I’m deep into book promo for Meant to Be, Sean and Megan’s book in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series that I’m writing for Tule Publishing. It releases on July 18, but is currently available for pre-order. I confess I’m not a good self-promoter. (However, I can stick a convenient link into a blog post with little trouble.) Most of the writers I know aren’t good at it. Promotion means coming out of our little writing caves and interacting with the reading public. I wish I could describe how intimidating that is.

Although when I’m with my tribe, I’m pretty outgoing, I don’t do well with crowds of strangers, whether physical or virtual. I’m getting better as I get more experience at promo, but all in all, I’d rather write. Fortunately, for me, I have a great publisher, who really promotes my work and encourages me to do the same.

So, I’m hip-deep in it–creating graphics, contacting book bloggers, coming up with giveaway ideas, paying promoters, and just generally marketing the heck out of my newest story. Here’s hoping it all pays off big for the Four Irish Brothers Winery series. Hold a good thought, won’t you? And hey, if you haven’t pre-ordered MEANT TO BE yet, slip on over to your favorite eBook retailer and click. Sure would appreciate it!

Until next week, mes amies. remember to hold your face to the sun, be grateful for all things, and love well.
~Nan~

Here it is, kids! The gloriously gorgeous cover for Book 2 in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series from yours truly and Tule Publishing. New title is MEANT TO BE and fits Sean Flaherty and Megan Mackenzie’s friends-to-lovers story to a T! The cover captures this engaging couple perfectly! I’m so excited about this book–it’s not just a fun romantic story about two friends who find themselves falling in love, but it’s also a chance to revisit River’s Edge and catch up with the Flahertys. MEANT TO BE releases on July 18, but is available now for pre-order, so please click and let’s rocket Sean and Meg to the top of the bestseller list!

Can a near-tragedy help two best friends realize they’re meant to be so much more?
Best friends since grade school, high-powered Chicago attorney, Sean Flaherty, and small-town mayor Megan Mackenzie have always shared a special bond. When Sean is shot by a client’s angry ex, Megan rushes to his side, terrified she’s about to lose her long-time confidant.
Upon his return to River’s Edge to recuperate, Sean discovers that his feelings for his pal have taken an undeniable turn for the romantic. While Megan struggles with an unfamiliar longing for Sean, she worries that he may be mistaking a safe place to land for love. 
Can Sean help her realize that they are truly meant to be so much more than friends?

Until next week, mes amies, remember to hold your face to the sun, be grateful for all things, and love well.

~Nan~

Okay, okay, I know it’s Thursday again…how about we all agree that the Wednesday check-in is a very fluid concept. It’s been a crazy week and the next few are probably going to be just as crazy. There is just a little less than a month before we close on this house and begin camping out in Son’s basement until we find a new house. I’m basically just taking each day as it comes, but man, oh, man, each day is busier than the next. Our mover stopped by with a load of art boxes yesterday, bless him. When he asked how much art we had to pack, I really didn’t think there was all that much. Turns out, we have a lot of art and pictures hanging on our wall. Who knew?

We’re taking a very short break this weekend to go up to the lake. I haven’t been up yet since Husband opened the cottage and I need the water and my lake buddies and to be away ever so briefly.

Yikes…I’m already off-track, which seems to be my modus operandi lately. Title! After some back and forth with my fabulous publisher, Tule Publishing, the second book in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series finally has a title. <drumroll>> Sean and Megan’s story is titled Between Friends. I like it! It says what the story is about–friends to lovers. One of my very favorite romance tropes. I just got copy edits back and I’m reviewing them now, although I have to say, rather proudly, that the copy editor didn’t do much to this manuscript. She’s terrific and found stuff I missed in my 3,279 passes (I’m exaggerating for effect, it was really only about 3,264), so I really appreciate her hard work and sharp eye.

