UPDATE: The winner is…Rita!
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Our family is very serious about celebrating the seasons and holidays. We have garden flags for EVERYTHING. My daughter hangs signage she makes with her Cricut and decorations inside the living room. Summer is still here, but we’ve already had the conversation about what the kids will dress as for Halloween!

In early September, she will be eager to put out all her decorations, including my contribution—a tree filled with Strangling fairy ornaments. Something else I collect. I currently have twenty of them. Isn’t this one cute?

I’d love to hear whether you decorate or have some family tradition to mark the holidays. And have fun with the puzzle!

Puzzle-Contest

For a chance to win your choice of a download from among my many books, tell me when you start your Halloween prep or whether you do anything at all!

UPDATE: The winner of the Amazon gift card is…Karen!
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I know some of y’all hang out here for the puzzles! So, here’s a fun one.

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle (post your time if you like!), then tell me which you prefer!

UPDATE: The winner is…pc!
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I bought this little brainstorming tool years ago at some writers’ conference. “Story Cubes” is a brainstorming game. You roll the dice and whatever pictures appear face up are the ones you use to riff off a story. Do any of these symbols tell you anything? You can pick some or use all of them.

To make this fun, I’ll offer a prize—a $5 Amazon gift card—good for purchasing one or two stories…

Have fun with this! Don’t overthink! Here’s the roll… 

UPDATE: The winner is… Charlene Capodice!
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So, imagine a world without COVID, or with COVID conquered… Is there a place you’ve yearned to travel? Whether it’s somewhere you’ve been and wish to visit again, or some dream-location you’ve promised yourself that one day you’ll go there… Imagine that day is tomorrow.

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle then share where that dream journey would lead you!

Open Contests

1. Ava Cuvay: Fortunate F***-Ups (and Giveaway) — Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Flashback: Animal (Contest — Three Winners!) — Win a FREE book!
3. Scent Memories (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
4. TGIF! Contest! — Win a FREE book!

UPDATE: The winner is…Margaret!
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For a chance to win your choice of a download from Montana Bounty Hunters or Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT, tell me whether you like Montana as a setting for more stories!

UPDATE: The winner of the gift card is…Becky!
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My family laments the fact I can’t deliver a punchline of a joke to save my life. In fact, they know I only remember one joke. One. Period. They ask me to tell it on occasion. It goes like this…

“What does the snail say as it rides on the turtle’s back?”

Of course, everyone groans and grimaces before I raise my hands like I’m holding a horse’s reins and say, “Whee!”

Everyone has a really bad joke, right? Even if they have only one!

So, your challenge today, should you accept it, is to tell us that joke! One lucky jokester will win a $5 Amazon gift card! Go!

UPDATE: The winner is…ButtonsMom2003!
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We don’t need no stinkin’ holiday to celebrate a Saturday, do we? 

The sky is overcast outside, so it looks like it won’t be a pool day for me. But I won’t let that get me down. I have a fun, sweet story to edit today, so I’ll lose myself inside it (but not so much I can’t catch the errors!).

I looked for a picture online that embodied happiness and joy and found this one. It reminded me of all the old photos I have stuck in a box that are fading and grubby. Some gems that could only bring a smile to my face because I remember the moment better than the photo can possibly display.

Let’s travel down memory road for a smile! For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me about one photo you have that always makes you smile!