Happy Tuesday All, Once again, I'm posting the monthly post near the end of the month. But oh well. I was pretty busy during part of the beginning of the month, so I thought I'd wait until after so that I could mention some of it here. I got to hang out with 2 out of 3 of my Girls' Night Out Ladies. These ladies are my besties and I've known them a long time. We had a nice dinner out and then hung out at a coffee/sweet shop until they closed. The last time we'd all been together was in 2019. I'd seen them on and off, but not all of us together. So, that was a wonderful thing to have happen this month. #UnhingedPit -- a pitching event held on X and BlueSky happened. Authors pitch their manuscripts but in unconventional ways. The two ladies who run the event decided to make me their ambassador (it's sort of a funny story--they liked my enthusiasm when it was first developed in 2024, and after a while we got to talking and that was that). It was so much fu...

  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 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 (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...

  Happy Wednesday All, Surprise! I'm actually posting BEFORE the end of the month! Imagine that. 😊 I think my part of Texas is confused about what season it is. We were having some cooler temperatures and then all of a sudden it decided to go up again. Now, that's relatively normal in a sense for us, but what is curious is that the tree in my backyard decided it wasn't winter, but FALL! All these colored leaves are covering my backyard. I looked around and thought "Guess the plants and trees are confused as to what season it is. Can't blame them since the weather is, too!" December is quieter so far than September through November were and I am NOT complaining about that. In September, my father suffered a bad fall and consequently there was a whole lot of stress. October saw my folks move out of their home of over 30 years into Assisted Living. When November came along, me and my family had a stomach bug. The very beginnings of December was the tail-end of m...

  Happy June Everyone! I hope your May went well. My husband had to take 4 trips up to Springdale, Arkansas to clean out and sell his father's house, so that was a lot. He's fine now and the papers to sell the house have been signed, so that's good. I've recently pulled up an unfinished manuscript of mine and have been reading through the 80 or 82 pages of what I had already written. I've edited what I've read so far for a preliminary edit, and think there might be something here. We'll see. There are some new releases that have piqued my interest. I don't normally pick up mid-grade novels (although, I have read several over the course of my life) but my author friend, Tom Phillips has his debut coming out on June 7th, so I've been watching the countdown with great interest. Another author friend of mine, Cheyanne Young has a new contemporary YA, releasing, too. Plus, there always seems to be more novels releasing, too. I'm sometimes slow to ge...

  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 Happy Friday! It's been a little while since I updated, and there is plenty to say. :-) 1. I'm free of the sling! Yes, you read that right. No more wearing the sling for my non-displaced shoulder fracture. On Wednesday, Oct. 20th, I had an ortho appointment and the doc said that I didn't have to wear it anymore. I'm working on some physical therapy, which is going okay. My poor arm is stiff! More good news is that I can use my left hand to type, so I'm back to typing with both hands, which is awesome! 2. My mss (manuscript, i.e. story/novel) is with my freelance editor. The editor has my mss. She'd sent some edits back some time ago, which I finally worked on. So, now just waiting for the rest of her notes. 3. My query letter is all ready! It's been critiqued and revised and is now ready to be sent off when everything else is ready to go. 4. My synopsis is almost ready. I've got it out with a proofreader and have already had critique done on it. ...

  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 Thursday! I didn't know I'd do another blog post for July. I wasn't sure I had anything to say, but you know, things happen and suddenly I've got some fun stuff for a blog post! Okay, since I list it first, let me talk discoveries:  I have discovered the existence of UK Actress, singer, author, vlogger, Carrie Hope Fletcher. So, this was completely by accident. She's got a new book release dropping in August (I don't know when it's supposed to be available in the States) that looks interesting. Rather prolific given in a short period of time she has published around 5 books (maybe 6?) and has a new one coming out. Anyway, she has an amazing voice, which gives me chills--hence the reason I wanted to tell you, darling readers, about her voice. I haven't read her work, since I only just learned of her existence, but her upcoming release sounds interesting. In terms of writing, I continue to edit my current WIP (Work In Progress). In any case, I...

  Happy Thursday Darling Readers! It's been a while since I last updated and there are plenty of things to mention. I'm still trying to figure out the new template I'm using on this blog. The template came with some options I don't even use, so ignore them (I'm talking about the link options that don't go anywhere). My website is still being worked on and figured out--lots of things have gotten in the way of getting that completely up and running, but it is on my mind.  I've been writing! Yes, yes, I have! For months now I've been working on a new story (no connection to my Immortal Dreams series or the out-of-print, All's Fair In Love & Lion ). I can't tell you where I am with the story because I keep pretty mum about the process until I have specific news. But I am writing and I am editing and I am working on query stuff. The Author Encounter has been taking quite a bit of my time (but yes, I have been working on all the stuff I mentioned ...

Happy Wednesday Everyone! I've been trying to update this blog at least once a month--sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I don't have a consistent schedule set up, so I guess at the end of every month, come check-in and see if I've put up a new post. So, now for my news updates: The Author Encounter website has been up and running for a while now. Authors, readers, agents, editors, vendors, etc. can join. If you're interested, but want more information than what's on the website, you can contact the company via email . We're on the LAST day of the Kindle giveaway. You can join by going to The Author Encounter giveaway page and entering. No purchase necessary. The audiobook narrator of Divine Love , Chris J. Hudson, and I will be running an online workshop on September 4th for members (so there...

Happy Wednesday Everyone, Renovations to the blog and my website are still in line to be done but have been put on hold for a short bit because the consultant and I have joined forces to start a company geared toward authors and readers. The Author Encounter's mission statement is "Bringing authors and fans together" and that's just what we're working toward. We have an event scheduled for Saturday, August 1, 2020 called Books & Beauty. I'll be there with my amazingly talented audiobook narrator, Chris Hudson. Headlining the event is author Kerrelyn Sparks who not only did an amazing job with Paranormal Romance with her Love At Stake series, but she's got her Embraced beings in her Fantasy Romance series and a brand new one that will be showcased at Books & Beauty called How To Love Your Elf . It's going to be for people ages 21 and up because it's at a Wine bar. All the information is on The Author Encounter's website. Other tha...

Hello Darling Readers, Please pardon the "dust" and chaos here. I'm updating/revamping my blog design and website, so you'll notice some changes here. Please be patient as things get sorted out. Thank you!

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 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 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 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...