I don’t know about all of you, but it felt like the past week lasted about a month. It wasn’t that things were insanely busy without sufficient time to do everything either. It was just a very weird week. I did get some lovely graphics this week from the designer who is doing the covers for the second and third books in the Medusa trilogy, of the new series logo. I love them, and I can’t wait to share them with you, but that will happen a little later…when I have release date

We’re midway through the month, and about midway through the winter season now, aren’t we? That point where, especially for those who don’t enjoy the season, it feels like time is standing still. I actually love winter and haven’t had nearly enough snow to suit me yet, but it does feel like this month has lasted an eternity. On top of that, I feel like I haven’t made enough progress on my writing goals for the month either. The good news there is when I was figuring out time

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We just have to get through the next two days of crazy-busy at the day-job, and then I have a five day weekend. I’ve started working on my to-do list for the weekend already. At the moment, it’s just a couple of specifics and some vague, over-these-days-this-needs-to-happen. My plan is to get the specifics out of the way first, like the oil change on my car, dropping my ballot at the county elections office, a little more headston

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was taking part in this fun book event, and my post will be up this week, on Wednesday, 9/23 (fun coincidence, that is my oldest son’s birthday!). I’m really excited about this. Celebrate Autumn all month long at N. N. Light’s Book Heaven’s second annual Fall Into These Great Reads Bookathon. 47 books, 34 authors. So much fun! I have a link to the general promo page here, but will have the direct link to my post on Wednesday and will s

But it doesn’t feel like summer anymore either. Finally! There are some gorgeous days in the weather forecast for us for the next week, and I’m so excited. Today was one of them. Sunny, but not hot like just a couple weeks ago. I’m liking this weather. I wish summer was more like this than the 90-100+ degree temps we had all season this year. Today, I’m doing a quick fly-by because I’m working on revisions on that first tiger shifter story, and I really want to get some extra

We’re finishing up a holiday weekend here, though I think I did as much work this weekend as if there wasn’t an extra day off. But it was necessary, and I’m glad it’s done. I had a lot of mulch delivered to the boys’ midweek, and then spent Saturday and Sunday mulching flower beds around the house and planting a few things as well. We had a hard time guesstimating the amount of mulch we needed, so we wound up with extra, so the good news is we won’t need to mulch next year. A

Yes, I’m still thinking about birthday cakes. So many different varieties, shapes, sizes–yellow sheet cake, triple layer chocolate cake, angel food. And most of them I love. I’m not a fan of peanut butter icing (it’s okay, more for you!), but there are almost no limits to the kinds of cake I would eat, or have eaten in the past. When I was younger, my mom had a friend who made a rum cake one year when we visited. There was rum in the cake (I can still remember how moist that

Today is the first day of March, and we still haven’t really had any winter here yet. Oh, we’ve had some chilly periods, but it’s been unseasonably warm for large chunks of time in the last month or two. The most snow we’ve seen was the unexpected one back in November that piled up a quick few inches that didn’t last into the next day. For winter lovers, it’s been exceptionally disappointing, though I have a friend who’s thrilled. I’m still holding out hope that we might get

( Silhouette of kissing couple – Depositphotos ) We’ve had a couple of crazy weeks at the day-job, and it occurred to a few of us the other day that we go a long stretch from the end of year holidays (Thanksgiving/Yule/Christmas/New Year) until there is another ‘day off’ holiday. Not that there aren’t holidays–Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day–just that they don’t get work holidays. Our next one is Memorial Day. It’s a long stretch from January 1st until May 25th. I’m kind o

Our weather-guessers promised several inches of snow for our area yesterday. We got a dusting, topped off with a whole lot of sleet. This time of year, the front of our house doesn’t get much sun, so the driveway will probably be icy for a few more days, until the temps go up a little again. But I did get the ice off my car so I can get to work tomorrow, so that’s something, right? The good news for me this week is I took a couple days off from the day-job. I can have a break

( family at feast – Depositphotos ) In the coming week or two, there will be lots of scenes like the one above all over the country and the world. We used to have large family holidays when I was growing up, with grandparents, sometimes aunts and uncles and cousins, too. Holidays are a lot easier for kids than for the adults, aren’t they? All the kids have to do is wait until the big day, though that seems interminable to a six-year-old, whether it’s a birthday or Christmas.

