Author: Gina Wilkins

I’ll be participating in something new for me today, December 16, 2009. It’s a Live Chat at eHarlequin.com from 7 – 8 p.m. EST. This hour is dedicated to Home, Hearth and Teen writers from Silhouette Special Edition, Harlequin American Romances, Harlequin Super Romance and Harlequin Teen. Quite a few of us will be there to chat about romance books, answer reader questions … it’s going to be quite a party!

For details of the other writers who’ll be participating in the chat with me, and for the other chat hours scheduled, check Cafe Social at eHarlequin.com. (Here’s the link: http://community.eharlequin.com/forums/cafe-social/2009-open-house-author-list).

If you’ve never visited eHarlequin.com before, I highly recommend it. It’s a fun and informative site for all readers of romance, and a place to order books that are no longer available in stores. I hope you’ll join me for the live chat tomorrow. It will be nice to “see” some familiar faces there.

Don’t forget to register for my book giveaway on January 1 (click the Enter to Win! tab above for details).

And don’t forget that A VERY NASCAR HOLIDAY, with my story, SECRET SANTA, is available in stores and on-line now!

My daughter Kerry and I did our usual Black Friday shopping frenzy this year. I was glad she was able to come home from New England for both Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, though she warned me not to get spoiled to that, since it’s unlikely to happen again during the remainder of her medical residency. We’ve done the Black Friday excursion every year since she was very young (my other daughter and my son having no interest in hitting Kohl’s at 4 a.m., for some reason) and we had a great time again this year. We bagged some bargains, had a nice lunch at Shorty Small’s, laughed and gossiped and people watched. In this tough economy, there were a lot of people out bargain hunting, but everyone we encountered seemed to be in a good mood. We returned home late that afternoon (twelve and a half hours after leaving) tired, grubby and satisfied with our results.

I’ve finished my Christmas shopping now, and managed to stay on budget (using coupons, hitting sales, price-matching and doing some shopping on-line), but I’ll have to watch myself during the next two weeks. Once I start gift shopping, it’s hard to stop. I get in the mind-set of looking for just the right gifts for my recipients, and the problem is I keep finding things I think they’d like even after I’ve made my purchases! I love giving gifts, but our family has long made a practice of not over-doing or going into debt at the holidays, so I have to rein in my shopping impulses.

The best gift this year is that we’ll all be together. Our oldest daughter Courtney is flying in from her post-doctoral position in the Pacific Northwest. Kerry and her husband will have a week to spend with us before returning to her medical residency and his graduate school classes in New England. Our son David will be home from his junior year of college for winter break. There is no material possession that could be a better present for me!

I hope your holidays are filled with joys that money can’t buy.

* If you’re looking for a feel-good holiday read, don’t forget to look for A VERY NASCAR HOLIDAY, on shelves now. It includes three heart-warming, Christmas-themed stories with dashing race car driver heroes. My own story is called SECRET SANTA. For more details, click on the Books Available Now tab above.

** And don’t forget to enter the drawing for the New Year’s Day giveaway of my New Year’s Eve-themed book, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER. It’s a fast-paced, fun story with lots of humor and a little heart-break — but always, of course, a very happy ending. Check the Enter to Win! page for details on how to enter. I haven’t received many entries yet (everyone must be busy getting ready for the holidays), so if you enter, your chances of winning are very good now!

Now, off to wrap …

I love Christmas. Everything about it — the music, the decorations, the schmoopy TV specials, the cold air, the fattening food, the crazy shopping experiences, and — most importantly — the time with family. Yet it is a very busy time, and always hard to get everything done, especially when deadlines loom.

I finished my decorating over the past weekend, and have only a couple of gifts left to buy, and now I have to try to concentrate on work and other everyday responsibilities until my girls arrive from their separate coasts and my son will be home from college to spend the holidays with us.

I put up two Christmas trees every year. One is filled to maximum capacity with the ornaments I’ve collected during our 32 years of marriage — I always pick up ornaments as souvenirs of my travels (though, as I’ve mentioned, most of my traveling is of the armchair variety), and the others all have a story that makes them special to me. The other tree (pictured above) is filled completely with ornaments my husband has made for me either on his scroll saw or his wood lathe (the ones he prefers making). He sells the turned wood ornaments on his website and at the Historical Arkansas Museum Store, but I always sneak a few out of his inventory for myself. This year he made some using sea urchins with turned wood finials — very cool! He had to hide some of them from me so he’d have some left over to sell.

