Month: December 2015

Welcome to another week of the Open Book Blog Hop, where you can find out more about this ever-shifting collection of authors.  This week we’re talking about our favorite winter pastimes.

I grew up in Pennsylvania where the winds of Lake Erie made the winters colder and snowier. That didn’t stop us from going outside to play. Sure, we had to wear sweaters and jackets and several pairs of pants and hats and gloves and snow boots, but that was all good. Better than being stuck in the house.

Living in the country, we had the opportunity for lots of winter activities. There were the traditional snowball fights and building of snowmen, but we also built forts and in really snow years, made snow tunnels. Although we had a collection of sleds, we didn’t limit ourselves to those. There was an old porcelain-covered wash bucket thingy that was just the right size for a medium-size kid to sit in that was great for going down small hills. Or there was the year that our neighbors had an old car hood that we used to slide down the large hill in their cow pasture. Imagine an over-sized toboggan with no steering. I think we had six of us in it at a time. The cows weren’t too impressed, but we had fun.

After I got married, my husband introduced me to the joys of tubing. Yep, just like it sounds. Take an oversize inner tube (you know, like you use to float down a river but bigger), sit in the middle, and slide down the side of a mountain. And pray you don’t find any rocks hidden under the snow with your rear-end.

Then, for too long, we moved to where there are no real seasons. “Winter” was another day on the beach. The first year or two were okay, but I missed snow. Crazy, I know. But we’ve made our way back to a part of the country where snow can happen as early as September and as late as June. And I love it.

My activities are much more sedate these days. Shoveling snow, the occasional mini-snowball fight, driving through snow-covered mountains, drinking hot chocolate in my warm house while watching the snow fall outside, taking pictures. Lots of pictures.

To find out what Tracy Krimmer’s favorite winter pastime is, you can check out her blog HERE.
Don’t forget to see what’s she’s been up to as far as writing while you’re there.

Jay Walking

Chelsea Wyatt, a single mom trying to build a life for her and her son, is sick of the body she sees in the mirror. A daily diet of Cookie Crisp cereal is not doing wonders for her mood or her figure, and it’s time for a change. Setting out to get fit, she commits herself to a daily walking plan, forcing herself to give up her all-sugar and carb diet, a difficult task at her donut obsessed job.

But her plan goes sideways when a stumble on the ice puts her in the arms of Jay, an attractive young man out on a run. They grab coffee together, and Chelsea finds herself thinking about him long after their short meeting. The thought of dating again hadn’t crossed her mind in years, and she doesn’t even know if Jay is available, or if he would be interested in her despite her unfit body.

Just when she has a handle on her new routine, her past catches up with her, throwing her blossoming relationship with Jay and the rest of her life into chaos. Can Chelsea hold onto the people she loves most, or will a wrong turn set her up for failure?

Dec. 9 – Dec. 15, 2015 – What are your favorite wintertime pastimes?
Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use ?#?OpenBook? when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.
NEW: WordPress Short Code:
[inlinkz_linkup id=585843 mode=1]
Code for Hosting:

Code for Link:

;get the InLinkz code

And we usually don’t promote ourselves, but I couldn’t resist. My new book, Wolves Knight, will be available December 17th. I hope you’ll check it out! (You can check out my earlier post about it HERE

Welcome to another week of the Open Book Blog Hop, where you can find out more about this ever-shifting collection of authors.  This week we’re talking about our favorite winter pastimes.

I grew up in Pennsylvania where the winds of Lake Erie made the winters colder and snowier. That didn’t stop us from going outside to play. Sure, we had to wear sweaters and jackets and several pairs of pants and hats and gloves and snow boots, but that was all good. Better than being stuck in the house.

Living in the country, we had the opportunity for lots of winter activities. There were the traditional snowball fights and building of snowmen, but we also built forts and in really snow years, made snow tunnels. Although we had a collection of sleds, we didn’t limit ourselves to those. There was an old porcelain-covered wash bucket thingy that was just the right size for a medium-size kid to sit in that was great for going down small hills. Or there was the year that our neighbors had an old car hood that we used to slide down the large hill in their cow pasture. Imagine an over-sized toboggan with no steering. I think we had six of us in it at a time. The cows weren’t too impressed, but we had fun.

After I got married, my husband introduced me to the joys of tubing. Yep, just like it sounds. Take an oversize inner tube (you know, like you use to float down a river but bigger), sit in the middle, and slide down the side of a mountain. And pray you don’t find any rocks hidden under the snow with your rear-end.

Then, for too long, we moved to where there are no real seasons. “Winter” was another day on the beach. The first year or two were okay, but I missed snow. Crazy, I know. But we’ve made our way back to a part of the country where snow can happen as early as September and as late as June. And I love it.

My activities are much more sedate these days. Shoveling snow, the occasional mini-snowball fight, driving through snow-covered mountains, drinking hot chocolate in my warm house while watching the snow fall outside, taking pictures. Lots of pictures.

