Sorry to be away for a bit. My eldest dareling started kindergarten on Monday, and my youngest started at a new preschool. The Dare household has been settling into a new routine. It's a rite of passage for us all...sniffle.

I had the most wonderful time with the book group at Sunshine Books in Cypress last week. The lovely ladies of Sunshine really know how to make an author feel welcome! This Saturday, I'll be signing books at the Borders Express in Orange, CA, from 11 AM to 1PM. (1500 E. Village Way, Orange, CA)

Now that the darelings are back in school, I have more time to write. And boy, do I need it! Deadline for Stud Club book two (Twice Tempted by a Rogue) is fast approaching. Luckily for me, I'm able to combine deadline goals with fundraising goals for mega-motivation. For the second year, I've registered to participate in Unleash Your Story, a reading and writing event to benefit Cystic Fibrosis research. Once again, a group of us are teaming up--mostly friends from the Eloisa James/Julia Quinn Bulletin Board--to form the BonBon Chocolate Mafia. (Yes, of course there's a story behind that name. But it's long.) Last year, our team raised over $1200!

My goal for the month is 30,000 words (or more) by the end of September. I've added a little widget to the sidebar to track my progress. You can support this very worthy cause by either donating to my page or by joining the event yourself by making a reading or writing goal and collecting donations.

Click the image to learn more!

You probably think I'm talking about the inauguration.  Yes, that too!  I'll be forcing the darelings to watch it with me, no matter how they plead for Spongebob instead, and they are going to be completely bored and have no idea what the big deal is - and that is awesome.  Now we just have to deal with the question my eldest burst out with yesterday evening, in the middle of the Lakers game: "Hey!  How come there are no girls?"

But it's a happy day in the Dare household for yet another reason:

Yes, my ARCs arrived!  But...there are ten of them.  Ten.  Don't they know I need at least 200?  Ack.  I'm not sure what I'll be doing with them, but for the moment I'm holding my preciouses close and just staring at them a lot.  Okay, and fondling them, but we won't talk about that.

Hope it's a happy day for you all as well!

I may be insane.  I plan to take the darelings with me today to the polls.

I don't have a sitter, for one.  And for another, I just like taking them there, to see what this whole democracy thing is all about.  Plus, they get stickers!

My eldest and I have been having lots of adorable conversations over the past month or so about just what it is a president does (hard to explain, when she still can't quite grasp the distinctions of city/state/country) and what voting is all about.  I can tell it distresses her shiny new sense of fairness that only one of the two candidates can win.  When I told her that the grownups will all be going to vote so they can choose the new president, she said, "I don't want to grow up.  I don't think I could choose.  Can't they share?"

I've also been hearing from my mom--who, for the first time in my memory anyway, has been actively campaigning on behalf of her candidate, calling voters, standing out for hours in crummy weather to hear him speak.  I think it's awesome.

I write historical romances because I find that long-ago, far-away time to be swooningly romantic.  But today, I could not be more happy to be a modern woman.  I'm so glad that this is the very first election my daughter is aware of.  I can discuss the four main candidates with her, and she can look at that group of people and see herself someday fitting among them--because they include both a female candidate and a biracial candidate.  When she says "When I grow up, maybe I can be president," I can say unequivocally, "Of course you can!" and the media images she takes in will actually back me up!  (Of course, most days careers like "teacher", "doctor", and "restaurant girl" seem to hold more appeal for her, but we encourage her to keep her options open.)

I'm also grateful to have my children around me, because explaining all this to them makes me even more conscious of the responsibility of voting, the wonderful thing that is democracy.  And some masochistic part of me wants to make my children stand in a big long line to witness it, because they should know that it's something worth waiting in line for--even moreso than their favorite rides at Disneyland.

So if you see some frazzled woman at the polls today with her two noisy children in tow, cut her some slack and pass the stickers.  She might be me!

Did you vote!  How were the lines?  Did you hear Starbucks is giving out free coffee to voters?  I'm going to need it!  I thought I heard a rumor about Ben&Jerry's giving out ice cream, too.  Any more freebies?

Happy Halloween, everyone!  I hope you all have safe and festive celebration!

So, which candy will you be stealing from your children's haul tonight (or holding back from the neighborhood kids)?  I'm partial to the peanut butter cups and anything with coconut.  On the other hand, I've reached the point in my life where certain candies just aren't worth it - like those Tootsie Roll Pops.  A ball of random-flavored hard candy surrounding a tarry little wad of goo?  Nah, the kids can have those.

Here's a delicious treat for you, if you haven't already seen it:  The first seven chapters of Eloisa James' When the Duke Returns are available for your preview pleasure! (read: torture, since the book is still a month from release!)

Sooooooo good, it's scary.

The other day, I was happily reading a romance novel, and my littlest dareling came up and sat beside me.  He tried to grab for the book, and I said, "No, sweetie.  Mommy's book."

"Mommy's book," says the dareling.

"Yes," I say. "Mommy's book."

The dareling disappears.  Pitter-patter of little feet down the hallway.  Back comes the dareling with his own romance novel, plucked from my bookshelf.  Steamy stepback and all.  He settles up next to me, opens the book (upside-down, of course), leafs through the pages, and says proudly, "MY book."

This made me start thinking, what will I do when my kids get old enough to read the titles of all these books littering the house, let alone the contents?  Am I going to keep my shelves of romance novels at their eye level, and continually field questions such as, "Mommy, what's a kor-tee-san?" or, "What happened to these people's clothes?"   What will I do when they ask to read my books?

Don't get me wrong.  I want my kids to grow up loving reading and loving books, and I don't have any problem saying, "You're not old enough for these yet."  But I wonder...what place should my own books have in my house, once dareling literacy sets in?  Displayed proudly on shelves, or hidden in unmarked boxes...?

What do you think?