Month: January 2016

Honest, I’m calling quits on this week!

Unbeknownst to me, I stepped on an emotional rollercoaster Saturday, and have yet to get off. Newest woke up Saturday morning with a low-grade fever. Nothing alarming, but considering we had just been to the doctor the Monday prior for bilateral ear infections, it was a little frustrating we were headed down the sick path yet again. By that evening, she was rocking a 102.8 temp. Still, I didn’t panic. She was on a strong antibiotic (they had already tried one antibiotic which didn’t clear up the ears, so now we were on day 7 of a stronger one) so logically, I assumed it was a virus. By Sunday midday we hit 105.5.

Yes, you read that correctly…105.5! Queue the first wave of panic.

We dropped everything and headed for the pediatrician. By the time we arrived, the ibuprofen was kicking in and the fever had dropped marginally, but still high. They tested her for the flu and RSV (please note, I felt like the worst parent in the world when talking to the doctor, we realized we never took her back for the second part of the baby flu vaccine. I just knew it was going to be the flu then). Both tests came back negative.

You know that moment when one doctor leaves the room, but two come back in and you know things are about to hit the fan??? Yeah, that was us!

Turns out her white blood count was hanging out around 30K. Now, if you’re like me, this doesn’t mean much, but let’s put it in perspective…it should have been around 10K. Off to the hospital we went. By the time we reached the ER and were taken back to the room, the ibuprofen was in full effect, her temp was normal, and she was determined to climb every surface in the place. The resident MD looked at us like we were crazy, and said maybe the pediatrician’s chemistry machine just wasn’t reading accurately.

Ha!

When his lab work came back with her white count hitting 39K, we suddenly had the attention of not only the resident but also the attending, as well as, a med student. They couldn’t believe the kid they were looking at had a white count of almost 40K while on a strong antibiotic, which meant the alarms for some very serious issues were ringing all over the place. The hours of torture that ensued were some of the darkest of my life. Outwardly, I was trying my best to hold it together, staying positive. But on the inside…it was ugly. Every terrible thought crossed my mind.

It was truly as though the world continued to move at a fast, blurring pace, but I was frozen, viewing my life with profound introspective. They say you should pray without ceasing…but I hit my knees begging.

As it turns out, she has a bacterial infection that was resistant to the antibiotics she was taking. They don’t know why or how it happened, but with a lot of poking and prodding, and three shots of a “nuclear” antibiotic later, she is well on the bend. We have more testing ahead of us and hopefully answers to come, but for now, we can see the tree line.

There have been a lot of events, between Sunday and today, that damn near gave me a heart attack, and I still jump every time the phone rings, but for the first time in nearly a week, I was starting to feel like I could breathe again.

Until I was nearly stranded on the side of the road today.

My own fault, really. Clearly ignoring the fact that I needed gas last night and this morning – as in the light had been on – was a great idea. So was coasting into the second gas station parking lot at lunch, only to find my bank card wouldn’t work. For the record, it didn’t work at the first gas station either, I just decided it was them, not me. Turns out, I apparently demagnetized my card…who knew you could really do that without a strong magnet.

So this is me, waving the white flag. Throwing in the towel. You can have this week Life, because I don’t want it anymore!

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade….when life gives you a very high ranking military officer, you get inspired.

I started LOVE IN THE WIND with the idea that my hero, Miles Scott, would have a background in the military. The only problem…I know nothing about the military. Sure, you can Google just about anything, but I wanted the truth. The real side these men and women live every day.The stories you’ll never find on a website. And boy did I find it…

Yesterday, I set out on a road trip to sit down and have lunch with a man I had never met. Not a norm for me, but it turned out to be the most insightful two hours of my life. I promised him anonymity, so we’ll refer to him as Delta Whiskey – mostly because I just Googled the phonetic alphabet and that sounds pretty badass. And let me tell you, he’s full of badassery.

I have to admit, prior to my conversation with Delta Whiskey yesterday his title wouldn’t have meant anything to me, but as it turns out…it pretty much means badass! As a NCO, he has hit the highest rank possible in his career. And at only a few years older than me, he could retire if he wanted – as for me, I can’t even see the light at the end of the tunnel. But it’s more than just his rank and the fact that he stands among the elite few in his branch of the military that makes Delta Whiskey all kickass…it’s the stories. The sacrifice. The dedication. Several times while we were talking, his eyes would glance out the window, and I knew…he wasn’t seeing the world as I was. He was in another time. Another place. Drawn back by the memories of his journey. You could see both the pride and the pain as he talked about his tours. The joy in his smile when speaking of fonder times. He was so freely giving of information – all non-sensitive, of course – that I was rendered – nearly – speechless. Lost in his tale of bravery and brotherhood.

