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Sunday Snippet: The Snowy Weekend & a Real Snippet Edition
Hiya, mes amis, happy Sunday. It’s snowing here in the city (probably up at the lake cottage, too, from the look of the radar). Has been since last night–they’re predicting 8 to 10 inches when it’s all over. But we are snug in our little brick house enjoying this view. I love snow, particularly a big snow that quiets the world and turns everything soft and white. It makes me want hot chocolate and a fire in the fireplace, a soft snuggly sweater and a good book. I may just spend the day that way. It feels like a good day to take a break and breathe read a book…
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Author Spotlight: Welcome Dakota Harrison–She’s stepping into the World of Cozy Fantasy
I’m so delighted to welcome author Dakota Harrison back to the Spotlight. She’s been here before with her contemporary romances with our favorite publisher, Tule Publishing. Today, she brings something new to the spotlight–cozy fantasy. I had to look that one up, and wow, is the concept ever intriguing. Google told me that “Cozy fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy focused on comforting, low-stakes stories set in magical worlds, emphasizing warmth, community, relationships, and everyday life over epic battles or high-stakes conflicts. It offers a relaxing escape with feel-good vibes, gentle pacing, and charming, often domestic, details like tea, food, and found families, making it a popular genre for readers…
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Sunday Snippet: The January 2026 Musings Edition
How it’s already January 18? Wasn’t it just Thanksgiving? Heck, wasn’t it just summer, for heaven’s sake? Time is going by too quickly. Basically, we’re hunkered down here because the weather is so bitter, flu and Covid are rampant, and I’m doing a round of a topical chemo cream on some pre-cancerous spots on my face, which makes me look kinda gross. I feel safe in my little brick house in the Nest, but the days are are dark–not just because of the season but also because of what is happening in our nation and in the world. We watch events in Minnesota with horror, praying for the folks there,…
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Sunday Snippet: The Audio Books & Memories Edition
I’ve just started listening to audiobooks recently—frankly, since my own book, Forever Cowboy, was released on audio. (Little plug there. Yeah, I’m shameless.) Anyway, I never thought I could listen to an audiobook in the car and keep my focus on driving. Surprisingly, I’m finding that I can, indeed, listen to an audiobook and drive. I started with Claire Cook’s Must Love Dogs because I’ve read the book, enjoyed the film they made from it, and I know the story. I thought maybe if I knew a story it would be less likely to distract me while I was driving. Last month, I listened as I drove up to a…
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Author Spotlight: Kris Bock Kicks Off Our 2026 Spotlights with Her New Cozy!
What a treat to have fellow Tule author Kris Bock as my first guest in the Author Spotlight for 2026. Kris is an amazing mystery writer and keeps me totally intrigued with every book. Her romances are also great fun! Kris Bock writes mystery, suspense, and romance, often with smart, snarky heroines finding adventure (sometimes against their will) in the Southwest. She lives in New Mexico where she enjoys hiking with her husband and playing with their ferrets. Quick Fun Fact: Kris also writes The Felony Melanie series with her brother, scriptwriter Douglas J Eboch, who wrote the original screenplay for the movie Sweet Home Alabama. If you haven’t discovered…
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Sunday Snippet: The First One of 2026 and It’s a Real Snippet Edition
Hiya, Happy New Year, although if you’re like me and having a hard time with that concept, I totally get it. With the news and the condition of our country right now, does it feel like 2026 has a snowball’s chance in h-e-double hockey sticks of being happy? I dunno. I’m asking and honestly trying really hard not to think too hard about it right now. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m paying attention, listening to the news, trying to understand what’s happening. But I can’t make it my entire focus or I seriously will break down and be completely useless. Useless isn’t going to work right now. I have…
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Sunday (Whoops, Thursday) Snippet: The Happy New Year Edition
Today is the first day of 2026, and frankly, I’m skipping resolutions and a word for the year and planning all the ways I’m going to succeed and be amazing this year. My plan for 2026 is to simply survive another year of this regime. Well, okay, not simply survive, I also intend to do what I can do to resist and get educated on how I can best fight for our Constitution and the rule of law. That might mean donating to causes, marching in protests, and voting in important elections, but it won’t mean posting and reposting that resistance on Facebook. On Facebook, I’m preaching to the choir.…
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Christmas Day Snippet: The Repeat the Sounding Joy Edition (Redux)
I love to sing. I can’t sing. I mean I have a truly terrible voice, but I love to sing. Especially at Christmas. So Pandora’s Christmas Classics starts playing at our house before Thanksgiving and NPR gets switched to the Christmas station on the car radio as soon as B105.7 becomes all Christmas music all the time. I’ve played James Taylor’s holiday CD so many times I’m surprised it isn’t worn through and at least four times a week, I hunt for the Eagles version of “Please Come Home for Christmas” and Allison Krause and Yo-Yo Ma’s gorgeous rendition of “The Wexford Carol” on YouTube and play it while I’m…
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Sunday Snippet: The December Mourning to Joy Edition
Yesterday was the 11-year anniversary of my sister, Kate’s, death. On December 19, 2014, cancer stole Kate from me. It’s always a hard day, but this year felt harder … weepier than usual. Not sure why. Maybe because the state of the world has left my emotions raw and simmering close to the edge since last Christmas. I’m exhausted with worry and fear and cringing at whatever’s next. But Kate’s was a quiet, peaceful passing. She had dealt with health issues for some time, but by the time we discovered what was happening, the cancer had spread and her body had no more fight in it. Three months after the…
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Author Spotlight: Bestie Liz Flaherty Joins Me Today–Always a Pleasure!
I’m so glad to welcome my writing bestie, author Liz Flaherty to the Spotlight today. I stole her bio right off her website because it charms the socks off me. She wanted to shake the dust of central Indiana farm country and move to the city, get rich, wear designer clothes, and write books. Well, she writes books. Liz Flaherty lives five miles from where she grew up, only now she relishes the sights and sounds and scents of the fields around her, doesn’t care much about clothes, and thinks being rich would probably have been overrated anyway. She’s spent the past several years enjoying not working a day job,…