Of Ice and Men

I recently got a great five-star review on Amazon, written by Anne-Marie Cherry: I guess that Shots on Net is a sports romance about hockey, but it's so much more than that. This is a realistic story that deals with the struggles that a lot of millennials face: figuring out your goals, priorities, and most of all your career. Layered on top of that is all the awkwardness of dating and having to define the relationship for everyone in your life, and exploring attraction, desire, and love. If you're on the dating scene now, there is a lot to identify with in the story of Shannon and Kevin. And I really liked the fact that Shannon loves romance books.  Sure, I write about hockey, and hockey is a major part of the storyline. But I like to think that I write about people and life. It's nice to see that someone else thinks so, too.

Happy New Year! I'm not really a fan of New Year's resolutions, but I do it anyway. Change happens the instant you truly want it. The date on the calendar doesn't matter when you make up your mind. In fact, I think it's easier to keep to your resolution when you make it because you want to and not because of an arbitrary reason like the start of a new week, month, or year. All that being said, I like the ceremony of making a New Year's resolution. It's a good time to stop and evaluate my life, where I am, what I want, and if I'm on track to get what I want. I don't make resolutions to be healthier or to finally ask out that cute guy I've been ogling for weeks, because those are things that I should already be doing everyday—I know that, and every morning I tell myself I'll do those things today . As far as I'm concerned, every new day is a chance to be better and do better than the day before. Instead, I make resolutions for the whol...

After discussing it with my editor ( Melanie Ting !), I decided to go in a different direction for this cover and use a different designer. My original idea was the same, and we worked together and got this: Voilà!   What do you think? Feel free to let me know in the comments section!

I'm pretty sure I speak for all writers when I say that reviews mean a great deal to us. I finally got my first review on Amazon for Shots on Net , by user S. E. Scott: The author really knows her hockey! I learned a lot about procedures for players, dieting for players, and the mindset of the player who wasn't drafted by a team but wants to play hockey more than anything. Kevin is that hockey player. He wants it so much that he has set aside any type of personal relationships to concentrate on his goal, to play in the NHL. He meets Shannon and even though he has this goal, it's nice to have someone to talk to outside of hockey. Both are skittish, especially Kevin. He backs off when he feels he is getting too close to her and even breaks it off when he's losing that concentration. Shannon realizes her plans to move to Boston and when Kevin breaks up with her, she moves on. This is a good read for s [sic] hockey enthusiast, along with a little rom...

Today I'm very happy to plug a fellow writer —and friend— Melanie Ting . She's authored some of my favorite hockey stories, including Fresh Air and How the Cookie Crumbles . Mel's climbing up the Amazon sales charts; if you haven't read her work yet, do yourself a favor and check her out! Mel took the time to talk to me about her writing and latest novel, her love of hockey, and of course, cats: What motivates you as a writer? What inspires you? I would say that real life inspires me. I love hearing the stories behind the athletes. When you read about a hockey player who struggled for years, undrafted and unwanted, before he made it to the NHL, that’s inspiring. Or if he’s just hot, well that’s inspiring in a different way. I also use things that happen to me in real life, as well as real people. In fact, if some of my friends read my novels, they’d probably kill me … slowly. But luckily, nobody I know likes hockey romances. ...

I know I haven't said much about this new story that I'm working on. I'm afraid to reveal too much in case I change my mind and have to play with the details. But I've told you about Audrey and Nate. You've probably inferred that Nate plays on the Columbus Blue Jackets once I mentioned the setting. The first few chapters of any of my stories are usually spent introducing the characters. To me, my characters are the most important part of my stories. That's just part of who I am; I love people's stories, so naturally I love imagining up people and giving them stories. When I write, that it what I want to convey: the characters, and their stories. The plot is important because characters reveals their traits and personality through their reactions to what happens around them or, maybe more truthfully, their actions and deeds. Once the characters are established, that's when the plot starts to develop. All that being said, the plot is what dictates ...

I'm usually pretty good at time management. When I have a lot on my plate, I have to buckle down and stay focused, which I can do. If the pressure's on, that helps me stay motivated. But sometimes, no matter what I seem to want to do, I keep getting pulled away from the task at hand. My social schedule varies a lot. Sometimes, it feels like I have all the time in the world; yet other times, I'm so busy I'm lucky to get a decent night's sleep. I'm pretty busy right now. Work is pretty crazy, and I'm stage managing for the local theatre, which takes up 2-3 nights during the week. I captain a trivia team, which is how I spend my Tuesday nights. On top of that, I have Christmas projects to work on, and I'm trying to make new curtains to help block the cold from coming in as winter descends on Pittsburgh. And my apartment desperately  needs to be cleaned. Oh, and I can't forget that my typically antisocial cats, for some reason, are following me aro...