So Many Changes! By Susan Sands

Let me start by wishing everyone a very happy new year!! My life mirrors the old adage of "out with

Our Boudreaux

 the old and in with the new" like never before. I've complained incessantly on this blog as we've had three contracts on my house fall through over the last two years. We had so much hope and then excitement turned into bitter disappointment as the sales fell apart.

But, just before Christmas, we finally sold the old unique property we'd lived in for the past eighteen years. Hurray!! After two-and-a-half years on the market and a new realtor, the sale went the distance to closing. We lost our shirts as expected but the home is now a lovely memory as the place where our kids grew up. It was their childhood home and the place of many Christmases past, along with birthdays and other important milestones in our lives.  But we are thrilled to wave goodbye and move forward and embrace the next chapter.

Unfortunately, our sweet love, our family dog of eight years, Boudreaux, had been declining all the while we were packing and moving. We lost him the day after the move three days before Christmas. He was suffering from a neurological condition and a spinal tumor that affected his hind legs. I can hardly type this without tears.

Boudreaux's counterpart pup, Watson, has rolled with so much change in losing his sidekick and moving to a new place with amazing grace. I can tell he wonders and looks for Boudreaux and I wish I could explain it all to him puppy style.

There are still a few boxes left to unpack and moving from a giant house to a townhome has been a massive feat. I've donated so many things even after having an estate sale last year where I unloaded most of my furniture, rugs and art. I sold the baby grand piano just before I moved. So, I thought I was ready for the sizing down. Ha. Not so much.

Change has come to us in ways we've hoped and some we feared, but time moves forward and now we're embracing this new year in new surroundings with one less family member.

Again, Happy New Year to you and yours!! May it bring all the good and none of the bad.

Susan

Wishing Everyone a Balanced New Year! Susan Sands

A new year always feels like beginning with a clean slate in so many ways. The resolutions, you

know. Eat better, exercise more. Keep an organized schedule. All the things. And yes, I do plan to improve myself in all those ways. Last year I began my second half-century of life. That sounds pretty momentous, doesn't it? Yes, I thought so too. I was busy last year. Writing, and taking care of all the things and people who live in my circle.

I'll do that this year, but I have plans to do more. Write more and better. Bigger. But I've also got to nurture and support the heck out of my last chick until I send her off to college in a few months. Give her my best as well. It's all a balance, and it's one that is easy to upset with too much focus on one thing or the other. So my biggest goal beginning the year will be balance. Family, work, exercise, nutrition, sleep.

I spent the entire day reading a book just released by one of my favorite authors. Nothing else, just reading. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy just reading. And how it inspires me to write. So, today, I'm motivated to work on one of my new projects because of the day spent immersed in that book. It was something I'd denied myself because I'd lost the balance. I don't know how I could have forgotten the pure joy of reading, of losing myself in a book. I'm a writer for heaven's sake. But I've rediscovered it and won't let it happen again.

I hope everyone who celebrates enjoyed their holidays. I had all my children under one roof for an entire week, which is hard to come by these days. I've cooked, baked, and just rolled around in the family time.

Happy New Year to everyone! I wish everyone good health, humor, and happiness in the coming year. And balance. We'll see how that goes, won't we?

Susan Sands
         

Christmas Treats

A flying visit between hospital visits - the dh is not well - to wish you all the very happiest Christmas and a peaceful New Year

In the spirit of the season I'm tossing out all these books that are on special holiday bargains offers at the moments.

Wild Fire  and Eloping With Emmy are just 99c in the US  and For His Eyes Only is just $1.99 in the US.

In the UK there are quite a few of my books available for just 99p - Vettori's Damsel in Distress, Her Pregnancy Bombshell, Secret Baby Surprise Parents...

Grab a handful for your own Christmas stocking and spoil yourself after the holidays when you have time for a little toes up.. :)

In the meantime, I wish you and all your loved ones -

Happy Holidays, Y'all!--Susan Sands

I can't believe another year has flown by yet again. I'll be an empty nester this time next year if

everything goes as planned. My daughter's senior year is rolling by at the speed of light along with everything else. My mom moved in with me and then moved back out into her own place where she'd been waiting to be approved for an apartment. Plus, I released two books this years!

Life leaves us little room to choose our level of busyness. Mine has been non-stop for a couple years now. But there's a lot to look forward to as well. I'm excited to see what college life brings for my third child in the coming months. I will miss her terribly, but I'm so excited for her next steps toward adulthood and independence. I know, ask me again in May and see what I have to say then. I might be sobbing my eyes out.

