Eileen Goudge

Valentine’s Day with fellow author Kristen Hannah

Valentine’s Day always seems to bring out the best and worst. It’s rough wading amid a sea of heart and flowers and hand-holding couples when you’re not part of a couple yourself. Or, worse, when you’re with someone whom you’d as soon ditch in favor of the singles scene. On the other hand, how lovely when you can wake up next to the love of your life, who then presents you with a bouquet of roses and a beautiful card filled with words of heartfelt sentiment. I’ve been on both sides, and I’ll take the roses and the card, thank you very much. My husband didn’t do too badly out of V-Day, either: I made him a chocolate cake.

Another wonderful thing was that I got to spend part of the day with friends, fellow author Kristen Hannah and her darling husband Ben. Kristen and Ben live in the Seattle area, but they were in town for the weekend, so we had them over for brunch on Sunday. You may be familiar with Kristin’s works. She is the author of the mega-bestseller FIREFLY LANE among many other fine titles. We met years ago when I was asked to read one of her novels for endorsement purposes. Well, I read it and loved it, and Kristin to wrote afterward to thank me most warmly. We’ve been friends ever since. (In fact, I included one of Kristin’s recipe in my cookbook SOMETHING WARM FROM THE OVEN). It’s so nice when a fellow author whose works you love turns out to also be as lovely a person as you hoped she’d be. It’s also great that I have someone with whom I can talk shop. Many people harbor the quaint notion that we writers all know each other and hang out together. Not true! We are far-flung, geographically speaking, and tend to be loners as a rule. So it’s truly special when we do meet one another and bond. If you’re not familiar with Kristin’s works, you should read her books – if you love mine, you’ll love hers.

Hope your Valentine’s Day was special in every way, as was mine. For me, it’s a reminder that love doesn’t come prepackaged; we have to make it ourselves. The older I get, the more true that is.
(Photo Credit: Sandy Kenyan)

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Comment from: Singer (Guest)

Wow! It's great to see that you and Kristen Hannah are friends. Firefly Lane is one of my favorite books! I've also read a lot of her other books. Good friends are priceless!

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