“Ask me anything…” he would say.

But what took me – even more so – by surprise was his eagerness to help with my story. With my promise of anonymity, he’s allowing me to tell parts of his story through the life of Miles Scott. Here I was, just a contemporary romance author, wanting to turn his badass life into a love story – which I half expected him to laugh at – and he was all on board. Throwing out ideas and scenarios. Ready to fire off details all for the sake of my fiction. It was beyond anything I could have imagined.

I went into the interview knowing it was a one time deal. I would gather as much intel as I could (yes, look at me practicing the lingo) and be on my own. Little did I know I would walk away with a contact and an open invitation to any information I needed.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to bring Miles Scott and this story to life! This is going to be the most amazing project yet.

One of my favorite questions from readers is, “how do you pick your character names?”

On a good day, they drift to me like a whisper on a summer breeze… 

On a less than creative, time-crunch kind of day, I may be known to peruse the internet and social media waiting for something magically to smack me in the forehead…

Then there are the characters whose names don’t quite seem to stick…

Generally speaking, I usually know my main characters before I start the plotting process. But many times, the secondary characters names don’t come to me until later and have been known to change several times before I settle on the right one. And those poor minor characters…well, they get named on a whim.

With my Spruce Pine series, it’s been smooth sailing for awhile, as everyone already has a name. When I started FORGIVE ME (coming soon) I didn’t have to think about names, but now that I have started working on my new Carefree series, I’m back to square one. So I thought I would try something new…and let one of you pick a name. Fun, right?

So who are we naming???

You can read a brief synopsis about LOVE IN THE WIND under the “Carefree Novels” tab and get introduced to my two new favorite friends Julia Hawthorne and Miles Scott, but it’s Miles’s quick-witted, smooth-talking deputy who’s looking for his perfect name.

So give me your best shot…what’s your best bad boy name? Oh, and did I mention…Mr. Deputy may be lingering on the sidelines for now, but he will get his own HEA in book two of the Carefree series…which means, you get the power to name one of my main characters.

On Friday, Jan 15th, I will announce which name, submitted by a reader, I am choosing.

Names can be submitted in the comments below or on my facebook page. Feel free to share this post with all your book lover friends!

Happy Naming!!!

A new year means it’s time for the new me, right?

Who am I kidding? The only thing changing around here are my clothes…I swear, I thought the dryer stopped shrinking them after the first few washes? Clearly, I have a magic dryer!

In all seriousness, I need to lose weight…like a four-year-old kid amount of weight. No, really! I need to lose as much as my four-year-old weighs. After Newest’s arrive back in May the struggle has been real. The problem is I like Food. And Food likes me. We have a great relationship. Our love is carefree and endless. It’s like Food just gets me, you know? I don’t have to be anyone different for Food. I don’t have to change the way I think or feel. It’s just me and Food against the world. Two peas in a pod. Partners in crime. We’re perfect together. I mean, so what if I cheat a little with his cousin, Soda? It’s not like any of us are really perfect. I will always love Food, to the moon and back.

I decided this year not to jump on the “Healthy Resolution” train. Mostly, because I hate failure…and I will fail. Let’s just go ahead and ignore the Diet Mountain Dew on my desk. But also, because I wanted to be a little more realistic about my expectations for the New Year. 2015 was an amazing year for me. We completed our family with Newest’s arrival, my debut novel was released, and I attended my first author event (just to name a few), but with the addition of all those wonderful things mean less time.

My time is kind of like that thin strip they call peanut butter between the two round Lance crackers. It’s barely existent.

So, for 2016, I decided to focus my goals around my writing. Starting with this blog. It’s been months – 6 to be exact – since my last blog. (Does that sound oddly like a Catholic confession to anyone else??? Forgive me WordPress for I have sinned, it’s been 6 months since my last post…) 6 months is insane! Where does time go? Anyway, here are my resolutions for the New Year:

1. Blog…more than once every 6 months. Hey, baby steps here.
2. Jump start my street crew…I’ve done a lot of talking about this, but not a lot of action. Don’t know what a street crew is? Ask me about it.
3. And lastly, write more.

Three simple things, right? Not hard at all, if you ignore the fact that those three simple tasks will sufficiently leave me with about 4 hours of sleep per night!

So tell me, what’s your resolution(s) for 2016?