Please help me welcome my very good friend, award winning author Ann Roth. Ann and I met several years ago at a national RWA conference, I can't recall which one. She is smart, funny, witty, intense and one heck of a nickel slot machine hustler. Ann lives in the greater Seattle area with her husband. After earning an MBA, she worked as a banker and corporate trainer. She gave up the corporate life to write, and if they awarded PhDs in writing happily ever after stories, she'd have one.
Ann has sold fifteen novels, both romance and women's fiction, as well as a novella and a serialized online romance. To contact Ann, visit www.annroth.net or email her at ann@annroth.net. I always enjoy the time I spend with Ann and I think you will, too! (And as always when I insert photos, I'm crossing my fingers they come out in the right spots -- apologies, Ann, if I mess it up!)
Growing blueberries takes time and effort ... Just like growing a kid into an adult ...
At my house, we grow things. Flowers, tomatoes, herbs and beans. And raspberries and blueberries. Every year, thanks to my husband's care and use of organic soil enrichers, the blueberry bushes bear more fruit. This year they're roughly five years old, and loaded with berries. Enough for breakfast and a few pies. Yum! (If you want a fabulous recipe for blueberry pie, email me at ann@annroth.net and I'll send it to you.)
I had no idea we'd have to wait all this time for those blueberries. But the wait was well worth it. And got me thinking ... Growing a kid takes patience and effort, too. (And a whole lot more work than bushes!)
In A Father for Jesse, the fourth and final book in my Harlequin American Halo Island miniseries (in bookstores everywhere now!), Jesse is a kid with problems and a load of underserved guilt on his young shoulders. Emmy Logan, his single mom, is doing her best to keep him on the straight and narrow. But with constant battles and no father to help (the rat took off and hasn't been in contact since), that isn't easy.
Enter Mac Struthers. Mac raised his twin brothers, and the last thing he wants is another kid to raise. He ... But I'm not going to tell you the whole story. I'd rather you read the book.
I would like to know what you grow-if anything.
Wishing you the patience needed for plants and children, and thanks for letting me visit,
Ann
www.annroth.net
A Father for Jesse
July RT Top Pick!
15 comments:
OOPS! The book photo was supposed to be lower down ... oh, well, it looks good no matter where it is!
Sorry, Ann!!!
Hi Ann,
We've talked a couple times at Emerald City. And I agree with Alice!
And I agree with you. Growing plants and raising children is a lot a like. I can't grow a garden. My grandparents and mom had the green thumbs which skipped my generation, because my daughters can grow anything. ~sigh~ I kill houseplants and have tried a garden several times during my adult years and have finally given up trying. Thank goodness, I kept my children alive! LOL
My good friend Danita Cahill, who is a master gradener and has lovely plants and chldren says, "Paty, you have to tend to them like their animals or children. Water, food, and love. My problem is plants don't make noise when their thirsty or hungry like an animal or child. They have to get my attention and usually it isn't until they are half dead that I notice, ooops, I forgot to water them.
However my husband can grow fantastic hay, alfalfa, and grains, so that's a good thing considering the 160 acres we farm.
Thanks for hanging with us today!
And Alice, you did a great job!
Alice- I agree with Paty, you did a great job welcoming me. Thanks, friend.
Paty- Good to "see" you here. Hi! I'm not the best gardener, either, but my dh is great and I've learned a lot from him. I guess if you want to do it, you will. Regardless, you made me smile.
Well, let's see. Right now I am growing a new puppy. She's seven weeks old -- we did a good job growing the last dog, we'll have to see how this one turns out (it doesn't look good for the furry slippers in the house, however.)
Garden wise -- wow. I like to plant things in the spring and I'm pretty good with pots of flowers. But somewhere around now, it gets hot and the flowers get so NEEDY -- they drive me nuts. I grow resentful! They die.
One of my closest friends is a farmer's wife. While he grows grasses and such for seeds, she grows the most beautiful garden in the world. Talk about blueberries (and Ann, I would love your recipe...) and cherries and asparagus (that one took years) and squash and peppers and corn and you name it. I currently have one of those upside down tomato growing things advertised on TV. It cost $10.00 at Bimart. It holds an astounding amount of dirt, at least $5.00 worth. it holds two tomato plants, $2.50 x 2 = $5.00. It currently has two tomatoes on it. Cherry tomatoes, btw. Do the math-- yep, that's $10.00 per cherry tomato.
Huh?
While my friend has more veggies than she can possible eat, freeze or can?
Thanks for visiting us, Ann!!!!
Alice-
I'll send the pie recipe to you privately.
Hi, Ann.
