April Promos

This month's promos:

Sweet and Spicy 

and

Supernatural Romance

 

January Promos!

 My January promo is Romance Freebies. Join some newsletters, get some free reads. My short story is Cocky Lady, a sweet romance that blooms at the dog park.

And it's the last week to find those Series Starters! Embers and Flame (the first book in the Campfire Stories series) is on sale for $2.99 until January 7. (also available on KU) 

September Promos I Have Books In

Promo here

Promo here 

Promo here 

A Quick Cut and Paste

 I keep telling myself I'm going to start posting on this blog again. And I start the posts. I just don't finish them. So, I'm stealing this one from my writing blog!

This week nearly get the better of me, between taking care of some Farmers Market loose ends and attending a Celebration of Life for a friend who died a couple of weeks ago. But I made it through, and I'm ready to hit this next week with gusto!

My book, Smoke and Sparks, is available for free this month in the Romance to Read give-away. Find it, along with many other books, by clicking here. 

    [As we kissed], I pictured the starlets of the old black and white films, a dainty foot encased in a pointed stiletto rising as her lover kissed her. It made sense to me as the itch reached my toes and they curled in my Nikes. I fought the mad need to shuffle my feet, to drag them across the ground, seeking relief, and I broke away, drawing in air even as a chuckle escaped, my inner fancies impossible to explain but so amusing to me that I couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across my face. 

   Daryl looked up at me, his eyes glassy and dazed until he gave a small shake of his head, clearing the fog away, I suppose. “What’s so funny?” he asked, waiting to decide if he should be insulted or not.
   “Nothing. I was imagining myself as Hedy Lamarr.”

Smoke and Sparks (Campfire Stories Book 2) Available on Amazon KU

Couch-surfing is fine for the short term, but what Vaughn really needs is a roommate.

Vaughn’s future was mapped out: Attend college in St. Louis. Become a Physical Therapist. Come out to his ultra-religious family-- after he’s financially stable and probably 40-years-old. But that was before he got caught with the pool-boy. Now he has to make new plans, quickly.

A small-town mechanic from Indiana, Daryl has never met anyone like Vaughn. He’s instantly fascinated by the tall college student in the skinny jeans and open-backed shirt. Vaughn is funny, intelligent—and wears silk underwear. Daryl is instantly smitten.

A temporary job offer moves Daryl to the city and solves Vaughn’s roommate problem. But while their former long-distance friendship has the potential to turn into something more, Vaughn fears he’ll end up heartbroken when Daryl moves back to Indiana. The spark between them glows brighter, but will it be smothered before it has a chance to truly ignite? 

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*Rainbow Snippets is a (Facebook) group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers who gather once a week to share snippets from a work of fiction–-a WIP or a finished work or even a book recommendation. If you're interested in following a diverse group of authors, check it out here.

Irish Coffee

 I was digging around in a file, looking for some old notes, and I happened upon this flash fiction I wrote a few years ago for a contest and thought I'd share.      

         The coffee is more Irish than I am. That has to be it, the reason I see Death in the corner. He’s dressed in black, just as you’d expect. Well, except, instead of a robe, Death is wearing a peacoat. And a beanie instead of a hood. But I suppose Death can wear whatever he wants. 

Oh, and he has blond curls framing his unbony face. 

And a smile formed by plump lips, not clacking teeth. 

That’s unexpected. 

Okay, I confess, the drink in my hand is all Irish with no coffee, I’m not Irish in the least, and that probably isn’t Death. And, oh fuck, he’s weaving through the crowd towards me. 

But tipsy or not, I’ve spent the day looking for Death, certain he was close. After all, he’s left hints everywhere. The first popped up as I bought breakfast. “That’ll be $6.66,” the perky girl behind the counter said. Then a black dog lurked as I got into my car. Later, there was this strange tick tick tick; surely time counting down. And someone needs to explain the three knocks on my office door where no one stood.  

The portents can’t be ignored: Death has been searching for me. Panic numbs my hands: I’m not ready. I have so much yet to do. Paint the living room. Learn to ski. Climb a mountain. Hell, I want to run with the bulls. (Okay, yeah, I really don’t want to do that last one. But I’m making a point here. There are things I still want to do.) Like, maybe…

Fall in love.

I’m 28, for fuck’s sake. I should have fallen in love a dozen times by now. And maybe I thought I had once or twice. But it never stuck. I liked him, he didn’t like me. He liked me but I was still in the closet. I was out of the closet and he was straight. It was always something. 

