Before I get started, let me mention a couple of other things going on today. First of all, I’m part of the Mystic Month of May Blog Hop, brought to you by the Colorado Romance Writers. Today’s stop is here. I’m also a guest today over at Riverina Romantics, which happens to be another stop on the Hop Against Homophobia. I’m giving away a book over there too, so please stop by. For a list of all the stops on the Hop Against Homophobia, click the rainbow badge above. There are nearly 250 participating blogs, all offering prizes. Now, onward…

A couple of years ago my husband and I were out for dinner with our daughter (who was about five at the time) and my parents. My daughter told us how her friends at school liked to chase the boys and kiss them. My mom said, “Don’t you kiss the boys?” My daughter said, “No, I don’t want to kiss boys. The only person I want to kiss is Courtney.”

I’ll never forget the look on my mother’s face, and the way she started to say, “No.” Even after my husband and I cut her off and told our daughter, “That’s fine,” my mother kept trying to tell my daughter how girls should only kiss boys. Luckily, my kiddo was too busy eating her French fries to pay much attention to her grandmother.

Much more recently, I introduced my daughter (now seven) to my female massage therapist and her wife. Afterward, my daughter said to me, “A boy can marry a girl, and a boy can marry a boy, but I didn’t know a girl could marry a girl.” I didn’t go into the legal complications of same-sex marriage. Instead, I simply said, “They love each other. They should be able to get married, right?” She said, “So I can marry a girl when I grow up?” I told her, “If that’s what you want.” (I sure as hell hope it’s legal by then!) She said, “Okay,” and promptly went on to talk about things she considered to be far more important, like whether or not we could stop for ice cream on the way home.

My point here is not to say that my daughter is obviously gay. She’s only a kid, and who knows what will happen with the advent of puberty. My point is this: in her mind, there’s nothing strange or confusing about it at all. Boys can love boys. Girls can love girls. And if people are in love, they can get married. It’s that simple.

I guess I’d just like it to be that way. Why can’t everybody accept this beautifully simple concept with the calm levelheadedness of my kid?

But of course, some people can’t. Some people are threatened by something as simple as two people being in love. And that hatred destroys lives. If at any point anybody should doubt the power of homophobia, we need only be reminded of Matthew Shepard.

If there’s anybody reading this who doesn’t know the story of Matthew Shepard, please go read it. I live in Fort Collins. Our local hospital is where they brought Matthew after he was found bloody and beaten and tied to that fence in Wyoming. Of course, we know now the details of what happened to him, but what I really remember about that day was the confusion. I can remember feeling like my town was reeling, horrified, wondering how such an awful thing could have happened in our own backyard. I remember feeling like all of Fort Collins was pulling for him.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough.

It seems like just about every week, there’s a new story of how homophobia has taken a new victim. One need only read the news to see how bad things can be. I don’t know how to fix it, other than to say, it’s time for it to stop. It’s time for people to stand up for what’s right.

I know there are a lot of contests going on today. I know there are lots of things being given away. What I’d like to ask you is, what can you give? And to that end, I’ve decided to do this:

To enter my contest:

1. Donate $5 (or more) to the Matthew Shepard Foundation. You’ll received a confirmation email from them.
   
2. Forward that email to me at msexton.author@gmail.com. (The email doesn’t contain any of your personal payment information, I promise.)
   
3. For every $5 you donate, you’ll be entered in my drawing. That means if you donate $20, you’ll be entered four times.
   
4. The contest ends on May 20th. At that point, I will draw a winner.
5. The winner will receive a Matthew Shepard Pendant (it’s also available on a pink cord), as well as 2 ebooks of their choice from my backlist. I’ll announce the winner here on my blog, and I’ll notify them via email.

Thank you for stopping by. Thank you for donating. Thank you for standing up for what’s right.

The first stop on the tour is Jessica Aspen on Helen Hardt’s blog. Go here. Every comment you leave along the way will enter you into a drawing for a $40 gift card from Barnes & Noble. We’ll also have smaller giveaways throughout the tour, so please follow along.

The Mystic Month of May is brought to you by Colorado Romance Writers.