Gratitude for this week: As always, Husband, Son, DIL, Sister, and Grandboy; pal Lizzie, who keeps me centered when I think I may fall off the edge; spring in all her green glory–everything is sprouting and next week, I’ll have lilacs; SIL, Terri, is retiring today after a long career at a local university–so proud of her accomplishments and very happy for her as she begins a new chapter; and I’m always grateful to the team at Tule Publishing for all their support.

One of my fellow Tule authors, Melissa McClone, has a new indie book out today, The Reluctant Princess, book one in the new Her Royal Duty series. Check it out–it’s a fun read, and isn’t that a gorgeous cover?

Until next week, mes amies, remember to hold your face to the sun, be grateful for all things, and love well.

~Nan~

We’re in the throes of house-selling stuff, so today, it’s a quickie! But I want to let you know about some fun stuff going on with some of my author buds.

First of all, my friend Liz Kelly’s new Heroes of Henderson novel came out April 1 and Mr. Wright Now is just as fab as all the other hunky heroes from this fun, fun series. Don’t miss this one. And if you want to just start at the beginning of the series, head to Liz’s website to check out the rest of the Heroes of Henderson. While you’re there, sign up for her newsletter to stay up-to-date with all the happenings in Henderson.

From my bestie, Liz Flaherty, who also happens to be a favorite author of mine comes the news that her Christmas book, The Dark Horse, is now available in Kindle Unlimited, so there’s a fun Easter drawing happening. Liz says, “Happy Easter to you all! I’ll be drawing for a surprise package on May 1st. It’s my daughter-in-law’s birthday, a happy day for our family. All you have to do is keep an eye on my Facebook page, like it if you haven’t already, and answer the question that will show up there on April 18.”

My author pal, Mara Jacobs has a new book out, too! It’s Book 8 in the Worth series, another fabulous series of romances. This one is Worth the Burn and it’s already queued up on my Kindle. The first book in the series, Worth the Weight, is a perma-free on Amazon, so start the series and binge-read straight through!

Finally, Melissa McClone, my author bud from Tule Publishing (we Tule Girls have to stick together!) has a freebie on Bookbub today. Fiance For the Night is free, so grab it now while you can! I promise you’ll become a lifelong Melissa McClone fan and want to buy all her books!

That’s it for today! I’m full of gratitude for Husband, Son, DIL, and Grandboy always, for all my author friends, who keep me well-supplied with reading material and moral support, for beautiful spring days and a world greening up!

Until next week, mes amies, remember to hold your face to the sun, be grateful for all things, and love well.

~Nan~

Happy Wednesday, everyone! The cover for A Small Town Christmas is currently in a cover war over Author Shout. We’re firmly in third place, but here’s the great news, you can vote every 24 hours! So I’d love it if you clicked over and voted for my gorgeous cover all week long! Merci, mes amies.

We lost our dear lake buddy, Rich, on Tuesday and we are heartbroken and bereft. He was a kind, generous, and charming man, who always had a smile. Cancer is so evil, and it has taken so many people from my life in the last few years. I know that, years ago, Rich would have died and we never would have known why, so I’m grateful for the medical advances that gave us a bit more time with him after his diagnosis. But, dammit, I want a cure now!

In other news, I restarted Aidan’s story, book 3 in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series–my first start was all background. I see this new beginning as growth as a writer. Previously, I would’ve waited to trash my first two chapters of info dump until after the first draft was done.

Gratitude is important right now because my life is currently full of chaos and gratitude reminds me to breathe. Today I’m grateful for my dentist, who does good work and acknowledges my fears, Husband, who is working so hard to get to our new life, Rich and Moe, who are dear friends, Son, who came over immediately on Tuesday just to hug us when we told him about Rich’s passing, a good time with Liz, Kristi, and Ava over the weekend–writerly friendships are such a gift!

Until next week, mes amies, remember to hold your face to the sun, be grateful for all things, and love well.

~Nan~

Today is the cover reveal for Melissa McClone’s Indigo Bay Second Chance Romance, Sweet Do-Over, which releases May 16, 2019! Can. Not. Wait.

