The Great Wind Up

I don’t know about you, but traveling is always a bit stressful for me. Not so much, the actual going and doing, but the pre-travel hoopla and the returning home re-set. Stressful is probably not the exact word to describe how I feel but certainly a sense of anxiety surrounds the whole about-to-leave-home event. Probably because I’m the planner in my traveling group. Plans don’t just happen people. They develop. And that takes time.

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A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That

Summer is winding down in a lot of places and folks are gearing up for Fall. Pumpkins, Halloween decorations and even some Christmas décor is popping up all around. It’s still way too hot for me to think about Fall sweaters and hot spiced beverages but the folks in retail don’t really pay attention to the weather.

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The Broken Lightbulb: A Spooky Tale

Here at the inn, I have a policy: if a room is not made completely up and ready for someone to check into it, I keep the door to that room either shut or locked until it’s ready to go. I don’t like snoopy guests – and they are, every single one of them – to peek in and see a dirty or unfinished room. I just think that’s unprofessional. I’d rather have those snoopy guests wonder what those rooms look like than for them to see an unmade bed or a vacuum cleaner sitting in the middle of the room or towels stacked on the dresser. Hey, my inn, my rules. I want to present it in its best light.

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Make ‘Em Laugh, Make ‘Em Laugh, Make ‘Em Laugh

It’s Monday and I’ve had a busy, busy week, last week. The inn was full to the rafters Friday and Saturday nights, couple of house tours during the week, and my new book releases Friday, so there was a lot of marketing and pre-launch hoopla to do to get all that ready. This week promises to be just as busy.

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Making Good On My Promise

I’ve been promising a new book and FINALLY it’s here. Well, almost here. But, it is available for Pre-Order and I encourage you to do that if you intend to buy the book. Release day sales are huge in boosting an author’s visibility so if you think you’re going to want to read this book (and I hope you do), please go to your preferred book vendor and pre-order it. (Links below.) Even if you have no interest in reading it but you want to help boost my sales, go ahead and buy it or gift it to a friend. I’ll be forever grateful.

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They Make It Look So Good

Photo by Pexels (Karolina Grabowska)

Channel surfing. I know you’ve all done it. Four thousand channels to choose from from sixty different apps but you still can’t find anything to watch on TV. So, you start watching trailers hoping to find a good movie or a new series to watch. Sometimes you spend a good hour just watching trailers trying to find something to watch and by the end of the night you haven’t watched anything.

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Get Out Of Your Head

Photo by P. Rickrode

The writers police academy was quite the adventure. Lots of hands-on stuff. Lots of great insider information. Lots of really nice people. Not so much sleep. But it was all worth it. The workshops were great, the food was good, the hotel was adequate, the location was perfect, the guest speakers were fabulous. One in particular touched me with his keynote address on Saturday night.

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The Great Confiscation – Damn You TSA!

So, I think you know that I recently traveled to Appleton, Wisconsin to attend the Writer’s Police Academy. It was a blast!! Met some amazing people and learned some super cool stuff. Getting there was fine; 3 flights, 4 airports, no food, and 2 really quick trips to the restroom while running through airport concourses to my next flight. But all-in-all, not too bad. Coming home? Not so much.

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Just In Time For Christmas!

I know. It’s only June. But the book I’ve been promising, the one set around Christmas time, that should have been released near the end of the year holidays, is almost ready to be released. I’m bummed that I missed the Christmas release, and the Valentine’s Day release, and the mother’s day release, but, hey, it is what it is. The book just wasn’t ready.

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To Change Or Not To Change

In the past, I’ve stressed the importance of having a manuscript professionally edited before publishing it. In my opinion, that is the single-most important thing an author can do (and spend money on). Many a good story has been ruined because it was poorly edited. It doesn’t matter how well you can self-edit, you should never skip this step.

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