Once upon a time, my mother gave my sister Cyndy a "fabulously funny romance" to read. Cyndy couldn't get past the second chapter. Plopping it upon my kitchen table, she demanded my opinion. Was your typical older man bullying a timid orphaned girl into doing his will for his own purpose. But she falls for him anyway . . .

I don't remember the humor in it. Not sure there was any. Took me six months to read it---and it wasn't that thick of a book. Lost count of how many times I flipped that book into some remote corner of whatever room I happened to be reading in. My thought each time I flung it was-- "They actually published this???!! Did they read it first? How could a manuscript go from slush pile to book shelf missing all the steps in between? Oh, man, even I could do better!" By the time I'd picked that book off the floor for, very likely, the ten millionth time, it had changed to a grimly determined, "I will do better!" So, I figured out my own version of this, probably even then, overdone plot, blissfully tossing the rules the other book was written by.

I suppose for that reason, I'll never be a famed "romance" writer.   :)

Yep, I peopled my novel with the large Tollefson family because there really are Big Families in the world, and because I'd conceived of this story at a time when I was convinced I'd never find my Prince and have a family of my own, anyhow. 13's my favorite number, so I chose 13 of my favorite names, developed the characters of the children, then figured out what their father would be like. That was back in 1972, and I was Thomasyna's age. Now-- I'm her mother's.

I'll never be convinced that interesting things happen only to persons of small families, or those from single parent homes, or to orphans. That only they are in a position, (or are forced), to solve their own problems. What? There's no problems in a large family? Large families are more loving than small ones, so there's ALWAYS someone to gallop to your rescue?? You don't have to be accountable for your actions in a large family?

Then, of course, there's the silly rule that the main man's always at least ten years older . . . . I gotta crack up at that one-- I'm two and half years older than Andy. We've been married 20 years--close to 21. If that's not a happily ever after, I guess I don't know what is! If it suits me to have them so much older, they will be. If not-- they won't!

Not gonna promise you won't get boggled at the first meeting of the Tollefsons. But I've done my best to be sure they can be sorted out. That their individuality will let them stand apart from each other. However, if I've failed in some way, why, you can always refer to this list of sketches I've prepared to that end.  :-)

What I wanted to prove though, is that being a part of a large family doesn't mean one's life is full of rescues. Everyone has the same chances to make decisions, to screw up and then figure out how to fix the mess. To finally arrive at a happily ever after :-)   -- or not . . . .  :-(

Whoa, yeah . . . !   . . . the fun part of writing a story!)

You can go on over and meet the characters, more or less, in the order they appear in the book. Some are naturally more open than others, but you'll get a glimpse of how they feel about each other, and about what's happening now, and leak a hint or two of what might happen in the sequels . . . particularly the next one, tentatively called The Men of DreamWind.

Since Thomi's world is peopled by more than just herself and Stephan, I felt this would be a convenience to those who might be boggled by so large a family. Even he (Stephan) still has a problem or two with it. Ah well, that's life, eh?