46 isn't that bad...right?

I'm not afraid to reveal that it's been a long year. In some ways it's been a good one and in many ways it hasn't been that great. On the negative side, we are still dealing with the sudden death of my brother-in-law. Between his death and the consequences of being a victim of a vehicular manslaughter has brought much heartache to my family. We are still waiting for the woman to go to trial for hitting him and hopefully, we will before the year is over. I personally believe it won't happen until after the holidays are over, but we will see.

On the positive side, I've discovered a lot of things this year. I've made many supportive friends and enjoyed putting myself back out there again. This is not an easy thing for me to do because I'm basically an introvert and I've been burned many times before, but I've learned that nothing ventured is nothing gained, right?

Also, I am finally getting my writing published again. I'm thrilled to see my books being read and enjoyed by many readers. It has given me the drive to continue to do what I love...and that is write. I will have a new book published soon and I'm working hard on the next Men of Charlestown book, Flowers for Him. I hope to have at least two to four books finished by the years end, so please keep your fingers crossed for me.

The picture above is of me and my beloved niece Snow White. It's a pretty recent pic and as you can tell I adore the ground that baby walks on! This year she started third grade and I am so proud of her!! Here is a picture of her on her first day of school this year:

It's amazing to see how much she's growing up. She loves to read and told me the other day she wants to write a books just like I do...isn't that the coolest?

We spent my birthday at with my family at the lake and had a blast. It was good to be surrounded by people who love me and who I love. As usual, time flies when you're having fun and our weekend together was way too short. BUT I loved it and look forward to making many more happy memories together in the years to come.

While I was at the lake His Christmas Wish was rereleased through eXtasy books! I'm so thrilled and I hope that those to chose to buy it will enjoy it as much as I did writing it.

So after much reflection, after having the year I've had I've realized it's basically been a good one. I'm actually ready to see it go and I'm anxious to see what the next year for me will bring. Thank you all for taking this amazing ride with me.  *HUGS*

Snow White's 8th Birthday Party

Hello Friends!

As I mentioned in a previous post my niece, Snow White had her 8th birthday party this week. She celebrated it at the local roller skating rink with a few friends and had a great time.  I thought I'd share a few pictures of her party.

Nothing is better than a rainbow themed party and sharing some cheap pizza with friends. :)

I loved her outfit...particularly those rainbow colored socks. Her hair bows rocked it too!

 She had a colorful cake and cupcakes with rainbow candies on them. It was soo good!

She had a blast and later said it was the best Birthday Party she ever had. Can't believe she's eight years old already and it will be interesting to see what changes she goes through in the next year.

*HUGS*

Release Day!!

Today is a reason for me to celebrate. My book, Kissed by Death is re-released through Extasy books today and to make matters even BETTER...it is my gorgeous niece's 8th birthday today...how is that for an amazing, awesome and positive sign?  WHOOP! 

To celebrate Snow White's 8th birthday we are attending her first roller skating party tonight. She will be wearing her new skates and since her party is rainbowed themed, she's definitely going to rival Rainbow Bright by the fun and many colors she wears. I'll post pictures of the party when I get home.

I hope everyone has a great day today. Thanks so much,

*HUGS*

The transition of Snow White

It's been a long time since I've posted recent pictures of my niece, Snow White. She just finished her last day of second grade and I thought I'd share her pictures with you.

There is a comparison in the first picture between the first and last day of second grade. As you can see, that girl is growing up so quickly! Oh my goodness!! I love seeing her develop and grow into her own person, but I'm mourning for the young child I once knew.

She has a heart of gold. If you need something she'll give it to you. She actively includes others, befriends everyone, is sharp as a tack, loves to be creative and LOVES to read! I am super proud of her and love her so very much.

In the last picture, she's just having fun in the front of the camera. She has a sense of humor that keeps all of us laughing all the time.

We get to keep her some this summer and I'm looking forward to it. One day, she'll be too busy to hang out with her boring Aunt and Uncle, *she thinks we are fun now...wink* so I'm going to enjoy all of the moments we spend with her.

I love this little girl and am so proud to call her my niece. She is awesome and one day she'll grow up to be the kind of woman I know I'd like to one day be.

*HUGS*

Edits, edits and more edits...

