What better way to celebrate #SummerReading season than an enchanting chat with a talented #writer who just happens to have a new #book releasing today (Blade of Truth)! Canadian author Lali Love's books #inspire and #entertain---without further adieu, let's chat with Lali: Q1. Lali, I have enjoyed reading your gorgeous, poetry/meditation book, The Joy of IT so much! I have it handy on my coffee table to open up and be inspired each day. The collection is awesome and the draw

"Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go..." E.L. Doctorow Words so true! I thought for this post I'd try to give a boost to my #writer friends and share a few #writing resources I (and others) have recently found useful to explore and utilize. I've seen quite a bit of frustration and gloom in tweets this past week on Twitter, ranging from the #Goodreads sudden deletion of #bookreviews (luckily it looks like most reviews have been restored) to pe

"One benefit of summer was that each day we had more light to read by..." Jeanette Walls Continuing with my quest for great #SummerReads, this month I'm excited to feature #Writer A.C. 'Drew' Merkel! He is the author of the Lady Dreamscapes, time traveling/sci-fi series. These imaginative tales feature a MC by the name of 'Murder'...and what an exciting, literary journey she will take you on! Without further adieu, let's chat with Drew: Q1. I really enjoyed the first book in

"Wine and friends are a great blend." Ernest Hemingway Once again we ventured away from the confines of the family room and traveled to central California to the charming town of Paso Robles. Located in central California, Paso has become a hub for wine lovers and has multiple vineyards in the area---a perfect place for a wine tasting afternoon! For this trip, we stayed at the fabulous Allegretto Vineyard Resort just off Hwy 46 (yes, the infamous highway where James Dean met

What better way to start off the new month of #IndieApril than an interview with a writer whose works I've come to greatly admire! In today's post you'll meet the multi-talented, author/poet/musician/singer, Derek King. His poetry soothes the soul, his short stories evoke scary chills, and non-fiction works inspire us all. Ladies and Gents, Mr. Derek King: Do you remember the first poem you wrote? Ha! Yes, I do remember it. I was thirteen. I wrote it sitting on the grassy slo

What a week to celebrate! Tomorrow, February 18th, is the three year book birthday for The Crown for Castlewood Manor, the first book in my cozy mystery series! Who knew that three years on I'd be preparing for the 6th book's release? In honor of #TheCrown I thought it would be fun to go back in time to my first #blog post on this story and update my nouveau #author views then, with a 2021 perspective. Today we're talking about main character Gemma...💖👑 From March 11, 2018

January has always been a fun month for us to travel--the #holidays are over, a #NewYear started, and it's a perfect time for me to enjoy a few weeks of cold weather. I thought I'd share some of our January pics from prior year travels since we're all kinda stuck in #lockdown mode these days. The feature picture⏫ is the Silfra Fissure in Iceland where I spent my 60th bday. We snorkeled in the 34 degree, ancient, iceberg waters that narrowly separate the North American and Eur

This week and next, I want to share with you once again one of my favorite things to do as a #reader and fellow #writer--highlight some exceptionally, talented people whose written works excelled beyond the norm, IMO. I take my #reading responsibility very seriously as each week I read and review a new work from writers I follow on Twitter and Facebook. It's a personal goal I've set for myself and my small way of giving back to a community of people I admire very much. Last y

Oh baby, it's a #bookcover reveal ⏫(turn up the sound)! It's that most wonderful time of year (to #promote and #sell those books) and what better way to celebrate for a #writer than a new title to reveal!? (plus I get to use an interrobang, how cool is that?!😁) I decided it was time to show the world my latest creation and give myself a #writing, um, incentive (ie if you #reveal it you must #write it🤪). Let's give Twins in the City: Playtime at Castlewood Manor a big #HearH

I took a few days 'off' in recent days to reset and re-group. My creative mind needed a refresh and the chance to recalibrate to a more Zen (ish) frequency. I heeded the suggestion of a sassy, southern friend to do something totally out of the ordinary (although I did immediately nix the idea of standing on my head...). I decided to drag out the yoga mat from under the couch where it had been amassing all sorts of interesting collectibles the past few months (Come on, really