
The Sweet Smell of Summer
This essay was the first thing I'd ever had published besides a review of a dinner theater show for my local paper. The Sweet Smell of Summer tells the story of my family and the process of putting up corn for the winter. This gathering and preserving of food was my mom's hobby. She loved canning, making jelly, or freezing food for later meals. I do the same with memories. Mix them up into a story, then put it away for later. Here's one I can pull out for you. Enjoy. #summ #s

The Bull Rider's Brother - remix
I've got a surprise for my romance side fans. Lynn Collins (me) is putting out the Shawnee Valley series this summer. A full season of cowboy crush stories and the first one is available now! The Bull Rider's Brother is a secret baby - coming home story set in a mix of my favorite Idaho mountain hideaways. And it starts the series off right. In two weeks, The Bull Rider's Buddy will release, just in time for a hot July. August - The Bull Rider's Manager is scheduled and ju

Labor Day check in
When does summer end for you? Back home, it was after Labor Day. Schools started that first Tuesday in September, I had registered for school and got the classes I wanted. Of course, I was a bit of a Hermione as I wanted to take all the classes. I still have trouble with that concept. Maybe it's the writer in me that wants to explore every opportunity. I've found some things are not in my wheelhouse. Like watching a machine make plastic milk bottles and putting labels on the

Keeping Secrets
Since I've been out of town this week at a librarian's conference, I thought I'd pull out a retro blog for you. I think you'll enjoy. See you next week... What’s a guy to do when he’s trying to reinvent himself? Rule number 1- Don’t tell your siblings who already think you’re a screw up and rule number 2 –don’t quit the day job. When I started writing The Bull Rider’s Keeper – which is Jesse’s, the bull rider, story—I knew he had a secret. I just didn’t know how big of a cha

Authors in Deadwood
The Cowboy drove me out to South Dakota this weekend to attend Wild Deadwood Reads. Such a great reader event! And I met some amazing authors in the mix. The planning for next years event is starting now. We (meaning he) decided we should camp out rather than stay in the host hotel. Since we took the boys, it probably was a better decision and it turned out to be an amazing weekend. I'm still getting my real life legs under me after the weekend, but I loved road tripping ou

Spring cleaning...
Okay, so it's almost summer, but the Cowboy and I took the weekend and finished up a lot of projects around the house. My office has been painted, new blinds installed and I got the whole room to myself. It still needs a few things, but at least I have no excuse to not write now. :) This is the first house I've been able to talk him into painting with a color that wasn't white. The office and several of the rooms are terracotta pot, a brownish orange lovely color that picks

The start of summer
Memorial day weekend. When I was growing up, we used to visit the graves. My father died when I was young so the ritual held a special place for me. A pilgrimage to a man I didn't get to know. My paternal grandparents were also buried in the same cemetery. When I was older, I'd go to his grave to think through the big decisions in my life. It helped me feel more centered and as I talked through the issues, I felt closer to the man I don't remember as my father. Now, my mom ha

Does what you do define who you are?
Sometimes we’re stuck in the roles we play, child, wife, mother, employee, church member, reader, writer . . . The words that describe the roles in your life allow others to categorize the world around us. We expect certain things from the baby of the family versus the first born, and in most cases, those kids grow up to meet our expectations. But what if the baby wanted to break out of the wild, reckless life he’d been living. The life he’d been expected to live? Break out t