My dd and SIL spent the past two days painting a basement room and moving furniture to create a quiet space I can work in. My dd organized everything because she knows if she left things in boxes I’d dither and doodle and never get anything put away. Here are a couple of pics (terrible ones because I’m a horrible photographer!).

They left me room for more pictures on the wall. That wall will likely be filled soon, floor to ceiling. The desk is a made for two people, so the 7-year-old put her art books and Crayola pens in her drawer for when she comes to “work” with me.

My bookcase is cram-jammed. The center one is all my books. DD says I have to do something about trimming them down. And I will, because I need more toys on the shelves. 🙂 The tubs on the left still have to be emptied, but that’s for another day.

So, what do you think? Will I get any work done here?

Open Contests

Enter while you still can!

1. How I feel today. How about you? (Puzzle-Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Flashback: Before We Kiss (Contest–3 winners!) — Win a FREE book!
3. REINA TORRES: FREE! LOVE IN LOCKDOWN — SUBLET, PART 4 — EVERYONE! Get your FREE story!
4. Moving Day (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winners are…Delaine, Colleen C., and Ani!
*~*~*

It’s early. One of my dd’s many cats is snoring under my desk. He’s “Black Cat”. The kids had tried to stick the name “Ninja” on him years ago, but Black Cat stuck. He’s the most unfriendly cat I’ve ever interacted with, which is cool by me. He sleeps in a little cat bed I put under my desk, comes and goes like a ghost, and once in a blue moon he’ll rub against my legs, looking for me to scratch behind his ears before he disappears using his Ninja-cat stealth to stay out of sight.

I wonder how he’s going to like the changes.

We’ve been playing hopscotch with rooms in the house. My aunt moved back to Washington State, freeing up her garage apartment, so my oldest granddaughter claimed the room. After painting and deep cleaning it, she moved. Then my grandson moved into her vacated, larger room. Yesterday, they repainted, deep-cleaned his old, smaller bedroom, preparing to return it to me… I have an office once again that isn’t crammed into a corner of the craft room! A place where I can close the door against kid noise and cats. Whee!

It’s early morning, so I’m posting my blog before everyone descends on my spaces. I have to hide Christmas gifts. And I guess I should start boxing up all the junk/treasures on my desk. I’m a kids’ toy hoarder with a growing collection of action heroes (because the kids give them to me!). My dd and SIL have soldiered on with all the movement from room to room, but they are especially dreading moving me—all those toys, that clutter, THOSE BOOKS.

I get to play the old lady card. And the “I have edema in my injured hand” card. Bwahaha! 🙂

Which means, lots and lots of stuff will be left in boxes for me to arrange, because no one understands there are “places” for my Norse god statuary, Bobbleheads, and Funko Pop Avenger figurines.

So, I’m looking for tips from you for how I go about reorganizing my reclaimed space. Comment for a chance to win the download of your choice from my backlist! I’ll choose 3 winners! 

I hadn’t planned on blogging today. I know!!!!!! In five years, I’ve only missed a daily posting two times. I think. Pretty sure, anyway. It’s my morning thing. But today, I got up early, got dressed (an event in itself, because I’ve been on lockdown for months), and went to my tiny community center in the middle of nowhere, driving down a narrow windy road to get there. I voted.

Then I came home and checked the news. About midday, I decided I had to get away from the prognostications because I’m a nervous wreck. I’ll be watching tonight, no doubt, but at least then, there might be some news coming in from around the country. In the meantime, no doomscrolling for me. I turned on Starz and started watching American Gods.

Strangely, it’s not holding my attention. It’s exactly my favorite genre of TV. Or second, behind straight up high octane action films (Die Hard is my favorite movie!!). Maybe it’s just that I’m off today because I am so nervous.

Anyways, the mail came this afternoon, bringing with it a lovely distraction. Christina Thomas, a reader-friend from Wales, made me this gorgeous little House in a Teacup!

