Hey there happy reader!

We’ve all waited long enough… here’s the cover art for my new novel, “From Below the Horizon.”

I think it captures the essence of the novel. 

I also think that the placement of the amulet is intriguing. That piece of jewelry holds great significance in this novel, so I’m glad it’s front and center on the cover.

We’re inching closer to the December 9th launch of this title and I am excited!!!! As soon as I have details about a pre-sale date, I’ll be sure to post them here first.

Plus, I’m hard at work on my Brooklyn Bridge series. 

This project has certainly taken on a life of its own. I must admit that it’s interesting to switch to a contemporary novel after having written one so fully steeped in history.

I’m listening to current music to help me set the mood in my own mind. (Do you have the playlist? If not, here it is again.)

I am having so much fun with these books.

My male protagonist, Jack, is a green flag sort of romantic hero. He’s thoughtful, witty, cute, and too good to be true… he’s the ideal guy!

And Brianna, the female protagonist is a hot mess. She’s been looking for love in all the wrong places, and when it shows up on her doorstep, she doesn’t know what to do first.

I think you’ll like the banter between these two – and wait until you meet their friends! I’ve taken a big city and turned it into a small community, which, to me, is the ideal place to live.

Here’s a short sneak peek:

*************************************

“Was your girlfriend busy tonight? It’s too bad that she couldn’t join us.”

Jack could feel the discomfort at having to confess the truth begin in his knees and quickly travel to his chest. “Yes, well, about that. Um… there is no girlfriend.”

Brianna stopped at the red light on the corner. “What do you mean, no girlfriend? Didn’t you tell me at the coffee shop that…”

“I did. I’m sorry. It’s my standard response when I meet a woman. I know, it’s terrible of me to lie, but you can’t imagine how many crazy people I meet. Not that you’re crazy. You’re not. I’m just – careful?”

She started to cross when the light changed to green, but just as she did, the car in the intersection tried to beat the need to stop, sped up and turned toward them. He grabbed her hand and pulled her back onto the curb. She stumbled a bit and steadied herself against his chest.

“Whoa,” he said, not sure for a moment if he was reacting to the near miss or the way her body felt pressed up against his own. “Are you okay?”

“That was close. I didn’t even see him coming at us, did you?”

“No,” he said. But in his mind, he was sure it was because he was watching to see if she wanted to jump in an Uber to get away from him. He’d lied to her, but she was still there.

Was that a good sign?

*************************************

I hope you find this small piece of “The Forty-Eight Hour Rule” intriguing.

These two characters keep talking to one another in my head… he falls first, but they both fall hard!

This is the perfect time of year to grab something from your TBR list and take it with you to the park or the beach to enjoy some lovely autumn weather. Get outside and read!

Hey there happy reader,

Well, it may not be officially autumn yet, but the two signs that we’re moving in that direction are apparent. First, the leaves are falling, so that means that it’s time to close the pool!

And in New York City, children are starting school today! 

It’s always been the tradition here to start classes after Labor Day. Whenever I hear of kids returning mid-August, I always think that they’re getting cheated out of their summer vacation. I know that other states end school by early June and we close at the end of that month, but if I was a kid and the sun was blazing outside, I don’t think I’d be able to concentrate at my desk!

Anyway, it is a pet peeve of mine when I see a car going around a stopped school bus with its lights flashing. Let’s remember to slow down and let those young people cross the street safely. It only takes a minute of your time and it’s well worth the effort!

On to other news… I’ve started a Substack column. 

It’s the place I read the current thoughts of some of my favorite authors, so I’ve decided to join in the fun.

The material will be different than what I post here. You’ve still got the inside track to all my news and current events in this newsletter. My Substack is an opportunity for more reflective writing.

I plan to talk about my journey from being self-published to now having a publisher, the differences, and the trials and the challenges of each. I hope you’ll follow along and subscribe.

Here’s the link to the first one to get you started:

I think that by next week, I should have the cover art for “From Below the Horizon” to share with you. 

Vinci sent me the first version, which I sent back for some serious changes. They sent a second version, which I tweaked some more. I am confident that the next image I see will be perfect. Once it is, I’ll post it here first!

