Category Archives: My Family

Monday Blog Post: Anyone have a Super Bowl Hangover?

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e-book Cover, Lost Rainbows, J.A. Marlow

Cover for Lost Rainbows by J.A. Marlow

I just finished watching the Super Bowl. I chose to root for the Patriots because I’m from upstate NY. No other reason. Imagine my delight that they won. My 2nd brother, I have 4 of them, was rooting for the Seahawks. Sorry Bro. I invited my husband’s brother down from the neighboring town and the four of us, Hubby, me, mom and Bro-in-law, had a good time chowing down on pulled pork sandwiches and chicken wings and coleslaw. Brother-in-law brought a coconut cream pie for dessert. Yummy.  A good day all around.

I have finished getting Lost Rainbows up on both Smashwords and CreateSpace so you should be able to find the book on Amazon at the very least. I put the first chapter out last month on my newsletter. You didn’t get it? Sign up for the newsletter on my blog, www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com. You’ll get the scoop on what I’m writing much earlier than I post it here.

Today I’m headed for Phoenix with a bunch of hiking friends. We’re going to ride our bikes on a Greenway path from Scottsdale to Tempe Town Lake and back again, about 30 miles. I think I have lost my mind but we’ll see. Tuesday is the regular hiking day and it’s a 7 mile hike. Yep, I’m thinking I need an evaluation. Hopefully on Wednesday I’ll be still walking.

On the writing front. I’m still working on the first draft of my All About Bob series, It’s a College Thing. The title sucks, I hope by the time I finish it something better will occur to me. I have seven scenes left to write so it will be a novella, unless in revision it becomes something else. This remains to be seen. I’m also editing the NaNo novel from November, Mystery at the Fair. I have a lot of irons in the fire, for sure. Want special updates and offers? Check out signing up for my newsletter.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Lost Rainbows released January 25th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Blog Post: Last Monday of 2014

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Gold Fish

Gold fish in large Tank by Randy Cockrell

It’s the last Monday of the year. I hope your Christmas was merry and bright. My daughter and her boyfriend came down from Flagstaff to visit both sets of families. Of course we all overdosed on turkey dinner. They got it twice. Presents were exchanged. I received books I’ve had on my list. I’m already a third of the way through one. We have had a quiet weekend. Sunday I spent time exploring a program called Daz3D. Its basic program is free with extra things you can buy to expand the options. I went through a lot of tutorials and spent an hour playing with it. It will take some time to learn how to create backgrounds, people/creatures, and effects. Check it out at Daz3D.com.

The garden is finished till growing season. I spread compost and planted onion and parsley seed. I should see activity in February or March, depending on the weather. The bed that’s overrun with mint, I spent a lot of time pulling roots, twice! But there’s still mint in there. I’ll have to be very diligent about pulling it up every time I see some poking its head up. In the meantime, I have a 2 foot square of grass that we planted for the dog who is now gone. I’ll drop some roots in there and see how they do. The square is surrounded by hostile ground, the hard, rocky, clay soil of my yard. It should stay contained there pretty well.

This week we have an invite to a New Year’s Eve get together and a New Year’s Day brunch. Both are pot lucks and I have my recipes selected. I’ll need one or two more ingredients so I’ll go shopping today for what’s still needed. Oh! I’ll take pictures of one of them and share it on another blog I where I post. It’s called Chicklet’s In the Kitchen on WordPress. I am scheduled to post on the 25th of every month.

