GOOD-BYE SUMMER!

                                                      by Judy Ann Davis 

Summer has slipped away. Fall marched into Central Pennsylvania without the rains we had hoped for. The last three months have been dry. We've even had water alerts because of the drought which affected our town's water source of deep wells. Our usual brilliant orange, gold and scarlet leaves are now brown and dried, not the vibrant colors we had hoped for and usually see in October. On a more joyful note:

FINDING LOVE IN PINE VALLEY - is finally finished!

I’ve been trying to get this second chance mystery and romance finished and released for almost two years now. There are over twenty-five reasons why a person procrastinates. I can truly believe five of mine are:  Task aversion, distractions, feeling overwhelmed, indecisiveness, and decision fatigue.

However, there is one reason, which is wrapped up like a ball of tangled string and which affects me as a writer the most. It’s the fear of having existing mistakes in the manuscript—whether they are spelling, grammar, or development errors. Luckily, I have a good friend who is a wonderful editor. Yet, my insecurities still exist.  Finding Love in Pine Valley was released on September 14^th. I'm thrilled the book has placed me in Amazon's top one-hundred for friends to lovers romances.

The cover blurb follows.

FINDING LOVE IN PINE VALLEY    

Lena Starron knew that leaving her two-timing ex-husband and her job in New York as a writer would be a challenge. Starting over always is. But she never thought she’d return to her old hometown in Pennsylvania where two new jobs awaited her, only to discover she had no place to live. 

Wyatt Taylor of Taylor Tree Farm hired Lena to organize and open a new café while she also worked writing publicity for Pine Valley’s 200th Anniversary Celebration. Even though it has been five years since his painful break-up with his fiancé, Wyatt hasn’t been able to get his life or his home in order. When he learns Lena needs a place to live and work, he offers office space and room in his house.

To help raise money for town’s Recreational Park and its much-needed new playground equipment, Lena agrees to organize a two-day, fall Jamboree at the tree farm. When her expensive, antique jewelry box is stolen, she must determine whether it’s for true monetary value—or does someone want to see her fail and leave town. 

Together, as Wyatt and Lena untangle the mysterious web surrounding the robbery, will sparks fly? And will they be brave enough to find their second chance at love?

LINK: https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Love-Pine-Valley-relationships/dp/B0FPR3GFH4/ 

                                       LINK to my AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE   

Notes from A Nice Old Lady

"You get old and you realize there are no answers, just stories.” 

~ Garrison Keillor

I'm having a heck of a time concentrating on things-writing-related these days. I feel that as a nice old lady who still writes books because she doesn't know how not to, no one wants to hear what I think or know or feel. 

Not such a bad thing, right? It's good to know when my relevancy is in question, isn't it?

No, I'm not really convinced of that. And here's why.

I'm not a good enough writer to separate who I am from the stories I tell. That's why I write about older people. They're more fun for me because of the things they no longer worry about. And the things that they do. They care about romance, about love, about being and having a partner. They care about sex ... or sometimes they don't. But they care about staying healthy, about not being someone's responsibility, about living the best life they can. Their own best, not someone else's. 

Although I'm constantly upset by the political climate, worried about the difficulties my kids and grands will face in coming years if something doesn't change, I will not lean that far into my life story. But I will write people with bad knees, with cancer scares, with hurt from being ghosted, I'm sorry, not sorry if readers don't like that my heroines go to church, that they pray, and that, conversely, they swear, tell dirty jokes, and drink cheap wine with their girlfriends out of bottles with screw-on lids.

I am thinking that maybe I will stop trying to separate myself from the stories. Because the experiences of women-of-a-certain-age are deep and meaningful. They have left all kinds of scars in their wake. Their memory bank is full-to-bursting of good, bad, and life-changing things. They have loved, deeply. 

They are not only relevant, they are to be valued. 

I'll climb off my soapbox now. I finished a book last week--yay, me!--and have written 875 words on a new story. 

About Holly Noel Neff. Her husband and the love of her life died three days after they retired, an hour after they signed the papers selling their house. 

She has no partner, no job, no home. Is there really a reason to go on living? I guess we'll see, as soon as Holly lets me know. 

Happy fall! 

A New Kind of Hope

Fee and Jed were best friends who fell in love, but that was high school. Life and families and other loves had happened since that dear and distant time. They’re friends again, comfortable with each other and having so much fun at Christmas time in Dickens. They’re not still in love, but…wait…could it be happening again?

Pre-order now. The sweet Christmas story, with new title, cover, and a few changes will release on September 15. Buy links are below.

https://a.co/d/4WpMZIH

https://books2read.com/u/bogDg0

How To Enlarge Your House by Joan Reeves

Do you love those TV shows where someone fixes up a room or an entire house? They take it from drab or maybe just not exciting to gorgeous. I think I've seen every episode Chip and Joanna have ever made along with a bunch of other design shows.

I don't limit my fixer upper passion to houses. I watch the landscaping shows too. All of it inspires me—to my Darling Hubby's dismay.

As it turns out, my whole year has turned into a Fixer Upper Adventure. I didn't plan it that way. It just kind of evolved because of having the interior of our house in town painted.

We had to pack up virtually everything so furniture could be moved to the center of the room and covered with drop cloths. Rugs came up, books and decorative accessories were packed, paintings and photographs removed from the walls, etc.

That's when we realized how much stuff we have. We rented a small storage space and moved it all into what amounted to a giant closet.

 I made a statement I now regret: "Since we've packed just about everything but clothes and furniture, now would be a good time to see if we can find a house we like better."