I'm writing, editing, and making career decisions right now as well. I should have books coming out next year. I'll keep you posted on that. Hopefully I'll have details coming soon.

So, in the meantime, I'm promoting Christmas, Alabama at book signings and on social media. So far the reviews are great!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a lovely holiday season!!

Susan

Christmas is coming...I'm not ready...

I’m late for Christmas. 

My decorations are still in their hidey-hole in the roof, my lights are sitting in their boxes, the Christmas hanging basket that I’ve adopted instead of a wreath is still in the shed.

The Christmas short story I’d planned to write is still just a bundle of notes.

What is up at Fielding Towers I hear you shout?

Nothing bad, it’s just that we’ve had builders working in the house for weeks. Weeks of dust. Weeks of noise. Weeks in which everything has been out of place and upside down.

But finally the room is done, bricklayers have done their stuff. Electricians have worked their black arts. The plumber (a romantic who read one my books and fell in love with reading again) has moved and installed radiators. The painters have given me beautiful walls that are just waiting for pictures and I have battled the dust ninjas and fought them to an honourable draw – you can never win.

My grandchildren are coming this weekend (they don’t know it but they’re going to Disney Paris for Christmas!) and so now I have to get cracking and sorting out the decorations and putting up my tree.

There are gifts to be wrapped. Cards to be written, treats to be baked. Oh, and the small matter of a broken tooth to be fixed – the dangers of eating toast.

There is also a book to be written, but not this week. This week is spoken for.

I hope your holiday preparations are in better shape than mine.

Have a wonderful Christmas (with a ton of books under the tree) and may 2017 be a happy and peaceful year for everyone.

Maggie Marr: 5 Goals for 2016

Happy New Year! I know we're a couple weeks in but the glitter & glow of New Years still hovers about me. I don't really 'do' resolutions anymore. After 46 trips around the sun I've discovered that resolutions, for me, only stick until about February 11. Instead, the last couple of years I've made goals for myself that are both personal and professional and I've found that these goals really do help me to stay focused throughout the year.

5. Write More Books!

I mean, I am a writer so of course this is my goal. Last year I published 6 books and this year I am trying to get at least 6 perhaps 7 books into the hands of my readers. I am at my best as a human when I am writing so I know from experience that when I am deep in a story, I actually do better with all the other wonderful things in my life like my family and my community.

4. Say Yes to Adventure!

These don't have to be grand 'I'm traveling around the world' adventures this can be as small as going to the second-hand store around the corner that I've been meaning to check out for the last two years. I am an introvert by nature and I like to write alone so, if not for the kids and their activities I could go weeks, perhaps, months, without leaving the house (except for food...I'll always leave for food!) I am carving out time each week to do something exciting and fun even if it's trying the funky new coffee shop at the end of my street. 

3. Move My Body!

I started this last year and I've found this works for me. I have failed miserably with the whole resolution thing of; Run a 5 k, or kick box 3x's a week. Instead I've committed to move my body each and every day. Whether this is a walk, yoga, riding a bike....who knows but with the sedentary lifestyle of writing I know that I need to do this to stay physically and mentally healthy. 

2. Connect With Readers!

I've been working hard to build a newsletter list so that I can directly email my readers. I want to continue building that list. I like to host giveaways of gift cards, and books, and swag. So, to that end, I am giving away a Maggie Marr starter library for anyone who joins my newsletter list. These are two of my best-selling books for free! Go to maggiemarr.net to get your books!

1. Embrace Joy!

I have so much to be grateful for. My life is filled with a myriad of blessings, unfortunately I know I take these wonderful gifts that make up my world for granted. This year I am starting every day listing 5 things that I am grateful for and embracing the inherent joy that comes with that list. Also trying to live in the moment and feel the joy that comes through from embracing even the simple things like a hot shower, a safe place to live, a hot cup of coffee. I have so many things to be grateful for and the gratitude fills me with joy.

What are some of your goals for 2016? Leave a comment below and I will let random.org pick a winner and send you one of my ebooks. Thank you for stopping by!

Happy Reading!

xoMaggie

Maggie Marr is an author & attorney. She got her start in Hollywood pushing the mail cart where she became a motion picture literary agent. She now splits her time between her legal practice dedicated to entrepreneurs & creatives, and writing. She writes smart, sexy, men and the women that love them. She is the author of The Hollywood Girls Club Series, The Eligible Billionaires Series, The Glamour Series  and The Powder Springs Series. You can find her on maggiemarr.net, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter. 

My 10 'determinations' for the year

Happy New Year  - rather belatedly.

