Living the Dream

Welcome to the first blog post for the IWSG for 2022. I’m sure many of you, like me, hoped that things would be back to some semblance of normal by now, but Mother Nature and her friends the COVID 19 virus variants still have us by the short hairs. Christmas and New Year’s Eve were once more disrupted, and for many the emotional strain of worrying is taking its toll. For my New Year’s resolution, I made a decision to focus on one positive thing each day. Today’s positive? The Christmas decorations have been taken down and the cleaning ladies are here to restore order to the house.

Each month I try to respond to the topic question presented. This month the January 5 question is- What’s the one thing about your writing career you regret the most? Were you able to overcome it?

As Frank Sinatra sang, “regrets I’ve had a few,” but who hasn’t? The biggest one has to be getting involved with small traditional publishing houses, two of which ended up being run by crooks, while another couldn’t handle the time and costs and had to fold. She did things properly, and I didn’t lose any money. Unfortunately, the main publisher I was with, the one where things were really going well, screwed us all by selling out to one of the big boys. You would think that would be a good thing, but the big company only wanted one thing, and that was to destory the smaller one along with the writers in its stable. I went from healthy quarterly cheques to infintesimal amounts, the books ridiculously priced and absolutely nothing done to promote them. I tried promoting them myself at my expense, but since they took the lion’s share of the royalties, it wasn’t worth it. Some of the writers were able to bounce back and find other publishers, many just stopped writing, and that was a great loss.

When I was given the option of getting my rights back, and believe me, that was easier said than done with the unscrupulous publishers, I did, but the old “once bitten, twice shy” adage was never far from my mind. One by one, I revised and edited each of my previously published books and then self-published them. All I can say is thank goodness I didn’t have to rely on my writing to support me, since the climb back up into the marketplace was a long, slow one. Gradually, I wrote new material and self-published it, but it’s taken me five years to get my groove back. My sales and pages read improved greatly in 2021, the numbers surpassing my best ones in the early years, and I’m hoping that trend continues.

So, what did I learn? Not to trust traditional publishing. It’s as simple and as complex as that. I refuse to submit any of my books to any house ever again. Will I regret this? Maybe in the long run, but for now, no one is cheating me out of anything, and I’m comfortable with that.

How about you?

Check out other answers here: https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html

Welcome to 2022. Here’s hoping it’s a good year, better than the last. For the first Tuesday Tales’ post of the year, our word prompt is HARD. I’m continuing with Royal Flush, but to better serve the plot, I’ve switched from first to third person since Kyle deserves a voice of his own and tweaked the story a bit.

“Kyle Stapleton, well, I’ll be,” Randy said. “His mother, Leilani, is still quite the celebrity around here. She was a famous model, apparently from a well-to-do Hawaiian family. She retired from modeling when she married. Gossip said the family wasn’t pleased with her choice, disowned her, or something. Derek was fresh out of the marines—they met in Honolulu. They came back to take over the family farm after his old man died. They’ve lived outside of town for more than forty years. The farm’s made quite a name for itself, too. They had three kids, two boys and a girl. Leila married a doctor and moved out of state. Ben, the youngest son, manages the farm now that Derek passed a few months ago. He and his wife Ingrid don’t have any kids yet. I was surprised when neither Kyle nor his sister came back for the funeral—not that there was much of one considering the pandemic. Leilani took some of Derek’s ashes back to Hawaii, so they may have met up with her there. Kyle’s a big shot lawyer—not sure what kind—but it has something to do with the government. Could be he’s with the IRS. Their fraud division probably has a bunch of lawyers on retainer. Last I heard, he was engaged to marry some debutante.”

Damn! She should’ve known. Lots of men chose not to wear a wedding ring. Thank goodness for the old small town rumor mill. What they didn’t know, they invented. Everyone meant well, and there was no malice intended, but keeping things private was hard to do in Forest Falls. How much of Randy’s story was true? Not that it was really any of her business. She had her secrets, and he was entitled to his, but knowing he was unavailable would prevent her from making a fool of herself.

Pearl shrugged. “Maybe they couldn’t get here. You know, the virus has made traveling difficult, and depending on where they were, flights were hard to get. I’m sure, given how bad the pandemic was then, a doctor would’ve been unable to get away. Kyle said he was back a few weeks to visit family. Other than the fact that he likes the coffee and lemon meringue pie, that’s all I know.”

Randy laughed, something he did rarely these days. “You may be a sight for sore eyes, but you make a lousy detective.” He lifted the cup to his mouth. “By now, Rachel would have all the latest information, including the color of his shorts. My wife missed her calling.”

That’s it. Stay safe and don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales

Well, we’ve survived another year. 2021 wasn’t the kindest year since many people I know lost loved ones, or have some who are still critically ill. Horrible, catastrophic weather disasters impacted much of the planet, and we’ve been warned there’s more to come. And of course, Coronavirus is still with us.

