So, the 15-year-old’s very pretty boyfriend sent her a video to watch that brought her to tears. Okay, so 15-year-olds shouldn’t be taking themselves so seriously, but the kid has great taste in music. Had to share…
I haven’t heard of this guy before, but I’ll be paying attention now.
Open Contests
And just a reminder, there are some still prizes out there, waiting to be claimed!
So, the move update… My dd and her family are living here now! We still have some rooms where there are a few boxes left to tackle. We still have pictures we have to find places to hang. My office/art room smashup still has to be sorted and seems to get worse every day when my dd says, “Should I donate this?” and I say, “But I can do something with that!” So, natch the item joins the piles to be sorted in my space. She shudders when she comes down here. I shrug and tell her, “I’ll get to organizing when I finish this set of edits…this book…” Yeah, it’s going to take me years.
Besides the people now crammed inside this house–8!— (Okay, so not crammed, we actually have enough rooms everyone has their own bedroom!), we also started with my mom’s 4 dogs and my dd’s 6 dogs, her 4 cats, her guinea pig, and our 2 horses… We’re a truly big, blended family now. And here’s proof!
I hesitated posting this pic because the fence is bent—the horse likes to lean over it to get at the grass in the yard—and the tarp over the woodpile is shredded from a recent storm, plus our pretty horse Brandy looks bedraggled from the rain, but Malek and Brandy met at this moment, and there wasn’t a war. So, yay!
Malek’s pretty smart though. He tolerates other dogs, cats and guineas, and humans who are part of the fam. Now, horses. We’re making great progress.
My quiet life is no longer that. It’s noisy, chaotic, filled with loud voices (it’s an Irish/Scottish/German/Mexican family, so lots of vigorous…uh, debating). And I love it. If it was quiet here, I’d dwell on the losses over the past couple of years. However, I know my father built this house for his family. It’s still in the family, serving its purpose. He’d be happy that we’re happy living here. My role has changed from daughter to matriarch (although I’m happy that my daughter likes to run things). She leaves me to putter in my hoarder’s craftroom-office, makes most of our meals, runs kids to their appointments. I’m here for backup when she’s over-committed. It works.
As well, we have room for extended family to visit. Same as my mother did, we shift kids to bunk together to open up a room, use sofabeds. We expect lots of guests come summer because, hey—pool! Can’t wait to get that sucker cleaned up and ready for the season. This year, I’ll have plenty of help.
Thanks to everyone who got their copy of Brian! I’ve been busy since the release, trying to find art for the new series, Montana Bounty Hunter — Something, MT. Still haven’t hit upon the name of the town yet, but it will come. I’m also looking for handsome men to be on the covers. That’s been a chore (Haha!), looking through all the pictures on the photo sites. I do however think I have my first hero’s name: Cage.
He’s a big, burly guy. I don’t know his “story” yet, but that tends to come to me once I have a title and a cover, because then I put it up on my screen and just imagine what sorts of trouble he will face.
I’m not sure about titling just yet. Did you like having their names as the titles? Reaper, Dagger, Cochise, Hook, Wolf, Animal, Quincy, and Brian… Using just their names was so dang easy. Do you want me to continue that or give the titles some word or phrase that serves as the theme of the story, like Fallout or Hunter’s Destiny? Or do you want their name with a word or phrase like Cage’s Destiny (not a title I want, just an example) or the heroine’s name, like Sarah’s Destiny? You tell me because I could use some help deciding. If you leave a comment with your idea, you’ll be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card! And, if you have an idea for a title… Go for it! I’m in brainstorming mode, so your suggestion might strike an idea for me. Have fun with it!
So, while I was doing searches under “Hot Males”, “Handsome Men”, and “Muscled Torsos”, I came across this picture I couldn’t resist downloading because I know it will make you laugh. It’s all kind of wrong for a romance cover…
A. Catherine Noon here, author and textile artist. Thank you so much to Delilah for hosting me today! I’m glad to be back.
I don’t know about you, but the pace of life seems much faster than it ever has before. And I’m definitely struggling with burnout.
This beautiful boy above is a golden eagle, who lives at the Northwest Trek wildlife preserve in Washington State. He’s got a problem with his wings, but he’s fierce and beautiful.
One of the suggestions for recovering from burnout is rest. I’m not sure I have any suggestions for how to rest, but the zoo is one of my experiments. I left my ringer off for the visit, though I did use my camera on the phone for a few shots. For the most part, though, I tried playing with my digital SLR camera, a Nikon CoolPix.
My next experiment is to take a course on Bluprint in Digital Photography, so I can get better at using the camera.
For most of the day yesterday, I didn’t think about anything besides wandering around the wildlife preserve with my husband. I didn’t worry about politics, work, or any of the stressors that plague daily life.
