Lauri Robinson's Blog, page 19

Two New Covers

Disobeying the Marshal (on sale January 1, 2012)
El Dorado, Kansas, 1881
Marshal Cord Donovan believed he was married to his badge—until one incredible night in Florie Rockford's bed changed everything. When Florie unexpectedly arrives in town with a desperate warning for his safety, Cord is determined to show her that their spark burns so hot that one night will never be enough.
But Florie has returned with more than just a warning—the consequence of their passion defies all the lawman's rules!





Sing to Me, Cowboy (On sale Spring of 2012)
Heather Gibson's past catches up with her one dark Texas night.  Locked in a custody battle with an ex-husband who's looking for any excuse to take her children, Heather doesn't need any more trouble. But when a broken-down car and a dead cell phone leave her stranded at the Lonesome Steer Honky Tonk, she comes face-to-face with the one man who could jeopardize everything—including her heart.  Country-singing sensation Lance Dugan is back in Amarillo for his grandfather's birthday and to take care of a bit of unfinished business—apologize to Heather for leaving ten years ago. Lance has fought hard and won big the last few years, but seeing Heather again makes him wonder if he's been fighting for the right things.Finding each other again may seem like fate, but one horrible secret, buried deep, could divide them forever.
And just a reminder:  The Wild Rose Press will be offering some free reads this month to anyone who receives their newsletter. Shotgun Bride will be offered on Dec.12th. Each title will only be available for a twenty-four hour period, so if you aren't signed up for their newsletter, now is the time! Here's the link again:  http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index...

December is here...

The cooking, the shopping, the cards, the wrapping, the tree, the…
Yes, it's all started, and I'm excited. Most of my shopping is done, which means I have plenty of wrapping to do. I made cream wafer cookies and banana bread for the library bake sale today, and that started my baking mood, so my list is ready to hit the baking isle at the grocery store tomorrow. 
We have a very important birthday party next weekend. Oldest granddaughter turns 5!
I put my pony car in storage last weekend, and yes, I miss her, but I'm glad she's tucked away safe for the winter, and I've always enjoyed driving my Grand Am, so all is good. 
On the writing side, things are wonderful as well. I'm excited to say my story set in Oklahoma has been sent off to my beta reader. 
Disobeying the Marshall has been put up on Amazon for pre-orders. No cover yet… 
The Wild Rose Press will be offering some free reads this month to anyone who receives their newsletter. Shotgun Bride will be offered on Dec.12th. Each title will only be available for a twenty-four hour period, so if you aren't signed up for their newsletter, now is the time! Here's the link again:  http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=62
A Five Angel review for Boot Hill Bride just came in this weekend. 
That's enough for now. :) Enjoy the season!

Happy Thanksgiving

I must admit, I'm so caught up in my latest story, I've been writing every minute I get. It's set at Fort Sill, Oklahoma Indian Territory in 1878.  I am finding researching the Comanche amazing, and I must send out a huge THANK YOU to my nephew Kris and his wife Vikki for all the pictures of Oklahoma. It's been years since I was in that part of this wonderful USA. This book has a February deadline, and I'm thankful for every hour I get to spend working on it.
I'm so thankful for many, many other things, too, as I know you all are as well. Every one of you reading this blog is one of the blessings I'm most grateful for. Thank you for supporting my writing life.
We'll all gather at my oldest son's house tomorrow, and have a splendid day, even as our heart strings tug while missing my mom this first Thanksgiving without her.  I'm sure the meal will be delicious, but I know we all will miss her cooking—especially her coleslaw. We will, however, celebrate and perhaps shed a tear as we recall how my four-year-old granddaughter informed everyone when Grandma Mary went to heaven that Jesus is happy now, because he gets to eat grandma's coleslaw. 
Keep memories close at hand this holiday, and make some new ones, you'll be glad you did.
Blessings.

Just a couple of quick things...

Paty Jager and I are over at Coffee Time Romance chatting about writing family series romance novels today. Stop by if you have a chance.
I received this review lately for Doctor McBride from Fallen Angles Reviews. Reviewer Linda says: "Doctor McBride is a breathtaking, witty story that this reader enjoyed immensely."
Keep smiling, and have an awesome day!

Weekend at Grandma's

While growing up, we traveled several times a year from Kansas to northern Minnesota to see family. In the winter I remember anticipating the 'Minnesota sheets' on the beds at my grandparent's house. I have several sets of flannel sheets now, and every fall when I put them on the bed for the first time, I think of spending nights at Grandma's. 
The girls stayed with me last weekend, and we had a grand time. The youngest went home to sleep, but the oldest spent two nights, and discovered the webcam on my computer. She snapped hundreds of pictures of herself—which kept her busy when my nephew from Oklahoma called. It was so wonderful to talk to him. I'm setting a book in Oklahoma and needed his insight. It's been years since I've been there, and the book is due to HQN by February. It's part of the two-book contract they offered me last week. 
Titles for my January and February Harlequin Undone releases have been confirmed. The series is Wild Western Nights. Book one: Disobeying the Marshal will be released in January, and book two: Testing the Lawman's Honor will be released in February. 
The Wild Rose Press sent me the final blurb for Sing to Me Cowboy, a book in their Honky Tonk Hearts series that will be released sometime in 2012:
Heather Gibson's past catches up with her one dark Texas night.
Locked in a custody battle with an ex-husband who's looking for any excuse to take her children, Heather doesn't need any more trouble. But when a broken-down car and a dead cell phone leave her stranded at the Lonesome Steer Honky Tonk, she comes face-to-face with the one man who could jeopardize everything—including her heart.
Country-singing sensation Lance Dugan is back in Amarillo for his grandfather's birthday and to take care of a bit of unfinished business—apologize to Heather for leaving ten years ago. Lance has fought hard and won big the last few years, but seeing Heather again makes him wonder if he's been fighting for the right things.
Finding each other again may seem like fate, but one horrible secret, buried deep, could divide them forever.
Yep, lots of fun stuff happening around here, and so much to be thankful for. Which I am. Every day.

