Fa-la-la-la-la!

Yes, it’s still early November. I have a confession (which is probably not terribly surprising if you follow me on Twitter). I’m one of those put up the decorations and turn on the holiday music at midnight on Halloween people. I love Christmas!

I love the excitement, the family time, and all the special traditions. In my house, a compromise was reached and I don’t set up the outdoor displays or cut down the tree until after Thanksgiving. BUT, I do get an early start on the cheer with my four-part attack.

Scents

I begin operation good-cheer with an aerial assault. Pine scented candle warmers, room spray, and plug-ins take over every room. I also love pine scented hand soap for a quick burst of freshly chopped Christmas tree (before I can bring said tree home).

Sounds

I start listening to Holiday music the day after Halloween. My very favorites are holiday classics by Dean Martin and The Carpenters. I also love instrumental tracks (takes my husband a couple minutes to realize what he’s humming, and then he shoots me “the look”)

Sights

Holiday movies! (yes, with an exclamation point). My very favorites are Holiday Inn, White Christmas, and Elf. My kids love the Prep & Landing series. And if one of these isn’t playing, the tv will be set to the Hallmark Channel.

Sighs

Ok, I’m stretching to come up with a fourth S, bear with me. Sighs are for all the feel-good romance books set during the holidays. Hallmark recently introduced a publishing line and since October, they’ve been producing novels inspired by their original movies. If you love the heartwarming stories you see on the Hallmark Channel, you have to check out the companion novels. Next year, Hallmark Publishing will start releasing original novels (without movie tie-ins).

If you’ve read this far, you should not be surprised at all to learn that I’ve written a Christmas set romance in my sweet contemporary series.  What’s more romantic than the holidays? How about mistletoe at the beach?

Check out Surface Currents (Golden Shores Book 3) 

Available on Kobo/Amazon/iBooks/Barnes & Noble*

*Disclosure: affiliate links used

It’s November and that means #NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Have you struggled to find time to finish your novel? Do you dream about a story but haven’t tried to write it down? This is your year!

Join me and countless other authors across the country as we set aside the excuses and commit to writing 50,000 words.

I don’t finish within the allotted time frame every year. But! I keep signing up. For me, this is a month to be creatively fearless. This is a chance to reset my year and stretch myself.

This year, I’m working on a passion project. This is the first book in a new series, once again a sweet contemporary romance. Holidays, Inc. is a modern retelling of my favorite movie, Holiday Inn, set in a fictional small-town in Wisconsin. I’m so excited to get started (I’ll take that as a good sign).

I’ll be sharing snippets on Twitter for the #1lineWed (as thematically appropriate). At the end of the month, I’ll be back with an update on how I did. Happy writing!

I’m a dog person.

Growing up, my family always had a dog. First was the elderly dog who was around long before me. Next came the puppy when my brother and I were in elementary school. Then another dog to keep our aging puppy company.

And then I grew up. I graduated college, landed my first job, and was on my own in the big city. Life without a dog was lonely.

When I say dog person I mean that I come from a long line of people that are devoted to animals who are equal members of their family with the humans.

The crazy kind (just to be clear).

My husband is also a dog person and two months after proposing he was ready to officially start our family…with a dog.

I have really bad allergies. Cats are the toughest (although the lure of watching MTV while cat sitting had me suffer through puffy eyes in my teens) followed by dogs. By happy accident, all of our family dogs were non shedding.

My husband and I wanted to rescue a dog. We decided we’d go to a shelter and see if any dog matched our criteria. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. We wanted to save all of them. We went to four shelters and had no luck. It was tough to walk away but we were determined.

And at the fifth shelter, we found her.

This is my Libby. She is my sweetheart. She’s kind of bitchy (but so am I) and she is my spirit animal. A companion in every sense of the word, this little girl is my shadow. We rescued her about three years before we had our first child. She has been by my side through everything.

I will never buy another dog because now that I’ve rescued once, I’ll rescue again.

If you want a dog, I hope you’ll do yourself a favor and visit a shelter. In my heart, I think she knows we saved her. But the cliche is true, she kind of rescued us.