Category: Writing life

Family, Flowers, Beach, and Poffertjes

On the third day of our Europe trip, another Dutch cousin, Wanda, picked us up. We visited with an aunt and uncle on my husband’s paternal side.

The dahlia farm

After the visit, we drove to a Dahlia farm that had 600 varieties of dahlias! All the colors, sizes, and shapes were gorgeous. Rietta cut some with visions of drying them to put in the journal she kept of the trip.

From the Dahlia farm, we drove to the beach.

We had a nice walk along the water’s edge. Rietta was excited to find so many full shells. On the Oregon coast, you are lucky to find a whole shell.

By this time, we were hungry. We came across a café on the beach that had swings for the chairs at the picnic tables. Rietta was excited about this discovery.

We enjoyed listening to the sounds of the ocean and watching the waves as we ate.

After eating, we wandered back toward the lighthouse. We climbed to the top and took photos of the views. From the lighthouse, we wandered a bit through the shopping area adjacent to the beach.

Back in the car we headed to Ouderkerk, we mentioned that Rietta’s mom wanted her to purchase 52 packages of hagelslag – it is a pure chocolate sprinkle the Dutch eat on buttered bread. Her family loves the treat. Her mom wanted her to get 52 packages so they would have one for each week of the year. Wanda felt a large supermarket would be the best place to get it. And so she took us to one. We counted out 52 packages and went to the cashier. She saw the heaped basket and asked how many. We told her and she put that number in the till. Rietta paid and we scrambled to find boxes to carry it out of the store.

When we arrived back in Ouderkerk, Wanda suggested we eat at the Panakoke Restaurant that Angie and I had seen on our first walk around the town. We agreed and we were happy we had. The poffertjes we had for dinner were delicious and filled us up. Poffertjes are small Dutch pancakes the size of a ping pong ball. They puff up when cooked and are served with butter and powdered sugar, or syrup, or fruit. I had the cinnamon apples with mine. Just thinking about it now makes my mouth water! It was the perfect way to end our third day in the Netherlands.

To make the poffertjes they use a special pan that has indents in it. But you can make the small pancakes at home in a fry pan if you like. Here is a recipe I found for them.


Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups milk 375ml / 12.68floz very warm but not hot (1 1/2 minutes on high in microwave), sub oat or almond milk
  • 2 1/2 tsp instant yeast 7g slightly heaped
  • 2 cups plain flour / all purpose flour 280g / 9.87oz sub buckwheat flour or half and half
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp butter 25g, softened or melted to grease pan
  • 1/2 tbsp icing sugar / powdered sugar to dust

Instructions

  • In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar and yeast, giving it a quick mix and making a well in the center.

                       2 cups plain flour / all purpose flour, ¼ cup sugar, 2 1/2 tsp instant yeast

  • Pour in the warmed milk and egg, then whisk into a batter. Cover with a tea towel or silicone bowl cover, and leave to rise for an hour. The batter should be double in size and look very bubbly when ready. Note: If in a colder climate, allow extra time and pop the bowl in a warm location.

                       1 1/2 cups milk,1 egg

  • Grease a poffertjes pan or frying pan with the butter over a medium heat. Once warmed, add heaped tablespoons of batter into each well in the poffertjes pan. Make sure to leave space if using a frying pan.

                      2 tbsp butter

  • Once bubbles start to pop on top (1-2 minutes), flip using a single chopstick or skewer (similar to making takoyaki). Allow to cook for another minute or two, once puffed up and cooked through, then remove from the pan. Repeat until all batter is used up.
  • Serve while hot, sprinkling icing sugar / powdered sugar over the top to dust.

                    1/2 tbsp icing sugar / powdered sugar

Recipe from https://www.wandercooks.com/

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!

The Archeology and Cultural Keepers Roadshow

I may live in a large county with a small population in SE Oregon but there is always something interesting going on. On Saturday, I attended The Archeology and Cultural Keepers Roadshow in the Hines, OR Park.

The opening comments told me it has been happening in Harney County for many years. Why this is the first year I discovered it before it happened, I don’t know. It is the type of event that I like to wander through.

There were booths telling about archeological finds in the area, about rocks, and groups in the area. There were several booths hosted by the Burns Paiute tribe. The people in the Burns area are mostly descendants of the Wadatika Band. They originally roamed 5250 square miles in central-southeastern Oregon, Northern Nevada, northwestern California and western Idaho. They are one of the few tribes who were allowed to keep their language. Because the the Bannock War of 1878 forced the Wadatika from the land the government granted them in 1869 called the Malheur Reservation, when the Paiutes returned after being forced to Washington, they Malheur had been taken back by the government. The Wadatika who returned set up a temporary tribal encampment outside of Burns, OR. The tribe eventually purchased the land and it is now the Burns Paiute Reservation.

Because they are welcomed by the community, the tribal members work with the Harney County Chamber to share their culture with everyone. It was through the Harney Chamber and tribal member Beverly Beers that I participated in the pine needle basket making event.