I hope everyone has had a great week so far. Mine has been good. I just finished the first round of edits for Kissed by Death for eXtasy books and know the second round is coming soon. I'm really excited about this re-release and can't wait to see what kind of cover art they will come up with.

I've been diligently working on the second book in the Kissed by an Immortal series. It's called Kissed by Nemesis and it will be finished within the next couple of weeks. I love these characters and have totally become infatuated with Nemesis. He's definitely been fun to write.

After I finish Kissed by Nemesis, I will be working on the next book in the Men of Charlestown series. It's called Chandler's Hope and I'm anxious to get back to my Charlestown men. eXtasy will also be publishing this series and I'm thrilled my boys have found a good home.

I've also had a WIP that's driving me crazy to be completed. More about that one soon...lol.

At the end of the week, I'll be at my sister's house. Going to be a girls weekend and we're all looking forward to spending time together.

As soon as I get a firm release date for Kissed by Death (I know it's supposed to be next month) and come cover art, I'll definitely share with you.

I also want to let you know I'm changing my email address. My live account has done nothing but give me trouble. It seems to eat my emails and I've been unhappy with it for some time now.

My new email address is:  authorandianderson@gmail.com

I love hearing from you guys, so anytime you want to send me a line, please do!

Have a great week ahead!  *HUGS*

Milo

Meet the newest addition to our family, Milo. My mother brought him home Friday and he's been the star of the house since! As you can tell by picture below, my niece has totally fell in love with him! She informed my mother that she is his 'Little Momma' and will take care of him forever.

 He took to my mom and our family with total ease. We all will probably spoil him, but who in their right mind wouldn't? I mean look at his face!

Think the 'Little Momma' is crazy about him? LOL

 He's so tiny and honestly shouldn't get much bigger. Hubby and I left my mother, niece and family with a full heart. Everyone is so happy about our newest little family member and already love him so much!!

Getting back into the groove of things...

Things are slowly getting back to normal for us. After the shock of my brother-in-law's death, my husband and I are tentatively getting back into the groove of things. Strangely, it's like both of us can't get enough sleep. Admittedly, for about 2 weeks we didn't sleep worth a flip, so I figure the lack of sleep is catching up with both of us.

We had the privilege of keeping our niece for several days. She's back at home now, but her cheery presence and sweet disposition was really a much needed stress relief for us. The day we took her home we went out to Lake DeGray near Hot Springs. My sister has recently purchased a boat, so it was really great to ride along the open water and forget about our cares for the day.

Now we are home and it's good to be back. I love our babies and I hate being away from them. I miss their sweet cuddles and have a hard time sleeping without them piled up in the bed with us. I love going away for a few days, but it's always great to come home.

I've got a deadline to meet and hopefully will have my Christmas story finished by the end of next week. Afterward, I'm working on Deimos's story, a new WIP and the next Circle of Friends story. I'm ready to tackle them and get some new stuff out there.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

*HUGS*

Happy Monday

Over the weekend my niece went to the annual Daddy Daughter Dance at her school. She was pretty excited to go and loved her new red dress.  Snow White and her daddy had a great time together and I think she's already looking forward to it next year. I love this tradition that she and her daddy have together. I think it's sweet that they get to spend some time together and make special memories that they'll never forget.
She's growing up so quickly and in some ways it makes me mourn for the little girl we are steadily losing. It seems like it was yesterday when she first started walking and talking everyone's ears off. I love the person she is becoming. What makes her special in my eyes is that she is as beautiful on the inside as I think she is on the outside. Her smile will light up a room and bring joy to those who know her. I rejoice in knowing that she is growing up in a loving environment and in some ways look forward to seeing the woman she will one day become. I'm spending time with her this week and I can't wait to see her. I haven't seen my family since Christmas and I'm anxious to visit with them.

I hope everyone has a great week ahead.

*HUGS*

Happy Monday! Looks like we're going to celebrate it with more ice and snow

This past week we have had a lot of snow and ice. Because hubby and I live up a mountain and 3 miles up a dirt road, it's not uncommon for us to lose electricity. This is something we have learned to be prepared for. Since we are expecting more ice and at least 7 to 8 more inches of snow, we fought the huge crowd at the store (we here in the sticks freak out if they call for snow, so we all end up flooding to the stores to stock up...lol) to buy enough supplies for us just in case we lose electricity...again. We've lost it up to almost 4 days in a row this year. I hope not to repeat that performance. Living without warm water, lights, heat and so on is not exactly my idea of a good time. What sucks even more is because we live so far away from family, we can hole up at any of their houses either. Sigh.