Happy Halloween!

We had two little trick or treaters last night—the third one, a cowgirl, didn't want to go out, she's saving it all up for tonight!





Here's a Halloween Scary tale: A man was walking home alone late one foggy night,when behind him he hears:

BUMP...

BUMP...

BUMP...

Walking faster, he looks back and through the fog he makes out the image of an upright casket banging its way down the middle of the street toward him.

BUMP...

BUMP...

BUMP...

Terrified, the man begins to run toward his home, the casket bouncing quickly behind him

FASTER...

FASTER...

BUMP...

BUMP...

BUMP...

He runs up to his door, fumbles with his keys, opens the door, rushes in, slams and locks the door behind him.

However, the casket crashes through his door, with the lid of the casket clapping

clappity-BUMP...
clappity-BUMP...

clappity-BUMP...

on his heels, the terrified man runs.

Rushing upstairs to the bathroom, the man locks himself in. His heart is pounding; his head is reeling; his breath is coming in sobbing gasps.

With a loud CRASH the casket breaks down the door.

Bumping and clapping toward him.

The man screams and reaches for something, anything,
but all he can find is a bottle of cough syrup!

Desperate, he throws the cough syrup at the casket...
and,

(hopefully you're really ready for this!!!)


The coffin stops!

Admit it, you grinned.
Have a Happy Halloween!

Meet Jack

[image error] The granddaughter's spent the night with us, and the next morning I said we were going to rake leaves and make a dummy. The four-year-old informed me we can't say dummy, it's like saying stupid and that's a bad word, so in the end, he became Jack. (I didn't explain the hat and shirt say Dale all over them.) They also took the dogs for a walk, until Gander, the yellow lab, simply slipped his head out of his collar and gave me a look that said, "Really?" before he walked to the house to lay down by the front door. Those are tattoos on the girls' foreheads. We picked up a package of 200 of them, and they were pretty much all gone by the time the girls went home. 
Pooh, our little house companion, is going for a hair cut tomorrow, so he'll look completely different, and I'll need to find his sweater for our morning walks. I bought him his own doggie-bed and he absolutely loves it. So does our two-year-old granddaughter that's walking him in this picture. You never know if it'll be her or Pooh sitting in the bed.  
On the writing side, there's lots going on…My HQN editor/team is brainstorming titles for the Undone Duet that will be released in January and February, and I'm busy writing the Hanging Judge's Daughters trio of stories. Also, For a Sister's Love is still on sale for only .99 cents at Amazon, and has been on the western best selling list. Yippie.
Live in the moment, they go too fast not to appreciate them.

Cowboy Boots

I'm over at Sweethearts of the West today talking about cowboy boots. Stop by and say hi for a chance to win a copy of For a Sister's Love and to see a very old picture of me. :)


http://sweetheartsofthewest.blogspot.com/2011/10/perfect-footwear-cowboy-boot.html

Happy Birthday

Yep, today is my birthday, and it's already been an awesome day with lots of phone calls and birthday wishes. Thanks to all!
This is the whole gang (minus Hayley who was napping and James and Daniel who hadn't arrived yet) at my mom's birthday last March. Now that was a birthday party! I'm so glad we celebrated her birthday with such a grand event.
The kids called Jess yesterday to find out what kind of cake I wanted for this evening. He told them a coconut cream pie. He knows me so well. But we'll have to put a (one is enough) candle on it. Historians say the Greeks placed candles on cakes so the smoke could carry their wishes and prayers to the Gods. A lovely tradition for sure. 
I hope you all have a wonderful day. Take time to celebrate, birthday or not, every day gives us things to be grateful for.

Happy Columbus Day

Some states recognize it, some don't, but to me, if the calendar says holiday, I'm game. Actually, I'm game to celebrate every day. That's how life is meant to be. FYI…States that don't recognize Columbus Day includes South Dakota, Hawaii, and Alaska. Colorado was the first state to declare it a state holiday in 1906, and it became a federal holiday in 1937. New York was the first city to observe the holiday in 1866. DH and I celebrated our wedding anniversary last week. We drove up to the north shore and rented a quaint little villa overlooking Lake Superior.  We hiked, went shopping, rode the gondola to see the fall colors, visited several little museums, ate some fabulous meals, and even played a few slot machines. A mixture of things for sure, and the pony car enjoyed the run. She is such a fun car to travel with. However, I was afraid a few of the roads hubby chose for us to take would stone bruise her.  
At one museum I read about a turn of the century business owner that had acquired a set of orphaned moose. He raised them and taught them to pull a wagon, except they would only move when his wife was behind the reins. Word got out, and his business thrived with people flocking the area for a ride all summer. That fall one of the moose came up missing. It was suspected that a rival business owner was behind the disappearance. Lost without her twin sister, the moose died, and so ended the moose rides.  I must say, I found that a sad ending to a delightful story. I guess I'm set on happily ever after endings. 
Speaking of such, I finished a short story about a gambler and sheriff and sent it off to my critique partner and beta reader last week, so I'm back to working on my hanging judge stories this week. The poor man is having a heck of a time trying to marry off his daughters. After all, he would be an intimidating father-in-law. 
I'm off to enjoy the holiday by unpacking and doing laundry, and then emerging in the judge's story.
Enjoy your day, and remember, you don't need a holiday in order to celebrate. You are a reason.