Storm, Box Set, Flash Fiction, Fair: Daily Blog Post

 

Lightning in the Night Sky

Hey!

Wednesday morning, 1:30am, we had another monsoon hit. Nothing like dashing around the house, half-awake, shutting windows to keep the blowing rain at bay. There was lots of thunder and lightning. The wind was blowing hard and the rain was just pounding down. When I got back up this morning, there was still some rain, sprinkles mostly, keeping everything wet. I don’t have a rain gauge, my last one sprung a leak, but I suspect we got a nice amount of rain. I wandered around the front yard this morning and found some critter had dug into one of my planters, uprooting a plant. Surprising thing, when I dug into the pot to put it back, the dirt was pretty dry. I have no idea why, everything else is wet. Sigh. Mysteries in my own yard.

I managed some work on my Gulliver Station box set on Tuesday. With luck I’ll get some more done today. I also need a story for Friday’s flash fiction post. I don’t have an idea yet. I usually don’t until I actually sit down and focus.

It’s just 2 weeks until the Northern Gila County Fair. I love county fairs and hope that if you’re in the area, you can come by and see the fabulous work our local ranchers, farmers, backyard gardeners and crafters do. The associated horse show is this weekend, the 25th. You can find out more about our fair at www.NGCFair.com.

That’s it for today! Hope your Thursday is just fantastic!

 

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://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. It’s critical to help me promote the 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 my 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.

Air Fryer, County Fair, Box Set : Monday Blog Post

Air Fryer with Mushrooms

Newest News:

So hubby and I purchased an air fryer. I see so many recipes on Pinterest for air fryers that I decided to get one. We’ve been experimenting over the weekend with both mushrooms and sweet potatoes and they’ve come out very well. I think this is a new favorite kitchen gadget.

I’ve been working on the Northern Gila County Fair (Sep 6 – 8). www.NGCFair.com  Primarily setting up an on-line exhibit registration through the ShoWorks. It was a struggle but late Friday afternoon I got it up and running. That should make it much easier for exhibitors to register their items to show. I’m pretty pleased with myself. I had hubby do a test run while I hovered over him. He liked it pretty well and found it easy to do. Yay!

I’m still working on the Gulliver Station Box Set. I have one more book to edit, then it’s update the Amazon set, and put the Smashwords set up. Then I can work on formatting the paperback version. There’s progress, slow as it may be.

Giveaways:

The 2018 Authors/Bloggers Summer Giveaway is in progress at https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/. There’s $80 as a Grand Prize Paypal Cash and 27 books and 27 prizes available to win.

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 Book Release:

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://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. It’s critical to help me promote the 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.

Fair is This Week: Monday Blog Post

People looking at the Photography entries 2016

The fair set up starts this evening. We put up tents to house the exhibits, livestock and entertainment. Everything has to be up by Wednesday as that’s the day we accept exhibits. Thursday evening is the opening. It will be the first time we’ve opened on a Thursday so it’s pretty exciting. There will be bands, dancing, and all sorts of other entertainment the whole three days of the fair. Check us out at www.NorthernGilaCountyFair.com. If you’re in central AZ Friday or Saturday, stop on by! I’ll be in the Exhibit Tent!

Tomatoes galore. Saturday night I made a goulash sort of thing with tomatoes, yellow squash (both from my garden!), left over porkchops, onion and well, I don’t remember. I do remember it being very good. Hubby had his over rice! And no, darn it, I didn’t take a picture.

Giveaways:

Would you like to win free ebooks, other prizes, or a $130 in Paypal cash? Drop by https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/ and click on the Rafflecopter link for the Summer Blockbuster Giveaway. This ends in one day! Get it now!

Another giveaway for YA Dystopian and Apocalyptic SciFi! There are over 50 authors in this giveaway, all the YA Dystopian and Apocalyptic SciFi to last you the rest of the year.  https://www.epleymarina.com/free-books. This is an Instafreebie giveaway so check it out today. It only lasts one week!

Shout Out:

Author Holly S. Roberts

Here’s a shout out to my friend Holly S. Roberts. She’s releasing her newest book in her Fire Chronicles series, Dragons Don’t Lie, on Tuesday. You can find out more about Holly at http://wickedstorytelling.com/

Where Will I Be?

Check my website, https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/where-will-i-be/ for my next engagements.

On September 16th I’m going to be at the Payson Flea Market. I’ll be there with 2 other authors. This is a great event for picking up Christmas Presents and cool stuff for your house and yard. The market opens at 8am and closes at noon so don’t dally!

My next public appearance will be at the Pine Fall Festival October 14th and 15th. On both days, I’ll be in the Community Hall with a few other authors selling and signing books with the antique dealers. On Saturday besides crafters, is the annual chili cook-off. Saturday hours are 9am – 5pm and the chili cook-off starts at 11am. Be there at 11am. The chili usually runs out by noon. Buy a ticket, taste the chili, vote for your fav top three! My hubby is usually there with his version. Sunday the hours are 9am – 4pm. Lots of crafters will be there and the weather is lovely in October. Come on by and say hello.

