Music Tells My Stories

Good afternoon, my Lovelies! I know. It has been forever since I blogged. Let me just take a moment to fill you in on what's been going on with me. If you don't know, I got COVID at the beginning of October. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. (Maybe I just didn't get a bad case? Maybe it is because I'm vaxxed? At this point, who knows!) Then after I went through quarantine and recovery, I had all of two good weeks before I got sick again. This time I got a cold and, as my luck goes, within about three or four days it turned into bronchitis. Yay, me! I never do things on a small scale! Anyway, I am still struggling with bronchitis (yes, my cough is not only lingering but seems to have started getting worse again) and I...ugh! I just feel like I've had my ass repeatedly kicked by all the sickness. There are some other things going on personally - sickness in my family, my oldest being home at Thanksgiving, that have been taking up what litt...

Good afternoon, my Lovelies! It is an absolutely gorgeous Saturday here in Delaware and though I'm sick (again, ugh!), I can't help but be in a good mood! I hope all is well in your little corner of the world and that you have an absolutely fabulous day! Why am I in such a good mood? If you didn't already know, I was able to have the cover reveal for Mountain Haven this week and finally set a release date! Y'all...I'm so... Well, I'm not even sure I have the words to describe what it feels like when you are able to take some of those last steps in the publishing process. I'm thrilled, humbled, anxious, overjoyed, and relieved.  I've had some very positive responses to the story and, my God! That cover! Golden did a fabulous job and Matthew looks sexy as hell!  If you haven't read one of my books yet, I hope that you'll take the leap and give me a try. I really don't think you'll be sorry. Just please remember that if you do read one of my...

Good evening, my Lovelies! And how are all of you this beautiful Thursday? Me? I'm alright, I suppose. I can't seem to get motivated today, which seriously sucks. Although, I think part of that has to do with this damn brain fog that I can't get past since I had COVID. It seems as if each and every little thing I do takes much more effort than it should and I despise that. But...it is what it is. Let's move on! So, when I began thinking about putting my work out there for everyone and getting ideas about publishing my books, I don't think I had any idea how that would one day affect my readers. I suppose I just thought that I would be providing everyone with a great story and some entertainment. If you had asked me if thought that my books would be more than that, that they would actually help people, I don't think I would have believed you. Now, I'm sure you're asking just exactly what I mean by that and you know that me and my non-stop mouthiness are g...

Good morning, my Lovelies! I know. I know! It's been like three weeks since I've annoyed you! How on earth have you survived? Now, admittedly part of my reasoning for not being in touch was that I went on vacation with some of my friends to the Outerbanks (great times, as always!), but what you may not know is that the day after I came back, I figured out that I had COVID.  Fun stuff. I may be wrong, but I feel that if I hadn't had my vaccine, I would have been hospitalized. It was that bad. I'm still having the occasional issue, but for the most part, I seem to be back on track. I will tell you that the things that are bothering me the most right now are the brain fog (as if I needed any more help with being spacey) and how easily I get tired. I know it will likely be a while before I feel normal again, but whew! At least I can breathe and my fever is gone and I can hold my head up for longer than five minutes at a time!  So the question I found myself pondering this m...

Good morning, my Lovelies! Happy Saturday! I've been absent from your lives for over two weeks. I'm so sorry! Once again I feel as if I'm failing in every aspect of my life. It's so incredibly hard knowing what needs to be done, what you want to be done, and getting none of it done. Hopefully, all of you have been in a better place mentally than I have been lately.  I have a confession to make. I've been lying to you and to myself. I've been saying that I'm writing and that it's going well, and it hasn't been. Truthfully, it has probably been a good three weeks since I've done any amount of writing more than a sentence or two. I've been trying to give myself a little grace because I have been busy getting my books moved from Kindle Unlimited to multiple retailers, and it has definitely been time-consuming. There have been a few bumps along the way - things that didn't transfer easily and had to be reformatted, but it still shouldn't h...

