Contest winners!

Hello all contest winners. If you won a gift card you should find it in your inbox. However if you won a physical win I won’t be sending those out until after Christmas at the earliest. Shipping from St. Louis is going so slowly right now its taken twice as long for people to receive things. I decided it is best to just wait until it goes down for a bit. I sent a present to my sister five days ago to Arkansas and she still hasn’t gotten it. *sigh* So have a happy holiday and know you will be getting a little post holiday present. (Well winners will.) Happy holidays.

Last day of November!

It’s been a long month. I didn’t post as much as I should, but I have been working on my writing, so it will pay off in the end. Sheri will be posting a sign-up for the first 100 people to get holiday cards and this is the last day to enter any remaining contests. Winners will be announced later today/tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed the bits I posted and I will try to post more regularly and maybe finish a blog story or two that I’ve abandoned along the way 🙂 The problem I’ve found with blog stories is my lack of plotting. I change the story in head long before the story is finished and the beginning no longer makes sense because of my changes. I will endeavor to do better. I hope everyone has a great December and I will be certain to post some holiday fun in the upcoming month. Thanks to all of you who have participated.

November

This month has faded fast. The days raced by. I’m going to spend December getting a good schedule up for the new year so I can offer a lot of books that you have all been waiting so patiently (and not so patiently for). I love and appreciate all of my fans. Here is a little snippet for a potential book. I wrote it a while ago and didn’t continue but I think it has possibilities.

***

The hedges shook and high-pitched giggles poured from them as if the entire bush was alive.

A foul curse left Jamie Ferson’s lips. He growled as he stomped through his backyard gate and all around his neighbor’s fence to reach the front door. Without hesitation he pounded on the wood.

He tapped his foot as he waited for the small house’s occupant to answer. When no one came he lifted his fist to bang again only for it to swing open before he made contact again.

If he wasn’t so annoyed, he’d find the rumpled head of fine curls adorable.

“Jamie!” the wide smile derailed the last of his anger.

“Martin.” He sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Martin tied his striped robe hiding from sight the glimpse of his equally striped pajamas. To someone who slept completely nude it was excessive clothing.

“There’s fairies in the hedge again.”

Martin’s smile faded. “Sorry?”

“You have to stop feeding them.”

“But they’re good pollinators,” Martin protested.

“They destroy my garden. Last time they tore up my rosemary and pilfered all the best herbs from my potion bed. They have to go!” He didn’t allow for any room for negotiation. “I spent three years getting it back into shape. I don’t want to redo all that work because you have a soft spot for fairies. Get rid of them or I’m calling pest control.”

Martin gasped. “You wouldn’t! They’ll kill them.”

Jamie folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t want to call them, but I will. If you have a better way of getting rid of them, do it. You have two days.” He turned and walked away before Martin could twist him around his finger. Jamie had a stupid weakness for Martin’s sweet smiles. Best get out of sight before he could be convinced that invading fairies were perfectly fine destroying his hard work.

A soft goodbye followed him as he walked away. He didn’t turn back.

Tension eased from his shoulders once he crossed the threshold of his home. Layers of protective wards wrapped around him and immersed him in a feeling of safety.

vampires?

Here’s a small bit about a vampire and his nail tech. Please forgive my errors, I’ve been fighting a cold and was half asleep when I posted this.

Silence hung heavy around the Cut and Claw salon. The usual bright clatter and clamor of gossipy stylists and chirpy nail techs had vanished hours ago, leaving one lone occupant. Alay MacBlaine bounced on his stool, sliding it back and forth, its wheels making the only noise as he waited for his customer. Every Wednesday, Sam, no last name, came into the salon after hours. His tip covered a large percentage of Alay’s rent and earned him late-night consideration. After months of the same situation, Alay would be happy to stay until midnight if all his customers paid as well.

The phone he’d been playing solitaire on turned to ten o’clock just as a rap on the back door alerted him to his customer’s arrival. He jumped to his feet and raced to unlock the door. “Good evening!”

Sam stepped inside, all lean muscles and sharp angles. His cheeks were supermodel strong, and his eyes were arctic chill blue. His bespoke black suit blended with the night as shadows wrapped around him with a lover’s touch.

“Good evening, Alay.” Only a tiny flash of fang announced his vampire status if one overlooked his unearthly beauty. Alay tried.

He cleared his throat and fought his attraction. It would be unprofessional to drool on his client. “Would you like your usual?”

“Yes.”

“Not tempted to have a pedicure?” He pitched it every time Sam visited. He had no doubt it wasn’t really the vampire’s name, but he wouldn’t ask stupid questions. When your family has mob connections you learn not to ask anything that might make a person uncomfortable. Alay was a fan of looking the other way as long as no one important to him got hurt.

“No. But if anyone could tempt me, it would be you.”

Alay smiled at the usual response. One of these days, he’d convince the vampire to get a pedicure. He was almost afraid to see the state of his toenails. “Come over here, and I’ll set you up.”

This client never wanted much.

“I’ve got a new soak I think you’ll like.”

“Do you?” One side of his sexy mouth tilted up.

