Hi Everyone! I've decided to provide a post that was just a whole list of resources and info for authors. I've done this before (I think it was 2017) so yeah, it's time for updating. I've done the legwork of inserting hyperlinks so that all you have to do is click on the links of whatever item you're most interested in. There is a TON of information out there for authors and it can be overwhelming to search and file through websites/social media platforms, so hopefully this post can help take some of the stress out of your search. This is by no means an exhaustive list of resources, it's just some that I know about and some that I've even used. At the very end I provide a basic template for constructing a pitch line for your manuscript (this template has helped me tremendously!) Let's Start With Websites/Resources: Manuscript Academy -- Offers workshops and events for authors in various stages of their careers. Also offers consultations with editors f...

  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 Friday and Happy March! Been busy working on a manuscript of mine and playing with some new ideas for new stories and ideas for existing unfinished manuscripts. No new updates on the querying front to report back on, yet, but hopefully some good news will come! We've now entered the season of Lent. As a Catholic, this season is a time for repentance, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and reflection. I look at it as a time for not just repenting of sin--but really working on one's relationship with Jesus in a more intense and focused--the word 'intentional' comes to mind--way to make it a part of you rather than just something you do for Lent. Every Christian has their own approach Lent, and since I'm no Theologian, I won't go into much detail here. I do wish everyone a fruitful and prayerful Lent. Not long ago, I got a new laptop computer. My other one is still working but I was having some issues. So I talked to a friend of mine that knows a lot about comput...

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 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 Tuesday Everyone! It's...July? Yep. July. Can you believe it? I know I often say this, but it feels like the month went by very quickly. Or maybe it just seems that way because of all the weird things happening in my life. And, yes, it's hot. (But when isn't it during June and July in Texas?) Real Life: At the end of May, lightning hit my car (at least, that's what we think happened, didn't SEE it, but based on what we know, that's what we think). Nobody was in it, but the car got damaged and wouldn't work properly. Insurance had it towed and thus began a saga (which is still going on at the time of the writing of this blog post). It's been about 3-4 weeks. We had a rental for a few days, and then had to return it. Then my husband's car had a problem and had to be towed to the dealership. So, husband talked to insurance and told them we were getting a rental because we needed transportation and he needed to get to work. Hopefully all this ge...

  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 Tuesday All, Wow...I can't believe I actually forgot to post on here in May. In my defense, I thought I had, but when I came to post a June entry I realized I had missed May! In May, my husband and I celebrated our anniversary. We've been married for well over 10 years! :-) We didn't do anything big...but we did get take out from Chili's, which was good. My husband is my Real Life Hero. The man has seen me at my best and my worst and STILL loves me, so I'd say he's a keeper. My wedding was lovely. I felt like a princess (which is cool, since my Dad sometimes calls me "princess"). We had a blast at our reception and a wonderful honeymoon on St. Croix (US Virgin Islands). This June my parents will celebrate 57 years of marriage. I'm so happy for them! In terms of writing...I've turned a bit of a corner so to speak. I had a brainstorming session with my long-time critique partner, author Tess St. John , which helped one of my manuscripts q...

  Happy Tuesday All, Can you believe April is already almost over? I think it went by way faster than I expected. One thing that has been interesting about this particular April is the variety of weather we've had. Everything from jackets to shorts. No snow, but that's just fine with me! After "Snowmeggeddon" (what was that, about 3 or 4 years ago?) I'm good. I don't need any snow here. Yes, I'm still writing. I have several what I term "active" projects, meaning they're the main manuscripts I'm working on. I also have a sort of "side-ish" project, which has to do with my Immortal Dreams series, but I don't foresee it ever published (at least, not anytime soon). For those who have read the other books, this would be Nic and Sirena's story. I hinted a bit at it in Perfect Love . The Immortal Dreams books are no longer available (I have my rights back; any of them you find for sale aren't from me or my previous publis...

  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 August Everyone! Wow...July went by faster than I expected. Between illness in the family (and again near the end of July and beginning of August), everything feels almost like a blur. I continue writing and querying between all the other real life stuff that has claimed my attention. Life doesn't slow down and neither do the demands of motherhood. I'm ready for all of this to settle down. I turn to my Catholic Christian faith a lot, which has been a source of comfort and help. I've got several WIPs (Works In Progress). I'm hoping to continue with Greek gods and goddesses--but one I'm working on is NOT part of my Immortal Dreams series. I also have some other things in play--fairies/Fae, maybe mermaids? With me, you just never know! The Author Encounter is taking this a bit slower this year--my business partner, Nan Jenkins, is working on her MBA, so we've pulled back on some of the events for this year, but looking to do some of our usual ones in the F...

