Category: #Amwriting

Fun New Things for a New Year

2025 is here. There was a time when I thought that year was a long way in the future. And now, here it is!

I’m excited to get this year rolling. You can now purchase my books in print, ebook, or audiobook direct from my website! It took a few months at the end of last year for me to get it all set up and my web guy to set it up on my website but you can now purchase any book or version of the book you want direct from me.

If you buy a print book, I will autograph it, add a couple of pieces of swag, and ship it to you for free.

The perk of purchasing the audiobooks from me is the price is lower on my website than on the vendors, unless I’m doing a specific sale. Because I cut out the middleman I can make more by giving you a deal on the audiobooks.

And the ebooks are the same price, but if you subscribe to my newsletter, you will be able to get new releases before anyone who purchases from a store and they will be a dollar cheaper for a limited time.

So if you aren’t already signed up to get my monthly newsletter which by the way, also gets you a free book or short story from an author who writes similar books to my Gabriel Hawke series, and you get a chance to win a mug. Each month I’m giving away a coffee mug. This month it’s a Gabriel Hawke mug. February is one with artwork from a local artist.

This month I am starting a new series and first book. I may be crazy but the idea came to me for a cozy mystery that I haven’t been able to figure out how to bring in the Native American element I have in the other mysteries, but I’m hoping the crazy cast of critters will be enough to draw readers in.

The title of the new series is Cuddle Farm Mysteries. The main character, Andi Clark, is a widow who owns a group of therapy animals. She goes to schools, hospitals, nursing homes, shelters, parties, and events with her van and animals. During the course of these adventures they will get caught up in a murder some way or another.

Here are her therapy animals:

 LULU – a dapple brown and black female Chiweenie with long hair who barks at men but loves women and children.

COCOA – a brown and white female border collie who herds the other animals into the van.

ATHENA – Golden Retriever/Pyrenees mix. She keeps watch over the other animals.

SPARKY – a male mini donkey who likes to steal things.

CUPCAKE – a female black and white pygmy goat who eats anything she can get between her lips.

FLOPPSIE – a female brown and white dwarf lop-eared bunny who can get out of any cage she doesn’t want to be in.

CHICKLET – a female checkerboard silky chicken with crazy head feathers and eyes that hide behind her feathers but she sees everything. 

While I’m writing the first book now, it won’t be out until next October. It will take a while to decide on the cover and what things I want to focus on for the cover elements going forward as a series.

So stay tuned to learn more about this new series, the Gabriel Hawke and Spotted Pony Casino books I’ll be writing this year.

A Chance Meeting Leads to a Character

Have you ever met a person who made such an impression on you that you couldn’t shake it even days, weeks later? I had that experience this past summer while manning a NIWA (Northwest Independent Writers Association) booth. Myself and another member of NIWA were in charge of a booth at the LaPine Rhubarb Festival for a weekend.

On the second day, a woman walked up to the booth while the other member was on her phone. I stood up, ready to answer any questions. The woman smiled a broad smile and her eyes lit up with the smile. I thought what a lovely woman. She was dressed in a midcalf colorful, flowing skirt, matching shirt, and a sweater. It wasn’t very warm that weekend.

I welcomed her to the booth and gave the spiel about this being a booth with books from the members of NIWA. She nodded asked about a book that was in front of her then smiled again and said, “Elon Musk and I are spreading love all over the world and we would love to have you join us.”

Her words intrigued me. Did she really know Elon Musk? She was dressed in nice clothes. She held herself like someone who could move in those types of circles. “How are you doing that?” I asked.

She went on to say they believed in spreading love because the world needed it badly right now. As she talked I took in everything about her. Then all of a sudden her eyelids fluttered, her eyes kind of rolled back and I thought, she’s going to have a seizure. I was getting ready to get out of the booth and grab her when she looked at me with the fiercest gaze I’ve ever seen and said in a deeper voice, “I know where the bodies are buried.”

This took me by surprise and frightened me. I don’t watch scary or horror movies. I don’t deal well with the evil side of things. She said this statement two more times and then her eyelids flickered and she smiled and said, “Elon and I would love to have you join us.” Then she walked away.

I looked over to see if my friend had seen or heard any of it. She was still on her phone. I sat down, grabbed a notebook and started writing down everything I saw and experienced during the encounter.

