UPDATE: The winner is…bn100!
*~*~*

Happy New Year, Dear Reader! And just like that, 2022 is over and 2023 is here. I don’t know about you, but it feels like January has gone by SUPER quickly, even though it’s only the 10^th of the month so far—but it feels like it was just the 20^th of December, like, yesterday!

One way of slowing time down is writing by hand. I have an avid journal practice; do you like to journal? Whether you do or not, another practice I adore is that of letter writing. I have pen pals all over the world, and love getting “happy mail” in my inbox. And what better time to talk about writing letters than on the eve of “Month of Letters!”

What is Month of Letters, you say?

So glad you asked!

Like National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMoo (nanowrimo.org), Month of Letters is a daily writing challenge – but instead of a story, the challenge is to write letters. Specifically, in the month of February, mail an item every day, and write back to everyone that writes you. It’s that simple! What do you write? The list is practically endless:

• A postcard
• A genuine letter, on paper and everything!
• A picture
• A newspaper, if you get one, or magazine cutting
• Even a fabric swatch!

I’ve mailed bookmarks and handmade coasters (I weave them on my Zoom loom (https://schachtspindle.com/product/zoom-loom-4-x-4/) and they fit perfectly into most card envelopes.  At just 4 inches by 4 inches, they don’t weigh a lot and I usually don’t even need to add extra postage!

I even have a close group of friends who all share “non-bill mail” with each other, and use any excuse to do it:

• January 23^rd is National Handwriting Day
• February 14^th is Valentine’s Day
• March or April have Mother’s Day
• May is my birthday month (May 8^th)
• June is Father’s Day
• July has Independence Day
• August is back to school
• September has Labor Day (and it’s a great opportunity to educate ones’ younger friends and relatives on where the weekend came from)
• October is, of course, Halloween – or Samhain for us Wiccans
• November is American Thanksgiving (October has Canadian Thanksgiving)
• December are the Winter Holidays and New Year’s Eve

So many opportunities to write! Now, you just need to find pals, right?

Look no further than the Month of Letters website, https://lettermo.com/. Registering is free, and once you do, you can make friends and share addresses. Unlike Incowrimo, another letter writing challenge, you have to be logged in to see addresses, and your address isn’t available to the public like it is on Incowrimo.

So, tell me, Dear Reader: What do you like to send or receive in the mail?

A. Catherine Noon
“My own experience has taught me this: if you wait for the perfect moment when all is safe and assured it may never arrive.”
~ Maurice Chevalier
acatherinenoon.com | noonandwilder.com | writerzengarden.com | knoontimeknitting.com

*~*~*

NOTE FROM DELILAH: I love this idea so much, I’ll offer to send one commenter one of my hand-painted postcards as a prize! 

Middle school. Are there two words in the English language that can bring out cringing more than those two? Well, maybe, “gym class”—especially gym class while in middle school. Seriously, how did I have the guts to wear shorts in middle school? There hasn’t been another time in my life when I felt more judged, more criticized, and more uneasy about myself than those middle school years.

It didn’t help that I was one of the tallest girls in my class and one of the girls who much preferred watching soap operas, reading, and daydreaming while writing little story ideas down in my notebooks. Being a creative kid has come a long way in the last few years, but let me tell you in my small town it was seen as weird. Playing sports was normal, writing and telling people you wanted to be an author when you grew up sounded weird, and I was constantly told it would be impossible. And I felt pushed to conform. To be more like the other kids. Even the music I liked was different. I was still listening to George Michael long after he had stopped putting new music out for a while. So, while the others were listening to what was new and cool, I was listening to my pop star boyfriend and writing down story ideas.

However, my preteen angst has a happy ending as those story ideas ended up into a series about a girl dating her favorite pop star and all the anxious moments that go along with it (The Cecily Taylor Series). But even more importantly is that the angsty, cringey, middle school moments that brought me to my knees also gave me story ideas. I took the characters I created in the sixth grade (Landry) and her cooler friends (Devon, Peyton, Ashanti, and India) and merged them with the real-life mean girl issues and growing pains I dealt with back then to create my first book, True Colors, which became the first book in the Landry’s True Colors Series.