 But then everything has been rather belated recently. What with Christmas and New Year  - which were preceded by an unexpected and unwanted stay in hospital  - convalescence  that took longer than I expected – then a family birthday – and revisions on the latest book . . .  everything has  become chaotic and  disorganised  as a result.  I’ve only just managed to catch up on anything (not quite everything yet!)

Anyone who’s read my posts at this time of year regularly knows I’m not a fan of New Year ‘resolutions’. I don’t like the thought that we’re telling ourselves that what we are is not good enough. That  we need a whole ‘new me’  and to reject the person whose got us this far in life. So my DH and I had one resolve – no resolutions.  

But we did have a talk about the way we’d like the year to go  and  the things we’d like to include in our 2016 as it unfolds. I found that I was on the same lines of thinking as another writer when I read in the Sunday papers of her determination to have  small positive  steps of happiness. I can go along with that.

So here are my happiness steps for 2016

1.     1,  Spending more time with family and friends. The loss of one very dear friend two years ago taught me that we need to hold on to the people we value in our lives – they’re not always here for ever.

2.   2    Work will never love you back – see #1 to reinforce this. Another book – or two – is an achievement I’d like to enjoy  but not at the expense of people I love.

3.  3.     Getting out and about  into nature if possible helps boost my mood – and goes some way towards dealing with the curse of writers’ bottom. (I went someway towards dealing with these 3 points at the weekend when the Babe Magnet and I spent the weekend with our son and his fiancée and the new member of the family – the ‘grand-dog’  Lola a 17 week old golden retriever. Taking her out for a l

Lola on the beach

ong walk on a blustery, rainy beach ticked off all those 3 points in one!)

4.   4    Writing etc keeps my mind open and busy – but I love to challenge it in  other ways. So the Babe Magnet and I want to keep up our Saturday morning coffee shop and cryptic crossword dates! We have a record to keep up – with almost 3  years undefeated  completing it now.

5.   5    Reading – I’ve not read as much or as widely as I would like for a time. Writing tends to get in the way of reading. And I want to read different things. The unexpected time in hospital might have been unwanted but it made sure I had time to focus just on the book I was reading and nothing else. So I realised how much more reading I got through if I found the time.

6.  6     I’m going to put this in as a separate point though really it’s part of #5 Reading again – but I want to find new authors I can try and  maybe fall in love with. This will also mean that I can hope to reduce my TBR piles  ( the one by my bed and in my office ) – and my TBR library (the one on my Kindle.)  So far this year  I’ve read  the new to me Kate Mosse The Taxidermist’s Daughter  and the psychological thriller Only We Know by Karen  Perry whose The Boy That Never Was, was one of my favourite reads of 2015.

7.  7     Teaching – courses and workshops.  I love meeting new writers  - and past students who have become real friends  after coming on one of my courses so I want to keep teaching as much as I can. But I need to keep a balance so that  teaching doesn’t take over from my writing. But the courses I run for Writers’ Holiday and Relax and Write boost my ideas and the discussions and retreats revive

my interest in writing too. My 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance is still helping would-be writers and they keep sending messages to let me know how much they've learned from it. That makes me happy when I can reach the writers who can't get to my classes.

8.       8.Theatre – 3 years ago my DH and I resolved  to see as much live theatre as  we could fit in and we’ve kept to that.  The last trip was to Nottingham to see a production of Mack and Mabel and we’ve mixed classic plays with musicals, London productions with local theatre and provincial tours. Now I have the fun of studying the new theatre programmes for 2016 and planning where we’re going

9.     9.Food – no I’m not talking about diets or restrictions or clean eating or  paleo or whatever is the latest  wonder plan. Just to keep on enjoying what I eat  - but making sure it’s ‘real food’. Luckily I don’t suffer with a sweet tooth and I’m really happy with lots of veggies – so this will be no hardship.

110.   Looking after me. This includes several of the points above – food, exercise (I can’t wait to walk Lola again) but also those little pampering treats that we can often forget. I was shocked to realise that some on the perfume I was given last year was still unopened, the same with a lovely body lotion that was a birthday gift.  My husband’s grandmother once had a chest of drawers filled with things that she ‘kept for best’.  I’m not going to head that way.  So – the best time to use these treats is now.  Because as that saying goes :

Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present

And -  I know I said my 10 points but here’s the last and perhaps most important one – to value the present and everything it brings. I’m still not making resolutions to make myself ‘better’ some time in the future.

What are your plans and hopes and reams for this coming year?  I don't think you need to list losing ten pounds or running every day - I think you're fine as you are!