At the Roadshow, I visited with Beverly at her booth that showcased the methods of baskets and weirs that the Wadatika made from natural resources. Pine needles, tule, and sticks. Another booth showcased the first foods the tribe has lived on for centuries. I learned about the biscuitroot and was even given one to sample. It was small and white and when peeled tasted like a parsnip. I should have taken a photo of it before I ate it! They also had chokecherries. I didn’t realize they were so small! And a blanket made from rabbit skins. It looked warm and felt soft.

Dogbane plant
Dogbane in the various stages

Another booth showed how to make fiber from three plants. The milkweed, Dogbane, and stinging nettle. The woman at the booth explained the whole process to me.

Dogbane is the prettiest in color and I was told is the easiest to work with and the strongest of the three types of fiber.

You removed the leaves from the stems, then she used a rolling pin to crack the stem open by rolling the pin down the stem. She said at home she uses an old wringer machine, like they used to wring out wet clothing that had been washed.

Stinging nettle the next strongest
Milkweed, the weakest of the fibers and the hardest to work with.

After the stem is cracked the center or the plant is scraped out and then the outer layer of the stem is made wet and the “skin” of the plant is scraped off with a table knife or a flat piece of obsidian. All that is left is the fiber.

The fiber can be used to weave cloth or braid to make strings.

braiding made with the fibers.

If you know the plants and know how to extract the fibers from the stems, you can make a shoestring, or a snare, or any number or items to help you if you are out in the wilderness. I am already conjuring up ways Hawke can use this method of making a snare or fishing if he is in the woods and can’t travel back to civilization.

I enjoy events where I can learn something new and possibly put it in a book and enlighten others.

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!

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.

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.

Fun Writing Things

Last month the 11th book in my Gabriel Hawke Mystery series released. It was a struggle to complete due to the complexity of the story. So far my beta readers and reviewers say I did a good job with a serious and triggering story.

Damning Firefly deals with a person of authority abusing his status and using it to sexually assault young women and teenagers. It went on for decades because no one would listen to the one person trying to stop him and the victims were ashamed or scared.

While Hawke is discovering all the sordid transgressions of the victim, he is still using his tracking and logic to find the real killer and save more lives.

Damning Firefly

A church fire.

An unconscious woman on Starvation Ridge.

Gabriel Hawke, fish and wildlife officer with the Oregon State Police, helps with a fire at the Lighted Path church before heading out to check turkey hunters. He discovers a car wedged between two trees and a woman with a head injury reeking of smoke. Is she the arsonist?

Hawke encounters the county midwife gloating over the burnt church and learns she and the victim in the car know one another.

Two seemingly separate events lead Hawke to a serial rapist and a county full of secrets. 

Universal buy link: https://books2read.com/u/bQeBDZ

And releasing November 1st is a novella to hopefully give all my Shandra Higheagle Mystery fans more closure on that series. I released book 16, Vanishing Dream, the last book in that series, two years ago and fans still ask me for more.

Because there has been so many asking for more, I wrote a Christmas novella that is set 10 years after Vanishing Dream.

Christmas Chaos

Check out a super-special Christmas surprise— a continuation of the Shandra Higheagle Mystery series. Ten years later the twins are at college but there’s trouble brewing.

Shandra Higheagle Greer is anxiously awaiting a visit from her twins as they head home from college for Christmas break. After a ten-year absence, her deceased grandmother is back in her dreams and the message seems clear. The twins are in trouble. After giving a young woman a ride to a nearby town, they have become suspects in her murder.

Even though he’s been removed from the case, Shandra and her husband, Weippe County Sheriff Ryan Greer, continue to investigate, determined to dig up proof that the twins had nothing to do with the homicide. Even if that means putting one of the twins in danger to uncover the truth.

I don’t have a pre-order link. If you want to know when it releases, you can follow me on this blog or sign up for my newsletter – https://bit.ly/2IhmWcm

Other fun stuff, I’ll be at an author promotion and marketing conference the second week of November and on November 10th I’ll be part of a 300 author book signing at the Horseshoe Casino in Vegas. There will be door prizes and raffles as well as authors selling and signing books. It is a big party all day long! What else would you expect from an event in Vegas! You can learn more here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ravevegasauthorsigning

And then! I’m home for 4 days and I’ll be at the Portland Holiday Market at the Portland Expo Center from Nov. 17th- 19th at the NIWA (Northwest Independent Writers Association) booth. I’ll have book bundles for gifts or for yourself and freebies. Stop in if you’re in the Portland, OR area.

As soon as I get all my Shandra Higheagle and Gabriel Hawke audiobooks uploaded in box sets, I’ll start writing The Pinch. The next book in the Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series. This is the book a friend and I went to the Oregon Coast to research. She kept telling everyone we were there for murder and mayhem! Which was kind of true. We talked to casino security guards, checked for security cameras, and skulked about hallways and places that I thought Dela, my character, might need to know about. It was a fun weekend.