First, a reminder of what’s coming your way next Tuesday!
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What happens in Bozeman stays in Bozeman…unless it’s a cowboy!
Stranded in Bozeman, Montana, for the night while snowplows clear a mountain pass, Kelly Willis decides to throw caution to the wind. After being jilted by her college sweetheart, she’s determined to have one no-holds-barred night, her way of seeking revenge against a lifetime of conformity, before she settles down in a new town to live a very circumspect life as an elementary school teacher. She chooses another stranded motorist, propositioning him with the offer of a no-strings, no-names night of pleasure.
No one is more shocked than rancher Ryan Mobley when he appears at his daughter’s parent-teacher meeting to discover the angel he’d made love to is his daughter’s new teacher. Now that she’s here, he’s going to do everything he can to convince her they have a real connection, something they can build a lifetime on.
While she wrangles the class bully and he tries to figure out who’s rustling his cattle, the two of them grow closer with the help of a classroom full of mini matchmakers.
Kelly Willis was a good girl by anyone’s definition. She’d never dated around, having gone steady with her star quarterback boyfriend since her sophomore year of high school. He’d been her first kiss, her first experience with sex. Her parents had adored her boyfriend and had delightedly set about planning her future so she didn’t screw up a good thing.
To make sure she was ever-present to their goal for her, she’d headed to college with him, wearing his promise ring, and had never once looked astray for attention from other men. Further, she’d gained her degree in a perfectly respectful, acceptably feminine profession.
She’d gone to church every Sunday of her life, never once doubting that God saw that she was good and would reward her for her virtue.
So, for her to be contemplating doing what she was now would’ve shocked the panties off her dear mother, her white-haired pastor, and her high school sex-ed teacher, who’d been long on abstinence and short on understanding a younger woman’s hormones. But then again, where were they all now?
Not here, stuck outside a hotel in Bozeman, Montana, while she waited for the snowplows to clear a passage through the mountains so she could get to her destination.
She hadn’t wanted to stop, and if the roads hadn’t been blocked by traffic barricades and a police officer directing vehicles to the nearest exit, she’d have kept driving—the winter storm be damned. By now, she’d had plenty of time alone with her thoughts.
Crazy, mixed-up thoughts of revenge and retribution filled her imagination with images of the fiery pit of Hell. Not for her. No, the person who deserved to be cast down into its depths wasn’t even here to feel the anger that had her fuming hot despite the chill, near-zero temperature.
While every curse word she’d never uttered aloud flitted through her mind, she felt her ire burbling like acid in her belly until it had to find its release.
“Fuck,” she whispered, then glanced around to make sure no one else standing in the parking lot had heard her. No one was looking her way.
And once she’d said it, she felt disappointed in herself. Not because she’d uttered that coarse, forbidden word but because she’d said it so softly. Was she gutless? Hadn’t she earned the right to rebel against a lifetime’s strictures? She’d been the Queen of Pristine, or so the boys at her high school had labeled her behind her back.
He had thought that title was hilarious, given what they’d done after the Friday Night Lights dimmed. He, who shall not be named. Ever again.
She sniffed back a sob, tamping it down deep.
“That fucker,” she said a little more loudly this time.
She stood straighter. No bolt of lightning had struck her. In fact, her chest felt a little lighter now. She could finally draw a deep breath.
Again, her gaze went to the man on the edge of the group, standing outside the hotel’s diner while employees were scurrying inside to open for a bunch of stranded, hungry travelers.
He’d do. Not that he’d given her so much as a glance. It didn’t matter that she’d decided for him. He was in the right place at the right time—although “right” and what she intended had nothing to do with each other. She turned up the fur-lined collar of her puffy jacket and strode in his direction. For the moment, she was filled with confidence because she’d earned this. Years of servitude to a single, hallowed goal would have their reward.
