What Does May Have in Store?

Wow, I’m kind of leery of what May has in store for me. On May 1st hubby called saying he was being taken to the ER. He’d left early that morning to drive a cattle truck for a ranch. I asked what happened and he said a bull kicked him. Great! By the time I arrived at the ER he was all stitched up. three layers worth of stitches. They had a hard time getting some arteries to stop bleeding. He has a four-inch gash in his head with stitches and staples. But luckily, he moved out of the way and didn’t get the brunt of the kick, so he didn’t have a concussion or any other head injury. He told me he has a hard head.

Then on May 5th in SE Oregon four inches of snow came down and the power was out for five hours. A skiff this time of year isn’t unheard of but the 4 inches came down all at once. My poor horses were freezing after being rained on and then getting snow. I blanketed them up since I’d curried a good chunk of their winter hair off the week before thinking spring was here! Mother Nature fooled a lot of us. The good thing that came out of the power outage, it gave me time to finish a book I’d been trying to get read. 😉

Today the morning started pleasant with blue sky and puffy clouds. Hubby said he needed help unloading irrigation pivot pipes he’d picked up the day before. So the morning was spent, thankfully while the sun shone, unloading the pipes. I was the lucky person in the backhoe following directions. 😉

This coming weekend is our 45th anniversary. May 12, 1979 is when we were married in a church in Lostine, Oregon. My mom when to great pains to make it beautiful. She made my dress, and they remodeled the kitchen and dining room so it would be better for hosting the reception at the house in the back yard. The apricot trees were in bloom and it was a sunny day. That’s about all I remember of the day.

Anyway, for our anniversary we’re going to the coast for one night after I sell books at the Comic con in Redmond, Oregon. Which is about the halfway point from our house to the coast. We’ll stay two nights with my mother-in-law and then go on to the coast for a one night stay before loading up calves and alfalfa seed and coming home.

It’s a little bit better than our honeymoon, 45 years ago. We were headed to the coast from clear across the state. Lostine is in the NE corner of Oregon. So we had to travel the full width of the state. And at the halfway point, which was close to where we were living, the car started acting funny. We limped it home and never made it to the coast for our honeymoon. As soon as we arrived at our house, the phone rang and hubby agreed to haul a load of something to pay for repairs on the car. Since then, we try to go to the coast or somewhere we both want to see on our anniversary, but it doesn’t always work out since it normally ends up being Mother’s Day weekend. Something we didn’t think about when we picked a month between our birthdays.

Before I go, I want to let you know that because May 5th was MMIW Awareness Day, I have my book Stolen Butterfly on sale through the month May for $1.99 in ebook or audiobook. The proceeds from the sale are donated to the MMIW movement.

https://books2read.com/u/baZEPq

While I’m sharing good deals on audiobooks, I wanted to pass along that I also have an audiobook on sale with the Indie Audiobook Deals. You can get Murder of Ravens in audiobook for $0.99 until May 15th. IndieAudiobookDeals.com 

I hope the month of May will be kind to you. Be happy and enjoy life!

My Happy Place, The Oregon Coast

I’m spending a week at the Oregon Coast to finish writing a book. Why do you say do I need to go to the coast to write? Because at home I have too many distractions. Like, feeding animals, doing laundry, making meals, cleaning house, and many more things that take my attention away from the fact I have a book to finish.

Here on the coast, I write and I walk on the beach to get fresh air and energize my brain. I always manage to write a lot when I’m here. If I can finish the book before it’s time to leave, I can start figuring out the next book.

Here are some of the fun things I’ve seen while on my walks.

This was the scene we had the first night as we sat outside at a restaurant. The first day at the coast was beautiful. The warmest we’ve had and the prettiest sunset.

This is a starfish I found on one of my walks. I thought “wow this is so unusual” and then another day there were six starfish on the beach. I threw them back into the water. I don’t know if they were still alive or not. There weren’t any rocks around for them to have been clinging to so I wasn’t sure if they had died and were being carried around on the waves or what.

As aways with a walk on the beach there are seagulls flying and fighting over the crabs and other sea creatures that the birds eat.

I like to take photos that encompass more than the main object in the photo. This is a mussel shell. The iridescent colors didn’t show up in the photo as much as they did in person but I liked the scope of the photo.

I liked the lines made in the water by the incoming and outgoing waves that crossed at this point on the beach.