My niece, Snow White, enjoyed the snow yesterday. I wish I had been there in person to see her enjoy making a snowman and having a snowball fight with my brother in law and sister...that would have been a hoot! I thought I'd share her picture with y'all. I love the look of pure joy on her face.

If we keep electric...lol...I plan on almost completing my current work in progress 'Daddies Little Girl'. I am still undecided as to where I'm going to submit it. I figure once I'm done, I'll know where it should go. I still haven't decided what in the world I'm going to do with Got Mistletoe?. I hope to figure that one out too.

I hope everyone has a safe and warm week ahead.

*HUGS*

I'm back!

It's been awhile since I've blogged. Frankly, my life has been pretty hectic last year, so I hope that this year I'll be able to focus more than I have in the past. My resolution this year is to get out of the cave I've put myself in and become more socializing on the social network scene. We'll see because I've never been one to post a lot on here, facebook and twitter...but I'm going to try harder.

On a positive note I've got three works in progress I'm working on. I hope to have at least one of them finished by the end of the month. I think I'm going to submit it somewhere new, so I'm pretty anxious about it.

My beautiful niece is in first grade...can you believe it?  I had to post a picture to show you how much she's changed this past year...it's amazing how much she's growing up!

How was your summer?

It's been a while since my last post and I apologize for being away. This has been a crazy summer!

Here are the things that's happened to me this summer:

1. My mother sold her house and is building a new home. Because the new one wasn't completed when she finalized the sale, she is now living with my sister, brother-in-law and niece. I admit it was weird seeing her move from her old house. We made many good memories there, so it was definitely a melancholy feeling when I walked out of the door for the last time. I'm looking forward to seeing her in her new home. (should be in about 3 weeks) and ready to make some new, happy memories there. I've always heard that home is where the heart is, and I believe that. Wherever she lives, it will be always be home to our family.

2. My grandmother has had some health issues this summer. She's felt pretty poorly this season, but is determined to get back on her feet. She's lost almost all of her eyesight and it's been an adjustment for her and for us, but she's a fighter and I know that she'll get through this one too.

3. We kept my niece twice this season! We had a blast with her. We went fishing, polished nails, colored many masterpieces, played 'trouble' until I couldn't play it anymore and just enjoyed being with each other. My husband and I learned real quick that sleeping with a 6 year old isn't all it's cracked up to be. (I don't know how mothers do it) But we had a great time and we're looking forward to her spending more time with us soon.

4. My niece turned SIX a couple of months ago. She has literally changed from a little girl to a girl right in front of our eyes. I have mixed emotions about this. I want her to stay young, but on the other hand I can't wait to see the woman she grows up to be.  As of right now, she wants to be a gymnast, a veterinarian and an artist when she grows up. As smart and as talented as she is...I think she can do anything she sets her mind too.

5. We have a new addition to the family. Last week we had a stray *young* cat appear in our yard. We literally live down far on a gravel road, so it was obvious it was dumped. Once I saw it, I immediately fell in love with it. Our dogs love it and my husband is quite fond of it too. This is a new experience for me because I've never had a cat before. He's a sweet thing and he's already part of our family.

6. I've done a fair amount of writing too. I should be submitting some finished manuscripts to several publishers soon. I'm really looking forward to it too.

7. My cabin mates from the retreat last year and I have teamed up for something special. The Mischief Corner will be announcing some very exciting news VERY soon!

I hope everyone has had a great summer! I promise to be more proactive when it comes to keeping y'all informed of what's going on with me. I don't know about y'all, but I'm ready for the heat to go away! I'm very happy fall will be here soon.

How was your summer?

My niece's dance recital and my new release is still at a discounted price!

Hello Friends!

I've just got home from spending several days with my family in Little Rock. My niece, Snow White, had a dance recital and it was a lot of fun watching her prance around in her tutu! She also just graduated from Kindergarten! Can you believe she's going to be in first grade next school year? Wow! Where has the time gone!

