Happy October Everyone! I'm posting this later in the day than I normally would. But, sometimes it's fun to do something a tiny bit different. (In this case put up a blog post after 4pm my time, when it would normally be up early in the morning). October always used to give me a sort of "giddy" feeling when I was growing up. I guess because my birthday is this month (Oct. 15th). But sometimes, on rare occasions, my part of Texas would start getting cooler. I always liked the little nip in the air that hinted at the holidays to come. The day I'm writing this post it was 88 degrees Fahrenheit earlier in the day, but now is up to 90. Hardly autumn-feeling weather. I'm going along querying Sugar & Frost (the manuscript's "mood board" is the image in the center). I do hope an agent gives me an offer. I love this story so much! It's fun and whimsical and definitely romantic. Sugar & Frost's Mood Board Some people call "romance-fo...

  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 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 Friday One & All, Today is the last day of September. In some ways this month has felt long to me, in others I'm trying to compute the idea that tomorrow is October 1st.  I do plan on keeping my blog to about 1 post a month, which at this point is what I can handle. My real life has had some big ups and downs lately, and it takes a lot of energy to go through it all. Rest assured, the writing world is still very important to me and I'm not inactive in it, I just can't post on my blog more than about once a month at the moment. So, where can you find me in between posts? Well, normally I'd say Facebook, but I've had a lot of trouble with it, lately. It seems my phone and computer don't like the updates so it's slower than a 2-legged turtle in molasses on my computer and refuses to operate at all on my phone (other than Messenger, which I reserve for those on my friends' list, sorry, I don't do much of communicating with folks I don't k...

  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 Friday All, Also, happy Fall, and October, (and I missed September!) It has been busy (although, I think it always is--or mostly is). October means a lot of things...getting further into Fall, apple cider showing up in the grocery store, people gearing up for Halloween with costumes on sale and pumpkins popping up (and Pumpkin Spice stuff everywhere LOL!) It's quite a month. It's also my birthday month. No matter what age I'm turning, I enjoy my birthday month. Sure, sometimes it feels weird to enter a new decade (like I did when I turned 30) and such, but every year has good things and bad things and I like to experience each year as it comes. Plus, I just like that there is a special day celebrating the fact I was born and came into existence. Think about it...without a birth day, you wouldn't be born, there would be no day that marks when someone who is uniquely you came into the world. So, although sometimes it's weird to think about turning one age ...

Happy Thursday All, I'm a bit late posting this blog post--make that about 2 days late. I meant to post this on the release day or the day before, but I've been so swamped lately that the days "got away from me" so to speak. On October 7th author Laura Childs released a new novel, so today I thought I'd give you all a peek into it... Carmela and Ava are snooping out a brand-new mystery in Laura Childs' newest Scrapbooking mystery. Ghouls, vampires, and zombies are on the loose as New Orleans gears up for Halloween and Carmela's October holiday calendar is jam packed with invitations featuring all things haunting. But the fun of the season takes a somber turn when her business neighbor, Marcus Joubert, falls out of a cabinet and into Carmela's frightened arms. The worst part is the owner of Oddities is dead. Murder and thievery hang in the air as Carmela and her best bud, Ava, try to track down the killer and the stolen mysteri...

Happy Wednesday All, Also, a very happy October to everybody! October is one of my favorite months. Okay, I'm going to come across as biased, but my birthday is in October and I've always loved my birthday--yeah, I'm over 30, but who cares? It's my special day and I get to celebrate it...even though this year it's on a Wednesday (not today, a different Wednesday). But never mind! I will be celebrating! Currently I'm gearing up for the NWHRWA Lone Star Writer's Conference , which is featuring keynote  speaker Bob Mayer , and special guest, Jen Talty . I always look forward to the NWHRWA conference. It's an opportunity to hang out with all my writing pals and meet new ones. Also, this year, my publisher is coming down, so it'll be a new (and I'm thinking fun) experience to see my publisher as one of their authors rather than someone who they didn't know. Another way I'm celebrating is by being a guest on author Anne B. Cole...

Hi Everyone, So, this weekend is Halloween. Yes, we have a pumpkin, no we haven't carved it. It's been kinda busy over here. We've had a lot going on. But Halloween also marks the end of October. A month I'm rather fond of because it's when I start feeling more of the fall weather, my birthday happens, my dad's birthday, one of my sisters and her husband have their wedding anniversary, and it's just nice to see Fall breezing in. Kids of all ages look forward breathlessly to Halloween and everything they like about it (whether it's costumes, treats, parties or spooky movies) Halloween has a lot of things for people of all ages. I wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween--whatever you celebrate or don't celebrate, or what Oct. 31st means to you, I wish you well. What does the end of October mean for my writing? Well, pretty much the same as it meant for every other month. Working, working, editing, revising, and improving and getting closer to queryin...