And somehow, one of my cat’s hairs drifted right into the saucer. Wouldn’t you know…

Anyways, it’s a lovely gift and a much needed lift to my spirits. Thank you, Christina!

Now, all you Americans, if you haven’t already—GO VOTE!

Today’s my dad’s birthday. He passed away in March of 2019. I still hear his voice in my head. Once, I actually heard his voice from the other side of my bedroom door, calling me by my childhood nickname. I dream about him and my mom, looking a little younger and walking steady on their feet. They’re in the living room, and dad is grinning because he’s just teased her about something, and my mother is looking mildly disgusted and swatting at him. I don’t often have the same dream, but I have this one pretty consistently. I’m convinced it’s their way of telling me they’re together and happy.

I live in the big, solid house he built with my dd and her family, now. Of course, she’s made some changes to the place, but we always ask ourselves whether dad would like this and whether mom would approve. We’re respectful of his labor of love.

Well, Happy Birthday, Dad. I miss you, but you left me with wonderful memories and a home I cherish. You’re the best dad a girl could have had.

UPDATE: The winner is…Monica Lemmers!
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It’s November of the most trying year I’ve ever lived—and that’s saying a lot given the losses our family has suffered the past nearly three years. Sometimes, it truly feels like we’re living in the dawn of an “Extinction Event.” We’re doing what we can to keep ourselves healthy. I’m sure we’re making mistakes, but we’re masking, handwashing, keeping kids out of school and online, and trying not to go stir-crazy in all our togetherness. Take Halloween. We’ll be playing Halloween games and holding a scavenger hunt in lieu of trick-or-treating. Family fun. Making an event out of everything (just not an extinction event) is important for us because the kids always have something to look forward to.

All this togetherness has taken a toll on my writing. I’ve produced less than half of my usual number of stories this year. I need alone time to create. After Mom died in January and my dd’s family moved into the house, and then the pandemic forcing everyone into closer quarters 24/7, alone time is something I’m training my brain to find in the midst of kid-chaos. Of course, I wouldn’t trade having family around me for anything, but I really do have to commit to sitting my butt in a chair to write more consistently.

That’s why I’m taking up the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge. It runs from November 1-30. The goal is to write 50,000 words. If you carve that up into a daily wordcount goal, that’s 1667 words a day. Completely doable. I begin tomorrow. So, today, I have to figure out what I’m going to write. I have a title (Preacher), a cover (Two, actually. See below!) and a blurb, but no idea what’s going to happen in the story. Not one clue. But I have today to figure out at least the first scene, and since it’s a Montana Bounty Hunter book, I’ll probably jump right into a takedown because those are the most fun scenes to write.

This month, is also the deadline for submissions for my Cowboys: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology. NOVEMBER 15TH AUTHORS! Tell you what—accept the NaNo challenge just long enough to write that 2500-5500-word story! You can do it! So, you know, I’ll have to add reading submissions to my To Do list! Want the rules? Follow this link.

I’m also trying my hardest to cut out some time to improve my art. I love doing it at night after the hustle and bustle of the day. It’s relaxing. And I think I’m learning. This is last night’s piece. I used Nupastels which, for me, is like drawing with crayons. Completely fun and liberating. I love the foreground, the sky? Not so much, This was taken from a photograph from western Ireland.

So, that’s going to be my November—write, write, write, read, art. 🙂

The Poll

My lovely sister, Elle James, gave me two versions of Preacher. I love the one with the scenery beneath the title, but when I ran them both by my Street Team, they preferred the plainer cover. So, help me make up my mind!

