This Life...
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Sunday Snippet: Holy Cats! It’s December!
Wow. It’s December! How did that happen? Just last week, it was Halloween, right? Somehow, days slip by and the holidays are nigh and I have a book due in about 6 weeks… So, I’m writing in the mornings, working on editing gigs in the afternoon, and trying to get holiday stuff done in the evenings. All in all, breathing is out of the question until after January 15, 2022. That’s not really true…I am taking a breath now and again, and as I look at my December calendar, there isn’t all that much on it. The overwhelm only feels…well…overwhelming. But I can do it. I’ve done it before and…
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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 End of the Season Edition
I’m better. The muscle relaxers helped me get through a couple of days and now I’m off all the chemistry and just depending on good stretches and paying attention to how I’m sitting when I work. Hopefully, I won’t have to deal with that pain again. It’s the weekend we close up the lake cottage, which is always bittersweet, but we are ready to stay at home in the city for the cold winter months. By about mid-March, we’ll be longing for the lake again. Funny how that happens, but I think that the cycle of lake life runs like that. Not hot and cold, but rather, our inner selves…
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Sunday Snippet: The I Hurt Edition
Yeah, I hurt, and I hate it! I did something squirrelly to my neck and shoulder last week, and ice and ibuprofen weren’t cutting it. So when I wen in for my annual checkup on Thursday, I mentioned the pain to my doc. She felt around (yikes!), found the offending muscles, recommended some exercises to help stretch out the pain and wrote me a scrip for a muscle relaxant. Said to give it two weeks and if it’s not gone by then to check in with her again. So…muscle relaxants. Um…the dose is two before bed, however, Doc said that since I’ve never had muscle relaxants before, I should start…
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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 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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Author Jeana Mann Is Here with a Free Box Set and a Giveaway!
Today, I’m delighted to turn the blog over to fellow Midwesterner and USA Today best-selling author, Jeana Mann. Jeana gave up a career in the corporate world to write about sexy billionaires and alpha bad boys. With over twenty books, three series, and several awards beneath her belt, she’s never regretted her choice to live out her dream. She’s a free-spirit, a wanderer, and loves animals with a passion. When she’s not tripping over random objects, you’ll find her walking in the sunshine with her rambunctious dogs and dreaming about true love. The floor is yours, Jeana… Hey, everyone! I’m thrilled to be here today. Thank you so much, Nan,…