The Purse Project: J. Lynn Rowan

I kind of hate purses. This aversion goes back to my college years, when I felt it necessary to separate myself from the less-than-adorable purses my well-meaning relatives tended to gift me around holidays and birthdays. I had one of those itty bitty college wallets, embossed with my school’s logo, that didn’t hold much behind my official ID, driver’s license, and five bills. And if I could get away with not carrying even that tiny, relatively useless thing, I’d do it.

Supposedly, the contents of a woman’s purse can reveal things about her personality and lifestyle. You’d have to take the contents of my purse in tandem with the contents of whatever larger bag it’s usually being carried in to really get a sense of who I am.

Purse + work bag = teacher who keeps procrastinating about grading papers.

Purse + diaper bag = mom who really wishes her kid would figure out how to use the potty so we can downsize said diaper bag.

When you narrow it down to just my purse, though, it’s pretty basic.

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A wallet. Yes, it matches the purse (and diaper bag). I like things to color coordinate.

  1. Smartphone. Because connectivity.
  2. Gift cards that may or may not have money left on them.
  3. Lip balm of some sort, usually Blistex. My lips always seem to be chapped.
  4. Lipstick and lip gloss, specifically Mary Kay because that’s the only brand of lip color I’ve purchased in the past ten years. The only reason it’s even in there is because I went to a wedding a month and a half ago, and still haven’t remembered to take the lip color back OUT of my purse.
  5. Business card carrier, because you never know when someone might ask about your books and you want to send them easily to your website.

Interestingly, I rarely carry my keys in my purse, unless I’m out and about without one of my larger bags.

I guess I’m still a minimalist at heart.

At least when it comes to my purse.

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Marissa O’Brien has sworn off long-term relationships. But all her rules fly out the window when she grabs the attention of a sexy, international stranger during her weekly Girls’ Night Out.

Josh Mattingly has spent the last two years trying to turn over a new leaf. In Asheville, North Carolina, on business, the last thing he’d planned on was getting involved with a local girl. But one encounter with Marissa has him hooked.

Marissa recognizes a playboy when she sees one and tries to keep her attraction to Josh under wraps–until they share a passionate kiss that leaves both of them singed. Now Josh has to prove to Marissa that she can trust him with her heart.

The One I’m With is available at Amazon.

About the author: Lynn Rowan started writing stories as a small child, usually starring her favorite cartoon characters. Most of her work through middle and high school was filled with typical teenage angst and melodrama, and usually mirrored the books she loved to read. But eventually she found her own author’s voice and decided to seriously pursue a writing career.

Historical fiction remains J. Lynn’s “first love”, but she has enjoyed the journey to becoming an author of romance and chick lit. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Central New York Romance Writers, and the Historical Novel Society. She is also a teacher who tries to instill a love of learning, reading, and writing in her students.

When she’s not writing, J. Lynn enjoys travelling, gardening poorly but enthusiastically, studying various topics in American history for her own expertise, and channeling Julia Child every time she steps into the kitchen.

A native of Oswego, NY, she now lives in Charlotte, NC, with her own Romantic Hero of a husband and the most adorable toddler on the planet.

Follow J. Lynn on social media:

Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice

The new DC Comics “superhero” movie, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice premieres on March 25. Ben Affleck is the newest incarnation of Bruce Wayne (Batman) and British actor Henry Cavill returns as Superman (Clark Kent).

Initially, I was upset that a British actor was cast to play the most American of all heroes–“truth, justice, the American way” and all that–until I realized that Superman isn’t American. His Clark Kent disguise is American, but Superman (Kal-El) is an immigrant. He may be the ultimate immigrant.

And Henry Cavill is very very easy to look at.

A couple of items of note:

Superman is not really a superhero. He’s an alien living among us, doing good.

Batman is not at all a superhero. He’s a (well-motivated) sicko with gadgets.

Holiday Gifts Part 2

A few weeks ago I asked other authors if they could give the world any gift at all this holiday, what would that gift be. The response was so overwhelming, I split the responses into two blogs. Here’s part two.

BELLE AMI (The One and More): That people all over the world would stop  teaching their children to hate.

RB AUSTIN (Fallen Darkness): Coexistence.

EMILY CARRINGTON (Tell Me I’m Home): Hope. The only thing humanity can’t live without.

LASHELL COLLINS (Soul Stealer): I’d destroy all the racial hatred in the world.

AMY DEASON (Angels in the Shadows): Freedom from terrorists.

NANCY FRASER (Home is Where the Hunk Is):  I would give tolerance. A world that could and would practice tolerance for all persons and beliefs would be an ideal place to live.

C.D. HERSH (Sizzle in the Snow: A Soul Mate Christmas Anthology): Peace and security.

ELIZABETH JOHN (Judging Joey): Everyone perform an act of kindness for a stranger each day and for that stranger to pay it forward.

LYNN LORENZ (Breakfast at Tiffany’s): The gift I’d give the world if it were in my power is clean drinking water for everyone.

P.J. MACLAYNE (Wolves’ Pawn):  The gift of kindness. If we all could just share a little kindness with each other, the world would be a better place.

A. CATHERINE NOON (Cat’s Cradle): The ability to express the unique voice that is in each of us; the gift of peace and safety, so that each voice could be heard. We don’t need to look alike, sound alike, or think alike in order to be human – in fact, that would be a great loss to the world if we rubbed away all that makes us unique.

TAMERA STONE (Race for My Heart): For the Peace Fairy sprinkle fairy dust over EVERYONE so we all could just get along and stop all this hatred and war.

TINA SUSEDIK (Sizzle in the Snow-A Collection of Christmas Stories):  Peace. I pray for peace. I pray that my grandchildren will not have to grow up and be scared in a world torn by war. If I could afford it, I would gift the homeless with a place to live and food to eat.

IRIS WYNNE (The Missing Mah Jongg Player): All the wishes and prayers to come true for those who have a good heart.

MJ: I hope your holidays are everything you need them to be

Omega Moon Rising

Toke Lobo

The third book in my Toke Lobo & the Pack werewolf series has been picked up by Soul Mate Publishing.

For those of you who are familiar with the series, the hero of this book is Luke Omega–the band’s young drummer, resident computer geek, and errand boy who has a penchant for Internet porn.

Details to follow as they become available!

 

Making Lemonade

I have been traveling for three weeks. I had three suitcases in my home office in various stages of packing/unpacking. All of my trips were fabulous — until it came time to come home from the final one. My journey home from Las Vegas this week surpassed my 1989 trip-from-hell (okay, it was from Wichita to Syracuse via St. Louis, not hell), the day I spent a week in the St. Louis airport.

But I’ve learned a lot since 1989. Like about lemonade and toads. I will be sharing my experiences over the next couple of weeks.