Friday, December 29, 2017

Writing daily in a new story! #romancebooks #romancereads

Adrienne and Kelly

I'm 2348 words into a new story as of 2:00PM Pacific Time. ETA: 4900. Close to done on 12/31.

I'm sharing shorter fiction on Patreon. Subscribers get to see posts 7 days before the public and the first teaser is here.

$1/month will get you exclusive early access to the new shorts I'm working on. The first is about Adrienne and Kelly, two friends with nowhere else to be on Christmas.


Did you know I have rewards on Patreon?

$1/month gets you Exclusive Excerpts - Access to my patron-only feed where I share exclusive book excerpts.

$5/month gets you Early Access - See my latest work before anyone else! Subscribe at this level and receive the next novel before release day. 1 e-book per customer, 24 hours before wide release.

$10/month makes you a Super Fan - Contribute $10/month and receive paperbacks from the West Coast Soulmates series.

And $20/month is Your Name Here - Your name (real or a pseudonym) credited in my next book.


Happy reading!

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Visiting The Past #Christmas

Small-town California

Spent yesterday in Oak Glen. 

Everything closes at 5pm, though, so we ran out of time for all browsing. And a couple places weren't open. It's better to get the experience during Apple Picking Time (Sept. - Nov.), but this was the soonest we were available. I think 6 used to be closing because we never had a problem fitting it all in when I went in the past.

I hadn't been in 20 years and Tech Guy never before. My father grew up near there, in Yucaipa/Beaumont, so my parents were taking me from young kids years. Since it's at 5000 feet, you have real seasons. Autumn leaves, crisp air, and the scents of rural life and so much baking. I introduced Tech Guy to a cherry strudel he might've proposed to, lol. 

Law's was closed for the winter, or we would've had the most amazing apple pie.

Thankfully, Mrs. Law, who is now 100, wrote a cookbook! Which includes the pie recipe from the restaurant, and she signed it for me. She still sews aprons in the gift shop below on most days. She moves a bit slow, but no walker or cane. Wonderful to see she was still kickin'.

20 years changes every place, so it was a bittersweet trip for me. None of the family I went with is around anymore, so I have no one to reminisce with and discuss all the changes.

A couple shops I loved to roam are no longer there, one of them a place my grandmother adored to browse antiques. Which weren't old to her since she was born in 1910! The owners passed a few years ago. The kids didn't want to keep it open, and now it's storage space for the new restaurant across the street. There used to be a cider mill where that is now where you could watch the full press process in progress and buy the results. Another shopkeeper told us a man that won the lotto bought both properties. We tried to eat at the steakhouse, but it was going to be an hour+ wait. Since it's the only place in town to eat at night...not a surprise. But we were hungry!

Tech Guy enjoyed it enough to want to go back, which is all I wanted. He fell in love with homemade almond brittle. And the strudel. And the cheese shop.