I had intended to write a blog about my very recent trip to England. But unfortunately, I received very bad news when I arrived home. Instead of a light and breezy travel blog I hope you can forgive this snippet on grief and sorrow. I received a message from a friend of a friend. As soon as I read it, I knew it couldn’t be good news about our mutual friend. I learned that our friend died in a car accident.

I’m heartbroken.

I am grieving her loss. She was such a bright light, such a happy, exuberant, caring and thoughtful person. Everyone who knew her liked her.

I always thought when we lose someone they are in some limbo or in pain. I guess as I’ve aged, I’ve come to the believe and hope they are at peace, so what is the grief for? I think it’s more for the living. We grieve the loss of this person in our life. Selfish? Maybe. But very human.

Also, I find myself asking, “Why?”

Her name is Sara. We met freshman year of college over forty years ago and became fast friends. Sorority sisters, roommates and travel companions

She had a beautiful smile and a contagious laugh.

She was sewn into the fabric of my life, and I took for granted that those threads would remain intact always. But in one senseless, tragic act the threads were torn apart.

I’m only one of her family and many friends who are grieving and will continue to grieve her absence in our lives.

She and I cried on each other’s shoulders. We listened to each other’s woes, asked and gave advice, and confided and supported each other. I hope I was as good a friend to her as she was to me.

I do believe in God, and I do believe there is a place where you go and you’re at peace. And I have no doubt Sara lit up Heaven with her bright smile.

RIP my dear sweet Sara.

You will be missed.

Love you.

Fun & thoughtful stories

She was considerate about my anxieties. I was not comfortable with trains, so we took a bus for our four-day break during Shakespeare in England. Only to discover our bus couldn’t go into York because of a strike.

She humored me and jumped right in to attend a Gerard Butler fan event with me.

She caught my wedding bouquet.

She drove up to Michigan to catch one of my daughter’s performances and met me at Ball State to watch my son play a baseball game.

She was my Homecoming date for too many Homecomings to count.

Thank you for indulging me. My next post will be about my trip or writing related.

What’s in a Name – part one talked about coming up with the “right” name for our fictional towns. Well, part two is about how we name our characters.

There are many ways authors come up with names for their characters. I know some authors will ask their street team for suggestions. Or reward one of their fans by putting their name in a story. I was a lucky fan of Roxanne St. Claire who got to be in one of her stories. Pretty exciting for a fan and aspiring author.

When I wrote my first book I was still as much a reader as I was a writer. I followed so many authors. As a way to show my appreciation and respect for these people I named a few of my characters after them. Also, I wasn’t very seasoned and didn’t have any significant way to choose a character’s name. Looking back there wasn’t any rhyme or reason to how I came up with the names. It was a totally random approach.

~ I named my main character Lori, for Lori Wilde.

~ I had a Dr. St. Claire for my friend Rocki.

~ Bud Brennan, who was the fire chief, I named for Allison Brennan.

~ Deputy Paul Phillips for Carly Phillips

~ One family surname was James, which came from Julie James.

A recurring character in all three of the books in the Lucky in Love series is Sheriff Kell Howard. The last name of Howard came from one of my favorite suspense writers, Linda Howard. And I always liked the name Kell — not Kelly, just Kell.

I can’t say my more recent attempts at naming characters has been any more sophisticated. I’ve been known to sit for far too long staring at my computer screen while I try to choose the perfect name.

In my Lucky Star book I liked the name Chase. I had a different last name picked out, until I heard the name Devine at one of my son’s baseball games. It’s the perfect name for the male main character in a romance.

You know some authors will name a character for a particular reason (an ex or boss), then kill them off. Cheaper than therapy?

If you are an author, how do you come up with your character’s names? Readers, how important is a character’s name? Will you read a book if you hate the names of the characters? Or if you have a bad history with someone with the same name, can you get past that bias?

When I finally convinced my husband to get another dog, I had no idea how much harder it would be than in the past. Granted, we got a puppy rather than a calm, mature dog. That will go in the “live and learn” column.

We’ve had previous dogs. Two we got as puppies, a golden retriever mix (Hobie) and a border collie mix (Oreo) (both from shelters) and a third, a set-in-his-ways, twelve-year-old dachshund (Rojo) we inherited after my mother died. So, this isn’t our first canine rodeo.

We lost Rojo in 2020. He lived to be eighteen. It took a year, but my husband finally agreed, and we headed to a shelter to meet a cute little puppy described as timid on Petfinder.

When we met him, he was indeed timid and skittish around us. I figured he’d be easy to manage since they estimated his maximum weight to be around 40 lbs. Our Oreo was over 75 lbs so I figured we’d be good. Brodie is now almost 60 lbs and the word “timid” is not in his puppy vocabulary.

He now has a ferocious bark and has the energy of three dogs. Destroys every “indestructible” toy we’ve bought him, He chases squirrels, chipmunks, bunnies, cats, and birds. He eats anything and everything. Mulch, grass, flowers, leaves, sticks, even rocks. Yes, rocks.

