So, for one, I have absolutely no concept of time. For some odd reason, I woke up thinking that there was a day in between Wednesday and Thursday (🤨), and so I was adamant that today was not Thursday already and that I had another day to prepare for the long-awaited anniversary of Prisoner at Heart. Yeah. There is no day in between Wednesday and Thursday. It's Thursday. And so....HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRISONER AT HEART! Secondly, y'all will notice that since my day were all mixed

Well, life did not permit me to get Tuesday's post up on time...so I've done some rearranging and I'll be sharing yesterday's post today and today's post either tomorrow or Thursday, which works out great, because I actually didn't have a plan for today's post. Anyway, today, we're really going "behind the scenes." Y'all remember those deleted scenes and alternate chapters I shared Monday? Well, I didn't just churn those out one right after the other, and then immediately scr

Chapter 18 Arielle’s footsteps pattered up the stone stairway to the top of the lighthouse as she climbed her way to the pinnacle of the tower. Once she arrived, she silently closed the door behind her and walked to the edge of the small area where the large glass windowpane revealed the lake and shore. She stood overlooking the sight, not bothering to move. She just needed a moment, one moment to clear her thoughts. If that were truly possible. Nightmare after nightmare, ima

Well, Monday is always (all right, almost always) my Name of the Week day. And since I'm in the middle of sharing the exclusive behind-the-scenes of Prisoner at Heart in honor of its ONE YEAR anniversary on Thursday, I'll be giving y'all the scoop on one of the many names in Prisoner at Heart. Except--wait! I've already done both Elliot and Crimson's name, as well as Rina, Xavier, Maverick, and Collin. Aside from a few minor characters, who else has a name I could do? The boo

Not every story is perfect. Not every first line draws you in. Not every character or scene turns out just right. Sometimes you have to make changes. Sometimes you have to start all over. And then sometimes, you get the epic opportunity to share everything that went wrong and never made it into your finished work! Today, I'm sharing three different things--a SALE, deleted scenes, and alternate chapters. First things first, today marks the only week that Prisoner at Heart will

Now, for the musical inspiration behind Prisoner at Heart! One thing that I had a lot of fun putting together during both Held Captive and Prisoner at Heart was the soundtrack. I listen to music a lot when I write, and whenever I stumble upon a song that sounds like a character or a certain scene, I copy the lyrics to a document. Well, since I can't share the lyrics without copyright issues, and copying/pasting the links to YouTube videos is too much work, I'm going to be sha

Whoop whoop! This is probably my favorite part of my anniversary celebration--the pictures behind the words! Yesterday, I shared the "designs behind the quotes," but today, I bring to you nearly 200 pictures that have inspired characters and scenes in Prisoner at Heart and have become the aesthetics for the overall story. Check them all out on my Prisoner at Heart Pinterest board! Now, I know not everyone is partial to Pinterest, so I'd like to share what I can right here (wi

So, um, right off the bat, you may have noticed that I misspelled "anniversary." My apologies. Hopefully, after you bemoaned my mistake, you realized that IT'S HERE! The day is finally here! Today marks the beginning of a week-long celebration of my second (and latest) novel's 1st anniversary. Every day from now until October 29th, I'll be sharing behind-the-scenes pictures, inspirational songs, and even some never-before-seen deleted scenes from Prisoner at Heart! Keep up wi

Chapter 17 “Thank God we don’t have anything to do today,” Cade exclaimed as he set himself on top of the kitchen counter with a smile, as always. After the Barnes’ visit, others from town made up their minds to come and greet the new light keeper. It seemed everyone finally got over their fear of Emily’s ghost. Which meant lots of story telling and smiling for Cade and Arielle. Now, they hoped that Sunday would mean everyone was going to church and spending the afternoon wit