I'm so glad you're here today. Your Harlequin American books are like a cup of hot cocoa on a cold day--the characters are so sympathetic and fun, and the stories are so positive; I've really enjoyed them. :-)
About growing things... I've always thought I had a "black thumb," but I've managed to grow some glorious flowers in planters on my front porch this summer! The porch is on the north side of the house, and I finally figured out that you have to read the plant labels to find something compatible with your location (duh). In the shade I now have lobelia and petunias, primroses and a few feeble lilies of the valley. The house is gray and white, and the flowers are all in lavenders, blues and pinks. They're billowing out of their planters and cascading over the railings--I feel so confident in my gardening abilities all of a sudden.
I think we all have things we assume we can't do, and trying something new and succeeding at it can be incredibly confidence-building.
Barb
Thanks for blogging with us, Ann! I just started trying to grow my own herbs this year. Things were going quite well until the spiders arrived...now I can't get myself to do anything more than water from a distance. I need to get in there and read the labels on my herbs so I can research the best time to harvest. But I'm so darn scared of spiders that I can't get myself to go too close! It's those gnarly red ones that grow to be huge (at least here in Oregon) making webs between all the herbs. And I don't want to use strong pesticides to get rid of them. Oy! I'll be emailing you for that recipe :) Thank you!
Hi Ann, Welcome to the MWVRWA blog! Your books sound like just the kind I like to read--I'll have to shop for them.
I'm a patio gardener these days and have had an abundant crop of snap peas to add to salads for dinner (umm--sweet and crisp). I also have a little lettuce and a few herbs. The squirrels have been beating Jim and I to the strawberries as they get ripe. Jim promises to make a cage to put over them next year.
As for kids, my son is now 42 and taking on the challenge of two teenagers. That old mother's curse has finally caught up with him: "May you have children just like you when you grow up!"
Hi, Ann! Thanks for joining us today.
I grow flowers and, in fact, have dug up most of the grass in my yard to make room for flower beds.
My kids are grown and the grandkids are being spoiled. Don't know if that counts as growing or not.
And I also spoil doggies--not usually from puppies but from teendoggies and seniors and every age in between. (By the way, Alice, congratulations on your puppy!)
Hi, Ann, thanks so much for being here with us!
Sorry I'm commenting so late. I'm in line-edit hell right now (shhh...don't tell my editor) trying to finish this darn book up this weekend.
My husband tells me I have a "brown" thumb. Nothing I tend tends to grow. When we first got married I bought all these beautiful house plants and put them all over the place. Ficus, Christmas cactus, spider plants, plants I can't even name....things you pretty much have to neglect to kill. Now, after 18 yrs I think we have ONE real plant left in our house. It's a Christmas cactus my mother gave me. She grew it from a cutting of a Christmas cactus my grandmother gave her when I was born (cough!...we won't admit how many) yrs ago. Several times it has been near death, and every time my HUSBAND has revived it with lots of care and attention. Me? I look at it and it starts to wilt.
The same cannot be said for my children - thank goodness. They are thriving, though I'm sure my husband plays a big part in that too. ;) (Which is lucky for them because as with the plants I don't have a whole lot of natural mothering abilities.)
In fact, now that I'm typing all this out, I'm starting to wonder just what my husband sees in me. Hmmm...
Maybe I should talk about something I know I can grow. Books! Oh wait...that was before the whole hospital thing.
I think I'm signing off now. (Some of you are wondering why I haven't been commenting lately. Now maybe you know...)
Hi Ann,
Sorry for commenting so late in the day. I'm so happy to see you here, Ann. You are one of my all-time favorite Harlequin writers. I hope you will continue to be able to balance both ST & category. I collect Christmas novels, and "All I Want for Christmas" is one my all-time favorites!
I'm growing a toddler right now. Like Paty, I seem to have been given the black thumb of gardening death, but each year I try again. This year, we planted 4 blueberry bushes. One took one look at us and our haphazard garden-as-lawn and promptly expired. One actually has berries, and the other two are limping along. It will be really interesting to see where they end up in five years. I have a feeling we'll still be doing a lot of u-pick.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, Ann - Wonderful post and the book sounds fabulous - I must get have this! I'd love to swap stories sometime...I'll be at the Tukwila Barnes and Noble for a signing on September 19th. If your in the area, stop by and I'll buy you a cup of coffee. Minnette :)
Barb - Thank you for the kind words about my books! You really made my day. Your flowers sound lovely.
Lisa- Funny you should mention spiders. I used to hate them, but my dh taught me to respect and even like the little guys. They eat all kinds of insects and are fun to watch. Still, I am wary when I work in the garden. I see a web and either move away or carefully undo the thing... I ahem took Friday afternoon off, but as soon as I check my email I will send that recipe.
Barbara- I'm all for patio gardening, which is a heck of a lot easier than the other kind.Those snap peas sound great!
Genene- Cool about the doggies. And Alice, she reminded me about your pup. Have fun with that.
Elisabeth- You made me laugh out loud!
wavybrains- Love that nickname. Thank you for the wonderful words about my books. Can you feel my smile? Because it's huge.
Minnette- I would love to meet for coffee. Please email me and remind me about the Sept. signing--ann@annroth.net.
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