And I’m giddy! In The Warrior’s Bed will be out next week. It’s been a bit of a wait but I’m really excited to see some of my books hitting the shelves. I know that its cold enough to make me want to snuggle down beneath a warm blanket and just read. My husbands parrot has the space heater, he’s so happy, basking in it’s glow that I can’t bring myself to take it into my office where it normally sits. The parrot would love to sit in my office with me but I think I’d discover myself writing nothing but pirate books….lol. Happy reading!

Hello Everyone- Well, the day is at hand. My first Brava will be out among you all in one week. To say that my brain is a little…muddled is an overstatement. I’m giddy. True and silly as that might be. My work in progress hasn’t been moving along as fast as it should but I think I’m going to enjoy the moment. I’ve dreamed of it for a long time. I’m thrilled to be here with Brava. Come over and check out my new website and read a little of In Bed With A Stranger…Mary Wine.com….

I thought I’d blog about something fun today. This weekend marked my fifteenth wedding anniversary. My husband and I began searching our brains for something to do to celebrate this event about two months ago. Going out to a restaurant didn’t seem special enough. We settled on afternoon tea. After a rather interesting Saturday spent looking at the local tea houses we found one that intrigued us. So this Saturday we invited about thirty of our friends to a Victorian high tea. At last, a chance to wear one of my new Victorian bustle dresses and there by justify some of my fabric shopping! In spite of warning the tea house that we intended to show up ‘dressed’ in vintage clothing there really is no way to prepare them for the sight of so many bustles, corsets, frock coats, canes and tops hats. But it’s fun for us to watch the kitchen staff sneaking peeks out at us when we invade.
The tea was wonderful, the staff very gracious but more importantly, our friends were there to share the moment with us and I was sitting next to my best friend…the man that puts up with me!

Hugs!

In Bed With A Stranger…up for pre-order at Amazon.

Mary Wine
MaryWine.com

I’m wading through post firestorm in southern California and noticed it was my blog day. As I’m looking at the pile of things to be returned to their normal places, I’m also reading the emails of my sons tae kwon do team. It’s role call time, everyone touching base to make sure we’re here and not in need. The responses are spirit lifting. Tales of pets being recovered from strangers that noticed dogs in yards and no one there to take them out of the path of the flames. Residents that broke into homes that were burning to retrieve essential things like computers, pictures and desk contents. The local fire station is bearing home made posters of gratitude and heart felt thanks.

    I’m amazed at the human effect at work. The pace of life is often so hectic that I forget who lives on the same block. This last week we all worked together, maybe some of the acts were small ones but the genuine smiles on everyones faces today send a warm feeling through me that I normally associate with the holiday season when we are seasonally reminded to count our blessing.

     Normally I detest cleaning but today I’m treasuring every bag I unpack. It’s amazing how much of a privilege it is to have a messy cabinet to restore order to. Among the clutter is a set of Mickey mouse ears that we brought home at some point from Disneyland and dozens of other things that didn’t make it into the car for evacuation. I feel like I’m rediscovering all of those memories. It’s practically like opening presents.

    There’s an incredible human effect settling over this town. We weren’t by any means a bad place to live but today while driving my sons to school I saw more smiles…more waves…more courtesy and just over all MORE. Many of the kids bore bags of donations for those that lost everything and sometime in the future we have a few parks to rebuild. But I’m confident that the people around me will be there with drills in hand and that is the silver lining to what the firestorms brought us this weekend…that spirit that woke up.

   Kiss your kids…send a back up of your digital pictures to a family member that doesn’t live with you. It dawned on me as I was racing home and watching a huge plume of black smoke rising up over where my house was that the back up system for my laptop wasn’t going to be much help if I wasn’t there to pull the memory card. A rather terrifying idea when I considered that I had a new book, my third Brava in fact on my system almost ready to call…finished. I shudder as I think of losing it. 

Phone numbers. I was amazed how many important numbers I didn’t have on my cell phone. I was amazed how many of my neighbors I didn’t have any contact information on. We have a small parrot and spent agonizing moments worrying that he was trapped in a fire….He’s fine. The lesson I learned was that, in spite of being well prepared at home…I was not prepared to deal with being away during the disaster. With the busy pace that we keep around here…that was something that could have hurt.

   But I was also astounded by the people that helped others and the fact that we as humans are really quite wonderful things. I’m going to go finish my book today because my heart is defiantly in the mood for a happy ever after.

Mary Wine

MaryWine.com….come by and see my new website!

Little addictions…

I’m silly by nature so today I thought I’d share something that drives my hubby nuts. I love bags. All sorts of bags…travel ones, organizer ones and hey…on sale ones are the best! I’m always prowling through them and thinking…ahh look at the way the front compartment on this one is made. All these nest little pockets with snaps and Velcro…won’t that be handy. Or look at that one, it has zippers to make sure stuff doesn’t fall out…I’m thinking of the guy that lost his gold medal recently on a Southwest flight…He left it under the seat in front of him…YIKES! Okay. So I don’t have a gold medal but I don’t want to lose my stuff. Due to my fascination, I now have quite a collection of travel-organizer-secure-my-stuff bags. I think my hubby is considering buying a leash to keep me near him when we go to stores like Best Buy….they have neat camera bags and lap top ones…oh and backpacks!

The saving grace is that I’m a instructor in Tae Kwon Do….ah no…not like that…I wouldn’t use tae kwon do on my hubby….well, okay, maybe if he actually tried to slip a leash on me…but actually many of my bags end up at the studio for kids to use for events. We seem to always need one for a medical kit or a snack bag that can be smuggled onto the event floor. Lap top cases are great for getting candy ring side. It’s amazing what a Heresy’s kiss can do for a younger kid that is a little nervous…

Have fun shopping this holiday season!

Check out my cover…my first Brava cover….I love it!

Mary Wine

Hello everyone! It’s my first blog here at Brava Authors. I’ve been turning ideas over in my head but keep getting distracted by the book I’m working on. I tend to become absorbed with my stories. In fact my wonderful, understanding husband has been know to notice when I’m in a particularly dark part of a story because my mood is just down. I woke up at four this morning because I left off a scene last night and my brain refused to linger in slumber while my hero was waiting for me to resolve things.

     But I love it. Truth be told, the chance to write is something that still makes me giddy. I get excited when I fire up the lap top and pull up my work in progress. I start listening to period music in the car, this is such a hit with my kids! Okay, maybe they’re just good sports too…lol. As for the lost sleep? I’ll catch up on that when the book is finished. My husband always knows when I’ve finished a book too because I’m in bed early. Right now, I’m writing a third Scottish historical. Set in the first year of James the first. I do love highlanders! Kilts and swords. Sigh. The first book is titled ‘In Bed With A Stranger’ and it will be coming your way this June. Thanks for stopping by!

Mary Wine