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Sunday Snippet: The Start of a New Year Memos Edition
Every so often, I do a memos edition–just random stuff that’s on my mind and needs to be dumped. This is one… feel free to add your own memos in the comments. I love it when you share! Dear Winter, Make up your mind already…snow and desperately freezing temperatures or mild and teasing us with spring? My daffodils are confused and so am I. Shiveringly, Nan ~*~*~*~ Dear Creative Brain, One book at a time, okay? Stay focused, finish Cam and Harper’s story, then you can move on. Distractedly, Nan ~*~*~*~ Dear Chocolate, Yes, I know you are delicious and wonderful and taste like magic, but you have to stop…
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Sunday Snippet: The Writing from Other People’s Experiences Edition
I’m writing book 3 in the Walkers of River’s Edge series–it’s Cam Walker’s story. He’s fallen in love with the new girl in town–a lovely young artist who also happens to be a widow. As a fiction writer, sometimes, my own life directs my storytelling, but honestly, most all of what I write comes from other people’s experiences, from absorbing narrative through films, books, music, and TV, and from listening. Okay, maybe eavesdropping in restaurants and airports and in groups of people, and from conversations I’ve been a part of and some that I’ve only been an observer in. That’s all part of the discovery process–what happens before you start…
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Sunday Snippet: The Validation Edition, II
You know who I envy? Writers who have complete faith in their work and themselves. The ones who write a book and always know immediately that it’s great stuff and is going to sell like hotcakes. Or the ones who may know their work needs help, but believe so strongly in their own stories that they push on, striving to make them better. They never doubt their abilities or spend days wondering what they’re doing trying to write a novel, for Pete’s sake. They don’t wonder if they’re fooling everyone, including themselves, with this whole author thing. Sometimes, I can be that writer. When a scene works perfectly, when I’ve…
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Sunday Snippet: The Annnd… We’re Off! Edition
And so we are. Today, Liz and I are headed down to the hills of Southern Indiana for a writing retreat–our annual winter event. This is our third January retreat. We stay in a beautiful and comfortable inn in the center of the cute little town of Nashville. The Artist’s Colony Inn is the perfect place for a winter retreat with large cozy rooms and a fab restaurant, plus breakfast is included with our room. Our first Nashville retreat was in 2022 and we happened upon the Artist’s Colony after our original hotel turned out to be … well, not really prepared for our visit. Anyway, we scooted into town,…
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Author Spotlight: Dakota Harrison is Back with Exciting News!
We have a winner! Kathleen Shaputis, your name was randomly selected to receive a free e-book from Dakota! She will be in touch with you! Thanks, everyone, for stopping by! We love talking to our readers! I’m welcoming fellow Tule author Dakota Harrison back into the Spotlight today. Dakota lives in a (not so) sunny part of Queensland, Australia, with her human and fur kids, and harbors a strange love of UGG boots. K- and J-Pop feature heavily in her home, especially when drafting her novels, drawing inspiration for her heroes from the music videos and anime, much to her children’s delight and her husband’s sufferance. She loves writing both…
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Sunday Snippet: The Eeek, I Need a Break Edition and a Question
I’ve been working and writing pretty much nonstop for… well, for the last five years for sure and probably longer and I need a break. That’s not a whine…well, okay, maybe a little bit of a whine, but the fact is, I need to get away. Thankfully, I am getting away in about about a week! YAY! Liz and I are going on retreat for four days and I can’t wait. Retreat doesn’t mean I’ll stop writing. As a matter of fact our retreats are all about writing, but it does mean I’ll set my editing gigs aside for four days and focus entirely on the current WIP. Plus I…
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Author Spotlight: Mystery Writer Carol Light Has a New Book!
We have a winner! Kathleen Bylsma you were randomly drawn to receive Carol’s giveaway. Carol be in touch with you! Thanks to everyone for stopping by! We love talking to our readers! Know what I love? Carol Light’s Cluttered Crime Mysteries. And now there is a brand new one and her heroine, professional organizer Crys Ward, has somehow landed in the middle of another murder. Carol’s here to tell us all about writing this new book, plus she has a giveaway for one lucky commenter! Carol Light is an avid reader and writer of mysteries. She loves creating amateur sleuths and complicating their normal lives with a crime that they must…
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Sunday Snippet: The Introducing the Walker Family & a Giveaway Edition
Winner!! Sue Farmer, your name was selected from the comments as the recipient of an e-book copy of Home to River’s Edge and a $5 gift Amazon gift card! I’m sending you an email! Wow–I can’t believe January is nearly half over, can you? Or that it’s time to start promotion on the new River’s Edge series The Walkers of River’s Edge. Y’all know the Walkers, they’ve been around in other stories, including Home to River’s Edge. Jazz Weaver fell in love with Eli Walker, and at the end of Christmas in River’s Edge, Jenny and Gabe attended Jazz and Eli’s wedding on New Year’s Day. The other Walkers have…
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Sunday Snippet: The I Shall Thole Edition
It’s here. The New Year. It snowed yesterday and I opened the front door to take a picture and to inhale the crisp, cold scent of it. Snow brings a hush to the world and peace to my heart. So many people my age leave the state for warmer climes and I totally don’t get it. I like the change of seasons here in the Midwest, I don’t mind the snow–I don’t even mind being stuck inside if the snow makes travel hazardous. I’m writing the third book in The Walkers of River’s Edge series. It’s Cameron and Harper’s story and it’s coming hard, I confess. I’m not sure why…
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Sunday Snippet: The End of Year Edition
2024 looms–and that is indeed the word I mean to use–looms. Not just personally, but also in regard to the whole world. We are living in chaotic and scary times, and I keep thinking what can I do? The only answer I can come up with as 2023 closes is to hang on. Keep doing what I’m doing–write, work, spend time with my family, spread love, pay attention to what’s happening in the world…vote. This may be the election year that I put in time as a volunteer for a candidate. My stomach roils at the thought of what’s happening in Washington (not much thanks to a do-nothing off-the rails…