Tag Archives: Girlfriends

April 11, 2019 · 12:30 am

On Girlfriends, a weekend away, and how not to take a selfie

I did something I rarely do this weekend: took off for a girls birthday getaway. Busy work schedules, life and geographic dispersement makes it difficult for me to hang out with my girlfriends as much as I’d like to. So this past weekend three of us finally managed to plan an entire two days of away time, just us, to hang, eat, exercise, shop, eat some more, and shop until we dropped.

Did I mention we shopped?
The first warm and sunny weekend of Spring allowed us to visit Newburyport and Portsmouth, NH, two gorgeous New England-y towns, rife with fun, food, tourist sites, and – you guessed it – shops!

From an old fashioned General Store that had more candy than even I could eat (!) to a housewares store that featured some of the best tea towels I’ve ever read:

Remember the specialty store SPENCERS? I haven’t seen one in a while now, but I found what I think is an upscale Spencers – lots of funny stuff but not so dirty ( and by dirty I mean sexually explicit!)

When we weren’t eating and shopping we were walking along the beautiful coast line New Hampshire possesses. Yes, we are mostly landlocked, but we do have several miles of gorgeous coastline. And it was during our attempts at getting selfies with the beautiful water and sky horizon that I learned a valuable lesson about taking selfies, namely: I can’t!!

My girlfriend in the middle looks like one of those fashion DON’Ts from the old Glamour magazine back page, but that’s really my hand holding the camera up. This taught me that in future we need a selfie-stick to take pictures when we are looking toward the sun. And what’s with the prune face on me?? I think I was talking but who knows.

These are better, no?

One of my favorite places to shop is a bookstore. Any bookstore, and boy did we find some good ones. Here are a few of my newest Must-reads:

What a relaxing, fun, stress-free getaway! This was truly the theme of the entire two days:

I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have my girlfriends…and I don’t want to ever consider it.

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Tagged as #Ilovetoshop, bookstores, female friends, friends, Girlfriends, girls weekend away, New Hampshire, Newburyport, Portsmouth, Rest and relaxation, walks with friends, weekends, writing life

June 11, 2018 · 2:00 am

In praise of girlfriends

Writers, by definition and practice, are solitary creatures. Days can go by, especially if I am on a deadline, where the only person I will see all day is my husband before he leaves for work in the morning and then when he returns 14 hours later. If I didn’t make myself go to the gym I’d have zero social interaction. The only people I would converse with all day are my characters, who aren’t, you know….real.

Most of my dialogue gets written with text-to-speech or Dragon, so the sound of a mechanical, robotic, voice coming at me for hours is kinda weird. Cool, but weird, too.

I know. Crazy.

This cloistered existence is not healthy mentally, physically, or spiritually. Not by a long shot.

Ever.

Which is why I am thankful for the girlfriends I have.

None of my close gaggle of friends are writers, and sometimes that’s a good thing, others, not so much, but having them in my life means I get out of my attic, interact with people I adore, and step away from the fantasy land and make believe people I’ve created for myself.

Don’t get me wrong: I like being a hermit and in another lifetime in a galaxy far, far, away I probably was one. But to actually sit and chat, reconnect, and gossip, with girlfriends who knew you when, is marvelous. They get me through the humps of plot points just by randomly mentioning something. They give me insights into what’s going on in the world by telling me how their millenial children are faring. They bombard me with new character ideas ( and they don’t even know it!) when they tell me about crazy co-workers, or people they’ve come in contact with.

But they do so much more.

They keep me sane.

They keep me human.

They keep my feet on the ground.

They keep me centered.

They are shoulders to cry on, arms to embrace me, and a soft, safe spot to land when I need to jump off a ledge.

Thank God my for girlfriends.

when I’m not out with my girlfriends or being a hermit you can find me here:Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me// Triber// Book Me

Why #writers need to #recharge.

I’ve been going at 120 miles per hour the past 3 months – ever since the New Year. I’ve got two books in final edits and galleys, I’ve got three more I’m working on for release at the end of this year and hopefully the beginning of 2018. I’ve committed to blogging more and am going to the gym 5-6 times per week. I’m doing a presentation at a conference next week, in addition to traveling 4 major times this year ( airplanes, people!) to other conferences. I’ve got a brand new book out TODAY and am doing promo for it as well.

