Greetings Sweden!

Hello to all my family and friends there in Sweden!

I hope you are having a wonderful Advent with all of the cookies, Saffron rolls, and grog you are making. I miss being there in Sweden with you this time of year. Though the days are much shorter now, I love the magic of the land, the warm friendly people, and the songs and beautiful snow flakes falling as everyone attends the St. Lucia celebrations. I miss the giant moose that stop to look back at you as you stop the car to look at them, and the majestic reindeer prancing across the roads in search of food sources on the other side.

I'm in the middle of writing another article about the stories and folklore of Sweden. Thanks to my cousin, Monica, I have more wonderful incite to these treasures of my wonderful ancestors.

I believe in the gnomes and the little people. How about you?

Weekend Signings a Success

We had a great weekend doing book signings in Austin! I ended up with three store signings in two days instead of the two signings I'd originally went there to do and both my promotionalist and I were very pleased with the results. A big thanks to the friendly, helpful store managers and their staff!

I have to admit though that even while I had a lot of fun with the signings and met some very nice people, I was very tired by the end of the second day. I'll have to rest up for a few days before I hit the trail again.

For any of you that haven't bought your copy of The Austin Fires, a Stormy Winters Mystery, there is still time to order it before Christmas for yourself or that mystery lover on your Christmas list. You can order it through my website or just go to Amazon.com or Borders.com directly and buy it there. And don't forget, if you have one of the great new Kindles from Amazon, you can buy and download it from them in a matter of minutes.

Have a great week!

Birthdays and Family

I just celebrated a birthday this last Saturday and thanks to my wonderful family, it was a great day! When I woke up I was a little down about turning another year older, but by the end of the day I felt much better about it thanks to my family. My husband made a delicious breakfast of pancakes with blueberry syrup, bacon, two kinds of fruit, and juice. What a nice treat! My mother had been cooking the night before, and then again that afternoon, and made a wonderful mexican dinner filled with enchilads, tamales, green chile roast burritos, beans, and rice. It was quite a feast and oh so heavenly! I was stuffed. My oldest son, Joshua and his wife and two children came from Austin to decorate and help me celebrate my day. My youngest son, Erik helped them fill the house with balloons. They did a very good job. I heard from all of my other children by phone as well, making it a very special day for me. Was I spoiled---You bet!

Hello to my friends in Brazil!

Hello Brazil fans! Thank you for all of your support in my writing and for coming to my website. Let me hear more from you. I love your country and hope to visit there some day.

New York Times Book Section

I am pleased to say that my book, The Austin Fires, appeared in the New York Times Book Section today! It is exciting to see it in there. If you get the Times, take a look and let me know what you think. My oldest son had to track me down a copy of it in Austin as we don't have a subscription of it. Thanks, son!

My husband and I had a nice drive today through the Texas back roads as we went to pick up our youngest son from our oldest son's house in Austin. It always amazes me how our GPS unit (actually my husband's toy) try's to take us places. We never know where the thing will take us when we use it to travel a ways from our home. Today we ended up on a very narrow CR (county road) that was pretty much a one lane road. We had assumed (not always a good thing to do) that it would be a paved, two lane road, so were surprised to find it a hard-packed dirt road. When we came to an open gate in the middle of the road with a ranch name posted by it, my husband stopped the car. We were too far from where we had entered on this road, and the Australian lady on the GPS unit continued to urge us onward, so gingerly we proceeded forward. After splashing through several large mud puddles, and wondering what we had gotten ourselves into, we finally arrived at the highway we were hoping we would find.

That all said, it was actually a fun adventure and we saw several "hidden" ranches and lovely scenery along the trek. I wonder where we may end up next time?

I've Been Kindleized!

I'm excited to announce that my novel, The Austin Fires, is now available on the new reading device from Amazon, The Kindle. Please check it out!

And have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Guitar Hero II

My teenage son is off from High School this week for the Thanksgiving Holiday and he asked me if I would play with him on Guitar Hero II. I had seen he and his friends playing this a few times before, but it looked hard to me. I told my son that I just couldn't right now, but he insisted that I give it a try. You know, "Oh, come on, Mom. Just give it a try." So I did.

