National Cat Day


Can I tell you a secret?

....I don't really like dogs. I know, I know. Almost everyone I am acquainted with has one, or two and sometimes three, but...they're just not me. I AM a cat person, always have been. I broke down once under peer pressure, when I was twenty, and got a miniature husky. I called him Digger.

If you're my age, you would remember 'Digger the Dog' commercial theme song.

Digger the Dog
Digger he goes with you
When you explore
Just pull his leash
Go for a walk
He's your dog, for sure

I had Digger for almost two months, but we both knew it wouldn't work, so I found a nice family for him and stuck with cats.

My latest fur buddies are Bridgette, McKenzie and another we adopted when our son moved in, Beau. All are good kitties, but Jimminy Crickets - the food we go through. The fur. The litter box!

#1LineWed

Today I left a teaser from one of my works in progress, Dark Desires. This will be book two of the Miatharan Chronicles and focuses on a delicious character - Cian.


An exiled Fae Prince
An Ancient Curse
Druid Father
Fae Mother
She's the Chosen One
Gives me goose bumps....


Y'ALL or YA'LL?

We had this discussion a few years ago at an Author/Reader event I attended, and everybody had a different opinion. So here's my question. When writing a southern character, would you write 'y'all' or would you show it as 'ya'll'?

Don't even try to get into the ya'll y'all - double call... My head will split.


Sunday Snippet

Welcome. For those of you who are Canadian, like me, Happy Thanksgiving. May we be truly thankful for everything we have, big and small.

Onto my snippet from my WIP ~ Man of Her Dreams.

Lindsay overheard a conversation and knows that Jared read a page from her notebook. The page that had a detailed list of the perfect man. The list had been created after one too many bad dates, and one too many glasses of wine shared with her BFF. The two of them decided they needed to write down what Lindsay was looking for in her ideal man.

Embarrassed, furious, hurt, (did I mention furious?), she's now trying to avoid him and he's trying to figure out why she's giving him the cold shoulder. **this had been modified to fit the 10 line limit

"Will you look at the time?" She glanced down at her bare wrist. By this time she'd reached her truck and hopped into the driver's seat. She closed the door and fumbled with her keys.
"What's the rush?" He placed both hands on the roof of the truck and leaned in through the open window into her space. He thought he heard her cuss as she shoved the key into the ignition, put the truck into gear and finally looked at him.
"The notebook you found was hers."
He had no choice, other than hanging on the side of the truck like a love sick fool, but to stand aside and watch as she backed up, gunned the motor and sped down the normally quiet street.
About to walk back to his house he stopped and swiveled to face the now deserted street, his eyes narrowing as he muttered, "How did she know I found the notebook?

You can find other snippets on the Facebook Group: Snippet Sunday

Gobble Gobble

WEEKEND WRITING WARRIOR #9


Welcome to my Weekend Writing Warrior post. Last week I tweeted "what happens when you get your sister hopping mad" and then posted my yummy Laird Craven scene. *sigh* That's what happens when you get a new toy (a program that allows me to set up some posts a week in advance). I knew I'd be busy with Top Gun signing papers for our new house, and... the rest is history.

So, without further ado, I give you the scene from Man of Her Dreams where Lindsay and Jared have been caught making out in the lake (fully clothed) by her brother and most of the slow pitch team.
Her brother, Nick berates her in front of everyone and Lindsay blows a gasket.

This selection has been modified slightly to meet the 10 line requirement. Enjoy.

She stalked up to him and poked a wrinkled, blue finger into his chest.
"Who do you think you are?" Poke.
"I'm a perfectly functioning adult female, past the age of consent." Poke
"I seem to remember you and Tina spending a night up at Snake Hill and did I tell anybody about that?" Poke.
"Uhh...you just did."
She stopped for a moment and looked around at the team and Jared. Oh bother, no one was supposed to know about that; she'd pinkie swore to Tina she'd take it to the grave.

Don't forget to check out my fellow Weekend Writing Warriors and the Facebook Sunday Snippet Group.

Here is the expanded version of my selection.


Lindsay broke through the water’s surface a few seconds ahead of Jared. She treaded in place and watched as he shook water off his face, then placed one hand on his shoulder, the other on the top of his head and pushed him beneath the surface again.

