The first two weeks of 8-Sentence Sunday, I gave you snippets from my completed novel, Like Fine Wine—the story of Julie Miles, a widow who’s come to Chicago to try to regroup after losing her husband of over thirty years. Just for fun, I’m returning to that story this week. After all, I need to keep you intrigued with two different novels that are both releasing this year. Here we go… In the last snippet, Will Brody, the hot guy across the hall, stopped by to check on Julie. He’s attractive and kind and funny, and Julie can’t seem to help responding to him. She’s shocked to realize that her…

My pal Skye Hughes  nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award. Thanks, Skye! The Liebster Award requires the following (which I snagged directly from Skye’s post): You must tell 11 things about yourself Answer the questions your nominator gives you. Create 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate. Choose blogs with fewer than 200 followers and link them to your post. If you’re nominated, please leave a comment on this post with the URL of  your Liebster Award post. In the interest of keeping this blog post down to novella size, I’m going to say that answering the 11 questions below covers the first rule, which is to tell 11…

  Another snippet from The Music Is You, my current WIP. Carrie has confronted her old friend and former teacher, demanding to know how Maestro Liam Reilly has shown up in Frankfort, Michigan. Eliot confesses he invited him, telling her she needs to face him and deal with their issues. Carrie spends a sleepless night wondering how she’s going to cope with Liam’ s sudden reappearance in her life after all these years, but the next morning… Barefoot, she ran down the steps from the loft. Eliot had a lot of nerve showing up this early. Surely he knew she didn’t get any sleep last night. She threw open the…

Last week, I posted a first scene snippet from my current work in progress/revision, The Music Is You. Carrie Halligan’s worst fears are realized when her former lover, symphony conductor Liam Reilly, suddenly appears in the small Michigan town where she’s raising her son as a single mom. Liam’s surprised to see her too, and in this later scene, he’s in his hotel room, trying to wrap his mind around the events in the bar earlier.  Here’s another snippet from that book, this time from Liam’s POV. What he’d recognized was the way she played—leaning into the piano, her slender fingers dancing lightly across the keyboard, emotion caressing each and every…

I’m stepping away from Like Fine Wine for a week to give you a tiny taste of another book  I’m doing revision work on, The Music Is You. I think I might go back and forth between them for a few weeks because LFW’s main character, Julianne Miles was a secondary character in Music, which is her best friend Carrie’s story. Carrie Halligan is a single mom, raising a teenaged son on the shores of Lake Michigan in a small town near Traverse City. Her world gets turned upside down when her son’s father, sexy symphony conductor Liam Reilly, suddenly appears on the scene after almost sixteen years. Carrie once…

This is my first time to try something like this, but the idea intrigued me. So here are seven sentences from my current WIP, Like Fine Wine. Julianne Miles has just arrived in Chicago to stay in her friend’s apartment for a few weeks. She’s believes she’s alone until she hears a man come in…uninvited… I was supposed to be here, this guy certainly wasn’t. He was tall and his spiky blond hair, backlit by the sun, shone in a gold halo around his head. “Do I know you?” he asked. “Are you Jules?” I brushed past him and headed for the kitchen. “I’m the widow fucking Miles,” I said.…

We closed up the lake house this weekend and I’m sad that lake season is over. I’ll miss the big bay and our little cottage, but most of all, I’ll miss my dear friends. I hated leaving this afternoon after we’d winterized and packed up. We stopped by each family’s homes to say our good-byes and get hugs to last us until we go back up for the holiday Open House in three weeks. Then we head up again for a New Year’s Eve party, which thrills us no end, but we’ll surely miss our weekends at the lake. The good news is that it’s only a little over four…

…on this Wednesday. I got to spend some time with friend, Dee, today and that was a treat! She looks so good and I’m always happy to hang out with her. Good friends like Dee. Sunshine and crisp November temperatures. A new purse. Talked to Son about his class schedule for next semester. Love hearing about his plans. A new video of grand boy giggling that made Nanny and Pops giggle too! How about you? What are you grateful for today?

It’s been a really great day at IRWA Retreat. Lots of writing, lots of critiquing, lots of sharing ideas, and lots of good fellowship. For all of that, I’m thankful. I’m also glad for: The perfect weather day–cool, but not cold and sunshine. I even worked outside for a while. The third floor bedroom and the stairs, which have been good exercise. Learning new writing tips and ideas from my colleagues. Laughter. Meeting new writers here and finding things other than writing in common. How about you? How was your Saturday special?  

…so lots to be grateful for tonight! Lovely drive down to the Retreat–listened to music and sang along with Rod Stewart. Retreat is in a beautiful venue–an old manor house that’s full of history. Laughter in the next room–everyone is enjoying themselves. Already doing writing and critiquing, so we’re off to a roaring start. Sandy and Cheryl–my two critique partners. How about you? What are you thankful for today?