• Sunday Snippet: The Just 15K More Edition (& There’s a Snippet!)

    That’s 15K more words until Kara and Joey’s story is done and I can do the necessary stuff to get it ready to go to my editor. I’ve been a writing machine the past week, getting up every morning to get at least a thousand words in with a great group of sprinters led by Bryn Donovan, writer, editor, and all around, great person. I’m at the dark moment–which in my books is rarely dark-dark, mostly just a little on the gray side, and frequently, it’s not a conflict between the two MCs, as much as it is an issue for one of them that he/she must solve in order…

  • Sunday Snippet: The It’s All About the Promo Edition

    Today, it is, mes amis. It’s actually Saturday late afternoon. I’ve met a friend for breakfast, edited almost 80 combined pages on two different projects today, made some notes about my own WIP on my lunch break, gotten rained on during my quick walk around the ‘hood, and frankly, my brain is fried. Grandboy is due here any moment and I need to go back and change the sheets on his bed. Then I’ll take him to the theater for his next-to-last performance of As You Like It.  It’s been a day… not a bad day at all, just a day where I could’ve taken a nap at any given…

  • Sunday Snippet: The And We’re Off… Edition

    …like a herd of turtles. Yup, we are! Liz and I are headed for a writing retreat this morning, so this is a necessarily quick post. We booked a VRBO in, of all places, Bardstown, Kentucky. No idea why we chose that place except that we’d never been there and it looked charming, so we thought, why not? The plan is to write, write, write–I need to get words in on the second book in my Walkers of River’s Edge series. Joey and Kara’s story is percolating away in my head, it just needs to come out the ends of my fingers! Liz is working on a women’s fiction story,…

  • Sunday Snippet: The Time to Breathe Edition

    Good morning, mes amies! It’s been a week, kids, it’s really been a week! Release week is always kinda crazy, and this one has been particularly wild because I’ve been all over the Web, including being chosen as a Fresh Pick on Fresh Fiction yesterday–totally awesome!! Check it out! Heart Update: Tuesday, I had an echocardiogram, expecting to hear that my heart had improved slightly on the 4-drug protocol, but wowee! My Ejection Fraction went from 37 to 50 (normal is 55-70), so those pricey meds are truly working! I am feeling better, stronger than I have in probably five years, so yup–taking a handful of meds twice a day…

  • Sunday Snippet: The Wow, What a Week Edition

    And it was indeed, mes amies, quite a week! Author Nan has had a pretty cool time this past week. Right off, the story for Joey and Kara–book 2 in the Walkers of River Edge series is underway and so far, I’m liking it. Right now, the best part is researching garden shops and nurseries and plants. Wow. So much to learn to write these two characters. It’s a shame I don’t retain too much of what I learn in this research, isn’t it? Next, the Authors Over 50 podcast I did with Julia Daily ,back in April, dropped on Thursday and I sound halfway intelligent, which is always a…

  • Sunday Snippet: The What the Heck Happened to Summer? Edition

    Seriously… how is it already August 6? I mean, wasn’t it just May and Husband and I were looking forward to our 50th anniversary trip to Oregon and I was busy making plans with my writer pal Carol Light for our trip to San Juan Capistrano and the Tule Author Retreat and checking with my sibs for a visit to my brother’s in Woodland Hills? I’m sure that was just a week ago… Yikes! Oregon is a fond, wistful memory now. The Tule Author Retreat remains ingrained in my heart and mind as a wondrous time with fellow authors and editors and the Tule team, as well as a fun…

  • Sunday Snippet: The Travelogue #4 (and Final) Edition

    We’re headed home–flying back to the Midwest today after a week in California and has it ever been a week! Tule Author Retreat was a joy I will always remember and the rest of the week with my family has been lovely, too. It’s been too long since I last saw my brother and although he’s dealing with some health issues, he’s still my bro–funny, warm, wry, and easy to be with. Sister PJ came out with Brother’s granddaughter to join the party and it’s been fun getting to know this 14-year-old young woman. Brother’s son, DIL, and grandboys are here, too, and what a treat they are! They are…

  • Wednesday Snippet: The Travelogue #3 Edition

    So, here’s the thing, mes amies. I haven’t had a moment to write for the past 36 hours or so. So much great stuff planned by the Tule Publishing team and spending time with other authors and eating… Oh mes amies, the food! We’ve been luxuriating in delicious meals and snacks and wine, oh my! Yesterday started with breakfast–for Carol and me, it was at a darling little place called Ellie’s Table at the Egan House, a few blocks from the inn. We had quiche and Carol also had a chocolate croissant the size of a football, while I added a slice of cinnamon crumb coffee cake that tasted exactly…

  • Sunday Snippet: The Travelogue #1 Edition

    We made it to California! Writer buddy and fellow Tule author, Carol Light and I are almost to our Tule Author Retreat. Carol flew from her home state to mine, where I joined her on a very crowded Southwest flight to Dallas. After a couple of hours hanging out in Dallas, we caught our flight to Burbank. Both flights were full, but honestly, no delays and everything went so smoothly. Tired, but happy, we got a Lyft to our hotel and settled in. Since we didn’t have a car and the hotel is in rather an industrial part of Burbank, we opted for supper at the hotel restaurant and were…

  • Sunday Snippet: The Sure, Why Not a Real Snippet Edition

    It’s been a week, mes amies. One full of writing and family time and lake time and Liz time… a week where I wrote THE END on Jack and Maddie’s story and sent it off to my editor with my heart alternately in my throat and my socks, wondering what she will think of their story. Funnily enough, I wrote nearly the last four chapters at her house with her sitting across from me, writing herself. Don’t think that wasn’t a cool, but weird experience. Crit partners and betas have said good things about it… get ready for the title because I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here yet… Make…