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Sunday Snippet: The It’s an Actual Snippet Today Edition
So, it’s been a week. Lots of editing work, a small amount of writing, and lots of yard work. My brain is tired and my old body is screaming at me, “WTH??” So today you get a real snippet from my upcoming novel, Forever Cowboy, which will be book 4 in the special Bad Boys of the Rodeo series that will be releasing each week all through September 2025 from Tule Publishing’s Montana Born imprint. Mine comes out September 25. It’s been such a treat to participate in this special series with four other authors, Sinclair Jayne, Nicole Flockton, and Jeanie Watt. It’s my first time writing in Montana and…
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Author Spotlight: Love at the Chocolate Shop with 6 Amazing Authors!
I’ve already mentioned that I’m moving settings and will be writing my next four books in Marietta, Montana, Tule’s fictional western town at the foot of Copper Mountain. Marietta is full cowboys and rodeos and ranches and romance–I already love it there! One of the coolest shops in Marietta is Sage Carrigan’s Copper Mountain Chocolates. I had so much fun taking my Forever Cowboy main characters, Beth and Del, into the chocolate shop, where she salivated over all the sweet treats! This week, I’m delighted to welcome six fellow Tule authors to the Spotlight today with a fun and fabulous new chance to win all twelve Love at the Chocolate…
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Sunday Snippet: The Ode to Mom Edition
It’s Mother’s Day–a day that always gives me a lump in my throat as I remember my mom. Not this year, but about every seven years, Mom’s birthday (May 13) lands on Mother’s Day, which makes the day even more bittersweet with memories of her reading aloud to us on camping trips and her humor and intelligence and sense of fun. It also reminds me of the numerous times she and I crossed swords because we were both so set in our thinking–I hope I’ve outgrown that. I’m so grateful for the ten days I got to spend with her in CA six months before she died. Those days, over 37…
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Author Spotlight: J.C. Kenney Is Back with More Elmo Simpson!
We have a winner! Congratulations Cindy McCarter! You are J.C.’s giveaway winner. He will be in touch! Thanks to everyone who stopped by–the flamingo suit was worth the trip–am I right? I say it so often, but maybe not often enough–I do love J.C. Kenney’s mystery hero, Elmo Simpson! I’m lucky enough to be on his Tule Publishing team as copy editor, so I get a first peek at each new Elmo book! What a delight! The added bonus is that J.C. and I are friends, so I get to tell him right away how much I love his newest Elmo book. J.C. Kenney is the Agatha Award-winning and bestselling…
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Sunday Snippet: The Remembering to Be Truly Grateful Edition
I know that I post a paragraph of weekly gratitude each Sunday, but sometimes it’s hard to find reasons to be grateful. I write every morning in my gratitude journal–five things from the day before that I’m thankful for, but I find myself repeating–home, Husband, family, friends–all things I am truly grateful for. But these days are harder than most and only appear to be getting harder. Gratitude is a struggle when the news of the nation and the world is bad. So today, I’m going to focus on all the good in my life and how very blessed I am. (I promise not to be sappy–I’m probably lying about…
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Author Spotlight: Kris Bock Is back with a New Mystery and a Fun Giveaway!
What a treat to welcome Kris Bock back to the Author Spotlight! She’s not only one of my favorite mystery writers, she’s also a fellow Tule Publishing author! Kris Bock writes mystery, suspense, and romance, often with Southwestern landscapes. In the Accidental Detective humorous mystery series, a witty journalist solves mysteries in Arizona and tackles the challenges of turning fifty. The Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the employees and customers at a cat café. Watch as they fall in love with each other and shelter cats. In the Accidental Billionaire Cowboys series, a Texas ranching family wins a fortune in the lottery and find out winning the lottery causes…
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Sunday Snippet: The Opening Weekend Edition with Chicks and Ducklings and Turkeys…Oh My!
There’s a particular scent that always pervades the first weekend of being at the lake–it’s a mixture of citronella and watermelon candles, mothballs (to keep the critters away) and pink antifreeze, bleach, and a slight mustiness that means you’re at the lake. This year, it hit us as soon as we opened the front door. We both inhaled deeply and grinned at each other and said, in unison, “We’re at the lake!” Pic is Husband in his happy place–the lake! We’ve been working most of the past two days getting the cottage ready for another summer. Husband turned on the water (which involves more than turning a knob–he has to…
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Sunday Snippet: The Easter Memories Edition (Redux)
I’m doing a rerun today, although it will be new to Substack readers. Easter memories abound, and today we will make more as the family gathers here at our house today for food and fellowship. So if you remember this one from a couple of years ago, go ahead and read it again anyway and Happy Easter to you! The night before Easter, we colored hardboiled eggs with the Paas Easter egg dye kits. Remember those? After we kids went to bed, Mom, who was probably already exhausted from working at the grocery store all day and studying whatever courses she was taking for her nursing degree, hid them around…
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Author Spotlight: Meet Author Marla Miller
Friends, I met Marla Miller when she invited me to be on her podcast. She is a dynamic and interesting woman, and I’m so happy to introduce you to her today. Marla began her freelance writing career after birthing three children and ending a career as a psychiatric nurse practitioner, RN, MSN. For 16 years, she wrote columns for the OC Register’s lifestyle magazine before becoming founding editor-in-chief of an O.C. coastal lifestyle magazine. Her first book, All American Girls, was the only authorized biography of the iconic World Cup/Gold Medal winning U.S Women’s National Soccer Team that Simon & Schuster published. SweetSpot: Now and Then, her recently published novel…
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Sunday Snippet: The Author Event Edition
Did you really write all these books? How long have you been writing? How long does it take you to write a book? Where do you get your ideas? and interestingly, Do you like doing this? Do you like writing? Those questions and others came up from readers at the author event I participated in yesterday and the last one was the only one I hadn’t heard before. Yes, I did write all these books. I’ve been writing since I could hold a pencil; I wrote my first book at age 10, but I’ve been published since 2012. It takes me about four to six months to write a book.…