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Sunday Snippet: The First Real Snippet for 2022 Edition
It’s cold here–like really cold. Single digits cold. We went up to check on the lake cottage on Thursday and discovered that the pilot light on the furnace had blown out in the high winds they’d had on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was 23 degrees in the cottage and the antifreeze in the toilets had a skim of ice. Yikes! Husband relit the pilot and then we went to friend Moe’s (she’s a year-rounder) and stayed in her warm house until ours got up to a decent temperature. The cottage is totally winterized, so all is well, and the time away from my computer gave me the opportunity to sit…
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Sunday Snippet: The Holiday Romance Edition
You know, I try not to do too many posts that are purely self-promo, although I grant you that I do say a lot about writing and my books here. Disclaimer in place, today’s post, by necessity, is short and sweet. Love holiday romance? Me, too. Here are a few that I love. Feel free to add to this list in the comments. I’d love your suggestions. A Christmas Town Homecoming: The latest offering from the Christmas Town authors who include my writing bestie, Liz Flaherty. Her story, Remember When, is just one of ten charming coming home stories in this anthology. Lighting Up Christmas: Sinclair Jayne’s latest…
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Sunday Snippet: The Pre-Thanksgiving Edition
Giving thanks every day on Facebook this month has improved my outlook. That is bigger than it sounds, mes amies, because my outlook has pretty much sucked for quite some time. However, I went to the grocery store this morning…yes, on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and what a lovely experience it was! Folks wore masks, were polite and easygoing. The store shelves were fully stocked, nobody seemed to be hoarding anything, the produce department had gorgeous fresh veggies and fruit. I bought pears and lettuce. I even found vegan queso cheese for Husband–a real victory if it tastes decent. All in all, the trip to Kroger gave me hope for…
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Author Spotlight: Liz Flaherty Has a New Book and a Holiday Giveaway!
Congratulations, Roseann McGrath Brooks, you are Liz’s winner! She’ll be in touch! “Some of the joys in being a septuagenarian are unexpected. Google is one—how else did you think I knew how to spell septuagenarian? Dressing however you want is another. It’s especially fun to wear what a blonde twenty-something on Facebook assures you is completely wrong for you.” – Liz Flaherty, Window Over the Desk Getting romance novels published is hard for me these days—not so much because I’m the age I am, I guess, or because I look the age I am, but because I sound the age I am. The editors I’ve worked with in past years…
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Sunday Snippet: The Time to Start a New Book Edition
And so it is. I didn’t take the break I intended to take before I dove into the new novel and I think maybe I should have. Between editing gigs and life stuff, I could’ve used a few days of doing absolutely nothing. Reading, watching mindless television, long walks around the ‘hood, some fall yard cleanup–that kind of nothing. Instead, I panicked about deadlines and began Jasmine Weaver’s story, which has been rattling around in my head since before I wrote Becker’s story. Chapter 1 of Jazz’s story is with my critique partner now and I’ve brainstormed endlessly with Liz and my friend Kelly and Husband… but she’s still in…
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Sunday Snippet: The It’s a Snippet Edition
I’m sort of on a writing break–not really because I’m starting the first book in the Weaver Sisters series, but I’m not pushing. Mostly, I’m doing other stuff. I fall cleaned my house, went to a gala fund raiser for Nickel Plate Arts (my first foray into the world in almost two years), I watched a couple movies, I’m reading like crazy, I took walks, I had lunch with my sister for our birthdays… you know, real people stuff. I’ve also been working on promotion for The Valentine Wager, writing to reviewers, etc. and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Jasmine’s book–the first Weaver sister to get her…
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Sunday Snippet: The How Is It Sunday Again and I’m Meandering Edition
Holy cats, kids, it’s Sunday again! No idea how that happened. It’s been an eventful week here at casa Reinhardt, although as I look back on the last seven days, what sticks out most is work. I’ve been working a lot this month of June and now as July appears on the horizon, I find myself wondering what happened to the first third of summer. Does that ever happen to you? Time just sort of slipping away while you’re trying to plan your life? I keep thinking that one day I’ll be organized and I’ll get to sketching classes and lunch with friends, old and new and time with sister…
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Sunday Snippet: The French Butter Edition
I love French butter. We discovered it in Paris, naturally enough, and it’s perfect butter. Creamy and delicious with just the right touch of salt. We ate it on croissants at the little café around the corner from our apartment and on crusty baguettes from the boulangerie next to the laverie (laundromat). It was sheer paradis sur terre (heaven on Earth). I’d never really appreciated butter of any kind before that trip to Paris because my mom bought margarine and that’s what I grew up on. My grandmother had butter at her house and I recall thinking it tasted…oily. And because the size of my butt has been an issue my…
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Sunday Snippet: The Loving My Own Words Edition
When Liz and I were on retreat earlier this month, we spent a lot of time discussing our WIPs. At one point she read me something she’d just written and said, “I really love it. That’s so nice when you like your own stuff.” I had to agree. I have to confess, I am one of those writers who needs to do that—read what I wrote previously in order to get into writing mode. I sometimes wonder if that’s because I’m an editor in my heart (and in my day job), but I don’t think I’m the only writer who works this way. I’ve tried just picking up where I…
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Writing Retreat Report #3
I asked Liz what I should talk about in the report and she smiled and said, “Just that we had a good day.” And so we did. We got a lot of writing in, a lot of talking, and a lot of walking! After our writing session this morning, we walked into town for brunch at the Downtowner and wandered around a bit, although there wasn’t much to see because most of the shops aren’t open here yet. Lots still closed from Covid and actually the season here hasn’t truly begun yet. I did find a lovely pair of aquamarine earrings and Liz got a really cute top at a…