Stories from River's Edge
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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: Post-Thanksgiving Thoughts
This holiday weekend has flown by, hasn’t it? I’m a little stunned at how quickly it’s all happened. But, it’s another Thanksgiving in the hopper and we’re thinking about Christmas. We don’t generally decorate right after Thanksgiving because we do like to keep our decorations up through the New Year and they start to feel stale if we get them up too early. So even though today is the first Sunday in Advent, we won’t be putting up our tree until next week or even the following week. I’m about a third of the way into the first book in the Weaver Sisters series, which will begin releasing in 2023.…
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Sunday Snippet: The Anniversary Edition
It’s the four-year anniversary of signing my first book contract with Tule Publishing. What a fun ride it has been since then! I’m writing book #8 for them with two more after this one and hopefully another 4-book series for another family in River’s Edge. Whew! I love this little town and all the people in it. The characters feel like family to me and I truly hope they do to my readers as well. Speaking of River’s Edge—we were, right? It’s been a while since I’ve given y’all an actual snippet so today here you go. A little tiny snippet involving the town from The Valentine Wager. Setup, briefly,…
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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 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 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 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 Cover Reveal Edition
YAY! I’m clapping hands and flinging myself about with joy at the arrival of the cover for Book 1 of my new Lange Brothers series from Tule Publishing! More stories from River’s Edge abound and Book 1, The Valentine Wager, hits the market on February 1, 2022. I’m delighted to share the cover here. Isn’t it gorgeous? I love the simple elegance of it and it sorta says it all about Ryker and Kitt’s romance. Here’s the back cover blurb: He’s a notorious flirt, so she lays down a challenge she’s sure she’ll win. When playboy police lieutenant Ryker Lange stops Kitt Boynton for driving on the wrong side of the road, his attraction…
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Sunday Snippet: The Discovery Edition
Several years ago, I attended an Indiana RWA event—Bob Mayer’s Write it Forward workshop. It was inspiring and Bob’s book, The Novel Writer’s Toolkit is one of my go-to references. He has lots of valuable things to say about writing and the process of writing. Another mentor is Lani Diane Rich, whose Chipperish Media’s How Story Works podcasts are an invaluable source of inspiration and education for any writer. From Lani, I learned about discovery—what begins my process when I write. All books begin with an idea, as Mayer says. That’s “the heart of your story.” For me, it’s mostly characters in my head banging around, begging for their stories…
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Sunday Snippet: The Moving Right Along Edition
And so we are. I’m finally out from under a rather large editing gig that was a particularly challenging one. I only have one project on my desk this week, although I am getting another at the end of the week, and so my plan is to write, write, write. I had the great news from my editor that Max’s book is on the way to the copy editor, along with warm congratulations that I’d nailed the story in revisions and she’s excited for the next one. Whew! That is always a marvelous message to receive. So the next one is underway and I’m learning the characters and their quirks…