Poor CD player. It doesn’t see much action now that my iPod has taken over. But I do still use the one in the kitchen when I’m cooking, and on there, I’ve been loving lots of Putumayo world music. I’m currently on a Middle East kick for some reason. “Sahara Lounge” and “Arabic Groove” are both getting a lot of play. Maybe all that snow outside the windows is making me crave sand and heat. Or maybe it’s all those exotic spices I received as one of my Christmas gifts.

I about wore it out between the weeks of Christmas and the season three season opener of “Chuck” after getting seasons one and two of that for Christmas. It is such a fun show, with so many great inside jokes for lovers of obscure pop culture. I’ve also been watching the solitary season of “My Own Worst Enemy” with my son, who is a big Christian Slater fan. And all three of us continue to get caught up on “Mad Men,” which is eerily reminiscent of my early-60s childhood and which, every time I watch it, makes me want don pearls, drink Manhattans and start smoking heavily.

As a family, we adore “Bones” and “Numb3rs” and never miss an episode of either. My son and I, being bigger TV viewers than my husband, have also gotten hooked this year on “The Forgotten,” “V,” and “FlashForward.” And, inescapably, we are pinned to the final season of “Lost,” even though with every new season of that show, my brain has come closer to exploding.

Having met two incredibly nice debut authors at the RWA national conference last year, Monica McCarty and Veronica Wolff, I’ve got their latest books on my night stand: HIGHLANDER UNCHAINED from Monica and MASTER OF THE HIGHLANDS by Veronica. Also, Christina Dodd’s THIGH HIGH and Nelson DeMille’s WILD FIRE, which I’ve been meaning to get to for a while now… In hardback, I’m impatiently awaiting BLUE-EYED DEVIL by Lisa Kleypas and Harlan Coben’s HOLD TIGHT in April.

A bunch of trade paperbacks that seem to be along the lines of the mainstream novel I’m writing in dribs and drabs. Most notably Lorna Landvik’s ANGRY HOUSEWIVES EATING BONBONS, Jacqueline Sheehan’s LOST & FOUND and Laurie Notaro’s THERE’S A (SLIGHT) CHANCE I MIGHT BE GOING TO HELL. Yeah, someday I really want to get a proposal put together for what I’m sure will be the most brilliant bit of fiction I’ve ever written. Someday…

Derby stuff! All manner of local publications about the Kentucky Derby, since I’m currently writing book three of my Derby series. The second just went in a few weeks ago and will be published in the fall. And the first, FAST & LOOSE, will be out…oh, any minute now.

It’s a brave new world for me in some ways. I’m delighted to be back writing for Silhouette and am in the middle of a trilogy for their Desire line. The first should be out toward the end of this year. Harlequin will be reissuing one of my very early books in March as part of a series called “Men in Uniform.” But I also just completed a proposal for a new book that’s a little different from the contemporary romance I’ve been writing for the last decade. It’s more in keeping with the books I wrote for Harper Monogram early in my career, a bigger, women’s fiction type story that has a lot going on–not just with romantic relationships, but with familial ones, too. It was inspired by a house here in town, of all things, and is peppered with story lines prompted by recent events in my personal life. So I’m crossing fingers that it finds a good home.