Getting a Crown, Other Authors, Healthy Eating: Monday Blog Post

Newest News:

The 7th I’m scheduled for a crown. Not the pretty kind that the Queen of England gets to wear. The kind that has 2 or 3 people in your mouth with sharp implements. I’ve put it off for years but unless I want more trouble, I decided to go ahead and get it done. Adulting at its’ best.

Desert Burro at Oatman

Do you all follow other authors? I do. They get up to all sorts of things. They travel to places where their stories are set. They go to conferences in cool places like New Orleans or Miami. They have birthday parties and anniversaries and everything gets shared on their author page. Why? Because all of those experiences eventually get into their stories. I love following my favorite authors. All this to say my husband and I, after a long Covid delay and even longer than that, to be honest, have finally booked a couple of nights in Laughlin, Nevada. What’s there you ask? A river cruise on the Colorado river, complete with music and dinner, for one thing. Oatman, a historic small desert mining town complete with the descendants of the original burros. There’s gambling, of course, but after I lose about $40 I’m done with that. But like it’s big sister, Las Vegas, there are shows in Laughlin, and those can be fun, too. We’re doing that at the end of March and I’m looking forward to it. I figure it’s been about 4 years since we’ve taken any sort of vacation. Time to expand our horizons.

Still working out the vegan lifestyle. I found a facebook group of vegans in my hometown, and lots of people I know belong to this group. How cool is that? I’ve also been watching quite a few Youtube videos about vegan meal preparation. I find I need those videos to help me change my mindset about meals. I’ve been cooking for decades and it’s second nature on meal cooking in the old way. It’s not automatic for vegan cooking. I have to really think about it. So it’s helpful to watch videos on vegan dinners, vegan meal prep, vegan snacks, the whole thing. Last night I just skipped eating dinner because I had nothing in the refrigerator ready to go. Thinking about what to make was too much. So I just skipped the whole thing. I shouldn’t do that, of course, so I’m getting the fridge and pantry stocked and if nothing else, I could make some sort of vegan stir fry in a hurry, without a lot of fuss.

Stay tuned!

Giveaways:

The Valentine’s Day giveaway is still live. There are 14 authors involved this time so a lot of great books and prizes are up for grabs. Go to my link, https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/ to enter.

 

Where will I Be?

The Desert Foothills festival in Scottsdale. Mark your calendar for June 4th, 9am to 2pm at the Holland Center, 34250 North 60th street. See you there. This is the first annual festival and I’m looking forward to it.

Phoenix Fan Fusion, which dropped the January proposed date and is back scheduled for its normal time, Memorial Day weekend. Even more fun, it’s the event’s 20th anniversary! I’ll be there in Artists Alley, as soon as I find out my table number, I’ll post it here and on my website. I’d better make my hotel reservations! https://phoenixfanfusion.com/

 

Newsletter Sign Up:

 

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming. Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

 

Newest Releases:

Creature in the Night, a short Halloween, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Fantasy story has been published. It is up on Amazon, in Kindle Unlimited or for purchase at $.99. You can also see all my books on http://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads or BookBub. Your review is critical to help me promote my books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

 

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Orchid Bloom, Healthy Eating, Word of the Year: Monday Blog Post

 

Newest News:

I was very pleased to find a second bloom on my orchid. The picture is above. It’s very satisfying to see, as I was pretty much convinced I was never going to be able to get that plant to flower again.

It’s peach harvesting time in Rim Country. Photo by Randy Cockrell

How many of us keep thinking we need to eat healthier? *Raises my hands and waves like a demented being!* On top of that, I’ve been seriously considering not only going back to being vegetarian, but going vegan. I’ve decided it’s time. I’ve started a raw food vegan way of eating. Will it last? I don’t know. Do I feel better about not eating animals who seem to have just as much fun with life, when we allow it, as we do? Yep. I’m certainly not hungry on this diet. And all of the food is really tasty. Kiwi, mango, banana, apple, dates, papaya, crisp green salads with cucumber, tomato, sweet peppers, and so much more. Nothing heavy. Nothing that makes me feel bloated. I’m loving it. I committed to go for a month then assess how I feel. Told my doc about it and she gave me a thumbs up. This is related to my next thoughts.

Word of the Year. I’ve done these before. Choose a word that will be my “catch word” for the year. One year it was the word Fortune, as I was embarking on doing some things that would help out my author business and selling of books. I’ve chosen other words in other years, but nothing that really grabbed me. I chose one in December of 2021 for this year and I could never remember it. I might even have talked about it here. However, all month the word Abundance has been rising to the top of my thoughts. The above mentioned new diet features abundance in all the fresh and tasty fruits and veg available to me, even here in the heart of Arizona, where aside from household gardens, no crops are grown at all. I find that amazing, how much beautiful food and produce is right in my local grocery stores. So I’m claiming the word Abundance and making that my word of 2022. What is abundant in your life?

You can find my books at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/conniecockrell. Just scroll down and select the book or books you’re interested in.

 

Stay tuned!

Giveaways:

The Valentine’s Day giveaway has gone live. There are 14 authors involved this time so a lot of great books and prizes are up for grabs. Go to my link, https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/ to enter.

 

Where will I Be?

Just took a look at my Where Will I Be page on my website and realized that it’s woefully out of date. I had the Tempe FanCon this last weekend and totally enjoyed all of the great cosplay costumes people young and old wore. Next up is Phoenix Fan Fusion, which dropped the January proposed date and is back scheduled for its normal time, Memorial Day weekend. Even more fun, it’s the event’s 20th anniversary! I’ll be there in Artists Alley, as soon as I find out my table number, I’ll post it here and on my website. I’d better make my hotel reservations! https://phoenixfanfusion.com/

 

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming. Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

 

Newest Releases:

Creature in the Night, a short Halloween, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Fantasy story has been published. It is up on Amazon, in Kindle Unlimited or for purchase at $.99. You can also see all my books on http://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads or BookBub. Your review is critical to help me promote my books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

 

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe, I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.