Spring Fever

Spring is in the air, and I’m loving every minute of it. We’ve had a warm spell lately and the flowers are blooming everywhere. I think spring is my favorite season since the weather is warm enough for short sleeves but we haven’t hit the sweltering summer of southern Virginia.

Yesterday I felt like I joined the ranks of Sports Moms. You know, the mothers with minivans who tote around bags of sports equipment, running from one sport to the next, while cheering on their kids. It began with my daughter’s swimming lesson. Ever since she learned she wasn’t Jesus and couldn’t walk on water, each lesson has been a Dramatic Crisis filled with screaming and protests. She somehow blames her falling in the water on her instructor. Each time she sees him, she cries, which makes for a wonderful lesson. Anyway, I bypassed the drama by bribing her. The child will sell her soul for M&Ms, and is quite willing to consider drowning if it means she’ll get a small snack. I suppose this may make me a rotten mother, but hey, at least she’s facing her fear. After these sessions, I’ll probably let her stop until she’s a little older.

After that, we dashed to Mickey D’s to grab some food before my son’s t-ball game. T-ball amuses me. Each time a player throws a ball to another, the catcher looks at him as if to say, “What? You expect me to get hot and tired by chasing that thing? Go get it yourself!” And then there’s batting where the kids bat the ball and then chase after it instead of running to first base.

My last bit of good news is that I received my first book review from Romantic Times Magazines. They gave me 4 stars! Here’s what the reviewer had to say: “Willingham not only delves into medieval culture, she also tells the dark side of being a woman in that era. Abuse, marriages made for gain and the lack of rights for women in that time are prevalent throughout this tale of love. The bright side is that in romantic fiction, a happy ending is expected, and it’s delivered in this excellent, plot-driven, page-turner of a book.”

I’m so glad to have survived my first book review! So, out of curiosity, do you pay any attention to reviews or do you mostly rely on word of mouth to try a new author? For me it’s word of mouth and if I see the book in many different venues (online promotion, book displays, anything where I see it all the time). That, or if the book has a handsome-looking hunk on the cover!