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

Another month gone! 2022 is flying! This month, the kids go back to school and my weekdays will be quieter. Soon, twice daily swims will be reduced to one as the water cools. 🙁 But there’s the string of lovely holidays coming with fall, so I won’t be sad for long…

July

Here’s what I managed to accomplish…

Work-related:

1. I completed writing and published Gabriel, Book #7 in my MBH: Dead Horse, MT, series. Fig finally got her man!
2. I completed 2 editing projects for other authors in July.

Health-related:

1. I have not climbed back aboard the Weight Watchers wagon. However, I maintained 25 pounds of my loss since January. Motivation is still lagging…
2. As for physical activity, I’ve upped my steps and make multiple trips up and down the stairs! I’m swimming at least once a day, usually twice.
3. I visited the dermatologist this month. I had a spot of skin cancer in the past, but this checkup was all clear. Yay!

Happiness-related: 

1. I volunteered to serve on the board of my local art guild, so I HAVE to get out of the house and mingle with real people. Along with my board position, I committed to twice monthly “art days” where I paint at the art center with my artist friends.
2. I committed to participating in this year’s Festival of the Arts, so I must get some decent paintings done to sell in September! Yikes!
3. Here are a few of my recent pieces…

August

Do these covers excite you?

For work-related, I plan:

1. To complete a story set in my sister’s Brotherhood Protector’s world! The cover is coming soon!
2. To revise and compile the Danger Zone trilogy into a single bundle and get it ready for publishing in August!
3. To plot and chart out Hard Knox, my first We Are Dead Horse story!
4. To complete 5 editing projects in August!

For health related, I plan:

1. To restart Weight Watchers (count those points!) and hope to lose at least 5 pounds, remembering: Slow is good!
2. To swim at least one time a day while I can! Mid-September is when the water gets a little too nippy…
3. To begin some low-impact aerobics. I’ll do more housework, too, because my art room is a disaster!

For happiness-related, I plan: 

1. To inventory the art I have and determine what I need to do next to get ready for the show!
2. To produce at least four finished pieces of art every week!
3. To blog about art (on my Emerald Casket site) just to keep myself honest! (No one actually has to read it! No one except my pal Susan does!)

Contest

Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier. Tell me what you plan to read…

Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…ButtonsMom2003!
*~*~*

First, just a reminder! Gabriel releases after midnight tonight. If you haven’t already pre-ordered your copy, just click on the image!

Next! With only three weeks left before the kids head back to school, we’re trying to fit in fun family activities. Of course, we have the pool, the lake, etc. We also love our movie nights!

I’ve been dying to see this movie…

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me your recommendations for family movie night!

Just a reminder! In just ONE WEEK, Gabriel releases! Have you pre-ordered your copy?!

MONTANA BOUNTY HUNTERS:
DEAD HORSE, MT
Authentic Men… Real Adventures…

An ex-Special Forces bounty hunter has to find a way to repair his friendship with the agency’s prickly tech guru while not falling in love with her…

Gabriel Pelletier can’t read women. Hell, he didn’t know his ex-wife had been seeing another man until she cleaned out the apartment while he was deployed. Somehow, he’s managed to offend the Montana Bounty Hunters’ tech guru, and everyone around him is telling him to fix it!

Ex-Army Fredericka “Fig” Newton has always navigated working with men by repelling them before she attracts unwanted attention. She temporarily lost her mind trying to befriend Gabriel when he joined the agency. Sure, he’s cute, and while everyone around her has found their happy-ever-after, she thought, just maybe, she could find hers with him. But nope. All her friendly overtures blew up in her face. So, it’s back to prickly Fig. Besides, they have a bad guy to take down and no time for romance.

Pre-order here!

Open Contests

1. 10 Things That Make Me Sigh (Contest) — Win a FREE book!
2. Saturday Puzzle-Contest! — Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Giveaway! FREE Read! Sweeter Than Honey — This giveaway ends soon! Everyone, get your copy!
4. Tell Me a Story or a Big Fat Lie! (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!

I’ve got my head down, typing my stubby fingers to the bone to get this book done! It arrives on July 26th, but I wanted to give you a little taste of Gabriel’s story. Enjoy the excerpt! ~DD

Have you preordered your copy? Link to Gabriel

Excerpt from Gabriel…

Gabriel Pelletier was pretty sure something had changed. Not that he was a deeply intuitive man—at least, not when it came to women. However, he was one hundred percent sure something was different about the bounty hunter’s office admin and operations guru, Fredericka Newton.

For one thing, she’d insisted that very morning that he call her “Fig” like everyone else in the agency did—her delivery crisp, her lips firm. And she’d hit him with that as he’d poured his first cup of coffee before the morning meeting had even begun.

