Upcoming Anthology

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I am so excited!

Why?

In early April I will finally see over two years of hard work come to light. TALES FROM THE PEAK: FRESH STARTS is going to be published!

FRESH STARTS – A Quick History

In October of 2017 I went to a meeting with Pikes Peak Writers to talk about possibly publishing an anthology with stories, poetry, and memoirs written by members of PPW. What I didn’t realize was that I would raise my hand and volunteer to lead this project.

I professed to everyone in attendance that I had ZERO experience in how to do this project, but I would make it happen. After all, PPW is an organization that supports writers of all levels of experience. An anthology just seemed like the next step for the organization.

NEXT STEPS

The learning curve was immense. At times, I felt like I was climbing Mt Everest without equipment, but I pulled on my boots and faced the mountain. With guidance from my mentors, DeAnna Knippling, Jamie Ferguson, and Jenny Lovett, we pushed through setting budgets, developing a theme, setting a marketing plan, soliciting writers, and collecting stories.

The number of submissions we received was unexpected. When Lou J Berger joined the team as an editor we, at the time, had only received 35 submissions and assured him we would be lucky to break 60. Then the avalanche hit. In total we read and combed through 255 submissions.

TODAY

Today, the selected authors number 30 who were given a theme to write on. Each writer was asked to write their interpretation of Fresh Starts, with a simple added blurb:

After the fires are out, the smoke has cleared, the divorce is over, the widow has stopped wearing black, the sun has risen, the monsters are dead, the world is saved (or destroyed!), the storm has calmed, and the trouble is over…
…what do you do next?
We can’t promise only happy endings. Just that moment when you pick yourself up out of the wreckage and find the strength to begin anew.

What an amazing turnout! The choices were difficult, but we found our way to the best of the best submissions.

We are now working through cover art, contracts, bios, headshots, and the last leg of marketing. I never fully realized what went into publishing a book until I stepped into this project. The peak of Mt. Everest is in view and I am now armed with climbing equipment that will pull me, and this anthology, over the top to publication in April.

Learn more about the anthology here and sign up to receive updates as they are available.

Buried Treasure

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I sat in my back-yard reading when a squirrel came hopping into the yard with two huge peanuts protruding from his mouth. He went to the base of the apple tree and proceeded to urgently dig a hole into which he dropped the first peanut and buried it. Then, he went about 10 feet across the yard and dug a second hole into which he put the second treasured nut.

Mind you, he didn’t just bury two nuts and scurry away. He checked the second burial with great care. Satisfied, he went back to the first hole he dug and carefully sniffed the area. He seemed to decide the burial was not up to snuff so he carefully rearranged the topsoil then, one at a time, he quickly lay pieces of mulch bark over the top.

Like a criminal in the night after finishing his work and scanning the area for enemies, he scampered across the yard and hopped onto Fence Highway and booked it to the next yard.
After he departed I went to the tree to see what he left behind. If I wasn’t aware that he buried a nut where he did, I would have never been able to tell. He had put all the bark back over the hole covering his tracks perfectly. The second hole was so well hidden I never did find it.

I now wait patiently for his return to reclaim his treasured nuts.

Squirrel Thief
This is the same fellow who stole my bird feeder bell this past winter.

How I Started Writing

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At the beginning of a New Year I look back on what went right and what went sideways in my writing life. I will say that this year, overall, was a good year. My work on Pikes Peak Writers debut anthology is slowly coming to fruition (there is an actual page on their site now), I typed THE END on my newest book, Murder in Sulfur Gulch, and I submitted two short stories (one was declined and one is still out awaiting judgement).

Of course, as I do this reflection over the year, how it all started drifts into my my mind. Why did I start writing in the first place? Was there a turning point that pushed me into this life or did it just grow from something intangible?

My daughter is who influenced me the most to start writing. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and during her college years I read her stories and essays. They were wonderful. She found so much joy in them. I wanted a piece of joy for myself and thought that writing would be fun.

I started writing just before I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I’m not sure if this was a warped plan that the Fates set up for me, or what, but the cancer put a huge damper on my grand plans to write. There was no longer much fun to be found in writing. It actually made my writing life nearly impossible for almost three years. Despite that, I kept writing through those dark days because it brought in a bit of light into my day to day survival. Whenever I could, I wrote on my blogs and the other blogs I contribute to, but chemo and radiation took a toll that continued for a long time (and continues to a small extent even today).

