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Celebrating Mom’s Way
I was just in the kitchen putting baked beans together and it occurred to me how much of my Mom’s way of doing things I’ve brought to my own adulthood. Like, for instance, baked beans. Mother was always horrified at the idea of dumping a can of baked beans into a pot and warming it up right from the can. Instead, she drained the beans, put them in a casserole dish, added barbecue sauce, mustard, a chopped onion, and brown sugar. Then she placed two strips of bacon across the top in an X and put them in the oven. She baked them until they were dry enough that when…
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The Famous Sister
I love that I’m currently ranked #33 among all of Amazon’s Best-Selling Contemporary Romance Authors–what a wonderful feeling that is! My sister, PJ, teasingly refers to me as “my famous sister,” which I find delightful and hilarious because although I treasure her pride in my writing, I’m hardly famous. I’m simply a midlist romance author, although I do have a small cadre of loyal readers to whom I owe any success I can lay claim to. My publisher, Tule Publishing, has added to that group and I’m ever always grateful to the team there who work so hard on my behalf. But I have to tell you honestly, as I…
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Hunkering Down…Really?
Right off, this is not news for me–I’m a freelance editor. Lock-down has basically been my life since 1996. I work from home, I write at home, I’m pretty much at home about 70% of the time. However, the whole idea that I have to stay at home is new to me and frankly, it’s kinda bugging me. I keep thinking of reasons I need to get in the car and go somewhere. If this self-quarantine thing wasn’t happening, I’d be merrily working away, needing nothing. Go figure. Here’s the thing, though; this isn’t really terrifying me. We needed a reset in this country, maybe this is the start of…
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Happy New Year…
…and may 2020 bring all of you joy and peace and happiness. I know so many folks are doing a word for the year or making resolutions. I’m not. I’m simply going to make an effort to move forward and enjoy the journey. I am making some commitments. Not resolutions or huge lifestyle changes, but rather commitments to myself. One to take better care of me in all ways, but mostly by being more mindful each day. A commitment to finishing a book and getting a new series started. That means I need to step away from social media for a bit. I’m not going full-on hiatus, but I am…
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New Week; Big Gratitude
This is the start of a brand new week and although I haven’t done my gratitude days for a while, I have a really good reason for my absence, which will be revealed here one week from today. In the meantime, let’s talk about…whatever. Right off, what the heck happened to fall? I mean, the leaves started changing, we had a few brisk days and suddenly, oh my gosh! It’s winter–like below freezing temps and snow! Now, I’ll grant you, the snow didn’t stick, but the temperatures in the 20s and teens sure did! Leaves are falling off the trees like crazy up here at the lake and poor old…
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Day 9: Gratitude and Happy Birthday to Tule!
It’s my publisher’s 6th birthday! Tule Publishing has officially released 600 books and been in business for six years! Here’s to many more years of publishing wonderful stories by lots of great authors (me, too!) and to me having a long career with Tule! Well, no new houses to see, although our portal keeps getting new ones posted. Just not our house. We looked at two that were not our house, so I’ve decided to try to adopt a zen attitude–if it’s the right house, we will know it when we see it. I just can’t spend too much more time with a house-hunting knot in my stomach. Edits on…
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Promo Is Scary
I’m deep into book promo for Meant to Be, Sean and Megan’s book in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series that I’m writing for Tule Publishing. It releases on July 18, but is currently available for pre-order. I confess I’m not a good self-promoter. (However, I can stick a convenient link into a blog post with little trouble.) Most of the writers I know aren’t good at it. Promotion means coming out of our little writing caves and interacting with the reading public. I wish I could describe how intimidating that is. Although when I’m with my tribe, I’m pretty outgoing, I don’t do well with crowds of strangers, whether…
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Almost There…
Well, we’re about 24 hours from closing and soon our home will belong to our buyer. We’ve worked hard to infuse as much love and joy into that house as we can, and if it’s true that homes have feelings, he should be all warm and fuzzy by tomorrow evening. As for us, we are warm and fuzzy thanks to Son and DIL and Grandboy, who have welcomed us into their home and created a lovely temporary resting place as we look for a new house. Son made me a little office space, there is a wet bar that is our “kitchen,” and the bedroom and private bath are cozy…
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Wednesday, Yes! Wednesday Check-in
I’m actually getting this up on the right day, aren’t you proud of me? Well, don’t be because I should be writing on book 3 for the Four Irish Brothers Winery series or working on editing gigs. However, yesterday was somewhat of a victory, so I’m celebrating by keeping to my planned schedule. We got the garage and attic decluttered! YAY! Sent a truckload of stuff with the Fire Dawgs–a great group of guys who take care of junk for people who’ve lived in a house for 35 years and collected…well, a lot of stuff they no longer need. Our attic is empty for the first time in 35 years…
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Wednesday, Okay, Thursday Check-in
I didn’t think it was possible for life to get busier, but it has as we draw nearer to closing on the house and moving. So much to do and so many things to think about! However, all that stuff doesn’t mean I’m excused from my copy-editing gigs or writing. I have deadlines on both, so I’m still deep into Aidan and Holly’s story and the work that I’m contracted to do for my clients. Yesterday, though, I did some work in the yard and it was lovely to be completely mindless for just a couple of hours. Be sure to grab my pal, Liz Flaherty’s holiday novella, The Dark…