My latest newsletter has landed

 I posted my latest newsletter amongst the others. In this one, I talk about the hurricane that hit Iowa, a book released, a book sold, a house sold, a house bought, and other incidentals of my life during the last two months.

Crazy times

 As you may have heard, Iowa was hit by a derecho in early August.

You didn't hear? Oh, what a surprise (she said sarcastically). The town where I live lost 60% of its trees in 45 minutes -- snapped, pulled out of the ground, or toppled.

It's a long, horrible story about recovery. There is still storm debris everywhere -- massive piles of trees and brush lining streets and sitting in yards.

We came through it but we took a HUGE hit. We had 2 trees on the house, 4 trees down in the driveway -- 50 trees total. Yes, you read that right. 50. We have what's known as a woodland acreage, and we lost at least half of our trees.

This means re-landscaping everything. And I'm not sure I have another landscaping of that scale in me. I've done major landscape projects at 4 houses, including this one, which we finished right before the storm hit.

So we've tidied up the landscape and put the house on the market. We bought a new place somewhat south of here with a much small footprint and yard. We'll move in December and hopefully have this place sold by then.

I also turned in my notice at my job. As you know, I 'retired' in 2018 from my high-tech job and took a job as Master Gardener Coordinator in my county. I decided it's time to turn the reins over to someone else, so my last day is Dec 31.

This means I've been crazy busy between finding a new house, getting this house ready for sale, having house showings (because no Open Houses because of Covid), and working on wrapping up my work. But I've also been busy on the publishing front. A new book will be out next year (Beached, the Little Mermaid tale) and I'm working on Heir, which will be the Rapunzel book.

Wish me luck in the next few months -- it's going to get hectic!

A new book -- brand new!

 A new Remembered Classics romance is here -- Mazed is my Beauty and the Beast story, but it's hard to tell who's a beauty and who's a beast in this one. There's a labyrinth, a rose, a hero, a heroine, and a villain - and deadly secrets all around!

Adventures in Retirement is here!

 I am happy to announce that my re-vamped books are now available for purchase!

This has been a very interesting journey for these manuscripts. These are some of the very first books I wrote, way back in 2005. I saw a couple of them published in 2006, then a few more followed in the years after.

I was okay with how the books were written -- then. But in later years, I just didn't like some of the ways I handled the hero/heroine interaction, the emotions, and a couple of the plot points.

When the publishers folded (Cerridwen and Resplendence) I had the rights returned to me and I re-read them all. Lo and behold, I found a few plot HOLES I needed to fix! I rewrote the books and got new covers, and here they are! If you go to my Shopping page, you'll find out where to buy them -- LOTS of buying options!

All the news that fits!

My latest newsletter is uploaded and ready for your viewing pleasure. I discuss the cover for my next book and how I decided to toss out 100,000 words and start over on my manuscript.

The glamorous life of a writer, right?

3 books for the price of one (sort of)

I'm so excited -- my first boxed set!

Yep, all three books in the Deadly Landscaping Series are here:

• Lilacs, Litigation, and Lethal Love Affairs
• Foxglove, Fancy Fungus and Fatal Family Feuds
• Daisies, Deadly Force and Disastrous Divorce Decrees

This is my first set of this type, so go forth and purchase!