Guys,

It’s 2:15 a.m London time and it’s happened a day early, I can’t actually sleep! And I’m so nervous typing. I am proud to announce that my first novel A Stranger in France is now available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk to download and in paperback. I hope you enjoy the story, if you decide to get wrapped up in a modern day romance suspense set in London, France and the UK coast.

Book Blurb:

In A Stranger in France readers are taken on a fast paced, modern day romantic journey, that spans between the city of London, the glitz and glam of France, and the beautiful English coast in a gripping romantic story, between two complete strangers with enough suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat turning pages.

When career driven and successful thirty- two-year-old London born Kate Brown faces hard times in her marriage, she…

For those of you who have been following my blog for a while (thank you kindly!) or if you are a recent follower (thank you kindly, too) you often see that I post a lot of photos related to Chicago sunrises, architecture, and the like.  You might also notice that I like to write about inspiring moments, uplifting encounters and observations that I come across and feel you might like to read about.

I have also written about Chicago facts and findings from in and around the Chicagoland area.  However, today’s post is of a completely different nature.  I’ve been writing a lot lately about stress and the importance of managing its nasty occurrences.  For me, humor is a huge stress reliever.  With this in mind, I thought I would write about something that happened to me many, many years ago, in the hope that you will see the humor…

This is the final instalment in my account of my weekend away with The Silent Eye. Please click here for parts one, two, three, four, five and six. And thanks for reading!

After our dawn excursion I returned to the hotel for breakfast, then packed and checked out, as Arbor Low was the last stop on our weekend adventure before I had to head to the train station. I was picked up by two of the companions and we set off, sun shining as we wove through the countryside. The Peak District was glowing with late summer, green fields lush with grass and replete with cattle, the rising slopes rustbrown with bracken and heather. Before Arbor Low, we were to have a quick stop at Monsal, where ice cream could be had while taking in a glorious view of the valley and viaduct below.

It’s Saturday morning once again, and as per my usual weekend routine, I have my massive mug of coffee within arm’s reach.  This past week was a mixture of calm, upheaval, stress, quiet, humor, bewilderment, and compassion.

I have posted numerous photos this past week of some gorgeous sunrises that I have been fortunate enough to capture in the morning’s early light!  Today, however, the sky is grey, Lake Michigan has been virtually zapped of all its color, leaving a myriad of grey tones in its wake.  Opposites indeed.  This lead my thoughts to this past week of ‘extremes’.   Likened to the differences between the inspiring, watercolor clouds I bore witness to this past week, compared with today’s grey hues from sky to water, I realize that my experiences last week were also, at times, hovering on the spectrum at each end.

When I was dealing with the downright unpleasant…

Publishing independently costs money – there’s no getting around it. A professional edit, typesetting, a cover design – while you don’t have to pay for any of these things, they can make a difference to the look and feel of your finished book. However, independent publishing doesn’t, for the most part, make much money – the majority of authors these days, whether traditional or independently published, rely on secondary sources of income to keep going. So, if you can save money here and there, it’s a bonus.

I’ve written before about using photography, including the potential pitfalls of using images without permission, the different types of stock images available and the effects you can create using your own images. I still believe that, as independent authors, using our own photography wherever possible is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to promote our work. So, when I heard…

I’ve never been any good at art.  You know, ‘art’ in the traditional sense of creating something with paint, paper, brushes, that sort of thing.  My recent Sunday posts have been about my thoughts after the stress of the workweek.  I keep hearing about how important it is to ‘de-stress’.  To me these were more buzz-words than anything else.  However, after a series of very stressful weeks, I knew I had to do something to recharge my batteries.  What should I do? Meditate?  Go for long walks?  Read books about mindfulness and taking the stress out of my repertoire of feelings?

Do you remember a few weeks ago I wrote a post about challenging everyone to learn something new?  Enter my de-stressing, scary I’d make an embarrassment of myself, ART PROJECT!  Lo and behold, I bought some ‘made for kids’ paints, basic water-color paper, and the cheapest brushes I could…