Happy June Everyone, June is here! Yep, it's here. May was more eventful in my real life. So, off we go: Writer's Life Updates:  Nothing fun to report on the query front with the YA Fantasy I've been querying. I still have a couple out. Editing: I've got a YA Fantasy with a Christmassy theme to it. I'm enjoying getting it polished. I hope to start querying it, soon. I'm not sure what 'soon' is, yet, though. Writing: WIPs (Works In Progress) that I'm writing are on hold (for the most part) while I edit. Other stuff: I fixed up my Mood Board for the YA Fantasy (Christmassy) story and that's up on my social media accounts (Facebook, X/Twitter, and Instagram). As for real life...strap on your safety belts: it's a wild ride! There have been several storms in my part of the world (especially in May). We're all safe, which I thank God for that.  One particular storm did something strange (well, strange for us, it's never happened before to...

  Happy Monday All, Also, Happy All Hallow's Eve aka Halloween! I meant to write an October post earlier this month, but there were things going on in my real life that made it so I just didn't get to it. I'm doing okay--just a lot going on in my real life. But doesn't everybody usually? October also means my birthday, which I celebrated by going over to my parents' house. Dad had a fall in September, so it was nice to see him making so much progress and doing so much better. I told them that since they had such an integral part of me coming into existence that it seemed appropriate that I'd come over for a visit. We had a lot of fun. It was simple, small, and just right for me. My parents gave me a beautiful card that touched my heart (I got teary!) and I got some other cards and gifts from my siblings. My husband got me Chinese food for dinner a couple of days before since I was going to be at my folks' house on my actual birthday. I can't complain. It...

Happy Thursday One and All! Also, Happy Thanksgiving! My Thanksgiving is postponed until Sunday. My parents are out of town visiting one of my other siblings and well, we really don't have anywhere else to go. But, please, don't worry about us. We're actually happy to be at home. My Real Life Hero has to work half a day and Eldest has around an hour long online class to do, so we've got plans. I plan on cooking a little something--not a turkey (me and the Offspring can't have turkey without bad results). Sunday, we'll have Thanksgiving with my parents and one of my other siblings, so there you have it, I'm not missing it all together. I've been working on the Jeannie Averie novel (this is polishing, extra edits--the novel is written). Planning to do more of it in the next few days since Real Life Hero will be off and so I'll have a little more space to work. Recently, I finished reading a fun novel called Cinder & Ella by Kelly Oram . It w...

Happy Friday Everybody! Recently I finished writing a Romance that features shape-shifters. This is not a YA (Young Adult) novel. Considering that my aim is not YA with this novel, and I'd been thinking about it for a long time, I decided to develop another pen-name strictly for those types of novels. Bethany Averie will remain associated with the Immortal Dreams series and any other YA novels I write. Jeannie Averie will be for the NON -YA Romance novels (Paranormal and Fantasy) that I write. The Jeannie Averie novels will be for ages 18/21 and up. Bethany Averie novels are high school and up. There isn't a drastic difference, except that the Jeannie Averie novels are a bit different in style and tone. Slightly "hotter".  So they need a different pen-name. Now, why do I use pen names? I like to keep my personal life separate from my professional life. Yes, tiny details of my personal life seep into my professional life, but the two are not exactly the...

Happy Friday Everyone! Well, we've made it to February 2019! January was super busy with researching some stuff and working away on a new novel. The novel is about 20,000-30,000 away from my target word count. My assistant, Roxanne, is eagerly awaiting the day I finish this novel because the snippets I've sent her aren't enough--she wants to know everything about this story. This story has been fun to write, although, like every story it's had its ups and downs and days where I just wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. News of imprints of publishers closing down has caused some difficulties for some friends/colleagues of mine, which makes me sad for them because that's a tough thing to go through. I wish them all the best and pray for them. Talk of Romance Writers of America Nationals in New York City (July) is going on and I'm waiting to see if me and my narrator, the supremely talented, Christopher Hudson (who you can find on Twitter, now ) will...

Happy Tuesday Everyone, I've been back from RWA Nationals 2018 in Denver, Colorado for about a week now. It was all right, but I liked last year's better. But that's okay. (Part of it was that I had bad heartburn 2 days in a row. I've spoken to my doc about it, and I'm fine, now). Moving on, I'm way behind in my "promise to read and review on my blog" books, so let me get right down to today's: A while back, I won in a fun little giveaway a signed copy of It Wasn't Always Like This by Joy Preble . Joy is an imaginative and talented author behind the amazing Anastasia trilogy (that I loved). She didn't ask me for a review, but I promised her one. Joy took the idea of "the fountain of youth" and added murder, mystery, suspense, romance, and a quick-witted, smart heroine. After drinking a tea mixed with a herb found in a disappearing-reappearing-in-different-places spring, Emma O'Neill and Charlie Ryan find themselv...

