Well, it has been a year since I last blogged. On Valentine’s Day. Of course. (Can you believe it’s already February? And yet, it’s only February! Where did January go?)
Anyway, it’s supposedly the Day of Love. And many people celebrate today by going to dinner, giving their loved one something special or even treating themselves to their own self-care day!
While I do like the romancing, the “lovely” gestures certainly don’t need to be confined to this one day. My husband doesn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, but that doesn’t mean he’s no romantic. He’s been known to surprise me on occasions and throw my plans a curve-ball on random days. Like the time he organised his parents to look after the kids for the weekend while he whisked me to a charming resort a couple of suburbs away. And that time he booked us tickets to fly to Queensland on a getaway – only for me to miss my friend’s wedding (we have rectified the issue of clashing schedules now with a synchronised digital calendar!) And I’ll never forget ruining the romantic proposal he’d planned, when I refused to walk to the Opera House from The Rocks because I had high heels on and I was tired (there’s more to this story, and I can fully justify why I refused to walk. But that’s for another time. Oh, and I did still get the ring that night!)
On the other hand, while we can (and should) celebrate and show love at any time (like getting tea in bed to help me wake up in the mornings), we do tend to reserve that one special day perhaps to remember an event, or intentionally put aside all other things and focus on that one thing that we want to celebrate. Think: Christmas Day … or a Wedding Anniversary. Surely, we could argue that we ought to celebrate Christmas in our hearts every day; and that expressing our love for our spouse shouldn’t be reserved just on one day of the year.
Either way you look at it, I hope you felt loved and have had the opportunity to “love on others” today.
On the writing front…
Much as I would like to write a pure romance novel, I haven’t got quite to it yet. But all my other stories are full of love …
Remember When is all about the love between a grandmother and her grandchild. This story touches on dementia and is a great springboard for talking about this awful disease, yet with pure tenderness as we see through the eyes of an innocent child who simply reminisces with grandma.
The Colours of Orange follows the journey of a bereaved woman and her mother-in-law. When they both lose their husbands, Cilla’s loyalty to her mother-in-law, Susan, ensures they survive the grief together. It is a story of faith and hope, and is loosely based on the story of Ruth and Naomi from the Bible.
Runaway and Smarty-pants pull us into the preteen/teen world of Sammy Smart. Always suspicious and jumping to conclusions, her solutions tend to land her into trouble and cause further misunderstandings. In this Middle-Grade/Young Adult pair of books, the love of family and friends shine through. They can also be read as stand-alone books.
If you haven’t read them yet – or would like to gift them to others – be sure to visit my shop for a MASSIVE STOCKTAKE SALE of signed copies. But hurry, they won’t last long at these discounted prices! (Limited to Australian customers.)
You can also grab them from my publisher or Amazon. Links at the bottom!
For now, it’s arrivedervi! – Because I shall definitely “see you later” and I have plenty of other news! *wink*wink*
Links:
The Colours of Orange (Australian publisher, Amazon Australia, Amazon US, Amazon UK)
Runaway (Amazon AU, Amazon US, Amazon UK)
Smarty-pants (Amazon AU, Amazon US, Amazon UK)
Remember When (Amazon US, Amazon UK)