More voices on the page, or on the computer screen of this blog, continue to echo into the first hours of a new year. Here are some more of the voices that brightened “A Little Romance” in 2009.

Ghislaine Chock, whose poems “The Phone” and “The Office” appear in the new Bamboo Ridge collection … I asked Ghislaine to comment on the creation of these two poems and the inspiration for them:

The creation of these poems came naturally. I learned from Eric that even if you are not a poet one can express feelings, moments, emotions, etc. through poetry. I am more than fortunate to live with a poet. Poets are able to make you understand and see the world through their keen eyes with exquisite sensitivity. That is their function.

As I mentioned Friday, I was excited to work with local graphic designer Stephanie Chang on my new novel Chasing Cowboys.

Stephanie (Stephanie Chang Design Ink) designed both the cover and the interior pages. We spent over nine months on the book design (a friend called the book our “elephant baby”).

Stephanie and I will be signing this Wednesday, October 21, at Bestsellers in downtown Honolulu (Hotel and Bishop Streets), from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Stop by and say howdy!

I asked Stephanie to talk about her Hawaii roots, her design work, and her creative choices on Chasing Cowboys.

Someone took a look at my new book, Chasing Cowboys (Aloha Romance Writers, 2009), and asked me an inviting question, “What was it like writing this?” Good question. Let me answer it this way.

As the storyteller in this novel, I had the big job of rounding up my two-legged characters and driving them down the trail. Naturally they kept running off in all directions. New critters joined the trail drive and I had to keep an eye on them.

Let’s make this multiple choice. You can add your answers to this. Feel free to comment. It won’t be graded. Now some of these answers may sound like things your mother used to tell you, or still tells you, and maybe she was right, but let’s see.

Q: Why do lovers have to go through hell to get to heaven?

a) They’ll appreciate it so much more when they have to earn it (thanks a lot, Mom).

b) Fiction writers love conflict, and they’ve been told a thousand times, “More conflict!” (in my case, two thousand times).

c) Anything worth having is worth working for (Mom, enough already!).