It’s Thanksgiving week here in the U.S. I’ve spent some of the past two days in the kitchen–my final loaf of sage and onion bread is baking in my bread machine right now for the stuffing we’ll eat on Thursday and the house smells so good right now. I almost hate to wait four days to sample the bread. But I will, and I’ll be grateful for it on Thanksgiving. We don’t always think about the good things in our lives, the things we have that others envy because they don’t have the

I almost set ‘Comfort and Joy’ as the title of this post, but I don’t want to confuse the seasons for anyone. I’m just thinking about the things that comfort and make us happy today. Now that it’s fall, the soup pot is getting a workout, which makes me happy. Right now, there is leftover potato soup from yesterday’s dinner in the fridge. Today, it’s some of my favorite tea and movie soundtracks while I work on rewrites and laundry, and I am seriously considering one of my fav

It is a pretty Sunday here–except it doesn’t feel like October begins in two days. I spent a good part of yesterday with a cousin at a wine festival, and it was even hotter yesterday than today. I’d love if Mother Nature got her act together. A few cool, crisp days with puffy white clouds and bright blue skies would be perfect. Instead, we’re looking at another day mid-week with the possibility of setting a new record-high temperature. That’s what I’d like to see out of my wi

Today was a little break from all of the work crazy for me (though one of my teammates went in to the office today, and I was there yesterday). I went with a friend to the gemstone show we enjoy every year.  That was good and bad. Good, because it is a brief respite from work and chores. Bad, at least this year, because one of our favorite vendors wasn’t there, which was disappointing. It meant we had to work a bit harder to find some of what we wanted. But we also discovered

( To Do – Depositphotos ) I think I may have mentioned how busy we are at the day-job this month–our busiest week of the year is coming up in the next ten days or so, plus we have team members on vacation (I started that last month myself when I went to the conference, and I absolutely feel everyone should use their vacation time!), and our team is short-handed on my side by one person, so we’ve been doing a lot of juggling. And I’m about to toss an unplanned day off into the

I’m home from the conference, the laundry is done, and I’ve even put away most of the things I carted home with me from New York, and now I have to go back to the day-job tomorrow even though I’d like to stay home and write some more. But we’re not there yet. The conference was busy, jammed with people as you would expect when a writing conference is in NYC, the traditional home of publishing. Lots of great authors there, presenting workshops and signing books. I didn’t inten

(Cake and ice-cream – Depositphotos) I am still without internet at my house, so am crashing the Panera up the road from home once again so I can check in on everything that’s happening in my world and beyond. While I get ready to call our provider (again!) when I get home. I’ve also been cursing Mother Nature for the ridiculously high temperatures this week. As I write this, our high temp at home today was officially 100 degrees. Much, much too hot for me. It looks like a sl

Today will be a super-fast post. Our internet has been down at home since Friday evening, and there is no end in sight, so I took a quick drive up the road to Panera to check on things. I have been writing today–easier to be undistracted (except by the flashing DSL light on the router) when there is no access to anything else. I’ve also started packing for my trip next week. Not clothing yet, but other essentials. I’ve also picked up some snacks to take along, and some local

(field of daisy flowers- Depositphotos) The summer weather appears to be settling in here to stay. It’s been hot and sticky all week, with a slight break after last night’s thunderstorms–only upper 80s today, and a little less humid with the wind blowing all day. The next week looks more like last week, hot and humid, so I’ll be staying inside as much as possible, even on the holiday Thursday. I’ll leave the grilling to my husband and stay indoors. I had my weekend planned ou