All the embarrassing and difficult moments of middle school with doubting yourself, bullying, mean girls, understanding what frenemies are and how to deal with it, and crushes just all came together to create books that I hope will help readers know they are not alone in going through the same things. I also get a lot of messages from parents, aunts, and grandparents saying the topics bring up healthy discussions that get the readers to speak up about those difficult topics. I know I stayed quiet and retreated into books to help me deal with things.

Funny enough, my dad was a middle school assistant principal who I now realize was sharing his stories with me to help me through things without making it obvious. I should have known the way he brought up school dances and his own vivid memories of having shyness attacks at his own school dances.

I’m currently updating and relaunching the Landry’s True Colors Series and I can’t wait for the next group of readers to discover it. I have reading guides for each chapter and am looking forward to helping more readers feel less alone out there. To date, the Landry’s True Colors Series has won three Readers Favorite awards for best preteen books and the Dayton Book Expo Bestseller Award for children/teens. Landry in Like is also a Literary Classics Gold Medal recipient.

I hope you enjoy reading about Landry as she navigates through middle school. I’m including a photo of me back then with Sun In which gave my normally dark brown hair a lovely burnt umber look. Enjoy!

Find the Series here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09W9S664B

About the Author

Krysten Lindsay Hager writes about friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, frenemies, crushes, fame, first loves, and values. Her work includes YA contemporary, middle grade fiction, and adult and young adult rom-coms. She received her BA in English and master’s degree in liberal studies from the University of Michigan-Flint.

Krysten’s work has been featured in USA Today, The Flint Journal, the Grand Haven Tribune, the Beavercreek Current, the Bellbrook Times, Springfield News-Sun, Grand Blanc View, Dayton Daily News and on Living Dayton.

Website: https://www.krystenlindsay.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KrystenLindsayHagerAuthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krystenlindsay/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/krystenlindsay/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Krysten-Lindsay-Hager/author/B00L2JC9P2

When I first get an idea for a story, it usually starts with a single scene. For example, when I came up with the idea for The Fourth State of Matter, I had a scene in my head of a spaceship crashing while two characters are having sex in the control chair, seemingly unconcerned by the chaos happening around them. At this point, the characters didn’t have names or descriptions. I didn’t even know if they were human or alien. In my mind, they were just “male 1” and “male 2”. So, I started by freewriting this scene, giving it as much life as I could without any background information or details. The characters managed to land on a populated asteroid before I had to stop. Then, I stepped back and carefully read over what I had written.

Sometimes, this is where a story’s life ends. If I decide there isn’t enough potential, or if reading over what I’ve written doesn’t spark any more creativity, then I’ll set it aside and move on to a new idea. With The Fourth State of Matter, however, reading over that initial freewriting scene gave me a lot of ideas for how to flesh-out the world and the characters. A whole novel slowly unfolded in my mind just from this opening scene, so I started outlining the story from scratch.

My first step for planning out a full novel is to draw the characters. I’ve found that I can’t write about a character until I’m able to draw them. Not only does this give me an image to work with, but it can have a profound impact on the story itself.

With The Fourth State of Matter, my original plan for the trio was for them to only be a duo. I wanted to write a story about a human character that gets into a relationship with two aliens. However, this changed when I was trying to draw the aliens. Brog’s design came easily, and I could immediately see a backstory for the character on the page. I had an idea to create alien characters that were partially inspired by fantasy creatures. This would give them a sense of mystery and make them seem “larger than life”. Brog is my version of a reimagined mermaid, only instead of a delicate fish-girl, he’s a powerful shark-man.

Then I created a second alien that was a counterpoint to Brog. So, I drew Xavis, whose design is partially inspired by a phoenix. I liked the contrast between an aquatic species and a winged, bird-like species. Yet, it didn’t quite look right. Something felt off. So, I set Xavis aside and tried something new. This time I used a dragon as inspiration and came up with Desmodian. This also provided a good contrast alongside Brog, with a sort of “land and sea” vibe, yet it still didn’t look right.

