Dear readers,

It’s definitely been quite some time since I’ve had a newsletter. My only excuse is that 2007 was somewhat chaotic, with several changes in both my personal and professional life. The year began with the loss of a great guy, Charlie DeNosky, the husband of my dear friend and fellow author, Kathie DeNosky. Charlie was instrumental in developing my host community, Writers Unlimited. He is and will always be greatly missed.

For the majority of last year, I suffered from a frozen shoulder, requiring three-day-a-week physical therapy sessions. Luckily, it’s much better now and I won’t have to have surgery to correct it. If you haven’t had one of these, please don’t run out and get one. It’s not fun, especially if you spend a lot of time at a computer or would rather get dressed without assistance. 

On the writing front, if you’ve followed my career at all, you’ve already noticed a change in my direction. Due to new editorial guidelines, I’m not writing for Silhouette Desire at this point in time, but this is not to say I might not return someday. In the meantime, I’ve moved to Silhouette Special Edition, beginning with Through Jenna’s Eyes (June 2007). This line is a much better fit for the stories I like to write, the same kind of stories I’ve always written. On that note, I’m proud to report that I’ve recently sold another O’Brien book, CLOSE ENOUGH TO PERFECT (working title), which features Kieran O’Brien—a beautiful, buff personal trainer who has always walked a straight line, striving for perfection…until he meets widowed mom, Erica Stevens. I don’t have a release date yet, but as soon as I know, you’ll know.

Speaking of the O’Brien’s, I’d like to give a heartfelt thanks to those who’ve contacted me wanting more of this series. I’m genuinely thrilled you’ve all connected to a family that’s been such a joy to write. If luck prevails, there will be at least one more book, maybe two.

For those of you who’ve asked about signing up to receive the newsletter, when the website was moved to another server, we lost my entire mailing list and the means to add to it. We humbly ask for your patience while we find the best way to re-establish another distribution system for news and updates. In the meantime, we’ll continue to post the newsletter here as soon as there’s news to report.

Lastly, I’ve resolved that in 2008, I would try to raise awareness of a disease that’s greatly impacted my family. My husband, Steve, spent many years as a busy neurosurgeon committed to saving lives, until eleven years ago, when Parkinson’s Disease prematurely ended his career. The past few months brought about more challenges as Steve battled decreasing mobility and other effects of this insidious disease. With the help of staff members from a fantastic home healthcare agency, he’s back on an even keel and making the adjustments he needs to make to continue to live a more productive life. I am so grateful for the support I’ve received from his doctors, home health nurses, physical therapists, medical aides and speech therapists. If you work in the home healthcare field, kudos to you for the much-needed services you provide!

For those of you who’ve also experienced PD, you understand the trials that illness brings, and the need to stay positive. Any good thoughts and prayers that better treatment will be developed in the near future would be much appreciated. It’s also my greatest hope that a cure for PD will soon be on the horizon.

Wishing you all the best and have a safe, successful and Happy New Year!

Kristi

**If you’d like to know more about Parkinson’s Disease, please visit The Michael J. Fox Foundation, http://www.michaeljfox.org or The National Parkinson’s Foundation, http://www.parkinson.org.