writing…in fact, I’m listening to it now.

Here’s a bit of trivia for the film…
Over 800 girls were considered for the part of Cinderella, and around 150 were interviewed before Gemma Craven was picked. Now that’s a Cinderella story in itself considering she ended up receiving two major film awards for her performance: The Variety Club’s Film Actress of the Year and the Evening News Film Awards’ Most Promising New Actress. And has gone on to have a very
successful career both in London and on the stage.

How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days ~ This is one of my favorite all around movies and how freaking cute is Kate Hudson! Can I be her??? I’m not sure what it is exactly about this one, the chemistry is crazy hot, the story is cute and the secondary cast perfect. Maybe it’s just a combined thing that puts this one on my most watched list, but the moment you see them really start to fall for one another, omg I get butterflies.

Trivia…
Gwyneth Paltrow was originally cast as Andie.

Kate Hudson improvised plastering Matthew McConaughey with kisses during the scene where she introduces the new dog. This is why McConaughey looks genuinely surprised.

Andie wears a Harry Winston diamond wreath necklace with an 84-carat yellow diamond pendant (called the “Isadora”) attached, valued at approximately $5,280,000 and a pair of 5-carat radiant cut yellow diamond stud earrings worth approximately $125,000.

There were an estimated $14,200,000 worth of jewels lent to the film.

The Sleeping Dictionary ~ In 1936, the expatriated young and naive just-graduated British John Truscott (Hugh Dancy) arrives to the Sarawak, a British colony, to work in the Iban society. The beautiful Selima (Jessica Alba) is assigned to be his “sleeping dictionary”, to live and sleep with him and teach him the language and habits of the locals. The reluctant John and Selima fall in love for each other in a forbidden romance that plays out so beautifull. This is a sexy powerful love story that I can’t get enough of.

Trivia…
The film used more than 600 Iban extras.

It was true that Iban maidens as “sleeping dictionaries” did exist, and to this day, there are in fact many prominent Eurasians in local Borneo society who are living proof of that practice.

Forty Pounds of Trouble ~ A very old Tony Curtis movie, it’s a version of the story Little Miss Marker, only in this version…they go to Disneyland!!! OMG you have no idea how often I’ve watched this movie over the years. lol It’s just a fun, lighthearted romp you can watch with your kids. The cast is great and completely endearing.

Trivia…
The film marked a number of “firsts”:
• It offered the first use of Disneyland as one of the principal settings.
• It marked the film debut of director Norman Jewison, whose previous work was entirely in television.
• It marked the debut of Stan Murgulies as a producer.
• It was the first picture to be completed under the Curtis Enterprises production banner.

Galaxy Quest ~ I can watch this one every day, it makes me laugh, but the characters are all so familiar because as a Star Trek addict, I get it! The first time I watched it, was in a full theater and the crowd got so involved it was fantastic! I rarely have such a fun time at the movies. I secretly wish this film would become a cult classic with midnight showings like Rocky Horror. lol

Trivia…
The commander’s name, Jason Nesmith, is a play on the name given to Buzz Lightyear in the movie “Toy Story”, Mrs. Nesbitt. Both characters are played (voiced) by Tim Allen.

The NSEA Protector’s serial number is NTE 3120. NTE is short for Not The Enterprise.

According to writer David Howard, the continuous melodic yet monotone voice of Thermian Cmdr. Mathesar was an original idea that Enrico Colantoni brought to the character. Everyone on the set loved it so much they kept it in the shoot.

“I had originally not wanted to see Galaxy Quest because I heard that it was making fun of Star Trek and then Jonathan Frakes rang me up and said ‘You must not miss this movie! See it on a Saturday night in a full theatre.’ And I did and of course I found it was brilliant. Brilliant. No one laughed louder or longer in the cinema than I did, but the idea that the ship was saved and all of our heroes in that movie were saved simply by the fact that there were fans who did understand the scientific principles on which the ship worked was absolutely wonderful. And it was both funny and also touching in that it paid tribute to the dedication of these fans.” — Patrick Stewart

The Parent Trap (the original) ~ I love the old Hailey Mills version. Brian Keith and Maureen O’hara are so cute and maybe it’s just because it encapsulates the time it was made so beautifully, but I don’t think I’ll ever tire of seeing it.

