Maiden Mother Crone

I'm writing hard and pulling into the very last part of long project, The Basket Series.

The cover artist just sent me a gorgeous rough draft of THE BRIDE'S BASKET, November 2016 release. I'm really excited about this 3rd book in the trilogy. It is a super cover for the last book of my Basket Series basic trilogy.

This Rose picture symbolizes the basic premise  or Celtic theme I used: The Maiden, The Mother, The Crone. These are the different stages of a woman's life.

(These roses should probably be organized differently. But my rosebush did not cooperate.)

The Basket Series is a blend of Women's Fiction, romance and a dab of intuitive.

The Basket Maker's Wife 5-Star Reviews:
 "Wonderful story about the bonds shared by women, mother's love and friendship. A great example of the deep strength in every woman."

"This book kept me up all night! I love to read about women who defy the odds, we are survivors !"

The Egg Basket 5-Star Reviews:
"This has to be one of the most fabulous series I have ever read! I adore them . The was so much raw emotion placed in these books that I cried, laughed was mad and wanted to protect everyone also."

"I liked this book because the characters are so belonging to each other and help each other grow stronger. There is stress, but also magic."



 I am so pleased with the reception of this trilogy. It's an unusual project and something I've waited to do. The journey has been fulfilling, interesting, and a learning project.

 I am so loving these characters, and so attached to them. Soon I will have to undertake a new project  (and can't wait to start that either), but it will be difficult to separate myself from this #BasketSeries.

I've already started a series of short stories for the Basket Series peripheral characters.

Info Tidbit: I read a lot of epic sagas, ancient history, mythology etc. and am noted in college papers as a writer who uses these themes.

If you haven't tried either one of these first books, note that they are in e-book and in paper. Gorgeous paper, may I add. They are best read in order:
1. >>THE BASKET MAKER'S WIFE (BOOK 1): KINDLE/UK/iBOOKS/KOBO/NOOK

2. >>THE EGG BASKET: AMAZON/iBOOKS/KOBO/NOOK

Well, back to finishing THE BRIDE'S BASKET!

Writers Just Want to Write

How dare they! The world, life and business has interfered with my Work In Progress, aka working title The Bride's Basket, Book 3 in my Basket Series.

>>THE BASKET MAKER'S WIFE (BOOK 1): KINDLE/UK/iBOOKS/KOBO/NOOK

>>THE EGG BASKET: AMAZON/iBOOKS/KOBO/NOOK

I'm headed for The Bride's Basket last quarter, the windup--until I add more onto the series. :) But amid this last slide into home, I need to work with the cover artist. (I'm hoping for a November release.)

I've just spent an entire morning--with my story calling me--cruising through stock photos. Since I'm loving what artist NajlaQamber has done on the first 2 books, I'm hoping for an appropriate match. Or killer cover. I love these covers! Tip: The more ideas you can give a cover artists, the better.

Holing up while writing this book hasn't been possible and you'll see the stuff below that has interfered during The Bride's Basket's creation. I'm still hoping for November publication. :) During this book, running on a parallel timeline I've:

•  traveled/visited family
• took care of a sick relative
• learned a whole lot* from Joanna Penn/TheCreativePenn *Priceless info for the business side of writing, which most of us do not totally enjoy. However, to save our dimes, a lot of us do our own slave labor.
• dug in and learned basic WordPress enough to re-establish my actual website. During a stressful family time, I had to transfer my name domain to my blog. Time-saving, you know.
• worked more with Dragon and a podcasting microphone, recommended by JoAnna Penn, and excellent interviewer and podcaster. Excellent. I have the recommended mic, so therefore I must also be excellent--right? :). I had Dragon on my PC, but shifting to Mac, had to relearn some stuff. Mac has a good built in mic, but this mic helps a lot. I'd used a headset before and if I purchase another mic, it will be a headset. It's what you're used to using.
• Purchased and fully love Vellum, software that does amazing things. It takes a Word file and formats it for all different major ebook sellers. It also does epub, so useful with SmashWords and others. I love VELLUM! It truly is gorgeous! It is only for Mac at this pt--or so I understand--however, TheBookDesigner (Joel Friedlander) offers packages that do both ebook and paper layouts. If you want to learn more about Fonts, do check out Joel's blog. (I prefer to handcraft my paperbooks. I'm just that way. :))
• Worked more with Scrivener--no simplistic software, but excellent organization and story-ware. If you're writing series, the hottest thing going now, you need an organizer. But it does a whole lot more and formats. Try the trial version. Got one for my Mac and just now IOS came through for one for iPad. Haven't tried the iPad version yet. I am truly hoping to do more with Scrivener in a new series I'm laying out now. Yep. Western guys again. I hope. :)
• Then the everlasting downsizing--not fun, people. Sorting, packing, selling equals a big UGH!
• One of the best experiences recently was working with Ryan Zee to promote my enewsletter subscription. If you're not on my enewsletter, you should be.:) I'm learning more of shipping free books to contest winners via BookFunnel and other ways.

NOTE: I wish I could run away from DOWNSIZING, but I guess it's my monster to tame. I'm skipping canning and making jams this year, but I may freeze zucchinis/summer squash for stews and for zucchini breads.

Please do join my enewsletter for more? The Egg Basket's beta readers came from my enews contact and I truly love those 6. I hope they have time to read my other work. :)

>>THE BASKET MAKER'S WIFE (BOOK 1): KINDLE/UK/iBOOKS/KOBO/NOOK

>>THE EGG BASKET: AMAZON/iBOOKS/KOBO/NOOK