She didn’t even care if he was handsome. Good looks hid ugly flaws, or so she’d discovered. She hoped he had a big nose and was missing a tooth—just one. She’d want to kiss him after all. She was sure he’d have calluses, given he was wearing a cowboy hat that looked like it actually served a purpose, with its faint ring around the crown. His jeans were faded by actual use, not some weird fashion statement. His boots were scuffed and a plain brown. No nonsense. A working man’s footwear, not a poser’s.
The closer she drew, the more confident she felt about this plan. First, she’d insinuate herself into sharing a table with him. She’d smile and flirt, then drop her extra key card on the table when she excused herself.
She was almost there; he was turning toward her…
No, he turned and smiled at a grinning woman who was waving her keycard in her hand and rushing to his side.
Well, shit. She only just managed to keep the words inside her mouth.
The doors to the diner swung open, and she was caught in the crowd of twenty or so individuals who flowed inside the heated space.
Tables filled quickly, and she eyed an open stool at the counter, but a man whose large bottom nearly swallowed the stool laid claim before she could.
She stood with her shoulders drooping, looking for an empty table, when she heard a throat clear to her left.
Glancing sideways, she saw a man with a lop-sided smile waving a hand to the open seat across from him. “I don’t mind sharing, ma’am.”
I completed 3 editing projects for other authors in February.
Health-related:
I visited my heart doctor, and he was so pleased with my progress I don’t have to see him for another year!
I continued concentrating on drinking more water, plus, I continued drinking water mixed with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar twice a day to improve my liver health. I began drinking one cup of Turmeric tea a day.
I’ve managed to keep my blood pressure down to 135-155, despite the fact I haven’t lost any weight. Gah.
Happiness-related:
I began the #the100dayproject art challenge.
I led a hands-on program for the local art guild using Gelli plates to produce pretty papers for things like collage. (See the tags I made below, which were painted using Gelli plates!)
Here are some examples of art projects I completed in February.
March
For work-related, I plan:
To complete writing What Happens in Bozeman, my next We are Dead Horse, MT, book, which releases on March 19th!
To begin work on my next Brotherhood Protectors book!
To complete 4 editing projects in March!
To finish reading and selecting stories from among the submissions for the upcoming collection—Secret Identities: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology!
For health related, I plan:
To start back on my Weight Watchers diet, because it’s time to get serious! I HAVE to get back in the saddle!
To continue to reduce salt and processed food, and incorporate foods good for blood pressure (spinach, broccoli, bananas) and my liver (apple cider vinegar, flax seeds, sunflower seeds).
To begin daily workouts using my recumbent bike and some chair yoga exercises.
For happiness-related, I plan:
To continue #the100daychallenge where I’ll be painting something every single day!
To meet three of my favorite author-friends for a luncheon to get some writer time!
Contest
Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier, or tell me what you plan to read in March… Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!
Okay, so maybe I’m just sharing some eye candy today, but this looks pretty hot, right?
I found art for a little story I’m refurbishing that I don’t think more than a handful of people have ever read. My sister worked her cover magic to make it pretty. I’ll publish the story before the end of the month, maybe next week if I can manage to sit my butt in the chair long enough to do the work. It’s a time-travel tale. My hero and heroine head to ancient Scythia, which is thought to be the place where the legend of the Amazons originated. It’s fun. Short. A novelette—so longer than a short story, but shorter than what I normally write. Be looking for it if you want a fun, sexy, shorter read.
And just to remind you, I have two other stories in the works, too. Three actually, but until my sister loads the pre-order (it’s a Brotherhood Protectors story), I’m not going to talk about it, but I’ll have another lovely cover to share soon.
Here are the two coming your way in the next couple of months. Click on the covers if you want to put them on pre-order.
The kids are on their fourth day of “snow days” so they’ll be underfoot today. I rose early, not only to make sure the trash made it to the roadside, but to get a little work in before chaos resumes. We dodged the bullet with the kitchen pipes freezing. When we had a brief thaw, no water gushed from the walls. Thank God. The frozen pool is still a possible disaster that we have to wait to see if there’s damage. Next week, we’ll have a long enough thaw the ice floe on the top of the pool should melt entirely, then we can turn on the pump and see if disaster awaits.