My husband and I did get to celebrate a milestone anniversry and enjoy a fantastic trip out to the Canadian Rockies. We had plans to go to Europe to see our son and granddaughter, but those plans, like the ones to go to Nova Scotia and Gaspesie, are on hold for the foreseable future.

How things will go this year is anyone’s guess. I’ve seen the posts reminding me that Soylent Green, the sci-fi movie, was set in 2022, and that this year is pronounced 2020 too, but I lived through all the doomsday predictions including 1984, 2000, and 2012. I’m not too worried . . . am I? Do you remember how hopeful and optimistic we all were last year once a vaccine had been approved? Well, three shots later, and we’re still waitng for the light at the end of the tunnel, hoping it isn’t another oncoming train.

But I refuse to allow negativity in anything but a COVID 19 PCR or antigen test to affect me this year. I’ve determined to put on a happy face and keep it there!

Do you make New year’s resolutions? In the past, I did, but nine out of ten times, I didn’t last a month. Why? Because I set impossible goals for myself. This year, I’ve decided not to stress myself that way–life is stressful enough as it is.

So what will my resolutions for 2022 look like? Well, here’s the first. I will endeavour to have breakfast on 50 percent of the mornings. I’ve never been a breakfast eater, unless I’m on vacation, and usually that’s taken mid-morning. So, this year, I will try to have breakfast 4 out of 7 days a week, but I won’t beat myself up about it if I don’t make it. Today, it’s actually brunch–bacon and scrambled eggs. Tomorrow, I’ll aim for a smoothie. I’ll keep track of my accomplishments and failures on my desktop calendar.

A second resolution will be to blog at least 3 times a week. I tried to do a newsletter but got locked out of the program when my cellphone number changed. So, instead of a newsletter, I’ll blog. On Tuesdays, I’ll continue my Tuesday Tales posts, and then I’ll find something else to blog about the other two times–maybe books by other authors or new releases of my own–perhaps a book on sale–we’ll see.

My third resolution is to spend a bit more time on promotion, something I truly suck at, but that unfortunately is essential for writers these days.

Finally, I intend to try to write at least 2000 words every day. That may not seem like much but with all of the demands the real world tosses at us, some days 2 K will feel like 20 K

So there you have it. My list of New Year’s resolutions. Do you have any?

What do a honky tonk bar, a hunky cowboy, a damsel in distress, and a New Year’s Eve brawl have in common? Why Jess Wells, of course.

You can run, but you can’t hide!

In order to escape an arranged marriage to a rude, insufferable man, Jewel Wellington leaves home and The Met to hide with a honky tonk band on a Southern promotional tour. As Jess Wells, she and the other Silvertones step into The Squawking Tomcat, a bar on the outskirts of Alice, Texas, expecting to have a three-week gig. The problem is, the bar’s owner, Lance Corcoran, isn’t expecting an all-girl band.

Frustrated at this sudden reverse of fortune, Jess makes a deal with the bar’s owner—pick any song by any artist, and let her prove she and the Silvertones can do it. What she doesn’t expect is to realize that the bar’s crusty cowboy owner is none other the surfer she spent one steamy night on the beach with eight years ago, one she left without saying goodbye. Will Lance recognize her? And if he does, will it cost them the gig?

Buck’s Fizz, one of the Cocktails for You books is FREE until January 3rd, 2022. Get your copy today from any Amazon dealer, including UK. Australia, USA, and Canada!

Welcome to the last post for Tuesday Tales in 2021. This has been a hard year for many of us. Here’s hoping 2022 will be better. Our word prompt this week is GREEN. I’m continuing with Royal Flush. Enjoy, and I’ll see you here next year.

When my father had shown up at the board meeting with Isamu Tadashi, heir apparent to Bonsai Aeronautics, I’m sure I turned green, ready to lose my breakfast. I knew exactly what was going through dear daddy’s cold, calculating mind. Despite a little thing called creating a monopoly, he was hoping for more than one merger this year, and I was having none of it. Isamu, raised in a traditional Japanese family, one with ties to the Emperor, would expect his wife to be meek, mild, and obedient. I was none of those things and didn’t intend to start now. If Dad wanted to find someone who would take one for the team, he needed to look elsewhere.

While Dad had been arranging dinner with Isamu and the rest of our family, I’d been on the phone to my cousin, Jewel. Her father had tried to pull the same stunt a few years ago, and like me, she’d refused to have anything to do with it. Did I mention my extended family had a habit of naming their girls after gemstones? My female cousins, according to age, were Opal, Jade, Ruby, Amber, and Jewel. I rounded out the family’s weird habit with Pearl and, as the last of this generation not married, I honestly hoped the trend would stop with us. Jewel had escaped her fate and had fallen in love with and married a hunky cowboy she’d met years earlier at one of the annual family get-togethers on Catalina Island. I wasn’t looking to marry anyone, least of all Isamu.

