Let's talk turkey! That's what my 80+ year-old-friend, Rachel, and I did at the pool this morning. After swimming my half-mile, I do six cool-down laps, walking and talking with my friends about such things as family and recipes. Rachel asked me how my Thanksgiving went, and I told her my new turkey secret.

Actually, this isn't a true secret, because I got it off a Cooking Channel show hosted by another Rachel – Rachel Ray, who's taught me more about thirty-minute meals than my vast collection of cookbooks. It worked so well I thought I'd pass it along to my loyal readers.

Give your turkey roasting pan a liberal coat of olive oil and add fresh bay leaves to the bottom of the pan. Unfortunately, I didn't have fresh bay leaves. Fortunately, my aunt who lives in Oregon has a bay tree, and she'd sent me about a gallon of dried bay leaves, which worked well and added a great flavor to my turkey.

And here's a tip on the gravy. Usually, on Thanksgiving, at the last minute, I'm a mad woman in the kitchen, transferring the juice from the turkey pan to the skillet, whipping up the gravy, praying the lumps will dissolve while everyone else is sitting at the table, pounding their knives and forks, demanding dinner. (Okay, this is a slight exaggeration, but that's the way it feels.) This year I made my own turkey stock the day before and on Thanksgiving could easily pour it into the skillet, which made the gravy preparation much easier and quicker. I was still a mad woman, racing around the kitchen, but at least the gravy was made.

‘Tis the season! I know this because I've been out shopping. My daughter and I joined the early morning frenzy the Friday following Thanksgiving. In the dead of night Jody and I were out the door, coupons in hand. We hit Fred Myer at 5 a.m. and then were off to Wal-Mart, where we grabbed the last parking spot in the entire lot.

On Sunday, following church, my son Ted and I headed to Costco, where we heaped up four carts in a marathon shopping spree.

I'm taking a breather now and am heading back to work on 50 HARBOR STREET, which, I might add, is coming along nicely, with real surprises for one and all. I have to admit writing is a whole lot easier than shopping and far less expensive. Have a fabulous Monday!

My turkey is bought, the cupboards are bursting at the seams, and I've stopped hyperventilating after fighting the crowds in the grocery store. It's almost Thanksgiving and we're having a big family feast. This year my cousin Paula and her family are coming from Oregon to join us. All told, there will be 22 for dinner.

The kids have divided everything up: Jody is responsible for the desserts, Jenny is bringing three kinds of potatoes, Lana (Ted's wife) is preparing the salads, and Laurie (Dale's wife) is doing the appetizers. In addition, everyone is bringing one additional dish that symbolizes Thanksgiving to them. When I suggested this, Dale said, "Mom, you want me to bring a turkey?" My kids are nothing if not witty.

By this time tomorrow the house will be filled with the scents of baking turkey, stuffing with sage, and the laughter of children as they race up to Grandma's play room. It's a day set aside for family, friends and grateful hearts, for longstanding traditions, and new ones, too. On this day, as a family, we gather to praise God for His abundant blessings to us. It's with that thought in mind that I think of each one of you with gratitude for your generous support of me and my books through the years. Happy Thanksgiving.

Today was my get together with my Breakfast Group. As many as seven of us meet each week to share what's happening in our lives. We're all entrepreneurs with a strong sense of family and God. I've discovered over the years how much I need my friends. They are the ones I go to for support. Children grow up and move out; my brother and his wife live in Kansas; my Dad is gone; my mother is aging quickly, and my husband gives me his own special support, but my friends are the threads that hold me together. Those of you who've read THURSDAYS AT EIGHT will recognize that I took my own experience with friends and wove the plot around this type of women's support group.

I promised to tell you about the signing at the PX in Fort Lewis yesterday. I was forty minutes late, because the PX forgot to tell those who needed to know that I was scheduled to come on base (the reality of security issues these days). I signed 15 books in 90 minutes. In other words, there was no need for crowd control. As I said yesterday, some signings are lessons in humility. That's the bad news. The good news is that ON A SNOWY NIGHT will hit #12 on the NEW YORK TIMES list next week. I thank you one and all for helping make this happen!