My most recent book is Destined For The Desert King  - out in Harlequin Presents in December.  I'm busy finishing the revisions on the latest novel

where my brooding Spanish hero meets up again with Rose  the girl who knocked his life off balance ten years ago,

And I'm thrilled to be able to say that my other 2015 title,  Olivero's Outrageous Proposal has been re released in the Mills & Boon collection The Best of 2015.  That's a way to start my new year off just right!

If you want to read all my latest news then visit my web site here   and there's my blog too (when I get caught up and organised!) That's here 

Tonya Kappes: Out of here!

It's that time of year to shake off the old year and bring in the new year! AND it's time for everyone to blog about new year resolutions. Not me! I don't make new year resolutions. But I can't help but take a look back at what a whirlwind year it has been!

HarperCollins, my publisher, published the first four novels in my Ghostly Southern Mystery Series. All four! Plus I signed another contract with them to write more.
I'm also thrilled that I signed another three book deal with Henery Press for my Kenni Lowry Mystery Series.

I self published two novels, two novellas and participated in two box sets.

I had twenty-three public appearances and hosted my very first and very own reader event for my readers!

WOW! That was a big writing and publishing year.

2016.... Watch out...here I come!!!

This new year is not going to be any different. I'm planning on introducing a new cozy mystery series to self publish along with my traditional releases.

My second reader event has been planned and already full.

I'm giving two key note speeches and over thirty appearances have been put on the calendar.

All I can say...is bring it on!

What about you? Are you looking forward to the 2016?

Leave a comment to win a fun mystery pack!

Book at the beach - Kandy Shepherd

Look at that lucky book of mine! I wish I were sitting on that beach towel with it in beautiful Byron Bay in northern New South Wales.

Sadly no such luck—A Diamond in Her Stocking is with my daughter as she takes a break from her university studies. It’s summer Down Under and the long summer vacation still stretches out in front of her. She’s having so much fun I doubt any reading is being done!

Meanwhile I’m at home writing. I had three books for Harlequin Romance released in 2014 and hopefully the same number for 2015. That’s why I’m writing, writing, writing and not lying on the beach. But I’m also rejoicing that I work from home, my time is my own and I’m doing what I always wanted to do—writing romance.

When I left my “day job” I thought I was sliding into semi-retirement when what I really did was head into another fulfiling job. It was a change I’m so very glad I made.

I’m not great on New Year resolutions. It’s a tad too embarrassing when the year rolls on and the ridiculously unachievable resolutions still haven’t happened. But I find the new year is a good time to think about change.

This year I really am thinking about making regular exercise an indispensable part of my daily routine in response to all this time sitting in front of the computer. So far, so good because it’s summer I’m able to swim which is no hardship at all! (I just wish I was at that beach with my book!)

Have you got change in mind for this year? Or did you make a change last year that turned out for the best?

Whatever you live you live in the world, whether the new year starts in winter of summer I hope you’re enjoying a fresh start to 2015!

Kandy’s third Dolphin Bay story for Harlequin Romance, A Diamond in Her Stocking, was a December 2014 release and is available now.

Kandy Shepherd is an award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives on a small farm in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family and a menagerie of four-legged friends.

Trish Morey: Adios 2014, Welcome 2015

When you look back on 2014, what do you see? Did you have a year to remember for all the right reasons, or would you rather just shut the door behind you and walk away, because this year was one you’d rather forget? If the former, head straight to the next blog and into 2015 with gusto. If the latter, read on, because I sympathize, and just want to say, all is not lost.

My 2013 was one tough year that dragged itself all the way from late 2012 and into January of this year and only ended with the death of my father. It wasn’t just a tough year, it was a long one. Years can be like that, though, they don’t always respect the calendar, and they can seem endless.

But believe me, things will get better. 

What’s that saying? - What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger? It’s true. My rotten 2013 saw me pull back from most of my writing commitments. I managed just one Harlequin Presents in that entire year, Tycoon’s Temptation - and if it hadn’t been a part of The Chatsfield Continuity with no options for delays or extensions, I doubt I would have achieved that. As I told my editor, I had so much angst going on in my life, I didn’t have to make it up. My editor was brilliant and gave me all the time I needed.

And then a funny thing happened while I was stepping back from all the crud that was happening in my life. In the vacuum that my (lack of) writing had left, another idea was borne, an idea for a different kind of story with different characters who could make mistakes and laugh about it, and featuring a dog called Turbo that seemed almost human at times and that liked to eat chicken and chips, and this story was important to me, because it was set in a place where my father had grown up, so it was comforting too, and close to home.