It was only when I had all three characters on the page, trying to decide which to use, that I realized they looked best altogether. So, the duo became a trio, and the story was altered to fit this change.

Of course, characters are defined by more than just the way they look. It’s also about their personalities. Since the trio already hand a “land, sea, and air” theme going on, I took the symbolism a step further and based their personalities on the first three states of matter. Desmodian is the solid foundation that the group is built on. Silently stubborn and unmovable, he doesn’t react much with the world around him. He puts himself where he wants to be, both literally and metaphorically, and stays there no matter what. Brog embodies a liquid state in the sense that he is more adaptable than Desmodian but still maintains his own boundaries. He’s very reactive to even small disturbances, like a ripple effect, and while he is capable of standing still, he can also become an unstoppable tidal wave when he gets emotional. Lastly, Xavis’s personality resembles a gaseous state because he is the most wild and untamed. He sometimes seems to “have his head in the clouds” like he isn’t entirely grounded. This allows him to be the most creative and versatile member of the trio, but also makes him reliant on the others to keep him on track.

Once I established the characteristics of the trio, and their connection to the first three states of matter, it was a natural conclusion to base Pet on plasma, the fourth state of matter. This is what gave rise to the overall message and theme of the story. Pet’s journey into discovering himself as a person is the primary focus of the story, so I don’t want to spoil anything by explaining too much about how Pet’s character is inspired by plasma. Just know that it is a step-be-step journey that he’s still undergoing. After two books, he’s already come a long way in his personal discovery, but there’s still a much longer journey ahead of him.

UPDATE: The winner is…Debra Guyette!
*~*~*

Hello, everyone! I want to start by thanking Delilah for letting me come play here with you all again. I always have a good time when I visit.

So, about that title…my countdown to the new year isn’t in hours or minutes yet, but I am counting down the days. I love looking forward to a new year, don’t you? It’s always so full of possibility and opportunity, and all kinds of good things we can’t even imagine yet. It’s almost like getting ready to start reading a new book by a favorite author or seeing a movie you’ve anticipated for months.

I don’t make ‘resolutions’ for the year. I quit that a long time ago, but I do work out goals for myself every year, personal things I want to get done, and writing goals (still working on the new goals as I write this). ‘Resolutions’ seem so…inflexible, I guess, like passing a new law or something. Too daunting that way.

If I call them goals instead, they become something I want to do, not have to do, and I can break each one down, and figure out the steps and time needed to accomplish them. For example, most authors have a general idea of how long it will take them to write a book, so they can break that time frame down—if it usually takes someone three months to write a 90,000-word story, they can figure out how many words they need to write each week, each day to make their three-month goal on time, and if there is an off-day, they can adjust to make up for the words they didn’t get done that day. That sort of goal-setting feels to me more achievable than simply writing a list of resolutions for the year—ie, for the next year, I have to lose X pounds, organize my life, look for a new career, etc.

Besides getting my goals finalized this week, we have a family dinner to start the new year, so while the basics of the meal are always the same, I do need to figure out dessert. Something else I will do to wave the old year goodbye is write down a few wishes for the new year, and then near midnight on New Year’s Eve, I’ll burn that list and send the wishes to the universe. If our weather forecast for this weekend is right, I may have to improvise to avoid the rain, but I have time to figure that out.

I would love to hear how you bring in the new year…do you set goals or make resolutions? What other traditions do you enjoy? Everyone who comments between now and the start of the new year will be entered into a drawing for an eBook copy of one of my three books, winner’s choice.

Happy New Year to you all, and may all your New Year wishes come true!

About Elizabeth

Lifelong book addict Elizabeth Andrews fell in love with romance novels at an early age and now writes her own, full of sexy heroes and strong heroines. Her stories range from paranormal to contemporary, to who knows what her imagination might come up with along the way, but happy endings are a guarantee!

