On the first day of December…

It’s the first day of December and I can’t believe it. In a year that’s been nothing short of crazy, beginning the official Christmas season is truly needed.

I’ve been a little off the grid for the last couple of days. Between holiday madness, online shopping, and a writing deadline, my brain was stretched. But, I’m back. And no, I’m not done with my Christmas shopping, but I’ve made the delivery guys really happy, just saying.

On Saturday, our family did our annual trip to the Christmas tree farm. And this year, well, I went big. Yep, I got a 10 foot tree and it’s almost that wide. It didn’t look that big in the middle of the tree farm. But once we got it home… My hubby and son just shook their heads. They knew… I didn’t…

Anyway, after many trips up and down the ladder, I got it decorated. Which is another reason I’ve been missing in action. I’ll share pictures of the finished project tomorrow once I finish putting out all of my treasured decorations. But for now, I’ll sip my coffee and watch the lights twinkle.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Wednesday Warm Thoughts…

It’s mighty cold here in Georgia on this Tuesday morning. As I write this post, the fire is crackling and popping in the fireplace, keeping me toasty warm. Do you enjoy a good fire on a cold morning?

For me, sitting by a warm fire inspires me to write more. Why is that? I love to come down the hall on cold mornings and hear the crackling fire. As soon as I have a cup of coffee in my hands, I stand in front of the fire, letting it warm me to my soul. It’s a wonderful feeling.

Not to mention I’m finishing up the last of my Christmas romance, which comes through easier with a cozy fire. Now just to get up my Christmas tree and decorations. But that will have to wait until after the upcoming busy weekend.

Enjoy every moment… Listen to the crackle of a fire… Give yourself a moment every day to just be…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Testing and Undecorating…What a Saturday!

Well, I spent my morning taking the decorations down from every corner of the house. It was sad to see it all go. I love Christmas and every aspect of it. The Christmas tree just lights up the room. As I took each ornament off the tree I smiled. Especially the ones my son Hunter has made over his 13 years of life.

It was then that I looked at the mangled boxes littering my living room floor and I sighed. Well, it’s over and I’ve got to get this mess up before I go nuts. So I pushed forward and managed in a couple of hours to have everything packed in boxes and put into the attic. I looked at my clean house after much vacuuming and dusting. Amazing how dusty everything gets when it’s covered with Christmas things. Even the artificial tree had shed all over the carpet. Go figure…

Well on to other less exciting things. Since I’m an Accountant I have to meet my requirements set forth by the IRS. This year they set forth new testing deadlines late in the year. I have to complete 15 credit hours of testing before the end of 2012. I spent a good part of Friday and today finishing that up. Wow, I had forgot how much I hate taking tests. Especially tests on Tax law and regulations, many of which I will never have to deal with.

Needless to say I’ve had to push my writing aside for a couple of days, but no worry. I’m back in the groove and ready to finish the novel that was supposed to be finished over a week ago. Yeah I know, get with the program Stephanie. Well, hopefully everything will come together tonight and Monday morning my editor will have it out and ready to go. Fingers cross 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless You!

Where your writing takes you…

As I start this post I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was wonderful. Now on to the clean up and take down and enjoying time with my son. My husband says it looks like Christmas threw up in our house. So I like to decorate. What? On to the post…

Where does your writing take you? It can take you to different countries, different lives and let your dreams come true at your fingertips. When you are writing open up your heart and experience it.

As I write I usually try to throw in a fantasy or something I love. That way I get to live the fantasy and make it come true for my characters. I get to do the things I wouldn’t dare do in real life.

Through my characters and lots of research, I get to go to places that I have dreamed of going. It’s so much fun to experience the places through my characters. If you put enough descriptions you can carry your reader off to places beyond their Kindle, Nook or paperback. You can take them to exotic destinations with the sun dancing on the clear blue water or even take them to snow covered chalets with crackling romantic fires.

The sky’s the limit when writing. Give your reader and yourself an adventure, you both deserve it. So get writing and live your dream through your writing. Go to that place, or do that thing you want to do, live the dream.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

This is a wish for all to have a Merry Christmas and a safe one. Remember the reason for the season. “For Unto this day a child was born, Christ Jesus”.

The Night Before the Night Before Christmas…

It was the Night Before the Night Before Christmas and all through the house everyone was stressed. The Christmas tree was almost bare of needles and the Angel on top was leaning. Dad was rared back relaxing and mom was busy cleaning. The air was filled with the smells of baking. Presents were piled all under the tree, while the kids giggled and smiled with glee. In a little over 24 hours Old St. Nick would be making a visit. It was almost too much to bare.

Well, it’s been a couple of days since my last post, but I’ve been busy catching up with Christmas errands. I’ve finally finished with shopping and wrapping. Was going to finish with the baking tonight, but forgot to buy extra eggs at the store, so I guess tomorrow will find me baking and cooking.

Friday night was our traditional get together with my two step children and step grandson. We do this every year. It’s a time of lots of sweets, hot chocolate and Christmas movies. I always make a loaf of homemade bread that I time to come out of the oven at just the right moment. It was a lot of fun. Our son always enjoys this time with his step siblings and nephew.

Hope all is well with everyone as they gear up for Christmas Eve!

As always, good writing and May God Bless You!

Oatmeal, coffee and romance…

As I eat my apple cinnamon oatmeal and savor my second cup of coffee I muse over my newest manuscript. Writers block, well not really writers block, more like writers laziness has took over. I think it stems from way too much on my plate.

