Happy December! We're nearly halfway through December and I just realized I hadn't put up a blog post for this month. OOPS! But, to be fair, I've had plenty going on. Personally: We are still minus a Christmas tree. No, we haven't gotten it up, yet. But I'm hoping this weekend it will happen! We don't usually take this long, but we've had some things going on. One of those things was that we had to replace our washing machine. Our previous one decided that it had enough of our household and no, thank you it would not work properly any longer. Poor thing limped along until it wouldn't drain out the water in the clothes (I had to squeeze them the best I could and pop them in the dryer for longer). But that's at an end since we now have a brand new washer, which we've had for about a week and it's doing okay so far. Not long ago, Averie Cat (that's his social media nickname) had some health issues that made me quite concerned about him. Fo...

Happy Friday Everyone! September has arrived! For some reason August seemed a little slower than other months, but then I thought how about how school days started back up and I was like "Wait...didn't we just enter summertime?" Let me think....August was busy. Some things that have been important to my family over the years have closed. Whether price, attendance, or whatever, they closed. One of those has been resolved, while we work on others. As for writing...yes, progress is being made. I've been editing Sugar & Frost and I still love it. I've been editing for a while, now, but polishing my manuscripts the best I can before querying is important. I really hope readers will like it / love it, too. It's such a fun story! I've also made progress on other things I need for querying. Major work on my blurb is done, thanks to the help of my long-time critique partner. When I sent it to her, and she sent me back her suggestions, ideas started coming. I t...

  Happy Friday! We're nearing the end of February, if you can believe it! Sometimes I think this year is going by fast. February is a mixed bag of emotions for me. Early February marks my eldest's birthday, which is a good thing. One of my siblings has a wedding anniversary. Another good thing. Two family members (a sibling and a cousin) have birthdays. (I think other relatives have birthdays this month, too, but I can't remember). Some friends have birthdays. More good things. Unfortunately, my friend, Sarah's death anniversary is also in February. So, while I like Valentine's Day okay, and I'm totally on board with celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, always in the back of my head is February 20th. That's the day Sarah died. This year marked 10 years, which felt big. I couldn't figure out why it felt big, but one of my counselors said "It IS a big one." Leading up to February 20, 2023, I did have several bouts of tears. But none on the ac...

  Happy January and Happy New Year 2022 one and all! There have been many times that I've said this, and I expect many times to say it again: my observation is that every year brings both good and bad. Some years there's more good, some more bad, some in the middle. I don't know what 2022 will be, but I continue to look for blessings. One of the blessings of 2021, was in spite of Snowmeggeddon (or, rather, because of it) back in February, I got a new kitchen. Now, a storm with broken pipes is not the way I'd PREFER to have gotten this kitchen, but I love it. So, even though the storm sucked and being out of my house for 4 1/2 months wasn't always easy, I got this brand new kitchen that is so much more me and my family than what we moved into when we first got the house. In August, I got a non-displaced fracture in my shoulder. Yeah, I hadn't known silly detergent had spilled and I wasn't looking to perfect my detergent-skating abilities (or, in this case, in...

Happy Friday! It's August...AUGUST! Wow. Is it just me, or does time seem to go faster when you're older? I remember feeling like days were soooo looonnnngggg as a kid...and even as a teen. My birthday always took forever to come (I'm an October baby). Christmas was always a million days away. And summer vacation? Sooooo faaarrr. Not as much anymore. And I'm not complaining, I'm just sort of fascinated with how that happens. One minute you think something is taking forever, the next minute it seems like it happened in a blink of an eye. The funny thing is, when you're waiting for a book release or something like that is can seem so long or so far off (well, unless you're the one on a deadline, then it seems too close! LOL). And sometimes the wait is totally worth it and sometimes you build something up in your mind and reality doesn't quite match up. Either way, finding those moments of anticipation, longing for something...it's always good t...

Happy Thursday Everyone, Wow! BrazCon was amazing! For those of you who made it out, thank you so much. It was fun and there were incredible costumes (check out my author Facebook page for pictures). Important update: I will NOT be going to Romance Writers of America's National Conference in July (New York City). I was going to, but then some stuff came up and it turned out I couldn't. I'm looking at next year, which that one (2020) will be in San Francisco, so maybe I'll make it there. I've never been to San Francisco and I'd like to go. I finished writing my adult shifter novel and it never changes. It always feels surreal and like "Wow!" when I write "The end." The next thing is edits and critique partner crits, and then I'll be shopping it around. But, it's exciting to have another book written. I do plan a sequel, so what happens at the end isn't the end of that story altogether. I already have the next book started an...

Happy Friday All, It's been a long time since I've updated and a lot of it has to do with feeling like I had no idea what to say. Yeah, that's brutally honest and definitely the truth. Also, when it's just you doing everything yourself, it's easy for things to slip through the cracks. But, yeah, I wasn't sure what to put on here, but lately, some stuff has been occurring to me, so I finally have something blog-worthy to post. So, let's start with a question:  What do you try to be perfect at? What is something that you try to do absolutely your best at and sometimes you manage it sometimes you don't? I'm that way with just about everything in my life, but specifically motherhood and writing. Motherhood for the obvious reasons--I want to raise my kids right, and I want to do what's best for them. Writing because I want to put out good stories for people to enjoy and I want people in the industry to pick me. I think that's how most writ...

Happy Monday All, Happy Easter to all who celebrate Easter! Hope your Easter weekend was lovely, peaceful, and fun. The Averie Household keeps busy during Easter, Mass, family, etc. I've covered this topic before, but now I have another perspective on it...the question of "how do you do it?" People look at me with my Offspring--those demands, wife, home, writing, etc. The truth is--and everyone will be so disappointed--I don't. Some days I just do one thing. Some days, I run around feeling like if I could just clone myself everything would get done. Sometimes I'm lucky if I remember my name (it's "Mom" or "AAAHHH", right?) The fact is, this is my life. This is the life I've been given and chosen. I don't expect anyone to do it for me, and I don't expect people to know how I do it. I don't know how I do it. I just do whatever I do for each individual day. Some days it means Real Life Hero (my husband) takes the Offspr...