Happy Wednesday All, As the time draws closer, I'm working on the edits from my publisher and getting ready for the big day... RELEASE DAY for Perfect Love . In preparation for the June 2017 release, here are 5 things you should know about Perfect Love : 1. It takes place years after the events at the end of Immortal Love . 2.  Hailey and Arion are the main point-of-view characters. 3.  Laney and Jason make cameos. 4.  There is a special surprise at the end of the story. (No, I'm not dropping any hints). 5.  I don't know whether or not it's the last book in the Immortal Dreams series. I haven't decided, yet. So, I've left myself an opening in case I continue the series. I'll let you, the reader, see if you can figure out the opening...you probably will...a lot of readers figured out Hailey's story was next. I'm sure you readers figure out the room I left myself in this one. (And no, this isn't the surprise, the surprise is somet...

Happy Thursday Darling Readers, Immortals, Humans, & all, In June of this year, my 5th published book, Perfect Love (#4 in the Immortal Dreams series) will release. This is Hailey (Laney's best friend) and Arion's (Cupid & Psyche's son) story. Originally, I figured more time would pass before I could write Hailey's book. I always wanted to, which is why Immortal Love ends the way it does. I was surprised when readers started asking me about it. I kept getting requests such as "You're going to write Hailey's story, right?" "Is Hailey an Immortal?" I'd been toying with ideas, and I realized I wasn't ready to say goodbye to everybody. So, I sat down and thought about it. What resulted is a story about emotions, and relationships, rather than straight adventure or straight romance. It's about how one deals with expectations, loss, and new experiences. How Hailey deals with Laney's lies, different relationships, an...

Happy Wednesday Everybody, Wow...I have been really neglecting the blog! Last post was in February about Nationals. I'm all signed up and everything to go there. I'm looking forward to it. I've never gone to the National conference, even though I've been a member since about 2009. I got my first round publisher edits for Perfect Love , the next book in my Immortal Dreams series. For the readers who have been asking, yes, this is Hailey's story. Hailey and Arion's story, I should say. You meet Arion very briefly in Astral Love , but he'll be more prominent in this one. Will there be more books after Perfect Love ? I don't know, you'll have to wait and see. However...there is a little surprise for my readers after the end of Perfect Love . I won't tell you what (because it's a surprise). The f irst round publisher edits got turned in on Sunday (April 9th) which was later than I intended, but at least they're turned in. I'm still w...

Happy Monday Everybody, Last week on Facebook I revealed one of the songs from Hailey Banks' play list . Hailey's story is the one that's releasing in early summer/late spring this year. To get to know Hailey, read the Immortal Dreams Trilogy-- Divine Love , Astral Love , and Immortal Love , she's Laney's best friend. Play lists can reveal some of the moods of either the author, the scene, and/or the characters involved. To see the play lists from my Immortal Dreams Trilogy, click here . Music has a way of inspiring a lot of writers. When I wrote my stand-alone Fantasy Romance, All's Fair In Love & Lion , I listened to a lot of Chris de Burgh 's music. There was something so beautiful and stirring in his ballads. Interestingly enough, I didn't listen to very much of his music for the Trilogy (except for one song for Immortal Love ) but that's because Immortal Dreams  novels are a different story. All's Fair In Love & Lion is s...

Happy Tuesday Everybody, Thank you for joining us on this blog series. Today is the last one. The comments and response has been wonderful--thank you for that as well! There are young people in the world struggling with learning differences (sometimes called learning disabilities) who may or may not feel they aren’t as good as those who don’t have these disabilities/challenges. The three of us—Bethany Averie, Ryan Jo Summers, and Christie Craig—have all faced learning disabilities/difficulties and based on our personal experiences, and what we see in the world today, were inspired to share our own stories with you. We’ll be posting each author’s Q&A style on all our blogs. Today is the last day with author Christie Craig's interview up. Our wish is for you teens and young adults to never be afraid to dream big. In a world where less than someone’s definition of perfect can mean the difference between acceptance and rejection, we want you to stand up and pursue...

Happy Tuesday Everybody, We're continuing the Learning Challenges/Disabilities blog series.  For those just joining us, I will include the preface I had up for last week. There are young people in the world struggling with learning differences (sometimes called learning disabilities) who may or may not feel they aren’t as good as those who don’t have these disabilities/challenges. The three of us—Bethany Averie, Ryan Jo Summers, and Christie Craig—have all faced learning disabilities/difficulties and based on our personal experiences, and what we see in the world today, were inspired to share our own stories with you. We’ll be posting each author’s Q&A style on all our blogs. Last week was Bethany Averie. This week will feature Ryan Jo Summers, then the next Christie Craig.  Our wish is for you teens and young adults to never be afraid to dream big. In a world where less than someone’s definition of perfect can mean the difference between acceptance and ...

Happy Tuesday All, This is the beginning of a very special blog series I'm doing with two other authors. Please be respectful of all those involved. Thank you! There are young people in the world struggling with learning differences (sometimes called learning disabilities) who may or may not feel they aren’t as good as those who don’t have these disabilities/challenges. The three of us—Bethany Averie, Ryan Jo Summers, and Christie Craig—have all faced learning disabilities/difficulties and based on our personal experiences, and what we see in the world today, were inspired to share our own stories with you. We’ll be posting each author’s Q&A style on all our blogs for the next few weeks, starting with Bethany Averie. The next week will feature Ryan Jo Summers, then the following week will be Christie Craig. The same interview will appear on each author’s blog, for example—Bethany’s interview will be on her own blog, Ryan Jo’s, and Christie’s for the first week, the...