Now, on the other side of cancer, I am starting to find the fun that I lost at the beginning. Because of the encouragement I got from my daughter, friends, and other writers, I am finding the fun that I sought six years ago. This past year was where I had hoped to have been back then, but life had other lessons to be learned first. I am looking forward to 2020. It is looking pretty bright right now. Most important of all? I think it’s going to be really fun!

This post inspired by:

Insecure Writer's Support Group

The awesome co-hosts for the The awesome co-hosts for the January 8 posting of the IWSG are T. Powell Coltrin, Victoria Marie Lees, Stephen Tremp, Renee Scattergood, and J.H. Moncrieff!

Really? You Asked What?

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As you all know, I write a monthly post inspired by questions asked on the IWSG website. Each month I don’t have too much trouble whipping out some answers, but this month? Well, let me tell you, I am stumped. Not because I can’t answer it, but because I’m in brain meltdown mode. First, here’s the question(s)

December 4 question – Let’s play a game. Imagine. Role-play. How would you describe your future writer self, your life and what it looks and feels like if you were living the dream? Or if you are already there, what does it look and feel like? Tell the rest of us. What would you change or improve?

Here’s my problem with these lovely queries. I just came off NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) to which I was successful in writing THE END on my first book. Murder in Sulfer (Sulpher) Gulch won’t release for awhile yet, but it is done.

Thanksgiving was just last week.

Christmas is just around the corner.

I’m gone half of December (in Vegas as you read this).

So, yeah, my brain is tired. —-really tired—-

I think I’ll take a look at this question sometime next year. Like February. Yep. February should be good. Oh, wait….that’s when 28 Days of Writing takes place.

Image bug eye cartoon

This post inspired by:

Insecure Writer's Support Group

The awesome co-hosts for the December 4 posting of the IWSG are Tonja Drecker,Beverly Stowe McClure,Nicki Elson,Tyrean Martinson!

Strange Subjects Indeed

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As a writer, I use the internet heavily when I’m doing research. there are times I would hate for someone to actually look at my search history, and when I know I’m going to be asking some strange questions I drop into “incognito” browsing.

So, what strange things might a writer look up? For crime fiction you can bet they are looking for forensics, weapons, poisons and anything else murderous you can imagine. For a romance writer it might be hormones, relationships, or personality types. For me? I have looked up all of those things and more.

I write in a variety of genres so my search history is also varied. For a historical fiction I am working on I needed to know what life was like in a mining camp in the early 1900’s. It was rough to say the least. For The Manx my research not only includes everything and anything about the Isle of Man, but the rich folk tales of the island as well along with the royal history of Castle Peel. Murder in Sulpher Gulch is a mystery. I join my crime writing friends in looking up everything about murder and the Mafia.

The strangest bit of research I’ve done has been in the area of crime. It is so far outside my realm in life that I never knew much about it except what could be gleamed from cops shows on the television. (BTW…most are very inaccurate. Don’t go off television shows). One short story I needed to know what kind of poisonous plants grew in the south eastern areas of Tennessee. Once I found a few good ones it then took more research to see if a person could be poisoned with them and how it would be done. Weird stuff.

The one place on my list of to-do’s is to pay a visit to my local police station. I have a few story lines that involve murder. I don’t know the first thing about police procedure so I expect to get to know the local police quite well.

This post inspired by:

Insecure Writers Support Group.

Insecure Writer's Support Group

The awesome co-hosts for the November 6 posting of the IWSG are Sadira Stone, Patricia Josephine, Lisa Buie-Collard, Erika Beebe, and C. Lee McKenzie!

Where do you like to read or write?

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I love to read just as much as I love to write, and I have a few favorite reading spots. I always get a few pages in just before I go to sleep, but when I settle in for a long reading period I love my recliner. I can prop my reader on a pillow and fall into the story.

When I write, it is always at my desk computer. I like its location with a large window to stare out of when I’m formulating the next scene. But, if I had anywhere in the world to write? That’s an easy one. I would sit against a wall of Peel Castle on the Isle of Man. I don’t know if there would be a good spot to see the water as well as feel the castle wall on my back, but when I get there I’ll let you know.

I am still working through The Manx and had hoped to have it published by now. Yet, it has always been missing something that keeps it under wraps, and I know it is missing a trip to the island itself. As an author I want to know first hand what the air tastes like, how the trees sound in the wind, and feel the stones bite into my feet. These are the things that will breath life into the book.

