Liz Flaherty

  • Writing Retreat Day 1

    It’s a little before 8 p.m. and Lizzie and I are already settled in our cozy room and we’ve both written a good bit since we checked in around 3 p.m. It’s been a nutty day. Right off, it is cold! Like winter serious cold! Our reservations were at a state park inn and we couldn’t check in until 4 pm, so we had lunch at this fabulous restaurant here in Nashville, IN — just fantastic food! An amazing cream of chicken soup with spinach and artichokes. Man was that ever tasty! The restaurant is part of an inn here in the heart of town–The Artists Colony Inn. It’s very…

  • Retreat!

    It’s Sunday morning and I’m still covered up with work, but I can see the light at the top of the heap finally. I’ve been focusing on editing gigs and packing up the house, so I haven’t written a word on Aidan’s book yet. However, I’m in full discovery mode and have even written a synopsis for the story, so I’m already ahead of the game on the book. Now it’s just down to writing, which will begin tomorrow when Liz and I get to our retreat. So, here are my new characters–hold a good thought for the story, which will be a Christmas book and even includes a young…

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  • Holiday Romance with Liz Flaherty

    Know what’s great? Having a BFF who is also a romance writer because it means I get first peek at all her books, plus I have someone to process stories with. Someone who really gets it when I’m stuck and thinking I’m the worst writer ever. It’s good to be that person for her, too! Today, I’m celebrating the release of that person’s newest novel. Liz Flaherty’s The Dark Horse: A Christmas Carousel Story is part of the 12 Days of Heartwarming Christmas series of holiday novels and it is a wonderful, touching story. Liz graciously agreed to share an excerpt: This isn’t a scene between the hero, Row, and the…

  • Wine, Writing & Romance

    What’s more fun that doing a book-signing at a winery? Not much. My writing BFF Liz Flaherty and I did just that on Saturday and we had a ball. The good folks at Whyte Horse Winery, in the little lake town where Husband and I have our cottage, opened their doors to us and our readers. We had wine and snacks and books and wine and lemonade and wine and did I mention we had wine? It was wonderful getting to meet readers and answering their questions about writing. Our husbands acted as cashiers while we sold and signed books. Good buddy Maureen was a lovely hostess for us, setting…

  • How Do You Text?

    This article from the Wall Street Journal made me smile because Samantha Hayes, the heroine in my new book coming October 29 from Tule Publishing has a “thing” about texting and how people do it. In A SMALL TOWN CHRISTMAS, the fact that Conor Flaherty, the hero, just uses texting for the utility of easy communication–no emojis, correct spelling and punctuation–is simply one more reason for her to fall in love with him! My writing BFF, Liz Flaherty and I tease each other a lot about our excessive use of exclamation marks when we “chat” on Google each morning–we both do it. But I think we’re only trying to get a…

  • Still Rollin’ Along

    Liz and Nan’s big Madison adventure continued today, but our adventurousness sorta stayed in the fiction realm. We went to breakfast, then came back to the hotel and set up in the lobby to write. We stayed put there, each of us writing and occasionally stopping to share a paragraph or ask one anothers’ opinion or discuss a word choice. Or even, ask for a word! We ended up skipping lunch and writing from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It was amazing–I got a fabulous start on novel 1 for Tule and Liz–ta da!! Liz finished her book that is due to Harlequin Heartwarming on December 1!! YAY! At 4,…

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  • Author Event!

    I’m so excited to be doing an author panel/book signing with three other fabulous writer on Saturday, August 5. Kathleen Thompson, Liz Flaherty, and Cheryl Brooks and I are going to be there talking about writing romance and taking your questions. Then afterward, we’ll all be available to chat and sign books. If you happen to be in the Logansport, Indiana, area, we’d love to have you stop by the Logansport Library and join us for a lively discussion about writing and publishing and romance.

  • Wednesday Chipperish Reminder

    Lani Diane Rich’s fabulous podcast, JED BARTLET IS MY PRESIDENT, episode 6 is up! I’m headed there right now after getting a great report from the doc at my 6-month checkup–I’m healthy and strong, and my hair is adorable. (Yeah, my doc is a woman, so she notices stuff like that.) Gratitude for today: I am healthy and strong and my hair is adorable. 😉 Great time opening the lake cottage–we’re good to go for the summer. Wonderful to see the lake friends who were there this weekend–can’t wait to see the community all back together again. Terrific day Sunday with Liz and Duane–sure hope they’re frequent visitors this summer!…

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  • Wednesday Chipperish Reminder

    It’s Wednesday, folks, and time for another episode of Jed Bartlet Is My President. Given the state of our current administration, a little political fantasy is unquestionably in order, don’t you think? I’m in, how about you? The amazing Dr. Kelly Jones–one of my dear pals from Betty days joins Lani for a discussion of “Six Meetings Before Lunch.” Kelly is delightful and I’m so jacked about her new podcast Southern Fried Scholar. I’m in, how about you? Also how about some gratitude? Today, I’m excited about my WIP, which is coming together like magic–the hero and heroine wrote their own love scenes, which made my job so much nicer.…

  • Spring Is Springing (cross-posted)

    Spring seems to be springing already and you know, we really haven’t had much of a winter here. (Those are my grape hyacinths that grow under the dining room window–aren’t they pretty? You can also see that the flowerbeds need to be cleaned out . . . yikes!) Oh, we’ve had few days of snow, but no real accumulation, and a few days of serious cold, but no long stretches of temperatures below freezing. That’s unusual but certainly not unheard of here in the middle of the United States. I remember lots of mild winters. But I think this one is feeling weird because it’s been a weird year. Between…

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