We’re halfway through the second week of the challenge. I hope you’re enjoying the posts. Today, our letter is I. As an author, I essentially live inside my head, creating mysteries, romances, fantasies, and whatever comes to mind. After yesterday’s eclipse, I have some sci-fi possibilities floating through my head.
Today’s letter is I for imagination. So, I did a little quick brainstorming because I’m not ready to write a new book yet, since I have to finish Listen to the Stones, and sci-fi would be a new genre for me, but yesterday’s eclipse got me thinking. I’ve decided to share three separate ideas that have come up.
At first, I contemplated a time travel story where the eclipse creates a rift in time, and my fighter pilot flying over the Pacific gets sucked back in time say five thousand years, and crash lands on an island.
What does she do? How is she received? Does she decide to stay there with friendly natives or does she have to fight for survival against cannibals? Would she be alone or would there be another pilot with her? The more I think about it, the more the idea has merit.
A second idea floating around involves the Bermuda Triangle. I know the path of totality wasn’t eclipse wasn’t visible there this time, but the partial one was visible. And, as an author, I can use literary license in the story. What if she’s a helicopter pilot(I like that occupation) delivering supplies from Nassau to one of the other inhabited islands in the Bahamas and during the eclipse her chopper’s instruments fail and she crashes her chopper on a remote island. She encounters people marooned there during a storm some four hundred years ago. Does she stay? Could she fall in love and give up her life? Does she fix her chopper and head back to what she hopes is Nassau in the twenty-first century? Does she report them or let them continue to live in anonymity? Is she alone? So many possibilities there.
Every time we’ve gone on a cruise, we’ve traveled through the Bermuda Triangle. Nothing weird has happened to us, but you can read countless stories written about people. planes, and boats that have vanished.
The last idea, and possibly the one that presents the greatest challenge is going back to revamp a space exploration novel I started years ago. In the novel, the last vestiges of humanity are looking for a new planet to call home and have to deal with a saboteur onboard. What if they land on a primitive planet just before or just after a solar eclipse? Would the inhabitants see them as a danger or a blessing? Again, lots of possibilities.
And there you have it. My imagination at work. Come back tomorrow for the letter J.
The day after the eclipse, I’m still awed and humbled by the experience.
For someone who makes a living with words, I’m at a loss to justifiably describe how I felt yesterday during the total solar eclipse.
Fortunately, we had a clear, warm, sunny day with the temperature hovering at 16 degrees Celcius. At 2:00 p.m., I went outside, wearing a light cardigan and carrying my eclipse viewing glasses and a beverage. I settled down to wait. I was about to see something incredible, but I wasn’t prepared for the reality of it.
Around 2:15, the moon took a nip out of the bottom right section of the sun, but it made no difference to the level of light nor to the temperature. By 2:45, it started getting significantly cooler, so I went into the house to get my coat. The next thing I noticed was a change to the way I perceived colors. We were in our driveway and my husband’s car, a cherry red Mazda, looked almost a dark rust color while the neighbor’s dark blue truck seemed to be a brighter shade of blue. By now, the moon almost covered the sun, and everything became surreal. It wasn’t dark out, but it wasn’t light either–a kind of odd twilight.
And then it happened! It got quiet, the streetlights came on, and a weird night and day darkness descended. The moon completely covered the sun. As I mentioned, it was clear here. I wish I’d had a camera capable of showing you what I saw. The planets and stars were visible more clearly and brightly than I’ve ever seen them. It was magical, a true miracle of nature.
For those two and a half minutes of totality, we just stared up at the sky, reveling in the once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was strange to sit in darkness as we were and look up at a light sky and still see the stars. Luckily, a friend had a better camera and captured a much better image than I did.
And just as quickly as totality started, it ended. In a matter of seconds, it was light again, although it took a few minutes for colors and the temperature to return to normal.
While the partial eclipse lasted another hour, the magic was over. How did I feel? Sad, the way you do on Christmas morning after all the presents have been unwrapped, and it’s time to clean up and get to work again. The magic was gone. I was sorry to see it go, and yet, I was happy that I got to see it all.
I’ll never experience a total solar eclipse like this again since by the time the next one comes around this area, I’ll be long gone, but for now, I have the memories and my pictures, and that’s not such a bad thing.
So, today’s letter H stands for Hello Darkness, my old friend, a line from a Simon and Garfunkel song. It also stands for humbling, the way I felt in the face of such an event, especially when the moon stole not only the sun’s light but its heat.