She kicked away and swam as fast as her wet clothes would allow towards a natural sloping in the rocks where it was easy to exit the lake. A cold, firm hand on her ankle stopped her mid-stroke.

Laughing and sputtering, she swallowed more water than should be allowed and tried to kick away, but he kept a tight hold. Hand over hand he dragged himself up her leg, his penetrating gaze never leaving her face.

“That was a very naughty thing to do, Miss Swanson.” His voice, low and exceedingly sexy sounding, sent a thrill through her. They’d reached shallow enough water that he could stand, but she still had to tread water. He snagged a finger in her belt loop and pulled her toward him.

Expecting him to dunk her beneath the water, she gasped when he cupped her face and captured her mouth in a blistering hot kiss. She forgot all about the icy cold water and wrapped her arms around his neck, all thoughts of escape dissipating.

Their tongues danced around each other and he cupped her buttocks, hitching her up so she could wrap her legs around his midsection. Slowly he walked toward the rock, never taking his mouth from hers.

“You are driving me to distraction,” he murmured against her lips.

“You talk too much.” She tunneled her fingers through his wet hair and pulled his mouth back to hers.

She hadn’t been looking for love, and certainly never expected her hopes to be hitched to the boy next door, but here she was, floating in ice cold water never wanting the moment to end.

“Don’t mind us. We’re just going to have a marshmallow roast.”

She and Jared broke away from one another. That was Nick’s voice. What was he doing here? She paddled out so she could see over the rock shelf and inwardly died from embarrassment. Not only was Nick grinning down at them, but almost half the slow pitch team. His surprised gaze caught hers and his lips thinned when he saw who was in the water. Or, to be more specific, whom she was kissing in the water.

Uh oh. The group hadn’t known whom they’d stumbled upon and Nick was about to go into big brother mode. He was only a year older than her, not that he cared at this exact moment, if his thunderous look was anything to go by.

They scrambled up the embankment and stood, dripping wet as the team went back by the logs, acting as though they weren’t about to witness a major blow up. Jared gave a curt nod to Nick and then strode off toward the logs and their gear.

Lindsay twisted the hem of her tee shirt, trying to stop the heavy drip into her already soaked shoes.

“It’s bad enough you played tonsil hockey the other night at practice, but geez, Lins – I thought you had more brains in your head than this.”

She’d been wet. She’d been cold. She’d been a little embarrassed at being caught in a heated moment by her brother. She’d even felt a teensy bit of remorse, but to be chastened by her less than perfect brother in front of everyone sent her over the edge.

She stalked up to him and poked a wrinkled, blue finger into his chest.

“Who do you think you are?” Poke.

“I’m a perfectly functioning adult female, past the age of consent.” Poke.

With each poke Nick took a step backward.

“I seem to remember you and Tina spending the night at Snake Hill. Did I tell anybody about that?” Poke.

“Uh… you just did.”

She stopped for a moment and looked around at the team and Jared. Oh bother, no one was supposed to know about that. She’d pinkie swore to Tina she’d take it to the grave.

“I’m sorry, but I’m mad.”

“It’s okay.” Nick stopped his retreat, but her finger came back into action.

“You have no right to where I kiss, or how often I kiss. You also have no right when I like those kisses a lot.” Poke. Poke.

She lowered her hand. They’d reached the edge of the log circle. Someone had started a fire and Jared sat near it on a log, by himself. Everybody else stood across from him, clearly not wanting to get on Nick’s bad side.

“Oh for Pete’s sake.” She stomped over to Jared, grabbed the towel out of her bag and sat beside him, glaring at everyone around the circle. “Get a set of balls. You’d think I was a child.”

Jared bumped her shoulder and said in a low voice, “You like my kisses.”

She half-turned toward him. “That’s all you got out of this? I like your kisses?”

“Well, yeah. That one kind of stood out.”
Have a great weekend!

#1LineWed

I love one line Wednesday. It's fun to go through you WIP, or published manuscript and find those little nuggets that captures who or what your characters are. The theme this week was dialogue. Now it can be difficult to capture a fun line because without the other 'stuff' around that one line, things could be taken out of context.

