A Dream of Words is available for pre-order!

  Hello, beautiful people. I stopped engaging so much here and on social media because, first, it's been a gothic novel of a year, and second, I wanted to spend my energy on actually writing books. This turned out to be an absolutely winning strategy.

 

As a result, I have THREE new projects up for pre-sale now. The one I want to talk about today is my latest collaboration with my incredible co-author, Shea MacLeod.

Please welcome our newest book baby, A Dream of Words!

###
 

Everyone knows each other in Gold Coast, a friendly place where dreams bloom. Once a depressed flyspeck on the map, the village has grown in warmth and love.

Welcome back to the magical town in Southern Illinois, where everyone glows with hope.

Alas, life in a small town is not for everyone.

Cassie Mack hated living in Gold Coast. Everybody knew each other’s business, her toxic family tried to use her as a workhorse, and there was no way romance would ever come for her. She dreamed of making a world of words, sumptuous words that described food, love, and flavor.

When the luscious words of her secret blog catch the eye of a flailing bakery in Rome, she jumped at their offer to come help them revitalize their presence.

Cassie can run from her family and create herself into who she wants to be. But the wounds still linger. If she wants a chance at a future that suits her, she will have to grow and become the embodiment of her Dream of Words.


Preorder today for the October 3rd release. This will be the perfect book for autumn, full of amazing food descriptions and learning to adore oneself.  We hope it will inspire to dig into your dreams and create them even further.

Watch for the newsletters on the rest of my projects - a book and deck of affirmations based on the Cafe of Hopes and Dreams and another writing reference book.  It's going to be a wonderful end to 2022.

Buy Links:
My Web Site
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Kobo
Apple Books

 

Writing Real Sex: Part One.

 

Writing Real Sex: How to Write Real Sex for Fiction Novels

Let's be real - I love writing sex. I want to write the kind of love scenes that make people want to connect, kiss, play, and share their appreciation of each other. I want all my love scenes in my stories to show just how good pleasure can be, no matter how many people are involved or their genders. 

To quote the Great Sages, Lynyrd Skynyrd, "I know a little about love, and honey, I can guess the rest."

Over the next few weeks, look forward to posts here, on my Instagram, and in my mailing list. I'll be doing Q&A's about writing intimacy, posting writing samples, doing a little reading out loud. 

Just how do we unlearn what we have been told is sexy and put what truly turns on our characters? Keep tuned!

The Dream Factory: Alice Kennedy

I realized that I told you all about Katrina, but I had never talked about the lady who kicked off The Dream Factory series, Alice Kennedy!

Many (many) years ago, as a teenager, my family frequented a local costume shop, as one does. I thought it was the most magical place I had ever been and I yearned to run a shop like that, full of fabric, color, makeup, and other creative tools.  The smell of clothing and high quality, theatrical makeup were balms to my young soul. These were the days before those cheap, nasty costumes in plastic bags, so everything looked gorgeous.

I had put that dream aside, but every so often, I would start a story about something amazing in a costume shop. It wasn't until I approached the magical Shea MacLeod to co-write it that I was able to find the real story.

Meet Alice Kennedy. My gorgeous young woman who needed to a chance to escape her family and discover what her real talents were. Last time, I talked about the keywords we use to get a feel for the theme and character of a new novel. Here are Alice's:

lavish, lush, color, adornment, whimsy. Beauty brings peace of mind, fashion makes a difference, fertility, creativity, conservation, fear, lush, fantasy, inner selves vs outer personas, dry, drought, depression, hard-time, care-worn, dusty, dry, clean, sparkling, rules, rebellion.

Her Motto: We need bread and roses.

Alice came into the sad town of Gold Coast, Illinois, and brought it to life. She is living her dream, and in many ways, she is living my dream, too. How wonderful is *that*?


 

 

Yum, yum, yum.

Almond Flour scones. Perfect for eating and reading together.

 

While I was cooking, might as well make almond shortbread with chocolate.

These were super yummy. :)

Of course, after publishing a book about a bakery, I had to do some baking.

And eating. :) 

Buy links: 

Where to buy
My Web Store
Amazon 
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Apple

The Cafe of Hopes and Dreams: Katrina Kennedy McPherson

When Shea MacLeod and I were writing The Dream Factory, the first book in this series, we knew that we wanted Alice's older sister, Katrina to be the heroine of the second book.

Poor Katrina, trapped by her own fears and the inertia of not living her dreams. We introduced her in Book One as the frustrated big sister. By the time she showed up at The Thing at the end of The Dream Factory, we knew she had to escape the trap she had built for herself. First thing, we had to know what her key words were (It's a librarian thing. It's hard to explain). It's a way
for us to decide on theme and what our focus will be. Here are Katrina's (and Book Two's) keywords:

Freedom, escape velocity, sweetness of life, rising, silky, lightness, savor, relax, focus, starvation, satiation, completion, contentment, delicious, delicate, scent, fruit, fortification, and strengthening.

We also searched for images of what we thought she looked like. This picture really caught her tender interior and her bruised soul.

Once we had her words, we could figure out what she really needed and what she wanted. Fortunately, figuring all that out took lots of delicious baked goods. :)

Also, it took a lot of going over and over practice LSATs. That absolutely proved to everyone that law school was NOT in the near future.

Writing Katrina's story really helped us cope with being stuck at home. Shea and I could imagine the scents of roses and freshly baked cake wafted over the small town of Gold Coast.

It was such a pleasure to get to know our heroine. I hope you enjoy Katrina's story too!

The Cafe of Hopes and Dreams: The Dream Factory series, #2

I just released a BRAND NEW BOOK! 

Shea and I finished the sequel to The Dream Factory and it is now live on all ebook retailers. We are dancing all over the place and drinking champagne to celebrate. We love this book so much. 

***

 

Katrina Kennedy McPherson used to have dreams. Her ambition was to become an attorney and prosecute deadbeat dads. But Life had other plans for her; like a withdrawn husband and a less-than-exciting accounting career.

Always practical, Katrina never questioned how her life turned out. That is, until the night she arrived in the small town of Gold Coast, Illinois, to drag her sister Alice back home.

Confronted by her own unhappiness, Katrina chooses to search for her joy instead. Problem is, her old life will come calling, determined to drag her back under, just as she tried to drag away her sister. Fortunately, she’s got her sister, a ghost, a town full of quirky characters, and an obsession with cake to help her untangle her true calling.

Escape into the magic of The Café of Hopes and Dreams in this heart-warming, feel-good story of a woman meant to change not just her life, but the lives of everyone around her.