I did something yesterday that I really hate to do. I went shopping. It’s Christmas time and it was inevitable that I would have to hit the mall. I ordered as much as I could online, but I had to break down and jump into the frying pan of shopping. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate to shop, don’t know why, but I do. Of course my mom went with me as she loves to shop. We were stuck in traffic at a dead stop for over thirty minutes. That made the experience even happier. By the time we got to the outlet mall I was just a little stressed.

But while my mom stood in line in the store, I took my packages out to the sidewalk to sit and people watch. As a writer I get a lot of good ideas by people watching. I watched this elderly couple get out of their car and he helped with her coat. You could see the immense love shining in his eyes. They were so adorable as they walked to the sidewalk and started walking hand in hand. They would look at one another and smile, with eyes twinkling. It made things seem a little better.

It got me to thinking about romance and how you keep it alive through the years. You can love someone with all your heart, but not have romance. It happens everyday. But as I watched this elderly couple, i was in awe of the romance that just seeped out of them. It was obvious to anyone that just watched them that romance just dominated them. It inspired me to get busy writing. I was humbled too by the thought that even at their age they could keep the spark alive.

So as always, keep the romance alive. If you don’t have romance in your life, it’s not too late. Cook your sweetie a romantic dinner, light some candles, and sit in the candlelight talking. Don’t talk about the finances or the problems of the day. Just talk about each other. Make it special. You won’t regret it. Maybe send him a little note on his phone, but do make sure that he is the only one looking at the text. (Been there and it was so awkward explaining it to my son who read the text for his dad that was driving. Needless to say, he now waits til he gets where he’s going to read his texts. 🙂 )

As always, good writing and heightened romance. May God Bless you!

Why is all I can say?

My heart is heavy as I write this post. The news of the tragedy in Connecticut is devastating. Why would someone walk into a school and kill innocent children? Those children had done nothing to that gunman. They were just going about their day with Christmas on their minds and innocence in their heart.

When I picked my son up at school today the first thing he said was “Mama why?” How do you explain to your child the reasons behind someone insane? How do you explain the senseless murder of children? I put my hand on his and told him that unfortunately in this world there are really bad people. He said their school was on lock down today. It made me feel good that his school was being proactive even as far away as we are. At least knowing his school is taking measures to keep them safe makes me feel somewhat good, but those parents in Conn. sent their children to school this morning thinking they were safe too.

As we go about our lives this weekend, take a moment to say a prayer for the children and adults who lost their lives. Also say a prayer for the parents who have to bury their children before Christmas. I can’t even imagine to understand how they must feel tonight. I grieve for them and pray that one day maybe they can come to grips, but I doubt they ever will. I don’t think I could. The anger is so real in my heart and I’m not the type of person that gets angry easy, but when you mess with children it angers me.

Please hug your children and thank God they’re safe. I know that’s what I did.

May God Bless you and your family!

Social Media! Oh Me!

Well, it’s official. I’m now on Facebook. My books have been on Facebook for a while, but now I am personally. I’ve been fighting it forever. My assistant has been telling me I needed this for my Author platform. Well, I did it. I broke down and joined the millions of people on Facebook. It’s a little daunting. I’m sorry, but I just don’t get into telling everyone what I had for breakfast. Yikes!

I have never been Mrs. Social Butterfly. It took my assistant forever to get me to publish my books. She said it was like pulling teeth to get me set up on Twitter. It’s funny because now I’m on every social media site I can think of. It’s crazy how being a published author can change your life. All of a sudden people want to know what I think. Me! Plain, nutty, me!. I had someone ask the other day what I drink while I write. Really!!! I told them with a smile, sweet tea. I’m a southern girl, gotta have my sweet tea.

So if you get a chance go on over to Facebook and friend me. I will friend you back when I figure out how to. You may be laughing but I’m serious.

On a book note, go over to Goodreads and check out my new book giveaway for “The Winner Is Love”. It goes through December 31st. It is available to US, Australia, United Kingdom, Ireland, India and Canada. I think that’s all of them.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you!

It’s Monday and I turn 44 today!

Yeah I know, most women don’t reveal their age, but I’m just happy to have another birthday every year. It’s crazy that I’m over 40. Me! I don’t feel 44. Most people say I don’t act 44 either. Well, last week while I had sickness, I felt over 40, but now after all the antibiotics and steroids I’m back to feeling young again.

Age to me is a frame of mind. If you constantly act your age, you will end up feeling your age. I try to enjoy every aspect of life. I try not to let everything get to me. My friends are constantly saying how do you stay so calm all the time. Well, letting things drag me down and keep me in depression doesn’t accomplish anything but developing an ulcer. Don’t get me wrong, I have regrets in my life. I have those moments of what if… I put a lot of those what if’s in my writing and go on with my life.

So, if you are in the dumps because you’re over 40, well get up off the ground you have threw yourself on and dust yourself off. Start living life to the fullest. You’re not promised tomorrow and the Good Lord gave you this time to live as He would have you live. Enjoy your family, play with your kids, decorate a tree, hug a friend, kiss your lover, tell someone you love them and live, by goodness live. Start today, right now. It will change your life.

That’s why I finally decided to publish my books and continue writing. It gives me immense pleasure. I get to live the life of my characters and enjoy what they enjoy. If only for a moment.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You!