Happy Monday! It's the last day of June and I can't believe July starts tomorrow. This month felt a bit like a whirlwind, but there were several lovely moments. June 10th marked 59 years that my parents had been married. I didn't get to see them on that day, but I did wish them a happy anniversary. They've been such a special example and inspiration for me. (One of my best friends got married on their anniversary and when I found out I said, "You know, that's my parents' anniversary?" My friend responded: "I KNEW it was a good day to get married!"). Two of my out-of-town siblings came in for a few days on Father's Day weekend and I got to see them, as well as my sibling that lives near my parents. We had a nice weekend celebrating Father's Day. Saturday early evening we were at a Mexican restaurant and then Sunday evening had barbecue at my in-town sibling's house. It was very nice. My father is not only a father, but a grandfat...

  Happy Monday, January, and New Year! Whew. 2025 has already been eventful! In my family, that meant husband and eldest with sinus infections during the second week of the month (which actually was the first full week of January). Me and youngest had sinus infections in December. And then the news of the fires in California, which is so sad. I've been praying for all in the path and dealing with the fires, etc. Hopefully firefighters are able to contain/put them out soon. The first few days of 2025 weren't too bad, but then things got a little crazy. I'm hoping the rest of the month is calmer, healthier, and happier. Writer's Life Updates: I still have some queries out on Sugar & Frost that are awaiting answers. In the interim, I'm working on some other stories (every author has files with unfinished manuscripts and I'm definitely no different in that respect!) Christmas and New Year's: My Christmas was fairly quiet since I was getting over a sinus ...

  Happy November! The months need to quit changing just when I get used to one!  I meant to post this post earlier in the month, but I forgot! 😬 Let's see... I continue to query Sugar & Frost. Responses often take a while. I love this story so much that I'm hopeful it will do better in the query trenches than my other manuscripts, but only time will tell. I did make an "Agent's Guide" (which has been something that I saw pop up on X/Twitter and decided it might be fun to have one for S&F). The words on it might be a little hard to see in this condensed version of it, but maybe if you click on the graphic it'll be easier to read. I've got some other graphics I've made for Sugar & Frost , too. Some I've used, some I've done just for fun. November is an interesting flurry of election, Thanksgiving, and Christmas things all happening at once. I'm not sure what our Thanksgiving plans are, yet.  In terms of Christmas, my husband has...

  Happy November Everyone! I still feel like the year has been going by quickly. I blinked and it's the end of November. Maybe I need to stop blinking? This month has been busy! Between family and personal stuff and working on some manuscripts, I'm not sure where to begin. Averie Cat got his yearly shot, nails clipped, and flea treatment all at his exam (but he's forgiven me for the indignity of going to the vet and being in his carrier).  I don't have much that I feel like sharing from this month, not that it was so bad, but I'm pretty private about my personal life. For those who are finishing up NaNoWriMo * 2023, I hope you've had great success with it! I don't do NaNo but I do like to cheer on those who do, which I've done this year on X(Twitter). I keep thinking I'll write a really good blog post. Maybe in December...hopefully I'll have a lot of great things to report on for that month! That would be awesome. :-) I hope all my fellow USA ci...

  Happy End-Of-October! I'm a bit late posting for the month, but at least I'm getting it in before it ends! We've had some days of mild temperatures with beautiful sunshine, and a bit of a breeze. A lovely change from 90-100 degree Fahrenheit that we had in August and September. We did get some rain, which is good. I've done a bit of writing this month--not a ton, but at least it's making progress and I think the manuscript I've been mostly working on will be fun story when it's written. (There are already fun aspects to it, as far as I'm concerned!) September feels a bit of a blur of sorting through emotions on some things I've had to deal with and family responsibilities. But October has been better. Sometimes things happen and you just have to keep holding onto hope (my faith as a Catholic Christian helps me tremendously with that). I celebrated my birthday, my dad's, and sent birthday wishes to other family members whose birthdays fall in Oc...

  Happy January (about 30 days late)! Happy New Year! Can you believe it's a brand-new year, and 2023? So much happened last year. Some good, some hard, some not-so-good. I often get a mixed bag; although, some of it I hope never happens again. Good and bad often happen every year, though. January has been busy. Family stuff, mostly. Nothing bad, just as I said, busy. My eldest is getting older and had an overnight trip. I was a worried Mama, but Eldest was fine, of course. Eldest had fun at this camp for 2 nights. It was weird having Eldest gone for longer than a night, but I reminded myself that one day Eldest would become an adult and be out there in the world doing whatever Eldest decides to do with life. Kinda a spooky thought, all things considered, but parents do have to help their offspring grow up. I'm querying one of my manuscripts and have about 4-5 WIPs in various stages of being written. There are about 2-3 main ones that I'm focusing most of my attention on at...