From the Phoenix Comicon 2017

NEW! In November the Payson library is having it first ever mini-comicon. SciFi and Fantasy fans, get ready to head to central Arizona. There’ll be costumes, SciFi and Fantasy panels. I’m excited! I’ll post the date as soon as I have it.

On December 9th I’ll be at the Mesa Book Festival. Get full details at https://mesabookfestival.com/. I’ll be in a booth with my author friend Marsha Ward. www.MarshaWard.com. Between the two of us, we have a large number of genre’s covered. Come get your Christmas presents and stocking stuffers. The festival runs from 2pm – 8pm.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on both the regular and the Brown Rain 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 Book Release:

Mystery at the Book Festival released June 1st and I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords, today! You can also see all my books on https://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. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Fair, Fair, Fair: Monday Blog Post

Newest News:

Thanks to everyone who went to my Book Funnel Giveaway. A large number of people signed up to my newsletter and received a free copy of Mystery at the Fair.  I have another giveaway, a YA Dystopian and Apocalyptic one, scheduled for September 4 – 10. That’s the same week as my Northern Gila County Fair but I plan on giving away a copy of my Brown Rain series, book 1, First Encounter. Over 50 authors are involved, so if you like SciFi, this is the giveaway for you. The link will be out next week in this blog and in my Facebook and Twitter feeds. Mark your calendars!

Tomatoes in bowls in the kitchen. Must be time to make a nice marinara sauce. Pears are beginning to ripen. So juicy!

The last few days have been all about data entry into our new fair database. The exhibits tent has 12 departments, each one with dozens of items to log into the database. Never fear. It will be done.

No responses to my Do you use KU, question. Does that mean no one uses Kindle Unlimited for their book reading?

Giveaways:

Would you like to win free ebooks, other prizes, or a $130 in Paypal cash? Drop by https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/ and click on the Rafflecopter link for the Summer Blockbuster Giveaway.

Look here for next week’s YA Dystopian and Apocalyptic SciFi book giveaway!

Shout Out:

Here’s a shout out to Marina Epley. She’s fighting with the Houston floods right now but in calmer days she’s a YA Dystopian, SciFi/Fantasy author. Her newest book is Kora. Check out https://www.epleymarina.com/ to find out more about this great author.

Where Will I Be?

Check my website, https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/where-will-i-be/ for my next engagements.

On September 16th I’m going to be at the Payson Flea Market. The details are still being worked out but this is a great event for picking up Christmas Presents and cool stuff for your house and yard. I’m inviting a couple of other authors to come to my space as well so there’ll be a lot of books to choose from.

My next public appearance will be at the Pine Fall Festival October 14th and 15th. On both days I’ll be in the Community Hall with a few other authors selling and signing books with the antique dealers. On Saturday besides crafters, is the annual chili cook-off. Saturday hours are 9am – 5pm and the chili cook-off starts at 11am. Be there at 11am. The chili usually runs out by noon. Buy a ticket, taste the chili, vote for your fav top three! My hubby is usually there with his version. Sunday the hours are 9am – 4pm. Lots of crafters will be there and the weather is lovely in October. Come on by and say hello.

On December 9th I’ll be at the Mesa Book Festival. Get full details at https://mesabookfestival.com/. I’ll be in a booth with my author friend Marsha Ward. www.MarshaWard.com. Between the two of us, we have a large number of genre’s covered. Come get your Christmas presents and stocking stuffers. The festival runs from 2pm – 8pm.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on both the regular and the Brown Rain 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 Book Release:

Mystery at the Book Festival released June 1st and I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords, today! You can also see all my books on https://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. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

 

Fair, Tested, Garden and More: Monday Blog Post

Bountiful Basket

Newest News:

The Northern Gila County Fair starts 4pm on Thursday September 7th and I’m so excited. So many new things are on tap this year, I just hope everyone comes either Thursday, Friday or Saturday. Things will be hopping all weekend.

The garden is in full swing. Now that the sun is out everyday, the tomatoes are ripening fast. I’m also still in the glut of yellow squash and peaches but now the green bush beans and yellow beans have joined the parade! I also harvested all of the apples from the tree, about 6 gallons worth. Some have already been turned into apple chips in my dehydrator. Some have been turned into apple sauce. I think I’ve given away a ton of peaches. Saturday night the elk attacked my apple tree. When I went out to water on Sunday morning, several branches were broken and I had to trim them off. Color me sad. The pears on the pear trees are looking good. They’ll be ready in September.

My editor and I have gotten together and he managed to get his review and edits of Tested to me. Yay!!! I’m not sure I can get to them now that fair prep is in full swing but I’ll do my best. It may be early October before the story is released.

Giveaways:

Would you like to win free ebooks, other prizes, or a $130 in Paypal cash? Drop by https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/ and click on the Rafflecopter link for the Summer Blockbuster Giveaway.

