I visited Marianne’s website yesterday and was thrilled to see my book cover for NO GREATER LOSS along with Allie Boniface’s ONE NIGHT IN MEMPHIS and Ceri Hebert’s WHERE THE ROAD LEADS! If you leave a comment on her blog, you’ll be entered to win one of these ebooks of your choice! If you’d like to read the blurbs, click here to go to Marianne’s contest page. Click here to leave a comment on her blog.

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My SMALL PRESS MONTH CONTEST ends tomorrow, March 31st! I’ll draw the winner on April 1st from the comments left during the month of March. The winner will be announced on Wednesday so keep the comments coming. The giveaway is one of the following ebooks: Finally Home by Ceri Hebert, Sniffing Sand by Sarita Leone OR Jake’s Return by Liana Laverentz. Click on titles to read blurbs and for buying information.

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Writing Progress: I am loving my new story and hope it gets published. It’s fun writing a romantic comedy! I have pictures for the hottie of the week so will definitely get posted this week. I just need to get his bio ready.

photos by Arlyn Photography

AMANDA JUST SCORED A BASKET! WOO HOO!

Hey, this week went by so quickly! My husband Tom and I went out driving two mornings to look for land or houses for sale. We also went to look at model homes and got an estimate from Schumacher’s Homes to see how much it’d cost to build a ranch house. I had to get a power adapter for my laptop. Tom’s repair job on the old one didn’t last.

Amanda played in a basketball tournament in February so sharing what the photographer emailed me. I ordered some prints so will be great for her scrapbook. She’s a great dribbler and did a wonderful job holding on to the ball plus she made a basket.

SMALL PRESS MONTH CONTEST: Ends MARCH 31ST!

WRITING PROGRESS: Not good - almost 7,000 words done on novella - too much going on and haven’t had a chance to write. I’m hoping to write this weekend.

WHAT I’M READING NOW: The Role of A Lifetime by Jennifer Shirk - very enjoyable read.

Have a fun weekend! If you’re a basketball fan, hope you enjoy watching the games for MARCH MADNESS! OSU losing pretty much ruined it for me!

Jennifer Shirk wrote in her Friday blog post about how she likes to wear flip-flops. I guess it was on my mind while I shopped at Kohl’s because some cool Adidas pink and black flip-flops caught my eye. I had a pair of Adidas flip-flops I loved for a long time but they finally wore out. I couldn’t resist these new ones and saw they were on sale plus I had a 15% coupon. I love them and so comfortable. Okay, I guess they are actually called slides!

Here’s a picture of them but the pink is brighter on mine:

Since I’m giving a signed copy of my chick-lit mystery, A FIERY SECRET, for my present website contest, I thought I’d share a short excerpt from it. I’ve never posted this excerpt and it’s about Catherine wearing flip-flops when Jake unexpectedly arrives at her apartment! Enjoy.

EXCERPT:

After Scott dropped me off, I changed into a pair of flannel pants with a monkey pattern and a pink T-shirt. I broke open a fortune cookie and from the slip of paper read, Don’t play with fire if you can’t stand the heat cuz you will get burnt. Interesting fortune since I was investigating a gas explosion.

As I chewed the cookie, my phone rang. My heart raced when I saw it was Jake calling. I hoped my voice sounded calm as I said, “Hey. Where are you?” I hoped he wasn’t still in Houston.

“Would you believe I’m right outside your apartment? I came straight here from the airport. I know it’s short notice, but I’d like to see you.”

“I’d like to see you, too.” Thank God, Scott had left half an hour ago.

I shoved my feet into a pair of green flip-flops and ran down the stairs so fast I lost my balance on one step, but I reached out for the railing, stopping the fall. He stood there grinning at me before I opened the glass door, and I knew he saw how I almost fell. I grinned back and opened the door. As soon as Jake stepped inside, he grabbed me and I felt his warm lips on mine.

His hands moved to my butt and he squeezed both cheeks hard. “I like what you have on. It’s soft, like your butt.”

“Are you saying I have a flabby butt?”

He shook his head. “It’s firm but soft.”

CONTESTS: Click here for the website contest which ends May 15th!
For the SMALL PRESS MONTH CONTEST, click here! It ends March 31st so time’s running out to be entered for a chance to win an ebook download!

Besides waiting for warmer weather, I’m waiting to hear from publishers! It’s 30 degrees here for the first day of spring. The highest will be around 50 today. I submitted my full manuscript, MARRYING MALLORY, to four publishers. My revised WHITNEY IN CHARGE manuscript is being considered by two ebook publishers. Authors have told me that they waited 6 months to hear from the one publisher. I hope I’ll hear good news this month about one or both manuscripts.

Amanda is feeling fine now and still excited about the prom. I’m glad to be over my sore throat and cold. I didn’t make my writing goal this week yet. I lost a day when I was sick, another day Tom and I looked at flooring and kitchen countertops to update our kitchen. I spent yesterday painting the kitchen. I have to give some sections another coat because the beige paint didn’t cover the dark pink old paint around the cupboards. I’m glad I stripped the wallpaper because it has inspired my hubby to put a much needed new floor in the kitchen. He’s going to paint the woodwork and french doors white and get a new white door to replace the door leading to the laundry room. We have some more updating to do in other rooms and hopefully, that will be enough to sell our house.

I did have a hottie in mind for the week but couldn’t find any good photos of him. I’ll look again or just choose someone else for next week.

Don’t forget about my March contest to celebrate SMALL PRESS MONTH which will end the 31st! The winner gets to choose one ebook from the following list of talented authors: Sarita Leone’s SNIFFING SAND, Ceri Hebert’s FINALLY HOME, or Liana Laverentz’s JAKE’S RETURN! Click here to see their book covers and read the blurbs. Also the books are available in print!

Happy First Day of Spring!

Do you like Tuesdays? What’s your favorite day of the week?

Sometimes I like Mondays the best because Sara and Amanda do the best with a routine. They seem to thrive with a structured day, but I do enjoy Friday night knowing I don’t have to get up at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Last weekend was nice because Saturday, Christina took Amanda to her basketball party. Amanda was feeling better but unfortunately, I have a sore throat now and a cold. Tom’s still coughing after starting to feel better. Lea and Bart came here on Saturday and Emily came home briefly on Sunday from college. I hope none of them get sick.

WRITING PROGRESS: I finished chapter one and started chapter two on my new novella. I didn’t get to write yesterday because my cord from laptop to the box went bad. Tom fixed it so I don’t need to replace it. I had never backed up my chapter so that was the first thing I did after the repair was finished. I like this romantic comedy so hope a publisher will, too!

Better go - it’s almost time to get the girls up. I tried alarm clocks in their rooms so they could be independent and get themselves up but hasn’t worked. I guess they like seeing old mom first thing in the morning.

Oh yeah, Amanda has all kinds of green items to wear today for St. Patrick’s Day! She has a green hair scrunchie, green necklace with a clover, and a green top. I think that’s enough green!