True, there had been a fling with my college roommate. He’d claimed to be experimenting, but I suspect he’s more bi than curious. He’d invited me to his wedding, which was a nice gesture. The bride was radiant. The groom was dapper. I was horny. (I still feel guilty about the indiscretion in the restroom during the reception, but it’s not my fault he followed me into the stall.)

A grin threatens to split my face as I force my eyes to focus. Damn, but Death is cute. 

“Hey, sexy,” Death says as he stands over me. He has the greenest eyes, reminding me of spring days. “You look lonely. Mind if I sit?” I point to an empty chair and his smile widens. “I’m Dan,” he says. 

“Jim,” I say as I grasp his warm hand; he’s definitely not Death. We shake a few seconds longer than necessary. Screw dying and mountains and bulls. I think I’ll fall in love first. 

Just a little self promotion: my writing blog is here. 

2021 In Pictures

One thing that has come out of the last two years is discovering the charms of our local Nature Center. I'd taken the kids out there for special events a few times when they were younger, but I'd never spent time there as a way to center my mental health. In many ways, these few acres have helped me keep my sanity through this insane time. 

 

We added Silver to the Jones clowder. She was gifted to us by the local Momma Cat. 

Little Black is another of her kittens from a previous litter that decided to hang around. 

 There was moon light.

And the squirrel we rescued and released. Peanut's injuries were worse than we at first thought, and he didn't make it through the summer, but we were able to give him some extra months. 

And my trips to the Nature Center continued throughout the Fall. 

And we ended the year with a visit from my daughter, who wasn't able to come home last year because of the pandemic. Having her here was the best present. 

A Moment Caught on Camera

 There are so many wonderful pictures from yesterday, so many that make my heart sing, but I really think this one with President Obama and Vice-President Harris is my number one favorite. Who says you can't read a person's face if it's covered with a mask? That is 100% unadulterated joy and happiness. 

Looking Back, Looking Forward-- Oh Hell, Let's Just Get On With It!

It's that time of year again. We list our "best of"s, or reflect on our accomplishments, or make goals for the coming year. 

But what can we say about 2020? Maybe "I survived!" is enough. 

It's a year that will probably be looked at by the next generations as something the old folks talk about ad nauseum. The Spanish Flu was followed by The Roaring 20s. Will we get our own version? Because I think we deserve it!

I'm not going to rehash any of it-- hell, we've all lived through it, even if groups of us were looking at it through different colored lenses. There are going to be lasting effects on our psyches, certainly. 

I've become more introverted. 

I'm not the eternal optimist I used to be. 

I fear I'll have a hard time breathing any time I get caught in a crowd. 

Some of my relationships have been irreparably damaged.

And yet there has been some positives. I've grown closer with my husband and son. I've made use of our local nature center, which is good for both my cardio health and my mental health. I've built my baking business. And I've made some strides in my writing. 

It's not over, yet. I'm afraid 2021 is still going to be rough. But I'm hopeful. 

Knock on wood. 

Hallelujah!

 

Thank the goddess, I get to replace my #resist header! I know it's not over and we still have approximately 11 weeks before President Biden and VP Harris are actually in the White House. I imagine the next few weeks will be messy, but maybe I'm wrong, and instead of getting violent, the Magats will slink away and do nothing more than pout. Fingers crossed. 

Six Month Check-In (Or is it the Seventh...or Eighth? Hell, I Don't Even Know Anymore)

This week The New York Times published an article about Pandemic Fatigue. It was interesting, and definitely something I’ve witnessed in the population around me. The article discusses the replacing of the fear that many people felt in the Spring with the fatigue that results from living with continual upheaval. I live in a corner of the country where much of the population has decided they’re done with it, and they are ignoring the recommendations. No masks or social distancing for them!

What I think we’ll see in the coming years will be various forms of PTSD. Some will continue to be introverts that are never comfortable in crowds or groups. People that were border-line hypochondriacs will continue to worry about every cough, every fever.

And then there will be the hoarders.

My grandparents were adults during the Great Depression with a passel of kids to feed and clothe, and as a result, my grandmother became a bit of a hoarder. She stuffed the toys she crocheted with old hose and bread bags. She saved every butter dish and every scrap of material. 

 

I see that in myself, only with food. I keep buying things that we normally don’t use– fruit cups and juice drinks, canned meat, dry milk– all because I fear fresh fruit and juice, meat and milk, will become scarce. And my freezer is full. It’s enough food to feed the three of us for two months or more, and yet I still keep buying. I’m running out of room.