When architect Marley Patterson goes out with Von Ryan, she never expects her practical, cautious life to be turned upside down by the handsome contractor. Von is the definition of fun until his proposal sends her into a panic. Marriage is too serious a commitment to make after dating for only six months. Even though she cares for Von, they are too different, so she breaks up with him…

Being rejected hurts, but Von blames himself for not reading the signs and Marley better. He finds solace in work; however, his construction company’s success isn’t enough. He wants to share his life with a woman who’ll love him as much as he loves her. She’s out there. All he has to do is find her, and, this time, be patient for the relationship to develop on its own.
When Marley is assigned to Von’s new project in Indigo Bay, he treats her the same as everyone else—professionally and with respect—though neither can deny a strong mutual attraction still exists. Soon Marley realizes she may have been the problem with their relationship, not just Von’s proposal. She wants a second chance, but after breaking his heart once, will he give her a do-over?

With a degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, Melissa McClone worked for a major airline where she traveled the globe and met her husband. But analyzing jet engine performance couldn’t compete with her love of writing happily ever afters. Her first full-time writing endeavor was her first sale when she was pregnant with her first child! Since then, she has published over forty romance novels with Harlequin and Tule Publishing Group. She’s a USA Today Bestselling author and has also been nominated for Romance Writers of America’s RITA® award. When she isn’t writing, you can usually find her driving her minivan to/from her children’s swim practices and other activities. Melissa lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, three children, two spoiled Norwegian Elkhounds and cats who think they rule the house. They do!

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I’m in revisions on Sean and Megan’s story. This is pretty much me for the next couple of weeks. My editor liked the story, had lots of good things to say about it, and really, the revisions aren’t arduous, but they are my same old issues–too much backstory and a heroine who needs to be fleshed out.

Liz and I talked about the heroine thing when we were on retreat last week. Here’s the thing. I know my heroines–I know Megan and I think mostly, I’ve presented her well, but the guys in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series have taken center stage in each book because the books are about them. Not that the women are incidental, they aren’t at all, of course. But I know my guys so well and they’re so much fun to write, especially scenes between two of them or scenes with all of them participating. So, I think I do dig into them more. I did the Art Facts Sheet on the book yesterday and found the perfect picture for the cover–I hope Tule agrees.

Aidan’s story is starting after one false start during retreat because… you guess it, background dump. Now that’s out of the way, I’ll actually start the book. <eyeroll> Yeesh! I like him, but I’m not so sure he’s going to be as easy to know as Sean and Conor were because he’s got a different personality being an actor. We’ll see. I have DIL to depend on for theater advice and she can probably give me the scoop on actor personalities as well.

My life is overwhelming right now, but all in a good, life-is-exciting-new-things-are-coming-along kind of way. Processing here each Wednesday will probably help me cope with a lot of what’s happening, so get ready…I may be dumping on you! For now, gratitude seems the best way to go. This week, I’m grateful for Husband, who is working tirelessly to get the house ready for staging, for Liz, who lets me dump on her every morning, for Son and DIL, who are into the Four Irish Brothers Winery series and offer great suggestions, for Grandboy, who continues to bring light to our lives, and for my friend CL, who is coming to help me pack up the first load for the movers. How blessed am I?

As always, mes amies, remember to hold your face to the sun, be grateful for all things, and love well.

~Nan~

We are in our second day of writing retreat and we think we deserve great thumps of “good job, girls” on our backs. Because we have written, yes, and also because between the two of us, we’ve only bought one pound of fudge and two bottles of wine. No clothes. No sweatshirts proclaiming our whereabouts. We’ve eaten well—we always eat well—talked about everything from character development to eye shadow colors (neutrals work—who knew?), and slept well on the beds in the boutique hotel where we ended up staying.

I am homesick, of course. It happens every time. Nan rolls her eyes when I admit it, but then she calls Jim, so what does she know?

