Tag Archives: Kensington author

Someone just NOTICE

16 Thursday May 2019

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Everyone in our home hates cleaning the bathroom. We only have one, though, so there isn’t really the option to allow one bathroom to go back to nature until someone else cleans it. We all share the same bathroom… and I, personally, have to use it.

So my bathroom cleaning schedule consists of two thorough cleans a week, but I have a problem. While I don’t mind doing the mid-week clean every week, I do require some form of thanks or expression of admiration. A little ooo-ing and aw-ing over the gleaming state of the bathroom really helps!

Now, when Mr. Johns is really riding high as a husband, he’ll notice the clean bathroom and say something.

“Honey, did you clean this? Wow. It looks great. Thank you.”

He earns a lot of brownie points for this.

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When he’s distracted by work etc., he doesn’t notice, and he takes his shower and wanders off. So I had a trick–wait until Thursday to clean the bathroom, by which point Mr. Johns is so grateful to have it clean again that he’s bound to notice. But then, as stated above, I have to use that bathroom, too!

So I came up with a new plan. I thoroughly cleaned the bathroom, but then I left the shower curtain twisted up and out of the way, and I left the long handled scrubber in the corner of the shower. This way, Mr. Johns would physically have to bring down the shower curtain and trip over the scrubber. He’d have to notice then!

It didn’t work.

I’m finicky about having hot water, and Mr. Johns really doesn’t care if his shower is luke warm. So I was the first one to take a shower, and I was the one who tripped over the scrubber!

Me: Honey! Honey! Come here!

Mr. Johns: What?

Me: Come here!

Mr. Johns came into the bathroom: What? What’s wrong?

Me: Did you notice that I cleaned this place?

Mr. Johns, looking around: Oh, yeah. I did notice. Sorry, it looks great. Thanks.

And that is really all I require. Just some thanks. Someone to NOTICE. But I’ve come to a new conclusion… I’m going to have to be more direct. The next time I clean the bathroom, I’m going to text Mr. Johns:

I cleaned the bathroom. Tell me you love me.

 

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Spring Snow

09 Thursday May 2019

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We got some May snow this year… it’s been a couple of years since this has happened, and somehow I have a very short memory when it comes to seasonally unwelcome snow. 😉 I’m ready for green grass and flowers! But… you take what you get, right?

I snapped a few pictures while seeing my son off to school one morning, and thought I’d share them with you in good faith that this is our LAST snow until fall.

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This is Alberta, after all!

And in the meantime, while we wait for some proper greenery and spring around here, here is my book on the shelves! Isn’t it beautiful?

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THE BISHOP’S DAUGHTER is now in the stores!

The story of you

02 Thursday May 2019

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Today is a part of your success story. That is the complete truth. Twenty years from now, you’re going to be telling your story to someone, and you’re going to include this. Right here. You might succinctly sum up a few years in a nutshell, but you’ll still include it…

Today is a part of the story of how you made it.

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Writing is a very solitary activity. Writing ambitions are even more solitary, because they rely almost entirely upon your own ability to write, complete a project and submit it to publishers or agents. And it’s hard. So hard.

It’s also easy to stop. There is no one standing over you, reminding you of your goals. No one is demanding you finish your book. You could take today off, and literally no one on this planet would care. It’s sobering, isn’t it? And this is why so many people would like to write a book, but haven’t. It’s also why so many people have started writing a book, but didn’t finish it. I’m not judging, I’m sympathizing. It’s HARD. But I can tell you this: if you stop trying, it will affect the story you’re able to tell later on.

How will you tell the story of today?

“The kids were young, and I was just exhausted. I remember this one day when they’d torn the house to shreds, and I had to choose between cleaning and writing, and…”

“It was the worst day! I had gotten a rejection, and I was really depressed about it. I remember thinking it couldn’t get any worse, and then my toddler threw up into my hands…”

“Those were hard years. I was working full time, writing in the evenings, and I had no idea if I’d ever get my big break…”

“I had this idea for a quirky little book. It actually started out as a joke with my sister! But I started writing it, and I just fell in love with the characters… If I knew then that it would become such a hit…”

“My cousin told me that I’d never make it. She outlined all the reasons why I was crazy for even trying. I mean, she’s eaten her words since, but…”

The hardest years are your glory years–the part of the story that gets the most interesting. The hardest years are the story you tell when you’ve made it–the agony that it took to get there. Today, no matter how hard it is, is a part of your success story.

How are you going to tell it?

It’s hard to compete

28 Thursday Mar 2019

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I’m a true believer that a home is not a show house.

I’m an apartment person. When I lived in Toronto, I either rented rooms in a large house or lived in an apartment building. When I got married and we moved out to Alberta, we’ve still been drawn to apartment living. It feels natural to me–homey.

