In a very few days, my newest novel, Reunion at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort, will be available on Amazon in both paperback and in kindle and kindle unlimited formats. We’re hoping the book will go live on Monday, but the long weekend might slow things down. I’ll keep you posted. I’ll squeal first, then I’ll write about it.
Reunion is the third book in the Happy Valley series. It’s set fifteen months after the first book, Mayhem at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort, and the main character, Paula Arnett, is ready to make some big changes in her life, but she’ll need to survive her high school reunion in order to move forward.
Look at this! Okay, it’s not in the top 100, but Wedding at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort just came in at #253 in Women’s Detective Fiction. That’s because of you, dear readers. Thank you!
When I checked Amazon today to see how my books were faring, I felt a little tingle of motherly pride as my darlings were gathered together in a neat little line.
Wedding at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort has quite a challenge ahead of her if she’s going to catch up with her siblings, but she’s only been in the world for a few days now. Barely even has her little eyes open.
Wedding at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort is now available on Amazon for Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and in paperback form. Yippee!
I’m going to celebrate the launch of this, my third book, by staying in bed with a cold. I’ll toast with hot tea instead of champagne while enjoying eucalyptus cough drops instead of canapés. But by golly, I’m celebrating.
GUESS WHAT?! The sequel to Mayhem at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort should be out on Amazon one day this coming week. Yay!
I apologize for being so vague, but once the book is uploaded to Kindle Direct Publishing it might not go live for a few days. My editor, Rachel Carrera, and I plan to upload the book, Wedding at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort, sometime tomorrow (11/22/21) if we can get our schedules synced.
How am I feeling, you might ask? Excited and anxious. The first novel has done so well, and so many readers have asked about a sequel, that I feel the pressure. It’s a great feeling. I just hope readers will enjoy Wedding as much as they did Mayhem. I know I had a blast writing it.
Yesterday morning I asked Alexa to play upbeat music. She replied with something like, “Here’s a playlist based on songs similar to ones you’ve liked.” Or something like that.
The first song up was La Bamba. “Cool,” I thought. I’m using that song in a scene from Wedding at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort! What a coincidence!
The second song up was Elvis Presley’s I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You. Huh. Another song I used in Wedding. That was weird.
The third song was of no consequence, so I let my guard down, but number four was Tomorrow from the musical Annie. Holy cow! It’s probably the least likely song to appear on my playlist, but again, I’m using it in Wedding.
I’m wondering what else Alexa’s keeping an eye on. A character I have yet to name? My main character’s decision regarding her love interest? Heck, maybe I can get Alexa to finish the sequel! She seems to know it all anyway.
On Monday afternoon I typed the words “The End” on the first draft of Wedding at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort. The denouement came with little fanfare. I was sitting on the sofa drinking a glass of water when I realized the book’s ending had been written for several days—it was just buried in the middle of a bunch of other stuff. I grabbed my laptop, searched for a specific phrase, and voila!
Not for the first time did I thank the powers that be for word processing programs. A bit of copy, a smidge of pasting, and a big fat dollop of deletion, and I had something that closely resembled a book. Well, the roughest, rawest version of a book. If I were laying it out in cooking terms I’d say that the ingredients are all there and they’ve been mixed into a batter, but before it’s ready for consumption it’ll need to be baked and frosted. Sprinkles are optional.
I gathered all my gumption and sent the batter, er manuscript off to trusted beta readers. That’s such a scary feeling. One would think it would be easier now that I’ve published two books, but it’s not. I’ll be a mess until I hear something from my readers.
Now what? Well, while I’m waiting to revise Wedding, I have a sequel to The Cowboy and the Executive running around in my head, and I’m almost certain there will be at least one more story in the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort chronicles. It’s a scary thing, this creation of characters. They take on lives of their own and they depend on me to tell their tales. I wonder if I’d have even begun writing if I’d known how that worked. Deep thoughts for a Monday evening. I believe I’ll have some wine.
Praying for Eyebrowz 