Last weekend I took my miniman to Denny’s to eat Breakfast. It was a mad house. I had to wait to find a place to park. Long line inside but space at the bar. So instead of waiting on a table we just decided to eat at the counter and low and behold we could see in the kitchen and watch the cooking staff, not to mention the interaction with them, the waitstaff and the manager on duty. I’m going to call her Judy, because I didn’t ever get her name!
So, back to my story. Did I mention yet it was a mad house?? Because OMG it was nuts in there. Pretty quick we got our drinks and placed our order. Waitress, Patricia, was super friendly. I figured it was going to be forever til we got food and we settled in to watch the cooks.
Holy. Shit. I have NEVER in my life seen 3 men cook as fast as they did. And they NEVER slowed down. Not once. Only time I saw them pause was when a waitress/waiter needed them to do something. They were immediately on it and then back to the orders. Ticket after ticket they closed.
It was incredible. Kid you not I was freaking in awe. And the waitstaff? They all helped each other. Cleaning tables, taking appetizers and orders out to other peoples’ tables. Fixing issues. And Judy? She wasn’t just standing off to the side and delegating. Hell to the no. She was in the thick of all of it doing everything she could to help her people and get customers taken care of.
Now let me add in the fact I’d been sick with Strep for almost two weeks, working 11hr days at my real job. Exhaustion doesn’t do justice to how I felt that morning. But these people were just awesome AND they saved me from having to cook or clean up for breakfast.
Our food was awesome. Perfect timing on everything. And Judy’s still running around like crazy.
We got finished, I paid, was about to leave but Judy needed to know how awesome they were all doing. So I waited for her to walk back behind the hostess stand, and then I asked to speak with her. She kind of deflated, but said “Absolutely, how can I help you?” On that kind of day, one extra person shoveling shit onto your plate is the worst. So I told her everything I typed above. They were all doing amazing. What a great crew she had working for her and she herself was one of the best restaurant managers I’d ever seen. Keep up the good work and she absolutely gained me as a repeat customer.
OMG you’d think I’d handed her a million dollars. She was so excited and told me I made her day and thanked me for taking the time to tell her. I heard her passing the news to two other people as I was walking out. Paying it forward to a complete stranger who needed a pick me up and a pat on the back made me feel awesome. We need more of THIS in the world to balance out the rest of the meh going around right now.
Speaking of paying it forward — I have a HUGE bag of conference swag to give away! Print books, a bag, bookmarks, pens, buttons and maybe a few naughty somethings throw in to make your heart go pitter pat!! How do you enter to win? Easy!
Just comment below and let me know something you’ve done for a perfect stranger that made their day and yours!! I’ll let my miniman pick a random winner tomorrow. Good luck!!
Decadently Yours,
Jennifer Kacey
Need something to wet your whistle while you wait to see if you won goodies??
May I suggest a delicious bite out of the Members Only series…….. 😛
Since I had an author bail on me at the last minute, I had an open spot…
So, since I’m being lazy—I was up at 6:30 to babysit the 2-year-old today, so I’ve earned it!—I thought I’d just post this reminder.
WOLF IN PLAIN SIGHT
Release date: September 22
Free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers!
To Super-cop Max Weir, the only good vampire is a dead one. Since his special police unit integrated with vampires, he’s had to suppress his natural hatred to work side by side with the undead to hunt down and terminate the deadliest killers. Now the unit’s hot on the trail of a new menace in town, a pack of werewolves prowling for vampires who don’t care whether humans get in their way.
When a stakeout goes awry, Max enters a bar looking for a fight or woman to help him blow off a little steam. What he finds is a winsome siren whose sexual appetites match his own.
Vampire Pia D’Amato is on a secret mission to take out Max—either by seduction or turning him. He’s become a liability to the Masters’ Council setting up jurisdiction in southern Florida, and she’s not leaving until she’s done the job. But Max is more man than she bargained for with a deadly secret of his own.
