Friday Celebrations & A Cover Reveal from Cathrina Constantine

Hello and Happy Friday! I didn't mean to disappear from the hop for the past few weeks but life happens and all of the sudden here we are at the end of January. The holidays already seem like forever ago.

And it's time to Celebrate the Small Things once again. The hop is hosted by Lexa Cain and co-hosted by L.G Keltner at Writing Off the Edge and Tonja Drecker at Kidbits. Visit Lexa's blog here to find out how join in the hop yourself and to see the list of participants.

This week I'm celebrating:

Baby Moo, the sequel!

I finished my revisions for Baby Moo Goes to Hollywood and submitted the manuscript! I'm so excited to move forward on getting another Baby Moo story out into the world.

A healthy Nate!

I had to take my cat Nate to the vet because I found a lump under his skin. I immediately freaked when I felt it, but hoped it was just a fatty tumor. Sure enough, it was! That was a huge relief and now I just have to wait for him to forgive me for taking him to the vet in the first place. The poor cat is terrified of his carrier, the car, and, most of all, the vet's office.

And finally, a birthday!

If the weather cooperates my sisters and I are taking my mom out for a birthday brunch on Sunday. She's turning 89 and is still as strong as ever. If I ever start to feel sorry for myself, I think about my mother undergoing chemotherapy and kicking cancer to the curb when she was 87-88! She's my hero.

Today I also want to share the stunning cover for Cathrina Constantine's next release, Incense and Peppermints. 

Isn't that gorgeous? Congratulations, Cathrina!!

The book will be released on March 10 and you can add it on Goodreads here.

The blurb:

 Peace demonstrations, sit-ins, and burning the U.S. flag following the escalation of the Vietnam War are leading to a catalyst known to the world as the Sixties, and a musical revolution, flower power, hippies, marijuana, and drugs are carrying the generations—young and old—into a new decade. All the while sixteen-year-old Mary Monroe is caught between being an innocent good girl and an autumn of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. When her brother offers a solution to her dilemma in the form of a little pill, Mary ignores the rumba in her brain and takes a walk on the wild side. Plunged into popularity and a life she’s only imagined, she meets Michael Covington, the hot newcomer, and she’s instantly drawn in by his less than flawless exterior and bad boy sex appeal. Caught up in the danger and excitement as they drift from party to party, into underground fight clubs, and through a series of drug and alcohol fueled adventures, Mary follows her new crush into a world where young girls are never truly safe from the predators lurking in the shadows and young men are hiding from the harsh reality of war. Feeling buzzed and as if her life is spinning out of control, Mary is assaulted by an unknown man at a party, and she’s left questioning if the enigmatic Michael is truly her hero or if he is the face behind the terrible attack. With every piece of information Mary learns about Michael, her doubts grow deeper, but with every minute she spends in his presence, so does her love.
 With the war and her fear threatening to separate Mary and Michael forever, only the death of a friend, a crushing confession, and her own sensibilities can carry her over the threshold between adolescence and adulthood.

Congratulations again to Cathrina, and Happy Weekend to all. :)

Kicking off the 2017 Friday Celebrations!

It's the first Celebrate the Small Things hop of 2017! Happy Friday, everyone!

Even though this was a short work week because of the New Year's holiday, it somehow felt like the longest week in history. It's so hard to get back to normal after the holidays.

So I'm celebrating that it's the weekend, plus a few other things.

1. I finished writing my sequel to Baby Moo's Great Escape. I still have tons of revising and editing to do but at least I got the story down. I'm excited to be moving closer to getting Baby Moo and his friends back out into the world again for another adventure.

2. I also got my new All In For Animals site up and running and I'm really excited about it! Huge thanks to everyone who stopped by there after reading about it on this blog.

3. We got a little snow yesterday for the first time this winter. It wasn't enough to cause any problems, but it was more than enough to make my dog very happy. Clancy LOVES snow and he is ecstatic every year when the first snow comes around. He gets so excited when we go outside it's adorable. Seeing my dog so happy makes me happy, so I'm celebrating a happy pup!

The only time he wasn't happy was when I pestered him for a picture. :D 

The Celebrate the Small Things hop is hosted by Lexa Cain and co-hosted by L.G Keltner at Writing Off the Edge and Tonja Drecker at Kidbits. Visit Lexa's blog here to find out how join in the hop yourself and to see the list of participants.










I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend ahead. :)

IWSG & All In For Animals

Hello and Happy 2017!! It's the first Wednesday of the year, which means it's time for the January meeting of The Insecure Writer's Support Group.

2017 - wow! I started this blog back on December 31, 2010 but really started posting in January of 2011. I can't believe it's been 6 years. What a wonderful ride it's been, with membership in this group being one of the highlights.

The Insecure Writer's Support Group was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh in 2011 and has grown to include upwards of 200 members. If you'd like to join in, visit Alex's site here for a sign-up list and to see this month's co-hosts.

My main insecurity this month is about starting my new project at All In For Animals, which is my new blog dedicated to animal rescue and welfare issues. Getting started with Wordpress.org has been more complicated than I expected, but I think I've finally got it now and I've been able to get the site up and running. Now I just have to write for it! I do have my first post up, but I know I have tons of work to do to get my ducks in a row for future posts and topics.

Still, I'm more excited than I am nervous since I'm devoting time to two of the things I love the most - animals and writing. I hope I can make this venture work. I definitely don't plan on using this blog to advertise my new one, but I thought I'd share a link now since I'm just getting it off the ground. If you're interested in checking out my new space, find me at AllInForAnimals.com.

I hope everyone had a good holiday season and I wish you all a very Happy New Year! Here's to lots more writing adventures for all of us.