I’d played nice-nice until Isamu had returned to Japan, and then I’d made my escape. At the moment, my dad believed I was in Norway, visiting an old friend and waiting out the virus and travel restrictions. That excuse had lasted three months and wasn’t going to be good much longer, but I really wasn’t ready to go back to Beverley Hills and the merger he proposed—not that Isamu had been anything but a perfect gentlemen. He just didn’t interest me. Besides, I liked it here in this small Vermont town where everyone treated me as if I were just an ordinary hard-working stiff.

“His name’s Kyle Stapleton, and he grew up here.” It didn’t occur to me not to answer Randy’s question. “You’ll probably remember him because of his mother.” I shrugged.

That’s it. Stay safe and don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales

Those of you who follow Tuesady Tales have had a few glimpses at Foreverin my Heart, the book which begins with great lost and ends with new love. Well, the book is finished and available on Amazon or free to read in Kindle Unlimited.

All Callista Hayworth has ever wanted was to be loved. Callie’s heart was crushed six years ago when she walked in on her twin sister in the arms of her fiancé. She fled Timberton and cut all ties with the last member of her family. She’s rebuilt her life, but some things can never be fixed. When she learns of the tragic accident that has orphaned her infant nieces, she sets aside her anger and returns to the scene of her greatest heartache. What she doesn’t expect is her reaction to the twins’ uncle and his proposition.
Michael Branscomb swore off women years ago, after the woman he loved left him for his best friend. A deathbed promise to his twin brother has to be honored. The last thing the confirmed bachelor wants or needs is a wife and children, but you don’t always get what you want. He’ll do almost anything for his twin, but can he marry a stranger?
When he meets Callie, commonsense goes out the window, and he proposes a marriage of convenience, offering each of them an end to loneliness and a promise at the future they want.
Will the spirit of Christmas convince Callie to give him a chance, especially when there’s a Grinch in the works determined to see the past repeat itself?

Get your copy of Fortever in my Heart today! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09P5NDZVY

In a word, Yes. In 2021, December 21 will be the shortest day–or longest night–of the year if and only if you live in the Northern Hemisphere. At precisely 9:59 a.m. CST on December 21, the Winter Solsice will occur, ushering in Winter for the Northern Hemispher and Summer for the Southern Hemisphere. And, get this. It doesn’t matter where you live, the solstice happens for everyone at the same time.

So what exactly happens? According to NASA, Although the tilt of the Earth as compared to the plane of its orbit around the sun is more or less constant (23.5 degrees), at the December solstice, the Northern Hemisphere receives the most indirect sunlight, causing cooler temperatures. The Southern Hemisphere receives the most direct sunlight, causing warmer temperatures, so it is summer there.  At the June solstice, this effect reverses and the Northern Hemisphere receives the most direct sunlight, causing warmer temperatures, and the Southern Hemisphere receives the most indirect sunlight, causing cooler temperatures.

In essense, every place north of the equator will see a shorter than 12 hour day, and everyplace south of the equater will have a longer than 12 hour day. According to the local weather channel, the sun rose here this morning at 7:39 EST, and will set at 4:22 p.m. EST. At noon, if you’re fortunate enough to have a sunny day, you’ll see the sun sitting lower on the horizon than usual, and your shadow will be the longest it’s been all year. Of course, if it’s cloudy where you are, as it is here, you won’t see anything. An interesting thing to note, that while this may be the shortest day, it isn’t the one with the earliest sunset. That happened between December 5th and 13th, when the sun set at 4:19 p.m. So why is today shorter? Because the sun rose later– a full 13 minutes!

Some of you living in the Northern Hemisphere may not realize that official Winter has two different stating dates. Meteorological Winter started on Dec. 1 and runs until the end of Ferburary, followed by Spring, March 1 to May 31, Summer, June 1 to August 31, and Fall ,September 1st to November 30th.

Over the years, we’ve been taught to date the seasons by the astronomical calendar, and the dates were always fixed: Winter, December 21st, Spring, March 21st, Summer, June 21st, and Fall, September 21st. The biggest problem with that was that because our calendar year doesn’t line up with the astrological year, we’re always just a little off. The solstice and equinox, as in Spring and Fall, have a date range, the earliest being the 19th of the month, the latest the 23rd. In terms of the Winter Solstice, you’ll have to be around in 2303 to see that one fall on the 23rd. The odds are not in your favor!