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You can tell so much about a person by their home. The types of furniture they choose tells their story. The pictures on the walls, the books on their shelves… There is even the end of the couch they like to curl up on–the natural dent that’s left.

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There are the things they fix around their home and the things they don’t–that knob on a cabinet that just never seems to get replaced versus the gorgeous dishwasher that’s brand new. There’s the stack of bills and junk mail that is almost invisible to them, the worn spots on a kitchen table, the child’s small doodle on a wall that was just too cute to use a Magic Eraser on.

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Life happens inside a home–and life isn’t spotless and artfully arranged. The tea cups get chipped. The carpet starts to get pressed down in spots. Maybe even the wall colour starts looking a bit dated. But it’s a home that has held memories and love, hope and heartbreak.  I love nothing more than looking around at the beautiful, imperfect, unstaged homes that cradle our lives.

It seems to be human to compete over homes. In the area where I live, people compete over the size of their house. In other places I’ve lived people competed over the part of town they lived in, the type of car in their parking spot. So much competition over things that don’t really matter.

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Because at the end of the day, our homes aren’t for everyone else to be impressed by. They’re where we come home to, sink into that favourite spot on the couch, and soothe away the day’s stress. For me, my home is where I settle in to write the stories that fill my head, where we raise our child to be a good and honest young man, where we curl up together and love each other as best we know how.

You can’t compete over that.

What do you love most about your home?

 

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Have you read my March release yet?

4.282079.512.9781335510570He’s always been the one…

She’s always been just a friend!

Grace Beverly spent years hopelessly in love with her best friend, Billy Austin. Now he’s back in Eagle’s Rest, Colorado, determined to provide the best life possible for his four-year-old daughter. He’s just not sure how. Helping Billy navigate the world of parenting is a one-way ticket back to heartache. Yet how can Grace say no to her oldest friend?

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Amazon

My special book signing pen

21 Thursday Mar 2019

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Yes, I do have one! 🙂

This last Christmas, it was what I asked Mr. Johns to get for me. I wanted a fountain pen that I could use when signing books, and he came through!

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I love the way a fountain pen writes, and my jots and scribbles of book ideas and reminders to myself just feel that much more momentous when written with a fountain pen.

I also have a little stash of ink cartridges that come in different colours. I started out with pink, and I’m currently using a black cartridge, but I also have green, purple, blue and red waiting for me! Sweet anticipation.

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I never thought I’d be a pen person. But here I am! And I love my pen! 🙂

So if I sign a book for you going forward, you know which pen I used to do it!

 

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Have you read my March release yet?

4.282079.512.9781335510570He’s always been the one…

She’s always been just a friend!

Grace Beverly spent years hopelessly in love with her best friend, Billy Austin. Now he’s back in Eagle’s Rest, Colorado, determined to provide the best life possible for his four-year-old daughter. He’s just not sure how. Helping Billy navigate the world of parenting is a one-way ticket back to heartache. Yet how can Grace say no to her oldest friend?

Harlequin

Amazon

A deep, personal attachment to my desk

11 Monday Mar 2019

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I get very attached to my writing desks. I spend a lot of time at those desks, and I crank out book after book there, so it stands to reason that they’ll become somewhat special to me, won’t they?

I came across this old picture of my last writing desk. It isn’t the most attractive photo. It doesn’t show things in good light or even with a clean floor! But it represents a certain phase in my life–when my son was in young and we constantly stepped over a lake of Lego.. But this was a few years ago–he’s in middle school now, and the lake of Lego has turned into a mountain. Where does the time go?

Still, this was my desk, and it was where I wrote my books while life happened around me.

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I’ve had this roll top desk since I was about 23 or 24–before I even met my husband. My parents picked it up for me from an estate auction, and they drove it out to my downtown digs where I was working part time and writing full time. I wrote my first published novel at this desk! It has good mojo.

My husband and I still have this little oak desk–there is no way I’ll EVER get rid of it! I just love it too much. It’s currently in a different room, and my husband uses it, but I’m still a little protective of it. “Be gentle. Don’t pull too hard on that… You have to be careful with that knob…” What can I say? I’m attached.

That brings us to my current desk. I love this desk, too. It was a reward to myself for all my hard work, and I still spend hours and hours typing away at this desk. Except now there is so much more elbow space!

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This desk is MUCH more comfortable to work at, and it feels good to spread out a bit. It has room for everything I need from files to my printer. It’ll be a beast to move when do move house again, but I think it’ll be worth it!

I love the bookshelf space this desk boasts–and I have my entire set of published novels stashed on this desk. It’s definitely my little happy space. I don’t think I’ll change desks again. This is the desk I intend to die behind. 😉

 

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Have you read my March release yet?

4.282079.512.9781335510570He’s always been the one…

She’s always been just a friend!

