I Ain't Said Nothin' But A Word...

  Dear Santa Claus, How are you doing? I pray this finds you safe and well. As I write this, I know you were just spotted in the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. You’re expected to arrive in Bolivia shortly. I’m envious. You’re still able to travel around the world. Many of us can neither afford that luxury nor are we willing to take the risk travel holds today. I have no doubt that you are vaccinated and boostered. We all know this pandemic is nothing to play around with. I always air on the side of caution. Better safe now than sorry later. Just make sure you keep a mask close in case you bump into anyone along your trek tonight. It’s been quite a year, Santa! After 2020 there was expectation and hope that this year would move us past viruses and quarantines and return us to a semblance of normalcy. That didn’t unfold in the way we’d anticipated. We are still plagued with illness and loses, and things are far from the normal we all remember. We now have Omicron, a new variant to th

I respect my limitations. I know there are some things I’m just not good at. Although my intentions are always good, I regularly fall short of full and total success. Much like this blog that I seem to regularly forget about, I’m bad about calling people and keeping up with them. My inability to remember and acknowledge birthdays and anniversaries defies logic. Some things come to me after-the-fact and by then, it’s usually too late. My social etiquette skills are just horrific more times than not. I have a bestie who never forgets an important date and regularly follows up with the appropriate card or acknowledgement. She sends the perfect gifts when a loved one is lost and never misses a celebration of someone’s accomplishments. She has regularly put me to shame, and I’ve always envied her ability to make what seems unfathomable look so easy. Lately though, I think she’s given up the ghost and I can’t much blame her. Hell, why call folks who don’t try to call you? This Thanksgivi

 Yesterday was a good day! I love book events. I'm also partial to book clubs because book club members are pure joy! Yesterday, I was honored to visit with the Round Table Readers Literary Book Club . It was their first post-pandemic, in-person book club meeting and my being able to pull up a chair to the table and talk books with them made my heart sing! It was also two years ago today that Round Table Readers also hosted me. Their book choice had been STALKED BY SECRETS , the fourth book in my To Serve and Seduce series . They had great questions, challenged my thought process, and taught me a thing or two. They always hold me accountable with my stories and I try not to disappoint. The conversations were engaging and the laughter abundant. Of note, I've given up playing the trivia games. I never win and most leave me in the dust with the old school music and movie questions. It's amazing how much I don't know or remember! I'm also a tad biased when it comes to

I love a good love story and my sister-author-friend Synithia Williams has done it once again with her newest Jackson Falls novel CARELESS WHISPERS . Anyone familiar with Synithia and Jackson Falls and the Robidoux family have been waiting with bated breath for Elaina Robidoux’s story and Synithia does not disappoint. She brings the sexy, the messy, and the drama to the pages making this a delightful, page turner that you will not want to put down.    I asked Synithia about writing the romances she writes.   “My life is pretty routine. I get up in the morning, get the kids ready for school (virtually currently), work a day job, prepare dinner in the evenings, and spend time with the family before bed. But, right before bed, I get to do something amazing. I sit down in front of my laptop and I get to write sexy, messy, romantic stories. I’m not surrounded by drama, lies, secrets, and glamours settings (my seven tiaras excluded) but I get to let my imagination run wild crafting stori

Let me preface this rant with an apology for my French. For those of you who are sensitive to bad language, I’m sorry, but sometimes I cuss and I wasn’t interested in watching my language for this post. 2021 is the year to deal with your shit! And I am saying that with my whole chest! I had a conversation with a relative lately who was nasty for no other reason than she could be. No one has ever called her out on her nastiness. She low key attacks friends and family because she is broken and refuses to deal with her own shit, so assaulting loved ones has become her behavior du jour. Her husband endures most of her abuse. Most men would have gone out for a loaf of bread and stayed gone. But he continues to endure her tantrums and violent outbursts. To some degree he enables her bad behavior because he loves her and he wants to be there when things get better between them. I wish him well with that, but I don’t see it happening if she doesn’t start dealing with her shit. This woman

Baby New Year, hello! And Happy Birthday! Let me forewarn you, this isn’t your typical welcome and hello letter. I usually save my end of the year rants for Santa Claus, but I gave him a break this time. I’m sure he was inundated with Santa letters this year with the needs list for many being astronomical. After the year we’ve all had I knew he probably couldn’t handle much more bitching and complaining. Not that I ever bitch or complain. Except maybe about that pony he never did deliver, but I digress. We are all in a weird space right now and the pressure on your shoulders to get the new year back on track would break the best of us. You don’t have that option. To be blunt, if you screw up, we will come for you. Your predecessor blew it big time, in unfathomable fashion. Hell, all you really need to do now is stand still, keep quiet and not break anything to do a better job than he did. Seriously, no fast moves or loud noises are allowed this year. We desperately need some peac