Trivia…
• The screenplay originally called for only a few trick photography shots of ‘Hayley Mills (I)’ in scenes with herself; the bulk of the film was to be shot using a body double. When Walt Disney saw how seamless the processed shots were, he ordered the script reconfigured to include more of the special effect.

• The title song was performed by ‘Tommy Sands’ and Annette Funicello. They were on the lot shooting Babes in Toyland (1961).

• Susan Henning took on the role as Hayley Mills’ body double for several of the twin shots in the film. As part of her contract, she signed away her rights to be credited. At the wrap party Walt Disney presented her with a small statue of Donald Duck, called The Duckster, in recognition of the “best unseen performance on film.” Only 2 other Ducksters have ever been awarded. To her credit, Ms. Henning did star with Elvis Presley later.

Just Like Heaven ~ This is probably my favorite romantic movie to date. As a romance writer, I know how important all those subtle touches are to building the chemistry between my characters, but in this movie, Elizabeth is a spirit, there is no way for them to touch. Their falling in love is such a beautiful, organic thing and is a pleasure to watch.

Trivia…
After a bad take while shooting, Mark Ruffalo jokingly jumped out of a window on the set. He landed on a catwalk just outside the window, but still scared the crew.

Co-writer Leslie Dixon suggested using the apartment where she used to live for shooting. She also suggested ‘Jon Heder (I)’ for the role of Darryl. Both of these suggestions were taken.

The producers bought the rights to the novel without having read the original French book after receiving a proposal with a rough outline of the story…sigh, why can’t this happen to me??!! Lol

Pretty Woman ~ This movie holds up so well. I’ll be honest, I hadn’t watched it in a lot of years, but I used to watch this one maniacally when I was pregnant with my first child. I did however see it again a few months ago and secretly wondered if it would be as good as I remembered. It was! Despite I’d seen it so many times and knew the dialog by heart, the movie still charmed me and I found myself swept up in the romance of it…sigh

Trivia…
Richard Gere started off much more active in his role, but Garry Marshall took him aside and said “No, no, no. Richard. In this movie, one of you moves. And one of you doesn’t. Guess which one you are?”

When Stuckey slams the door to his car they actually had to replace it, because the window broke.

When Edward (Richard Gere) snaps the necklace case down on Vivian’s (Julia Roberts) fingers, was improvised by Gere, and Roberts’ reaction (laughter) was totally natural. The filmmakers liked it so much, they decided to leave it in.

During the lovemaking scene Julia Roberts got so nervous a visible vein popped out of her forehead. Director Garry Marshall got into bed with Julia and Richard Gere. Marshall and Gere massaged her forehead until the vein disappeared. Julia also broke into hives and was given calamine lotion until they were finally able to shoot the scene.

As an honorable mention…Movies I love but can’t bear to watch repeatedly (there’s only one lol) —The Notebook ~ This may be the love story to end all, but I can’t bear to watch to more then maybe once or twice a year. But brava to Nicholas Sparks for writing this story.

Trivia…
• Gena Rowlands, who played older Allie in the movie, is the director’s (Nick Cassavetes) mother.

• ‘Ryan Gosling (I) ‘ (Young Noah) wore brown eye contacts because James Garner (Old Noah) has brown eyes, and Gosling has blue.

• The “after 7 years Allie and Noah” scenes were shot first and then the crew/cast went on a Christmas break. Ryan Gosling had to lose the beard and 20lbs he’d had as the older Noah and come back to play the young Noah. Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling were rather shy and unsure around each other in the “after 7 years” scenes but were more comfortable together in the young Allie and Noah scenes.

