Fall 2006

Dear Reader,

I can only hope that the last five months of your life have been much more predictable and uneventful than mine have been.

When last I had the mental and emotional composure to write to you (Spring/Summer 2006), I was in the process of putting our home of twenty years on the market, the teenage son had just pitched his lacrosse ball through the fancy glass front door, and a gimpy turtle was bringing me a replacement from Quebec. All that was in the first week in April.

Front of the former bank

Three weeks later the house was sold and I was both exhausted and ensconced—along with all my worldly possessions, three cats, two dogs, excited husband, and thoroughly disgruntled teenage son—in Peabody, Kansas. Population 1300. Peabody is an absolutely lovely little town on the tall grass prairie. It has a fantastic sense of community and its entire downtown is listed on the National Historic Register.

We own two of the downtown buildings. Both were built in 1884. As I mentioned back in April, one was originally a bank and the other housed a number of businesses over the years—with the last incarnation being a chicken hatchery. An existing small apartment in the back of the hatchery is where we've encamped ourselves for the first phase of what we're calling The Peabody Project.

"Turkey Red"—former chicken hatchery and our current home

20,000 square feet that have been neglected, cobbled, and slap-patched for 122 years... I can only hope to live long enough to see it restored to its once and proper glory. To give you an idea... The other evening I wistfully said to my husband, "I'd really like to have doors that I don't have to kick shut." Before dear David—the husband whose vision started this whole mid-life adventure—could reply, the teenage son said from his walk-in closet slash bedroom, "I'd just like to have a door."

Yeah, well... It's on the list.

The matter of doors aside, we have made considerable progress in the four months we've been here. We've literally filled three construction dumpsters with the demolition and clean-up effort. We've restored an office area and a huge workshop space for dear David's business—which should move up from Wichita this month. And it's all the proverbial drop in the bucket of what needs to be done.

In the midst of all this, the teenage son signed a letter of intent to play NCAA Division II college lacrosse and is graduating high school a semester early. Let me tell you, you haven't lived until you've 1) convinced a teenager to change schools his senior year, 2) seen the annual cost figures for attending a small private college, and 3) been unexpectedly plunged into the world of federal student financial aid paperwork. What all this does to the heart rate... Just looking at the forms qualifies as aerobic activity.

Are you wondering when I'm going to get around to telling you about the writing part of my life?

Well, as you might have already come to suspect, my writing schedule has been... "compromised" might be a good word. I'm plugging away, but the productivity has definitely been affected by the upheaval around me. Why David wanted to set sail on this voyage the year I had five books to write... Oh, well. As John Lennon said, life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. The best we can do is the best we can do.

So on that bit of homespun philosophy, here's the writing stuff as it stands today...

There have been title changes in the current historical trilogy—creating just a bit of confusion on the part of readers everywhere. The originals were the editor's creation and I was to write stories to fit them. Halfway through the second book and the torturous, foreign to me process, they were changed.

HER WICKED WEDDING NIGHT is now THE ROGUE'S BRIDE. To be released October 31, 2006. This the wild and irreverent Simone's story.

HIS RELUCTANT BRIDE is now THE DUKE'S PROPOSAL. Release is scheduled for the Spring of 2007. This is the story of shy and sensitive Fiona.

I'm currently in the process of wrapping up the second of the Stacy and Crew books for the Harlequin NeXT line—the sequel to GRIN AND BEAR IT. I can't tell you yet what the release title will be. I can tell you, however, that when it comes to dealing with unrelenting chaos and stress, I can really appreciate Stacy's grit and sense of humor. I have one more Stacy story to write and I think she might be moving to Peabody.

After these books are done... I have no idea what I'll be writing. Really. I'm just rolling with the punches these days. And, strangely enough, actually enjoying it.

I'll keep you posted on how the adventure is going and where it's taking me. In the meantime... I hope your life is full and satisfying and that your reading is a happy adventure.

Leslie

Leslie's current newsletter
Fall 2008

Past newsletters
Spring 2007
Fall 2006
Spring/Summer 2006
Summer 2005

Would you like to be sent Leslie's messages through email? Sign up for her newsletter.