…You’re parked in a car on the edge of a lake…isolated…no…WAIT!  Your dream guy/husband/boyfriend has parked his PICKUP on the edge of an isolated lake…it’s ten o’clock at night…full moon…stars glittering like diamonds in a clear sky on a summer night…you’re inside the pickup (an old one, of course, to avoid the bucket seat issue) OR outside the truck, stretched out on the hood…which song do you want to be playing on the radio…”Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum or “Tim McGraw” by Taylor Swift?  Post your vote as a comment here, or on my Facebook!  (This is a tough one!)

A few months ago, a friend said to me, “So…I can see you really love nature.”

Well, of course I love nature!  Everyone does!

But then her sister added, “I can tell by the names of your characters.”

I was puzzled and asked, “What do you mean?”

My friends giggled and then explained.  “So many of your characters, especially your heroines, have nature names.”

“They do?  Like what?” I asked, still not catching on.

More giggles as they said, “Aspen, Cedar, Lark.”

I smiled.  “I guess there are a few,” I said.  I was pretty amazed that I hadn’t noticed it before.

They then pointed out that there are more than just a few heroes and/or heroines with nature names!  At the time…the name list looked like this:

Aspen
Cedar
Lark
Cherry
Rivers
Violet
Poppy
Sage
“Dusty”
Lobo
Stoney
Lake (Ransom)
Snow (Saphyre)
Locklan (Loch actually means “Lake”)

Since then I’ve thought about it again!  Another novel and another e-book has hit the virtual stands since then…which includes character names like:

Ember
Ridge
Tempest
Lily

So then…the other day…I mentioned it to another friend who pointed out that my titles are very nature-ish…

Beneath the Honeysuckle Vine
Saphyre Snow
A Crimson Frost
The Time of Aspen Falls
The Highwayman of Tanglewood
The Touch of Sage
The Prairie Prince
Sudden Storms
Desert Fire
The Fragrance of her Name
The Tide of the Mermaid Tears

I couldn’t believe it!  Is that just too funny, or what?

After I realized that I must have some subconscious tendency toward liking nature-type names, I raced to my computer and opened my “Names to Use” folder.  I couldn’t believe it!  I have (at least) 10 more nature-type names on my lists of names I plan to use in books!  Who knew?

So there’s a little peek into my brain for you…something I wasn’t even aware of…even though YOU may have been.  How funny is that?  I’m so weird!

1. The kiss in the BBC North and South…Mr. Thornton and Margaret…delicious! (And my number one of all time!)
2. The kissing booth scene in She’s the Man! Love that one!
3. Love that first kiss in the Twilight movie!
4. Also have to love the kiss in New Moon…in the Cathedral…when Bella and Edward reconcile!
5. The kiss in Anne of Avonlea when Anne and Gil FINALLY kiss after like forever!
6. The kiss between Gus and Felicity on Road to Avonlea in episode Return to Me when Felicity finally finds Gus!
7. Okay…laugh if you will…but the kiss in the Disney animated version of Beauty and the Beast…after the beast has turned into the prince. (My vote for best ever animated kiss!)
8. The finally kissing scene in the movie Speed…between Keanu and Sandra Bullock!
9. When Brendan Fraser is in jail in The Mummy…reaches through the bars and grabs Rachel Weisz’s face and lays one on her! Love it! (Also one of my favorite quotes is in that same scene…when she asks him, “Do you swear?”…his response cracks me up! Love it!
10. You HAVE to love the kiss between Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed in It’s Wonderful Life…when they’re talking to Sam Wainwright on the phone!

What do you think?

Lally Joy asked Barbarella, “Well?”

Barbarella replied, “I kissed his guts out!”

Oh, my heck!  I LOVE it!  “I kissed his guts out?”  I LOVE it!  I asked Barbarella if I could tuck that away for use in a future book!  She said yes…I hope she remembers she said yes!

Meanwhile, every time I hear Lally Joy’s voice in my head saying, “I kissed his guts out!” I giggle with glee!  I love it!

A special shout-out to Barbarella and Lally Joy for making my day!

Back in the OLDEN days…there was a thing called, “Bubble Gum” music.  It was light-hearted, up-beat…often performed by a young teenage boy (i.e. Donny Osmond, Tony DeFranco, Shaun Cassidy, David Cassidy, etc.)…and it was all about young love!  One of my favorite “bubble gum” songs was a song called, “Lollipops, Lace and Lipstick.”  I just thought it was the cutest, romantic thing when I was like 11!  I know…I’m corny!  But…it’s the corn in my life that often offers the best inspiration  for my books!  In fact, I do think it is probably this song (stamped permanantly into my brain) that can account for part of my lollipop delight!  I mean, I don’t really like lollipops (though chocolate Tootsie Pops I do love!)…but I LOVE to see people eating lollipops!  Whether it’s those little Dum Dums, a Tootsie Pop, a Blow Pop or any other kind…I just get the biggest bang out of seeing people walking around with suckers in their mouths!  I can’t even explain it…but it makes me smile…every time!  (More on that personal weird thing and how it has inspired me of late later.)

Anyway…here are the lyrics to the song…just for fun.  (Youtube doesn’t have a good video using this song…so I just posted the lyrics instead.)

“When I was just a kid, I really fell in love with a little girl on my block.
I tried and tried to win her love, but she loved only lollipops!
I tried in every way I knew just to win her little heart, until one day I gave a lollipop, then cupid shot his dart!

(Chorus) Oh…
Doo de doo de doo doo doo wop, everybody to his own kick…
Doo de doo de doo doo doo wop, mine is lollipops, lace and lipstick.

Now I’m in my teens and I began to notice that my taste was changing fast.
From buttons and bows, and a turned up nose to lipstick, ribbon and lace!
She is still the apple of my eye, and she’s really got some class.
She’s got a wiggle in her walk and a giggle in her talk, all covered in ribbons and lace.

(Repeat Chorus)

As I grow up I know I’ll learn to love the gentle touch of her fingertips.
But there’s one thing that I’ve got to do, taste the lipstick off of her lips!
Then one fine day, I’ll say goodbye to all the joy, the laughs and tears.
For some day I’ll make this girl my wife, and be the guy with the lipstick smears!

(Repeat Chorus)

“What’s the title?” you ask?   Well…I’ve finally settled on… “Kiss in the Dark!” What do you think?  I REALLY like the work, “kiss!”  Seriously!  It’s just a good word!  I think it should be used as often as possible…don’t you?

Anyway…just thought I’d drop that little tidbit today!  “Kiss in the Dark”…don’t you think it sounds delicious?

Naturally, Sandy is as big a romantic as I am…therefore, it wasn’t long before we decided to take some romantic kissing pictures of Barbie and Ken.  BUT…hold the phone!  Mitchel ran upstairs and got his Max Steel doll!  Rippling  with perfectly sculpted albeit plastic muscles…Max Steel put poor Ken to shame!  Thus, a shirtless Max Steel won Barbie’s heart (and lips) that day!  (Please note:  the Max Steel doll did not come equipped with a shirt…so it worked in our favor.)

So, just for fun…here a couple of the photos we took that fun Christmas morning nearly ten years ago!  (You have to admit it…Max Steel blows poor Ken away!)  (If you have a camera and a Barbie and Ken…snap a couple of kissing shots of your own, e-mail them to me and I’ll post them!)

1.  “To lips touchin’ together…cheek to cheek…sweatshirt to sweater.” (Hot Rod Hearts by Robbie Dupree)