Sometimes there's nothing else you can do but laugh. Remember all that blather about becoming a morning person? Well, my good intentions slid down the rabbit hole last night and I stayed up until nearly four. Was it a productive late night? No, It wasn't. I was so excited about being the Guest Columnist for Suzanne Beecher's wonderful DearReader service that I stayed up staring at my email inbox waiting for notes to come in.

The amazing thing is that the notes really did come in. I feel like a kid on Christmas morning! Those of you who know me are aware that I'm challenged when it comes to timely correspondence, but I gave Suzanne my solemn vow to answer all of my mail quickly and I'm going to keep my promise. Truth is, it's an absolute joy. (Does anyone else have the strange habit of reading email then answering it in her head? I do that all the time and then forget the witty reply never made it from said head to the computer screen. Scary.)

Since a blog entry is kind of bland without a picture or two to liven things up, how about another walk down memory lane? This is a photo of the original oil painting that served as the cover of my second book, The Sweetest of Debts, for Harlequin American way back in 1984, when I was a whole lot younger and, strangely enough, wiser as well.

Barbara