• Rachel McAdams beat many people for the role of Allie, including Britney Spears, Ashley Judd and Reese Witherspoon.

Justin Timberlake was considered for the role of Noah Calhoun.—-are you kidding me with the Justin and Brittany thing? :p

If you want more information on any of these movies, visit my blog today, I have them all linked. There are also photos! Ok, your turn, what movies can you watch over and over and never get tired of them? And while you’re here, don’t forget to check out my Samhain book here

One Night on a Balcony It’s a hot steamy summer read, Jill and Cole have been denying their bone-deep attraction for months, but one night on a balcony, passions ignite, an adventure starts and everything is about to change — forever. Happy reading and watching! ~ Samantha

www.samanthalucas.com

2007 CAPA nominated favorite author

“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” ~ Walt Disney

It’s official ~ I’m engaged!

Some of you may already know this, as I was actually asked during RT and have been wearing my sparkly engagement band since. To be honest though, it wasn’t until this weekend that I was 100% sure this was the right thing. This is the main reason why I’ve been keeping mostly quiet on the subject.

Until now.

I’m forty years old, and was already married once for nearly twenty years, and to say I was skittish about ever jumping back in, would have been a huge understatement. :p That being said, when you meet the most wonderful man on the planet and he falls in love with you and wants you to spend the rest of your life with him, it’s a very alluring thing.

Still, I was not about to do this marriage thing again unless I was completely sure we would make it. I do NOT want to be that woman with six marriages under her belt and looking for number seven. I can write the first try off as being young and stupid (OMG you have no idea!) and really not understanding that it takes more then just being in love to make a marriage work. The second time, I know better, and there’s no way I was getting into something I wasn’t sure of.

But this is the one.

He makes me laugh all the time. He takes care of my kids exactly like he does his own. He’s the sweetest, most thoughtful person I’ve ever met and he’s freaking brilliant! I swear, more often then not, his ideas are better then mine! =O Seriously, no offense meant to my ex, but I spent twenty years running behind him fixing things. With Dale, I don’t even have to second guess him, he’s right and I realized this weekend, he has my trust, which does not come easy for me.

On top of all this, the relationship we’ve built is incredibly healthy! I’m notoriously co-dependent. I mean to the point that when Dale and I were first dating, I thought there was something missing, something vital, between us. Then I realized it was that we weren’t co-dependent on one another. Now I’m learning that it’s okay to not share every little like and dislike. It’s okay to have different opinions, it’s okay to go the musical theater with my good friends, or even by myself, if my fiance doesn’t enjoy it.

More importantly though, Dale doesn’t always get me, but if it’s important to me, it’s important to him, whether he understands why or not, and I love that about him. This weekend, he bought me an entire patio garden. Not because he enjoys it, but because he knew how important gardening is to me and because I gave up my garden temporarily to move in with him. I honestly thought I’d have no garden for a couple years, while we’re saving to buy a house of our own, but he’s given me this beautiful little garden, water feature included, just because he wants me to be happy.

All in all, I’m incredibly blessed, unbelievably happy, and for the first time in probably seventeen years, I’m excited about my future!

Oh yeah…and I’M ENGAGED!!!

Contrary to popular belief (my own) I am not the dazed blonde hiding in the corner!

I have to admit, I was extremely anxious going into this event. I’m incredibly shy in social situations and overwhelm easily. However, thanks to my very good friends, Lila Dubois and Lara Santiago, I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into and ended up being a lot more involved in the convention then I had intended to be. The best part is, I’m not only surviving it, I’m having a wonderful time.

I arrived Wednesday and met my fellow author, friend and roommate Karen Erickson for the first time and let me say, she’s wonderful, and we have a fabulous room. The hotel is completely torn apart and you have to wait a half hour at times for an available elevator and I’ve not once been able to get internet connection in my room, but outside of that, I have no complaints.