To find out what Tracy Krimmer’s favorite winter pastime is, you can check out her blog HERE.
Don’t forget to see what’s she’s been up to as far as writing while you’re there.

Jay Walking

Chelsea Wyatt, a single mom trying to build a life for her and her son, is sick of the body she sees in the mirror. A daily diet of Cookie Crisp cereal is not doing wonders for her mood or her figure, and it’s time for a change. Setting out to get fit, she commits herself to a daily walking plan, forcing herself to give up her all-sugar and carb diet, a difficult task at her donut obsessed job.

But her plan goes sideways when a stumble on the ice puts her in the arms of Jay, an attractive young man out on a run. They grab coffee together, and Chelsea finds herself thinking about him long after their short meeting. The thought of dating again hadn’t crossed her mind in years, and she doesn’t even know if Jay is available, or if he would be interested in her despite her unfit body.

Just when she has a handle on her new routine, her past catches up with her, throwing her blossoming relationship with Jay and the rest of her life into chaos. Can Chelsea hold onto the people she loves most, or will a wrong turn set her up for failure?

Dec. 9 – Dec. 15, 2015 – What are your favorite wintertime pastimes?
Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use ?#?OpenBook? when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.
NEW: WordPress Short Code:
[inlinkz_linkup id=585843 mode=1]
Code for Hosting:

Code for Link:

;get the InLinkz code

And we usually don’t promote ourselves, but I couldn’t resist. My new book, Wolves Knight, will be available December 17th. I hope you’ll check it out! (You can check out my earlier post about it HERE

It’s almost here! Wolves’ Knight will soon be available at major e-book retailers.
. (In time for Christmas.) So I decided to share a little snippet. Bur first, the book’s description.


Tasha Roeper knows what it means to protect your own. So when her friend, Dot Lapahie, CEO of Lapahie Enterprises, suspects that the Free Wolves are under attack, Tasha immediately signs on to lead the investigation and guard Dot.


But Tasha’s not convinced it’s the Free Wolves that are the target. She fears that her own pack—the Fairwood Pack—are the actual quarry and Dot is only a decoy.


The deeper Tasha digs, the more puzzles she uncovers.


Torn between tradition and a changing world, will Tasha risk everything to save a friend—including her own life—when old enemies arise?


And now, the opening scene.


Her tactical knife slid easily from its ankle sheath. With a curse, Tasha leaped out of the leather chair and slid across the wooden conference table, praying she’d make it in time. No matter how she played it, she couldn’t stop the masked, gun-wielding intruder from shooting. Shifting to wolf form would allow her to spring on her prey, but the time it took to make the change gave him the opportunity to fire. No, her human body would have to stop the bullet before it struck Dot.
A fraction of a heartbeat later, feet firmly planted on the floor, she sensed another body skid in next to her, creating a larger barrier. Some of the board members stood, one appeared frozen in place, and one started to shift to what appeared to be a badger. Tasha sniffed, trying to figure out who had joined her without taking her eyes off the intruder. A female. Hopefully, a fellow warrior.
She bent her knees, shifted her weight to the balls of her feet, and adjusted her grip. A flick of her wrist and the knife would sail down the length of the table. As she tightened her muscles to make the throw, the interloper laughed and tossed his revolver onto the table. The gun was followed by the mask. 




I’ll let you know the release date as soon as I can. Stay tuned!

It’s almost here! Wolves’ Knight will soon be available at major e-book retailers.
. (In time for Christmas.) So I decided to share a little snippet. Bur first, the book’s description.

Tasha Roeper knows what it means to protect your own. So when her friend, Dot Lapahie, CEO of Lapahie Enterprises, suspects that the Free Wolves are under attack, Tasha immediately signs on to lead the investigation and guard Dot.

But Tasha’s not convinced it’s the Free Wolves that are the target. She fears that her own pack—the Fairwood Pack—are the actual quarry and Dot is only a decoy.

The deeper Tasha digs, the more puzzles she uncovers.

Torn between tradition and a changing world, will Tasha risk everything to save a friend—including her own life—when old enemies arise?

And now, the opening scene.

Her tactical knife slid easily from its ankle sheath. With a curse, Tasha leaped out of the leather chair and slid across the wooden conference table, praying she’d make it in time. No matter how she played it, she couldn’t stop the masked, gun-wielding intruder from shooting. Shifting to wolf form would allow her to spring on her prey, but the time it took to make the change gave him the opportunity to fire. No, her human body would have to stop the bullet before it struck Dot.
A fraction of a heartbeat later, feet firmly planted on the floor, she sensed another body skid in next to her, creating a larger barrier. Some of the board members stood, one appeared frozen in place, and one started to shift to what appeared to be a badger. Tasha sniffed, trying to figure out who had joined her without taking her eyes off the intruder. A female. Hopefully, a fellow warrior.
She bent her knees, shifted her weight to the balls of her feet, and adjusted her grip. A flick of her wrist and the knife would sail down the length of the table. As she tightened her muscles to make the throw, the interloper laughed and tossed his revolver onto the table. The gun was followed by the mask. 