On the writing front, I’ve been editing a short story called After Math. It’s been shopped out to three different contests and was rejected each time. I’ve revised it and sent it to a Content Editor for review. Once I get it back and make final changes, I’ll submit before the end of February deadline for that contest. I’m also working on my leprechaun story, called Lost Rainbows. That’s been edited and I’ll be passing it out to my beta readers this week. I hope to have it published by the end of January. If you’re interested in following this process more closely, sign up for my newsletter. Special offers show up there you may be interested in receiving.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

The Downtrodden: a Brown Rain Story released November 22nd! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Almost Christmas

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Tuba, Lights, Christmas, Parade

Lights on Tuba, Christmas Parade 2013

Merry Christmas to you and your families. It’s the season of merry-making. Sunday we attended a pot-luck at a neighbor’s house. This week my daughter and her boy-friend will be in town. Christmas dinner will be Tuesday night at my house, Wednesday afternoon at his family’s house. Christmas day a couple we hike with is opening their home up in the afternoon for a get together, chili being the main offering, with the rest of us bringing something to share. There are a great many retirees in my town and most often the children and grandchildren are far away. So for those of us not travelling, this is a way to make the day merry and bright.

I have finally finished cleaning up the garden beds. I spent a lot of time pulling mint roots out of the bed. I most certainly did not get them all. It will be a multi-year fight to remove it all. But I’ve got green onions up. They don’t mind the cold or hard frosts at all. I also had 5 potatoes left in the ground. I tucked them in. Next spring I’ll have 5 potato plants. Yay! I still need to get bags of compost and layer that on top of each bed. If I sprinkle a few parsley seeds in one square of my square-foot garden, I’ll have parsley first thing in the spring.

My Mom arrived last Tuesday. She’s spent the week settling in. There are already a few pictures scattered around her room. This week we’ll continue the process of getting her set up with doctors, supplemental health insurance and other necessities of life.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

The Downtrodden: a Brown Rain Story released November 22nd! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Busy December

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Candy and cookies have been made and mailed. That’s a huge load off of my mind. I then went into full Christmas decorating mode. The tree is up and presents for Mom and daughter are under it. Knick-knacks and decorative cloths are distributed around the house. Yay! Done!

The garden is still waiting as I’ve been busy. Last Wednesday I spoke at the local Soroptimist’s meeting. I had a lovely lunch and met a lot of nice women. They seemed to enjoy my little speech and a handful of books were purchased. A good day. I also had three more people sign up for my newsletter. That’s a big win for me.

I’ve been talking to my Mom nearly every day. We’ve painted her room a light lavender, hung the curtains, and shampooed the carpet. The chest of drawers is painted, the bed assembled, a computer desk and chair were found at a local thrift shop and installed in the room. I bought a new quilt for the bed. It looks good in there. Hubby set up the TV to work with our Dish service and set up the computer for her too. She arrives tomorrow. I’m excited.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

The Downtrodden: a Brown Rain Story released November 22nd! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Candy Making Madness

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Christmas, Chocolates, Peanut Butter Cups, Home made

Christmas Chocolates – Homemade peanut butter cups by Connie Cockrell

I’m in full Christmas swing. The outside decorations are up and have been since the 1st. I like to send candy and cookies to family and they need to be in the mail soon! So, I’ve made peppermint patties, peanut butter cups and truffles. Today I’ll make the cookies. They’re my daughter’s favorite and go by a few different names depending on your cook book. They’re snowballs or Mexican Wedding Cakes or Russian Tea Cakes. They’re easy to make, ship well and are very tasty.  I’m hoping to get them in the mail by Wednesday.

The garden has to wait so I can get the candy mailed out. It looks so sad out there. I promise, poor garden, that I’ll get you cleaned up soon.

My book, The Downtrodden, book two of the Brown Rain series is up on Smashwords and it’s  up on Amazon, Apple and Barnes and Noble. I’ve just put it on Kobo as well. All of the links are below. I’m still featuring a special for newsletter recipients. Sign up for my newsletter and tell me you’d like to do a review and I’ll send you a free ebook. Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. Or sign up here. Use Control, Click to access the link. If you’re already a newsletter recipient and you’d like to review a copy, drop me a comment or an email and I’ll send you the secret code!

I have moved the loveseat into the garage so there’s room for the Christmas tree. I still need to get all of the totes full of interior decorations down from the garage shelves and into the house. Right after I get the candy mailed.

