Do you like the bougainvillea I chose for my header?

It’s a picture I took, and it’s so very “California.”

When I first started writing fiction I decided that, if I can, I’d like to set all of my romances in California, since there are so many nooks and crannies to explore. Most people only think of the beach, or of L.A., or of San Francisco when they think of California, but there are so many other areas to this enormous state. I thought it would be fun to have books set in wine country, balloon-riding country, along old Highway 49 (“Gold Rush” country), some of the islands off the coast, at a national park or two, and maybe even on a houseboat in one of the harbors. The Golden Heart-finalling book was set in a California mountain resort, because that was a place I always wanted to write about. (I’m not sure people think of “mountaintops” when they think of California, but we have a lot of them. And I wanted to write about how it feels to be “stuck” in a resort on a hilltop.) My next two books were set in fictional “Sandy Cove,” which is based on the real-life San Clemente and Dana Point. I chose those places because they’re beautiful seaside towns that still have a bit of an “old-school” California vibe that we don’t always see here anymore.

But California also has lots of dairy farms, ranches and agriculture. The state is so rich with land and stories — I feel I could write about it for at least 70 books. : )

Let me know if you like my new masthead, and if you have other favorite California settings you’d love to read about. … If you’ve lived here or visited here (or live here now), what area left an impression on you and why? Was any place completely different than you expected?