This is my favorite sight at the beach. It was a trail made by a crustacean heading back to the water. At first, I thought someone had pushed a rock through the sand, but I saw the little almost zipper like markings in the middle of the track and picked the critter up to see where his head was buried in the sand and see his body poking out of the shell. So I set him back down and took a photo.

The beach is one of my favorite places to go to reenergize and get a book finished. I can’t wait until next month when hubby and I come back over to celebrate our 45th anniversary!

And don’t forget my latest release, The Pinch is set on the Oregon Coast in a different coastal town.

Book 5
Spotted Pony Casino Mysteries
Dela Alvaro, head of security for the Spotted Pony Casino, is asked to do a security check of a casino on the Oregon Coast. She no sooner starts her rounds at the casino and a child is kidnapped. The parents are a dubious couple. Special Agent Quinn Pierce of the FBI has been out to get the father for some time.

One of Dela’s best friends from the Army appears and they catch up, only to find her friend strangled the next morning after having divulged to Dela she may have photos of the kidnapping.

As Dela struggles with the violent death of yet another best friend, her lover, Tribal Officer Heath Seaver, arrives and the two begin untangling the lies, bribes, and murders.

In the end, as Heath carries the child to safety, Dela must face a cunning killer alone.

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/38Y787

ebook $4.99 – Print $14.99 – Audio $14.99

Keeping up with Paty

I thought spring had arrived in SE Oregon. I found buttercups on the hill while hiking and we had two beautiful days of sunshine and 60s temperatures. Then, rain, rain, rain, a little snow and sleet, and we’re back to the cold weather with dreary gray skies. I’d just begun to think about pulling weeds and turning over the soil in my garden bed. Too muddy to do either now.

But the snow keeps building up on the Steens. I wish I had a view of the mountains from my house, but I don’t. There is a tall hill that I have to climb to see them. However, my daughter has a wonderful view of them. As witnessed by this photo taken at her place.

Steens Mountain from my daughter’s.

I’m so happy that my little dog, Nia likes to do road trips. The small dog I had before, Tink, loved road trips. I took her everywhere. Sumpter Flea market where I sell books on Labor Day and Memorial Day weekends, on research trips to Silver City, Granite, and other places. She also attended several outside book selling events. I’m hoping once Nia gets out of the puppy/teenage stage she’ll be a good mascot as well. She has been to one outdoor selling event and has attended Sumpter with me twice. She is getting better, but she likes to meet everyone, dogs, people, squirrels. And doesn’t listen well. Once she starts listening better she will go on more trips.

As you read this, I am on a plane to Seattle, WA. I’ll be attending the Left Coast Crime conference in Bellevue, WA from the 11th – 13th. I’m excited to meet some authors I’ve worked with but have not met in person. They are other members of my Ladies of Mystery blog. If you like to learn more about mystery, suspense, and thriller writers and books, it is a fun place to hear stories about how some books come to fruition and learn a few of the writing snags authors have. https://ladiesofmystery.com/

This month I also have a couple of audiobook deals happening. One is part of a great Indie author audiobook group I joined. Right now, you can get some great deals on audiobooks. I have the first box set of my Shandra Higheagle Mystery series on sale for $0.99! Yes! That’s 3 audiobooks for $0.99 and it’s at most audiobook vendors. You can find all the deals here: IndieAudiobookDeals.com

I’m participating in the Kobo Stock UP and Listen sale. I have the first audiobook of the Shandra Higheagle Series, Double Duplicity on sale for $1.99 at Kobo only. During this sale, you can also find the first Gabriel Hawke audiobook, Murder of Ravens for $2.99. Here is the Kobo link to find all the books that are on sale right now. https://bit.ly/3TIvKuC

My next post will be coming to you from the Oregon Coast! I’m excited to do my semi-annual trip to Rockaway Beach. I’ll be writing and spending time with friends. If you follow me on my Author FB page, Author Paty Jager, you’ll see my daily photos of the coast and what I’m doing.

And if you want to get a free mystery/suspense/thriller book a month, you can join my newsletter. I have teamed up with 12 other authors to share one of our books each month on our newsletters. You’ll not only get the free book, but when you sign up you get a subscriber only free short story from me and each month I have a puzzle search for you. Subscribe here: https://bit.ly/2IhmWcm

An Exhibit Worth Seeing

To help me better understand the politics and people of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla I subscribe to their newspaper . When I received this month’s issue, I was happy to see there was an event being held at the Tamástslikt Cultural Center that resonated with me and my writing.

