Life

As I type this, I am up early, as usual.  It’s still dark outside but warm here in the jungle.  I can hear the rain cascading in sheets through the open window.  After weeks of sweltering in heat and humidity, a storm has swept a “cold front” over the islands.  But hailing originally from Alaska, I can hardly label temperatures in the mid-70s, even with rain, as “cold.”  It does affect my ability to run regularly though, which can leave me feeling quite restless.

Sometimes life is as crazy as the weather and that’s how it’s been for me lately.  There is always a flurry of activity near the end of school and my husband’s job has been very busy.  What suffers is my writing.  Not the quality, not my creativity, not my focus nor my desire to write.  Those things strain for an outlet when constrained, always pushing to be unleashed.  But when time grows short, it is my work, unfortunately, which must be scaled back.

So I try to wait patiently for an opportunity to finish my latest novel which is so unbearably close to completion, my brain aches to finish it.  And I already have my next book in mind which my fingers long to begin.

Ah well, the time will come.

Thank you!

A wonderful thank you to all who participated in the giveaway 

of my latest novel, Pirate Barbarian! 

 

 I love my readers and your support means everything to me!

Something for Free?

It’s hard to believe summer is just around the corner or already here, depending on where you live.  Although I’ve done a bit of nonfiction technical writing lately, I am definitely the happiest when writing fiction. I am wrapping up my latest novel whenever I have the chance and enjoying every second of the process.

The exciting news (yes I know you were wondering about the “free” part!) is that All Romance eBooks Café is having a special promotion right now. They are giving away a book a day (or sometimes even more than one).

 

The Café will feature my novel, Pirate Barbarian, on Thursday, May 9.   

All you need to do is enter to win and voila!  I hope you are successful – the read is definitely worth it!

Music to My Ears?

I love to listen to music when I write. It masks other sounds, helps me focus and provides an imaginative backdrop against which to create fantasy. I admit to being particular about the type of music I choose, generally finding songs which match the themes of each book. So I usually compile different playlists for my erotic, adventurous, dialogue, or even poignant scenes.

For the particular genre of the book I am working on now (and yes, I am getting close to finishing!), I have enjoyed listening to a new category of music from a customizable internet station. I won’t go into names, but this particular station interrupts the flow of the music with sudden advertisements, although it allows one to do “activities” to get a few more minutes of respite from the ads. I understand internet stations rely on advertising revenue and yet there are many, many stations with less obtrusive interruptions or primarily visual promotions.

In any event, I have been suffering through the usual car dealership, PC tablet and cleaning supply ads. But lately, they began to grow harsher. Suddenly I had a woman shouting out about hair care products, while telling me she was sorry to interrupt me. Did I believe she was really sorry? Not at all, especially since those ads were mixed to a volume twice as high as my music. I would be writing intensely , focused and absorbed, content with my quiet melodic ambiance and suddenly she would bellow out: “So sorry to interrupt you!” I nearly jumped out of my skin.

Still, I put up with it because it occurred only every 45 minutes and I did love the mix. But in the past few days, a male voice began to ask loudly whether I minded being called a “bonehead. “

A bonehead? Excuse me?

I pushed through. I told myself it’s ok to be called a bonehead occasionally by an anonymous voice and the first time, it might even have been a little cute. But then the ad started to repeat itself every nine minutes. I timed it. I deleted my cookies. I restarted my browser. I restarted my computer. All to no avail.

For me, this was the last straw!

Can I work well if I am interrupted that often by someone suggesting noisily and pejoratively that I am a bonehead? For that matter, would anyone, writing or not, want such a thing?

Thankfully, I found several wonderful substitutes on YouTube that play hours of uninterrupted music of just the right genre for me. And for my next book, I will find a completely different internet station or go back to compiling my own songs!

St. Patrick, the Snakes and a Sale

This Sunday, March 17, St. Patrick's Day will be celebrated in Ireland and other countries around the globe.  I am personally a mix of many nationalities but the largest single percentage happens to be Irish. St. Patrick’s Day has always held a special place in my heart and was a very celebrated holiday while I grew up. My mother always hung a flag on which she had hand-sewn a shamrock, baked homemade Irish Soda Bread and sometimes colored our food green (all right, I admit not a genuine Irish tradition, but still ….). 

And as a young child, I remember spending countless hours lying on my stomach in grassy fields, looking for four-leaf clovers. It is amazing how many one can actually find if one has the patience to look for that long.

Legend has it that St. Patrick, a British priest who became a patron saint of Ireland, used the staff of Moses to banish all snakes from the island. Some scholars argue that Ireland was too cold for snakes to ever really live comfortably but that doesn’t make for a very good story. Hawaii doesn’t have snakes either, or very few, so perhaps I feel some connection with the good man.

In any event, in honor of St. Patrick, shamrocks, pots of gold and even those much-maligned snakes, two of my full-length novels, Awakenings and Pirate Barbarian, will be going on sale for $.99, this weekend only!  It is my way to bring the luck of the Irish to all of you.

Happy reading and please leave a review!  I wish everyone a very lovely and lucky St. Patrick’s Day!

Around the World!

Thank you to my amazing readers who come from such diverse places around the globe.  I appreciate all of the lovely comments you have made about my novels, whether in reviews, in forums, on retail sites and in correspondence.


From my sales overseas, I realize I have a strong worldwide readership although I cannot identify those who buy my books by country.  I can, however, view the countries from which my blog readers visit.  There have been so many global visitors and I appreciate all of you!

I thought I would post a few of my most recent blog visitors:

I am blown away by the incredible diversity of my audience.  To my readers everywhere, thank you!