Good-bye 2018!
Personal Life
Lessons Learned
This has been a difficult year, one that I'm relieved to put behind me. Life changed in a big way for me and my children. I'm officially a single mom with four kids between the ages of 12 and 3. I won't go into the gory details of my upcoming divorce because it's just too painful. But, with therapy, I've come to realize that I'm better off now. My stress and anxiety has lowered in significant ways and I have a more positive mindset. This was a year where I learned lessons the hard way. Twenty-three years is a long time and my heart was injured to such a degree that it will probably take an equally long time to heal, but if other women can heal from something like this, then I know I can, too.
Those I Lost
As if that wasn't enough to make a year heart-breaking, my family lost two incredibly wonderful and dear friends.
Chris Angelo passed away from injuries sustained in a car accident a few weeks after my husband left. Chris was my kid's Cubmaster, Baseball coach and the father of my 11 year-old son's best friend. He was such an integral part of our community that his death affected the entire town. In addition to Cub Scouts and baseball, he was also a soccer coach and played an important role for his church and their Youth Group. He was a wonderful husband to his wife, Jean, father to 3 fantastic boys and a great friend who had an infectious laugh and a smile that lit the room whenever he entered. He will always, always be missed.
Another of my dear friends that we lost was Melissa Beadle. She was an ex-co-worker from Waldenbooks. I met her with my first position with Waldenbooks as Seasonal Bookseller. She was Assistant Manager and helped train me. Shortly later, I was hired at a different Waldenbooks location and worked my way up to Assistant Manager there. After Melissa's store closed due to company downsizing, my manager hired her on in our store. It was such a pleasure to work with her again. She was another one who always had a smile and her laugh was loud and heartfelt. She always had a certain glow about her that was almost ethereal. Once we started working again in the same store, we found such common interests together that I felt like we connected in a spiritual way. We both absolutely loved books (of course!) and the supernatural. Labyrinth was our favorite movie because of, well, David Bowie! We shared a lot of favorites with music and we were fascinated by nature. She became a nature photographer, as well as a professional in holistic healing specializing in essences and essential oils. After Waldenbooks closed, we still remained close friends, meeting at Dunkin Donuts and taking bus trips to New York. She was always the first person I messaged when I needed advice on my cats or my spiritual health. Since she's been gone, I still feel like her spirit is with me, but I miss her so much. She was also the mother of two gorgeous children.
Words just cannot express the depth of my grief after losing these two beautiful friends.
Writing Career
Strangely enough, although my personal life was a mess, my writing career blossomed. I wrote more this year than I have in the last few years. Perhaps once the stress of living with such negativity was lifted, it freed my creative soul? For whatever reason, my word count and project list increased this year.
This year I...
- signed 4 contracts
- wrote 2 new stories
- published 3 stories
- worked on edits and rewrites for 3 stories which I plan to self-publish in 2019
- wrote 38 blog posts
- participated in several contests
- increased social media followers and fans
- read 31 books (my goal was 24)
- reviewed 10 books and posted on either my blog, Goodreads or Amazon
I lost track of my word count, but considering the amount of work that I did this year, I know it surpassed last year. I did not participate in NaNoWriMo this year because of suffering double pneumonia for nearly the entire month of November. And my kids were sick that month, too, so I didn't push myself.
All in all, I think I did a decent job considering the amount of emotional turmoil I suffered this year. I'm glad I kept track of these things. Looking back, I feel that I accomplished a lot despite the trials I faced. And I have two new angels watching over me.
Books Published
Searching for treasure on a lush Caribbean island, a woman disguising herself as a cabin boy is confronted by her sexy and suspicious pirate captain.
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Sail on the high seas or into uncharted galaxies! When it comes to love...pirates risk all! Delilah's next delectable anthology is filled with roguish pirates! Readers who crave adventures set on the high seas--or in deep space--will find plenty of sexy bad boys, naughty alpha males unafraid to risk life and limb for treasure--or a lucky lover's heart!
Just a few of the titillating stories inside...
In "The Treasure of Devil's Crag" by Lisa Fox, two rival pirate captains seeking the same treasure, discover the competition isn't the only thing that heats up between them. A modern-day pirate boards a yacht seeking revenge and captures a runaway bride who tempts him in ways he's never experienced in January George's "Captive Desire." In T.D. Rudolph's "Lust in Space", a space criminal teams up with a fearless vamp to steal a cache of titanium--from the dark side of the moon. In "Full Fathom Five" by Rhidian Brenig Jones, a pirate captain, forced to give a disgraced young surgeon a berth, discovers a rich treasure in the other man's arms. And this is just a hint at the sexy stories inside this satisfying volume.
These pirates will pillage and plunder their way into your hearts!
A wedding, a bridesmaid, gaudy Cupid decorations, and an out-of-this-world handsome stranger who is simply too good to be true.
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In this Read on the Run title, we present eighteen romances. Not love stories, although some of them do include aspects of that. But whereas love stories are often sad, each of the selections in A Wink and a Smile has either a "happily-ever-after" ending, or at least a strong suggestion that this is where the characters are heading.
That doesn't mean these tales all sound the same; to the contrary, we've found quite a diverse collection of romances. Yes, there are some traditional romances, and there's a healthy handful of budding romances, but you will also find a story set in the future, and a couple of fantasy tales. You will find stories of pastries, and candies, of young lovers and old. You will meet several matchmakers and you'll see couples reconcile, and there are even a few stories that will make you laugh.
As always, each story in the Read on the Run series of anthologies is short to suit your busy lifestyle.
Kindle | Nook | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | Smoking Pen Press
Eve's Garden, a sweet paranormal romance, is included in A Kiss and a Promise Anthology
A new homeowner rediscovers forgotten love in a haunted house.
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The six romances included in this anthology have quirky characters, or quirky locations, or quirky situations. You'll find a ghost and a new homeowner, a spaceship captain and her cartographer, a window designer and high school beau, a banker and a baker, two vampire hunters, and some supernatural beings. You'll find yourself in two different restaurants, and on another planet. You'll find deception, intrigue, and old memories. You'll find Happily-Ever-Afters, and you'll find Happy-For-Nows. But, most of all, you'll find true romance. You'll find kisses, and you'll find promises.
Kindle | Nook | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | Smoking Pen Press
