Writing By The Numbers

Numbers.

Even if we aren’t very good at math, numbers play an important role in most of our lives. From the moment we’re born, nurses measure and weigh us, providing that first critical set of numbers for moms, dads and grandparents to bemoan or boast.

As kids, our growth is proudly recorded on the kitchen door frame or inside a closet, a yard stick or tape measure used to chart how tall we’ve grown. In school, we learn our 1-2-3’s along with our A-B-C’s while teachers carefully log our progress. Scores on standardized tests tell us whether we can progress to the next grade, graduate, get into college, go to graduate, law or medical school.

We have social security numbers, drivers’ license numbers, account numbers and phone numbers. We watch our weight, our cholesterol, our BMI. We exercise in reps, log miles on treadmills, count calories. We shop according to unit pricing, and in these days of high fuel costs, we compare price-per-gallon to miles-to-gallon before considering a new car.

All numbers. All important to our lives.

This summer, I added a new number to my daily record keeping when Harlequin American Romance bought my latest two book proposals. Because, in order to turn these books in on time, I had to write a certain number of words-per-day.

Now, I’m not big on math. Numbers aren’t my favorite thing. But I counted these because I wanted to share Mitch and Amanda’s reunion story with you.

He’s a driven prosecuting attorney, a single dad with a mercurial four-year-old. She’s a former barrel racing champion who never got over her teen-age crush on the boy she met at rodeo camp. But Mitch’s carefully structured world crumples when, following a playground mishap, a family court judge permits this doting father only supervised visitation…under the distrustful gaze of his former girlfriend, the woman he ditched at last year’s Saddle Up Stampede.

Mitch and Amanda's story should be available some time next year. I hope you'll watch for it.