This month is about being thankful. There is so much in my life that I am thankful for. My husband, my family, my friends, my health, my pets.
My husband has always been supportive of my writing and hasn't balked when I say I'm going to the coast for a week to write, or I'm going to Montana to research, or I want to travel to Europe for a month. He just says if you can make it happen, go ahead. He knows that I am happiest when I'm writing. He acknowledged it early in our married life before I had even realized it. He has even been indulgent in my need to have horses in my life.
I will help my family in any way I can, and they me. I have a good rapport with cousins, siblings, nieces, nephews, and in-laws. I've gained respect for and from my mother-in-law. I am proud of my children, now grown adults with families who I like to be around. My oldest daughter and a granddaughter recently joined me on my trip to Europe. They let me have the best bed and room at the places we stayed and watched out for me. My granddaughter pulled me onto the train when we nearly missed it and my daughter kept us safe as we walked around the countries.
My friends... where to start- I have the couples and women I met through my children's years in grade school. Some I've lost touch with but I remember fondly. Others I've stayed in touch with. Then the members of the Salem chapter of Romance Writers of America. I've again lost touch with some and maintain relationships with others. And the writers I met at National RWA conferences. So many that I met, admired, and grew to know. Through writing, I have met so many in-person and online people who have enhanced my life in ways they may never know. Then there are my closest friends. The ones I go to for advice and commiseration when something upsets me.
I'm lucky to only have to take vitamins and herbs to keep my health in check. I'm still able to ride a horse, go for walks, and keep up with my grandchildren. Many of my friends and family aren't so lucky.
Having pets helps to keep me going. I love watching Nia run and play outside and in. She is our entertainment most of the time. She and Harlie bug me every morning until I'm ready to go out and feed my horse and the cats in the shop. they love their walks and so do I. The animals keep me getting outside no matter what the weather is like and that is good for me.
I am most thankful for the ability to tell a story well enough that people want to purchase my books. When I first started writing, I never dreamed others would want to read what I wrote to entertain myself.
Right now I have a new book in my Spotted Pony Casino Mystery series out-
Down and Dirty
Spotted Pony Casino Mystery
The Spotted Pony Casino’s head of security, Dela
Alvaro, receives a late-night call that takes her to a deserted walkway along
the river. After confronting a woman babbling about love and bodies being buried,
Dela stumbles over a corpse and discovers her knife covered in the victim’s
blood.
Dela and Tribal Detective Heath Seaver find themselves
working with FBI Special Agent Quinn Pierce when the murder seems to be
connected to a drug cartel. Dela nearly becomes the victim of a hit-and-run
while someone is trying to frame her for the murder.
Proving her innocence has Dela interviewing past
acquaintances and members of a drug cartel, all while trying to decide if the
woman she met the night of the murder is truly crazy … or the killer.
Buy link: https://books2read.com/u/bagQ66
Imagination. It is a word that conjures up so much and can cover so many emotions. In this collection of nine unique stories and a poem, you will cross centuries, hang in suspense, chuckle and perhaps even laugh, and wonder did the character imagine that or not. Dari LaRoche starts this anthology with a poem that explores what sparks the imagination as it moves between conscious thought and the sublime, reflecting the beauty that surrounds us.
In Metro Takes a Road Trip, Susie Slanina returns to the adventures of a dog named Metro discovering new places and talents. In The Watching Game, Lisa de Nikolits crafts a story that explores invisible friends, suspense, and the power of suggestion. Diana McCollum’s story, Son-ja’s Journey, explores the story of a lost child who wanders into a Native American tribe’s camp and is raised as one of their own.
Pamela Cowan’s story, Mars, moves away from earth to outer space in her futuristic tale with a twist about a young man coming of age. Back on earth, Mary Vine provides a story of romance, suspense, and humor in Grandma Harper’s Imagination. Maggie Lynch pits fantasy against reality in Sky Painter, as a young girl develops unusual talents.
Another Life, by Paty Jager, provides a conundrum for the reader to unravel whether a battered wife and a dead husband is a tale of delirium or truth. In Project I.M.A.G.I.N.E. Anna Brentwood and Colton Long pen a cautionary tale of artificial intelligence that begins in the 1980s. Kimila Kay closes out the anthology with Rattlesnake Ravine, a suspense novella that plays with imagination versus truth and the consequences of having to choose only one side.
buy link https://books2read.com/u/booxnR
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Paty Jager is an award-winning author of murder mystery, western romance, and action-adventure. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters.
Website: https://www.patyjager.net
Blog: https://writingintothesunset.net/
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/2IhmWcm
photo: by Paty Jager of the Steens Mountain
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