I’m setting up a mystery giveaway with about 20 other authors on BookFunnel.com. Book Funnel allows you to get your chosen story in whatever e-format you like and is easy to use. The giveaway starts August 19th and runs for one week. I received the link for the BookFunnel Giveaway. I’ll post that on my Facebook/ConniesRandomThoughts on Saturday and in this blog on the 28th. I’ll do another newsletter with the link, on the 19th. Stay tuned for more details and the link to use!

Shout Out:

Author Timothy Bateson

Keep your eyes peeled for the author interview on Wednesday with Timothy Bateson. I found out about Timothy when I did this winter’s Brains to Books online convention. It turns out Tim is from my hometown! I was so excited and emailed him immediately to be on my interviews. If you can’t wait, check out his website: http://timothybatesonauthor.weebly.com.

Where Will I Be?

Check my website, https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/where-will-i-be/ for my next engagements.

My next public appearance will be at the Pine Fall Festival October 14th and 15th. On both days I’ll be in the Community Hall with a few other authors selling and signing books with the antique dealers. On Saturday besides crafters, is the annual chili cook-off. Saturday hours are 9am – 5pm and the chili cook-off starts at 11am. Be there at 11am. The chili usually runs out by noon. Buy a ticket, taste the chili, vote for your fav top three! My hubby is usually there with his version. Sunday the hours are 9am – 4pm. Lots of crafters will be there and the weather is lovely in October. Come on by and say hello.

In September I’m going to be at the Payson Flea Market. The details are still being worked out but this is a great event for picking up Christmas Presents and cool stuff for your house and yard. I’m inviting a couple of other authors to come to my space as well so there’ll be a lot of books to choose from. I’ll keep you posted on the date and times.

On December 9th I’ll be at the Mesa Book Festival. Get full details at https://mesabookfestival.com/. I’ll be in a booth with my author friend Marsha Ward. www.MarshaWard.com. Between the two of us, we have a large number of genre’s covered. Come get your Christmas presents and stocking stuffers. The festival runs from 2pm – 8pm.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on both the regular and the Brown Rain 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 Book Release:

Mystery at the Book Festival released June 1st and I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords, today! You can also see all my books on https://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. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

August run up to the Northern Gila County Fair: Monday Blog Post

Newest News:

This is the month we pull out all the stops for getting the Northern Gila County Fair ready. The fair is September 7th – 9th this year. We’ve changed the opening to 4pm on Thursday and running all day Friday and Saturday. Since in the past we’ve had so few people attend on Sunday, we’re just going to have exhibits pick up on that day. We have a fantastic line up of entertainment, Flat track racing, Ranch Rodeo, rides, bands and so much more. Mark your calendars. Check our Facebook page: Northern Gila County Fair and our website: www.NorthernGilaCountyFair.com for schedules.

Early Girl Tomatoes

The garden is in full swing. I went to Saturday’s Farmer’s Market and overheard a customer asking why the tomatoes were so few this year. The farmer told the woman, it’s because it’s been overcast. Tomatoes want full sun to ripen. So, that explains my lack of ripe tomatoes this year. Now that we’re getting a break from the monsoons, my tomatoes should ripen up quickly! I’m also harvesting peaches and for the first time since I planted the trees, nectarines! I picked a couple of serrano peppers, green bush beans and yellow beans and the apples are ripe as well. The pears will be another month, I think.

Giveaways:

Would you like to win free ebooks, other prizes, or a $130 in Paypal cash? Drop by https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/ and click on the Rafflecopter link for the Summer Blockbuster Giveaway.

I’m setting up a mystery giveaway with about 20 other authors on BookFunnel.com. Book Funnel allows you to get your chosen story in whatever e-format you like and is easy to use. The giveaway starts August 19th and runs for one week. Stay tuned for more details and the link to use!

Shout Out:

Today’s shout out goes to author Dave Edlund. His newest book, Hunting Savage, has great action-packed suspense! http://tinyurl.com/y9mh8wcr

Where Will I Be?

Check my website, https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/where-will-i-be/ for my next engagements.

My next public appearance will be at the Pine Fall Festival October 14th and 15th. On both days I’ll be in the Community Hall with a few other authors selling and signing books with the antique dealers. On Saturday besides crafters, is the annual chili cook-off. Saturday hours are 9am – 5pm and the chili cook-off starts at 11am. Be there at 11am. The chili usually runs out by noon. Buy a ticket, taste the chili, vote for your fav top three! My hubby is usually there with his version. Sunday the hours are 9am – 4pm. Lots of crafters will be there and the weather is lovely in October. Come on by and say hello.

On December 9th I’ll be at the Mesa Book Festival. Get full details at https://mesabookfestival.com/. I’ll be in a booth with my author friend Marsha Ward. www.MarshaWard.com. Between the two of us, we have a large number of genre’s covered. Come get your Christmas presents and stocking stuffers. The festival runs from 2pm – 8pm.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on both the regular and the Brown Rain 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 Book Release:

Mystery at the Book Festival released June 1st and I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords, today! You can also see all my books on https://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. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.