Finally, I was watching the Today show and saw a piece about a woman who has a travelling bookshop! 

It’s called The Fleuria, and it looks awesome. Stephanie Pao is the owner, and she drives around Southern California in an Airstream filled with romance novels. What a concept! I’m in LA so often… I think I’m going to reach out and see if I can do an event with her! I’ll let you know if that happens…

For today, I’m just going to buckle down and write! 

That Brooklyn Bridge series is calling me and I’ve got to get my protagonists out of the mess they’ve created for themselves.

Hey there happy reader!

Is time accelerating for you as quickly as it seems to be for me? Here it is, Labor Day weekend, and I feel like my chore list has grown exponentially.

While summer is the time for laying back and enjoying the warmth of the outdoors, autumn always signals a return to preparing for the long winter ahead.

There’s so much to do in the yard – clean up the remnants of the garden, plant some mums and winter cabbage, cover the lounge chairs, put away the umbrellas and close the pool… and that’s all before the leaves fall and the raking begins!

Then, of course, I must carefully deck the house with Halloween decorations…

I absolutely love this time of year, though, so I’m not complaining. Well, just a bit. I mean, it is a lot of work, lol!

And, of course, I’m busy writing. My work-in-progress, “The 48 Hour Rule” has morphed itself into a series – “The Brooklyn Bridge Books” – and I’m busy constructing my “book bible” as we speak.

What’s a “book bible?” Good question!

It’s a comprehensive and organized document that highlights the different characters names, features, plot points and resolutions so that every story is intertwined and makes sense. It would be terrible to start a series without one because it’s easy to forget a character’s eye color, for example, from one book to the next. And while I’m sure my readers would find any mistake I might make, I’d rather not err in the first place. A good book bible will keep you honest, that’s for sure!

Besides writing, I’ve compiled a fall reading list. It’s long!

So much good fiction is coming our way, starting with this title, which I’ve already pre-ordered! 

A woman whose life seems to be falling apart re-reads some of the books written by an author who was her favorite when she was much younger. 

She begins to imagine what it would be like to have this writer be her friend. Ann Pachett said this book is “a tender and hilarious novel about heartbreak and the journey from isolation and loneliness towards love.” I can’t wait to read it – and I LOVE the cover!

But just in case you need a fun read to tuck into your bag for one more beach day…

My publisher, Vinci Books, is offering this hockey enemies-to-lovers romance for FREE! 

It’s a parting gift of summer, just for you!

Hey there happy reader,

There’s hot, and then there’s inferno-like heat. That’s the situation in Los Angeles right now… it’s blistering outside, making the simplest of errands feel impossible. Just walking across the supermarket parking lot feels like a trek across a desert at noon! I’m happy to be back in my native New York City humidity, and that’s saying a lot.

(me, melting in the heat!)

That kind of weather doesn’t help the creative process, either. 

All I could think about during my visit with the family were glasses of cold water and air-conditioned spaces!

It was our grandson’s last week off before his second year of nursery school began, so we limited ourselves to inside activities. Thank goodness for the Los Angeles Science Center and Kidspace. The exhibits kept him busy and offered refuge from the blazing hot sun outside.

I do hope that my next trip there in October will be cooler, but who knows? I mean, global warming is a thing, right??

Let me answer that last question. 

It is a thing… before heading to Los Angeles, we spent a weekend in Cle Elum, Washington, about ninety minutes outside of Seattle at a wedding celebration. While cooler there, the air was filled with wildfire smoke.

The dry conditions caused by a drought ignited forest fires and we were constantly shuttled inside and then out again, putting the scheduled outdoor ceremony at risk.

Just as the wedding party prepared to walk down the aisle, a sudden rain shower washed enough of the smoke away for the nuptials to be held outdoors.

Everyone was thrilled – it was a real life “happily ever after.”

As for me, I’m back at work in my home office, and am oh so happy to be here for a bit. I’m hoping to get a huge chunk of my work in progress, “The 48 Hour Rule,” finished before I hit the road again this fall.

My next trip includes a visit in London with my publisher, Vinci Books. More about that as we get closer to that exciting adventure…