This is just a reminder that Jackson releases tonight after midnight!
I hope you like it!

Open Contests

1. Happy 4th of July! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Word Search Puzzle: Jackson (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
3. The Final Countdown — and a Big Fish (Contest) — Win a FREE book!
4. Saturday Puzzle-Contest! — Win an Amazon gift card!

It’s Sunday, which is my planning day. Before I begin rejiggering my calendar, I like to pull a single tarot card from my favorite deck while asking what I should expect from this coming week. Last week’s Temperence card was exactly right. I held steady, worked hard, and I finished the darn book. This week, I have the Ace of Pentacles.

First, I examine the card and let my intuition tell me its meaning. Here’s Poseidon, ruler of the seas. Remember, he and his two brothers divided the realms. Zeus took the heavens, Hades the underworld, and Poseidon the seas. What else is important about the picture? See the grapes? They always seem to represent food and wine—a bit of celebration. Which fits for me, since I’ll have a book coming out on Tuesday! Plus, he’s holding a big golden pentacle. I’ll take that to mean I’ll get a nice payday. Not huge because, hey, it’s a single pentacle, but the card is telling me that my work will be rewarded. I should enjoy the fruits of my labor!

Let me check the book (because when I get into the numbered cards, I’m not up on all their meanings!). Ha! It tells me that there’s the “possibility of material achievement”—woot. So, I used many more words to describe what it meant, but I was right.

Nice to know, but what does that auger for this week? I can’t just eat grapes and drink wine. Guess I’ll head to my calendar and figure out how much work I have to complete to get to where I need to be by month’s end.

Do you ever reflect on your upcoming week? What helps you keep everything “on track?” Do you keep lists? A calendar? Do you look for guidance from something “otherworldly” (pray, tarot, meditate)?

UPDATE: The winner is…Eileen McCall!
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I’m so not motivated this morning! I finished a BOOK yesterday, y’all (Jackson—you’ve pre-ordered it, right?). I got up late today, drank coffee from the biggest cup I could find, watered my plants (my babies—everyone gives me their dying houseplants to revive!), fed Loki (my betta fish—I fed the cats last night!), and now? The morning’s half over. I should just call it a day, right?

Except, I need to find the surface of my desk. It’s so cluttered with mail, a dusting cloth and beeswax spray, pens of all colors, washi tape rolls (WHY?!), gum, and cough drops. My inbox is 8 inches high. I have three empty coffee cups, waiting for my lazy butt to carry them upstairs.

So, what will I do next? I think I need breakfast. Maybe after that, I’ll swim. Then maybe I’ll shower (yeah, I should do that!), then maybe I’ll check my planner and see what I SHOULD be working on today… We’ll see. I kind of like the idea of heading back to bed to play Charm King on my phone.

The puzzle’s picture today is NOT a selfie, but I can so relate. You’ll see! HaHa!

Solve the puzzle, then tell me the lazy things you want to do this weekend! Join me! There’s a $5 Amazon gift card for the winner!

UPDATE: The winner is…Siobhan Dilks!
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Thank you, thank you, Powers That Be. I’m almost there. Well, I got to The End last night. Today, I sweep through my book, and hopefully, catch any last typos my beta readers (Thank you Fedora, Laura, and Reina!) didn’t find or I added when I revised.

I love the last line, and I hope it works. I think I’ll share it here. It probably won’t make any sense, but that’s because YOU HAVE TO READ THE BOOK for it to mean anything.

They fell asleep like that. Connected. Dreaming of big fish and the life they’d share.

Big fish? Yeah. Made me smile anyway. I always wonder if anyone else will laugh, chuckle, or at least grin when they read something in my stories.

I don’t try to write a funny scene, but then characters start “talking” in my head, and my fingers fly to try to keep up because they’re going so fast. Sometimes, I don’t even know what I’m writing until it flows off my fingers. I know. It’s the writer’s schizophrenia. It’s an actual thing. Swear.

Anyways, I hope you’ve pre-ordered your copy of Jackson. If you haven’t, you could always pick up a story inside either of my two series, Montana Bounty Hunters and Montana Bounty Hunters: We Are Dead Horse, MT, and start there.

I don’t know how many more bounty hunters my Dead Horse office of the Montana Bounty Hunters can hire, but I’ll try to come up with something plausible so they can all stay happily ever after there. I’d hate to leave Nadine behind. Although, I do think there needs to be a southern bounty hunters story somewhere…

For a chance to win a FREE download of one of my bounty hunter stories, imagine what a Big Fish might have to do with a romance story. Share your wildest idea. Doesn’t have to be good to win!

UPDATE: The winner is…BN!
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I haven’t been this close to a deadline in forever, but here I am, typing my little fingers to the bone this week to make sure Jackson is ready to load tomorrow afternoon! Wish me luck! I’ll be sprinting to the finish!