If you are reading this and have suffered any kind of trauma or major stressors, know this: you are not alone. Resting is not a weakness, and getting help is not stupid. Mental health is health, and we need to end the stigma. And writers are as prone as anyone to having challenges with mental health. The frustrating thing for me is that I’m at the point now where my personal issues are not reached by words, by writing. They’re deeper, pre-verbal. Image-based.
And so, I play with my camera and fiddle around with collage. I remember Delilah talking about her doodling, and I’ve watched that avidly. It seems like a fun way to engage some of the same parts of the brain.
What about you, Dear Reader? What are some of your favorite ways to de-stress?
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
– E.E. Cummings
It’s release day!! Yes, my story, Brian released yesterday—but not because I was trying to get out ahead of everybody else. I was simply calendar-challenged when I selected my date. I thought I’d chosen a Tuesday. Which is really kind of stupid, because KDP gives you a little calendar to look at when you choose your date, but I had the 24th in my brain, so the 24th it would be.
Anyways, lots of great books to celebrate today: Mine (ahem, Brian), my sister Elle Jame’s (SEAL’s Vow), and the one I’m featuring here today, written by my friend and fab author, Reina Torres!
From Fab Friend & Author Reina Torres
Part of the challenge of setting a Romance in the early 1970s was giving it a different feel from the modern-day. The book didn’t qualify as a “historical” in the book sense, but since I was setting it back almost fifty years in the past, there were certain things that brought me back into the early 70s: Clothes and Music.
Clothes were fun: terrycloth, corduroy, denims—and all the fun that went along with those fabrics.
Music was a little more of a challenge…
I was born in 1973, and my mother has often told me that I sang before I spoke. I’m guessing she means in complete phrases or sentences, but she just repeats the same stories over and over. My mom and dad both worked for the United States Postal Service, so I think you can safely say that I’m a Postal Child. 🙂
My dad worked the day shift, and my mom worked the graveyard shift. So when my dad headed off in the morning to go to work, he’d put me in the passenger seat (remember, it’s the 70s), laid back and wrapped up in my favorite blanket. He’d put the radio on for the drive into downtown Honolulu, heading straight to the post office where my mother worked. She’d get in the driver’s seat, and my dad would climb in the back, and we’d drop him off at work before my mom turned toward home.
I’d doze the way there and back, singing to the radio the entire time to songs like this one…
When I started writing Jesse, I did a little brainstorming on the earliest songs I could remember, and then came the reality check while going through the songs and checking to see which ones were in the right time period and which came after 1973-1974. With a couple of “oops” choices, I actually managed to put together a list of songs that helped take me back in time.
Much like Richard Collier in the movie Somewhere in Time, surrounding myself with the music of the era helped take me back in time for the book. So, I hope you’ll enjoy a little trip back in time to see how Jesse Sutton and Etta Bradford met and fell in love.
The rest of the series will be the stories of their children as they continue The Suttons – An American Legacy.
The instant he said it, he tensed, expecting to feel her hand across his cheek.
When she didn’t, he gave her a curious look, doubling down on his stupidity, and a moment later he wished that she had cracked him across his jaw. It would have been better than the way her expression crumbled as she took a step back, breaking the hold he had on her hand, and her shoulders sagged.
He was an ass. That was clear.
What he needed to do was apologize.
Quickly.
But all the words he needed to say were stuck somewhere in the back of his mind along with the sense that should have helped him keep his mouth shut in the first place.
“I’ve been kissed before!”
What?
That wasn’t what he asked.
Not by a long shot.
But, then again, her answer was just as telling.
He wasn’t just an ass. He let his mouth get way ahead of his brain. A fucking stampede ahead of the stage.
“I’m not talking about the playground, Etta. I’m talking about a kiss.” His voice had dipped dangerously low, vibrating through him like a tuning fork and making him just as hard.
He took a step closer.
Etta countered by taking a step back. They danced that way across the sidewalk until he knew he had her exactly where he wanted her.
Against the wall.
She knew it too. Her palms flattened against the wall at her sides and her shoulders pushed back. She raised her gaze up to meet his as if she was trying to tell him that she wasn’t nervous, but he saw the way her breathing shallowed, her skin flushed, and her lips parted as he moved even closer.
And he continued until the toes of his boots were almost nudging the tips of her shoes. He raked his gaze up over her feet, the hem of her dress, over the tantalizing rise and fall of her breasts and back up along the flushed skin of her chest, neck, and face.
He lifted a hand and gently touched her cheek. “First,” he smiled at her, “one, or both people, have to move their nose out of the way. So, we’ll go with both here.” He put the tiniest bit of pressure on her cheek and tilted her head a little bit. “Next, we’ll keep teeth out of it, unless you want to bite a lip… that could be fun.”
She swallowed and he swore he could hear the soft sound echoing off the thick concrete walls. “Is that all?”