She is a married mother of two who’s got a room overflowing with her book collection and a garden full of herbs and veggies that needs occasional attention between writing and reading binges.

You can find out more at ElizabethAndrewsWrites.com

When I was a kid, I’d count down the school days until the final bell rang to signal the holidays. I bet you did, too.

Now it can all be a bit overwhelming as you buy and wrap the presents, decorate the house, bake the cookies, do the grocery shopping, cook the big meals, plan and host the parties… It’s enough to make you exhausted before you even start.

As women, we put way too much pressure on ourselves to create the perfect holiday for our families. It’s overwhelming. What it comes down to is letting go of some of the control and not worrying if everything isn’t perfect.

Some of my best holiday memories involve being in the kitchen with my mother baking cookies and cakes. She’d let me stir and add ingredients and, of course, lick the bowl and taste test whatever we made. As a result, I have wonderful memories, plus I can now make all those things for my family and friends.

She also involved us in the making of Christmas dinner. Younger kids can mash potatoes and stir the gravy. Older ones can help with the prep. They can also set the table and do the dishes. It gives them an idea of how much work goes into creating a holiday dinner. And do as much ahead of time as you can. I make my cranberry sauce a few days before Christmas. It sits fine in the refrigerator. Remember, you don’t need to have every dish your mother ever made gracing the holiday table. Pick the family favorites and enjoy them. There is always so much food and treats around the holidays, they won’t miss one or two items.

Draft your kids into duty and have them dust and vacuum. Hey, my sister and I had to do it and it didn’t hurt us a bit. Give your spouse or significant other a list and send them to the grocery store. Make the list as detailed as possible, but don’t be upset if you don’t get a particular brand of mayo or cheese. Someone else shopped. Be grateful and move on.

Cut down on your Christmas list. For office gifts, avoid the hassle and buy gift cards in bulk. They’re the right size and everyone likes them. Pick a local coffee shop. Everyone drinks coffee, tea, hot chocolate, juice, milk… You get my point. I buy them in $5 and $10 denominations. And, hey, if you don’t give them all away, you can treat yourself to a nice hour out in January.

Above all else, remember what the season is all about. It’s not about presents or the turkey. It’s about family and friends and hope. It’s about counting your blessings and being thankful for everything you have in your life.

So put the merry back in the holiday this year for you and your family.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!

Ancient Desire
Forgotten Brotherhood Book 5

Nothing was supposed to wake half dragon, half human Lucius from his Deep Sleep. Nothing. And yet something, or rather someone has. The unexpectedly attractive human not only touched him. She kissed him. Now Lucius is awake, and more powerful than he has ever been in his 4,000 years of existence. And once he finds out who led her to his cave, he’ll deal with his 300 years of hunger…

College professor Raine Carson spent her life obsessed with myths and legends. And now she’s woken one up. Only, Lucius is nothing like anything she’s ever seen or read about in her history books. Because this man is part sexy badass and part terrifying…monster. Yet she wants him with a hunger like nothing she’s ever felt before.

Lucius used to be part of the Forgotten Brotherhood—a ruthless group of paranormal assassins. Now he’s unsure if his former Brothers are their allies…or enemies. All he knows is that someone is hunting him, and Raine is just as tangled up in this mess as he is. And he’ll protect her—even if it means unleashing his Dragon and all of its power.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7G3QHRK/
Entangled Publishing: https://entangledpublishing.com/books/ancient-desire
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ancient-desire-n-j-walters/1141872172
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ancient-desire
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/ancient-desire/id6443213388

About the Author

N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, assassins, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Visit me at:
Website: http://www.njwalters.com
Blog: http://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
Newsletter Sign Up: http://eepurl.com/gdblg5
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/N.J.WaltersAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/njwaltersauthor
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/NJWalters
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/njwalters
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/n-j-walters

UPDATE: The winners are…Julie Andrade, Colleen C, and Debra Guyette!
*~*~*

IGNORE the “Pre-Order” message — it’s LIVE now!