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The Contest

Comment on something I’ve written about today—NaNoWriMo, the poll—for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winners are…everyone who commented!
*~*~*

The day’s nearly gone, and I’m only now sitting at my desk. I slept in. Which never, ever happens. I don’t let myself do that because I know me. If I don’t start work in the morning, the work doesn’t get done. That’s the curse of a morning person. This picture is me when I’m up on time and ready to go…

But it’s not morning now. And it’s not a sunny day. It’s kind of dreary and chilly. I’m trying not to let the weather dampen my already grumbly mood. I’ve had a full cup of coffee. I showered with a lavender perfumed bath wash. I lit a fragrant candle. I turned on a fan for white noise to still all the footsteps pounding through the house.

I can tell nothing is going to lift my gloomy mood. It would help, I guess, if I had the full use of BOTH hands while I type, because this hunting and pecking with two digits on my left hand is annoying AF.

Is there anything else I can gripe about? Let’s see.

The cat is snoring in his cat bed under my desk. One of my dd’s Jack Russell’s keeps moving against my black leggings, leaving white hair stuck to me. My desk is a mess, once again. My carafe of coffee is almost empty because everyone has helped themselves to it today. Plus, they’ve left their empty cups littered around my space for ME to pick up and take to the kitchen. My printer is dinging because I need a new gray ink cartridge—and I think that’s the only color I don’t have in my stash. Someone ought to offer to make my bed (I’m the oldest person in the house, they should show some deference to my advanced age, right?).

Hmmm… I keep thinking if I run out of things to gripe about, get it all out, that lightheartedness will rush in to fill the empty space. Not working!

So….it’s up to you. Suggestions, y’all?

Leave me an idea to raise me out of this blue funk and you’ll be entered to win a download of your choice from among my huge-ass backlist. 🙂

UPDATE: The winner is…Cara!
*~*~*

It’s hard to be chatty with one-handed typing. I say that, but I just finished a novella typing with one hand and one finger. It can be done if you’re properly motivated! No excuses!

I’ve been plotting my new book and another series I’ll be showing you soon. Well, as soon as I can get a cover for you to drool over. It’s not easy looking for the right series name, the right branded look for a cover. I love my Montana Bounty Hunters books’ “look”— sis (Elle James, if ya didn’t know) did an awesome job with that.

I spent (er, wasted an afternoon and evening looking for the right guy to be on the first cover. I still have no clue. Nothing jumped out to me from the usual sites. If any of you out there have recommendations for photo stock sites with really hot, rugged men, I’m game to go look!

I spent an hour cleaning my desk. If you could see the amount of crap I keep on my desktop (toys, cups of pens, those weird solar-powered dancing figures, notebooks, and on and on, you’d see what I mean. I’m not taking a photo because you’d call one of those hoarders shows or sic Marie Kondo on me, but I don’t roll with Feng Shui. I roll with clutter.

So, tonight after midnight, Lawless releases! Expect fun, sexy times. Due to my hand, it’s shorter than what I’ve been writing lately, but it’s satisfying and sweet, and the heroine is badass in her own way. The hero is an ex-Ranger and presently a Texas deputy—so a guy who can handle thangs. And he has chest hair, which the guy on the cover clearly does not!

A few minutes ago, I went upstairs to start coffee for my dd. She’s got all four kids in the sunroom with the windows open. Outside, it’s sunny and just right—breezy with just a hint of cool. They’re gathered around the table out there with their school laptops and tablets, doing their homework. My dd’s in her groove in the mornings, making sure everyone is keeping up on assignments and getting to their zoom meetings on time. She does all that while doing dishes and laundry. She’s amazeballs.

2020 will be a year everyone in our family will look back on with mixed emotions. I think the fact we’ve pulled together as a family and spent so much time figuring out how to be happy will be something we’ll look back on with fondness. Everything we do is purposeful. Every little victory is worthy of celebration—a movie night, a special dinner.

Which gets me to the coming holiday…Halloween. I’d love your suggestions for making it fun and memorable. We’ll be skipping the door-to-door stuff and the many activities I’m sure most folks will still be doing around town (folks here aren’t much on science or masking). So, offer up ideas for things for us to do around the homeplace, and you’ll be entered to win a $5 Amazon gift card!