“All?”
Etta nodded, but he didn’t see the motion, he could only feel it against his fingertips. “The rules?”
The corner of his mouth lifted and he leaned in closer, bracing his free hand on the wall just above her shoulder. “Those aren’t rules, Etta. Just a few things to make it easier.”
“Easier?” She echoed the word with a tight, breathy voice. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t,” he sighed and trailed the hand against her cheek into her hair, enjoying the feeling of it against his skin, “but I’m going to show you.”
She blinked up at him. “Okay.”
If she didn’t stop looking at him like a sacrificial lamb, he was going to lose his mind.
“There’s a time and place for hard kisses, sweetheart.”
Etta nodded as if she was making a note in her head. So beautiful and if he was any judge, innocent in so many ways.
“But tonight,” he moved closer until his lips were close enough to hers to feel the heat of her skin, “we’re going to start with gentle.”
“Gentle…” her lips were so damn close and he could hear the curious plea in her tone, “okay.”
He couldn’t wait another moment. He touched his lips to hers and felt her tense. He waited until her body eased into the sensation before he moved away.
Her eyes fluttered open. And she looked into his eyes as her brow pinched ever so slightly.
He smiled at the curious question he saw in her eyes. “What is it, Etta?”
She swayed closer. “Was that… all?”
“You want more?”
She opened her lips to answer and he swept in to kiss her again. Press in closer until he could feel the way her lips pressed back against his. Plump. Plush. Made for this. Made for him.
Contest
Pick your favorite song from my list above, and I’ll select a random person to win a download of Jesse!
Brian’s book is finally here! I hope you all rush out and get it! I loved writing it. The story has all the elements you expect from a Montana Bounty Hunters story—strong heroine, to-die-for-hero, danger, hot-as-hell sex—but Brian is more. He’s a physically challenged man who learns he is still a hero. You’ll see. I know you’ll love him!
Here’s what the story is about (GO GET YOUR COPY! I can’t wait to hear what you think!)…
Brian
MONTANA BOUNTY HUNTERS: Authentic Men… Real Adventures…
The haunted gaze of one wounded warrior sparks a challenge in a woman determined to help him regain what he’s lost whether he wants her help or not…
Physical Therapist, Raydeen Pickering, has seen her fill of stubborn veterans, some too angry to get on with their lives, some still living in hell in their minds, and then some unwilling to let their broken bodies hold them back. She hasn’t figured out which Brian Cobb is yet. The first time she met the handsome, wounded warrior, he was wary and defensive, his gaze always sliding toward the door, looking for as a quick escape from the Soldiers’ Sanctuary meetings.
Even now, there’s something about the ex-Army MP, now bounty hunter wrangler, that sets him apart from the other men she’s helped mend. There’s something more–not just the haunted look in his eyes or the stubborn set of his chin. The way he looks at her when he thinks her attention is elsewhere gives her hope that she’ll reach him, and that he’ll let her help him regain more of what he’s lost.
First though, he has to figure out he’s in love with the wrong woman. The one he needs is right here, and if she has to do the chasing, so be it, because those looks he gives her have rekindled a fire she thought was lost forever…
Tomorrow’s the day! Brian releases into the world sometime after midnight, and I hope you’re ready. I love the story, and I think you will, too. But that’s not why I’m here right now.
I’m nine stories into my Montana Bounty Hunters series, and I think I’m done with the boys and girls in Bear Lodge, Montana. Psst! I’ll tell you a secret. Bear Lodge, MT is not a real place. In my mind, it’s tucked in the northwest corner of Montana, but with easy access to the Canadian border, Glacier National Park, the Kootenai Forest, Flathead Lake, etc. When I started the series, the guy who ran MBH, silver fox Fetch Winter, was looking to expand his business in Kalispell and put partners Jamie and Reaper in charge of the new satellite agency.
So, now I have a couple of ways I can go to continue the series because I love my bounty hunters and I’m not ready to give up writing about their crazy, extreme lives. I’m thinking you’re not ready either. So, this is what I need help with…because I’m busy starting a new book in a new series, and I don’t want to think too hard! 🙂
For a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card, help me decide my course.
#1 Does Fetch want to open a new satellite office, with some so far unknown new manager, somewhere else in Montana or does he want to move his office from Kalispell? I don’t want to write in Kalispell because I’d just as soon build my own little town in my mind rather than have to write about places in Kalispell that I’ve never visited.
#2 This town, that’s not Kalispell, what should I name it? Have fun with this one! Just put some ideas forth and let’s see where they go!
If I get enough cool ideas, I might run a poll to see which name readers love the most.
In the meantime, below are all the yummy covers from the stories that are in my Montana Bounty Hunters series. If you’ve missed a story, the links are below! And here’s me hoping you already have Brian on pre-order, waiting for it to download something after midnight…
