November News - Happy Veteran's Day!

Happy Veteran's Day! Thank you to all the young men and women who've served or are currently serving our wonderful country.

My family is proud to have 3 generations of servicemen. My father served in the Army during WWII. My brother served as a Military Policeman in the Army for just over 20 years before he retired. And my son is beginning his 6th year in the Coast Guard! (Yes, he's in the picture) 

This month has been super-eventful!

• I've celebrated my 30th wedding anniversary!  I've been married to my high-school sweetheart for over half of my life. We met when I was just 13. That day I met him, I knew I'd marry him. He didn't give me a second thought, but my persistence paid off.  I won!

• The election is over! We've voted, and a new president has been elected. Who's with me when I say I'm so damn glad the commercials and phone calls have stopped? Whether you like the results or not, we all knew one of them would win, and the other would not. 

There's something else really exciting for Authors during the month of November. You've probably seen the hash tag #NANOWRIMO and references all over social media and wondered to yourself - what the hell is NaNoWriMo?

This is National Novel Writing Month - NaNoWriMo.

While all the little kiddies and others are trying to write out their Christmas gift wish-list, a lot of authors are working diligently to crank out at least 50,000 words of a new novel during this one-month crash writing event.  Over the course of 30 days, to meet the goal, an average of 1,667 words per day are needed. If we meet the goal, we're considered winners.  Even if we don't meet the goal, it's been a lot of fun trying.

I'm doing pretty good so far. I've written over 15,000 words, and my novel is a new genre for me - it's a thriller/suspense. It will release sometime in 2017.



Next up, Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Time to do housecleaning and get ready for family to visit.  Or maybe you're going to visit them. Either way, enjoy your holiday and family!

When you've been shopping, you've probably noticed the stores seem to have bypassed celebrating Turkey Day and have gone straight to Christmas.  The songs are blaring through the speakers, trees are decorated, and all the gift ideas are on full display! Yep, we have less than 6 weeks to finish our holiday shopping.


In 7 weeks, we'll be making New Year's resolutions and celebrating 2017's arrival.

I love this time of year, but I'm not looking forward to the cold and snow.  I saw enough of that while I lived in Iowa.

Have a fantastic rest of November!