My Melting Moment

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Miranda P. Charles

Greeting Card by Blue Mountain Arts, Published and Distributed by For Arts Sake

My husband and I recently celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. This day coincided with a 4-day work trip he had to go to so I tagged along with him.

We got to our hotel and started unpacking. All of a sudden, hubby went, “Oh, no! Damn!”

“What's wrong, baby?” I asked, startled.

“Oh, no!” he continued his lament.

“What?”

“I forgot your anniversary card at home!”

Oh, no.

Now, I must tell you how important greeting cards are to us. We prefer not to buy each other presents during our anniversaries and birthdays. We make those occasions special by going out to dinner at a really nice restaurant and, you guessed it, give each other greeting cards with mushy, sentimental writing that we read out to each other.

I was, of course, disappointed that he forgot. I fought the urge to pout and say “how could you?” and settled instead for “oh, that's okay. Just give it to me when we get home.”

“I had it all ready! I've written on it. I left it on my desk. I just forgot to pack it,” he said with repentant eyes. After several, pretty obvious reminders to him that our anniversary was coming up, he was certain I wouldn't be happy that he still managed to forget a very important part of it.

I knew he had bought the card already so I wasn't that hurt he forgot to bring it. After all, he had been very busy with work leading up to that trip.

“It's okay. Don't worry about it,” I appeased him.

On the actual day of our anniversary, we did have a very special dinner and when we got back to our hotel, I gave him his card and he read it out loud while we cuddled.

“Thank you. It's a very nice card,” he said, sounding morose again. “I left your card at home,” he added with a pout, still feeling guilty about it.

I showed him I was okay with it.

Fast forward to one week after we got back home from that trip.

Hubby came home and said, “I have something for you.” He pulled something out of his bag and handed me a greeting card. “It's to make up for our anniversary.”

“But you already gave me an anniversary card.”

“Yeah, but it wasn't a very good card. It wasn't as nice as the one you gave me.”

Oh, yes. My husband can be quite competitive. He always wants to give me something better than I've given him.

I took the card out of the envelope and it started with “Because I love you”.

Oh, my competitive and very, very sweet hubby. After seven years of marriage, he still makes me melt.

It really is the little things that keep a relationship fresh and happy.

**************

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Grateful For My ‘Alone Time’

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Miranda P. Charles

Even after seven years of marriage, my husband still gets very amused by the fact that I can last literally all day not talking to anyone. You see, he's my opposite. He loves talking while I love writing. (If truth be told, he used to get annoyed with me for “not making more effort to talk to more people” but he sees the advantages of it now :-)).

It's true that I can simply shut myself in my office for nine hours straight (sometimes longer) and only come out for short bathroom breaks. But to say that I don't talk to anyone all day during these times is strictly not true. When I have these precious days, I spend at least two hours a day, sometimes more, connecting with people on Twitter and Facebook or on the email. I relish that time of connection with those who have the same interests as I have – reading and writing.

There are times when I do crave to be with people more than anything, but as an introvert and a writer, I need to have my alone time and lots of it. It's my time for rejuvenation and reflection but mainly my time for creativity.

It's really only when I started writing my first romance novel, Will To Love, that I've really celebrated my introversion and love of alone time. Before that I felt guilty when I spend too much time by myself. I'm glad I'm over that guilt. I love writing and having time alone gives me the opportunity to express myself through my books.

Today, I'm in country New South Wales, Australia with my husband who is on a work-related trip. I'm looking out our hotel window and I can see the sun shining and the ocean sparkling. I'm inspired to stay here in our room to enjoy my thoughts and write amidst this backdrop.

So today, I want to give gratitude for my alone time. I may think I don't get as much of it as I would like, but I'm thankful for whatever I do get.

What about you? Do you love your alone time? How much of it do you get and what do you prefer doing when you have time to yourself?

If It Wasn’t For You…

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Miranda P. Charles

Today, I enjoyed another great spring weather in Sydney.

I went to visit a very good friend of mine who cooked a delicious, light lunch for us. Then we went for a nice, leisurely walk around her suburb.

I love days like this. It refreshes my mind and I get a bit of a break from thinking about my writing and book promotions. It also makes me appreciate the lifestyle that I live.

I love being an author. I'm not tied to a particular schedule, I don't have strict “office hours” (although I do need to follow my own schedule for time management purposes) and I can travel anywhere with my husband and still be able to do my work.

It took me a while – years in fact – before I gave myself permission to “try” writing a novel. I'm glad I finally did. I'm no longer just trying to do something I thought I would like, I am doing what I love.

Being an author and getting my books known out there takes a lot of time and effort. But I'd rather be working hard doing what I love than doing something that doesn't inspire me.

So today was a reminder for me to be grateful that I am an author. It will not always be springtime, the flowers won't always be in bloom, but I'm grateful that through my writing, I have the opportunity to continually give “life” to something that didn't exist before I put them in words.

And I am grateful to you for reading, whether you like what I write or not! If it wasn't for you reading my books, my blogs, my tweets or my posts, my words would be like a scream that no one heard.

Falling In Love With Writing Romance Novels

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Miranda P. Charles

Clarise Carson and Will Matthews' love story is the first ever novel I have written. When I sat down one day and decided to write a novel, I knew it was going to be a love story.

I'm excited and grateful that their story is now available for everyone to read. Will To Love (Lifestyle by Design Book 1) has been available on Amazon for almost a month now.

I didn't know how long it would take me to write it or how focused I would be in completing it but when my fingers hit the keyboard and their story started unfolding, I found myself as engrossed in writing it as when I'm reading a book I couldn't put down.

I found myself typing until very late into the night for a period of three months as I put into words the scenes that were playing in my head.

I fell in love with Will and Clarise as well as the other characters in the book. It was a revelation to discover that, when I write, my characters seemed like real people to me and I was there telling their stories even though they were just products of my imagination. My guess is a lot of fiction authors feel and write this way, too.

I originally had a different “middle bit” in mind for Will To Love. I thought Karen would appear much earlier in the story, that Clarise's “baggage” would hold her back much more than it did and that Will would not discover his true feelings until much later. But somehow, Will and Clarise's love life developed as it had. I hope you love their story just as much as I loved writing it.

Completing and publishing this book on Amazon had changed a lot of things for me. I've long thought about writing a novel but questioned whether I had what it took. With Will To Love, I now know without doubt that I would love to write more romance novels that people enjoy reading.

Currently, I'm writing Heart Robber, Book 2 of the Lifestyle by Design series. I can't wait to share that with you when it's ready!

Hello!

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Miranda P. Charles

Hello everyone! Welcome to my site.

I look forward to sharing with you my thoughts on love and romance and the books I have loved reading. I also can't wait to share with you my romance novels including my thoughts and experiences during the writing and publishing process.

I hope to connect with you here. I'd love to hear about your thoughts and views also.

Love,

Miranda