I must admit, it has also given me an idea for a novel. Can you imagine what it must’ve been like thousands of years ago when humans experienced this phenomenon? Did they believe the world was coming to an end? Did their soothsayers predict that something like this would happen? I’ll leave you with one last picture posted by an author friend of the eclipse taken in the South Pacific. How amazing is this? To use an old-fashioned word, it’s a real HUMDINGER! April 8, 2024 has gone down in history.
Here’s another taken in Toronto with the CN Tower bisecting the solar eclipse.
Come back tomorrow to see what I have for you under the letter I.
Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales. Our word prompt this week is GENTLE. I’m continuing with Listen to the Stones, my Contemporary Paranormal Romance Suspense. How do you think James and Jerome will react when they meet for the first time?
“Marina, is something wrong?”
James came into the foyer. When he noticed Dr. Morrison, he stiffened and glared. He seemed to stand taller, reminding her of the silverback gorilla she’d seen at the zoo. Would he pound his chest and scream at the interloper, too? He was certainly acting territorial.
Dr. Morrison turned to him, raised his hand, and rubbed a spot in the center of his chest, his now pale face cringing as if he were in pain. He’d been fine a moment ago. Before she could ask him if everything was okay. James spoke.
“And you are?” The frost in his voice chilled her.
The doctor’s eyes narrowed, and he frowned. He inhaled and exhaled several times before answering as if he needed to deal with whatever was bothering him first.
The doctor’s eyes narrowed, and he frowned. “Jerome Morrison. I’m an archeologist. I’ve come here to study the standing stones and hopefully persuade Lady Fraser to register them as part of the National Trust. Scotland’s treasures need to be recorded, studied, and preserved. Rumor has it that someone is buying land on Lewis, specifically tracts filled with unregistered monoliths made of Lewisian Gneiss, which they intend to mine. Unscrupulous people see the stones only as a means to increase their wealth. I’ve arrived early and her ladyship has been kind enough to give me my room ahead of time.”
His explanation seemed to lack something. It was certainly plausible, but she sensed there was more to it. Hadn’t she felt the same way about James’s reason for being late? Perhaps she was reading more into this than there was. Still, the atmosphere in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife.
Why did she get the feeling these men were sizing one another up like two dogs about to fight over a bone, and she was the bone?
James moved closer to her. Raven hissed at him as if she were telling him to back off. He ignored her. Marina pulled the kitten tightly to her chest and gently caressed her, hoping to calm her.
“Shh, Raven. I’ve got you.”
That’s it. Come back next week for more. Don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.
Welcome to Week 2 of the A to Z Challenge Blog 2024. How’s your Monday shaping up? Mine is filled with excitement and curiosity. Why? Well, for the first time in my lifetime, I will see a total solar eclipse from my own backyard. Here’s the link with the details of the event. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/canada/cornwall?iso=20240408
So what does that fantastic opportunity have to do with the letter G? Glasses! It’s all about the glasses people have to wear to protect their eyes. Looking up at the sun can cause permanent damage. People are being told to keep their pets inside, too.
When the media started talking about the eclipse, I was so-so about it. I mean, what was the big deal? We’d had partial ones, but … Then, the school board changed the date of a PD day so that the kids wouldn’t be getting out of school during the time of totality. That caught my attention, but somewhere inside my head, I’d failed to understand what that actually meant. I decided to research the event, and what I discovered amazed me.
The eclipse will last 2 hours and twenty-three minutes from start to finish, with the time of totality, when it will get dark, will go on for 2 minutes and 16 seconds. The one thing every description of past eclipses had in common was that each person felt that a total eclipse of the sun was without a doubt one of nature’s most phenomenal events, something you definitely wanted to see if you could. Considering that the next one visible here won’t happen until 2093, I won’t be around to see it. This is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Towns and cities in the band of totality area expect thousands of people to show up to see it. Some have declared states of emergency because of it. Our city is hosting an eclipse party in the park, but I will not be there. I can enjoy the event in the comfort of my own yard. Safer, easier, no parking spot required.
With that in mind, I’ve opted to get the necessary eye protection to truly experience the wonder. I turned to Amazon, researched the brands available, and settled for Soluna. The glasses are made of paper. When I saw them, I was reminded of the 3D glasses we used to punch off the back of cereal boxes. Still, as flimsy as they seem, these paper glasses meet the ISO12312-2 safety requirements. I purchased 5 pairs since our sons would be home. My daughter has purchased some for the grandkids so we are all protected.
