So, I know you don’t come here to hear from a “Debbie Downer”. However, these days, it’s getting tough for me to hold onto my normally sunny disposition.

Maybe I’m just tired. I mean really, really tired. My dd and I are taking shifts to cover grandma’s personal care, here at home, 24/7. Yes, we’re getting hospice to come in and provide things like a hospital bed and bed table, an aide to give her baths, a nurse to visit to ease the impossible burden of bringing her to the doctor for checkups… But everything else is on us.

So, I steal moments to post a blog, check my mail, edit a story, etc., all the while glancing constantly over my shoulder to make sure grandma isn’t trying to climb out of bed to “go to the dance.”  Yes, she’s out of her mind more than she’s in it. It’s sad for us, but she’s having very interesting conversations with friends and family who have been long gone.

In the meantime, my productivity has been hammered. I had to postpone the release of Dagger, the sequel to Reaper, which caused its own horrible consequence. I’ve lost my ability to set up pre-orders on Amazon—something that all authors need in order to get books into readers’ hands. Readers don’t normally hover over their computers, waiting for a book to drop. They read a story, see what’s coming out next, place that pre-order, then move on to the next author, knowing they won’t miss a thing, and don’t have to think or remember that they will need to make a future purchase. So, yes, losing pre-order privileges—for a year—is killer. But what can I do?

For those of you waiting for the next Montana Bounty Hunters story, my goal is to have a shorter story, Reaper’s Ride, ready to release as part of a mini-launch in my sister Elle James’s Brotherhood Protectors Kindle World at the end of this month. Of course, I am having to fit in the pages for that story as I can, while I plug along on Dagger for a March release.

If you’ve been reading the Texas Cowboys stories, another is coming soon—Night Watch! I’m also working on getting the first three books of the series into print. That could happen as soon as next week!

Contest

In the meantime, I’ll offer one commenter a chance to win a free copy of their choice from among the Texas Cowboys stories #1 through #5.

Click on the covers to learn more about the stories!