Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Happy Thanksgiving

So many things to be thankful for this year.

Every year is fraught with struggles, and yet we go on. I'm sure I could come up many nuggets of encouragement to keep us going through the difficult times, but my favorite is "Rainbows come after the rain."

Time claims its due and we lose people we love, but God has blessed us with people who share our loss and the strength to continue on our journeys. New lives are added in the form of babies or friends. I am thankful for each of these things. For lives well lived, for family to help us carry on, for new lives added. These blessings are gold.
Bailey's Cheesecake balls

As an author, I'm thankful for those readers who keep me going, who encourage me with their kind reviews when they relate to my words and stories. This year I'm thankful for audiobook narrators who bring my words to life (Epitaph will be available in January!).

Homemade cinnamon rolls







I'm looking forward to baking wonderful, traditional treats for Thanksgiving and in preparation of Christmas. and because #MyLifeIsAMusical, the soundtrack to this post? My Favorite Things.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The Engineer's Wife

This post might also be titled, "But I don't feel like writing"

There are certainly enough distractions over the course of a day to keep me away from my keyboard, or away from the work in progress even at the keyboard, but with a number of them now eliminated, I've run into one more. Hence, the subtitle of this post.

The Big Guy and I went to exercise at the pool last week, and when we came back, I put my watershoes in the utility sink to drain and forgot them there.  Usually, I put them by a window, in the sun. So imagine, the next time we went to the pool, I retrieved my watershoes and they were still wet. And stinky. Fortunately, they weren't showing signs of mold or mildew yet, so I washed them and took them along. Lesson learned. When we came home, I put them where I usually do, like I should have done the time before, but The Big Guy figured  he’d help me and moved them for "optimal air flow for drying."

As background on this, The Big Guy is an engineer, so he has a certain way of doing things. A certain way of organizing things. And yes, he's a little OCD. When I load the dishwasher, he moves things around because, apparently, I'm not balancing the load properly. When we come home from the grocery store, there is a certain way to put some things in the refrigerator. Most of the time, I don't care. He can do whatever makes his OCD happy. I'm generally much more laid back, but sometimes...



Sometimes, I don't WANT him to rearrange my stuff. My shoes have rubber soles (I'm feeling a Beatles reference here). They aren't going to get 360 degree air flow.

But I digress. What does this have to do with writing? Well, it goes to state of mind. Today, he annoyed me with his OCD and now I'm walking around reacting instead of letting it roll off - the way I normally would. Normally I DON'T care enough to react, but today... Well there are enough other things going on in the world that it's one more thing to add to a mood.

HOWEVER - it's also an excuse. Just because I decided to get into a snit doesn't mean I can get away with not writing. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off. Let it go, let it go... (Elsa, anyone?) and get the job done.

Oh, and contrary to what the song says, the cold DOES bother me (anyway), and we're getting winter way too early this year.

I guess my rant is over. Despite the imperfections of human response, I'm living my happily ever after. And now, time to get back to work writing!

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Serendipity

I'm finalizing my next release, which should be available in January, and I'm working on the second book in the new series. As I was writing today, I took a "breather" and found a picture that relates to the new book (I quoted the song title, because the one character has a tendency to sing Beatles songs). What are the odds of stumbling across this song today after writing my character thinking about it? Serendipity, I tell ya!


Maybe, just maybe, it's the world telling me to soldier on. Keep writing, even when life throws heart-twisting moments at me.

Do you ever run across seemingly random things that make you stop to evaluate how random they really are?

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

While We Were (Christmas) Shopping

Hallmark has begun airing its Christmas movies - yes, even as early as last month, but I decided to wait until AFTER Halloween to share my latest work with you.
For those of you who love a little bit of fluff at the holidays, a feel-good story with a happily-ever-after that includes snow and hot chocolate and Christmas markets, I hope you'll pick up a copy of my latest book which released TODAY! WHILE WE WERE SHOPPING is a story about a woman who loves Christmas, and wants to bring the joy of the season to other people who are struggling--or at least who she thinks are struggling. A boss on the wrong side of the ocean. A coworker separated from his family. She's a woman on a mission because "Everyone should love Christmas, right?" 

You can buy it here