Hi Everyone...

Thanks for checking out my web site.

I have lots of news to share...

First, my new book, Babyland, will be in stores in July. In it you'll meet Anna Traulsen, engaged and anticipating a glamorous life - until she discovers she's pregnant! Anna expects her fiancé to be furious. But Ross is ecstatic - which would be a good thing if Anna were really in love with him. As Anna accepts her pregnancy, she realizes that Ross is not Mr. Right.

Of course, you can sample Babyland here first, starting on the right side of this page. In addition, you can get information about pub dates and how to order books online by checking the covers on the left.

Next, this fall look for a Strapless story collection called Sex and the Single Witch. My story is entitled The Trouble with Witchcraft. I loved writing it and I hope you love reading it. The book also includes a pair of delicious stories by Theresa Alan and Carly Alexander.

And finally: I've joined the ranks of bloggers!

On a daily basis I'll post a short piece that will focus on my life as a writer. You'll `watch' me struggle to meet deadlines while dealing with The Husband; my cats; household chores; crushing lack of inspiration; friends and family; fellow writers; and just about everything else that affects my writing life.

You can access the blog by hitting the big yellow button above.

So long for now! I hope you enjoy the spring, the books, and the blog!

Read an Excerpt From Babyland

Part One

Mysterious Ways

Think about a trauma, like a car crash, sudden and unexpected. Or think about having your purse snatched. You're walking down the block, minding your own business, when out of the blue some creep grabs your purse and makes off with it while you stand there gaping and gesturing wildly. People stare, some might even stop to ask what happened, but no one can really help. The deed has been done. The car crashed, the creep stole your purse.

Nothing will ever be the same. Your perspective has been radically changed. You have been radically changed. And suddenly, life is wrought with consequences you never imagined because you never imagined the inciting incident.

You ask yourself: Why didn't I ever imagine that I could be in a car crash? Why didn't I ever imagine that my purse could be snatched? Why didn't I ever imagine that I could get pregnant even though I was on the pill?

I was thirty-seven and a half years old the morning I discovered I was pregnant. Going to have a baby. Knocked up. In the family way. The morning I learned I had a bun in the oven.

Thirty-seven and half years old the morning I found out that I was expecting a blessed event - in other words, the end of my life as I knew it.

My name is Anna Traulsen and this is my story. At least, the part of my story during which everything just exploded.

Back to that auspicious morning.

My first thought after dropping the pink plastic stick into the white porcelain sink was: Oh, my God, this can't be happening.

My second thought, after retrieving the stick to give it one more hard look, was:

Of course this can be happening. I had sex. I missed my period. So of course I'm pregnant. This is what happens.

My third thought, after tossing the offending stick into the brushed-aluminum trashcan was:

What will Ross say!

Ross Davis was my fiancé. From the day I met him he'd declared pretty strongly that he did not want children.

And when we got engaged, Ross reminded me that a family of two - Ross and me - was all the family he wanted.

And I'd gone along with that.

Except for maybe a dog, I'd suggested. A small dog, one with short hair so the shedding problem would be minimal. Ross had agreed. Maybe a dog. A small non-destructive dog. The kind you can train to pee on newspaper.

Well, I thought that awful morning in April, a baby most certainly isn't a dog and though it is small, it most certainly is destructive. It spits up on your best silk blouse, siphons your bank account in an alarming way, and puts a firm, wailing, pooping end to your sex life.

The thing that had gotten you into trouble in the first place.

Sex with a man.

I remember thinking that I should call Ross right away. I assumed he hadn't left the condo for his office yet; Ross is never his best in the morning. I belted my robe more tightly around my middle and hurried from the bathroom. With a practiced motion I snatched my cell phone from the kitchen counter where it had been recharging for the past eight hours.

The number was loaded; I hit the proper button.

A woman's voice answered on the first ring.

"Alexandra," I said. "I need to talk to you."

MORE >>