Grateful

Most people talk about what they are grateful or thankful for during the holidays. For me it’s starting a new year. I like to sit back and be thankful or grateful for the people around me. My husband, who is always entertaining and makes me laugh. Our oldest granddaughter who is living with us. While she pretends to be hard and uncaring, she is thoughtful and fun to watch give her grandpa as much harassing as he gives her. ;

I’m also grateful for the daughter who lives down the road and helps me with my technical things and designs my awesome book covers. Her 6 kids are all fun to be around. My oldest daughter who is always willing to give animal medical advice (she trained as a vet tech).

Then there is my HUGE group of writing friends that help me get through the ups and downs of being a self-published author and all the things we need to keep up on in the business. They are my moral support and my guides in this strange world.

The other thing I am the most grateful for is where we live. When my hubby suggested we move way out in the boonies, I was skeptical at first. But I have discovered my inner hermit and I love being here and not going anywhere for weeks at a time. Though I do miss my writing conferences and monthly lunches with writer friends. But that’s about it.

With the Pandemic, we only use our masks when we go to town and if I can keep the grocery list to a minimum, hubby will do the shopping. 🙂

Where we live has fantastic sunrises (I can’t see the sunsets because of our hill). I love my horses, the dogs, the cats and the wildlife that parades around here on a weekly and some instances daily basis. Yes, I am one content woman. 🙂

Yes, I am grateful for many, many things. My good health, wonderful family, and awesome friends. What are you most grateful for?

Luck or Fate

I don’t know if it’s luck or fate.

Fate: the principle or determining cause or will by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as they do: Destiny

Luck: a force that brings good fortune or adversity- the events or circumstance that operate for or against an individual.

Over the weekend I was able to connect with a young woman who is part of the MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women) movement. Through a series of emails to first authors I knew in the areas where my next Hawke book will be set, and then people who work in the domestic violence program at the reservation I was able to connect with this woman.

She filled me in on things I didn’t know about the movement. Yes, it is a movement and not an organization.

Movement: a series of organized activities working toward an objective; an organized effort to promote or attain an end.

Organization: an administrative and functional structure

These are family members of missing and murdered Indigenous people across the United States and in Canada. This has become an epidemic.

One of the things I didn’t know was how hard it is for families on Reservations to get law enforcement involved in looking for a missing woman or as they also started to use the acronym MMIP- Missing and Murdered Indigenous Person. There are also children and people of the LGBQT communities who disappear or are murdered.

My conversation with her was to help me get started on my next Gabriel Hawke book. In this book he is called to the reservation by his mother to help find the mother of a child she watches. When Hawke’s mother can’t get the tribal law enforcement or the Pendleton City Police to look for the woman, she calls her son who works for the Oregon State Police who has a dogged determination to always solve things that perplex him.

My contact is willing to help me in every way I need. She even has contacts on the tribal police and assured me she is as excited about my writing about this movement and why it’s needed in my book as I was connecting with someone who is so open and willing to help me make my book the best it can be with real facts.

I’m learning so much by writing this book and I hope I open the eyes of my readers while also entertaining them.

2021 is Here!

One of my goals this year is to try and remember to post here more often. I put it down in my date book, but then something else needs my attention and I tend to put this off and deal with everything else. I’m sorry!

With 2021 I am finishing up a murder mystery series. I hope my readers like the way I ease out of the Shandra Higheagle mysteries. I felt like it was time to do a graceful exit with the option to pick it up in the future. 😉

I’m starting a new murder mystery series which is requiring a LOT of research. I want to make sure the setting rings true and the stories are riveting. If you, or someone you know, works for an Indian Gaming Casino, I would love to visit with you. You can email me at patyjag(at)gmail(dot)com.

Hawke is set to get two new books this year. The one I’m starting on next week will also require a lot of research. I’ve been reaching out to people for help. Hopefully, a few will come through.

Right now you can get the first book of my Isabella Mumphrey trilogy, Secrets of a Mayan Moon for $0.99 through a bookfunnel event I’m participating in: Strong Women Leads. https://books.bookfunnel.com/strong_female_lead/rbrgaya5oy

My two horses and George, the donkey, had their hooves trimmed yesterday. George and my mare needed it done. Jan, the gelding, just needed evened out. If the ground wasn’t frozen with some icy spots, I could ride, but at my age, I prefer to ride in adverse conditions. 😉 We have had very little snow so far, but it is only January. There are still two months in which we could get snow. That’s the good and the bad of living in the high dessert. We do get snow, usually in small amounts that melt quickly. Or we get a foot and it stays really cold. And you never know when you’ll have either.

I hope you have a wonderful year and keep coming back here to see what I’m up to. I’m hoping things ease up and I can attend the three conferences that were cancelled last year. We’ll see!