When she’d turned on her heel and left him with his jaw sagging and wondering what bee had crawled up her ass, he’d seen Chase’s black eyebrows rise and his lips purse, had noted Cowboy’s grimace and Cage’s slow blink. Worse, Marti had been doing her best after her initial snort not to bust a gut laughing while her man Hardman shushed her with a glare.

Gabe had thought he’d had a budding friendship happening with Fredericka…er, Fig. “Fredericka” had been the name she’d given him when he’d first arrived after he’d received the invitation from Cage Morgan to join the agency. He’d sat across from Fig’s desk, filling out forms, while she’d kept up a light patter of conversation, which he’d learned later from the rest of the hunters was highly unusual. The Fig they knew was all about the job, hyper-focused, no chitchat. And yet, she’d been friendly with him. Soft and warm-looking, too—something he’d mentioned to his partner, Eli Pope, who’d done his level best to hold back a grin, especially when Gabe had mentioned just how nice “Fredericka” was.

Today, he’d finally seen what the rest of the crew saw when they looked at Fig. Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE: The winners are…Colleen, bn100, Debra Guyette, and ButtonsMom2003!
*~*~*

Check out the series here!

I’m working on finishing the next Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT, book now, so I thought I’d post a little reminder of the stories that precede Gabriel’s in case you haven’t read them yet!

Readers enjoy the interplay between my ex-military hunters, love the strong heroines, the action, the sexiness, the action-packed scenes. Oh, and the humor! If you haven’t given my bounty hunters a try, now’s the time!

For a chance to win your choice of one of the books in this series, tell me what you love to see in an action-packed story!

And don’t forget, Gabriel is coming July 26th! Preorder your copy here: Gabriel

Here’s a reminder! If you have Kindle Unlimited, you can download my latest bounty hunter story, Eli, for FREE. It leaves KU on April 24th, so don’t delay!

Eli

MONTANA BOUNTY HUNTERS: DEAD HORSE, MT
Authentic Men… Real Adventures…

An ex-SEAL sniper, who has spent his life experiencing everything from a distance, finds his self-imposed solitude challenged by the one woman in the world who might have been made just for him.

Eli Pope left the SEALs when he feared that he was losing his humanity. Now, he’s the latest new hire at the Dead Horse branch of the Montana Bounty Hunters. However, working with the tight-knit hunters hasn’t broken through his reserve. He’s still the man on the outside looking in.

Then a chance meeting with Sheriff’s Deputy Kira Ennis sets him on a new path, leaving him hopeful for a brighter future. She’s unlike any woman he’s ever met—independent, smart, brave, and strong in her own right. He begins to believe that she’s the one person in the world meant to end his loneliness, but he hesitates, wondering if it’s right to pursue her when she’s so much younger than he is.

Get your FREE copy here!

UPDATE: The winner is…Beverly!
*~*~*

It’s Monday! I’m wide awake despite the time change. Let’s have some fun!

Have you read my Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT series yet? Well, you might want to catch up! I’ll tell you why, but first, here are the links:

Cage
Preacher
Hardman
Chase
Cowboy
Eli

Or you can find more links to other vendors selling these stories by heading to my series page and scrolling down to Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT: Series Page

Okay, with that out of the way, there are a couple of reasons you should catch up reading and soon!

#1

Besides the fact the entire series is packed full of adventure, sexy times, and humor, there’s another story coming your way…

It’s out in June, and I have to start writing it next month, so I’m not 100% sure what’s going to happen (I never do until it happens while I’m writing!). You can pre-order your copy here: Gabriel

#2

This guy…

I had been toying with an idea to branch off the bounty hunters and write some small-town stories, set in Dead Horse. Not planning or plotting. I just kept the idea in the back of my head. UNTIL, I found this photo.

And I knew who he was, where he lives, and I know who she is!!! If you read Eli, you know there’s a repair/body shop called Ride or Die. He’s the owner. And he doesn’t like the way the bounty hunters have taken over his town. They’re not Dead Horse (another line from the stories you’ll just have to read to see why it’s funny). So, I’m thinking about a series name for this offshoot project, and the only one I think fits is, “We’re Dead Horse!”

The series has some fun characters, my favorite being the persnickety waitress, Nadine, who works at the Dead Man Walk-In Diner. She’s always doing or saying something to my hunters that gets their attention, and she’s made quite the impression on some of my readers, so I thought, this girl is somehow related to Nadine. Which will make things a bit sticky and funny for this couple. She’s going to do the chasing, obviously.

So, where does the fun part come in to play for you?

Tell me about them. Suggest some names and a title of a book. Even think of something she can do to try to get his attention. Have fun with it! If you play, and comment below, you’ll be entered to win a $5 Amazon gift card!