As y'all can see, I haven't written a Name of the Week for this week. And I'm not. Partly because I have no idea what name to do--and mostly because I have something even better that I want to share. I would've liked to have posted this earlier, but time did not permit. I'll try to be brief so that you can get on with your day (or night), and I'll try not to be sappy and pitiful. But I realized something yesterday, and I wanted y'all to know. I have never thought that I was o

Georgette Heyer. That's new, isn't it? I usually stick to Christian romances, don't I? The ones written after 2009, most of the time. In fact, this is the first Georgian romance I've ever read, let alone blogged about. So here we go. The tale of how I came to want to read Ms. Heyer is indeed a long one, and since I have all the time in the world (not), I'll share it with y'all. It all started with Jane Austen. And, no, I don't mean reading Jane Austen (unfortunately, I don't

Chapter 16 The cool November dawn air whipped at Arielle's face, threatening to cause tears to fall from her eyes as she ran across the lake's shore early that morning. The sun rose to her right, sending an array of colors cascading over the face of the water that glistened like diamonds. Unfortunately, the sunrise's beauty was the utter opposite from her previous nights' dreams. For the past week the nightmares would reoccur each and every night, haunting her much like a gho

So...I'm sure y'all are looking forward to the all goodies I'll be sharing starting the 22nd and ending the 29th--something new every single day--but today, I have something even better to share! A friend of mine, the amazing Jenna Terese, is debuting her new Redbubble collection TODAY! Not only is this just all around fantastic, she's also a terrific designer! Check out her new collection of "Writer Humor" themed shirts, notebooks, mugs, and more! She's got a host of other d

Well, someone forgot to, em, write their Name of the Week post sometime this weekend, so someone is posting it a little bit late this week. And someone may have picked just a random name since, y'know, she didn't have time to search through all of the many names (I'm seriously running out, y'all...I need suggestions) and pick a fun one. Anyway. Julius is, currently, that secondary character that no one really knows all that much about, personality-wise. At least, at the momen

Hey, howdy, hi! Today, I'm throwing all convention to the wind and introducing to y'all the amazing--and catastrophic--online home of moi's beloved crazy cat lady--pardon me, sister. Here, on The CATastrophic Cat Blog, my sister shares fun facts about cats, compare/contrasts cat breeds, and gives you the dope on the breed of the month! It all started out when my mother and I claimed that she needed a place to share her love for and knowledge of cats (and I said she sorely nee

And, no, I (unfortunately) do not mean "cover reveal for Bound and Determined," although that will come. Eventually. Hopefully. Lord willing. Ahem. Nay, my good fellows, my readers and followers, my family and friends--I mean "cover reveal for The Nature of a Lady," which is a historical romance by Roseanna M. White and is sure to be a lovely treat! Y'all know I adore Mrs. White and her detectable stories, and of course this particular one should be no different--but do you k

Believe it or not, I'd had the idea for the below scene planned out for weeks before I ever wrote it. (I even jotted down a few sentence on paper.) But it's a very good thing those ideas never came into fruition, because it kind of got a little...compromising, shall we say. Chapter 15 Arielle’s vision blurred as the smoke drifted towards her, the burnt scent traveling through her senses. Blessing whimpered by her side, and she wished she could crouch down and comfort her, but

Wait! What? Shadow Road? But that's not a name, is it? Of course it isn't! Because today, I'm dispensing of all "name origins" and "character this" and bringing to you a book review and a interview with writer A. E. Pennymaker--the author of Shadow Road. Before we dive into all of the treats that I have for y'all, let's take a peek at this wonderful indie fantasy and its equally wonderful author, Anna. Brenorra Warring's father is going crazy. That's the only conclusion Bren

In examining the scriptures and the history of both the “early church” and the word church these last two weeks, we’ve discovered a lot, haven’t we? We’ve learned that “church” is actually the English form of the Greek word Circe, who was, in Ancient Greek mythology, the goddess of pharmekia, sorcery with drugs. We’ve learned that every time our Bibles say “church,” it really means “congregation.” We’ve learned that, due to the people Paul was writing to and the atmosphere th