Manic Mondays: Newsflash ...

(Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels: Photo altered by Dianne Burckhardt)

Hello My Happy People,

Have I got some great news for you ... I have been writing today and already added a 1,000 words to part 7 Into the West: Family Ties. I think I might actually have my groove back, but I do not want to jinx myself.

Today is a holiday here in Germany (Whit Monday) so the hubbie and I took Shaggy and walked over to our local Starbucks and got coffee. It was a pleasant morning sitting out on the patio. The coffee shop was busy, but not too busy. We had a nice relaxing moment and then I came home and started writing. I am taking a break now to write this blog and grab a bite to eat for lunch then diving back into my book. I will share a bit in the podcast this week of the new text.

Here you can see Shaggy hiding under my chair at the cafe. Do not worry, he is not overheated. It was actually a bit chilly out today. Shaggy has a lot of stress when we are out on the street and that is what you see in this photo. We always take water with us when we have him out and about with us, but he never drinks while we are in public, but we always offer it to him. He started out life as a street dog in Moscow and we suspect he was not treated well on the streets. Now when he has to be out in public, he shows stress like this but he is doing so much better than when we first got him. He actually did great today.

Audiobook News: I have also been working to learn how to create a single file of all the audiobook tracks that can be downloaded from our site and will play in order or you can select tracks to play. Wish me luck on this. As a practice, I plan to set up the beta audiobook of Into the West: The Orphan Train as a downloadable file for $1.99 for the complete beta audiobook for people who would actually like to own a copy instead of doing the free streaming. This will be good practice for when I am ready to sell the other audiobooks.

Cover (re)Reveal: I know I already shared the book cover for Into the West: Family Ties when I was working on it before, but it has been so long I think I will do another cover reveal. I have changed it up a bit so it seems like a good idea. That should be coming here in about a week, so keep watching our social media to see it.

But for now, it's time to get back to work! Have a great Monday and may your week be fabulous! Go forth and be happy, people!

With gratitude,