Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related:  I met my weekly goal and picked up the pages I was behind so it was a good writing week. I'm pretty sure I will finish the first draft by this coming Friday. I'm don't remember if I told you all the title of this book, last book in the Echo Company series. It will be Coming Home.

 Motivational Quote:  "...We must be ambitious, and we must have the will." ~ Kailash Satyarthi

What I'm Reading:  I'll be starting On Her Watch by Melinda Leigh tonight. This is the 8th book in the Bree Taggert series. It's shelved as romantic suspense at my local library, but I consider this series to be more suspense with a dash of romance than the usual romantic suspense type books.

Random Thoughts:  I made another ginger cookie recipe yesterday. It's a molasses ginger cookie. They're good, but I think my gingerbread chocolate chip cookie recipe is still better. I think maybe I need to stop looking for a different one especially since everyone in my family loves the gingerbread one. 

Random Photo:

                                              The molasses ginger cookies
 

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related:  One Last Chance was published in ebook on 08/31 and the paperback was published on 09/01/24. I ended up getting it submitted and released thru Amazon a couple of days earlier than I expected. I've put a picture of the cover and the story summary/blurb below under the Random Things category. You can click on the cover on the upper right side of this blog to be taken directly to Amazon to purchase it. It is also available in Kindle Unlimited.

Motivational Quote: "The most meaningful goals are usually slow to achieve." ~ Atul Gawande

What I'm Reading: I started reading Liar's Point by Laura Griffin yesterday afternoon. This is the 5th book in the Texas Murder Files series. 

Random Things: As I mentioned above One Last Chance (Caine's book) is finally available for purchase. The cover is below. Here's the story summary/blurb:

You know what they say about Karma…

Supermodel Tabitha Mayne had it all - fame, fortune, and a willingness to do anything to stay on top. But one fateful night, her world is shattered. Tortured and left for dead, she now bears physical and emotional scars that she can't bear to show the world. Desperate to escape the constant scrutiny of the paparazzi, she flees to a small town in Virginia.

Hiding from her old life proves to be a challenge when she unexpectedly finds herself sharing a cabin with Sebastian Caine, a former elite military operative with extraordinary abilities. Wounded and on the run from a powerful adversary, Caine has no choice but to take refuge in his isolated cabin. When he discovers Tabitha, he wants nothing to do with her. The last thing he needs is the complication of a woman running from her troubles. He has enough of his own.

As circumstances force them to stay together, an unlikely bond begins to form between them. When Caine’s enemies close in, threatening to destroy them both, Tabitha and Caine must put their trust in each other but their troubled pasts may be their undoing. Can they overcome their demons and find true love, or will their secrets tear them apart forever?

Random Photo: Here's the cover for One Last Chance

 

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related:  Had an okay week writing wise. I'm going to do Camp NaNoWriMo this month. It officially starts today, April 1st. I'm hoping by participating, it'll help me get between 25k and 30k written in April. 

Motivational Quote: "I believe any success in life is made by going into an area with a...furious optimism." ~ Sylvester Stallone

What I'm Reading: I finished The Boy Who Cried Bear by Kelley Armstrong last night. It's the second book in the Haven's Rock series. I'll start a new book tonight but I haven't chosen one yet. I have four books I borrowed from the library so it'll be one of those. 

Random Thoughts: My cat, Mrs. Green, likes to sit on my lap in the evenings. Usually when I'm trying to do something that makes it difficult for her to sit on my lap like crocheting. When she does settle in and get comfortable, I hate to disturb her. It's become a joke among my family that I can't do anything if the cat is on my lap. Change out "dog" for "cat" and I could be Charlie Brown in the picture below.

Random Photo:

 

Finding New Authors to Read

I was at a family birthday party this past weekend and some of us got to talking about books, our favorite authors, and new authors we'd just started reading and how we came to hear about them.

Some of us found them by chance either at the book store or at the library. We were intrigued by the cover or title, picked the book off the shelf, read the back cover, and decided it sounded pretty good. Some of us received a book by an author unknown to us as a gift or as a raffle prize, or as a free digital download. Some of us started reading certain authors because of recommendations by friends and family. This last one is kind of tricky because reading is so subjective. For example, one cousin loves Robert Parker's books while I have a hard time reading his work. Loved the Spencer for Hire series when it was on TV though.

At the end of the party, we all had a few new authors to read that we hadn't heard of before or if we had, we just never picked up any of their books. Me, I'll be looking for books by J.J. Cook (mystery), Kristin Hannah (who I've heard of, but have never read), Lee Hollis (mystery), HelenKay Dimon (romantic suspense), Mary Burton (suspense), Marie Force (the Fatal series - suspense), Samantha Young (contemporary romance), and Sara Arden (contemporary romance).

How do you find new authors to read? Recommendations from friends and family? Reviews in newspapers and/or magazines? Word of mouth buzz? Perusing the bookstore aisles?