Adventures N Writing

The first book that I ever had published was MURDER UNCORKED. It wasn't the first one that I ever wrote, but it was the first one that an agent wanted to represent and that was sold along with two other books in the series. If you've read about Nikki Sands and her eccentric friends on the vineyard solving murder mysteries, eating great food and drinking wine, then you know that first book turned into a series of seven with two short stories as well. Readers of the series also know that there are recipes and wine pairings in the books. Readers have asked me through the years if I would put the recipes and wine pairings in one compilation. I have now done that and am happy to say that it is permanently free on Nook, iBooks, Kobo, etc. You'll find the recipes from all of the books and you'll also learn where the ideas came from and some of my personal journey while writing each book in the series. The best part is that it is FREE! I've also made MURDER UNCORKED perma...

Remember when you were a little kid and you could play all sorts of games, fantasies, adventures that you created in your head? I sure do. I can remember playing Charlie's Angels with my friend Jill...there were only two of us, so we pretended a third one was there. We just imagined her. I can also remember going out on riding trails with my friends on our horses and we could create some amazing adventures about cowboys and Indians, and being bad guys...or good guys. We had a blast! I feel grateful that my imagination has continued to inspire me. I may not play dress up with my friends any longer so-to-speak, but I create pages of stories that I have so much fun doing. Thinking about imagination and writing...and childhood, got me thinking about a program I developed several years ago and worked with kids in schools. With the season's chill upon us and many families finding themselves indoors over the next few months, I wanted to share with you an idea to help any little ones...

Let's face it...we're living in some very different times. There's a lot that feels unsettling these days and so much divineness around the world that I think many people are questioning their values and thoughts. I know that I certainly am and as a writer my brain is running rampant with all sorts of book ideas. However, the book I want to write about today was the first book that I ever wrote--COVERT REICH, and the reason I wanted to blog about it is that for a book I wrote twenty-five years ago, there are some messages in that book that in a weird way I see taking shape in our real world today--maybe not to the extent of what I fictionalized a long time ago, but still...there's some messages that I put in the book that I think if we looked around today we'd find evidence of some of the scary plot I created way back when. The premise of COVERT REICH is: A sect of the US government has devised a plan to rid society of those they feel are "undesirable"...