There’s a saying here that one of our Aussie banks likes to use in its TV advertising. “From little things, big things grow.”

I’d like to offer a variation on that - From shitty years, good things come.

That germ of a story became my first single title, Stone Castles, published in December this year. Somehow a mad idea I’d had while at my wit’s end touched an editor’s heart enough for them to say, I’ll buy it. A gorgeous cover later and Stone Castles, the story I dedicated to my father, is out there.

You may not be a writer. You might be an accountant like I used to be, or a teacher, or a doctor or a factory worker, but I believe that something good can come from the hardships we face. Not just because we might learn from them, but sometimes because they cause us to veer off in a different direction and take us to somewhere new and exciting where we might not otherwise have ventured. 

I hope, if you’ve had a tough 2014, your 2015 will shine in new and unexpected ways, and your days will be less about making it through to the end, but enjoying each and every new day. 

Here’s to 2015. Happy New Year.

Trish Morey

If It's January, it must be . . . Easter? Kate Walker

Happy New Year!   I hope 2013 will be a lovely, happy and joyful  year for you.

Today is the day that I always think of as the ‘official’ end of the Christmas holiday season. January 6^th – that’s the date that I was told as a child that the 3 Kings arrived at the stable to see the baby Jesus and his mother. It was the day my mother put the figures of those three kings i9n the family crib – the one I have now as I inherited it when she died.  I’ve always loved holding it, putting out the figures. That seems to put me in touch with my mother and connects us over the years, even when I  wrap the crib figures up in bubble wrap and put them away.

But I remember that when we did have the crib when I  was a child, it was  just the 6^th January – the day the Christmas decorations came down, the tree was taken out into the garden and the cards were all packed away to be recycled.   There was a longish time – or so it seemed – before the next holiday.

It’s not the same now. I don’t know about you but here in the shops it’s already beginning to look as if Easter is just around the corner.  Easter eggs, cards, Easter decorations  . . . hang on! I’ve only just put the Christmas decorations away!   I know there’s the need to prepare in advance – but this far in advance?

The trouble is that when you’re a writer, if you’re not careful, things can get a bit like this all the time. You write a book, work on revisions, get the book accepted  and scheduled, and then you’re looking ahead to the date the next book comes out.  I have June 2013 in my diary and I’m so looking forward to seeing A Throne For The Taking in the shops. At the same time, I’m planning, developing and working on the book after that, with a deadline in mind and the hope of another new title in the schedule.  I’m also planning the course I’m teaching  in Fishguard in Wales in February  - and that makes me think of the way that Writers’ Holiday is coming up in  July . . .

But this year, I’m determined not to let me days run  away with me as they have done in the past.  If I’m not careful I ended up being so busy that I’m planning, organising, thinking, of everything do far ahead that if I’m not careful I end up living in the future and never quite get to really appreciate the now. One of the things I lost out on last year was my reading.  We had  all those renovations and the building work done on the house and I ended up dashing here there and everywhere finding the right tiles, the flooring, the  kitchen cabinets. . .

It was worth it in the end  - but I did miss out on my reading. And reading is wital to a writer. You have to ‘fill the well’ of your imagination,  read stories so that you can remember how great if feels to be caught up in that magical  world of the imagination, to fall in love with  - or end up hating – the characters who may only be words on a page but become so real to you that you  really care  what happens to them.
So, although I’m not one for resolutions much,  there are two important decisions in this set of thoughts –ones that affect how I want to be in 2013.  I want to live in the present. To be in the here and now, and not always to be looking ahead to what’s around the corner.  Easter will be here soon enough – for now, I’m enjoying the space between New Year and the next holiday.

And as part of that,  I’m enjoying reading. Not just having a giant TBR pile, or a bundle of titles on my Kindle, waiting to be read – I’m going to read my way through them. I’ve been doing that today – curled up in a chair, with a cat  and one of the books I was given for Christmas.

(For some reason everyone seems to have given me ghost stories this time – but that’s fine by me as the evening gathers round the house and the sky darkens. It’s a real change from writing and reading romance – and it’s sparking my imagination in a way I’m really enjoying.)

So that’s how  I’ve been thinking as I head into the start of this new year. I Know that, inevitably, I’ll end up having to plan for the next book, the next date on the schedule, but right now I’m enjoying living in the now -  and making that now include the fascinating books I have to read. I’m going back to my chair now – where the cat and the book are waiting.   Charlie the Maine Coon has a lot to teach me on this – he only ever lives in the here and now  unless he decides he wants an early dinner!

What about you?
You can find out what I'm up to  and all my latest news by visiting my web site or my blog