If you have read my books or even follow this blog you know that I am a supporter of the MMIP movement. The title of the event was “Murdered and Missing Indigenous Persons and the Umatilla Reservation.” It was to be a panel of family members of victims, an MMIP advocate, CTUIR Tribal Director and Judicial Assistant, and representatives from the Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center.

Because my Spotted Pony Casino mystery series is set on the Umatilla Reservation and I have and continue to write about the MMIP problem in my books, I thought it would be a worthwhile event for me to attend and hear all sides. I’ve had two people tell me about losing family members and not knowing what happened to them or still not knowing where they are.

Anyone who reads my books, knows that the core of every book is justice or injustice, however you want to look at it. And MMIP fits well into the theme I have in my books. I also like when a reader will say, I didn’t know about the movement or that it was such a problem until I read your book. That makes me happy. It means I am doing a small part to educate more people about the problem.

I wanted to have a powerful blog about the event, but when I arrived, they told me that the event had been postponed due to a death in one of the speakers family. While I was bummed because I was looking forward to learning more and I had driven 5 hours to attend, I was able to see the Portraits in Red exhibit which is powerful.

Artist Nayana LaFond was stuck at home in 2020 and decided to paint “Lauraina in RED” for the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls on May 5th. She asked people for a photos of missing or murdered relatives and she would paint a few more. She received 25 photos the first day along with the story of how the loved one went missing or was murdered.

Murdered or Missing

The Portraits in Red are of missing or murdered family members or friends and one wall has portraits of activists and survivors.

Murdered or missing

I, of course, being backwards, started on the side of the activists and survivors and ended with the murdered victims. Which in a way, I think, made it all the more compelling as I saw people fighting for the cause and then saw why they were fighting.

To the left of the hand survivors and to the right activists for the cause.

These aren’t only half of the portraits that were hanging on the walls. There is also a display that the Assitant Director Randall J. Melton told me had surprised him. They asked people from the community to put up a hand with a name of a family member or friend who had been found murdered or was missing. This is the wall.

Even though I write murder mystery, I can’t fathom the horrendous things people do to one another. MMIP be talked about in my books so that I can continue to raise awareness about this issue.

I will be at a mystery conference on the date they rescheduled the panel. But it can be listened to through the Tamástslikt Cultural Center Facebook page.

I will be in Bellevue, WA at the Left Coast Crime conference April11th-14th. If you’re in the area contact me and I can try and meet up with you.

Fun Writing Stuff

I was at an author event held by a library over the weekend. It was fun to hang out with one of my writer friends and meet other writers and readers. I even had an older man come over and start talking to me in Dutch. I understood what he was saying because my husband is Dutch and his parents moved here from The Netherlands. But I couldn’t respond to his question in the language. I can only understand it. He had seen my name on my banner and once we started talking, I believe his sister knows my mother-in-law. small world!

The event went well and I enjoyed my day before the event when I spent time with my friend who lives in that area. We went for a walk in the park and I had to take a photo of these gorgeous daffodils. Something to look at on days like today when we are having rain, snow and wind.

My latest book released. The Pinch book 5 in the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series. Here is the cover, blurb and buy link if you’d like to give it a read.

Dela Alvaro, head of security for the Spotted Pony Casino, is asked to do a security check of a casino on the Oregon Coast. She no sooner starts her rounds at the casino and a child of a dubious couple is kidnapped. Special Agent Quinn Pierce of the FBI has been out to get the father for some time.

One of Dela’s best friends from the Army is also at the casino and they catch up. The next morning, Dela finds her friend strangled. As Dela struggles with the violent death of yet another best friend, Tribal Officer Heath Seaver arrives and the two begin untangling the lies, kidnapping, and murder.

As Heath carries the kidnapped child to safety, Dela must face a cunning killer alone.

