I'm Back!

Welcome back, me! And I have a giveaway to offer at the end of this post!!

As you all know, I took the month of August off from blogging because I had a couple of weeks there that I knew was going to be impossible for me to post. So I decided I deserved a summer break just like the school kids!  And, I can promise ya'all... I enjoyed it immensely. It's been a long time (I won't mention how many years because I don't want to give away how very old I really am!) since I had any kind of summer break. I may just need to do this every year!

Unfortunately, it's over now, boo hoo! But it feels good to be back in the swing of things. Although I took a month off from blogging, I still got quite a bit of writing done. Started several new stories and got some submissions out. Yay!

During my summer break I made an emergency trip home to Ohio, went on a true vacation to my sisters in Wisconsin, had a book reading and signing at Barnes and Noble,  started the long process of getting stuff around for a garage sale, and got a nasty infection that had me down for about a week.

My emergency trip back home turned out better than expected and my mother-in-law is doing much better. What a relief that was as we didn't expect her to pull through. God answered our prayers on that one, thank you god!

Had a wonderful vacation to Wisconsin. My oldest sister and her hubby live there and my other sister and her hubby from Virginia also made the trip (even though  my sis was on crutches and it took them an extra day of travel because their GPS screwed up and they got caught right in the midst of Chicago traffic). But they finally made it and we were all together. It was fabulous! My oldest sister/hubby are  wonderful hosts who treated us to many delicious meals, a fantastic day on the water, a trip to one of the best flea markets I've ever been to, some great golf outings for my hubby and plenty of fishing for my brother-in-law. We always have such fun together and always makes us wonder why we don't get together more often!

The only thing bad about getting back home and into my regular routine is... the dirt in my house did NOT take a summer break. Darn dirt, can't you ever take a day off!! I need to WRITE not CLEAN!! But I'm one of those silly people who can not start writing until my house is cleaned. Same thing with cooking. I can't begin cooking until my kitchen is cleaned. Makes no sense! I guess I want it clean so I can mess it up and clean all over again! It's a losing battle.

Kind of like writing is. I write and write and write but it's never enough for me. I have a ton of stories started in my inventory but it's never enough. I'm constantly starting something new. It's the same feeling with having a book published. It's not enough that I have contracts on 4 more books, I want more and more and more! However, it's a good thing to want, right? Hopefully the feeling will continue and after my 50th book, I'll still be wanting more!

Okay, now it's time to have some fun. In honor of my return to blogging and the end of my summer break, I'd like to give a way a signed copy of a book that I have a story in. It's Knowonder's 4th edition of their book of 31 children's stories. My story is called Hippytoe Gets A Frog In Her Throat, page 68. Here's a link to that book in case you want to take a peak. http://www.amazon.com/Hermans-Horrible-Day-collection-read-aloud/dp/1482662485/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378304438&sr=1-1&keywords=hermans+horrible

Our friend, Anne Johnson also has a story in this edition. Anyway, all you need to do is leave a comment telling me a little bit about what you did over the summer! I'll announce the winner in next weeks blog, next Thursday. Thanks for playing along!