ATLANTA BOOK SIGNING!

Save the date! Saturday July 20 at 2 PM 
Atlanta’s classic Tall Tales Books
2105 Lavista Rd NE, Atlanta, GA. 

It will be such fun to meet fans of Hell On Heels and Heels Of Fortune!  PJ Santini  fans tend to share certain aspects of PJs wacky world ... dangerous men, an irresistible passion for shoes, curiosity about things better left alone, a secret pair of “fat“ jeans  in the closet, a knack for thinking of almost any food as comfort food... and relatives who may or may not be rational at any given moment. Then there’s the TV News business, which really can be murder. 

So mark your calendar, and let’s get together. The third Saturday in July! See you then. 



Sometimes I buy wine just for the label, like  #Cat’sPeeOnAGooseberryBush, then I take off the label and have no idea what the #MysteryWine is.
-#PJ SANTINI, #HeelsOfFortune, the new 2nd book of the #PJSantiniSeries

Dear Graduate: Life in a few words.


It’s the time of year when lots of advice is handed out in graduation speeches. Flowery sentences and tortured paragraphs. I can’t remember a damn word of mine. Which is why, when I address a graduating class, I like to keep it short - listening to anybody for longer than twenty minutes puts me to sleep, even if I’m the one doing the talking. And I have concluded that the absolute best, most honest, most helpful bottom line to deliver is always the same. It’s a 60-second lifesaver to throw to every student, one that respects, protects and celebrates each individual’s abilities and unique gifts. Here it is:
                                                                    
*As you go through your life, be true to yourself. No one knows as much about you as you do.
*Do no intentional harm. And remember,
*You are what you think.
     We live in our heads. There are fancier ways of saying it, and lots of expensive research about it,
     but the truth is you create your own day. No one is in there but you.
*Find your bliss.
     Your bliss is the happy thing that makes you forget, even for a moment, everything else.
      (For me, it’s the sound of my hockey skates on the ice. Never mind that when I fall it takes four
      people to get me up.)
*Keep your style.
       Life throws you curves. People tell you how, when, where, and what you should be. Don’t let it
       change the way you celebrate your own style. The way you feel about yourself will always affect
       the way you feel about others.
*Nurture your mind. Feed it, challenge it every day. People don’t stop learning because they get old;
       they get old because they stop learning. (Grandmaster Pereira)
  Nurture your body. Give it what it needs and respect it.
  Nurture your spirit. Give it space and quiet. It supports those two off-the-chain entities just
      above, and will outlast them.

That’s it. If someone had told me this at graduation, I’d remember more than the fact that Susan Russell was sitting on my left and some kid whose last name began with an S was on my right. And that my girlfriend’s party was canceled by her father the cop. After he bailed her out.




Ah, the common threads women share. Or is it threats. Some actually consider them in advance (don’t feel bad, I didn’t either!) But when you’re writing fiction, you can give your heroine the benefit of your own real-life experience. Will PJ Santini buy me a beer for it, or lob me a gift card? Probably not. We all know she’s hanging on by her fingernails.

   “When I fantasize about a possible future with him, I picture myself a year down the road, 7 months pregnant, in a pink terry cloth robe and fuzzy scuffs in a laundry room, spot-cleaning his Jockeys. I’m allergic to that.”  
-#PJ SANTINI, #HeelsOfFortune 



Am I the only woman who names her car?!  I’ve done it for years, and it gets lots of unintended laughs, mostly from guys.  You can only imagine what they say about “ Sweet Boy”.  But I like it well enough to share with my alter ego, PJ Santini.  After all, women have to stick together… 

“Hi Sweet Boy, I crooned to the car, inhaling deeply of downtown #Buffalo’s rich exhaust. Look what we have!”

(Guess what it is!)


-PJ SANTINI, #HellOnHeels, the new first book of the #PJSantiniSeries




Two hairy guys! My bear was fascinated last night, watching the #SanJoseSharks take on the #StLouisBlues in game 3 of the NHL western conference #StanleyCupPlayoffs2019, because the Sharks’ #JoeThornton has as much hair as Hockey Bear has!

Humor, baby, humor




Humor is one of the most important things in a good relationship!  You can fight like cats and dogs, but be sure you wind  up laughing.  My husband even steals the Mel Brooks punchline, below.  It may be completely off our subject,  but it works every time.

Case in point: famous story about comedic genius Mel Brooks and his actress wife Anne Bancroft. Brooks, Jewish. Bancroft, Italian.  On television talk shows, he laughed and called her an Italian fruitcake. “ You don't mess with those!”

The famous story goes that they were having a heated argument. So heated, that she gave him a  shove. He shoved her back.

At that, she drew herself to her full height,  threw her head back,  and with even voice  declared , “How dare you! My body is my instrument!”

 To which he replied, “Oh yeah?  Let’s hear Begin the Beguine!