Recently, I had to list all of my publications. I’ve been publishing since 2015 and average about 200,000 words a year. So it wasn’t too surprising to reach the number of twenty-three (with six more under contract and another two first drafts).

What surprised me? Picking a favorite character from all of those works was easy.

Colby.

Colby is the scene stealing rescue dog from Finders Keepers, Cowboy. And that’s only the start. She appears in every book.

She is entirely based on my dear Shelby. Shelby was a stray. My husband found her listed with a rescue group. We don’t know much about her history. We don’t know how old she is. I always joke she is here for a good time not a long time.

What we do know is she is my absolute sweetheart. She is about fifty pounds and loves a long walk. But then she likes to go home and sleep the day away.

She likes to be around us but isn’t demanding. She is my companion more than anything else. When I was recently ill, however, she decided I was too much work and spent the day downstairs.

Writing a beloved pet into a book is a mixed blessing. I love that I’ve captured her spirit (and I hope this encourages more people to adopt and not shop. We feel pretty confident she was a backyard breeding mix) but I know re-reading the words will be hard in the future. (Rebecca Yarros based one of the dragons in her wildly amazing, successful series off one of her dogs.) Still, I’ll always be glad for the time I’ve had with her and that I included her in a book.

It’s been a while since I’ve checked in on the blog about my day to day. Winter has a way of making every day feel like a slog. Same old, same old. But then, I take a step back and look at what I’ve accomplished and realize wow, I’ve been busy.

January and February have been EDITING months. Finders Keepers, Cowboy was fully edited (and sent out to early readers!) and I’ve started working with my editor on Catch A Cowboy. And I’m doing another round of self-editing on Book 3 in the series.

Oh these books! I wrote the first three years ago now and sort of forgot how much I loved the characters. Once a book is written, it changes from belonging to the author’s to becoming a commodity for a lot of people. There is nothing wrong with that! Publishing is a business. This is how it works. But when you spend years “selling” a book (first to an agent and then to publishers) you don’t look at it the same as when you first sit down to write.

Until–in my case–edits start. Then it’s the joy and struggle of storytelling again. I’ve been blessed to work with wonderful editors and my current editors, Katie and Ashley, are exceptional. I’m in great hands!

I mention two names because I also edited the first in my new series The Shores of Loon Lake–coming soon!!! I saw the cover and it’s gorgeous and I can’t wait to share it with you. These books are fun and funny with a lot of heart, hope, and HIJINX. And honestly, bless my editor for trying to make sense of some of the shenanigans.

In the midst of all of this, my friend Kelly won a walk-on role in a TV movie (have to be vague, sorry!) and brought me along for the ride. I don’t think we stopped laughing or smiling once. It was an AMAZING experience. The crew and cast were so generous with us, giving us a lot of their time to explain what was happening, their jobs, all of it. Truly, an awesome opportunity (check out my instagram for photos and follow along when I CAN share more details).

It’s gearing up to be a very full calendar year, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Stay tuned and don’t forget, if you pre-order Finders Keepers, Cowboy, you can get stickers (while supplies last, US only, one per mailing address). Fill out the form here

Join me for a celebration! Starting at 11am central time on March 26th, I’ll be on the Rowan Prose Publishing Facebook Page hosting games and giveaways to launch Finders Keepers, Cowboy.

Click this link to add the event to your calendar https://fb.me/e/yGRc7cIUK