Damn, he had to keep those thoughts to himself.

“It’s a soothing lavender.” He led Sam over to his station and waved him to sit down.

“I love lavender.”

Alay smiled, uncertain if Sam was referring to the scent of Alay’s usual lotion. He liked a lavender mint body butter that he used all over. “Good.”

He set out the warm water with the lavender soak and set Sam’s hands in the bowls.

“How have you been?”

Alay blinked. Sam had never attempted small talk before. He floundered over what to say. “I’m thinking of getting a fish,” he blurted out.

“Why?” Smith’s slight smile had Alay beaming.

“I like to watch them.” Fish were fun to watch in both his human and his Caracal form. His cat form preferred to eat them, but if they were in a tank, they should be reasonably safe. If not, he’d make sure he bought delicious ones. Maybe he could get one of his friends to put in a koi pond. Those fish got big.

“They can be soothing.”

They spent the next twenty minutes doing small talk before Alay took Sam’s right hand out of the water and then dabbed it with a towel. “How did your cuticles get to be in such bad shape? I did them just last week.” He couldn’t help the scolding tone.

“I ran into a bad group,” Sam smirked. “I had to show them the error of their ways.”

“Well, next time wear gloves,” Alay scolded. He clipped away the torn parts and filed down the chipped nails. Neither of them commented on the crusty red stuff he scraped out from under Sam’s fingernails. “You didn’t get hurt did you?”

A snort escaped Smith. “No. They weren’t that competent.”

Alay bowed his head and focused on his job to hide his smile so Sam didn’t think Alay was laughing at him. He preferred not to be shot or stabbed.

After finishing the filing and cuticle care he dripped oil on the nail beds and massaged them. To finish it off he grabbed his lotion and massaged one hand, then the other, taking his time and giving a quality message.

“It is worth any cost for your magic fingers. I never asked, but do you do other massages?”

Alay blushed. “I give an amazing foot massage. It’s one of the reasons that I think you could use one.” He didn’t mention he’d love to get his hands on any part of Sam’s body. The vampire had an aura that made Alay hot as hell.

“Maybe next time. What about back massages?”

Alay shrugged. “ I’m fully certified but I don’t have a spot here to give massages.”

“Perhaps you can rent someplace.” Sam’s eyes glowed.

“Maybe in the future. Right now, I want to concentrate on nails.”

Sam nodded.

Soon after Alay wrapped up their session and escorted Sam out after the vampire pressed a wad of bills into his hand. Before he had a chance to count them, he vanished.

Alay splayed out the cash and gasped. A thousand dollars was too much for a tip, but he could not return the money. “It’s too much,” he called into the night. Soft laughter came back to him but nothing else.

He closed the door with a petulant slam. “Damn, rich vampires.”

Not all vampires were rich, but the older ones had made good investments and were sitting on their treasure piles. There were unconfirmed estimates that vampires held over half of the world’s wealth, but with privacy laws, there was no way to check. It did make lawmakers very cautious when passing legislation against the night dwellers.

One more week before he saw Sam again, he couldn’t wait.

Having fun!

I hope everyone who enjoys Thanksgiving had a good one! I’ve been having some fun and enjoying time with my family. I dragged my hubby and son to a paint and sip yesterday, and this is the painting I did. I’m not artistically inclined, but I had a lot of fun.

As I was at the painting place, I thought it would be an excellent spot for a story. Two men meet at a paint and sip… Hmm. I’ll have to give that some thought. To make up for my neglect the past few days I’m going to run one more contest. $25.00 GC to Amazon for one lucky winner. We will be picking all the winners first week of December so take the time to sneak into any of the contests you haven’t entered. I promise not to look at entry dates *wink wink*.

To enter this contest let me know your favorite creative endeavor, or if you aren’t creative, what do you like to do to have fun. Maybe it will become the basis of a book. A series entitled, creative encounters or something like it….lol.

Birthday Day! (Final contest)

I had a great day today! I had so much fun at the zoo. If you go to my FB page, you can see pictures of the animals. Afterwards, hubster picked me up a cake and let me go to the yarn store and get some fun yarn for projects. Now after a nap (because as much as I like to deny it I’m getting to be an old lady) we’re going to get some food to round out the day.

So my question for the final prize of the birthday (One random chosen person getting $50 GC to Amazon). What’s your favorite dessert? My birthday cake is a lemon raspberry I’m dying to try out…

It’s My Birthday!

I know some people think that after 50 birthdays shouldn’t count anymore, but as I’m turning 53 I have to disagree. I still love birthdays. To me, it means I survived another year, and I should celebrate. My husband and son are taking me to the zoo this year like a little kid, and I’m going to enjoy the hell out of it. I might ven get some cotton candy.

To celebrate I’m going to give, to one lucky winner, a $50.00 Amazon GC. In order to enter you have to share your favorite zoo animal and why and if you think they would make a good shifter.

Birthday Post

I’ve discounted the number because it only looks bad that I didn’t post. LOL. I worked out yesterday (a rare but much-needed occurrence.) Unfortunately, it caused me to fall asleep and not finish my post. So here is the monster post I mentioned before. Enjoy.