Only one song, I said, as I picked up the other guitar and placed the strap over my shoulder.

And I was right---it was hard. But with his encouragement, I kept going and before I knew it we had done several songs before my left hand finally gave out.

And I discovered something----it was fun!

I am thankful for my son and all of my children, husband, family, and friends.
Family----take time out with them. You'll be glad you did.

Wonderful visit!

We had a wonderful time visiting friends and family on our trip to Arizona! And we had some delicious food while there. I was able to do a lot of research for a novel I am working on for the Stormy Winters Mysteries there in Sierra Vista. I think it's going to be an exciting one full of hidden secrets and ghosts. Too bad it is not the next one that is coming out, but that one holds some interesting scenes and plots as well.

Please feel free to comment on here as I promise I will reply to each one.

NaNoWriMo-Novel

It's that time of year again for the NaNoWriMo contest. Every November 1st writers, new and experienced, the world over are invited to join in and get their novels started. It is the beginning of a great race to see how many can reach at least 50,000 words before the end of the month. And a race it is! I joined in last year and had such a good time, I decided to do it again this November. I'm going strong this year, and once again pumped by it all.

I will be on travel to Sierra Vista, Arizona for this week for some book researching, but will have my laptop with me, of course, and will continue the event each opportunity I get.

Happy writing!

Book Signings Scheduled

I am pleased to announce that the book signings for The Austin Fires are being scheduled for Dec. in Austin, TX and will soon be for San Antonio, TX.

Signings scheduled so far:

Borders Express--Lakeline Mall, 11200 Lakeline Mall Dr., Austin, TX--Friday, Dec. 7th, from
7 to 9PM.

B. Dalton--Highland Mall, Airport Blvd., Austin, TX--Saturday, Dec, 8th, from 12 (noon) to 2PM.

If you are in the area, please stop by and visit with me.

(Signings in San Antonio will be forthcoming.)

Plans have changed...

There has been a change in plans concerning which novel will be book two in my Stormy Winters Mystery series. It was to be set in Oahu, but by request I have put that one aside for book three. Book two in the series will now take place in Colorado Springs and I'm busily writing that one. It will be ready next year for publication. It has a lot of twists and turns in it and finds Stormy and Lance involved in things that are better left alone!

Making its way around!

I have been both pleased and excited to see how quickly my new novel has been making its way around the internet and being carried by book stores. Thanks to all of you who have purchased my books so far. I hope you are enjoying it.

My next book is coming along well and has been quite fun to write. I loved our trip to Oahu that my husband and I took this past May, and from what we saw, it just had to be the place for Stormy Winter's next adventure!

Have a great week!

It's Out!

I am excited to anounce that my new book, The Austin Fires, A Stormy Winters Mystery, is out in print now. I received the first copy by UPS today, with several more to follow next week. I think Author House did a wonderful job with it, and they really have been very helpful and a pleasure to work with through out the whole process. The Austin Fires seems to already be making its way, rather quickly, around to the internet's book sites, besides Amazon.com. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Hi Everyone

Hi and welcome to my world!

My son suggested that I start a blog on my website, so here it goes. This is my first blog, so come along with me and we'll see where it leads to.

Books have always been a part of my life. I attribute this to my dear Mother who spent many hours reading to my siblings and me when we were small children, besides being an avid reader herself. I followed her example and enjoyed reading to my own children when they were young as well. I love to read about most anything, though stories of adventure, mystery, animals, and miracles are at the top of my list. I also love history and art. I love to learn and will continue to do so the rest of my life.

I have written stories and poems for all age groups for as long as I can remember. Writing is in my blood, a part of my very being, and I suspect it always will be.

I enjoy entertaining children with "on the spot" stories whenever I'm watching them for awhile. It is even more enjoyable when I can get them to participate in helping me create the story by adding their own imagination to it. I use to do this at night with my children as they were growing up instead of always reading a storybook, and we came up with many fun adventures!

I have enjoyed having my work published and I have much more to write in the years to come. I hope you will enjoy my works as much as I love writing them!

See you at the library some time!