Wednesday night was the expo, and OMG I sold several copies of my print books! The first lady who picked one up and handed it to me to sign, honestly, it took me a minute to realize she wasn’t kidding. lol It was a surreal moment. I sat beside Melissa Lopez, what a sweetheart, and Janice Lynn, who was so nice. I met several woman who came by to tell me they’d reviewed one of my books and met fellow authors I’ve been chatting and emailing with for over a year now and had no clue what they even looked like.

The event went a lot faster then I’d expected and again, I not only survived it, but loved it. The EC party was crazy, and actually I left a bit early to go have dinner with some friends I’d never met in person before, which was wonderful.
Yesterday’s luncheon was fun, I sat with the wonderful Marianne La Croix, who I just met in line and was very nice to me, insisting we eat together. Then one of the men running for Mr. Romance, Christopher Howell, came up and asked to sit with us. We exchanged business cards and talked on and off through lunch and by the end, I decided to ask him a very personal question I’d been wondering about all through lunch! =O

He has very short spiked hair, and my seventeen year old son has been trying to do that to his hair for months, so I asked him how he did it. lmao I’m such a mom! He was incredibly sweet and offered to give me a nearly empty bottle of the product he uses so I can find it when I get back home.

He is so getting my vote for Mr. Romance, I hadn’t originally intended to vote. lol

After lunch I met up with my wonderful boyfriend who I’m sickeningly in love with. I skipped last night’s events in favor of spending the evening with him checking out the city sights. This is really a fascinating city. We checked out the downtown area, just watching all the people, the river—OMG I love the bridges!—and we found a great little Mexican cantina (who’d have thought that, this far north?) and checked out some of the cutest neighborhoods. I’m an architect geek, and some of the houses here are simply beautiful and of course all the tulips are in bloom and I’m also a garden freak so it was a great combo for me. Then I spent the night with him at his hotel…don’t worry, you’re only getting explicit content from me in my books.

So today is set up to be extremely busy. I’ll be in club RT at the Samhain table from 9:30 until 10, then I have workshops all day, I’m going to be a good little author and attempt to learn something. I’m back in club RT from 11:30 until 12 with my friend Karen Erickson, then the awards luncheon and then more workshops.

I’m leaving early, soon after the book fair on Saturday, because I have the chance of driving back with my boyfriend and I don’t want to pass that up, but all in all, this has been a fabulous experience and if you’re even considering going to Orlando next year, as an author, aspiring author, or reader, I highly recommend it. Even for an incredibly shy newbie, I’m having a lot of fun.

I’m not sure why it is, but it is so rare to re-capture magic. Fool’s Gold came out last week, now to be fair, I haven’t seen it and it made a lot of money at the box office, but I absolutely loved How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, so to see these same actors in a movie again both thrills and scares me.

I want it to be good. I want to rush out and see it, but in my experience, it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to recreate what happened in the first movie.

A lot try, box office success pretty much assures you there will be a sequel, or at least an attempt to team the same stars in another picture. Occasionally the second movie is good but more often it’s crap plain and simple.

While Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride didn’t fair so badly, movies like Grease and Two of a Kind are a perfect example, not to mention Grease 2.

Movies like The Thorn Birds and Gone with the Wind were so wonderful they never should have been messed with and what about Romancing the Stone, Jewel of the Nile and War of the Roses. And Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail…Although in fairness, this is sort of an exception considering they did Joe Vs the Volcano first, but you understand where I’m going with this.

So what about books?

As a reader I adore a good series. Especially of the big family, each member finding their soul mate in each book and I absolutely marvel at writers like Lila Dubois and Catherine Anderson, JR Ward and Karen Marie Moning and so many others who build whole worlds with so many details to keep straight from one book to the next and create characters we can’t wait to go back to time and again.

As a writer, I find a sequel to be a lot of pressure. lol I’ve written two series deliberately and I get requests often from readers who love a supporting character in one of my stories and want me to give them their own story. It’s so wonderful to know as a writer I’ve created a character that connects that well with readers, but it’s a lot of pressure at the same time.