However, my one line was pretty straight forward: "Noooo...so unfair. I don't have any hot neighbors, just acres and acres of corn fields.' (technically two lines, but who's counting?)
Here is the expanded version between Lindsay and her BFF, Tina, who is also married to Lindsay's brother, Nick.

The whine of a miter saw became louder.
What was he doing now?
Lindsay minimized the application on her computer and swiveled to look out the second storey window. Her home office overlooked the new neighbor’s driveway. A neighbor who’d become extremely distracting.
She couldn’t make out his features, with a baseball cap covering his face from her elevated view, but she sure could see his body. At that moment Tina’s ringtone sang out.
“Hello?”
“What’s shakin’ bacon? Still watching Hot Stuff next door?”
Lindsay dropped the curtain as if burned.
“No.” She faced her computer, which had gone into screen saver mode. “I’m at my computer.” She jiggled her mouse and a CAD program popped up, displaying a current renovation.
“You are such a liar. I’ll bet you haven’t touched your mouse until right now.”
Lindsay let go of the mouse. How did Tina always know what she was doing? It was like she had a spy camera in her office.
“I shouldn’t have told you what he was doing.”
“Well, you did and now I want to know more.”
“You’re a married woman. You shouldn’t think this way.”
Tina laughed out loud. “I may be married, but I’m not dead. Besides, I can look at the dessert tray as long as I don’t place an order.” Lindsay imagined Tina’s eyebrows waggling while she spoke. “Come on, woman. Feed my avarice.”
“Avarice?”
“I’m doing crosswords at the doctor’s office while I wait for my appointment. Stop stalling. Give me details. Have you figured out what he’s up to?”
Lindsay stood, and partially concealed by her curtains she watched, as she had for most of the morning. What she saw pushed her pulse into overdrive.
All sweaty in a pair of low-rise Levi’s and scruffy work boots, Hot Stuff grabbed a water bottle and sucked back huge gulps. As his thirst was quenched, her mouth became paradoxically drier. His wide shoulders and hard chest looked as though they’d been sculpted by Michelangelo himself. Twin ropes of muscles carved around six pack abs and caused her heart to trip along a little faster.
“Well?” Tina whispered into the phone.
“He’s finished clearing the backyard.” Lindsay whispered back. “Now he’s cutting lumber, but they’re too short for even a deck.”
“More. Give me more.”
“I don’t know if you’re ready for this. He’s shirtless.”
“You’re killing me,” Tina groaned. “Is he built?”
“Like a Greek god.”
“Noooo…. So unfair. I don’t have any hot neighbors, just acres and acres of corn fields.”
There you go. I hope you enjoyed.

WEEKEND WRITING WARRIORS #8


Welcome to my weekly post for Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday, where all of us who are slogging in the writing trenches come up for air and share a brief snippet of what we're working on.

I've shared from my WIP - Man of Her Dreams, and WIP - FiancĂ© for Hire, but did you know I was also writing a paranormal/time travel historical romance? <-- say that five times fast.
When I get frustrated with my contemporary folk I take a trip to Scotland-circa 1605 and visit Laird Craven and his wife, Lady Evelyn.

I hope you enjoy this week's selection where Lady Evelyn has entered her bed chamber and discovers Laird Craven bathing in front of the fire. She demands to know why he's there and then has to close her eyes as he rises from the tub....
"Do ye remember when the old priest came out to welcome us?"
He prowled around her, smelling fresh, clean and....very Male. She stepped back and bumped into a wall, her breath quickening at the realization she was trapped.
"As ye ken, poor Father Cleirigh canna speak a word of English and relied on me to translate."
Evelyn knew that, but why did he bring this up now?
"Ye'll also remember I told ye the good Father asked if ye were in want of a good night's rest and warm food."
She did and recalled that she'd answered 'Aye', strangely pleased when the priest smiled a broad, almost toothless grin.
"What ye dinna realize - me Lady - the good Father had just recited marriage vows and ye most readily said 'Aye' to being my wife."
Her eyes flew open and she gasped. Craven stood in front of her, strong arms braced against the wall, boxing her in.
Yum

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