I’m busy at the moment dreaming up my next Uncharted SEALs adventure, and I got to wondering whether you knew I had a previous ex-SEAL series…
It’s a touch on the zany side because, for the heroines, I played with that old fish-out-of-water trope. They are all travel agents, having to check out the new adventure line of vacations they’re offering their clients, when you guess it—$hit happens.
For Maya in Dangerous Liaison, she’s mistaken for a drug lord’s daughter and kidnapped right out of an anti-terrorist training school.
I’ve given you a taste of Lace’s adventure below—her boat’s about to be hijacked for ransom.
And lastly, Susan in It Takes a SEAL is stranded on a desert island with her hunky SEAL.
I had fun with the stories, even more fun with the titles, they are all derived from movie titles. An author has to find the fun or her work would become drudgery. And of course, I say that while I’m sitting in my pajamas with bed head, while I begin my day’s work… It’s okay to hate me. 🙂
Comment for a chance to win Mutiny’s Bounty or a short story on this carousel!
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Interested only in experiencing an adrenaline-packed adventure first-hand to give her credo when she books her clients’ adventure vacations, Lace McElhannon finds more excitement than she can handle when she meets and falls into bed with ex-SEAL Dex Haygood.
Fresh from protecting transport ships from Somali pirates, Dex figures his latest job will be a cakewalk, until he finds himself in deep water, swimming with sharks and trying to protect Lace when the yacht they’re sailing on is taken.
“Sweetheart, the sharks are down there.” Ice blue eyes wrinkled at the corners as the man bending over the side of the olive-green skiff pointed a finger into the clear blue depths beneath her.
Did he think she’d missed seeing the swarm, or flock, or whatever the hell you called a group of freaking sharks? They were busy ripping into the grisly bundle of fish parts and guts the dive crew had dropped to the sea floor in a wire basket—which was why she’d hurried over here.
“Exactly! Like any sane person would purposely swim with sharks?” She let her voice frag, then crimped her lips to keep from saying anything else that made her sound like she was twelve. Lace McElhannon was glad she hadn’t given him a snarky wag of her head while she’d said it. But seriously, who would blame her for being snotty? Great White sharks were swimming thirty feet beneath her toes and he wasn’t doing anything about it! Read the rest of this entry »
For someone with an admittedly short attention span (me), I seem to choose pursuits in life that require an awful lot of perseverance. So today, I’m going to talk about 5 Reasons Writing a Book is Like Climbing a 14er.
For the non-mountaineers reading this, a 14er is a mountain peak above 14,000 feet in altitude. In Colorado, where I live, there are 53 of them. I like hiking in general, but climbing a 14er is not your average scenic hike. We’re talking major elevation gains and decreasing oxygen, people. You have to want this.
At first, it might seem like writing a book—an activity during which you spend a great deal of time with your butt planted in a chair—would not be very much at all like a wilderness excursion requiring considerable physical conditioning.
VS.
But that would be wrong. Here are 5 ways in which these two activities are similar:
#1 Initial excitement of planning/deciding to do it.
Getting an idea for a new book is exciting. You’re full of ideas, planning new characters, imagining what it will be like when it’s done, and you feel powerful. You know it will be work, but the idea is just so good, it will be worth it. Deciding to climb a mountain, and picking which one, is exciting, too. You’re looking at fantastic photographs other hikers have posted, planning which routes will get you there, what physical training you need to do in the meantime, and imagining the sense of achievement when you stand at the top.
#2 At some point, you are going to ask yourself “why am I doing this?”
Every writer I know of has, at some point, looked at what they’ve written and lost hope. For one reason or another (your plot didn’t hold together as well as you initially thought, or the market for your type of story has just tanked, or any number of other writer-related insecurities), you want to abandon the project.
