This week's fun

I had a lovely surprise when I arrived home today. My author copies of the Japanese version of Mail Order Husband! The book is about 4 inches by 6 inches and opens on the left instead of the right. They are adorable little books and the agency’s lovely note said the book is being released on November 9th. Working with the UNI Agency of Tokyo has been a wonderful experience that I’ll always treasure.

I spent the weekend at a resort in central Minnesota with my writers group. It was lots of fun, even though there were 12 women in a cabin with 2 ½ baths. If any of you readers are aspiring authors, please join a writers group. The friendships, camaraderie, and experiences you gain will surpass all expectations. One of the writers created the banner at the top of my blog page at the retreat. I love it.

I’m looking forward to Halloween this weekend. My granddaughters will be a princess (with a pointed hat, not a crown), Minnie Mouse, and a pumpkin. My brother puts on a huge haunted house we’ll go visit as well. I bought individually wrapped, glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth for him to pass out to all those brave enough to enter.

I have writing to do, so will sign off now, and wish you a very happy and exciting Halloween! Live in the moment and make the most of it!

October is slipping away...

First, I’d like to say thank you to all the wonderful blog readers, fans, friends, and family for the precious birthday wishes you emailed, mailed, texted, phoned, posted on facebook, etc. etc. Each one was surprise and I sincerely thank you for thinking of me yesterday. I received some very special gifts from my family. They are so thoughtful (the Favre jersey is awesome!).

My gift to myself was my new Miche purse. I love this thing! I did buy the longer straps than the ones in this picture, I’m a shoulder strap person…and the other two shells I ordered are being shipped out tomorrow. I’m so anxious for them to arrive! A camo one for hunting season, and a snowflake one for the holidays.

Okay, enough about my purse fetish and on to writing…the count down to release dates is on!

Guardian Bride, the Quinter Brides book 4 will be released on Oct. 29th by The Wild Rose Press.
Blurb: Snake Quinter believes he dodged a bullet when he refused to wed the girl Ma was set on hitching him to. Then he wakes up. Not only had he been shot—twice, he and Summer Austin are definitely married.
For over ten years Summer Austin had known her life was tied to the Quinter family—her guardian angel said so. She was willing to do whatever it took to keep her siblings safe, but what would Snake and his family do when they discovered she, a half-breed, was responsible for their father’s death?


Then, on Nov. 1st, Harlequin, Mills and Boon will release Her Midnight Cowboy!
Blurb: Eastern Wyoming, 1884
In Angel Clayton's opinion, men don't get any finer than hired hand Rowdy McGuire. The very thought of him makes her ache with need—and the sight of his golden, glistening skin only makes it worse. She knows he feels their bodies' magical, intense pull towards one another, even if the honorable cowboy refuses to admit that a drifter and a ranch owner's daughter could ever be together.
But Angel is determined to get what she wants—and she wants Rowdy!

The end of October is also the time my writer’s group goes on a retreat. We are headed up to a resort in the Brainerd Lakes area this weekend, and I’m looking forward to spending the days with the awesome ladies in my RWA Chapter. Food, fun, and days of talking about romance writing—it just doesn’t get better. Oh, and we do fit in a few training sessions and some writing time.

Be good to yourself, that’s what allows you to be good to others!

All because two people fell in love...

Here’s an updated picture of the granddaughters. They are such sweet little treasures, and we feel so blessed to have them in our lives.

DH and I took the six hour drive up north last weekend, and spent some time living in the woods, and getting stuck in the mud. It was a fun time, and the getaway provided a much needed break.

On the writing side, Her Midnight Cowboy is due out November first! (And the e-book version of Guardian Bride, the Quinter Brides Book 4 will be released Oct. 29th.) Right now I’m working on the edits of another UNDONE.

I started working on another time travel, (I’m a fan of those), but found my left brain fighting with my right brain as I worked on it. The right brain is the creative one, it lets the words flow from my fingertips, but the editor mode of the left brain kept jumping in, slowing my progression. The left brain also kept pointing out scenes that need more research. I thought writing up north where I don’t have any internet would stifle the left brain a bit, but it didn’t, so after a bit more research, I’ll be ready to work on the book some more. Have you ever taken one of those left brain/right brain tests? Here’s one if you want to try it. There are several of them on line, and depending on the day, I get different results. I’ve also taken a ‘brain gym’ class, and often use the exercises before sitting down to write.

Okay, enough rambling, I’m off to my edits, and hope you have a great week!

Guardian Bride

The print version of the fourth book in the Quinter Bride series, Guardian Bride, has been released as an early bird special at The Wild Rose Press. The e-book version will be released the end of this month.

Every book leaves a special mark in my heart, and this one is no different. I loved discovering how deeply Snake falls in love with Summer and her siblings. He’s a remarkable man that I hadn’t really got to know while writing his brother’s stories.

My mother reads all my stories in draft form. Yes, she’s my mom, so she says wonderful things about every book, however, she’s also an avid reader and I do respect her comments and suggestions. The morning after I gave her this book, she called to say she stayed up half the night reading. She’s 79 and said she hadn’t read a book that held her attention so intensely in years. Ironically, my beta reader said relatively the same thing.

We celebrated family b-days this weekend, and I’m still full from all the wonderful food. My oldest made homemade ice cream that was the best I’ve ever tasted. Hubby and I spent all day Saturday traveling from store to store (and town to town) looking for a new wood stove for our sauna. I’m looking forward to trying it out. The old stove warped from usage and we’ve missed it. (Needless to say, I didn’t get much writing done on the new MS this weekend.)

Hope you all have a GREAT week! Smile at strangers, they may be friends you haven’t yet met.