I hope everyone here in the northern hemisphere is staying warm and toasty. We’ve lucked out with only a short three-hour power outage so far. I’m okay with wearing socks, a sweater, and thermal underwear for the drafts. Not a pretty picture, I assure you. 🙂
If you’re in the mood to chat, tell me 1) do you like the new cover? 2) And what does your weekend look like? I’m planning to stay hunkered down and maybe watch a movie with the family. 3) Any suggestions? Answer for a chance to win a FREE download of one of my books!
I continued to work on Malcolm (Book #10 of Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT).
I completed 5 editing projects for other authors in December.
I didn’t write a lot in December, between the craft fair and getting ready for the holiday/having kids underfoot, but I don’t care. It was a fun month!
Health-related:
I have been concentrating on drinking more water, plus, I added drinking water mixed with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar twice a day to improve my liver health. It’s weird, but after the first couple of times of drinking it while wrinkling my nose, I actually like it.
I’ve managed to keep my blood pressure down to 135-155, despite the holiday excesses.
Happiness-related:
I finished some last items for the Christmas craft fair and participated in early December. It was so much fun!
Here are some examples of things I completed before the fair. And yes, I painted tags for potholder sets. 🙂
January
For work-related, I plan:
To complete writing Malcolm, my next Montana Bounty Hunters book and publish it!
To start back on my Weight Watchers diet, because it’s time to get serious!
To continue to reduce salt, processed food, and incorporate foods good for blood pressure (spinach, broccoli, bananas) and my liver (apple cider vinegar, flax seeds, sunflower seeds).
To pay attention to my daily steps, trips up and down the stairs, and to incorporate some chair exercises and more walking.
To do more housework because my art room isn’t finished! Cleaning is exercise, too.
For happiness-related, I plan:
To participate in the Gel Print January challenge where I’ll be making painted pages for collaging—at least one every day!
To assume the presidency of the local art guild, much as I don’t want to, but someone’s got to keep the organization going!
Contest
Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier, or tell me what you plan to read in January… Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!
UPDATE: The winners are…Misty Dawn, Jean White, and BN!
*~*~*
We authors have our favorites. It’s not like your love for your children where you have to love them equally (or should!). It has to do with the characters you wish you could meet in real life and the experience of writing the story. If a hero can make me laugh and swoon then I’m hooked.
So, here comes Knox Ramsey. Just the name stayed in my head for the longest time. His story was supposed to be the first in the We Are Dead Horse series, but he was still percolating, still being an A-hole in the back of my brain, so I skipped to Cash Whitaker who wants to run the town. Cold Hard Cash was certainly a blast to write. His sudden, logical desire for a wife sparked a challenge in his PA, Lila Hanson, and as soon as her sister Nah-Nahs dug in to help her, it was all over for poor Cash. Knox and Carleen played in the background of that story, with Carleen’s antics, trying to get Knox’s attention, providing a lot of humor.
But then it was finally time to give Knox the thing he didn’t know he needed. Oh yes, he wanted Carleen, but for many reasons he thought he could never have her. It was up to clever Carleen to show him how wrong he was—and Carleen doesn’t have a shy bone in her body. As it turns out, neither does Knox.
So, from the list of stories I wrote this year, here’s my favorite, Hard Knox.
After relentlessly pursuing the biggest badass around and failing, Dead Horse, Montana’s wild child offers him an irresistible proposition—one night of passion, one and done, and she’ll walk away forever…
Dead Horse, Montana’s wild child, Carleen Crossley, knows what she wants—or rather—who. She’s spent years chasing after Knox Ramsey, the biggest badass in Dead Horse, MT. However, she’s resigned herself to the fact that her methods of gaining his affection aren’t reaping any rewards. Yes, her antics keep the townsfolk amused, and Knox definitely knows she’s alive, but she has yet to break through his cold, hard heart to claim her man.