Remember tomorrow is my actual birthday and there will be contest extravaganza.

There are many things people don’t tell you about monsters. It isn’t all fangs and claws or tracking questionable beings through dark forests. Sometimes it is holding your breath while the earth shakes, and the trees topple like dominoes.

“Why did I let you talk me into this?” I hissed to my former best friend.

“Shh.” Karl hissed.

“Why? It’s not going to hear us.” Sometimes, I regret handing Karl those blocks in preschool. I wouldn’t be in these situations if I had just kicked over his block tower and ran off.

“They have excellent hearing.” He shouted just as the last tree slammed into the ground.

The creature’s head snapped around.

I stopped breathing.

It stood easily taller than the trees it stomped over by a large margin, but its twitching nose and flicking ears didn’t instill confidence in our sketchy hiding place. Karl froze in his half-crouch. Only the slight movement of his chest revealed he hadn’t turned to stone.

I snapped my head up as loud screeching echoed through the forest.

“Go investigate, boys. I just want a status report. Surely even the two of you can do that.” My boss’s words rang in my head. He didn’t care about worker safety as long as he got results. Asshole. He was probably hoping I’d get killed, and he wouldn’t have to pay disability leave when I inevitably got stomped on.

The closer the creature came the more I realized they had vastly underestimated its size. Screw twenty-three feet it was closer to thirty. If I made it back to the office I was going to wedge my leather book right up our researcher’s ass. Liar had no idea what we were dealing with.

I hoped its sight was poorer than its hearing, as I began a slow backstep. I nudged my head to Karl, indicating my direction.

Karl nodded and patterned his steps after mine. My heart double-timed in my chest as I took another step back, keeping the foliage between us to block his sight in case he could see me.

“We gotta get out of here.” Karl’s desperate expression only served to notch my anxiety up to higher levels.

“I know,” I hissed. It didn’t take a genius to figure out we had to get the fuck out of there before the monster crushed us beneath his clawed feet.

“What are we gonna do?”

“Shut up!” I snapped. It was challenging to show my ire and not make noise, either. What is that saying, ‘if a zombie comes, I’m tripping you’?  I was seconds from checking to see if that worked with monsters.

The whoosh-whoosh of propellers surged relief through my veins. The military had arrived. The actual military, not the pseudo-soldiers they were trying to turn us into. When we got back, I was going to quit and drag Karl to freedom with me. We could open an ice cream shop or something innocuous.

An ear-shattering roar sent the few remaining birds fleeing for their feathery lives and us more terrified. My issued rifle rattled in my shaking hands. Karl dropped his and cursed.

“Get down!” I crouched in the underbrush, dragging Karl down with me.

Karl turned to face me, his serious expression more solemn than I’d ever seen before. “Are we going to just hide here like cowards?”

“Yes. Yes we are.” I insisted. “We aren’t soldiers, Karl. We are scientists. Do you know how to use your weapon? Because I don’t! There is no other reason for us to be here than because our boss is a giant dickhead and thought it would be a great way to unload some of his staff and get a story while he gets the two of us killed.” I’m a little embarrassed at how shrill my voice got in the end, but I wasn’t worried about making too much noise between the monster’s racket and the helicopters.

“Right. Right…I know you’re right.” Karl nodded his head as he spoke. “I really thought we’d be able to figure out more about this thing and report back but even trying will not end well for use. What are we going to tell the boss.”

“I’m thinking ‘I quit’ will get the words across. There’s no way we can get a sample of its DNA unless we luck out and it happens to fall right next to us.”

Boom!

A large shadow triggered my animal flight instincts. I grabbed the back of Karl’s shirt and dragged him with me as I rushed to escape the falling beast. We ended up a mere five feet away.

Karl blinked at the fallen monster. “Should we take a sample now?”

I stared at Karl in disbelief. “And make him think he had a good idea?”

Karl shrugged.

I groaned. “Take the sample. Just because we have one doesn’t mean we have to hand it over.”

“Finders keepers,” Karl changed.

“Finders keepers,” I agreed.

Birthday Post #16 (Day of Monsters)

I have to admit I’m a big fan of monster movies. Something about a giant creature chomping on people endlessly amuses me. My husband loves to watch them with me, one of the many reasons we’re still compatible after 25 years.

Today we’re watching a monster movie-a-thon. So far we’ve watched King Kong Skull Island and Godzilla:King of monsters. I’ve thought about writing a monster book. A giant beast destroying the world except for a plucky scientist (objectively hot, of course). What do you think? Should I write a book with monsters?

Tomorrow I’ll have something written. Maybe a monster write-up 🙂

Birthday Post #15 (Contest)

I’ve been neglecting my blog for the past few days. Exhaustion has worn me down and dragged away my creativity. Tomorrow, I’ll do a post. Today, let’s have a contest about creativity. One random person chosen will get a $25.00 GC to Amazon or whatever ebook place you go. The question to answer is: what boosts your creativity? Do you have a particular thing that helps you be creative? A place you go? A task you do? Share with the group 🙂