You want to due the character justice and recapture what the readers loved about him or her in the first place and as I said at the top of this post, it is so rare to re-capture magic. Bottom line though, single title or series, I know I’ll always write stories with the intention of tugging at hearts and reaching souls and hopefully create characters you’ll never forget and want to know more about.

So what about you? What movies, books or couples have you loved and what series lived up to or broke your hearts? I’d really love to know.

When I was seventeen I got the job of my dreams at Disneyland in California. So from that time until I was thirty four, Disneyland was home.

I was there more often then not, I met my husband there, I raised my kids there, I celebrated all of life’s little moments there, it was home in every sense of the word.

…okay, well except for maybe the sleeping part.

Since I moved to Virginia though, I haven’t been back. Which means I haven’t stepped foot inside those gates in over seven years and I miss it beyond words. Especially on Sundays, which used to be my quiet day, and on Holidays.

I can’t tell you the excitement I felt every year as Thanksgiving approached. The decorations slowly went up all over the park. The ambient music changed to carols, candy canes and tree ornaments went for sale in every shop and the weather slowly chilled.

Though it was southern California, I stilled loved the first day I got to pull out my coat and every time I arrived at the main gate I’d nearly hold my breath, waiting to see if the tree had arrived yet.

It was the biggest natural tree I’ve ever seen. It sat at the end of main street decorated to the nines and it was beautiful. The first time every year when I saw that tree, I’d cry, overwhelmed like an old friend had returned.

Silly? Yeah, but I found comfort in that tree. In all the decorations actually. In the Dickens carolers, the parades, the day the poinsettias would arrive, it was all so wonderful and festive. Two more enormous trees flanked the bridge to Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, their white twinkle lights reflected in the moat below. I loved to sit in the horseshoe seats on that drawbridge, listening to the faint stream of carols as people wandered by me in all directions.

I loved Thanksgiving especially because, though the park was slowly decorated over the entire month of November and they had small versions of the parade to break everyone in, it wasn’t until Thanksgiving day that everything was in place, the lights were on, and the show became alive.

That first night, I’d be giddy with excitement. Lit up from within with a happiness I rarely felt at any other time of year.

We’d hit every touristy thing that we’d turn out noses up at the rest of the year.
Waited in the crowd for the parade, drinking cocoa and eating churros. We lined up to see the tree lighting ceremony, as well as to get our pictures taken with Santa Goofy, and we went on every ride that was made over with a holiday theme.

I loved the country bear’s Christmas and the haunted mansion in it’s Nightmare before Christmas garb, but the best to me is still It’s a Small World. You have to see that one to believe it, but think Chevy Chase’s house in Christmas Vacation.

It’s Magical.

Thanksgiving dinner was always prime rib on the patio at the Plaza. Sorry not a huge fan of turkey. We would sit on the patio where we could watch the crowds, delight in the faces of the kids and the overall crush of people. It felt festive to me, special, exciting.

It felt like home.

I will always miss Disneyland I think, it is a place for me that means so much more then $5 sodas and $50 admission prices. A piece of my heart lives there and it always will. Especially on holidays.

So those were some of my traditions, what are some of yours?

…who believes in soul connections and the healing power of love.

My stories reflect this.

When you choose one of my books, I hope you find a heroine to befriend, a hero to love, and in the end, that my characters live on in your heart long after the last page has been read.

Come with me for a glimpse of one such story, One Night on a Balcony. Available now.

Jill Reed grew up in a family where sexuality was flaunted to the extent of being indecent. She’s therefore made the decision not to let her sexuality see the light of day.

Cole Adams’ best friend has a theory why his friend has been divorced three times. It’s because Cole’s too afraid to marry the right woman. After all, if he fails with the right woman, there really is no hope for happily ever after.

Fate sees fit to make Jill and Cole neighbors and one night on their shared balcony, the stakes are raised, passion ignites and both their lives are about to change forever.

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