I’ve been talking to my Mom nearly every day. We’ve painted her room a light lavender, hung the curtains, and shampooed the carpet. I’ll paint the chest of drawers I got for her today and we still need to get her bed assembled. It arrived a few days ago. Eight days to go!

I talked to my daughter today. She lives in Flagstaff, AZ. With any kind of luck she’ll be able to come here for Christmas. That will be good. I won’t have to mail her gifts. She’ll be here to open them. I’m standing by for further developments.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

The Downtrodden: a Brown Rain Story released November 22nd! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Weekly blog post: Finishing off the Year

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Books, Book Table, Sell Books

Me and My Book Table, November 29, 2014

Thanksgiving at my friend’s house was great. Of course we all ate more than necessary but lots of good conversation was had.

I signed books at the Swiss Village Small Business Saturday Christmas kickoff. The day started warm enough, I was in the sun. By noon the sun had moved to put my spot in the shade. It got cooler after that until at 4pm I called hubby to have him bring my winter coat. I stuck it out until 7pm. Met some nice people, sold a few books and had three people sign up for my newsletter.

My NaNo book, Mystery at the Fair, finished first draft at about 52,000 words. I need to do some research and lots of rewriting and editing. It may be my March 2015 release, I’m not sure yet.

My book, The Downtrodden, book two of the Brown Rain series is up on Smashwords and I’m finally got it up on Amazon, Apple and Barnes and Noble. I’m still featuring a special for newsletter recipients. Sign up for my newsletter and tell me you’d like to do a review and I’ll send you a free ebook. Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. Or sign up here. Use Control, Click to access the link. If you’re already a newsletter recipient and you’d like to review a copy, drop me a comment or an email and I’ll send you the secret code!

No work has been done on the last two garden beds. Last week was nutso and nothing was accomplished. I did, however, manage to get my outdoor Christmas lights up on Sunday. Hubby and I will do the final connectivity today and test the timers. Yay, Christmas! I sent my Christmas cards out on Friday, day after Thanksgiving. It’s a lot easier when I’m not making the fifty or so cards I send out. Up next? Candy making and sending, interior cleaning and Christmas decorating as well as getting those garden beds cleaned up. I only decorate for Christmas so for me it’s a pretty big deal.

I’ve been talking to my Mom nearly every day. Looking forward to her flying out here. Sixteen days to go!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

The Downtrodden: a Brown Rain Story released November 22nd! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

More News on Where I’ll be and Other News from my Life

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Bird, Fence, Fall Color

Bird on Fence by Randy Cockrell

The picture is of a western jay sitting on my back fence. The neighbor’s tree is in the background in full fall color.

I updated my Where I’ll Be page on my blog. http://conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com/where-will-i-be/. I’ve just lined up an author signing here in Payson for November 29th. The Swiss Village shopping strip has a Christmas kick-off the Friday, Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving. On Saturday the 29th, the biggest day of the three day event, I’ll have a tent set up to sell and sign my books. I have invites out to a few other authors, so I’m hoping there will be four of us there to say hi and sign books. The event starts at 10am and runs until after Santa leaves, probably 9pm. Hope to see you there.

I’m still doing well on my National Novel Writing Month challenge. I’ve passed the halfway point and to be honest, I’m really getting into this story. Estimated release date? Maybe March. I’ll see how the revisions and editing go.

My book, The Downtrodden, book two of the Brown Rain series came back from the editors and I’ve made all of my corrections. Now I need to format it and get it put up on Amazon and other places. As usual, I’d love to have some reviews. Sign up for my newsletter and tell me you’d like to do a review and I’ll send you a free PDF file of the book. Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. Or sign up here. Use Control, Click to access the link.

We started having a cold snap two days ago so I brought my lemon tree, my bay leaf tree, my jade plant and my daughter’s plant inside. I picked all of the rest of the tomatoes and peppers, sweet and hot. Once we get a really hard frost, I’ll go out and clean up the garden beds for the winter.

I mentioned last week I’m getting ready for my mom to come and live with me. Saturday I found a used chest of drawers. It is in very good shape. I’ll paint it to match the bed and put it in the room we’re prepping for her. I’m so excited.