  Happy Friday Everyone! I'm a little late getting the July post up, but perhaps you can forgive me since I was sick the first week of July. I'm much better, now. I don't recommend being sick, it's really a 1-star or no-star review from me, but it did give me a lot of time to pray, and working on my faith is never a wasted opportunity (when I take the opportunity) so there's that. I couldn't really even read much while I was sick because the screen made me dizzy and I didn't even bother trying with printed books, either. Mostly I either watched videos/movies, or slept. The sleeping was probably a good idea. Now, I've got a plan to work on getting myself stronger and keeping up with my vitamins. Thankfully, I've got a great doctor, so I had good help. Getting well meant I was able to get back to writing again, which has been nice. I don't know what will come of the novel I'm working on. Per usual, I'm going to keep details under wraps (asi...

  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 Friday! It's April, if you can believe...or even if you can't believe it. Sometimes to me it seems like the year goes slowly and other times it seems fast. Real life has been taking up some of my attention lately, so I forgot to get a post ready ahead of time. Now we're approaching Easter (well, at least it's a little over a week away, but still it's almost here). I've got a story out on query with agents and we'll see how that goes. I participated in the recent Mood Pitch on Twitter and that was an interesting experience. As part of the pitches, participants could share Mood Boards (for those who don't know what a Mood Board is, they're images/words that express either the mood or something about a story--or whatever the person who creates the Mood Board wants to express). It was kind of cool to see pictures with pitches. The Author Encounter keeps moving along. We're having a quieter year due to real life (not bad, just busy). But we...

  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 ...

  Happy Wednesday & Happy December! I hope December 2021 finds all of you well. I can't believe we're already nearing the end of 2021. It feels like the year just started yesterday or something. Who participated in NaNoWriMo2021? I didn't. I don't really do NaNo, but I fully support those who do. If you did participate, I wish you a great word count! If NaNoWriMo something that works for you as an author and/or you enjoy it, then I say go for it! I know people who do Camp NaNoWriMo or other NaNo-like events and they say they actually help them with their writing. Every author is different, so you have to find a process/technique that works for you. I'm working on getting into the Christmas spirit. We're in the process of putting up the tree (have to fix something on the lights so the ornaments aren't on there, yet). I've been playing Christmas Carols and I've almost completed my Christmas shopping. My biggest concern with the cooler weather isn...

Happy Thursday Folks! I know it's been a while. My head has been in a whirl over everything going on these days. I never in all my years thought I'd see a pandemic like this, and it's even eerier than the HIV/AIDS scare years and years ago (yeah, I lived through that tense times, too--although that was a different situation--it wasn't as widespread). But, I'm certain you didn't come to my blog wanting to talk about that (or did you?) Anyway, I'm no health expert, so I won't even try to say what's what about COVID-19. But I will say, I keep praying and looking for those glimmers of hope. Book 5 of Immortal Dreams is in the writing stages...as it has been for a while. It's a tough book to write and once it's released you'll know why. I have to keep my characters' balancing the act between grief and emo-ness (we do not want to go down very far on the emo-ness path, that could get too depressing for what I write). Jason, Laney, Ar...

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 Friday All, Yep, you read that right, it's Friday! It's also almost the end of October--where did the time go? Today I want to talk about pitching. Writers know that they have to be prepared to talk about our work--whether to friends and family, or to professionals. It can be nerve-wrecking. Especially if you don't know where to begin. Diane with Pitch University  is the answer to   writers' nerves and uncertainity about their pitching and query letters. In fact, I got her to help me with my pitch for the Lone Star Conference and I'm glad I did! She has a lot of articles/materials and information to prep authors to talk about their work to the agents and editors who will decide whether or not to request pages from them. She also has opportunities to video-pitch to real agents and editors who are guests on the website. A whole team of "minions" work with Diane and the site is just amazing. If you're preparing to pitch and/or send a ...

Happy Friday All, While y'all are celebrating the end of another week, you can join me in celebrating me putting out a query letter for the first time. Thursday afternoon was when it happened, and I'll keep you updated on what's next. (In the meantime, please cross your fingers, toes, hair, whatever and if you're a prayer type person, send some up for me, please as I go through this process). There's mixed feelings involved here. For instance: On one hand I was nervous after pushing that "send" button, on the other hand, a sense of relief fell over me that my manuscript was finally ready and I had everything prepared. Once the initial nerves are gone there's the whole "Okay, onto the other manuscripts." and "What other responsibilities do I have?" Yesterday (late, around 8:30 or so p.m.) I made fudge. I had planned to, but the fact that I had gotten done what I had planned to in terms of getting that query out made me feel...