As was in the beginning stages of writing the next Spotted Pony Casino Mystery book. I thought maybe I’d put the woman in the next Hawke book, but he kept coming to my mind and I put her in Down and Dirty, book 6 of the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series.

If you would like to see what I did with this character that was a real person in my life for a few minutes, you can grab a copy of Down and Dirty.

Down and Dirty

Book 6

Spotted Pony Casino Mystery

The Spotted Pony Casino’s head of security, Dela Alvaro, receives a late-night call that takes her to a deserted walkway along the river. After confronting a woman babbling about love and bodies being buried, Dela stumbles over a corpse and discovers her knife covered in the victim’s blood.

Dela and Tribal Detective Heath Seaver find themselves working with FBI Special Agent Quinn Pierce when the murder seems to be connected to a drug cartel. Dela nearly becomes the victim of a hit-and-run while someone is trying to frame her for the murder.

Proving her innocence has Dela interviewing past acquaintances and members of a drug cartel, all while trying to decide if the woman she met the night of the murder is truly crazy … or the killer.

Universal Buy link: https://books2read.com/u/bagQ66

Fun Things in July

This month is not as crazy as last month or as crazy as next month will be, but it is packed full of book stuff!

To start off, I am writing a book this month. Yes, all 70k+ words. It is book 6 in the Spotted Pony Casino Mysteries, Down & Dirty. That means I have to write 3k words every day. So far, I’m doing that and a bit more. I would love to have this book finished and ready for my critique partners and beta readers before July 28th.

The goal is to get it published before I head off on my month-long vacation in September. That means I need the full month of August for my support staff ( CPs, beta readers, editor, proofreader) to get through it while I am doing the edits and revisions so it will be ready to release September 6th.

Along with writing the book, I have several promotions rolling out this month.

Right now you can get the first three Shandra Higheagle mysteries in audiobook format for $0.99! Yes! You read that right. For less than a dollar you can get three audiobooks. It’s in conjunction with the Indie Audiobook Deals Not only do you get a great deal on my book other indie authors also have great deals on audiobooks. You can check them out here: https://linktr.ee/indieaudiobookdeals But check them out today because it is the last day for the event. (You can still find my book for $0.99 through this weekend)

And all this month, you can get the first book of my Isabella Mumphrey Action Adventure/ Romantic Suspense trilogy for $0.99 in ebook at Kobo or other ebook vendors.

Secrets of a Mayan Moon

What happens when a brilliant anthropologist is lured to the jungle to be used as a human sacrifice?

Child prodigy and now Doctor of Anthropology, Isabella Mumphrey, is about to lose her job at the university. In the world of publish or perish, her mentor’s request for her assistance on a dig is just the opportunity she’s been seeking. If she can decipher an ancient stone table—and she can—she’ll keep her department. She heads to Guatemala, but drug trafficking bad guys, artifact thieves, and her infatuation for her handsome guide wreak havoc on her scholarly intentions.

DEA agent Tino Kosta is out to avenge the deaths of his family. He’s deep undercover as a jaguar tracker and sometimes jungle guide, but the appearance of a beautiful, brainy anthropologist heats his Latin blood taking him on a dangerous detour that could leave them both casualties of the jungle

***

If you aren’t already someone who gets my monthly newsletter you might want to check it out: https://ckarchive.com/b/lmuehmh08zm5lsd7kkm78cdoo5v00hg In my newsletter you learn about my books in progress, what I’ve been up to, get links to free books from authors who write similar books to mine, and I have a fun word puzzle for you to do every month. If you’d like to subscribe you can use this link and receive a free book or short story: https://bit.ly/2IhmWcm

Another way to see what all I’m up to is by following not only this blog but Ladies of Mystery. It’s a blog I started 6 years ago for mystery authors to share their thoughts on writing and their books with readers. I’m proud of how it has grown. I blog there monthly on the 2nd Monday.

Now to get back to writing! Only 42,649 words to go!

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

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.

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.

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?

Finishing out November with gusto.

I’m back from the large Holiday Event in Portland, OR. I sold quite a few books and the other NIWA authors books we sold also did well. We sold more than in years past. The goal of the authors who work the booth is to try and sell a book from every author who paid to have their books in the event.