For those of you who are curious why I haven't mentioned Wayne lately, it's because he's in Florida dealing with the insurance claims on our condo in Vero Beach. We took two direct hits from hurricanes this past summer, and he wants to be sure everything is ready for us when we arrive in January.

Today I'm taking Mom to the doctor in the morning, and then I'm off to do a signing at Fort Lewis for WHEN CHRISTMAS COMES. Autographings are hard to predict. I had a wonderful reader stop by to see me at Costco this past weekend who was astonished they didn't have the area roped off for crowd control. The truth is, signings can be lessons in humility for an author. Others are truly blessings with lots of traffic and the opportunity to meet readers galore. Each one is pot luck . . . I'll let you know how this one works out tomorrow. Have a fabulous Wednesday.

I'm in the groove. Twenty pages into 50 HARBOR STREET, and I'm already in the flow. I feel like I should be on a surfboard riding the big kahuna, that's how good it is to sit down and create.

This is something those outside the writing world rarely understand. So much of my time is spent doing other things that it's a real treat and joy to actually sit down and write. For example, I spend a lot of time and energy on promotions, appearances, reading groups and autographings. I enjoy it all, but the real joy to me is the actual writing process.

Which reminds me . . . it's time to get back to the story. When you read 50 HARBOR STREET, remember, it was this day that I started Chapter Four.

I do enjoy Monday mornings with all the mail and guestbook entries, but this Monday is special. Today, at long last, I'm starting 50 Harbor Street. Last year at this time I was finished with 44 Cranberry Point, which says a whole lot about my year. I've reviewed the synopsis and am making a few changes. (For those of you unfamiliar with a synopsis, that's what I give my editor that tells her the whole story in as few words as possible.) I generally don't change things too much after Paula, my editor, has read it, but I do leave room for a few surprises along the way.

I'm also rereading and reviewing the first four books so everything is fresh in my mind. My characters are threatening to riot if I delay any longer. Corrie McAfee is fit to be tied She's in the middle of the biggest mystery of her life, and she wants closure. If it isn't bad enough that I have contractual deadlines, and readers writing every day to ask about the next book in the series, but now even my characters are on my case! All in due course, my friends, all in due course.

Today my granddaughter, Madeleine Rose, age 5, is with me. Maddy and I share the same birthday—and since I was on the cruise over ‘our' birthday, we're going to spend the day together. Our morning will consist of a field trip to a Christmas Tree Farm with her pre-school class, followed by lunch at Maddy's favorite restaurant, Red Robin. Then, because I believe in early childhood training, I'm taking her shopping. We're going to have such a wonderful day. Twenty years from now no one will even know that I was a bit late on my deadline, but I bet Maddy and I will both remember our special day together

Wednesdays are my favorite day of the work week. It's on this day I don't set the alarm clock, and I work on projects other than my current deadline.

Today I'm visiting my granddaughter's fourth grade class to tell them about the life of a writer. Last week a local poet stopped by to talk to the class, and Jazmine popped up and proudly proclaimed that her grandma wrote books. Hence my visit. Following that, I'm joining good writing friends for lunch, and then this afternoon I'll be plotting two new anthologies. Both will be published next year. One of them is titled War Brides and will include stories written by Katherine Stone and Lois Faye Dyer. This one is near and dear to my heart. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow on Veteran's Day.

Today we celebrate Veterans' Day, which has always been an important day in our family. My father, who died this February, was a veteran of World War II. Each year,right up to last November, Dad participated in the annual Veterans' Parade. As a child growing up, I always knew that Dad had been in the War, but it wasn't until my own son was in the Army that I learned that Dad had been a POW. He was captured by the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944 and taken by train deep into the heart of Germany, where he was held with several hundred other prisoners. He never spoke of his experiences in that prison camp until the end of his life. I'll be thinking about my Dad today and all the other veterans who have fought on behalf of our country. We are the land of the free because of the brave. If you know a Veteran, be sure to take the opportunity to thank him or her today.