Tag Archives: RandR Fiction Club

Merry Christmas 2017

Philosophical Meanderings, Too Posted on by

I wish each of you a Merry Christmas. I pray these wishes find you healthy, happy, and prosperous. If not, I pray you find all three in the coming year.

Now that my two knee replacmements and the cracked patella appear to be fully healed, I’ve recently begun taking a beginner yoga class. I’m not sure if it’s using the Raindrop oils on my feet or the yoga practice, but my right hip is moving much more freely. I’d started using the Raindrop oils before I started the yoga, and I’d noticed an inexplicable improvement in my hip, but I believe it’s a combination of the two practices which is reaping the best benefit for me. I’ve taken four classes. I have a long way to go before I look like yoga is doing me any good, but I will tell you I can feel its positive effects already.

I prepared the next issue of the RandR Fiction Club newsletter this morning. It’s scheduled to go out on January 2. You still have time to get on the list two receive this quarterly missive. Click on the Writing, Books tab above, then look to the right sidebar to add your email and name to get on the list — make sure you check your inbox and click the verification link. That protects you from some clown signing you up without your permission.

For the first time in many years, we appear to have nine cats living in relative harmony. While Lady was in the cage to restrict her movement for healing purposes, the other eight cats had the run of the open areas of the house, and they all got along. Rossie has remained visible if not always approachable. Now that Lady’s foot has healed and she is released to interact as she wishes, everyone is still getting along. It’s been less than a week, so things could change, but Mr. L and I are hopeful. If this continues, we plan to disassemble the cage, freeing up a good bit of space in the parlor.

Sneaky still sequesters herself in the dining room. That’s because Ajax is a jerk and will not leave her in peace. Sneaky is a separate issue, and she’s content in the dining room as long as we spend time with her each day.

As I prepare for 2018, I’m doing personal and professional planning. I do this incrementally throughout the year, but I look at the big picture during the last half of December and the first half of January to make sure my life is on a desired trajectory. I keep a lot of plates spinning — spiritual growth, harmony with Mr. L, my health journey, relationships with family and friends, cats, property care, my essential oils business, and my writing (which has been on the back burner from a fiction perspective for a couple of years now, but I’m looking for ways to add it back in).

 

 

Invitation to Join RandR Fiction Club — and A Give Away!

Philosophical Meanderings, Too Posted on by

Please join me as I begin a new phase in my writing life.  If you’ve visited the site over the last couple of weeks, you may have noticed a new widget in the upper right corner of the blog or a new banner across the top.  By entering your email address in either box (no need to use both), you have the opportunity to sign up for various goodies.  If you’ve already signed up (thank you!), or if you sign up on or before January 1, 2014, you’ll be a Charter Member of The RandR Fiction Club.

What does this mean to you?

First, you get everything regular fiction club members get (Duh! Right?).

Second, you get a free copy of “Beginnings,” my short story set in the mid-1960s introducing you to my main characters from Threads and Ties — my draft novel starring Jeff and Nikki.  Threads and Ties asks the question, “Can you pick up with the love of your life twenty years after abandoning him and your newborn child?”  This is a love story.  A painful love story. Maybe too painful for some people to read. But it doesn’t start out that way (Does it ever?).  Meet Jeff and Nikki in “Beginnings,” a $0.99 value, free to you as a Charter Member of my fiction club. It’s currently in PDF format, but when I make it available in other formats, it will always be free to Charter Members in my shop (when I get a shop — that’s coming!). Please understand you’re getting in on the ground floor of this venture.  I’ll make sure the sawdust is off before the file downloads to you.

Since I’m beginning this new venture and the short story is about beginnings, I think it makes a fitting gift for you, our Charter Members, who will be making this journey with me.  The story is representative of only one aspect of my writing. I plan to introduce you to more.

Third, you’ll be entered for a drawing to win a copy of Stephen Bagley’s cozy mystery, Murder by Dewey Decimal (also available on Amazon or Barnes and Noble). Once you’ve read that, you’ll want the sequel, Murder by the Acre (Also available on Amazon and B&N). Entries close on January 1, 2014, at 11:59 PM. The drawing (only for Murder by Dewey Decimal!) will be held shortly after midnight on January 2, 2014.  I’ll email the winner privately for shipping information and announce the winner in the inaugural newsletter.

Charter Members may get other exclusives or early-to-you offers and news later on.

All Members can expect the following:

  • Bi-monthly fiction club newsletter
  • Writing samples for your reading pleasure
  • The opportunity to participate in polls about those samples
  • Early notification of good news, books or stories for sale, and periodic free stuff
  • Back stage exclusives into a working writer’s life
  • Occasional supplemental material

Begin this journey with me as a Charter Member of The RandR Fiction Club.  This offer expires January 1, 2014.  You can still be a Member of my club after that, but you won’t be a Charter Member.

Just enter your email in the box at the top of the screen or in the sidebar to your right and press the Sign Up button.  After you do that, check your email inbox (or maybe your spam or promotions folder) for an email from me and click on the link to let me know you were the one who signed yourself up (this keeps your friends from pulling pranks on you). After you do that, you’ll be entered in the drawing for Murder by Dewey Decimal. and (if I set it up right), you’ll have an opportunity to download “Beginnings.”

Go ahead.  It won’t bite. (Even the polar bear and nine cats who jealously guard the mailing list won’t bite you.)

Update! Added on Thursday Morning (October 24): Stephen Bagley is sending me bookmarks and a signed bookplate to include with the Murder by Dewey Decimal drawing.

Also, this is really important, after you sign up with your email address, you must find the email from me in your inbox and click the confirmation link to really be signed up.  If you don’t, my emailer doesn’t add you to the list, because it thinks someone is pranking you and protects you by not adding you to the list.  Clicking the confirmation link in the validation email tells them, “Yup.  That was me who asked to be added to the Fiction Club membership files and to be entered for the drawing.”

Thanks to those of you who have signed up.  I’m finding more cool stuff for you.