For Knox, Carleen is impossible to ignore. She’s everywhere he is. The sexy vixen has made him uncomfortably aware that she’s his for the taking, and Lord knows he’s tempted. However, he knows he’s not the man for her. He’s his father’s son with his father’s temper, and he won’t succumb to Carleen’s charms because she deserves better than him.
In one moment of frustration over his refusal to really see her and everything she’s offering, Carleen proposes a deal Knox finds impossible to resist. One night of passion—one and done—and she’ll never bother him again.
When she keeps her promise afterward, Knox’s pursuit begins because once was not enough.
Contest
For a chance to win your choice of one of my Dead Horse, MT, stories—hunters or townsfolk—let me know in the comments if you’ve read any of my Dead Horse stories and what you might like to see me write more of in the future. I’ll choose 3 winners!
In case you didn’t already know, I have new releases coming soon! Little Green Dreams arrives soon on December 12th (I moved the date up a week!); Malcolm on January 16th; and What Happens in Bozeman on February 20th! Malcolm is the next Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT, story, and What Happens in Bozeman is the next We Are Dead Horse, MT book. Little Green Dreams is a standalone title, for now. Depending on how readers enjoy it, there may be more stories that follow. Believe me, I have some ideas…
I hope you’re looking forward to them all and that you’ll take a moment to pre-order each one so you don’t miss them when they release! I promise there’s humor, sexiness, and small-town adventures in each.
The Gurdon Light
Central to my next release, Little Green Dreams, is a local phenomenon that occurs some 20-odd miles down the road from me called The Gurdon Light. The TV show Unsolved Mysteries even did an episode featuring the legend, which I mention in my story because it was a big deal back in the day that lent some legitimacy to the legend since they couldn’t find a scientific cause for the Light. And just so you know, I’ve seen it, too.
The Gurdon Light is Arkansas’s most famous legend. There’s a certain length of old, abandoned railroad track near Gurdon, Arkansas, where a mysterious light can be seen when you walk down the tracks. It’s a bright orb that appears to swing side to side. And it’s not shy. It appears often. Local universities have taken students out there to try to find the source of the Light, but they’ve pretty much ruled out things like swamp gas because the light doesn’t dissipate in the wind.
The legend the locals tie the Light to is a sad story. This is a snippet from the book where I explain the supposed origin of the Light:
“William McClain was a foreman working for the Missouri-Pacific railroad. Late one evening, he was finishing up when he was approached by one of his workers, Louis McBride. It was during the Depression…1931, as I recall. Times were hard, and Mr. McBride, although he had a job, wanted more hours because he needed money. The railroad had strict rules about how many hours a man could work, so Mr. McClain said he couldn’t give him any more. They got into an argument, and McBride raised his shovel and struck McClain in the head. Then he beat him to death with a spike maul—it’s a tool a railroad man uses, like a sledgehammer. It was an awful thing.”
Ever since Mr. McClain’s murder, the light appears on the tracks. Locals say it’s the railroad lantern he carried.
So, that’s the legend I piggybacked my book on. Although, I have a very different explanation for the phenomenon because, hey, I’m a storyteller and that’s what I do—I make stuff up. 🙂
Watch this very short episode from a local newscast, interviewing someone who has seen the Light.
Contest
For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me about a legend from your “neck of the woods!”
So, here comes Knox Ramsey. Just the name stayed in my head for the longest time. His story was supposed to be the first in the We Are Dead Horse series, but he was still percolating, still being an A-hole in the back of my brain, so I skipped to Cash Whitaker who wants to run the town. Cold Hard Cash was certainly a blast to write. His sudden, logical desire for a wife sparked a challenge in his PA, Lila Hanson, and as soon as her sister Nah-Nahs dug in to help her, it was all over for poor Cash. Knox and Carleen played in the background of that story, with Carleen’s antics, trying to get Knox’s attention, providing a lot of humor.