Good afternoon, my Lovelies! I always start off my blogs asking how y’all have been even though I rarely get a response, and today is no different. I mean, I’d love to hear from you, but if you aren’t comfortable with reaching out, that’s okay. I’m still going to ask because, well, that’s just me. Maybe it’s my upbringing or the manners instilled in me, but I always feel like I make people more comfortable by letting them know that I really do care. So…how are ya? Me? I’m floundering (again). You know, I don’t know why it happens in cycles for me, but it does. I mean, there are times that I’m super productive, a total badass and I can get shit done with hardly a thought. Then there are times that I have no idea what I’ve done, when I’ve done it, how I’ve done it, or why I’ve done it. And yes, that is pretty much where I’m at right now. I just can’t seem to get my shit together, and I don’t know if it’s that I have so much going on that I don’t know which direction to turn, or whether I...

Good morning, my Lovelies! Happy Friday! Let me start by saying that I actually worked on a blog to post last week, but I just couldn’t get it to flow the way that I wanted. Part of me wanted to just post it, but I really don’t want to post just to be posting. Do you know what I mean? If I can’t give you some insight, some entertainment, some information, or something to think about, what’s the point? That’s kind of where my mind was after I finished typing out the total pile of crap that I managed to piece together. So, unfortunately, I skipped a week. Again. Anyway…How y’all doin’? Life treating you with kindness? I hope so! Today I’m going to talk about something that I feel like I’ve only barely touched on in the past. I can hear the excitement as you all say, “Ooooh! What’s that, Shell?” Well, that is going to be the subject of control. Whatcha mean, Shell?  Oh, boy! Here we go. Most of the time I feel like I’m the one who has to make the decisions around my house. Where we go...

Good evening, my Lovelies! Yes, I know, it’s been over two weeks since I last made a blog post. It’s been killing me, too! I hope life has been treating you kindly since we last spoke and I hope that you have plans this weekend that will bring you joy! So, why haven’t I done a blog post? Oh, where to begin? As you may or may not know, I have a child who has now left for college. I’ve spent the past few months trying to prepare this kid, organize this kid, and move this kid.  And then it finally happened. Last week we took my first-born and left them on campus three hours away from home. Driving away and leaving my baby was hard, and no amount of preparation made it any easier.  I actually took off work for the two days following the move with thoughts that I would probably not be of any use at the office. And I had, instead, planned on taking those days to write, to gather my thoughts, and to just get used to the fact that my child had taken this huge step. As it turned out, I...

Good afternoon, my Lovelies! Forgive me. It has now been two weeks since my last blog. Why does saying that always make me feel like I’m at a confessional? I mean, I’m not even Catholic! Crazy! Anyway, I hope you are well, and that life has been kind to you since I last checked in. What’s been going on with me? Oh, you know, the usual. I’ve been working, writing, and trying to push my shit out on social media. And in the midst of all of this, I’m trying to get this kid of mine all set up for college. I’m happy and sad at the same time and it is absolutely exhausting. I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking lately about myself and the people in my life. I will be the first to tell you that I can be a handful most of the time and it often makes me wonder how the people in my life put up with me. I should probably have a neon sign flashing over my head at all times that says “chaos” so that people are warned before approaching me of just what to expect. To be fair, I don’t intention...

Good afternoon, my Lovelies! It’s Thursday and I’m so ready for the weekend! At least I think I’m ready for the weekend. I need major amounts of time to do some writing, but I have a bad feeling that I’m going to be spending a large portion of my weekend doing garden stuff. Yay…fun… Did you hear the sarcasm there? If not, believe me, it’s there. So how are you? I hope all is well and that you’ve found a reason to smile this week! I have a question for all of you who are in relationships, especially those of you in long-term relationships. But before I ask, let me see if I can lead you a little way down the path that I’m going rabbit down. When we’re in relationships we tend to go through stages sexually. There’s that initial can’t keep your hands off each other phase. You know what I mean, that phase where you can do nothing but think about getting home and getting a little (or a lot) wild and crazy. Then the heat from the fire that your relationship starts with simmers down so...