This post inspired by:

The awesome co-hosts for the September 4 posting of the IWSG are Gwen Gardner,Doreen McGettigan,Tyrean Martinson,Chemist Ken, and Cathrina Constantiner!

Arches National Park

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As I write this post, I am in Moab, Utah, specifically Arches National Park. I have never been here before so the experience has been nothing less than awe inspiring. I find it incredible the things that Mother Nature can create. Moab itself is surrounded by immense red bluffs that are fantastic, but once into the park my breath is taken away.

Landscape Arch is a slender archway of rock that spans 290 feet.

Am I surprised by this? Yes and no. I did research the area before we came. I scoured through a vast amount of information, history, and photography. So, I knew this was going to be amazing, yet what I didn’t know was that not a single word or photograph began to express what it is really like here.

I call this Pharaoh Rock. It reminds me of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

So, it took me by surprise when I thought about how this can correlate to reading or writing. The greatest authors do exactly the same thing for their readers as Arches N.P. does for a visitor. One can do as much research as they want into a famous author, but until they read the works and fully absorb the immensity of it, the experience falls short.

Today is the last day of my visit here, and I have one last adventure to undertake. I will rappel down 250 feet into a grotto. My nerves are on edge and I can already feel the adrenalin start to surge, much the same way a great writer can pull the reader into their story.

How about you? What books have you read that have taken your breath away? Where have you gone that was so much more than you expected?

Today’s post was inspired by Arches National Park and IWSG.

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The purpose of IWSG is to share and encourage.

The awesome co-hosts for the August 7 posting of the IWSG are Renee Scattergood,Sadira Stone,Jacqui Murray,Tamara Narayan, and LG Keltner!

Get a Giggle

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June is here and I think it is finally looking like summer in Colorado. We had a cool, wet spring. In late May we even had 8 inches of snow. Quite unusual for this area of the state. With all the weather I spent a good deal of time indoors working on my new book, Sulpher Gulch.

I have written in many styles and am finding the cozy mystery quite fun. I read a series of books by Amanda M. Lee that really tickled my funny bone. Her series, Wicked Witches of the Midwest, are based on three witches who live in Hemlock Cove, a quiet village in the lower part of upper Michigan. For me, it is a laugh out loud series. Janet Evanovich is another author who also gets giggles from me. I loved the Plum Series.

How do I keep those giggles going after the series end (or I just need a break)? Write my own. First off, writing a cozy mystery was a new venture for me. Add the humor side and I found myself in uncharted territory. Yet, I didn’t feel discouraged, lost, or otherwise sinking in a doomed ship. I felt energized (remember the pink bunny?).

I started Sulpher Gulch just a short while ago and am nearly finished. I am excited to see this coming together and am looking forward to the cover design and its release. I haven’t set a date for that yet, but when I do, you will be the first to hear.

Until then, read a little bit of Amanda Lee or Janet Evanovich. Your day will be brighter if you do.

Today’s post was inspired by:

Insecure Writer's Support Group logo

The question posed for this month’s post was, “Of all the genres you read and write, which is your favorite to write in and why?”

The co-hosts for the June 5 posting of the IWSG are Diane Burton,Kim Lajevardi,Sylvia Ney,Sarah Foster,Jennifer Hawes, and Madeline Mora-Summonte!

2018 Reading List

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Every year, on my birthday, I ask for books. My family comes through with gift certificates to my favorite book haunts. Because I consume books like some people drink coffee, the gift certificates are perfect.

Below is my reading list from 2018. I usually post this list in January or February, but, hey, what can I say? Better late than never. I read a ton of Amanda Lee’s books because they just struck my funny bone in just the right place. She cranks out books faster than Janet Evanovich (I’ve read most of her’s too), and has the same sense of humor. I can never pass up on something funny and easy to read.

People ask me, “Did you really read all of them?” YES. If I came across anything too awful to finish it is not listed here. I am pleased to say that I did not have to pass on any books last year.

Note: I have listed these books alphabetically, order by author, so they are not in any particular ranking of best to worst.