Here is some of the information available from the site above specific to eclipse glasses.
Eclipse Glasses
The American Astronomical Society has compiled a list of vendors where you can buy safe eclipse glasses. Make sure you carefully read the instructions that come with the glasses.
Use proper eclipse glasses and solar filters to protect your eyes.
NASA also recommends welder’s glasses rated 14 or higher. These can be found at your local welding supply store. Keep in mind that welder glass grading may be different in different countries.
When to Use Eclipse Glasses
Eclipse glasses must be used whenever the disk of the Sun itself can be seen. This means:
In the brief moments of totality during a total solar eclipse, the Sun is completely covered, and the ghostly solar corona becomes visible around the Moon.
For these few moments, eclipse viewers can be safely removed. (In fact, if you don’t take off your eye protection, you won’t be able to see the solar corona.)
Practice Using Eclipse Glasses
To get the most out of an eclipse—and to avoid the risk of accidental exposure to the Sun—Professor Chou recommends that everyone practices using their solar eclipse viewers.
How to Use Eclipse Glasses
Hold the eclipse glasses with two hands
Stand with the front of your body toward the Sun, but look down
Still looking down, put the eclipse glasses onto your face
When they are securely fastened, raise your head and look up at the Sun
“Finally,” says Professor Chou, “don’t try to walk around with them on your face, because you can’t see anything.”
Here’s the timetable for the event:
So, I’ve got my glasses and information on how and when to wear them. Now, all I have to do is hope it won’t be too cloudy for us to see anything. The forecast today is for partially sunny skies. Let’s hope the clouds come after the event.
Come back tomorrow for the letter H and I’ll quickly tell you how my experience went.
Well, I successfully completed the first week of the A to Z Challenge Blog for 2024. A to F is in the can, and we move on to G to L this week. The farther into the alphabet we get, the harder it is to find word prompts to fit the letters.
This coming week, I’ve chosen my word prompts. Glasses, Humdinger, Imagination, Journaling, Kindred spirits, and Love. I’ve got something in mind for each of those words and hope you’ll drop over to see what I have to say. have a great Sunday.
Today is Saturday, but it’s not any Saturday. It’s the day my middle son comes home for a very short visit, the day I will have all three of my children home at the same time.
Today’s letter is the letter F, which stands for family. Every person goes through stages in life when family means different things. As a child, for me, family meant Mom, Dad, my sister, and my maternal grandparents, the paternal ones having died during the first year of my existence.
The first three people on that list remained part of my family until 2019 when my father died and in February of this year when I lost my mother. My sister is now the only natural family I have from that group, although there are still a few cousins around that I rarely see.
As an adult, my family expanded when I married and acquired in-laws, a second mother and father, another sister, and a brother. Eventually, there were more in-laws and nieces and nephews. Today, my family consists of a husband, two sons, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, and five grandchildren, one of whom lives overseas.
I was lucky enough to be able to stay home with my children when they were younger and I didn’t go to work until they were all in school. As a teacher, I had almost all of the same days off as they did which made it easier, but I didn’t write then. I started that long after everyone had left home, and I retired from my teaching position. I tip my hat to those brilliant people out there who can juggle family, work, and writing.
Being a parent and a grandparent has helped me include children in my stories, but more than that. It’s given me the impetus I need to be the best person I can be. It’s also given me great joy. Having my family together this week will be one of those moments. The world is a smaller place despite the geographical distances that still exist, and while Face-Time and Messenger bring people together, there’s nothing like in-person hugs I intend to get my fill. Enjoy your weekend.
Welcome to Day 5 of this year’s challenge. As a writer, I like nothing better than hearing someone tell me they started reading one of my books and couldn’t put it down. When I hear or read that, I know I’ve done what I set out to do.
I’ve enticed the reader into my story. They’ve engaged with the plot. The letter E is all about Enticing and Engaging.
In my humble and completely inconsequential opinion, the best books are the ones that grab you right from the start. Generally, from the first few pages, you’ll meet the heroine, get a sense of the reason behind the story, recognize at least the initial incident in the plot, and have an idea about the genre.
I spend a great deal of time crafting this enticing beginning, regardless of the particular genre I’m writing at that moment. As you learned from the letter B, my latest book is Listen to the Stones, a contemporary, paranormal, romance, suspense.
The book is part of a series called Timeless Love. It has a cover and I hope to finish it this month. Here’s a taste of the scene I hope will entice readers to want to finish the book.