Grace Beverly spent years hopelessly in love with her best friend, Billy Austin. Now he’s back in Eagle’s Rest, Colorado, determined to provide the best life possible for his four-year-old daughter. He’s just not sure how. Helping Billy navigate the world of parenting is a one-way ticket back to heartache. Yet how can Grace say no to her oldest friend?

Harlequin

Amazon

Dinner, cake and a scarf–hooray!

04 Monday Mar 2019

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My twentieth book came out this month, and I’ve mentioned that I decided to celebrate this one. But being the celiac person who can’t eat out, it limits my celebratory activities. So my big plans were to have my parents come for dinner. I asked my dad to make a cake. He is bound and determined to find a way to make a good gluten-free, dairy-free cake, and has been trying his hand at different recipes and tricks for a little while now. This time around he tried again with chocolate chips and a boiled icing. My husband made dinner, and we all had a big, African meal and cake for dessert.

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My husband got me a book page scarf that I’ve been lusting after for the last while, which I’m just thrilled with. It’s so neat–the print on the infinity scarf is made from real pages taken from A Study in Scarlet by Sherlock Holmes. I haven’t read this one, but I think I might have to now, just so I can say I’ve read the book on my scarf. LOL!

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My almost 11-year-old son was the photographer, and my mom and I decided that women of a certain age require a selfie, just to make sure we get a decent picture. 😉 So here we are–after a delicious meal and cake.

And that was my little, introverted 20th book celebration with the people I love most. ❤ It was great!

Ten more releases, and I’ll do it again. 😉

 

*If you’d like a closer look at that scarf, here’s a better picture of it:

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A box of books!

20 Sunday Jan 2019

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Look what arrived at my door!

Actually, I was coming home with a friend after we’d picked up our kids from school, and I saw the box at my doorstep. So I opened it up with her–and then proceeded to sign a couple of copies for her as we drank tea. 🙂

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Now these are called ARCs, or Advance Reader Copies, and they’re a first for me! With Harlequin, I get the exact copies that will be on the selves, but with Kensington, it works a little differently. These copies say clearly that they aren’t for sale, and they’re meant to be used to send to reviewers, so that is what I am going to be using these for.

More details on that in a few days!

But for now, this is Yours Truly taking a selfie with my very first Kensington Amish romance!

I can’t WAIT for this one to hit the shelves!

 

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Creative recycling

03 Thursday Jan 2019

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Last month, I received the page proofs for my May 2019 release, THE BISHOP’S DAUGHTER. Basically, this is what the book will look like once it’s on paper, and I had to look through everything to find any typos.

All 300 pages.

This is what it looked like mid-process.

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There were only three mistakes that I could find in the whole manuscript, and at the end of the job, I had 300 pages to dispose of. I didn’t want to toss them out in a bundle together, because that’s a full novel, yet unpublished. And while I did start my son on shredding it, that was taking forever.

So I did this, instead! It was Mr. Johns’s idea, actually.

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Pichu the Quaker parrot, now has novel proof page cage liners. 🙂 He hated it at first. It was different, and he whines when things are different. But he’s used to it now, and I’m set for a while for paper for the various trays he uses around the house.

The life of an author’s bird…

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Have you picked up my book yet? You can get it online or find it on the shelves in your favourite bookstore all this month. 🙂

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Two stubborn hearts. One ranch.

Could Montana Twins unite them?

With orphaned twin infants to care for, Casey Courtright hoped to buy the ranch he works on—but he can’t match Ember Reed’s offer. Nevertheless, Casey agrees to show Ember the land she plans to use for her therapy center, but only if she’ll help him with the babies. And as the twins draw them together, Casey might just find that Ember is his perfect partner.

Our Christmas

27 Thursday Dec 2018

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This Christmas was a special one, because it was the first Christmas where my mom and dad have lived close by in a very long time!

This year, I got some gifts that meant the world to me. Mr. Johns got me a fountain pen with different coloured inks for book signing. So if I send you a signed book, it’ll be signed with pink ink! Well, until this ink cartridge runs out, and then I’ll move on to green, I believe. I have options. Mr. Johns has always been my biggest fan, and I’m so thankful for him. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without my handsome husband to snuggle up with.

My son bought me a necklace.  There is nothing quite so lovely as your little boy buying you something pretty and being so very proud of his efforts. He went shopping with his grandfather for it, and just to make the wrapping complete, he tossed in a fresh potato to throw me off if I decided to shake anything. LOL! I love this kid.

My parents got me something really special this year… It’s a Royal Albert dish to go on my desk, and it’s in my late grandmother’s china pattern, Old Country Roses.

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Those were the most meaningful gifts I received this Christmas… well, the physical ones at least. A family to love and cherish–that’s what really counts the most, isn’t it?

We were all together, and my heart was full.

I hope you’re having a wonderful holiday season, too!