~~THE LIST~~

C.J. Archer
Glass and Steel Books 3, 5 & 6
The Ink Master’s Silence
The Convent’s Secret
The Apothecary’s Poison

David R. Bernstein
Avatars Rising

Becky Clark
Fiction Can Be Murder

Michelle Crystal
Lavender Blue

Avery Daniels
A Resort to Murder Mystery I & II
ICED
Nailed

T.C. Edge
The Enhanced

Charlie N. Holmberg
A Paper Magician Novel
The Plastic Magician

DeAnna Knippling
The Page Turners

Cynthia Kuhn
A Lila Maclean Academic Mystery Book 1
The Semester of Our Discontent

Stephen Lawhead
The Paradise War

Amanda M. Lee
A Moonstone Bay Cozy Mystery Books 1 & 2
Witch Out of Water
Witchin’ USA
An Elemental Witches of Eternal Springs Cozy Mystery Books 1, 2, 3, 4
Bat Out of Spell
Spell on Earth
Hotter Than Spell
Spell or High Water
A Charlie Rhodes Cozy Mystery Book 1
The Bigfoot Blunder
A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Mystery Books 1-11
Any Witch Way You Can A Breath of Witchy Air
Every Witch Way But Wicked
A Witch Before Dying
Witching You Were Here
Murder Most Witchy
The Trouble With Witches
Witching On A Star
Something to Witch About
Charms & Witchdemeanors
Witch Me Luck
Life’s a Witch

Madeleine L’Engle
The Wrinkle in Time Quintet: Books 1-5
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wind in the Door
A Swiftly Tilting Planet
Many Waters
An Acceptable Time

Shannon Mayer
Questing Witch Series Books 1 & 2
Aimless Witch
Caravan Witch

Margaret Mizushima
Killing Trail: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery

Harper North
The Manipulated Series, Books 1 & 2
Modified
Surfaced

Corinne O’Flynn
The Expatriates, Books 1&2
Song of the Sending
Promise of the Scholar

Philip Pullman
His Dark Materials, Books 1-3
The Golden Compass
The Amber Spyglass
The Subtle Knife

Susan Kaye Quinn
The Debt Collector

Philip Reeve
Mortal Engines, Book 1
Mortal Engines

Lisa Brown Roberts
Spies, Lies, and Allies: A Love Story

Michael Scott
The Alchemyst

Cidney Swanson
Thief in Time, Books 1- 3
A Thief in Time
A Sword in Time
A Flight in Time

Jeff VanderMeer
The Southern Reach Trilogy Books 1, 2, 3
Authority
Annihilation
Acceptance

Kiersten White
The Chaos of Stars

T.A. White
Of Bone and Ruin

A to Z Reflections

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The A to Z Blogging Challenge for 2019 is now in the history books. I participated right up until I just couldn’t. I had some deadlines that squeezed between having to adult and my job. I had to make a choice and left the challenge at ‘R’.

#AtoZChallenge 2019 Tenth Anniversary Reflections badge

The Reflection post is a tradition at the A to Z Challenge. It gives everyone a chance to look back at what worked, what didn’t, what we’ve done, what was learned, and where we hope to go from here. There is a list of 10 questions that have been posed by the A to Z organizers. I may not answer all of them, but I hope, by doing this reflection post you will join us next year, or you will do your own challenge at some point.

A to Z asked: What did you love about the challenge?
This is the second year I participated and what I like the most about it is the push to keep up on this blog. I sometimes forget my readers (how rude!) when I’m falling down the writing rabbit hole. By doing this challenge I am reminded to get back to the important people — YOU, my readers.

A to Z: What would you change about it?
I would like to see a Blog Hop link. Was there one? Maybe I missed it. It would be nice to be able to have a link at the end of our posts (Linky Tools) so readers can easily check out the rest of the blogs participating.

A to Z: What was the best moment for you during this year’s challenge?
I hate to say this, but the day I had to call it to a stop. I know that is counterintuitive, but I was relived. I over extended myself and by stepping away I was doing myself (and everyone involved) a service that benefited all of us.

A to Z: What is the best comment your blog got during the challenge, and who left the comment?
I got so many wonderful comments from everyone who read the posts. I hope they all keep coming back to visit and commenting. It is encouraging to have comments and likes because then I know there are readers who enjoy the posts.

I found several new blogs to follow along the way. Check them out :

A to Z: Will you do the challenge again?
Absolutely!

There were more questions and much more to say, but I think I will close here by saying WOW!! A huge thank you goes back to everyone who worked hard to make this challenge happen. This is one of the best writing challenges I participate in and I’m looking to continue for sometime to come.

Until then? Happy reading!!