Happy Friday All, Almost a year ago, Girls' Night Out was born for me and 3 of my friends, Sarah, Lesley, and Prescilla. Once a month, we got together, went out for dinner, and coffee. It was our chance to hang out with each other, catch up, and have a good time. As a wife, mother, and writer, it was a chance for me to be with my friends, and just kick back and relax.  A few months ago, Prescilla had moved out of town. With Sarah's death in February, Prescilla had been a bit "off the grid" to receive the comforting presence of having Lesley and I around. We both kept in touch with her through phone, but she hadn't been to a Girls' Night Out in a while. Wednesday I got a call, and I knew one of two things. Either Prescilla was in tears missing Sarah (who was like another big sister to her) or she was on her way into town. Turns out, the latter was correct. She said, "I'll be in town in about two hours."  I've gotten used to her spur-of-t...

Happy Thursday All, I'm a little late posting this...so please forgive me. First of all, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who has already purchased All's Fair In Love & Lion . I do hope you enjoy it.  If you haven't gotten a chance, and want to, it's available on Amazon Kindle . Today I'm on Stop #4 of the Bethany Averie AFIL&L Blog Tour, and I'm guest posting on Dana Wright's Bookgirl Knitting . What's my writing process? Am I a pantster or a plotter? Which did I use to write AFIL&L? Come find out! Have A Tip-Top Thursday!

Happy Wednesday Everybody, Yesterday I received my 2nd round of edits, so I'm currently in the edit cave working on that. However, there's a few things I needed to reveal... Be sure to continue checking the margin of this blog. Details of another blog appearance have been nailed down, so I added them to the schedule. I'll be the guest of chapter mate (and talented author), Teri Thackston on her blog, Gimme A Little Kiss on July 28, 2013.  Congratulations to one of my other chapter mates, Jenn Langston , on her debut release of her Historical Romance, His Perfect Bride ! It's available now through Amazon Kindle.  Talented author pal of mine, Mary Lindsey, has a new Young Adult (YA) Paranormal coming out, Ashes On The Waves .  This Poe-inspired novel is available June 27, 2013. It'll be available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  So what books are you looking forward to releasing? Have A Wonderfully Whimsical Wednesday!

Happy Tuesday Everybody, Hope you all had a great weekend! Happy Belated Fathers' Day to all the fathers out there. In honor of Father's Day, I'd like to say I'm pretty darned lucky to have the Dad I do. Also, very blessed that my husband is such a good father, as well. My editor said I should receive my 2nd round edits soon, so once those come in, I'll be secluded in the edits cave until they are done--so I might not have too many blog posts. However... The first date of the Bethany Averie Blog Tour is NEXT Friday--June 28th. I'll be on Four Foxes One Hound as Tonette's guest. Check the blog margin for other dates and info (or previous blog posts).  Also, I'm working on a homepage. I will be keeping this blog. I just From the Botanical Gardens when I went on my Arkansas Adventure want to have a "central" location for certain things I'd like to feature without cluttering up my blog margin. I'll let you know when that...

Happy Friday All, Everybody having a good week? Yes, no, maybe so? My week's been all right. There's been a lot going on. I've been prepping for the 4 blog posts I mentioned in the last post, and also received requests for 2 others. One of them is a blog that authors who are publishing/published  with Soul Mate Publishing post on. I was invited by Stella, and that's being set up for the last Sunday in June (June 30th).  The other one is in-process--there's somethings I have to check up on before that's set up.  Like I said in my previous post, if you have a writing and/or reading blog you'd like me to appear on, all you have to do is email me and ask .  If you could please have a date and topic in mind when you email me, it would be much appreciated. I'm revving up for the release, plus several other things are going on, so it's easier for me to come up with a blog post if I know the date and topic from the get-go. (Thank you in advance...

Happy Monday Everybody, The edits for All's Fair In Love & Lion are doing all right. I'm working on several ideas for promotional items, and fun little tidbits...which, I will reveal sometime in the future. I'm very excited about several things and hope you'll enjoy them, too. I know it's been a very long time since I've done an author interview. For that, I do apologize. However, I promise, it's worth the wait! Lynn Kurland is an author I discovered when I was in high school (many moons ago). The first book I read by her was probably This Is All I Ask. When I started reading her, she didn't have a lot of books out, but now Lynn has two series--Paranormal/Historical Romance following the MacLeod & de Piaget families, and a fantasy one full of magic. I haven't really read her fantasy books; however, the MacLeod/de Piaget books are awesome (and there are a bunch of them, now, I'm happy to say). My favorite is probably Stardust Of Ye...

Happy Friday All, The preliminary author edits for Dream Weaver are slowly coming along. I'm hoping to finish up this weekend, or at least early next week. I really want to get this out to critiques so I can be all ready for whatever edits my publisher has for Surreal . Need to be able to concentrate on that without too many distractions (deadlines, as you know, are a part of an author's life, and I intend to do my best fulfill my part in that). On a completely unrelated topic (but something I thought was funny) I was waiting for my hot tea to finish steeping and as I opened up this post to write it, I totally forgot the tea was there. Then suddenly I was like, "Oh no! My tea! It's going to be too strong." Well, good news, folks...it isn't. Yay...total win. A good cup of tea on a cold day with honey is a cozy thing indeed. (Local honey is supposed to help with allergies, how many of you all knew that? Too cool). So to help with some of the allergy i...