At some point, while hiking a 14er, many hikers (myself included) are out of breath, battered by wind, out of the ideal shape we promised ourselves we’d be in, and looking ahead at the miles yet to climb, thinking, “why did I think this was a good idea?” It would be much easier to just turn around and head back down…
(Note: with hiking, there can be safety concerns that lead to abandoning a hike. Know the difference between perseverance and foolishness. Lightning, in particular, is no joke if you’re above tree line. If a storm is approaching, get to safety. The mountain will still be there another day.)
#3 You keep going anyway.
Even when every sentence is a struggle, you keep writing. You may walk away from the screen for a little while, but you eventually come back and re-attack the project. Maybe you do have to do some editing, and work on your craft. Or maybe you give yourself permission for that first draft to suck miserably, knowing that you can always edit it later. Whatever. You keep writing, because you know that walking away would lead to regrets you don’t want to live with.
Same with 14ers. If you want to make it to the top, you keep planting one foot in front of the other. You rest, drink some water, and Just. Keep. Going.
#4 Comradery
When you summit a 14er with someone, you share a bond with that person forever. The more epic the mountain, the more epic the bond. Hikers also tend to help one another out—it’s the classic man vs. nature struggle, and all men (and women) on the mountain are in it together.
Authors do the same thing—at least, I’ve been fortunate to meet a lot of authors who think it’s important to help each other be the best we can be, whether that means helping a new writer improve her craft, or helping promote a new book you’re excited about.
#5 The Ultimate Accomplishment
There is no feeling that beats the feeling of typing the words “The End.” Except, maybe, the feeling of reaching the summit of a tough 14er. There’s a reason authors shout it from the rooftops when their book hits the shelves (or goes live at Amazon) – they’ve worked for that day. Same reason you’ll see summit photos plastered all over the walls and social media pages of an avid hiker.
It’s also the feeling that makes both writers and hikers bask in the glory for only a short while…because before long, they need to start planning the next book, or the next peak to climb.
Entrusted: A Relic Guardians Novel
To protect her country’s future, she’ll have to commit treason…
ENTRUSTED by Allegra Gray is a stunning historical Young Adult masterpiece of suspense, hope, and determination. This story follows orphaned Audrey as she’s tasked with keeping ancient relics safe from tyrannical hands and their unholy deeds. With the help of a charming adventurer, Tobias, Aubrey must do all she can to protect the relics she’s been entrusted to guard…even if it costs her life. Read the rest of this entry »
At a conference last week, I had a reader come up to me and tell me she had been so mad at me last night.
I perked up, wondering what she’d either taken offence at or really loved. I hoped she was going to say my hooks kept her going chapter after chapter.
Her next sentence surprised and delighted me.
“Greg and Jill sat down to eat and you described the food so well, I wanted my own order of Diamond Lille’s meatloaf platter.” She continued, “I had to go raid the fridge.”
I thought a lot about what this reader had said and then realized my characters have a love affair with food because as their author, I do too. I won’t ever be the one to write a book where the scenes go on without a speck of food consumed from first to last page. I’m more like Tolkien in that manner, and my characters more like Merry and Pippen who not only expect second breakfast on their quest, but also elevenies. Which is a delightful idea to implement in most work places.
I’d warned my roommate before we even got on the plane to go to New Orleans that for me, it was all about the food. Experimenting, tasting, learning new techniques, my trip was filled with overwhelming smells and tastes.
And my writing is the same. I want my characters to experience living on the California coast line through their taste buds. Jill has a scene where she’s grabbing one last clam from the waitress before the bucket is taken away to be packed up as leftovers. I can totally see myself doing that when interrupted from a meal I was enjoying.
The current book I’m writing has a Carmel Apple Cheesecake mentioned on page one. I’m trying out a similar recipe on my day job co-workers in a few weeks. Hey, writing has it’s privileges and if I get to eat vicariously through the choices of my characters, the better for me. Especially as I’m eating a salad and drinking water for lunch as I write this blog.
