-
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…
-
Sunday Snippet: The Lazy, Rainy Weekend Edition
And so it is–a lazy, rainy weekend at the lake. It’s too icky outside for a boat ride or a swim. Too gloomy and stormy for a walk, so I’m sitting here at my computer contemplating what to write. I did something this morning I do so rarely that I can’t remember the last time it happened. I stayed in bed and read for two hours. My normal schedule is to get up at six and write for a couple of hours–even before I make coffee or face the world. It’s a good habit to have and I’m glad I do it because otherwise, nothing at all would get written.…
-
Sunday Snippet: The Loving My Own Words Edition
When Liz and I were on retreat earlier this month, we spent a lot of time discussing our WIPs. At one point she read me something she’d just written and said, “I really love it. That’s so nice when you like your own stuff.” I had to agree. I have to confess, I am one of those writers who needs to do that—read what I wrote previously in order to get into writing mode. I sometimes wonder if that’s because I’m an editor in my heart (and in my day job), but I don’t think I’m the only writer who works this way. I’ve tried just picking up where I…
-
Sunday Snippet: The OMG, I’m So Excited Edition
Yup, I am about to jump out of my fur, I’m so excited! Liz and I are headed out tomorrow for our first writing retreat in well over a year and a half. Frankly, we’re both flipping around with joy! It’s been months since we’ve seen each other and I can’t wait to spend 4 days with her, writing, talking, drinking wine and coffee, eating, processing, catching up… it’s going to be glorious. The weather report for Madison, Indiana, which is where we’re headed sucks–I mean it truly sucks. Rain the entire time we are down there and cool-ish temps, so no fun spring clothes, but you know what? I…
-
Sunday Snippet: The Deadline Edition, But…
..today you get a real snippet. How about a quick clip from The Valentine Wager, the first novel in the Langes of River’s Edge series? Here’s fabulous news: My publisher, Tule Publishing, liked the title well enough to keep it. I’m pleased as can be because I really liked the title and it fit the story perfectly! Pretty soon we can have a big cover reveal party here–there will be wine and chocolate! Some setup for this snippet: Police Lieutenant Ryker Lange has accompanied his mom to a Pink Wine and Valentines event at Four Irish Brothers Winery just so he can make some time with the Flaherty’s cousin, Kitt…
-
Sunday Snippet: The Muzzy Edition
Mushy mind—it’s a thing and wow, do I have it right now. I have a very bad case of mind mush—my ability to focus and function is seriously out of whack. I’m not sure if it’s pandemic weariness or spring fever or the sinus infection I’m nursing right now, but for some reason, my brain is muddled. Fact is, I’m just not able to focus on much of anything right now. My grandmother used to say she was muzzy—isn’t that a great word? I’m muzzy. My writer friend, Anne Stuart, often quotes Anne Lamott’s story about a time when her little brother was overwhelmed with a science project cataloguing birds…
-
Sunday Snippet: The Baking/Creating Edition
This post may seem familiar but at the encouragement of my writing bestie, Liz Flaherty, I’m repeating the one I posted at Word Wranglers this week. I think my audience is different here, but I’m not sure. Anyway, she feels the words bear repeating. I hope you think so, too. I love to bake. I love that if I mix together butter, sugar, eggs, flour, and other sundry ingredients, I will get a basic cookie dough. If I add chocolate chips or nuts or oatmeal or raisins, I’ll have a special tasty treat. Baking is relaxation for me in a way that nothing else is—not even reading or swimming or…
-
Sunday Snippet: The How Did It Get to Be Mid-January Edition
Yeah, I really am wondering how it’s already January 17? Wasn’t it just Thanksgiving? Heck, wasn’t it just summer, for heaven’s sake? Time is going by too quickly. Basically, we’re hunkered down until we are both vaccinated and even after that, we’ll continue to be cautious. I feel as if we’ll all be coming out of our house this spring, blinking in the sunlight like people who’ve been trapped in a cave for months. And so perhaps we have in a way. But these are the last days of darkness, politically at least. We are looking into the light–I pray for the safety of every government official on January 20,…
-
Sunday Snippet, Thanksgiving Version
Are you finding it hard to be thankful this year? 2020 has been a royal b#*ch of year, hasn’t it? So many things to be unhappy about. So many things to whine about. So many things to be just plain mad about. I know. I feel you. I truly do. However, I’m going to focus on the stuff to be happy about, to rejoice about, to be glad for. Here, in no particular order, is my Thanksgiving 2020 Gratitude List. I hope you’ll share yours. Husband. That’s all, just Husband. I tell y’all constantly what a great guy he is, so no need to expound here. Son, DIL, and Grandboy,…
-
Saturday Snippet (Okay, Sunday…)
Yesterday was a bit more zoo-y than I expected as we got Son and DIL’s cottage closed up for the summer and his boat pulled and winterized for storage, so I didn’t get to my Saturday post. It was a fun day with Son, though, and I got to take a final ride for the season in his fishing boat, which was a treat. Hardly anyone was on the lake, but man the shad were firing like crazy. It was kind of a crappy year for fishing (no crappie pun intended), but there are years like that. Husband and I were remembering the second or third year we had our…