Universal buy link: https://books2read.com/u/38Y787

I have my mystery audiobooks at Chirp and am proud to join the authors at Indie Audiobook Deals in sharing this HUGE giveaway with you. Four entrants will win a $55 Chirp gift card! Chirp is the premier site to listen to fantastic audiobooks.🎧

They’re picking FOUR winners so make sure to complete all of the extra entries to enhance your chances of winning. Good luck and happy listening! 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: https://kingsumo.com/g/jz0pgc/win-1-of-4-55-chirp-gift-cards

I had a good conversation last week with the OSP Fish and Wildlife officer who has been helping me with my latest Hawke book. I now have enough information about patrolling the Snake River that I can start writing the story. I’ve been antsy to get back in Wallowa County with Hawke and tell another story about him, Dog, and the other characters who inhabit his world.

If you like to listen to audiobooks and get good deals on them, I suggest you enter the contest above and sign up for my newsletter https://bit.ly/2IhmWcm so you don’t miss a single deal when I discount my books.

A mid-winter trip South

To say I couldn’t wait to get my Jeep back from the body shop after we were hit by a deer coming back from Portland before Thanksgiving, is an understatement. We, Hubby and I, had planned a trip to visit his sister in Killeen, TX, meet up with our oldest granddaughter to disperse the last of her belongings, and meet her brother in Clovis, NM at the Air Force base where he is stationed.

When the body shop finally called and said we could pick up “Spitfire,” I started packing while Hubby started mapping out the route we would take to hopefully avoid snow.

We didn’t leave until 2pm the first day because Hubby had to load a hay truck before we could go. We made it to Ely Nevada in 8 hours. We were beat. I found a pet-friendly motel and we called it a day. Nia was happy to be out of the small area she had, because of the totes we were taking to our granddaughter. I didn’t think to take a photo of our load. But all she had for room was her kennel pointed to the space between the seats and the arm rest/console to sit on when she wasn’t in my lap.

The next day even though we had a good 12-hour day of driving planned, we stopped at all the places that interested us.

The first was Cathedral Gorge in Nevada. We were both intrigued by the deep, narrow gorge with red rock spires.

The next stop was outside of Touqerville, Utah. We did a little walk around the car to Nia sniffed around.

After that we came to Colorado City, AZ. I made Hubby turn the car around when I spotted a purple store with the name “Paty’s Place.” I told him it had to be my store with the name spelled the same.

At first glance, Hubby and I were taken with the breath-taking views and nice homes in Colorado City. We stopped at a grocery store that had a deli and purchased lunch. We let Nia out in the dog park in the corner of the parking lot, and talked about coming back and staying to visit all the things we saw in the distance that we would like to explore. However, as we drove around, there was something about the place that had us both asking lots of questions. Why were the houses all so big? Why were there houses that had been started but never finished and no for sale signs on them?

As we continued down the road, I looked up the town and discovered three Mormon fundamentalist sects were based there. And that the leader of one of the sects had practiced polygamy and he was sent to prison as a sexual predator. He had expelled men from the town and gave their wives to other men. It was a place we decided we didn’t want to return to. But we will stay elsewhere and check out the surrounding area.

After that we stopped at the Navajo Bridge that crosses the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry.

Shadow of the bridge spanning the river.
Nia wondering why people wouldn’t stop and pet her. 😉

I enjoyed traveling through the country that Tony Hillerman wrote about in his books. I am a fan and was giddy as we drove through the four corners and towns that I read about in his books. Not to mention seeing First Mesa and hogans. We spent the night in Gallup, NM. And going through Albuquerque the next day we saw hot air balloons.

The next day we continued and arrived in Killeen, TX at my sister-in-law’s about 7 pm. We spent a couple of days with her and her husband. She took us to the town of Hico, TX where we went through a museum about a man who claimed to have been Billy the Kid. He went by Brushy Bill. I didn’t see how the photos of him as an old man resembled how Billy the Kid might have aged. We also ate at the Kup of Koffee restaurant and went across the street to the Wiseman Chocolate shop. The lunch and the chocolate were delicious.

We bid them farewell early in the morning and got back in the car to drive to Clovis, NM to visit our grandson in the Air Force and his wife. We were pleased with the way they are facing life as adults. They took us to the Billy the Kid burial site and museum in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. After that we went back to Clovis and walked through the small zoo there.