 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

First Encounter: a Brown Rain Story released September 18th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Challenge The Spy/Bride Post

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P1010937-1000x750 RAF Chicksands Priory by SBuxton https://www.lumixgexperience.panasonic.co.uk/gallery/sbuxton/chicksands-priory/#.VFW7LPldWo0

P1010937-1000×750 RAF Chicksands Priory by SBuxton https://www.lumixgexperience.panasonic.co.uk/gallery/sbuxton/chicksands-priory/#.VFW7LPldWo0

Here’s the deal. I was informed of this cool web site: beyardandholmes.com (http://bayardandholmes.com/2014/10/22/new-release-and-the-spy-bride-contest/)   and a challenge they are running. Here’s their challenge:

 We are inviting all bloggers to write a post about absolutely anything espionage or wedding related. Link back to this post to be entered in a contest for a $25 Amazon card and a copy of RISKY BRIDES.

Write about your favorite Bond movie, your favorite historical spook, or how you used to spy on your siblings. Tell us about your wildest bachelor party, you favorite wedding, or your worst bridesmaid’s dress. If you manage to write about both spooks and weddings in the same post, you’ll have your name entered twice.

So, really, how can I go wrong?

Here’s the post.

As some of you may remember, I spent 20 years in the U.S. Air Force. One of the best assignments I ever had was to RAF Chicksands in the United Kingdom. It was a small, tranquil base about an hour north of London. We didn’t have planes. We had antennas.

The antennas were for listening to what was going on in Europe. I’m sure if anyone is interested they can find information on the internet about “Elephant Cages” and what information was being gathered.

What I liked about the place was that it was an excellent location for my family. We arrived there just as my daughter was turning eight. She was sure that because her name was Elizabeth, she’d be invited to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen. Unfortunately that never happened but we did stay there for two tours. We left that idyllic base when my daughter was 16.

One other aspect of the base that was a real draw was that the base had a Priory. An old religious cloister sat smack dab in the middle of the base. It was the hub of many social activities. It never hurt that it had a ghost. Halloween parties were a huge deal. But the place was so lovely, many a wedding was held there. There was a volunteer organization that worked to fund building repairs, keep the gardens up, and just make use of the place.

That was by far my best assignment and many of us that served there still chat via social networks. It no longer serves as a military installation and the Elephant Cage is long gone but the Priory is still there, and I expect, still hosting weddings.

In other news:

By the way, NaNo has started and I’m just ahead of my target goals. I love that. Then if I have to miss a writing day, I’m not all behind and weepy.

I’ve also developed a cover for the cozy mystery I’m writing. Just for giggles, I’ve loaded it on my Pinterest page. Check it out: http://www.pinterest.com/conniecockrell/ That would be my My Books and Stories board, Mystery at the Fair is the cover pin.

That thyme? I got it down, spent an hour and a half picking the leaves from the stems and hung both rosemary and sage to dry.

Last week I talked about Christmas Cards. No can do. But, I’m not giving up my candy making. I’ll try and do some steps in advance in November that can be held in the fridge until I’m ready to complete them and get the tins in the mail.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Like any author, my books sell based on reviews. Would you be interested in getting a free copy to review for me? Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. Or sign up here. Use Control, Click to access the link.

First Encounter: a Brown Rain Story released September 18th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!

Flash Fiction Friday: Where Do Babies Come From

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Betty holding a leaf on the patio. Photo by Randy Cockrell

Betty holding a leaf on the patio. Photo by Randy Cockrell

Last December I did a writing exercise where I was not to say who was doing the talking, in other words, write a short story with no dialog tags, or other ‘stage’ direction. I thought it came out pretty well but in the interest of easier reading, I’ve added dialog tags and other emotional direction.

Where Do Babies Come From

I was dashing around the kitchen in the usual after work way getting chicken ready for dinner when my daughter, Brittany, looked up from her coloring book at the kitchen table. “Amanda says babies come from mommy’s tummy’s. Is that true?”