 Hi Everyone! Wishing y'all a very happy Thanksgiving week! As I type this the day before I'm going to post it, my nails are currently finishing drying from me painting them red, green, and gold. Yes, I know, Advent hasn't even started, but I felt like doing it. The colors make me happy! I'm not entirely sure what my Thanksgiving plans are. My sister and I talked about getting together for a bit, so we'll probably do that. I'm actually allergic to turkey (it makes me throw up... *insert sad face here*) so I either do ham or something like that. My parents have moved. It's a good move for them. They lived in their previous home for 36-37 years. Me and my siblings have been encouraging them with the move--like I said, it's a good one for them. I don't want to go into detail, but it's been an emotional journey--one that I haven't talked about much publicly and don't intend to because it's something I view as very private. Just know that ...

  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 Monday and Happy May! April was full of many things...including going up to Springdale, Arkansas to lay my father-in-law to rest. I didn't know him very well, but being up there with my husband and kids, I got to learn a little more about him. I knew he'd loved his wife to the very end of her life, but what I didn't know was how much. Several pictures had the caption "My beautiful wife..." and then a description of the picture. In the living room and his room, the walls were full of pictures of her and of their wedding. He had several of them framed. In all of them he looked happy (she looked happy, too, just in case y'all wondered). So I got to see more of his devotion to her. My mother-in-law died some years ago from Alzheimer's. By the time I met my husband and we were getting married, she was already pretty far along (although we did talk a tiny bit about her rose garden--which the flowers in their yard were lovely). They're now buried toge...

  Happy Monday Everyone! It's MARCH! Can you believe February is already over? I meant to make this blog post earlier than now, but I was busy with editing, and life, so I had to put the post on hold. Editing is currently done, so I've got some time to post. So let's see... Lent has begun, which was punctuated for me by Ash Wednesday. I like to go to church to receive ashes. It was nice. I had my offspring with me--which meant a bit of adventure, but we managed okay. The Author Encounter is gearing up for its 2nd Annual Authors March Forward events. A little smaller than last year, but still exciting. Watch TAE website and social media for more information. (I'm looking forward to it, as I do all our events because they're informative and fun). I'm not excited about the clocks moving forward on Sunday, March 13th. Losing an hour of sleep, not fun. I'm sure I'll adjust, though. Hopefully I'll have some exciting news in April regarding something that ...

  Hi Everyone! I've been out of commission/not blogging because I was busy with family and then I had a bit of an accident. In August, I had a slip and fall in one of the rooms in my house. I ended up with a non-displaced fracture in my left shoulder. The important thing is I'm fine. I'm getting better, but I've been in a sling and I've been seeing orthopedic people who are helping me. Right now I only have use of one hand. In fact, I wrote this whole blog post by dictating an email to myself and copying and pasting it onto my blog. So most of my writing and editing has been put on hold for the moment except for some edits that I can do on my own or with help from my husband. I have been able to participate in different things that The Author Encounter is doing, including in September we had Traditional Publishing Day , which was lots of fun. There was a workshop on query letters, we had a couple of indie bookstores do a panel talking about what they sell and how t...

Happy Monday Everyone, The newest news for me is that after 10 years, 2 months, I left Romance Writers of America. It wasn't an easy decision and I didn't make it lightly at all. I won't get into the reasons or any of the recent events. I made a decision I thought was the right one for me. I plan to keep the good relationships/friendships I made while a member of the organization and continue to learn and grow the best I can with the many other resources available to me. I'm grateful to the organization for the experiences that I treasure and for the connections I did make because of being a part of it. I plan to continue writing Romance, just not being a member of RWA. I'm working on several projects--some are books, and some are book-related but not writing or critiquing. I like keeping busy and I like the different ideas and things coming my way. Under my Jeannie Averie pseudonym, I've been querying agents and participating in Twitter Pitch parties. I...

Happy Monday One and All! Yikes! It's been a month since I wrote on this blog. I'm sorry! If it's any consolation, I did update the Jeannie Averie blog. This post is one that I started thinking about last week. I did some talking about this on Twitter (under both names) but I haven't actually written it all out in a more cohesive format. First and foremost: this is not a pity party. I hate throwing myself pity parties. Please, don't pity me. Don't feel sorry for me. My life has had ups and downs like everyone else's and I'm not looking for special treatment. In fact, I hate being patronized, too. The only special treatment I ever got out of this was having a laptop to take notes in high school and untimed standardized testing days. For the rest, I've worked hard. Oftentimes, swallowing my nerves and asking for help. Sometimes facing less-than-understanding teachers, but never felt entitled to anything except for the help I needed...and even the...

Happy Monday & 2020 To Everyone! When I was in high school, I couldn't even fathom 2000, much less 2020. It didn't matter how close or far any of those years were, I just found it astounding. It's another year to grow, learn, and experience life. Speaking from my experience, every year has good and bad. Some years you enjoy the good more, and other years, you've got to push through more of the bad. In any case, I like to experience each year whether it is mostly good or not. This year, I want to finish books 5 and 6 in the Immortal Dreams series. I'm pretty much ready to wrap up the Immortals, at least, for now. I've got some other ideas flashing here and there, so it would be good to see where else my imagination takes me. Now, that doesn't mean I'm not going to pay attention to those last 2 books and try to do the series justice--I am, and I will. The series is important to me, and I want to do it justice. Just hang on a bit while I work out...