Leaving Clovis, we backtracked through New Mexico and a corner of Arizona. At a roadside market and gas station, I had the good fortune to visit with two Pueblo women who were selling jewelry and pottery. I purchased a rhodonite and turquoise bracelet from one woman and a seed pot from the other. The woman who sold me the seed pot, told me that what I purchased was miniature put that was used to store seeds and to sow them. She also told me she was Acoma “Ah-kuh-muh) Pueblo and she was of the Bear clan. Along with her name on the bottom of the pot is also a bear paw. She also told me what the design on the pot depicted. The bold black represented mountains and land, the orange the sun, and the black lines rain. I am so glad this woman was open to sharing this with me.

Our next stop was Morristown, AZ a small town near Wickenburg where all the rodeo people go to stay in the winter. Friends of ours spend the winter there. We arrived before dark and settled into the trailer we rented for our stay there. The rain at night pounded the roof but we stayed dry. The following morning it was too wet for anyone to be roping so the couple took us to Wickenburg to see the roping grounds, the stores, and do to some laundry. Then we went to Surprise for lunch and rummaging around in the thrift stores. I came away with 6 red dresses to send to an artist in California who puts up an outdoor display along a highway to promote the MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women) movement.

view from the road to Yarnell, AZ.

The next day we checked out a secondhand store in Wickenburg then drove up into the hills to Yarnell, AZ. We went into a gift shop and a secondhand store there before heading back to Wickenburg and having a late lunch at the Ornery Pig BBQ. There the men went back to where we were staying, and my friend and I went back to Surprise so I could get a case of my favorite wine. It was half the price in Arizona as in Oregon and they were having a sale on it! I call that a win!

The next day we headed back home, making it to Winnemucca, NV just after dark. We ran into snowy roads about Tonopah and decided to not try to get all the way home. The first day of our trip, we’d stopped in Winnemucca for dinner and ended up at Wingers. It has really good food, so we had dinner there on our last night of our trip as well.

That was our first trip of 2024 and while it put me behind on writing related things, it was a fun trip and I’m glad we decided to do it.

Have you taken any trips so far in 2024?

Fun and Not so Fun

Since the beginning of the year. Jan 1, 2024, I pushed to get the next Spotted Pony Casino book finished. And it is off with my line editor and will be released February 22, 2024. So far my critique partner and beta readers have enjoyed it. 😉

The Pinch

Book 5 in the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery

Dela Alvaro, head of security for the Spotted Pony Casino, is asked to do a security check of a casino on the Oregon Coast. She no sooner starts her rounds at the casino and a child is kidnapped. The parents are a dubious couple. Special Agent Quinn Pierce of the FBI has been out to get the father for some time.

One of Dela’s best friends from the Army appears and they catch up, only to find her friend strangled the next morning after having divulged to Dela she may have photos of the kidnapping.

As Dela struggles with the violent death of yet another best friend, her lover, Tribal Officer Heath Seaver, arrives and the two begin untangling the lies, bribes, and murders.

In the end, as Heath carries the child to safety, Dela must face a cunning killer alone.

pre-order link: https://books2read.com/u/38Y787

Now that is fun to see the cover and read the blurb! It means that this book is wrapped up all but the edits and uploading it to vendors. Which means… I’ve started gathering research for the next Gabriel Hawke book. As yet, untitled, but I had a good conversation with an Oregon State Police officer with the Fish and Wildlife who is helping me with this particular book.

Hawke and Dog will be patrolling the Snake River with biologists. While helping the biologists with their work, Dog will come across a decades old body or should I say skeleton. It’s what they find with the body that helps Hawke follow the clues to its death and others. So stay tuned for that!

I also have a YouTube channel where I have been putting up samples of my first in series audiobooks so far. You can find them here: Paty Jager – YouTube

If you are an audiobook listener, I am setting up audiobook specials with different vendors for the coming months. As well as I have a Special coming up in February for Double Dupilicity in ebook and audio formats. It has a new cover and I’m having a “New Cover Special.” I’ll be posting about it in my next blog post.

I have been trying to get my newsletter signup form and thank emails set up and synchronized in the new format my newsletter provider has upgraded to. It is a pain! As soon as I get it figured out and set up, I’ll post it here so you can get my newsletter if you would like to have a fun puzzle to solve each month and have access to free short stories and specials.

And here is a photo of my writing partner. She has discovered she can go from the back of my chair to the window and snooze in the sunshine.

New Year, New Adventures

While I have trimmed back the amount of traveling I’m doing this year to fewer trips, they are going to be bigger adventures. 😉 Of course, with less long distance trips, I hope to ride my horse more, and take small trips with hubby in our camper to see the sites close to home.