It’s a good thing I’m having fun with the story or this would be torture. My hero and heroine, Jackson and Rachel, have been a joy to “get inside.” And whoo-ee, the story’s hot!

I thought it might be fun for you to get ready for the release next Tuesday, too. So, as part of my countdown, here’s a puzzle with some words related to the story. I’m a word nerd and love crosswords and word searches. If you’re anything like me, these little challenges are a great way to keep your mind sharp. Calisthenics for the brain! (I’m using a lot of exclamation points so I can “use them all up” before I head back into the story. 🙂 )

Word Search Puzzle: Jackson

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon GC, let me know whether you’ve read some of my bounty hunter stories, and where you might like to see hunters hunt in the future! Do you have any ideas for adventures? Have fun!

I love writing my bounty hunters. They have the best adventures with criminals who could all compete for top honors in the Darwin Awards. I love finding out who my heroes are while they are in the midst of a new hunt. Jackson is no different. If you’ve enjoyed the stories so far, you’ll love this one, too. If you’d like a peek inside Jackson’s adventure, read on!

The games begin when a lone bounty hunter, who likes working alone, clashes with a cable TV showrunner who’s determined to make him a part of her show…

Long Excerpt from Jackson…

Jackson Black crept closer to the encampment, going to his belly as he neared the clearing where the group was partying. Light from a fire penetrated the foliage, giving him enough illumination that he could clearly see the occupants of the campsite.

Pulling his miniature binoculars from a pocket on his vest, he peered around the group ringing the open fire. They were all drinking beer and passing a blunt, person-to-person, around the loop. They were laughing, mostly looking droopy-eyed and chill. They made enough noise that it masked the sounds of him crawling toward their clearing.

Sweeping the group with his lenses, he paused when he found her. Christine Pollack. Mud-colored, curly hair cut chin-length. Pale eyes. Slim. Not bad-looking, just generally unkempt. She wore a tank top, cutoff jeans, and short hiking boots with slouchy socks. A tattoo of a spider’s web trailed from her right shoulder up the side of her neck. Another of a dragon snaked up her left thigh.

His target was seated on the ground between the spread knees of a male who sat on a camp stool. The male was scrawny but hard-faced. A long scar stretched from one eyebrow down his cheek and disappeared into his beard. He was the boyfriend Chrissy’s mother had described. The one who’d led her “down a fool’s path, straight to the devil.”

Jackson didn’t believe in devils or righteous paths—or following the rules. Certainly, neither Chrissy nor Nate Stritch liked following rules. However, they’d bent them until they’d broken, robbing a gas station outside Butte before joining this group of losers squatting inside the Bitterroot National Forest on the Montana side of the park.

What looked like a tiny deer was roasting on a spit over the fire. The scent of roasting meat and marijuana burning was what had given Jackson his first break of the day. After slipping a hundred to a friend of Chrissy’s who’d known they were heading toward the forest and getting the approximate area they’d be camped, he’d been looking for a needle in a haystack until he’d smelled the roasted meat and sagey weed.

Jackson had plenty of paper on Chrissy. How she’d been granted bail when she’d already had a date for another charge was beyond him. Nate, he’d leave for another day when the bondsman who’d handled his bail got really worried. Chrissy had a prior charge for taking a joyride in a stolen front loader. The two-time loser was worth more to him. Although getting them both would’ve been nice, he knew taking Chrissy, when he was working alone, was the smart thing to do.

He placed his binoculars back into his vest and then pulled out his camera to film the rest of the group. He was sure he’d see them again, and it was good to remember faces and the places folks like this thought were safe to hide out. Now, he just had to wait until she headed into the shadows to take a piss. He’d take her then.

Rustling sounded to his side, and he lowered his head, peering under the brush to see whether it was more of Chrissy’s friends or an animal approaching.

Instead, he caught the silhouette of a man and the glint of something shiny on his belt.

Fuck, had the law found them, too? Or was someone here to scoop his bounty out from under him?

He remained still, waiting to see what would unfold while keeping his eye on Chrissy because she was his target, and no one was getting to her first. He got to his knees, ready to spring into the clearing.

“Stand down,” came a whisper to his left. Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE: The winner is…Stephanie!
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For all of those in the USA, Happy 4th!

Our family will be playing it low key. #1 — It’s hot as hell, so we’re not driving anywhere to sit and be consumed by mosquitoes while we roast. #2 — We probably won’t do more than sparklers and little poppers because our many animals would freak out, plus the 9-year-old doesn’t like the sound of explosions. #3 — We have a pool, so hopefully, we’ll decide a nighttime swim would be more enjoyable. We are planning finger foods and sandwiches. No grilling. Again — it’s too damn hot. But I hope the rest of you have fun! I’d love to hear what your plans are! I can draw vicarious joy from your celebrations!

So, share what you’ll be doing this 4th for a chance to win a $5 Amazon GC!