I have some fun photos I took at the event.

Carolers at the Portland Holiday Market.
Reindeer and an elf.
The authors working Friday at the event.

Back home we had Thanksgiving at our youngest daughter’s house. I only had to bring some frozen chocolate pies, homemade rolls, and a vegetable tray. I got off easy. 😉 We had a nice visit and delicious dinner before the youngest (4 year-old) granddaughter said, “You need to go. I have a very busy day tomorrow.” We laughed about that and eventually left. She was excited because the next day she was going to play with a girl cousin close to her age. At home she has 4 brothers and a teenage sister.

This week I’ve been playing catch up on all kinds of writerly things. I need to get back to writing on the current work in progress. I plan to hit it hard starting next week. This week we are hosting my mother-in-law who is an almost 90 year-old dynamo who believes we (she and I) should clean something in my house every morning. Then in the afternoon, I try to work on the business side of writing because it is hard to concentrate on writing when she is either watching TV or sitting at the table knitting.

I am multi-tasking on Friday and Saturday Dec. 1st and 2nd. I was at the conference in Vegas earlier in the month when I saw a call out for people to purchase tables at a craft bazaar for Dec. 1st and 2nd. I asked my daughter to get me a table. She did and now I have that bazaar to sell books at and I am participating in a Facebook Secret Santa party those same days. I’ll have to use my phones Hotspot and take my laptop to participate throughout the days at the Secret Santa Party. Here is the info about that event if you would like to join over 350 authors and have several chances to win prizes from the authors.

The Don’t-Miss-It Event of the Season.

Secret Santa Days!

Over 350 Secret Santa Authors will be gifting you books, gift cards, and swag! 

Join the fun here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DangerouslyDarkDarlings

Join the Facebook group to be able to participate in the event. I have a lot of fun stuff I’m giving away. I will give 5 people your choice of a FREE ebook, 2 people their choice of an autographed print book, and swag, and 1 person will receive 2 mugs, hot chocolate, a Christmas Tree ornament, playing cards, and homemade sugar cookies.

I’m also happy to say I have another short story in the Windtree Press 2023 Anthology, Whispers. My story, Whispers of the Past, tells about my character Dela Alvaro and her partner Heath Seaver investigating a cabin in the forest that she hopes will give her more clues to her heritage.

A whisper is a soft barely audible sound or resemblance of a sound. Perhaps a thought in one’s head, a flutter of leaves, a feather floating to the ground, or a wish. In this collection of ten stories and a poem the theme of “Whispers” is used in different ways.

From the poem Soul Whispers, from Dari LaRoche, you can conjure up the variety of whispers in the coming stories. This is followed by the Children’s story, Whispers in a Dream, by Susie Slanina, where Metro the dog visits outer space through a dream.

The tale of Friends and Neighbors by Pamela Cowan murmurs of unlikely alliances. In Whispers of the Halycon, author Dari LaRoche’s submission is a twist on a fairytale. Author Mary Vine’s characters, in Whisper Upon a Star, hide their feelings as they try to find a killer.

Her Zayka is a tale of a close bond between a young woman and the nanny she grew up with. Author R. Hockamin has a unique twist at the end. Of Wings and Whispers is a fantasy where author Diana McCollum takes the reader on an emotional ride as a fairy with a broken wing finds love.

Suspense and romance will keep you turning the pages of author Kimila Kay’s Whispering Willows. Author Melissa Yuan-Innes story, Bread and Ashtrays, is an intriguing tale of an empath who sees whispers of a man’s life.

The characters in Whispers of the Past, by Paty Jager, are seeking a person whom they may or may not wish they’d never heard of. Ending this collection of titillating and thought-provoking stories is author Maggie Lynch’s Pax Reborn. This science fiction novella asks the question would the world be better with everyone content and equal?

Enjoy and savor each story. Every one of the stories will leave whispers of questions and coax a smile.

Whispers | Universal Book Links Help You Find Books at Your Favorite Store! (books2read.com)

Whispers – Windtree Press

My next post will be in December. I’m excited to finish, The Pinch, the next book in the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series and to get ready for the coming year. One which I will have lots to tell you about next December. 😉

Things I’ve Learned…

I don’t know if this will help any of you, but this past week and a half I’ve learned a few things about myself. What started this whole soul-searching endeavor was getting on a plane knowing I was headed for a mob of people.

