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Sunday Snippet: The Questioning Edition
Time passes so quickly that Sunday comes along before I realize it’s been a week since my last missive here. A few months ago, I bought a little book called A Year of Journal Prompts. I’m bugged by the fact that I feel I need that little book, but I confess I’m really glad to have it. The author must have been feeling my empty-brain pain when she put it together. She has 30 or more prompts for each month of the year and Octobers are mostly about reevaluation–taking a look at where you are, where you’d like to be. Things you are happy about, things you aren’t so pleased about.…
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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 Rosemary’s Birthday Edition
No, I’m not playing with classic horror movie titles here, it is actually my mother-in-law Rosemary’s birthday. Well, her birthday week. Tomorrow, she turns 96. And she is still rockin’. At 96, she still lives in the little house she raised her two sons in–67 years in the same house. Can you even imagine that? People move around so much these days–most folks I know have lived in at least a dozen houses in their lifetimes so far. Even my kids are on home #5 and they haven’t even been married nineteen years yet! Rosemary still drives her car–not far, mind you, but she can get herself to the bank…
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Sunday Snippet: The Autumn Is Here Edition
I love fall–I always have, and not just because my birthday is in the fall, but also because it’s a lovely time of year. Not an ending, but a beginning of cooler weather, sweatshirts and jeans and warm beverages and apples and pie and snuggling on the sofa in front of a fire. We cut back some of the stuff in the front garden today–the one under my office window. It’s still got green and flowers in it, but not so much color as plants go dormant for a long winter’s nap. Husband loves the purple verbena and the colorful cosmos that are still hanging on, so we’ll leave those…
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Sunday Snippet: The Whew, I Did It Edition
Wow. It’s been quite a week. Mostly because I finally wrote THE END on Book 3 in the Lange Brothers series. Becker’s book, The Fireman’s Christmas Wish, is in the hands of my fabulous editor, Sinclair Sawney, and I confess that I’m really nervous about this one. There’s a lot of me in grumpy Becker Lange and a lot of what I wish I could be in sweet and charming Harley Cole. Before this book, I’d never thought about how much of myself goes into my books, even though friends who know me and read my novels often say, “Oh, that line or that situation or that moment of humor…
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Sunday Snippet: The Pretty Pictures Edition
Yeah, I’m still under that deadline–getting closer, but not quite there–and September 15 looms large. So no words today, wise or otherwise. Instead here are some pretty pictures of our gardens as they drift into fall. Enjoy! But first, a quick bit of Tule Publishing business–we’re celebrating our 8th birthday with a 50% off sale on all e-books (including mine!), so hop on over to the Tule Shop and get happy! Stay well, stay safe, wear your mask, and most of all, mes amies, stay grateful!
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Sunday Snippet: The Oh, Hell, I Almost Forgot Edition
I know, I know. It’s Sunday Snippet time and I’m here editing away and dammit! It hit me that I hadn’t posted my blog yet. Is 2:30 on Sunday afternoon too late? I’m saying no. I have a list of blog prompts for each month of the year, which I do not consider cheating, merely assisting. Sometimes, when I’ve got nothin’, like today, these prompts are my best source of inspiration. Today’s is “What are the best things about fall?” This is a terrific one for me because I love fall. Right off, I’m a fall baby–born in late September, along with my brother, my grandmother, my sister, my brother-in-law,…
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Sunday Snippet: The Lake Life Reality Edition
We are in our 10th year, 11th season here at the lake. It’s hard to believe we’ve had our cottage for so long, particularly given that we waited for so long to buy one. It seemed like whenever we were ready to buy, cottages were just out of our reach and when they were in our reach, we weren’t in a position to consider buying one. Ten years ago, when this marriage-long dream came true, we were overjoyed. We still are, although the realities of lake life are a little different from the fantasies. The fantasies didn’t include have to scrub the cottage down a couple of times a year…
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Sunday Snippet: The Five Memorable Days Edition
My friend Liz is a great source of inspiration, especially when it comes to blogging. When I don’t know what to write, she gives me fantastic ideas and one of her best is “Do a list.” Lists are always fun and something y’all can participate in, too. Today, I’m pulling this idea from a writing prompt that we used a few years ago on the Word Wranglers–telling about our five most memorable days, but the trick was that we couldn’t use the usual Pollyanna days–like our wedding day or the day our kids or grandkids were born or the day we signed our first book contract. Those are givens. So…
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Sunday Snippet: The Too Excited to Breathe & Giveaway Edition
It’s coming up! We are a mere 5 days away from Word Wranglers writer’s retreat in North Carolina and the four of us who are able to attend are about to pop, we’re so excited. First of all, outside of Liz and me, we’ve never met in person. So I get to meet Margie on Wednesday when I go pick her up at the airport, Liz gets to meet her when she picks us up and we get on the road, then all of us get to meet Janie when we arrive in NC. Liz and I travel together frequently, and we’re anticipating all the fun we’ll have adding Margie…