I MUST BE CRAZY TO DO THIS BUT...

You see, we downsized and we went too small. So we gave serious thought to finding another house. We contacted a friend who is a realtor, and she happily began sending us daily emails with all the houses available in our area.

It's much easier to shop online than actually going to all of the houses. I also discovered that 99% of what you see online that makes a home look appealing is due to professional photography that can probably make a pigsty look good.

By the time we'd attended a dozen open houses—ugh—and a half dozen of personal showings, I made another statement I regret: "Maybe we should just add on to our present home."

YEP I'M DEFINITELY CRAZY

This began a round of talking to contractors in order to get a sense of what was involved, who was honest, etc. before we talked to an architect. All this did was confuse the issue. I feel as if I've been in a whirlwind, tossed willy nilly from—let's find a different house—to let's stay where we are.

AGH!!!! So what have we done? Nothing. Yet. Still thinking. One day we think we'll put the house up for sale. The next day we think we'll call the contractor we chose. All I've done is take my frustration out on the clutter hidden away in the closets and the stuff packed away in the attic, garage, and the storage facility.

Suddenly, after 4 truckloads to Goodwill and 3 truckloads to a consignment shop, my house doesn't seem so small. Amazing how much space clutter takes.

I cleaned the house from top to bottom, rearranged the furniture in every room, hung different art in different arrangements. My house looks like a different house! How amazing is that?

BOTTOM LINE

After all has been said and done, more was said than done. Confession—I did buy a beautiful large armoir for my office. It holds everything from old paperbacks I've kept to all of my office supplies. My office looks neat, organized, and I know exactly where everything is stored. I may send a photo next month.

CRAZY SUMMER YIELDED A NEW BOOK

I did make my goal of releasing a new book in July. OLD ENOUGH TO BE BOLD is at the New Release sale price of 99¢ or read it on KU. 

Trope Alert: Spicy Enemies to Lovers + Forced Proximity + Ugly Duckling + Handsome Stranger with a dazzling smile = enough heat to melt the ice storm that forces Linnie and Max to share an isolated cabin.

The spicy romcom which is Book 2 in the Mean Woman Blues series has been well-received to my relief. 

With the first day of Autumn, I'm leaving my fixer uppr adventure behind and starting a new book. Wish me luck!

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My Frantic Life - Sherri Easley

I apologize for the short and late post- It's that time of year again- getting ready for Fiber Fest- Sewing to the wee hours of the morning. 

Fiber Fest is a three-day event at the Irving Convention Center in Dallas September 19-21- where over 100 vendors of anything fiber come together. 

My specialty is Harris Tweed- That tweed that is woven only on the Isle of Harris in Scotland. This year though, I am getting a late start, but I will be doing another show in November, Funky Finds, and should be well stocked for that one. When I retire in January though, I will have enough inventory to fill a website. My label? Button N Boo- I am on Facebook and Instagram. 

Pics below are my handmade notebook covers, bags, and cowls. 

Also there are pics of my house and workspace. It looks like a danger zone- but I know where everything is and once Christmas is over, it will all go back to its rightful place. 

AN EMBARRASING MOMENT

 By Caroline Clemmons

For me, today is when Fall begins. No doubt about it, this is a holdover from my school days. I loved school, especially English and history. Over my thirteen years (counting kindergarten), I had many amazing teachers and a few incidents I remember with pleasure.

 

Image by Christelle from Pixabay

One of my most embarrassing moments came when I was a junior in high school. My best friend, Iris, did everything she tried well. In spite of the fact she didn't cook or sew, she worked in the home economics office for one credit. Iris assured me this was a great way to get an easy A because there was little to do and I could get some of my homework done. 

This was a highly sought-after spot. With Iris’ recommendation to Mrs. Carter, lead teacher, I was approved. But Mrs. Carter eyed me with concern. She had taught me the year before in her cooking class, in which I did well. Probably, she wondered why a brainy girl like Iris would be friends with a dork like me. 

I signed up for the next semester, and was given the period just before lunch. You cannot imagine my horror when I learned that the slot I’d landed was feeding time for the lab rat.  Remember the scene in the book 1984 when Big Brother’s agents threatened the man with hungry rats on his face? That’s the image seared in my brain. And I was afraid of the small rodents even before I read the book. 

Okay, so it was only one rat, and he was in a cage. But to me he looked as if he were sizing me up for dinner’s main course. I managed to feed the beast through the first week without disaster. I had never had pets and had no rapport with animals—not because I disliked them, but because I didn’t identify with them as I do now. 

Feeling a bit more confident, I breezed into the tiny home ec office the second week. The rat was primed and waiting. The moment I unlatched his cage to add food, he leaped out and ran into an empty classroom. I was lucky he hadn’t chosen the opposite direction leading into  the high school hallway, but I didn't realize it at the time. All I knew was I was in big trouble. I chased him around the room and finally cornered the poor rat so I could grab him. 

Ohh, good gracious, I was holding a rat!

I’m not sure which of us was most frightened. I managed to get him back to the cage only to find Mrs. Carter waiting for me in the office, having witnessed the last part of my debacle. Actually, she was nice about the whole thing in a slightly severe way. We agree that I would feed the rat when she was in the office in the future until I “became more comfortable with that duty.”  

I feared my blunder would reflect badly on my friend Iris, but it didn't seem to do so. I suppose Mrs. Carter’s opinion of me as a dork or a scatterbrain or whatever explained everything. Needless to say, I did not seek to work in the home ec office the following semester.  Iris and I have remained good friends all these years.