The plate of chicken nearly slipped out of my hands. Amanda is a cute little girl but her parents keep her a little too well informed. I swallowed. “Well, that is true.”

Her favorite red-orange crayon hovered over the coloring book page. “How do they get in a mommy’s tummy?”

Now? I’m having this conversation now with a seven year old? I glanced at the clock; my husband wasn’t going to be home for at least another half hour.  “Well. Um, first; mommy’s and daddy’s fall in love.”

Her grey-blue eyes drilled into me. “And then they get a baby?”

I started to sweat. “No, not exactly.” I put the plate of chicken thighs down, washed my hands then walked over to the table. “Mommy’s and Daddy’s love each other. Then, when they think the time is right, when they have a lot of love, so much love that they have extra, then they make a baby.”

She nodded, her little face clearly rolling that information around in her head. “Do they use modeling clay? We made little people in art class out of modeling clay.”

“Noooo, not exactly.” Under my breath I muttered, “I should have bought that, How a Baby is Born, book.”

“What? You need a book to make babies?”

Why can she hear that and not hear me when I tell her it’s time for bed? “Uh, yes. I can show you pictures. How’s that? I’ll get a book that tells you all about how babies are born.”

She shrugged. “OK. Can I have a cookie?”

 

The End

302 Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

A New Week

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The Last Obstacles in the Mogollon Mudder June 7th, 2014 Photo by Connie Cockrell

The Last Obstacles in the Mogollon Mudder June 7th, 2014
Photo by Connie Cockrell

So much is going on with me personally and in the world, it almost makes me want to unplug from the TV and Internet. Plane crashes, child kidnappings, school shootings, it is all very sad. I always seem to be asking myself what those people were thinking. My hubby’s response is generally, “They’re crazy.” I guess that’s it. They’re crazy.

My mom hasn’t been well so I worry about that too. She has a series of tests coming up and with any luck a treatment will result that lets her get back her strength and breathing. I hope so. I talk with her just about daily. She spent the weekend with my second brother and his family. A mini-vacation so to speak. She’ll go home tomorrow morning.

I picked an early Sun Gold cherry tomato yesterday and one ripe blueberry. They never made it to the house. I ate them right there in the garden, still warm from the sun. Doesn’t get better than that.

Saturday I went to the Farmer’s Market and attended the Monster Mogollon Mudder. For those who don’t know, it’s a 5K run with obstacles that you have to climb or crawl over or through. Lots of mud pits along the way. A friend of ours was entered of over 400 entrants, twice the size it was last year. A good crowd of spectators was there, as well. The above picture is from that event.

I’m still editing Revolution. It’s going slowly because I’m also taking a writing class that is heavy on the planning work and writing my flash stories for Fridays. I put out a newsletter a couple of days ago. I made an offer to those readers. Want to know what the offer was? Sign up for the newsletter. Those readers get a few perks that others don’t. June is planning month for the July Camp Nano. I still don’t have an idea. I was thinking about my Gulliver Station series and started to wonder what kind of marketing I could do for it. One idea is a little shamrock pin, similar to the one Meg gave Jo to wear to show that she is part of the Underground. Another idea is a ship patch, for the Adirondack. The Adirondack features in both Hard Choices and Revolution. What do you all think? Would either of those be of interest to you?

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Please sign up for my newsletter where you’ll get first dibs on any promotions, book announcements, and other information. Want to know how to get a free copy of each new book? Go to the button on the right side of the blog or go to my Newsletter tab to sign up. Or sign up here. Use Control, Click to access the link. Want to be a beta reader? Sign up for the newsletter! I’ll give you a free copy. All I ask is a review on the e-tailer or Goodreads site of your choice.

I have an in depth interview on my Smashwords Author page. You can read it here.  Don’t see information about me you’d like to know? Leave me your question in my comments and I’ll try to answer it.

Hard Choices: A Gulliver Station Story released May17th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today!