I’ve had quite a few requests by email for autographed books to be given as Christmas presents this year. I’m always delighted to comply — it’s very flattering! — but I do have to ask that if you want any autographed books mailed to you before Christmas that you get your orders in soon. I have a few copies of most (but not all) of the titles on my backlist page. I ask $5 a copy for them, and $5 for priority mail postage for up to 2 titles, check, money order or PayPal. Send me an email at gina.w@live.com, preferably before Dec. 20,  if you want one.

The details for the new contest prize are up. In honor of the January 1 drawing date, I’m giving away a copy of A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, a New Year’s Eve themed book I wrote for Harlequin Temptation in 1997 — a collector’s book! Entering is super easy — just send your name and address to me by email and you’ll be entered in the drawing.

One final note today: Don’t forget that A VERY NASCAR HOLIDAY is available in stores now, including my Christmas story, SECRET SANTA. Details are on the Books Available Now page. Click on the tab above.

The winner of the December 1 drawing is Cathy Thomas of New York. Congratulations, Cathy! I’ll announce the next contest in tomorrow’s post. Thanks for playing, everyone!

I try to be thankful every day for the many blessings in my life, but this is the week in the U.S. in which we celebrate an official Thanksgiving Day. So, rather than making a list, I thought I’d randomly share some of the things I’m thankful for at this moment:

I’m grateful for my family, always. Their love, their support, their indulgence of my neuroses and quirks. For the stray cat who wandered into my house 11 years ago and hasn’t stepped out since, and is even now purring beside me. For my extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, in-laws, nieces and nephews. The clan grows larger all the time, and I love feeling that connection. I’m thankful to still have my dad, and that he’s in good health. And I am so very grateful for the beautiful, special memories of my beloved mother, whose spirit will be with me through the holiday season.

I’m thankful for apple cinnamon herbal tea and skinny vanilla lattes. For 100-calorie pack snacks (currently loving the Emerald cocoa-roast almonds) and Yoplait Yogurt Delights that have helped me lose 20 pounds since April and get back to a healthier weight.

I’m grateful for the laptop computer I’m typing on now. For all computers, actually. I still remember using white-out and correction tape on all my typos when writing my first book. What a nightmare! And I’m happy my computer is full of music to inspire and entertain me while I write.

And speaking of entertainment, I’m thankful for the TV shows I most love right now — Castle, The Mentalist, White Collar, Burn Notice, Lost, House and Fringe — and all the pretty men on those shows who provide such delightful eye candy (as the old saying goes, I’m married, not dead!). I make no apologies for being a TV junkie, though I’m not really into reality programming (except the dancing and singing and cooking competitions, which I enjoy). I love clever writing, whether between the covers of books, on a movie screen or on my aging Sony 27-inch TV screen!

I’m thankful for pre-lighted Christmas trees and steam-in-the-bag veggies and digital cameras. For cell phones with nationwide coverage and mobile-to-mobile plans that let me stay in touch with my daughters on their separate coasts. And grateful that both those daughters and my son-in-law will be home for Christmas!

I’m grateful for my friends. The ones I’ve known since childhood. Ones I’ve met more recently. Writer friends who are always there to listen to my whining or brainstorm an idea. On-line friends who share my interests in TV or parenting or playing the occasional on-line game.

I’m so very thankful to be pursuing the career that was my lifelong dream. For the opportunity to work in pajamas and spend so much time in my daydreams. For my agent and editors who are my support team in making each book the best it can be. For the readers who buy my books and take the time to let me know when they enjoy them. What a blessing you have all been!

I could ramble on endlessly about the things for which I am grateful — the roof over my head, the food in my pantry, my health, fuzzy socks and dark chocolate. The point is, no matter how blue I might be, or how frustrating life becomes at times, there are always things to be thankful for and I try to make a point to mentally list those things often. I’ve found that habit to be a very effective therapy (along with a piece of dark chocolate and a pretty face on the TV screen).

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

You still have time to enter the drawing for this month’s prize of two Christmas-themed books! Don’t forget to sign up for the Dec. 1 drawing by sending me an email at gina.w@live.com. Click on the Enter to Win! tab above for details.