Grandson and his wife.

To start with Hubby and I are going to visit a grandson and his wife in Clovis, NM, then hubby’s sister and her husband in Killeen, TX, then on the way back to Oregon we’re swinging through Arizona to visit with a writer friend and her hubby. She’s been wanting us to come to Arizona in the winter for several years so she could take me to some of the historical Indigenous dwellings and petroglyphs. That will be a fun winter trip.

Then I’ll be attending the Left Coast Crime conference in Seattle in April. I have always enjoyed this conference when I’ve attended. I like the fun things we do with readers, and I learn more about other authors.

With only a short respite at home, I’m staying at the Oregon Coast with two of my besties for a week. There will be writing, chaos, and lots of laughs!

Rockaway Beach last year.

New people have taken over the Sumpter Flea Market that I attend with Mary Vine every Memorial and Labor Day weekend. They are changing things up. We are discussing if this event we have attended for nearly ten years may have priced us out. We’ll see.

Mary in the book trailer at Sumpter.

I need to sign up for the NIWA booth at La Pine in June. I’ll do that as soon as I finish writing this post. It’s a three-day event in La Pine, OR where I and another member, Andretta Schellinger, sell books from NIWA authors at the Rhubarb Festival. 

Then there is a possibility that I’ll be attending Author Jacquie Roger’s annual event in Idaho. She had it usually in July. The event has gone from a three-day event in Silver City to a one-day event in Homedale, ID.

Then! The trip I’ve been dreaming of for a while. My oldest daughter, a granddaughter, and I are heading to The Netherlands, Spain, England, Scotland, and Ireland. We’ll visit family in The Netherlands and Spain, then off for an adventure in the UK. We have our lodging taken care of, but I’ve been watching airline flights. Does anyone have any suggestions on which airlines are the most reliable, cheapest, and comfiest? Or any tips on getting a reasonably priced ticket? The prices are all over the place. The thing I do know is that we need to book directly with an airline and not one of the third party markets.

After that trip, I’ll do a few local bazaars and the Holiday Market in Portland with NIWA. I’m looking forward to the year so I can get to the fun trip in the fall.

Holiday Market 2023.

I have several books planned to write and hope to keep the momentum going with my audiobook sales. Which I’ll talk about in my next blog post.

I hope you have wonderful plans for the year to give you something to look forward to.

That Week Between

We had a wonderful Christmas! Hubby and I bought a new mattress, the old one was OLD! It had dips no matter which side you turned it on. Now we are getting used to a mattress with no dips. I like the bed, but it is taking some getting used to. They make them so many different ways these days. This one arrived rolled up in a box. Hubby had a hard time getting his head around the fact your bed was in that small box. It was heavy which convinced him.

I enjoyed setting up a table and my books at two local craft bazaars during December. I like being able to visit with the readers and make a connection with them.

As always, my favorite part of the whole season is going out in the woods and walking in snow to find the perfect Christmas tree. I love the hiking, the fresh air, and the fun attitude of nearly everyone involved. For some reason husbands think we should cut down the first tree that catches our eyes. My daughter and I have the opinion we need to see more than one to make a decision. And sometimes we do end up going back to the first one. 😉

Getting the sleds out to ride up to the trees.

The whole adventure wouldn’t be any fun if you exited your vehicle walked a short distance into the trees and picked one. It’s the hunt for the perfect one that makes the event thrilling and fun. Also, the sledding or sliding down an incline and the hot chocolate and cookies afterwards.

This week in between Christmas and New Years is a hurry up and finish projects and get things ready for the coming year. I have a book I’m trying to finish but it won’t be done by the time the ball drops at midnight on New Year’s Eve. It will take the first week into January 2024 to get it ready to go off to critique partners and beta readers. 

I have my writing and personal goals all mapped out.

2024 goals

Professional

Publish The Pinch (book 5 in Spotted Pony Casino Mystery) write and publish Book #6 

Write and publish Gabriel Hawke books #12 & #13

Write short story for Windtree Press anthology – 3,000-8,000 words

Get the last Shandra Higheagle book, Vanishing Dreams, in audiobook

Get Hawke books into audiobook box sets.

Put audiobooks up direct to Kobo. Add more books to my bookfunnel account to do more cross-promotions with other audiobook authors.

