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This morning I sent a book off to my agent. I hope she likes it and can sell it. I'm waiting for revisions on a proposal for a second mystery series. When you write, you write years ahead of yourself. Sometimes I'll write a book that is spot on for the current market and sometimes I'll write one that sits for a few years until the market swings to that type of story. I recently read a blog where the writer spoke about readers wanting to read a new book now and not understanding that what can take them hours to read can take months and sometimes years to produce. So there is always lag time of one kind or another. The good news for readers is that it is a way of keeping the quality of the content. Trust me, you don't want to read anyone's first draft. lol. In the end, for the reader a good book is worth the wait.Writers, how long does it take you to write a book? As a reader, what do you hate most about the wait?

This morning I got up to find that the chipmunk has discovered my back deck and the mother load of grapes. He was checking out my potted tomatoes when I first saw him. Then he went on to enjoy the grapes. After battling him last year to prevent his burrowing under my front stoop, I don't know what to do about this new turn of events. I can't put down the "stay away" crystals on the deck because little dog uses it. She likes to smell the chipmunk but doesn't keep it away. It's times like this that I miss big dog. He would have a blast guarding the grapes. He was a good hunter and always made sure there were no rodents in my yard.Any suggestions on how to save the grapes without harming the dog? I'm putting on my camo face. It's war chipmunk!

Summer isn't officially over for another three weeks-Labor Day weekend in the States. But it's over for many kids already returning to college and to school. I go into the stores and see the parents stocking up on the school supplies on the list for their child's grade. In our current economy there are many parents who can't pay for supplies. There are kids who will feel bad- or less than everyone else because they don't have the 24 pack of crayons. They only have the 12 pack. Even worse are the teachers who point out to the kids that their parents didn't buy exactly what was on the list. It's hard enough when kids wear hand-me-downs, and only get one meal a day-the free school lunch. Or worse, they're living in cars or shelters or hotel rooms.Let's band together to help these kids out. There are some great organizations near you that take donations of school supplies. If you can spare a dollar or two, please pick up a school supply list and purchase one or two items on it. Let's help all our kids feel as if school is a place they can fit in, and forget their parents worries, and their hunger-at least for a few hours. Cheers~

They say that no good deed goes unpunished. I am here to say that what I thought was a nice thing turned out to be confusing and apparently misleading. Funny how writers and professional communicators can still send the wrong message. What am I talking about? I'm talking about my Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ giveaway. When it was over and Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ picked the two winners, Lauren and Emma. I immediately announced it here, and on Facebook and on Twitter and everywhere where I had talked about the contest. Then I saw that Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ allows me to see the first name and Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ link to all who entered. So I thought I would send each of the 1559 people a personal thank you note for taking the time to enter. I got to about 25 when I got an e-mail back that went something like this: So did I win? Then I thought about the others I had connected with who said they were looking forward to reading The Counterfeit Bride and now I'm concerned all 25 thought they were winners because I sent them a thank you. Yes, I now know that I should have said the winners were announced and congrats to Emma and Lauren and then said Thank you for your entry. Lesson learned.Here is my apology to everyone I contacted who may feel misled. It was not my intention. I'm terribly sorry. Has this ever happened to you?

Happy Friday everyone~ The view from my window is sparkly green as the sunlight hits the leaves on the trees. The windows are open and fresh air is blowing in. It smells like warm gentle summer. The scent of fresh tomatoes and zucchini, oregano, beans and peas from the garden. The lake has lazy waves. There is a hum of cicadas that starts out low then grows louder and louder then back to soft mimicking the waves. I can hear crickets and bird song. All is steeped in the soft sweet heat of summer. Perfect for lemonade, a good book and a easy hammock.

The internet is playing havoc lately. First it was my blog list, next I could not log onto Facebook. This morning it took a while to be able to get into my e-mail. It's awful how much I rely on these things to communicate with family and friends, and to market my books, etc. I really count on the internet for my news both local and abroad. It's quicker and less skewed than the television news. So it hurts when things go wacky.I'm told Google+ is the culprit as every other web service is trying to update quickly to compete. Blogger is changing, Facebook is updating, e-mail services are updating. Sigh.I suppose all the constant change is good. It keeps the mind sharp. But then it may also steer some people away and back to old fashioned things like phone calls, snail mail and newspaper.What do you think? Do you keep up with every new change or do you long for the "good-ole-days?"

The Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ contest is over. A big THANK YOU to everyone who entered. There were 1559 entries and two winners. The winners are: Lauren from Lacy, WA and Emma from Cincinnati, OH. Congrats! The books will be in the mail by this weekend.

Thanks to and for suggesting the contest.

Okay- I just checked my list of blogs I follow and it's gone! What is going on? I follow a lot of blogs and I use my blog list to read you all. Now Blogger says I don't follow anyone. Does anyone have an idea what happened? Will it come back on its own or do I have to go searching? Gah! I don't have the time. sigh. Isn't technology grand.

Hope your day is wonderful. Cheers~

Today, I'm in between writing and editing and I look up to see that my office is totally trashed- again. Don't get me wrong, I vacuum and dust it every week. But when I am in the throws of writing or editing things tend to pile up. I work around the piles gloriously able to ignore them. When I'm done, I look up and see that things are falling. Piles are mixing when they shouldn't. Then I know it's time to suck it up and start sorting and filing and boxing and wondering how the heck I never noticed that I had guns and knives falling out of my closet. (Okay, don't be scared. My office closet is a catchall for the house. I think I was digging for boxes and dumped misc. things out. Thus the son's hunting stuff ended up on the floor.)Everyone has their own level of organization that needs to go on when they write. I usually start out spotless and the more I get into the work the worse my office gets. I dig through books for names and leave them open because I may need it again. I have research books and several style guides and dictionaries- my feet are on a pile of research books right now.What is your level of comfort when you write/read?

I started today off writing July 8- sigh. Do you ever do that? I mean wow what year is it? lol. Time flies, especially when your brain is hip deep in a book- either writing or editing. You're in your character's time and if I didn't have family around I wouldn't really know night from day. I've read that some writers will even not eat. Hmmm- I can't go that far. I'm an eater. That is obvious by my facebook posts about baking things. This weekend I made Zimtkucken for the first time. It is a yeast based cinnamon coffee cake. I can't eat it because it is made with flour- but everyone else can. The house smelled like a bakery. I posted the recipe in the notes section of my FB page.Another tip for the time challenged: since it's not good to sit too long, I set the kitchen timer for 60 minutes. My office is upstairs but I can hear it. I have to get up and go downstairs to turn it off. Then I get water as well. This helps stretch my muscles and keep me hydrated.Does time fly for you? If so, do you have any tips to combat it?

Sorry to have missed you yesterday. I made a road trip to see my Grandmother. She'll be 92 in October. Sadly, I only make the trip once a year, but I do write her. Late last night when I was tired, I got two notices from friends that my FB account had been hacked. I have no idea how they knew- they told me to check my pictures- but I didn't see anything different. Still I changed my password. I'm super careful and don't play games, use linked apps, click on strange links or keep it open. Sigh. I am wondering if FB does the hacking since as best I can tell only a few people were effected. I say this because FB has been bugging me to "up my security" by giving them my cell phone and allowing them to send me text messages. I say no.Do let me know if you get any thing weird from me.I heard back from Awesome agent- the new proposal is passed step one and on to step two. I'll let you all know how it's going.Have a safe and happy weekend~ Cheers!