Happy Monday! Can you believe that next week is Christmas? I thought it would take longer to get here. I finished my Christmas shopping last week. Have you finished? The Averie Household has been slow about getting the tree up this year. The evening of December 13th, my Real Life Hero brought the box in. Slower than what we usually do, but things have been a bit crazy the last couple of weeks. Despite being slow about the tree, we've been anticipating Christmas. The Offspring are excited and we've been to one Christmas party and Real Life Hero has one coming up at his work. In the car we've been playing Christmas music, which has been fun. Working on some more projects under my Jeannie Averie pseudonym, but I'm thinking up things for the last two books in the Immortal Dreams series. Averie Cat had his yearly check up and he's in good health. Got his shot he needed and we're now all set. He didn't enjoy the whole thing, but at least he's health...

Happy Monday All, It's November! Texas weather isn't sure if it's supposed to be warm or cold (I say cold, but snow only on Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day). We made it through Halloween (not exactly my favorite holiday, although my eldest likes parts of it). As a Catholic, I went to All Saints' Day Holy Mass on Friday (All Saints' Day is November 1st). People have been breaking out all their favorite Fall decorations, food, etc. Folks in the USA are looking towards Thanksgiving to get together with friends and/or family. A sense of anticipation hangs in the air as we get closer to December and the Christmas/Hanukkah season. And, it's my favorite time of the year--Fall/Winter. For writers, November is the time for National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. I'm not participating, although on my author Facebook page, I am proposing another challenge for writers who aren't doing NaNoWriMo, if you're wanting to check that out. This year, for Th...

Happy Monday Everybody! 2019 has been rather busy for me so far. I've been working on finishing up a novel that I'm hoping will be done writing by early March and then I'll go through and do my personal edits, send it off to my assistant who has been clamoring to read this one (I send her snippets and she's chomping at the bit for the rest). I'm working with a consultant to brush up on some things that I needed help with and gearing up for BrazCon, which is this weekend. BrazCon will be in Manvel, Texas this year . I've never been there, but it's not extremely far off, so my assistant is picking me up bright and early and off we'll go. I've got some fun swag ready and I'll have a door prize that I'll turn into to the people running that side of things. I'll also be selling LIMITED number of paperback copies of ALL my published books (yep, even All's Fair In Love & Lion is coming along this time). I'm also going to be on a...

Happy Monday All, Like I've said before, my posting on here is inconsistent. Blog topics are hard to come up with and my life is full of being mom, wife, and writer. But enough of excuses! I'm gearing up for RWA Nationals 2018. I think I've been gearing up for it since Nationals ended last year. I can't help it. I had such a blast in Florida, I'm looking forward to what Colorado will bring. I'm also excited to see some friends I haven't seen in a long time. Particularly one who was a year behind me in high school. We hung out in the same social group and had one class together my Junior year. She's a sweetheart and I've missed her. We're going to get manicures and hang out. I think it's going to be a ton of fun! Nationals is a great way for authors (particularly Romance authors) to get together, find out what's new in the publishing world, and network. Publishers, agents, and other industry professionals come from all over as well...

Happy Monday Everyone! Sorry I've been MIA for so long. A ton of things have been going on: For one thing, I attended my first Romance Writers of America National Conference ( RWA Nationals ) in Orlando, Florida in July. While there, I got to go to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom (my very first time going to Disney World and my first time going to Nationals since I joined RWA in 2009). Nationals was an amazing experience. Normally I'm nervous when going to conferences, but for the first time, I wasn't. I'm not sure why. Maybe I had a lot of people praying for me, and sending me positive thoughts. Maybe I went in with the right attitude. Either way, or both, I am not sorry one bit that I went! Arriving! We--that is, the whole Averie clan--arrived in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday, July 25th. Everything went smoothly with getting our luggage, and despite a little issue at the rental car place, that even went smoothly. Then came trying to find the hotel ....

Happy Monday All, Last week was rather crazy for the Averie household, but this is a new week and we get to get started with something I've been really looking forward to sharing with you, my darling readers (and anyone else who stumbles upon this blog). Me at the age of 5 in my sister's wedding One of my sisters went to college with screenwriter/producer, Meg LeFauve. Meg was also in my sister's wedding, over 30 years ago (I was 5 years old, so I don't remember meeting Meg at that time). Not too long ago, I got to talking with her on Facebook through my sister's urging, (she remembered me) and last year, I asked if she wouldn't mind doing an email interview with little ole me. She graciously accepted (I was surprised, I was certain she was too busy) and now I have the pleasure of sharing with you the results of this interview, which is as much fun as the interview process itself. Meg LeFauve works at Disney Pixar. She was one of the screen write...