How you choose to spend your shortest or longest day depending on whether you are in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere is up to you. I still have a few things to do for Christmas so that will keep me busy. To those of you in the north, enjoy your day this year, remembering that the ancients celerbrated this day as the rebirth of the sun since from now on, the days are going to get longer! Have a great Winter Solstice Day! For those in the south, face it, from now on your days are going to get shorter! That’s just the way it is!

I would like to wish all those who follow the Tuesday Tales posts Season’s Greetings. Things may not be back to normal, but if we persevere maybe we can make the best of it. Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales. Our prompt word is RED. I’m continuing with Royal Flush, my contemporary romance.

“Pearl, Randy needs a refill on his coffee. Can you take care of it while I go you-know?” Blair asked as she hurried past me on her way to the washroom. At six-months pregnant, it seemed she spent more time in there than on the floor.

“Yeah, sure,” I called to her retreating back. I turned back to my customer. “I’ll be right back. He gets cranky if he has to wait too long.”

Kyle glanced over at the table.

“I suppose the sheriff only has so long,” he agreed, noting the man’s uniform.

“Randy’s a deputy, but yeah. He doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

“Jealous boyfriend?” He cocked an eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes and laughed. Even if I’d been looking for male companionship, good old Randy wasn’t my type. “Hardly. He’s got a wife and four kids, but he does take his job seriously. Don’t be surprised if he stops and gives you the third degree—that is unless he knows you.”

“He may. It’s been a while, but I doubt I’ve changed all that much. You’d better get over there.”

My cheeks burned. No doubt I was beet red. The problem with having a fair complexion was that I blushed easily. Dying my hair brown and wearing brown contact lenses might’ve changed my appearance some, but it hadn’t stopped the blushing. If anything, the deep chocolate made me seem paler, requiring a heavier application of makeup just to avoid all the comments about the state of my health.

“Morning, Randy,” I said, refilling his cup. “Can I get you anything else?”

“Nope, this is fine for now. Who’s the guy chatting you up at the counter? That leather jacket isn’t one I’ve seen around town.”

I smiled. When I’d shown up in town a couple of months ago, he’d grilled me. Thank goodness I’d made sure to cross every T and dot every I in the ID and background I’d brought with me. If anyone discovered who I really was, they would be on the phone to my father in no time. He would drag me back to California fast enough to give me whiplash. I might be an adult in the eyes of the law, but as sole heir to Ripcord Avionics, the largest producer of avionics in the country, I was expected to tow the line and do as I was told.

That’s it. Stay safe and don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales

Have you ever heard someone described as quirky? What does it mean? Essentially, someone who’s quirky is unconventional with an unusual mix of qualities that are hard to define, but essntially end up being interesting or charming. The word can be used to describe anything that doesn’t quite fit with the norm and stands out on its own. The wirters of this new Author’s Billboard box set have put that idea to work in their latest boxset, an early winter/holiday present to you.

QUIRKY CAREERS? You bet! Follow the Fun with NEW Romantic Comedies!
There’s humor in everything, even that economic obligation called a career!

What’s the weirdest job you’ve ever heard of? An ostrich groomer? A Lego inspector? A toothpick tester? How about a barroom Santa, exotic dancer, or a woman who repairs chain saws and lawn mowers?

Some of your favorite Romantic Comedy authors are returning with NEW stories to take the edge off the hassles of the day and life in general. The Word Wranglers of the Wacky, Wonderful Women, Ditzy Dudes, and Unique and Unpredictable CUTE BUT CRAZY box set collections have taken on another topic: Quirky Careers.

Loads of laughs as our authors follow behind hapless men and women as they tangle with weather, obstacles, and each other while trying to maintain a good work ethic and not fall in love.

Susan Jean Ricci – Just Horsing Around: NEW! Horse ranchers turned sleuths, Joshua and Bella endeavor to purge an unsavory character who’s destroying their precious neighboring wetlands – and confront falling love in the process.

Dani Haviland – The Purebred and the Mutt: NEW! Cultures clash when a British celebrity and a proud but poor American wind up under the same roof in Forever, Montana.

Mona Risk – Delightfully Serious Plans: NEW! A jack of all trades fights discrimination to win the heart of the lady lawyer who dreams of cruising the world with him.

Susanne Matthews – Emerald Glow: NEW! She’s given up on finding the right man. After a painful divorce, he’s sworn off women. A new job is what they both need to get their lives in order. But you don’t always get what you want, especially when a typo can spell disaster.

Aileen Fish – That Dream Girl:NEW! She’s supposed to be an authority on dreams, but he’s breaking all the rules.

Rachelle Ayala – Santa on Strike: NEW! Bette’s bar is on the ropes when her biggest attraction, the barroom Santa, goes on strike a few days before Christmas.

Denise Devine – Merry Christmas, Darling: A desperate bachelor enlists his neighbor to pose as his wife to appease his dying mother and unexpectedly finds love under the mistletoe.

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