Harrisville, Ontario
December 31
11:40 p.m. EST
Marina stared up at the darkened ceiling in her room. Another year had come to an end without improving her lot in life. She was almost thirty, alone, struggling to make ends meet, and there didn’t seem to be any likelihood that the year starting in twenty minutes would be any better. Maybe she should’ve gone to Lenore and Jay’s party, had a few drinks, and rung in the new year in style, but she wasn’t a people person as Lenore put it, and socializing with others exhausted her.
And, make no mistake, she was exhausted. Not only was her body tired and achy, but her soul was drained, depleted of the life-giving energy only he could provide, and he hadn’t come to her in weeks. Why?
Because she couldn’t sleep.
Recently, her sleep patterns had been more erratic than ever, alternating between long periods of wakefulness during the night, couple with nightmares involving water, and the briefest glimpses to the comforting green hills with the stones in the distance—but no lover. If she didn’t know better, she would swear someone, or something, was hellbent on keeping them apart.
The harder she tried to fall asleep and call him to her, the worse the insomnia was. In desperation, she’d scoured the Internet for advice on improving the quality of her sleep beyond a new mattress, new sheets, a new pillow, and counting sheep, which hadn’t helped in the least. She’d taken a hot shower, had drunk a cup of warm milk, had turned off her television and electronics half an hour before she got into bed, had listened to soothing music, had focused on meditation, and finally had resorted to reading the dryest, most boring book she could find, but nothing worked. She’d been flipping around like a fish on dry land for the last two hours. If she didn’t get to sleep soon, tomorrow would be a disaster. How could she cater lunch for fifty people without some rest?
A tear trickled from her eye, ran down the side of her face, and landed on the pillow.
“Come to me, lover,” she whispered. “Please, I need you more than I ever have.”
The nightlight combined with the open curtains cast pale, shadow-filled light in the bedroom, and while that could occasionally send her mind soaring into the land of monsters, it was 100 percent better than the alternative of deeper darkness and the sensation of being buried alive.
She needed to go to sleep. If she didn’t, there was no way he could come to her tonight. Hell, she’d take on the fiends of the deep if she had to before being in his arms once more. But while the nightmares had grown more and more frequent, parts of them lingering in her mind long after she awakened, he came less and less often, and yet she had never felt more lost, alone, and lonely in her life. What was the point of having a phantom lover if you couldn’t conjure him when you needed him?
Light sleep calmed her restless mind. She rolled over, settling onto her right side, facing the spot where her imaginary lover should be, and yanking off the covers as his heat reached her. He’d come to her. She sensed him with every fiber of her being. If only he could be with her in real-time. The depth of love she felt for this man was far beyond what she’d felt for Bob. She’d tried—God alone knew how hard she had—but the kind of love Bob had wanted, the kind she’d needed to save her marriage, simply hadn’t been in her to give, and wishing for it hadn’t made it so. Everything in her belonged to … strange to love someone so deeply and not know his name. As the dream expanded, she opened herself to him.
The bed beneath her vanished, replaced by a woven blanket atop soft grass in a leafy grotto. He’d led her here from the stones, yet this area, located in another time and place, was as familiar to her as if she’d been here countless times in the past. Common sense told her this bower existed only inside her imagination, but that didn’t matter. It felt real, just as he did. This was as genuine as she needed it to be. The fresh scent of pine and cedar and the aroma of flowers she couldn’t identify invigorated her. The place was always shrouded, with only trickles of light permeating it, but she was never afraid here, never cold, and never alone.
She ran her hand along his muscled arm, across his tight shoulders, and down his taut stomach, trapping his legs so much longer than hers, trying to keep him with her longer, knowing he could disappear at any moment.
“I’ve missed you.”
The words didn’t come from her mouth—they never did—instead, they formed in her mind, in a language she couldn’t speak but understood, a language far older than twenty-first-century English.
She reached up and caressed his face, still shrouded from her by the darkness, as her fingers caught in the hairs of his beard. While she couldn’t see it, she sensed it was red, like his hair would be. His beard was soft and neatly groomed. Although men with beards had never attracted her, this one did. She would give anything to be able to see his eyes. The eyes were the mirror of the soul. In them, she would see the truth of his feelings for her—not that she doubted the sincerity of his love, but if he cared as deeply as he claimed to, why did he stay away from her?
“As I’ve missed you, my love,” he answered telepathically in the same strange language. “I’ve tried to find you, but … I’m here now. Let’s not waste a minute of this precious time we have together. I need you, sweetness. I’ll never get enough of you.”