Thank you, Delilah, for letting me come here today! Over a year ago, I was here whining, er, I mean, blogging about the saggy middle of my book “Tin Toy” (click here to read that blog post: https://www.delilahdevlin.com/blog/2021/08/30/ava-cuvay-flabby-middles-giveaway/).

At the time, I was struggling with the storyline and the characters… Nothing seemed to click in spite of my repeated attempts to outline a general direction for it all. I’d re-written the first five chapters half a dozen times; I’d re-outlined the story the same number of times (no small feat for someone who leans more toward pantsing than plotting).

I couldn’t pants this book. Not entirely. It’s the second book in my Silver Cyborg Series, so I couldn’t just let it wander toward an HEA for my two characters and be content. The overarching story from Book One had to continue and advance and get to a point Book Three can take it in for a goal (weak sports-reference here ;-).

Apparently, I couldn’t plot the book, either. So was mired and stagnant.

BUT, then everything finally clicked. The muse hit, the planets aligned…something happened. Honestly, I credit the savage approach I took to the story over this past summer. I shredded the thing. Mercilessly. I switched things around. I cut tens of thousands of words. I turned entire chapters into alternate POVs. I was ruthless: if it didn’t move the story or characters forward, no matter how pretty my prose, I dumped it.

The experience was a lot like a plumbing blockage, to use a crude analogy. Over a year of plugging away (plunging away) to get something moving rather than merely swirling and churning, but I now have a brand new, shiny book. Tin Toy is LIVE TODAY (tosses confetti and blows party horns)!! And I’m already a few chapters into the third book in this series, Tin Soldier. In fact, I have a prelude to Tin Soldier as an entry in Delilah’s upcoming anthology: Boys Behaving Badly: Silver Soldiers. And I’m also working on my second dragon shifter story.

Whatever blockage had my writing stuck, it’s gone, and my writing is finally flowing (and in the right direction)! I gotta admit: I’m very relieved. 😉

 Giveaway

Since I have a brand now shiny book today, I’m giving away three Kindle versions of Tin Toy to random winners that I’ll choose on Monday, December 19^th. Comment with something you struggled with that finally went right for you this past year.

I know; I know. Christmas hasn’t even made it and already I’m writing a post focusing on the New Year. If it seems like my decision is because I’ve fallen into that pit of commercialism, rest assured that it is not. See, goalsetting now may be a diversion from busy holiday shopping and reduce the stress of welcoming the New Year by having a plan. I’m not speaking of a few random resolutions that will begin strong and fizzle out by April. I’m speaking of mapping a detailed agenda of what you want to achieve in the future. Anything worth accomplishing generally is successfully attained by using a thorough and well-designed blueprint. For example, a common New Year’s resolution is weight loss. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to shed a few pounds. Okay, but how will one reach that goal?

It’s not enough to want and say what is desired. One must actively pursue it. So, to lose weight, a person may decide to join a gym membership, especially since many gyms discount their fees this time of year. But is this the best choice? Is this something that the person will have time to do? Is the gym located in an area that is not an inconvenience to attend? Will the gym hours work with the person’s hours? Financially, can the person afford the membership fees beyond the initial discount? These are all factors that should be considered. Waiting until December 31 to consider them, a person may feel he/he pressured to begin on January 2 and not skip sorting through options. Studies have indicated that when people are asked why they failed to succeed at their New Year’s resolutions, the response is because the resolution was not well-developed—that other events in their lives interfered and threw them off course. However, the truth is many of the hiccups could have been avoided if they had been considered before starting—being proactive instead of reactive.