Put up YouTube videos of me reading short stories and audio of my books with photo galleries.

Personal

Continue walking 5 days a week

Watch my carb and fat intake

Traveling

Keep up my personal blog

Do more horseback riding

I don’t make resolutions I make goals. That way I can tick them off the list as I accomplish them. And resolutions are more a change of lifestyle which isn’t a challenge so much as a mindset where I am a bit competitive and prefer to accomplish a specific goal.

Are you a resolutions maker or a goal maker? And why?

Audiobooks news and Christmas Delights

It’s the last month of the year and I’m having my biggest blowout sale of audiobooks I’ve had all year. (Mostly because I finally found out how to promote and move audiobooks.) Thank you, Rebecca Hefner!

I have three audiobooks on sale right now!

Murder of Ravens, book 1 in the Gabriel Hawke novels is only $0.99 on Chirp.

The ancient art of tracking is his greatest strength…

And his biggest weakness.

Fish and Wildlife State Trooper Gabriel Hawke believes he’s chasing poachers.

However, he comes upon a wildlife biologist standing over a body that is wearing a wolf tracking collar.

He uses master tracker skills taught to him by his Nez Perce grandfather to follow clues on the mountain. Paper trails and the whisper of rumors in the rural community where he works, draws Hawke to a conclusion that he finds bitter.

Arresting his brother-in-law ended his marriage, could solving this murder ruin a friendship?

Universal buy link for ebook, print, and audio: https://www.books2read.com/u/bxZwMP

And Double Duplicity, book 1 in my Shandra Higheagle Mystery series if available at Spotify for only $0.99!

Dreams…Visions…Murder
On the eve of the biggest art event at Huckleberry Mountain Resort, potter Shandra Higheagle finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation. She’s ruled out as a suspect, but now it’s up to her to prove the friend she witnessed fleeing the scene was just as innocent. With help from her recently deceased Nez Perce grandmother, Shandra becomes more confused than ever but just as determined to discover the truth. While Shandra is hesitant to trust her dreams, Detective Ryan Greer believes in them and believes in her.
Can the pair uncover enough clues for Ryan to make an arrest before one of them becomes the next victim?

Universal book link for ebook, print, and audio: https://www.books2read.com/u/bww90b

Or if you would like to listen to the first 3 books in the Shandra Higeagle mystery series, you can purchase them for $2.99 at Barnes and Noble Nook.

Double Duplicity

Potter Shandra Higheagle’s deceased Nez Perce grandmother visits her dreams, revealing clues that help Shandra uncover not only one murder but two.

Tarnished Remains

Digging up Crazy Lil’s past takes Shandra Higheagle down a road of greed, miscommunication, and deceit.

Deadly Aim

The dead body of an illicit neighbor and an old necklace sends potter Shandra Higheagle on a chase to find a murderer.

Universal buy link for ebook, print or audiobook: books2read.com/u/m2ELO3

If you happen to be a Kobo member, I have partnered with the authors at Indie Audiobook Deals for a MASSIVE year-end giveaway. Five entrants will win a $50 Kobo gift card! Kobo is the premier site to listen to fantastic audiobooks.🎧

We’re picking FIVE winners so make sure to complete all of the extra entries to enhance your chances of winning. Good luck and wishing you a happy holiday season!

Enter here: https://kingsumo.com/g/pt4ez1/win-1-of-5-kobo-50-gift-cards

And if that isn’t enough to get you giddy about goodies for yourself and others this holiday, I have a recipe for you.

I like to make caramel corn every year for gifts for family and friends. If you want the crunchy caramel layer on the popcorn to be thick, double the caramel recipe but use the amount of popcorn the recipe calls for.

Caramel Corn

15 cups popped corn

1 cup brown sugar packed

½ cup butter or margarine

¼ cup light corn syrup

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

Heat oven to 200˚. Divide popped corn between 2 ungreased 13” x 9” baking pans. (I use 1 roasting pan because the higher sides make it easier to stir.) In a saucepan, heat sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt, stirring occasionally, until bubbly around the edges of the pan. Continue cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat; stir in the baking soda until foamy. Pour over popped corn, stirring until the corn is well coated. Bake 1 hour, stirring every fifteen minutes.  When cool it is ready to package up to gift.

Enjoy the audiobooks while you make the caramel corn or eat the caramel corn!