She smiled. “Agreed.”
Rolling onto her back, she anticipated his touch as he took her to a magical realm of sensations that only his hands and lips could generate. His smooth hands traveled along her bare skin filling her with unparalleled desire. His lips met hers, his tongue plunging inside her mouth, battling for supremacy with hers, a battle she happily ceded.
His lips left her mouth and traveled to that delicate spot under her ear, and her entire body tensed becoming an instrument that only he could play. His hands moved along her torso, setting fires of need wherever they kneaded, caressed, and kissed. Desire built inside her, an ache only he could assuage. He moved over her, spreading her legs, and plunging into her core. Her body exploded in a thousand points of light, filling her with the energy she’d been lacking. Body shuddering in the aftermath of her climax, she reached up to put her arms around him, but he was gone.
In her mind, she heard him.
“I’m searching for you, my love, and I will find you. No one and nothing can keep us apart this time. We are destined to be together. Never doubt my love.”
A darkness settled inside the bower, so complete that it seemed to consume the light and the air. A voice she recognized filled the emptiness.
That was the voice of the psychic Lenore had taken her to see last week, the woman repeating the words she’d said then.
Suddenly awake, Marina glanced around the empty room before settling on the spot beside her in the bed. Her body was replete, sated, and filled with the serenity only he could bring her. She could still smell the pine and the flowers. Her gaze fastened on the alarm clock. Midnight. The witching hour. It had only been a dream. If only he could be real and not a fantasy. The psychic’s words resonated inside her once more, “Marina Fraser, soon, it will be time to choose. Choose wisely.”
Choose what?
Turning onto her left side, Marina fell into a light sleep.
So, what do you think? Would you want to read more of this story? If not, why not?
Welcome back! How have the first four days of this year’s challenge treated you? So far, I’m staying above water and holding my own. Today’s blog is for the letter D
The letter D today stands for Decision. Every day, we make countless decisions, many of them without thought. We add sweetener and cream to our coffee without thinking about it, most of the time without even measuring. We decide what to do in the morning based on our immediate needs. We decide whether to shower or bathe depending on the time we have. We decide what to wear based on the climate and temperature. You get the idea.
As an author, I face countless decisions related to my writing every day. Let’s look at yesterday morning as an example. I got up at 7:08 a.m. DST. After attending to vital matters, I settled at my desk and opened my computer. I checked my e-mail, deleted the advertising posts, and opened and read the others, many of which were from people participating in the challenge, so thanks for the follow. I answered a few e-mails and then checked my Kindle site to see how things were going. Off to a slow start this month, but it’s been that way for some time now.
Then, I examined my calendar to see what I had on it for the day. Other than laundry, nothing much. We were expecting rain followed by snow, unfortunately continuing into Friday.
After grabbing my first coffee, I settled at the computer again to work on my manuscript, but before I did that, I needed to do my blog for the letter C. Blog done, a few more of them read, and I was ready to get to work.
I don’t work with an outline, but I have an ending in mind when I start a story–I’m just not sure how I’m getting there. My writing is linear. Although I use flashbacks in the stories, I don’t write scenes out of sequence. I tried that once, and it didn’t work.
So what did I decide to do yesterday? I’m at the point in the story where all of the principal characters have been introduced. I’ve planted all the clues, and it’s time to get to the nitty-gritty. The book is a contemporary, paranormal, romance, suspense novel. The contemporary and paranormal are well established, the romance elements are in place, so it’s time to put my heroine, and maybe the hero into danger. What might scream in the night and terrify? The island has no wolves, foxes, big cats, or bears. It does have eagles and the occasional owl. It seemed I had more research to do before I got to write.
By mid-afternoon, the decision was made. Something supernatural would do the trick. Decisions, decisions, decisions. You’ll have to wait for the book to be finished before you’ll know what I decided.
See you tomorrow for the letter E and a peek at the beginning of Listen to the Stones.
This is the second post today. Check the previous post at the bottom of the page for today’s A to Z Challenge post.
Thanks to the A to Z Challenge Blog, this is a busy month, but I will answer this month’s question.
April 3 question – How long have you been blogging? (Or on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram?) What do you like about it and how has it changed?
I have been blogging since 2013 when I published my first book and learned the importance of having an online presence. What I like about it, especially the month I blog as part of the A to Z Challenge and when I do these posts is hearing and reading posts from others. It helps me grow my followers and maybe adds a reader or two to my audience.