Strictly from a writing point of view, I can’t say enough about the value of a writing retreat. While it’s true it’s fun to spend good-friend time, having someone talk you off the ledge when you absolutely know the book you’re writing is a piece of crap less than stellar is priceless.

We’ve discovered over the years that we are absolutely splendid at naming each other’s characters, that she can beat me at Farkle, and that we share an affinity for fuzzy socks. We have a good time and the annual or biennial getaway days serve to deepen the friendship.

It’s a time for dialing down whatever has us being stressed and dialing up things that make us laugh. While a writing retreat is a valuable tool for getting work done, it’s even more important in its curative treatment of mental health issues.

Good to talk to everyone. Hope you’re having a great week.

Liz, feeling mentally healthy as all get out. 😊

It’s a little before 8 p.m. and Lizzie and I are already settled in our cozy room and we’ve both written a good bit since we checked in around 3 p.m. It’s been a nutty day. Right off, it is cold! Like winter serious cold!

Our reservations were at a state park inn and we couldn’t check in until 4 pm, so we had lunch at this fabulous restaurant here in Nashville, IN — just fantastic food! An amazing cream of chicken soup with spinach and artichokes. Man was that ever tasty! The restaurant is part of an inn here in the heart of town–The Artists Colony Inn. It’s very pretty.

While we were eating, we got a message from the state park inn telling us, we thought, that the heat was out in the hotel. We checked with desk clerk at the Artists Colony and got a price for a room just in case the heat didn’t get fixed by the time we checked in at the state park. As it happened, we misunderstood and the heat was out in the pool, not the whole inn, but the inn was overrun with kids, literally! Not sure why so many kids were there, but honestly, we couldn’t see how we could possibly write there. So we decided not to stay and instead made our way back to The Artists Colony and checked in.

This is a lovely place–our room is charming with quilts on the beds and lots of fun antique-y style furniture. We’ve settled in nicely, opened the wine we bought at Cedar Creek winery earlier in the day and are bouncing ideas off each other as we write. A perfect beginning to the writing retreat.

I’ve gotten a good start on Aidan’s story–used a fun device that I hope will work at the beginning. Not sure yet, but the story’s already moving along. Liz is doing great on her story, too. We’re kickin’ it! Hold a good thought for both of us. More tomorrow.

It’s Sunday morning and I’m still covered up with work, but I can see the light at the top of the heap finally. I’ve been focusing on editing gigs and packing up the house, so I haven’t written a word on Aidan’s book yet. However, I’m in full discovery mode and have even written a synopsis for the story, so I’m already ahead of the game on the book. Now it’s just down to writing, which will begin tomorrow when Liz and I get to our retreat.

I can’t wait for our retreat time–I think we both need the girlfriend time, the writer buddy time, and the away time. I always write well on retreat, so I’m hoping this one is no exception. I’m looking for my muses for this book–Aidan Flaherty is a blond, and not as brawny as his brothers–more arty and lithe, but sexy and very fit because he plays a cop on TV. I’m thinking maybe Max Lloyd-Jones. He’s got my Aidan vibe–sexy, but friendly… hot, but approachable and fun… how about this guy? Max Lloyd-Jones? He’s pretty much got my vote.

For Holly, I was a little stumped until I came across this Australian actress, Adelaide Kane. She’s got the look I’m going for–innocent, yet wise and a little cynical. She’s had a rough start and is a little envious of what appears to her to be Aidan’s dumb luck.

So, here are my new characters–hold a good thought for the story, which will be a Christmas book and even includes a young boy, who will be the catalyst for Aidan and Holly’s story.

Liz and I will blog our retreat here, but don’t get too excited–we tend to mostly write on these shorter adventures, so there may not be too much to report. Hold a good thought for decent weather and safe roads, okay?

As always, mes amies, remember to hold your face to the sun, be grateful for all things, and love well.

~Nan~