I’m putting up a Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe on my blog this week. (www.lynncahoon.com) Come visit if you want. Coffee will always be fresh and in my imaginary kitchen, treats like those from Pies on the Fly will be available 24/7. With no calorie counting.
Jill Gardner—owner of Coffee, Books, and More—has somehow been talked into sponsoring a 5k race along the beautiful California coast. The race is a fundraiser for the local preservation society—but not everyone is feeling so charitable…
The day of the race, everyone hits the ground running…until a local business owner stumbles over a very stationary body. The deceased is the vicious wife of the husband-and-wife team hired to promote the event—and the husband turns to Jill for help in clearing his name. But did he do it? Jill will have to be very careful, because this killer is ready to put her out of the running…forever!
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author, Lynn Cahoon is an Idaho expat. She grew up living the small town life she now loves to write about. Currently, she’s living with her husband and two fur babies in a small historic town on the banks of the Mississippi river where her imagination tends to wander. Guidebook to Murder, Book 1 of the Tourist Trap series won the 2015 Reader’s Crown award for Mystery Fiction.
I woke up late today. I babysat last night and I’m just a little tired. Add the fact, I didn’t get my swim in yesterday, and the world just doesn’t feel right. So, I’ll make it easy on myself today and do something I love doing when I’m at a Facebook party. You get to do a little bit of work—not much—and I get to sit back and read the fun answers!
Here’s the work…
1) Subscribe to my newsletter and tell me you did (I’ll trust you): My Newsletter
3) This isn’t required, but you can subscribe to my blog by scrolling down the left-hand column of this page, looking for “Subscribe to blog via email”. That way, you’ll never miss a contest or a free read!
In addition to telling me you’ve done the things I’ve asked, answer this question, and then take a look at my Short Stories page to choose one free read (from the top three rows) for yourself…
If you could be magically transported into any television series world,
which would you choose to live inside?
*~*~*
THESE STORIES ARE NOT PART OF THE GIVEAWAY!
However, they are free if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber!
If you love hot, sexy SEALs and an adrenaline-pumped story, don’t miss the first three stories in the Uncharted SEALs series, including my latest release, Through Her Eyes.
Click on the covers to learn more and to purchase!
Thank you, Delilah, for having me as your guest today.
Isn’t Fall a wonderful time of year? I’m looking forward to cooler weather. To me, the air thrums with excitement due to so many plans and projects. Writing is my passion, but I love the upcoming holidays.
What’s your favorite thing about Fall? I’m giving away a copy of THE SURPRISE BRIDES: JAMIE to one person who tells me.
Several of us were talking this summer about that old movie “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” and thought we’d do a spin on it. We didn’t want our historical brides kidnapped and we didn’t want them stranded in a blizzard with no way to marry. So, one of the brothers is a minister. To ease your mind, no, there is no singing in these books. 😉
We have four brothers aged from twenty-two to thirty-two who need brides. At least, their mother thinks they do. (Yeah, all mothers think that, don’t they?) This mother takes matters into her own hands, though. The four mail-order brides arrive in a blizzard that locks everyone on the ranch for almost a week. The mother convinces the four couples to go through with the wedding.
All four stories are filled with conflicts to be overcome. Mine is slightly sensual but not steamy. I believe the other four are the same—the parts I’ve read are. But they are all fun adventures for anyone who enjoys the “fish out of water” of a mail-order bride story.
You probably guessed that my latest project is THE SURPRISE BRIDES: JAMIE, one of four books simultaneously released about four brothers in Angel Springs, Colorado. One determined mama, four reluctant brothers, four mail-order brides. Meet Jamie, Caleb, Gideon and Ethan. Jamie is the eldest brother, a widower with two rowdy young children. These four books are released simultaneously by Cynthia Woolf (Gideon), Callie Hutton (Caleb), Sylvia McDaniel (Ethan), and me (Jamie).