For our complete schedule, go here.

And since you’re here, I’ll share a bit of candy.

OMG. Barely home from RT. Absolutely exhausted, but it was SO worth it. I met so many fabulous people – readers, authors, bloggers, RT staff. Each and every person was amazing. I can’t wait to do it again! I’ll post some pictures and updates later this week.

But first…

Sixteen authors are here to do their best to make your winter brighter in January, February, March, and April. (Unless you’re south of the equator, and then we’ll just be jealous of your summer.) Every Wednesday will be a new stop on the tour (see schedule below). Be sure to leave a comment at each stop for up to sixteen chances at the grand prize: a $200 USD gift certificate to the e-retailer of your choice. Also keep an eye out for links to individual authors’ sites on their release dates for a chance to win some free books.

The tour is winding down, but we still have prizes to give away! Read the full article »

What to blog about? Well, I could certainly bore you with current events, or the presidential campaign. Yuck. We get enough of that watching the news every night, yes? How about something more interesting and fun?

Do you know that February is National Heart Month? It isn’t because of Valentine’s Day, though that is a happy coincidence. It’s to promote good heart health – and I have a way to do that. Read romance books! (Especially mine, but we’ll get into that in a minute.)

You heard me right. Read a good love story. Doesn’t that always make your heart better? It’s my holistic method for helping your heart to feel happy, which has to make it stronger. At least, that’s my unscientific opinion. The brain is a strange and wonderful machine, and when it’s engaged and the endorphins are running, the heart has to go along for the ride. Doesn’t it? *shrugs good-naturedly*

I’ve got a few books out that might make you smile, make you laugh, get your heart racing – ooh, watch that one! My funniest book, in my humble opinion, is a FREE read at Goodreads. You can also find it at my website. It’s called Appearing Knightly, and it’s an homage to The Dark Knight. It was written as part of the Goodreads Hot Summer Days Anthology. Authors were challenged by members of the M/M Romance Group to match stories to pictures. I fell in love with the shot of Batman holding a beautiful, naked guy, and the rest is history.

Another one that will make you laugh — and keep your heart happy — is The Trouble With Angel. Angel Vargas is a piece of work, he’s high maintenance, he’s very much an urban animal, and he’s been secretly lusting after one of his boss’ clients for the last three years. The problem is, Brandon Halvorsen is straight. Or is he? Angel’s boss has him roped into helping Brandon, who has a special problem. Brandon’s life has just turned upside down. He’s a major league baseball pitcher, whose new problem has nothing to do with baseball. Two little kids have invaded his life. Uh-oh.

Reading my books you’ll see that I like to laugh, I like to enjoy life, and my characters do too. Sometimes, all we need to do is sit in a quiet corner for a couple of hours and read a great love story/comedy/heartwarmer. I’d like to think that if you give my books a try, you’d experience that very thing. And I wasn’t kidding about National Heart Month. I was kidding about how to keep your heart healthy – at least a little. More women die of heart disease than any other killer. Be sure to watch fat intake, limit your cholesterol and sodium/sugar intake, and keep moving! Here’s a link to get all the info you need on symptoms of a heart attack — and what you should do if you experience them. Don’t take your heart’s health for granted – keep it healthy, and happy.

Today, instead of worrying about whether your sweetie or somebody special is going to get you candy, or a gift, or take you to dinner, think about yourself… and what makes you happy. What gives you fulfillment as a person? As a mother, sister, wife, co-worker, human being? That’s what each of us should celebrate this Valentine’s Day. When we’re happy, fulfilled and doing what we love, we make a huge difference in this world. When we walk around with a smiling face, it impacts people who might be grumpy, scared, or indifferent. And maybe, just maybe, reach out to someone you don’t know today — with a smile, a word of kindness, a friendly gesture. You might not know what a difference you make, but I guarantee the other person will remember. And he might just pass it on.

You can find me at www.jmcartwright.com, and also my Goodreads blog. Join me, and make your heart smile.

The winner is Judi! Judi, I’ll contact you via email. Everybody else, thanks so much for entering, and I hope you’ll continue to follow the Beat Your Winter Blues Blog Tour!