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The kids are finally back in school for more than one day consecutively, the power is back on, and I just finished reading the first batch of email from readers of Light Beneath Ferns.

Valentines Day here was like something I would edit out of a YA I was writing. Since we were still snowed in pretty much (we could go on the roads, but it was scary cold and really icy), I made cupcakes and got a bunch of decorating stuff for Emma. Or so I thought.

Somehow we ended up on Valentines night with teenagers and a very, very impromptu Valentines Day party. I never thought teens would want to stay in the kitchen with me and Emma, but they proved me wrong. Not only did they make more cupcakes, they mixed icing and used all the sprinkles and hearts. They actually stayed in there and talked to me. I love what they did with the icing:


Of course, Philip had on his hat (you know how little kids like certain things, like belts or bracelets? Philip has always loved hats) Here he is with Emma and friend:


And yesterday I found out I was a paranormal romance writer. I didn't know that. But that's ok, paranormal romance is a perfectly acceptable sub genre. The only thing is, I don't write about vampires. And that seems to be a problem.

It's not that I have anything against vampires, and I'm sure there are good stories out there involving vampires, but I don't write them. In fact, I don't even read them. And if you like them, that's what you like and you should read all kinds of vampire books. Vampires just seem silly to me for the most part.

But somehow, somewhere, LBF got tagged "vampire" and a couple of people bought it and wrote to me complaining that they read the whole novel and there was no vampire. Not one.

They're right; there isn't a vampire in LBF. I'm not sure how books get tagged or who does the tagging, but just in case you are planning on reading it, be prepared for a very pronounced absence of vampires. The kids did talk me into walking in a Halloween parade in a vampire (vampress?) costume, but other than that, I live and write a completely vampire free life.

Maybe it's because I live in the New Jersey Pinelands which happens to be the tic capital of the world. According to the produce clerk at the local Acme, there are more tics here per square mile than any other place in the world. So maybe the whole idea of bloodsucking hits just a little too close to home.