Olivia Stewart risks everything to accomplish her dreams. She’s tired of being pitied because she’s been jilted, tired of teaching other people’s children without any of her own. When she signs with a matrimonial agency, a letter from Jamie Fraser sounds perfect. A widower with two young children will give her a head start on the family she’s determined to have. Olivia learns Colorado holds surprises that endanger her goals and even her life.
Circle F Rancher Jamie Fraser is shocked to learn his mother has written for a mail-order bride for him. He has two children and no plan to marry again. Ever! His late wife taught him women can’t be trusted. Even his beloved mother isn’t above tricking her sons to achieve her heartfelt ambitions. Now he’s stuck with a wife he didn’t want—a stubborn woman bent on changing his home and his life.
Can two strong people at odds achieve happiness? Angel Springs, Colorado is a small town that inspires big dreams. Olivia and Jamie just might find their dreams meld to form a powerful and enduring love.
THE SURPRISE BRIDES: JAMIE buy link at Amazon is: https://amzn.com/B015272I3W where it’s available in print and e-book. It’s also available at other online retailers.
Here’s a short excerpt:
That night when Olivia and Jamie were in their room, she slowly undressed. All day she’d thought about what she would say. How naïve to think she could trust this man so easily. How stupid she’d been not to ask more questions before surrendering to him.
Somehow, she had the sense of having been cheated in the marriage bed. She had no real experience to go on because she had no one in whom she could confide. Judging by the novels she’d read, though, there should have been talk after their coming together.
She faced him. “Jamie, why did you go through with the wedding?”
He sat on the bed holding the boot he’d just removed then set it on the floor. “No choice.”
What a maddening answer. She wanted to plant her fist on his handsome chin. Instead, she took a deep breath before speaking and exhaled slowly.
“Of course you had a choice. You’re the head of the family and could have refused and sent me back where I came from or set me up in town so I could meet someone else. Barring that, you could have paid me off and sent me to Denver. There’s always a choice.”
He shook his head as he started on his shirt buttons. “Not in this case. Any of those options would have caused talk. After you’d been here several nights, your reputation would have been compromised.”
“If I weren’t here, why would that matter to you?”
His hands stilled. “Ah, well, because Mama’s reputation would also have been damaged, as she pointed out to us boys.” He removed his shirt and hung it on the bedpost.
As she unfastened the ties of her petticoats, a horrible thought occurred to her and she froze. “Do you mean you don’t want more children?”
His powerful chest muscles rolled with a shrug. “Wouldn’t mind, now that we’re wed, but I was content with Jake and Cat. Matter of fact, earlier today I mentioned how nice life would be with us brothers taking our kids to visit with their cousins.” He stood and unbuttoned his pants.
She turned her back and slid off her clothes then quickly pulled on her gown. “Weren’t you lonely?”
Her back was to him and she couldn’t see his expression, but his voice sounded hard, “Look, Olivia, you seem like a nice enough woman, attractive, and intelligent. Sorry as I am you were brought here under false pretences, I don’t know what you expected to find.”
Again, she froze for a moment. Attractive? He thought she was attractive? When she turned around, he was sitting up in bed with the sheet at his hips. How could she concentrate on the conversation with all those rippling muscles and skin in sight?
Caroline Clemmons is an Amazon bestselling and award winning author of historical and contemporary western romances. A frequent speaker at conferences and seminars, she has taught workshops on characterization, point of view, and layering a novel.
Caroline and her husband live in the heart of Texas cowboy country with their menagerie of rescued pets. When she’s not indulging her passion for writing, Caroline enjoys family, reading, travel, antiquing, genealogy, and getting together with friends. Find her on her blog, website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Google+, Shelfari, and Pinterest.
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author, Lynn Cahoon is an Idaho expat. She grew up living the small town life she now loves to write about. Currently, she’s living with her husband and two fur babies in a small historic town on the banks of the Mississippi river where her imagination tends to wander. Guidebook to Murder, Book 1 of the Tourist Trap series won the 2015 Reader’s Crown award for Mystery Fiction.
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