I know it’s because I work in a grocery store and I see each week what we aren’t getting and the rumors of what we might not get in the next few months. But there comes a point when I need to stop. And still, I buy.

I want to believe, a year from now, this will be behind us and we can get back to normal. But I have to wonder how many of us won’t be able to.

 

Around the House #4

Not all of my favorite things are in my house. Some of them are outside. 

When we bought our house 21 years ago, there were no trees in the yard. Apparently, the previous owners didn't like to rake? Or didn't like shade? Who knows. So I went a bit crazy and planted a half-dozen, thinking that some of them I'd bought were "smaller" trees. 

I was wrong.

They've turned into big trees, all. But my favorite is this Mimosa that I actually brought from our old house. It was nothing more than a twig when I dug it up and now it reaches over our two-story. It's in full bloom right now and it smells like a perfume factory--almost overbearingly so. But it attracts hummingbirds and there are violets growing in the cleft where the trunk divides. Which is why it's one of my favorite things!

Cats on a Shelf

We have a fence around our back yard, partly because of the neighbors, and partly because we have a pool. But we weren't thinking when we put it up-- my garden is on the other side. Which meant I had to walk all of the way around to get to the garden. Yup, poor planning on our part. Anyway, my husband put in a gate last summer and built a little shelf on it. I didn't even notice, which shows how observent I am. But the cats did. We have a bit of a cat problem in our neighborhood-- namely a Momma Cat that is very prolific. (I really should dig up some money and take her for a little trip) 

Needless to say, this a daily occurance. The particular cats just change from time to time. 

Gnarly! Like, Fer Sure!

Raybeard wrote a post about the removal of Gone with the Wind from HBO Max. I’m not going to repeat what he wrote. Here’s the link if you would like to read it. I’m not even going to comment on the movie because honestly, I’ve never watched it. Nor have I read the book. I have no interest in them. But it did get me to thinking.

For context: I hit my teens in the late 70s. I grew up in an all-white area in the USA mid-west Bible Belt. I was a typical kid. I drank a little, I smoked occasionally, I had a great group of friends. We “cruised” on Friday and Saturday nights, bowled, played arcade games, and went to the movie theater. Although I considered myself to be the "hippy" of the group, interested in the women's movement and civil rights, I'm not sure my awareness of the wider world came until college. (I'm pretty sure it wasn't until college that I added gay rights to that list, simply because I didn't know.) 

Fast forward to 2020. About two and a half months ago we fired up the VHS player and started rewatching some old Dr. Who we had. And then we dug through our collection and continued watching these old movies that we thought were brilliant back in the 80s and 90s. Alien and The Thing and Jurassic Park. And two weeks ago, we dug out some teen movies from the 80s. Valley Girl, Sweet Sixteen, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. There were parts I still thought were funny, but oh, my, have they not aged well.

Would I recommend them to a young person today? Not unless they asked specifically for an example of something problematic. But I think they’re important for that very reason. The things I didn’t notice when I was 20 that jump out at me now show me that I’ve grown, that I’ve paid attention and become a better person. And some movies, like Gone with the Wind, show a snapshot of our history. We need to have that, something tangible that we can judge ourselves on. It’s one thing for me to tell my kids and the young people I work with “this is how it was when I was your age” but it’s another for them to see it, to hopefully learn something about my generation from it. If nothing else, it’s a place to start a discussion.

One thing that surprised me as we’ve been doing our nostalgia viewing—WKRP in Cincinnati actually held up pretty well. There are a few episodes that weren’t so great, but it’s amazing how many issues that were featured on that show are relevant once again. If anyone doesn’t believe the current administration hasn’t pushed us back decades, I think the proof is in the viewing!

While The World Burns...

I went for a walk yesterday because I realized I hadn't taken so much as a step ouside our yard in a week--haven't even wanted to. If I didn't occasionally need to go to the store or the bank, I could happily never leave the property. I hope this fades, especially when  the time comes for me to go back to work. Except, there's this little voice that keeps whispering "if you go back to work". Which, unless some rich relative I don't know about dies and leaves me money, isn't possible. This leave-of-absence really is meant to be a temporary thing. Last week I went into the grocery store where I've worked for 22 years and was surprised by how much I missed it. And for about ten minutes I considered going back part time. But... I have no filter. The boss would have to fire me within the first week. So, I guess I'll stay home a tad longer and watch my roses bloom. 

