Romance Lives

A big THANK YOU to all of you who purchased Peter ~ Fisher of Men this last year. (I'll bet that's not how you pictured the first sentence of a post on romance.)

Last year, more people bought my first book, Malchus, and my sales revenue from the sequel dropped far, far into the double digits. This year, sequel sales increased almost 700%! So maybe I haven't made it on the New York Times Bestseller List yet, but I was happy.

Jack was happy, too. Since he was the one who encouraged me to submit Peter to another publisher after the manuscript had already been rejected once, AND went the extra mile to talk to some of the guys when he bumped into them at a conference, he (quite justly) feels a proprietary interest in my success.

Every year we joke about his cut, and he tells me all the outrageous things he wants me to get for him. (Since moving to the Chilly Northland, Hawaiian vacations have featured prominently.) This year, I told him I wanted to take a little of the "special money" and go on a date night with him.

"Yeah, I'll take you out," he grinned. "I'll take you down to Al's Meats and buy you a muffin."

Funny man.

The actual Big Event was almost as romantic as he envisioned, even if there were no muffins. I have been awfully sick for two weeks now, and if that wasn't bad enough, the frighteningly warm temperatures left rivers of molten snow turning to sheets of ice at night. Undaunted, we decided if we couldn't go out, we would just have to stay in.

Mom & Dad were kind enough to take the children for the night, and Jack & I cooked up a storm, together. Once we had a first-rate homemade Mexican dinner put together, we snuggled up to watch a movie. That is, until nine-thirty, which found me passed out cold. The End.

Romance may not be dead, but it sure falls asleep easily. And even though it didn't last very long, spending a whole evening with my best friend, the love of my life, was wonderful! I can't to see what unique Mommy-Daddy Date Night we come up with next, perhaps an afternoon nap.....

Still waiting for my muffin,

Noni Beth