I also want to thank everyone who has been so supportive of me and of my newest release, By The Light of the Silvery Moon.  I've had some really great feedback about it and I'm thrilled that readers are enjoying the series so far. If you haven't checked it out, it's still on sale at Siren Bookstrand until tomorrow. You can check it out here.

I'm also extremely flattered that it's reached the top 10 on their bestseller list! I have a huge Thank You for everyone who has bought it and given me feedback on what you've thought of it.

I hope everyone has a great week ahead! Here is a picture of Snow White in her ballet costume!

Happy Friday and Crazy Hats

Hello Friends:)

It's been a busy few days for me. We went to Little Rock and spent time with my family. My mother is getting ready to put her house up for sale next week. She and my stepfather have lived there for twelve years and have had many happy times there, so the move will be a little bittersweet for me. They are moving so they can live in town and they'll also be residing closer to Snow White, so they're both pretty excited about the move.

I see a lot of packing in my future...lol.

We did get to spend some quality time with Snow White. Last week was crazy hat week at school. She and my sister made hats out of construction paper and here are two of their creations. I thought they did an excellent job. (They did a lot better job than I would have. I have ZERO craft skills) Snow White was sick over the weekend. She has bronchitis. The doctor is going to take her tonsils out over spring break because she's been sick so much this year. She's worried about the surgery, but once she found out she'd get all the Popsicles and ice cream she could want, she decided it might not be such a bad idea after all.

I also signed my contract for By the Light of the Silvery Moon and I'm about to sign the contract for the cover art. I'm super excited to be part of Siren's list of authors.

We are going to have a very busy weekend. We're going to paint our living room, hallway and bathroom. I'm not looking forward to all of the work, but it will be nice to freshen up the house. We've lived here for eight years so it's time for a change.

I hope everyone has a great week!!

*Hugs*

Happy Weekend!

As you know, for the past couple of weeks I've been stalking my email. Finally, after checking and double checking my email account (like some mad woman) I received the email I've been waiting for...

My manuscript has been accepted by Siren Publishing!! My upcoming book, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, is scheduled to be released in May! As soon as I receive more information about it, I'll let you guys know!

So now I can give the frantic email checking a break.

In other news, we're going to see Snow White for a few days. We're really looking forward to seeing everyone. It will be good to get out of town for a day or three.

Have a great weekend!!

Happy Weekend!

It's been a while since I've blogged anything. In all honesty, I haven't had the energy to write a lot. I know a lot of you know what's been going on at Silver, so there's no reason why I should get into it. I've had several readers ask me if I'm okay and if I'm going to stay with them, so here's my game plan.

At the moment I'm sticking with them. The owner is trying to get things into order again, so I hope that everything will work out. This has not been an easy decision for me to make. Many of my author friends, whom I greatly respect, have left or are in the process of leaving Silver. I totally understand and respect their decision to leave.  It's not an easy choice to make. Silver was once a great publishing house (hopefully it will be again) to be a part of, but with its uncertain future, it's certainly understandable why people leave. I still don't know if I'm doing the right thing by staying. I have the "Damned if I do...Damned if I don't" feeling about it, so who knows if sticking with them is the right thing to do. I guess only time will tell.

In saying this, I don't know when I'll be continuing my Men of Charlestown, Kissed by an Immortal or Sons of Aphrodite series. I hope to do so soon because the characters are driving me crazy, but I'm waiting it out right now. 

Because of the stress of it all, I haven't been able to write like I should. Up until the past few weeks it's been short of a miracle to get any story started at all. I've tried, but I couldn't. Writer's block and and stress from everything took a toll on my creative juices, but thankfully, I've been able to work through it and now I'm almost finished with my book. I don't know where I'm going to submit it yet, but I'm going to branch out to other houses and see where I stand. Wish me luck.

Personally, things have been going pretty good. My niece, Snow White has been excelling in her first year of Kindergarten. My husband and I are doing well and my grandmother has been feeling better lately...so all in all, I can't complain.

Thanks for being patient with me. I'll try and do better at keeping y'all informed of what's going on with me. Have a great weekend!

Happy Weekend!

It's been a good and hectic week for me.