I’ll let you know the release date as soon as I can. Stay tuned!

I’m so excited! It’s finally here! Well, almost. The second book in the adventures of the Free Wolves will be available before Christmas!

When I wrote Wolves’ Knight, I really expected it to be a stand-alone story. But Tasha kept bugging me to tell her story, so, almost two years later, here it is! In fact, as I wrote it, the document I worked from was labeled “Tasha’s Tale.”

Tasha Roeper knows what it means to protect your own. So when her friend, Dot Lapahie, CEO of Lapahie Enterprises, suspects that the Free Wolves are under attack, Tasha immediately signs on to lead the investigation and guard Dot.


But Tasha’s not convinced it’s the Free Wolves that are the target. She fears that her own pack—the Fairwood Pack—are the actual quarry and Dot is only a decoy.


The deeper Tasha digs, the more puzzles she uncovers.


Torn between tradition and a changing world, will Tasha risk everything to save a friend—including her own life—when old enemies arise?




And now, onto the cover!


I’m REALLY excited about this cover. My cover artist, K.M. Guth, did a wonderful job. I can’t wait to see it in print.



So, without further ado, here it is! (drumroll,please.)

 Stay tuned for the official release date.

I’m so excited! It’s finally here! Well, almost. The second book in the adventures of the Free Wolves will be available before Christmas!

When I wrote Wolves’ Knight, I really expected it to be a stand-alone story. But Tasha kept bugging me to tell her story, so, almost two years later, here it is! In fact, as I wrote it, the document I worked from was labeled “Tasha’s Tale.”

Tasha Roeper knows what it means to protect your own. So when her friend, Dot Lapahie, CEO of Lapahie Enterprises, suspects that the Free Wolves are under attack, Tasha immediately signs on to lead the investigation and guard Dot.

But Tasha’s not convinced it’s the Free Wolves that are the target. She fears that her own pack—the Fairwood Pack—are the actual quarry and Dot is only a decoy.

The deeper Tasha digs, the more puzzles she uncovers.

Torn between tradition and a changing world, will Tasha risk everything to save a friend—including her own life—when old enemies arise?


And now, onto the cover!

I’m REALLY excited about this cover. My cover artist, K.M. Guth, did a wonderful job. I can’t wait to see it in print.


So, without further ado, here it is! (drumroll,please.)

 Stay tuned for the official release date.

Welcome to another week of the Open Book Blog Hop, where we talk about a variety of topics and readers can get to know us a little better. This week we’re talking about nanny cams.

Up front, I’ll tell you I’m prejudiced in this matter. Not only have I seen the horrendous videos of infants and toddlers being abused by adults, I know someone it happened to. And children are the most precious gift we have and we need to take care of them.

If you choose to install a nanny-cam in your own home, more power to you. I do believe you should tell your nanny (or babysitter) about the camera up front, but I don’t feel as if your obligated to tell them where it (or they) are aimed. Or if you move it.(More about this later)

Nanny cams didn’t exist when my children were little, and I rarely had babysitters in my home. More often, babysitting was done by relatives I trusted in their homes. I did have a friend of a friend as a babysitter for awhile, but she had her own child just a little older than mine, so it felt “safe.” Would I have installed one if I had the opportunity? I don’t know. I was much more trusting when I was younger. But my darling husband would have installed one in a heartbeat.He’s was, and still is, extremely protective of our kids.

I love the idea that many preschools have of putting cameras in their classrooms and allowing parents to log in at any time to see what’s going on. Of course, being a bit of a geek, I also know you have to be careful about how those are configured. Default passwords are never good. (Got a default password on your home equipment? Go change it. Then come back. I’ll wait.)

Are you back? Good! So on to the next part of my rant. There are many people who don’t understand the security risks of nanny cams that upload directly to storage on the internet. While that’s a good idea, you also have to make sure the site where they are stored is trustworthy, and again, password protected. If you didn’t know, there are sites out there that are devoted to finding webcams that aren’t secured and that anyone can control. You don’t want some random internet stranger watching you and your precious little one by the camera you installed and didn’t take the time to set up correctly.

Nanny cams come in all shapes and sizes these days, and I fully understand why a parent wouldn’t want to reveal that they had one to a babysitter. After all, the babysitter might figure out where all the “dead” spots are where they can misbehave without being filmed.  But I also believe the babysitter has the right to know if they are being filmed. A sitter has to have the expectation that they can behave normally and not have those pictures end up as a you-tube video. (What if the sitter wants to lift her shirt and adjust her bra? Or a male sitter has to adjust another part of the body?)  Balancing the opposing rights of the two parties is a sticky situation.

Check out what some our other authors have to say. Rebecca Lovell’s first book is coming soon, but Rebecca’s Web Page
in the meantime you can check out her webpage .  

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