Last week at this time I was immersed in a conference of 1800 writers set up to teach authors how to run their writing like a business. I’m not saying I didn’t learn a few things, but a good number of the presenters were people pushing their services. However, when more than one of them said the same thing, I took notes.

Which has led to a list of 6 items I need to do in regard to making my books easier to promote and or entice the reader to purchase. There are 6 items I need to do to ratch up my social media presence. Another 4 items that pertain to getting more interaction on my newsletter. And 9 items to work on that deal with promotion.

The biggest item I came home pondering was Direct sales from my website. It was all everyone talked about. Authors who were doing it talked about how much money they were making and people who can help you set up direct sale sites on your website. It sounds like a great idea to:

1) make more off of each sale

2) have more ease of creating sales and discounts

3) connecting more with your readers.

However, I have all my print books up on my website for Direct Sale with me autographing the books and sending out swag with the book with no mailing fees. You can also contact me about purchasing multiple books in a set for gifts at reduced pricing. Just click on the tab “Shop” here: https://www.patyjager.net/

Thinking about how much work I had to do to get just the print books up on my website and connected with a place that handles the money, I can’t imagine the hours it would take to set up a direct sell for all the ebooks and audiobooks I have. Because of the time factor and I don’t feel like “training” readers to come to my website to purchase from me, which is what I would need to do to make the whole thing worth my time- which would be taking away from writing- I have decided not to do direct sell for the audio and ebooks.

I will be doing more promotions with different audiobook vendors to share deals with you and other listeners. I will even be putting up some promo stuff here for you to help me decide what works and what doesn’t. So stay tuned in the next few weeks to help me determine what will grab a reader’s attention for each of my series- both in murder mystery and romance.

It was fun to see my author logo used in one of the presentations when they were talking about branding!

Now I’m off to sell books at the NIWA booth at the Portland, Oregon Holiday Market at the Expo. If you’re in that area, I’d love to have you come by the booth and say HI!

Deluge of Life

Ever feel like you will never get something accomplished? Even if it is something that you can accomplish?

That’s where I’m at. November is such a busy month. I have two long writing/book events which will take up two weeks. I have a book I would like to have finished by the end of the year, I have audiobooks I need to upload to make into audiobook bundles, I am learning new things to hopefully get those said audiobooks selling, which leads me to even more things I need to do for the audiobooks.

And then there is life outside of the writing. Hubby is finishing a barn that has had poles in the ground for 15 years. While he is doing most of it by himself, he does need my help for certain things. Like lifting the metal roofing up to him.

Hubby on the roof, the piece of metal against the hay that I lift up.

There is also my desire to decorate the house and soon start baking. Not to mention working on the quilts for the two grandkids graduating in 2024 and Christmas presents. One of my favorite things about Christmas is finding the perfect present for my family and friends. I think even if it’s a trinket or bauble, if it has something to do with their favorite things, it makes them smile.

Today, I didn’t take my usual morning walk so I could sit down at the computer to write this post and get some more words on the Work in Progress- AKA The Pinch book 5 in the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series. My friend and I spent a weekend at the Chinook Winds Casino and resort on the Oregon Coast last spring so I could research for this book. I’m finally getting around to writing it. And I’ve discovered there were some things I should have researched while I was there. *sigh*

I’ve sent an email to the casino, but I fear they won’t reply because I didn’t ask about staying there, I asked questions about how the place is run. They would rather take my money and have me visit than help me with logistics for my book.

I will continue using common sense and hope I get things right. Or if I really need to get the answers, it might mean a trip to the coast for hubby and me in December. 😉

There are so many things I need and want to get done before the end of the year. I’ll have a tight schedule next year too as I try to get back to publishing 4 books a year and also take a month-long trip to Europe with my oldest daughter and a granddaughter. I can’t wait for the trip, but I have to. It won’t happen until September next year. I’ll have more about it in future posts. As it gets closer and I get more excited, I’m sure I’ll have posts about how we planned and booked everything.

That’s all the dithering I have on life at this time. My next post will be about the 20 Books Vegas conference I’m attending next week.