This is all in addition to my normal life stuff. You know: cooking, cleaning wife-ing

Oh, and I’ve got Dancing With The Stars in 15 friggin’ days, so practice, practice, practice!

It’s only the beginning of April, but I feel like I’m burnt out already. Or I did, that is, until this past Saturday. Saturday night I did something I haven’t done in a long, looooooooooong time: I went out with friends.

Thank God and all that’s Holy for friends.

These friends don’t write.

These friends are all my age ( give or take a few months).

These friends all have children the same age as I do.

I have a history with these friends that doesn’t include plot lines, story arcs, or Capezio dance shoes!

And these friends keep me grounded while at the same time recharging my soul.

It was so wonderful to spend a few hours just talking about nothing and everything. I didn’t think once about how terrified I am of giving my presentation to a (hopefully, fingers crossed) large audience next weekend. I didn’t for one second agonize over a line of dialogue that I just couldn’t get right. I didn’t think about my feet, sore, and huddled in Merrel’s because they were so swollen from dance practice.

I didn’t do anything other than simply be, have fun, and laugh.

My hermetic existence is a given. I accept that I need to spend long stretches of time alone just so I can get my stories on the page. I know I let world changing events float by me without so much as even a comment or a consideration just so I can finish a chapter. I get that sometimes I’m grouchy and pale and my eyes look like they’re bleeding because I spend countless hours staring at a computer screen. I accept all this and I go with it.

But it felt so blessed GOOD to not think about anything other than the conversation drifting around me.

God gave the world so many wonderful things. Free-will; faith; chocolate; wine. But the best thing he gave us was each other. People. Friends.

If you haven’t talked to or seen a friend in a while, call them TODAY! Not email, not a text, Actually put your mouth to the phone and speak to them. Believe me, you’ll be glad you did.

When I’m not wallowing you can find me here: Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me// Triberr

And as an added reminder, TODAY is the day COOKING WITH KANDY is released. If you haven’t gotten your copy yet ( and that begs the question “why not?”) here are the links:

Amazon //B&N // Kensington // Kobo // Apple // Google

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Filed under Author, Author Branding, Characters, Contemporary Romance, Dancing with the Stars, female friends, Friends, Kensington Publishers, Life challenges, love, Lyrical Author, New Hampshire, Project Graduation, Romance, Romance Books, RWA, Strong Women

Tagged as #amblogging, #amwritingromance, author promotion, Book deadlines, Burnt-out, Contemporary romance author, friends, Girlfriends, Life challenges, Life struggles, recharging your soul, Speaking Anxiety, the power of friends, Writing, writing life, writing tips

September 12, 2015 · 10:04 am

My Sexy Saturday109 – GirlfriendsRUs

This week’s theme: My Sexy Girlfriend

This is our nod to all the sexy girlfriends out there. We know all about a sexy girlfriend and how their lover feels about them. There are the hidden looks, the longing gaze, the love shining in their eyes and all the things that come with love. The girlfriends can in all shapes and sizes because sexy has no bounds. We love sexy and it’s always so fun to share.

Sexy can be anything, such as romantic moments like walks on the beach, a home cooked meal or even in another galaxy. It could be two lovers here on Earth dreaming about the day where they go on a magical vacation to another planet. Or staying right here at one of those wonderful places we can find in our own world.

Sexy has nothing to do with looks or status or even wealth. It doesn’t demand perfection and it isn’t pretentious but it does make us want to read those books.

We know that everyone has their own idea of sexy and we all love sexy!

This scene is from my new release FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

“Did you know about this?” Clarissa asked, her brown eyes moist as they peered up at him.

He nodded. “Moira and I talked about it at Alaina’s christening. I know you were shocked when we came through the door and saw everyone, but we really wanted you to have a party, Clarissa, and a surprise seemed fitting. I hope you’re okay with it.”

She squeezed his arm as shiny tears pooled in the outer corners of her eyes. Before he could say another word, she laid a hand across his cheek, and, with what he knew were several pair of inquiring, nosey eyes watching them, kissed him softly on the lips.

Somewhere behind them he heard his mother sigh.

“It’s the nicest, sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me,” she said. “Thank you.”

He wanted to tell her there would be a lifetime of parties from now on, since he was never going to let her go. She never had to worry again about being alone on her birthday, or any other day. The notion he wanted her with him, in his life, forever, shook him to his very core. But it wasn’t unease he felt. It was absolute joy.

With another nod, he said, “Okay then, let’s go have a party.”