How has it changed? Blogging may have changed, but for me, it hasn’t. I do the same things that I’ve always done. It’s a lot like journaling. I use it as a place to sell my books, a platform to vent about issues that affect me deeply, and as a means to connect with others.
I have upgraded my site and now pay for it since I lost everything there a few years ago by inadvertently logging out and not remembering my password. I learned that, by not having purchased anything, the platform couldn’t find my old site either. Now, I’ve ensured that can’t happen again.
How many times I blog every month depends on several factors. I post a piece every Tuesday as part of a small group that shares scenes from our works in progress, each post of 400 words based on a word prompt. I blog monthly with the IWSG, usually answering the questions they provide, special events like the holidays, new book releases, vacations, and events in my life, good and sad that touch me deeply. Once a year, I post a blog a day during April, based on the letters of the alphabet and a topic I chose in March. This year, I’ll be blogging about the day-to-day struggles and joys of being an author.
Welcome to Day 3 of the A to Z Challenge for this year. One of my biggest challenges as an author is promoting myself. I’ve never been one to blow my own horn. I’ve always preferred to stay in the background until I have a few drinks and can come out of my shell … at least for a short while. Most people don’t realize it, but the majority of teachers are introverts. We’re not comfortable in crowds and large groups, but when we’re at the front of a classroom, we don’t have to be ourselves. We can be anyone we want to be, including a confident person imparting knowledge and wisdom to others. I get that same feeling when I write.
Today’s post is for the letter C, and it stands for Challenge, Confidence, and Cocktails for You.
Most of the books I write are written in the third person with two viewpoints, occasionally three. My entire Cocktails for You series is my attempt to step out of that box and challenge myself to write in the first person, single point of view. This is a lot harder than most people realize since no one in the story, including the reader, can be aware of anything that the main character doesn’t know.
The first, second, and third books in the series, Tequila Sunrise, Champagne Cocktail, and Buck’s Fizz were short ones, but as I got comfortable with the genre, Romantic Comedy, and the first person POV, the stories got longer. The Tipsy Pig, Make Mine a Manhattan, Emerald Glow, Sea Breeze, It’s a Match, and the latest, Noelle’s Gambit are all full-length novels. The titles are taken from the names of popular cocktails, and in each book, I’ve included a reference to the drink and how it’s made.
Writing Romantic Comedy, which some label chick-lit, was a stretch for me for two reasons. The first, I don’t think of myself as particularly funny, and the second because that genre seems to require more sex scenes than romance suspense, historical, or paranormal books I usually write, although my Timeless Love series has several sex scenes.
In most of my books, I focus more on the action in the plot than on the sex or the romantic relationship. I’m not a prude, but I think people spend way too much time worrying about the sex lives of others when there are far more serious issues facing us these days. As well, in my daughter’s words, “Mom, it’s just weird reading sex scenes that your mother has written.” I can actually see that.
When I decided to try the first-person genre and Rom-Com, I did so at the urging of a friend and colleague who claims I can be hilarious. Tequila Sunrise did well, and I followed it up with the other books, confident that they would sell well. Sadly, they haven’t. Why? Because I suck at marketing. I’ve changed the covers, I’ve created Amazon ads, but I just don’t seem to be able to find the reading audience I need. So, now I’m trying a promotion with a reduced price. Will it work? I certainly hope so. At any rate, from now until April 9, the box set for Cocktails for You, the first five books in the series, is only 99 cents USD. Maybe I’ll pick up a few readers, and maybe I won’t, but what do I have to lose?
Here’s the blurb. If you decide to take advantage of the promotion, let me know. I would love your feedback.
A delicious smorgasbord of romantic comedies designed to make you laugh and brighten your day.Meet Kelly, Ronnie, Jewel, Sydney, and Robin, five women at a crossroads in life, each one searching to redefine themselves as only they can. Follow them as they blunder their way to falling in love and finding their own happily ever after.
Tequila SunriseShe left him in stitches before pulling a Cinderella and disappearing. Ten years later, she wants a second chance.
Champagne CocktailShe wrote a nasty letter to Santa, not expecting he would send a life-sized elf to her door with an offer she can’t refuse.
Buck’s FizzShe’s determined to control her own destiny and not be a bargaining chip in her father’s business empire.
The Tipsy PigA socialite, a lone wolf, a snowstorm, and a pig with a taste for dandelion wine—the perfect recipe for disaster or romance?
Make Mine a ManhattanWhat’s an author to do when she’s hopelessly stuck in her latest novel and the deadline is eight weeks away?
Living the Dream 