-
The Famous Sister
I love that I’m currently ranked #33 among all of Amazon’s Best-Selling Contemporary Romance Authors–what a wonderful feeling that is! My sister, PJ, teasingly refers to me as “my famous sister,” which I find delightful and hilarious because although I treasure her pride in my writing, I’m hardly famous. I’m simply a midlist romance author, although I do have a small cadre of loyal readers to whom I owe any success I can lay claim to. My publisher, Tule Publishing, has added to that group and I’m ever always grateful to the team there who work so hard on my behalf. But I have to tell you honestly, as I…
-
Hunkering Down…Really?
Right off, this is not news for me–I’m a freelance editor. Lock-down has basically been my life since 1996. I work from home, I write at home, I’m pretty much at home about 70% of the time. However, the whole idea that I have to stay at home is new to me and frankly, it’s kinda bugging me. I keep thinking of reasons I need to get in the car and go somewhere. If this self-quarantine thing wasn’t happening, I’d be merrily working away, needing nothing. Go figure. Here’s the thing, though; this isn’t really terrifying me. We needed a reset in this country, maybe this is the start of…
-
So Close…
I’m soclose to writing THE END on Book 4 of the Four Irish Brothers Winery series–Brendan’s story. Very soon, I’ll have a title and cover reveal for you. This series has been a ton of fun to write and I’m delighted my publisher and readers are loving the Flaherty brothers and the town of River’s Edge. In fact, my publisher has invited me to write another series that happens in River’s Edge, Indiana. So stay tuned! All your favorite characters–Mac from the Riverside Diner, Noah from the hardware store, Dot and Mary from the quilt store, Janet from the yarn shop, and many others old friends, as well as the…
-
An Impostor’s Ah-Ha Moment
Have you ever heard of impostor syndrome? Basically, it’s “the persistent inability to believe that one’s success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one’s own efforts or skills.” I suffer from this and I think most authors do. We are all pretty much people who are writing, not for the kudos for finishing a book, but because we have these characters in our heads begging to have their stories told. It has never occurred to me not to write, but I struggled with the idea of trying to get what I wrote published. Would it be good enough? Would people want to read it? Is…
-
Book Blast Tour
I tell you, mes amies, this book release has been quite a ride! In addition to releasing CHRISTMAS WITH YOU, book 3 in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series, my amazing publisher arranged a BookBub promotion of the first book in the series, A SMALL TOWN CHRISTMAS. The promotion was spectacular and resulted in putting that book in the #1 spot on the Amazon Kindle Free Books list for a few days. I was astounded and delighted at the read-through rate for book 2, MEANT TO BE and the newly released Christmas with You. Folks grabbed the free book and then immediately went back to download the other two in…
-
Cover Reveal AND Preorder Links!
I am overwhelmed with pleasure about the cover for my latest book, Christmas with You–Book 3 in the Four Irish Brothers Winery series from Tule Publishing. Lee Hyat, the cover designer has so nailed my brothers with each cover and Aidan’s is no exception. She got my sweet, hunky actor down to a T! Check it out and then click to preorder Christmas with You. It’ll show up on your e-reader on November 21. Also, here’s the blurb for the story. I sure hope y’all are as excited as I am! She’s loved him all her life… but will he be there when she needs him the most? Disheartened and…
-
Day 18: Gratitude on Our Last Day of Retreat
What a grand time this has been, although if you asked me to list all that we did, pretty much the list would be we wrote, we revised, we processed and brainstormed writing and revisions, and we ate. It wasn’t a touristy trip at all–we mostly stayed in our condo and did what we came up to do and for that, I’m very glad because yesterday around 6 pm, Liz shut her computer and said, “It’s finished” about her Christmas Town story. Today, sometime around 4 pm, I finally sent the revisions on Aidan and Holly’s book back to my editor. We did it! I’m so delighted to be celebrating…
-
Day 16: Gratitude with Liz
A Sum of Its Parts Hello! It’s Liz, hijacking Nan’s blog for today. It’s a glorious day in Michigan. The condo we’re in is walking distance from…everything. We’ve had great food, great ice cream, and a glass or two of wine, so it was good we walked. Although I don’t have the heart link with Michigan that Nan has, I do love it here. The World Wranglers have been trash talking the past few days about the Dog Days Kristi’s suffering in Ohio (I’m not sure she likes us anymore 😊), but we’re in mellow weather here and it is good not only for the disposition but for the soul…
-
Day 14: Gratitude and We’re Off…
It’s actually early morning of Day 15, but I’m calling this one Day 14 because I fell into bed yesterday after a long, long day of work and then a chili supper over at Son and DIL’s cottage. I got quite a bit done, so that was a good thing. Son piled DIL and I into his bass boat and we took a quick spin around the lake before supper, which was quite lovely! Totally different boating experience than riding in Husband’s pontoon, but just as enjoyable. We’d all discussed swimming, but decided the lake was probably way too cold for Grandboy and actually for us, too, so the boat…
-
Day 9: Gratitude and Happy Birthday to Tule!
It’s my publisher’s 6th birthday! Tule Publishing has officially released 600 books and been in business for six years! Here’s to many more years of publishing wonderful stories by lots of great authors (me, too!) and to me having a long career with Tule! Well, no new houses to see, although our portal keeps getting new ones posted. Just not our house. We looked at two that were not our house, so I’ve decided to try to adopt a zen attitude–if it’s the right house, we will know it when we see it. I just can’t spend too much more time with a house-hunting knot in my stomach. Edits on…