Big goals frequently take a great deal of time to complete. This suggests that big goals also require much thought. Instead of sitting down and attempting to hash out a game plan in one go, perhaps what is needed is to consider choices for several weeks. Once one begins planning, he/she may realize that he/she needs to do prep work before setting his/her plan in motion. For example, a friend decided that she wanted to do a vision board to keep her inspired throughout the year. When another friend asked her if she had begun constructing the board, she confirmed that she hadn’t and would do it later in the month. As the other friend continued to acquire about the board, the first friend realized that making a vision board to hang on her wall would take longer than she had anticipated. Yes, she had determined she would download images from Pinterest. However, she hadn’t calculated the number of hours she would need to browse through the site. The sheer abundance of picture options can be overwhelming. She also had neglected to purchase extra ink and paper or the size of the board she would use. While she hasn’t begun assembling her board, she has begun collecting images and trimming them to attach.

However, I’m jumping ahead slightly. Therefore, let me reset and start from the beginning. How does one determine goals for the new year?

1. Clearly defining the goals. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s amazing how vague some people can be in listing his/her goals. For example, the broad statement, “I want to be wealthy?” Ask ten people to define wealth, and one is likely to receive ten different answers. Wealth for one person may mean earning a million dollars. Another person may consider “being wealthy” a lot less expensive at one hundred thousand dollars. Another person may define wealth as financial independence to have all bills paid each month without consideration. Yet, another may define wealth as being spiritually fulfilled. If one isn’t specific about what he/she wants to accomplish, it will be more difficult to obtain it.
2. Reflect on the past year for a baseline. This does not mean getting so bogged down in the previous year that the person becomes discouraged for the upcoming year. This reflection is an assessment so that person has a baseline to begin. In the losing weight example, the baseline would be the person’s weight and measurement prior to starting any weight loss program. It also probably should include a discussion with a physician or nutritionist regarding safe dieting and health.
3. List wins and fails. It is beneficial to note if a goal has been attempted previously what actions were successful and which weren’t. This avoids wasting time repeating behavior that does not work and increases doing the things that do. Referring back to the weight loss example, a person may find that he/she is more motivated to swim than do aerobatics. So, why would that person register for an advanced aerobatics class? Studies have shown that many “can’t have diets” fail because the person feels hungry and deprived. Dieters who “limit” (e.g., portion control) but don’t “prohibit” their consumption of certain foods are more likely to be successful. However, this may be a slippery slope for some because once they do not adhere to the “limit.” They argue that the temptation to have a little is too great, and it is better to have none at all. Therefore, to determine a diet plan, the dieter may consider which method they previously had the most success using.
4. Make a list of challenges and obstacles. What barriers stand in the way of achieving your goals? When a person knows what obstacles he/she faces, he/she is able to devise a strategy to avoid them. A coworker discussed having toxic friends who got into her head whenever she talked of a career change. They convinced her that she was making a mistake and that the situation would improve at her current job. And perhaps for a time, things did get better. However, it would always revert to misery. Months of being sedentary turned into a year. Now, the coworker has reservations about switching careers because of her age. She had this to say. “I think the advice from my friends wasn’t in my best interest but theirs. I think they wanted me to stay because they were staying. They knew I wasn’t happy, and instead of encouraging me to chase a dream, they convinced me I wasn’t being realistic. I can’t blame them entirely because I had no confidence in myself. If I did, I wouldn’t have listened. Instead, I empowered them to allow my fear to stifle my professional growth.” This leads to the next point.
5. Be confident that the goal can be achieved. If you think you can, you will.
6. Understand setbacks. Not-so-pleasant things happen. That does not mean it is the end of the road. If appropriately viewed, all setbacks can be learning experiences. Besides, they happen to everyone. If a plan is well-devised when a reversal occurs, all one needs to do is consider the options detailed in the strategic plan to continue moving forward.
7. Purpose of goal. Sure, the purpose of a weight loss goal is obviously to lose weight. However, why does the person want to lose weight? Is it to fit into a dress for a special occasion? Is it to meet the requirement for a sport? Is it for health reasons? Or is it to impress someone else? Many years ago, a relative who was a nurse who was in her mid-sixties at the time revealed that her dream had been to be a mortician. When asked why she had never become one, she stated that her parents had pushed her to be a nurse because her older sister was a nurse. She adopted the path of being a nurse to please others and follow a path that others had laid for her. This is similar to the situation with the coworker who failed to leave her job. However, in this instance, it wasn’t fear or a lack of confidence that kept the relative from following her dreams. It was her desire for approval from her family. When setting goals, it is important that the person setting the goal actually wants to achieve the goal for himself/herself.
8. Measurable steps. This is self-explanatory. Any goals set should be able to measure. With a weight loss goal, calorie intake and tracking weight are measurable steps. For becoming wealthy, counting money saved or gaining promotions are measurable steps. Without measurable steps, it’s difficult to determine progress.
9. Accountability. It may be challenging, but anyone who has goals must weave measurements of responsibility into his/her goal plan. When a plan lacks accountability, it is easy to get off track and stay off. Several years ago, a friend had a goal to stop smoking. Each week, he deposited the money he would have spent on cigarettes into a special account that he planned to use partially to pay for a vacation to Fiji. As a punishment, if he decided to smoke, he had to smoke a cigarette from the pack he’d purchased before deciding to quit. The thing about this pack was that it had been opened, and the cigarettes had started to grow stale over time. Also, he’d accidentally left them outside, and they had gotten wet from the rain. The worse was that one of his brother’s cats had twinkled on it. He enlisted his family to watch him and be sure that if abided by his own rules. (If anyone is wondering, he was successful in quitting, but not before smoking a “cat special” cigarette. He has always said smoking it was so disgusting that he now gags each time he sees a cigarette.)
10. Have achievable goals. Now listen. The sky is the limit, but at a certain point, the sky turns into space. Many years ago, a professor told the class a story of one of his clients who wanted to be a fireman. This was not an obtainable goal because the person was deaf, and his not being able to hear would make him a liability in a fire that he could not hear his coworker’s warnings and/or have smoke obstruct his view to read their lips or signs. However, the local volunteer fire department founds other ways that he could help (e.g., preparing the equipment and managing the firehouse). It was not a perfect solution, but at the time, it was the best anyone could devise.

