A lot of people have traditions around different holidays. We do too, but they have morphed a lot since I was a child.

Growing up, presents were not touched until Christmas morning. Daddy’s rule and it wasn’t even a discussion. Now I never peeked, but I have discovered after all these years that my little sister wasn’t as honorable (yeah I know you peeked!)

Daddy would turn on the movie lights to let us know when we could enter the living room Christmas morning – yeah those big lights for 8 mm film (for the younger people reading, don’t worry about it) It was so bright you could barely see and made everything magical.

We didn’t have a lot of time with our presents. My grandparents lived about an hour away and Grandmother wouldn’t let Granddaddy open anything until we got there. He’d be on the phone wondering where we were if we were late. The aunt and uncle who lived next door to G&G had three kids, so we always saw them for Christmas.

As we got older, things did evolve. Grandmother lived long enough to meet our son, but we didn’t see her every Christmas after we got married. We had to travel around the state, so a new tradition was formed. Christmas Eve was spent with my in-laws and on alternate years we’d go to my parents. The other years they’d come to us. As it worked out, all of our kids got to spend their first Christmas without traveling (not that they remember that).

Things have changed again with our kids growing up and moving to their homes. Now we see La Daughter either mid-December or early January when she’s available from whatever production she’s stage managing and spend Christmas Eve and morning with El Son and DIL and, of course, the grandson. Then head to my sister’s house for dinner Christmas night.

It’s a lot of traveling, but it’s easier for us. We’re both retired and have more freedom of movement. I can always write in the car or in the mornings before everyone else is up. Maybe not well, but I can do it.

Another tradition is the ornaments I make for the roommates – can’t show this year’s yet, but here’s some of my past efforts. I love doing the counted cross-stitch and it definitely keeps me from snacking.

What your favorite traditions? Share them and also enter my Rafflecopter for a giveaway of some copies of A Collection of Christmas Stories. (And keep an eye out for my new series that will start in January!)

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Merry Whatever you celebrate and stay safe!!

I’m back on track but geez is it easy to get derailed. I have reasons, maybe excuses, but I’ve got my act back together again.

Found out last December that my publisher – Rebel Ink Press – would be closing their doors on June 30. Man, were they classy about it. No blindsiding us, gave us our rights back and even gave us our covers! I thought six months would be plenty of time to get everything re-edited and back up. Yeah, right . . . So that was one reason – I’ve still got a couple of books that aren’t available and I will get to them, but in my opinion they needed more than just an edit.

But in addition to that, I’ve acted as Vice President for Programming for the HCRW chapter of RWA the past two years. I go out of office December 31 and am leaving the office in very capable hands. But before I could give it up there was, in addition to the monthly meetings, my final annual conference. That was held October 13 (Muldermas for my long-time fans) and while it took a lot of prep and extra trips to Raleigh, it was incredible. Sabrina Jefferies and Sarra Cannon spoke and I was blown away by both of them. And knowing they were our speakers kept me much more relaxed.

The major downside was, during the conference I got a text that my last uncle had passed away. We are a very close family and that was a blow that, while expected, was still a jolt. I’m not ready to be the oldest generation. That means I have to adult full-time and Charles was always the wittiest. Of course we drove up to Cincinnati where I got to visit with cousins from all over the country. (We had NC and Ohio represented, but also Pennsylvania, Utah, California, DC, etc.). Then we had to rush back because I had a book signing that had been planned for months. Sigh . . .

See what I mean. Real life just doesn’t stop. I write full time now, no more going into an office and still the derailments continue. At least I’m still meeting my deadlines, just not sleeping that well.

Check out my Collection of Christmas Stories and subscribe to my newsletter for a special gift in November!

I’m not ready. I’ll be XX 1/2 on October 5 (that was an important day when I was younger – turning a 1/2 year older – not so much anymore). And no, the first two numbers don’t count!

I do have some exciting stuff coming up in October. Since it’s Halloween month, I’m putting my ghost story, Wraith’s Heart, on sale for $.99 from October 1-7. 

I’ve also combined all of my Christmas stories into one volume, A Collection of Christmas Stories, and it’s available in paper to fill someone’s stocking and also an eBook at Kindle. Check out the cover, my amazing cover designer, Robert, put all kinds of Easter eggs around it for you to find.

Don’t get after me for planning for Christmas already. It’s the secretary in me, needing to be prepared for whatever’s coming up (I was never a Boy Scout). Also helps with paying the bills . . . Just sayin’ . . .

Actually Fall is my favorite time of year, so I’m juiced. The heat has finally broken and my favorite colors start decorating the mountains near me. Need to plan at least a day trip up to check it out.

Also this October on the 13th is the Heart of the Carolina Annual All Day Conference and this year we’ve got Sabrina Jeffries and Sarra Cannon coming to speak. It’s for writers of any genre or writer-wanna-bes. Go here for more details, as I write this there’s still a little room, so come on down.  Also on October 20, I’ll be selling and signing books at the Guilford College United Methodist Church’s bazaar. Stop by and say hi!

The third and final volume of The Melting Series is now available. The Cohesion is back today with a new cover and re-edited with new content.  

Buy links are here – Amazon, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, Scribd

Here’s an excerpt-

Rachel Gerhart lay in her bed. Morning was still distant and she’d regret lying here awake when dawn arrived, but she couldn’t sleep.

They were coming—she could feel them. They had left the camp in Tennessee. Sidwas coming. No one knew how long the trip from Tennessee would take or how the roads had held up during the winter, but they were on their way.

She’d never admitted she was having the dreams. David and Tim talked about the ability so matter-of-factly, like what they were feeling was normal or something. How could something like this be normal? How could she see into anyone else’s dreams? But she did.

Amanda thought the ability was a leftover from the virus that had killed everyone after the glaciers in Alaska had melted. She thought Rachel’s brain chemistry had been altered when she was merely a child by a form of the virus that had killed her parents. If she was right and Rachel had always done this, which would explain a lot of her problems in the myriad foster homes she’d survived. She had known what people were thinking sometimes, how they felt. She’d been too young and stupid to hide what she was doing at first, but she’d finally caught on. No wonder her foster parents had been uneasy around her. This dream thing was new though.

Keeping away from people had always helped. Being alone was better than being with most of the people she’d known. But she’d been able to sense when people wanted to harm her from the beginning and that had been a good thing. A foster father who wanted more, foster mothers who only wanted the money. Oh, there were decent ones too, but she’d been shifted around too much to rely on them. She’d made herself as invisible as possible at school. Rachel had worked hard at that.

Maintaining a solid B had kept her under everyone’s radar. If she had occasionally dipped into someone else’s thoughts on some exams, it was never to get an outstanding grade. She understood the question better after those little dips anyway. The students were better teachers than the teachers in a lot of cases.

Staying invisible had been harder as she’d grown and her body had changed. She’d tried to wear clothes that did not enhance things, but there wasn’t money for new wardrobes and things got tight. And people noticed redheads. She stayed as plain as she could. At least she had been able to know for certain that the jocks and popular kids hadn’t really cared about her as a person and not fallen for their shit. No, alone had always been better.

So why were visits to Sid’s dreams so important to her?

The whole series is back – if you liked Nora Roberts’ Year One– check this out!

Hope you enjoy!!