Life in a Bubble

This feels pretty spot-on. I started my "leave of absence" full of energy. For the first three weeks, I caught up on some cleaning that really needed doing. And there was plenty of writing and editing work to keep me occupied. Plus, there was the Working Stiffs release that I was devoting time to.

But...

It got cold again. And Facebook is full of scared, confused people. But it's my lifeline to people I care about, so I can't not get on it. And the world started to feel heavy. And I've found out I really need my days to be scheduled. I'm almost amazed that a part of me misses work. I miss my friends. I halfway entertained going back--at least a few hours a day. But I know if I do I'll end up right back where I was at the end of March. Chest pains and anxiety. Physically, I'm so much better now. Mentally, I'm struggling. And I know this will pass. 

IT WILL GET BETTER.

Or so I keep telling myself.                             

Around the House 3

I'm used to being on my feet for most of the day. But now that I'm home, that isn't happening and I'm afraid I'll really be hurting when I go back to work. The husband and I have taken a few walks, but the weather has been cool and wet and it's been hit and miss. So I set up a corner with the treadmill that I always meant to use but rarely did (because I was on my feet all day). We don't have cable so I've hooked up an old DVD player to on old 13" television and pulled out the DVDs I haven't watched in years. It was Waterfalls last week, this week is going to be season 1 of Buffy. And ya know, it's been kind of fun!

Afternoon Excitement!

Before and after pictures. I was pulling out of my drive, heading out to Mom's to take her some stuff, and I saw smoke billowing on the next block over. At first I thought it was the store where I work, but it was a garage on the block between us. 

I had to keep driving or get parked in (by people that were definitely not social distancing!), so I kept going. The fire trucks were just leaving when I got back to town. It looks like the house is okay, maybe a little roof-singe, but since they weren't attached, they were lucky. Their new "plastic" fence didn't fare so well, though. Which just shows how hot it was. The family (and their two dogs) are all okay, although the dad had to go to the hospital for a burn on his ankle.

I guess that broke up the tedium for a few people.

Around the House 2

One of my favorite things-- my Unicorn Hex sign. I should have tried to take a picture that actually shows how large it is. (1 yard wide). 

My first job, the kind where taxes were actually deducted, was waitressing at a local restaurant. It started out as a Dutch Pantry, but by the time I worked there, it was just The Pantry. I worked there during my Junior and Senior years. And then I worked summers and holidays through college. 

When the owner remodeled, he took down all of the hex signs and I grabbed onto this one. I collected Unicorns back then and this was the ultimate prize. It's hung on a wall in every house I've lived in ever since.

(I wish I had a better picture, but back in the stone age, before digital, you never knew what you were going to get until it was too late!)

I Can Finally Call Myself an Author!

Started in 1981 as something to do during study hall, Headphones and the occupants of The House became companions that lived in my head, their stories growing and evolving over the years. In 2013 I decided to give them new life and prove to myself that I could finish something. The result was an online serial that ran from January 1, 2015, to January 1, 2016. To call it a vanity project is probably generous. But by the end of the year, I was getting 100 hits a day from readers around the world. For someone who grew up without the internet and social media, it was exciting. Early last year I decided to rewrite it into a publishable book. The problem was, it was too long for one book.  My solution? Make it into a trilogy! So I introduce, nearly 40 years in the making, Headphones!

Book one: 

In from the Cold introduces Headphones and a group of friends who are going about their lives while not truly living them.  

Book two:

Sunshine Smile is heat and healing–new love blossoms, a new enemy schemes.   

  

Book three:

Fall Out will break your heart, but only for a moment. 

Shared from my Author Blog. 

Around the House

I Should Be Laughing adopted the idea of posting things from our environment that make us happy from Mistress Maddie and I've been seeing a version of it going around FaceBook, and I think it's an excellent idea! 

I love The Mighty Boosh. It's a silly British program on the outside, but it became so much more to me. I suppose I was just at a point in my life where I needed to make some changes and it made me look at things differently. And even better, I connected with people in other countries who shared my love. Artistic people, both of the drawing kind and the writing kind. A couple of years ago I bought some cards from those artists through Redbubble and found a beat-up shadow box at a garage sale-- and promptly shoved them into the "to do" pile. Now that I'm home (doing the self-isolating thing) I'm pulling out those old projects. A nice day and a can of white spray paint was all I needed. And yes, it makes me very happy.