First, we went to my sister's for Halloween. We wanted to see Snow White in her costume and go trick-or-treating with her. This was the first time he's been able to see her in all of her costume glory so he loved it. We were also fascinated with all of the kids running around trick-or-treating in my sister's neighborhood. Since we live out in the sticks, we literally haven't had one trick-or-treater here in the eight years we've lived here. So, all of the pumpkin carving my husband does is strictly for our own pleasure. *Grins*

In some ways seeing Snow White dress up made me feel a little melancholy. This has happened to me several times throughout the years. Holidays are fun, but hard because we weren't blessed with with our own children. My sister is always gracious about sharing Snow White's 'things' with us. We're always invited to all of her fun things like recitals and we've even helped her and Santa out a few times on Christmas Eve, but as much as I love it, it sometimes hurts too. In my niece's gorgeous eyes I see the child I never had, we never had. I look at my husband play with her know that he'll never have that daughter or son for himself. The real shame of it is that he would have been an amazing father. Sigh.

So enough of that. *shakes off the melancholy feelings*

Needless to say we DID have a great time. She definitely racked up on candy and she seemed to have a blast. As always we loved every moment we spent with her and we're looking forward to seeing them soon.

Once we got home I started *gulp* Nanowrimo. So far, I've done pretty well and I hope to have at least two books completed by the end of the month. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! All of my thoughts and prayers go out for the people hit by Sandy. *Hugs*

Happy Thursday!

I'm sorry I haven't been around much. I've been under the weather. Since I'm feeling better today, I'm actually getting some writing done and I thought I'd let you guys know what I've been doing.

I'm currently working on two different short stories for two different anthologies. One is for MLR Press and the other is for Silver Publishing. I'm really excited to be given the chance to write with other authors I really admire, so I'm both anxious and nervous about it. So far, things are going pretty smoothly with both stories and since they're both due by the 1st of November, y'all might not see me around here or on facebook as much as I normally am. 

I'm also going to do NaNoWriMo this year. Gulp! I've already planned out what I'm going to write, which is a new paranormal series called 'Circle of Friends'. I'm not sure where I'm going to submit it yet either. I love Silver and will definitely continue to submit there, (a lot) but I've thought of branching out a little bit too. My goal is to write more books in the next coming year, but still have the quality of stories that I have now. I don't want to have quantity or quality, so I've decided to pace myself and just take things as they come.

My niece is a pee-wee cheerleader. For the next month she'll be cheering at the local pee-wee games, and from what I've been told, she's been having a blast doing it. It's still strange to think of her actually being a kindergartner this year...man I feel old!

I hope everyone has had a great week so far!

*Hugs*

First Day of School

Today is my niece's first day of Kindergarten. I still can't believe she's already starting school. It seems like she was born yesterday. She's growing up so quickly! I'm very proud of her and hope her first day will be amazing!

Don't forget to check out Zathyn Priest's online magazine, The Scarlet Letter. There are some interesting articles, interviews and more from some of your favorite authors!

Here is the link to check it out: http://scarlettiebooks.com/thescarletletter/

Have a great Monday everyone!

Happy Birthday to My Beautiful Grandmother

Today is my grandmother's 84th birthday. We were all going to go to her house to celebrate, but since she's been feeling under the weather it was postponed until next Sunday. Here is a recent picture of her with my mother and Snow White. I really hate not seeing her today, but hopefully she'll be feeling good enough for her belated birthday celebration next weekend.

Not a lot going on right now. I'm trying to keep caught on some things and I'm continuing to write on my Christmas stories.

I hope everyone has a great week ahead:)

Happy Sunday!

I'm glad to see that everyone survived Friday the 13th! I hope everyone has had a good weekend so far. I've been working hard on two Christmas stories I hope to submit by the end of the month. Other than that, there's not much going on. I'm happy to announce that as of right now, Angel's Redemption is still number six on Silver Publishing's bestseller list! I don't know for how much longer it'll be there, but I'm still excited about it and very thrilled that there seems to be many people who are liking it and loving Jackson and Elijah.

I thought I would share my latest picture of Snow White. Her family took her to Texas last week where she enjoyed her first Texas Ranger game and knowing her mother, LOTS of shopping! As you can see, my niece is a girly girl, by the pink cowboy hat with the bling bling hanging from it!

Have a great Sunday!

*Hugs*