My “OMG meter” broke when he caught a chipmunk and brought it in the house, despite my screaming. In fact, it may have been because of my screams that he carried the critter up the stairs, into our bedroom, and jumped on the bed, hiding on the pillows as if I couldn’t get to him there. Another time, he brought a dead bird to the door, but that time I calmly told him to drop it and he did. Right in front of the slider. Most recently, he ate a mouse. I was so totally grossed out I couldn’t eat for a day. (A possible diet idea? No, thanks.)

Oh, and he loves to grab and run. Paper towels and tissues are his favorite go-to. But, he has eaten a few earrings and destroyed slippers, shoes, socks, a sweater, even a pair of my underwear. He is actually quite talented at balancing more than one item in his mouth at once.

His DNA (yes, we took a swab) shows he has a significant amount of an Australian shepherd in him. He is constantly on the go and tries to herd us. Saying we are overwhelmed is an understatement.

He has gotten used to my writing routine, but every once in a while he reminds me that he needs attention, too.

The problem is, when he is calm, he is the sweetest dog. And we are in love with him. When he looks at us with those big brown eyes, our hearts melt. Do I wish we had kids still at home to play with him? Yes. Do I wish he was a little older and calmer? You bet. Would I give him back? Never.

Brodie is now a member of the Stone family, for better or worse. We love the little stinker!

Brodie dislikes: Thunder storms, fireworks, his people on their phones.

Brodie likes: Pup cups at Culver’s, rides in the car, walks with his dad, new bones and hanging with his mom.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

This quote from Shakespeare may convey that the naming of things is irrelevant, but I disagree. When I decided I wanted to write books it was important to me to center my stories around a community in a small town. Finding a good name, the right name became a project.

I enjoy reading series in which the town becomes a character in and of itself. Susan Mallery’s Fool’s Gold and Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series come to mind.

At the time I started writing, Carly Phillips had a series that took place in a town called Serendipity, which I enjoyed. Lori Wilde has written so many books and she takes the prize, in my mind, for producing clever town names. For instance, Kringle, Tx, Cupid, Tx and my favorite, Valentine, Tx.

Because I am from Ohio and I currently live in Michigan, I started there, hoping to find an inspiration. So, I set about searching online via Google Maps. I didn’t think Hell, Michigan shouted romance. Lucky for me, it didn’t take long for me to discover there is a town in Ohio named Luckey.

In my first drafts I used the name of the actual town, but because I wanted my town to be totally fictional and hopefully not make anyone in the real Luckey unhappy with me, I took the advice of a writing buddy and simplified it to Lucky, Ohio.

Photo credit: Alyssa Alexander

I think Lucky, is the perfect name for a town for second chance romances.

Just for fun here are some of the unique names we have in our country.

Using Google maps you can discover some interesting names. Warning: Be prepared to go down a rabbit hole.

• American Fork, Utah
• Bangs, Texas
• Blue Ball, Delaware
• Bluff, Alaska
• Boring, Oregon
• Breadloaf, Vermont
• Buttzville, New Jersey
• Difficult, Tennessee
• Dinosaur, Colorado
• Friendship, Maine
• Fries, Virginia
• Happy Corner, New Hampshire
• Nothing, Arizona
• Nowhere, Colorado
• Placentia, California
• Recluse, Wyoming
• Soda Springs, Idaho
• Truth or Consequences, New Mexico
• White Pigeon, Michigan
• Why Not, North Carolina
• Why, Arizona

For my first official blog post I think it is the perfect time to say thank you to the village who supported my on my journey to publication.

There are so many people who encouraged and helped me along the way.

A big thank you to Roxanne St. Claire, Lori Wilde, and Kristan Higgins who each listened to my ideas and encouraged me at the very beginning. You’ll never know how much I appreciated your time. It meant so much to me. Every new writer should be so lucky! I hope I wasn’t too much of a “fan girl.”

I must thank Romance Writers of America (RWA). Through my membership with them, I was able to attend national conferences where I was able to learn so much about the craft and business of writing. I was also able to join local and online chapters of RWA.

My two local groups are, Mid-Michigan Romance Writers of America (now known as Michigan Romance Writers) and Greater Detroit Romance Writers. Each group has connected me with other writers who have always been supportive in so many ways. A special thank you goes to my weekly writing buddies: Dawn Bartley, Lenore English, Patricia Kiyono, Lucy Kubash, Betty Meyette, Deb Moser, and Diana Stout.

I also want to thank the three Lucky Star Beta readers, Alby Blazo, Linda Fletcher, and Betty Meyette. I value your wisdom and writing expertise more than I can say .

Thank you to my editor Julie Sturgeon, CEOEditor, Inc. and my cover designer RCMatthewsArtist.

A huge shout out to Diana Stout who spent many hours teaching me about formatting my book for KDP and Ingram Sparks and troubleshooting my website.

My acknowledgments would be incomplete if I didn’t recognize and thank my parents, Gerhard and Anne Klouman. They are no longer with us. But I am confident they are looking down with pride. I certainly was blessed the day they chose me.

Thank you to my family and friends who believed in me and encouraged me to keep writing, especially my children Elizabeth and Andrew and my husband Jeff. Your love and support over the years has meant everything to me.