With that said, that’s all that I have for today. What did you think? What is your take on the subject? Do you agree or disagree? Did you find this information helpful or informative? Did you learn anything new, or did it change your opinion? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section. Also, let me know if you would like me to cover more of these types of topics or dive deeper into this one. If you like this post, please click the like button and share it. Your feedback allows me to know the content that you want to read. If you’re not following me on Creole Bayou blog, what are you waiting for? There’s always room at the bayou.

Get ready. It’s almost time to hit the ice again. Future Goals Coming soon.

Future Goals

When a college hockey player needs the help of an attractive older attorney, he gets more than he bargained for when trying to sort out the troubles in his career. Falling in love was never part of either man’s plan, especially as Corrigan’s and Sacha’s lives should never have collided. Now they’re left questioning if they’re standing in the way of the other’s future goals, or if there’s room for redirection.

Preorder your copy at:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3RjPYb9
Other booksellers: https://bit.ly/3CI8d5W

Missed the first four books in my hockey romance series? No frets.

Out of the Penalty Box (book #1), where it is one minute in the box or a lifetime out, is available at http://amzn.to/2Bhnngw. It also can be ordered on iTunes, Nook, or Kobo. For more links on where to purchase or to read the blurb, please visit http://bit.ly/2i9SqpH.

Defending the Net (book #2) can be ordered at https://amzn.to/2N7fj8q or www.books2read.com/defending. Crossing the line could cost the game.

Ice Gladiators (book #3) is the third book in my Locker Room Love series. When the gloves come off, the games begin. Available at https://amzn.to/2TGFsyD or www.books2read.com/icegladiators.

Penalty Kill (book #4) retakes the ice. Get a copy at https://amzn.to/3ex0N9p or https://amzn.to/3ex0N9p and let the pucker begin.

For more of my stories, shenanigans, giveaways, and more, check out my blog, Creole Bayou, www.genevivechambleeconnect.wordpress.com. New posts are made on Wednesdays, and everything is raw and unscathed. Climb on in a pirogue and join me on the bayou.