Whatever title I put down this morning, the first few lines diverted to THE THING I’M DEALING WITH THIS MORNING.
Mainly, not feeling well. Illness, with a certain slant.
So what did I do to still get a few important things done today? I took time, and calling upon all my SDS (self development stuff/shit) knowledge (which ha! Is there, however, still takes work to apply when you’re not feeling well, because you really don’t know what to do, to be honest, despite all the info you’ve taken in for years.)
At any rate, I made a few basic decisions, and this is what I did.
(I was also going to say ‘low-level’ decisions, but really, they’re not. This is a big issue – not feeling well – yet still trying to be functional when life has demanded a few things you need to still get done in the day.)
First, I listened to Brendon Burchard’s Monday talk on his app.
OMG, did he bring the energy. I shivered, and pulled away. Too much! At least it was short, and had some good points. I listened, thoughtfully. (To be clear, he’s not my main teacher – i have 2 others, but I respect him, mostly, and he’s a worthy addition to my SD stable.)
Then, I visualized.
You need to see yourself as okay in the moment, but as the fulcrum of what I’m dealing with today seems to be in my upper tum, I visualized good stuff going on there.
I also did box breathing, two rounds, while laying in bed, with sleek kitty grooming himself unhurriedly, beside me, bopping me with each motion.
Unashamedly, lol. Good role model.
I also did some soothing work—whatever I could come up with in the minute! and more visualization.
Oh. And fed the cat, lol.
So now, I’m at least upright. To be clear, it’s early. We’ll see if I get any of those life-necessary things done.
But it’s interesting working to apply mind over matter, and seeing how things suss out.
Doesn’t hurt the sun is beaming into my home this morning. That golden, rich October sun. And I’ve got Italy on my big screen, one of those walking tour vids.
That’s the deal for today, so far. If I rally and have time, I’ll send out another report, later today.
But in the meantime, that’s the report from the author desk of Susan Saxx.
p.s. On a cheery note, guess what I got today, for later, if I feel like it?
If you love books, reading, AND winning contests, don’t forget to enter today to win a signed print copy of book 2 in the Refuge Bay series, Zachary Undone!
I’m giving away FOUR print copies and mailing them out all over North America, LOL, thanks to our wonderful friends at GOODREADS!
Enter here: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/335743-zachary-undone-the-men-of-refuge-bay-book-2
And good luck!!
p.s . FYI There are three books in the series. There’s also a Christmas one that’s a standalone, Book 3, and Nathan Unwrapped is Book 1!
p.s. Lest I forget the preorder link (okay, I did, but came back in to add it lol), here it is! https://www.amazon.com/Zachary-Undone-Men-Refuge-Book-ebook/dp/B09KYHMY3N/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=zachary+undone&qid=1639589120&sr=8-1
Win a $10 Amazon gift card…just in time for the holidays!
AND…a free backlist Susan Saxx e-book!
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Good morning!
Life never seems to slow down, does it? Are you the same? Here I thought I was all ready early for Christmas, and that that would ease things up. Well, honestly, it has. The two trees are up, and most of the prezzies are wrapped. (See the pic of how my wrapping went on the right, lol).
What I didn’t realize was that that would just free me up more to start drafting the next book! So I’ve been massively busy working on Seth Unraveled, while still picking up a few little prezzies here and there :-), and there’s a pile of them still to be wrapped too. I’m also working on Zach’s launch, and yeah. I’m still a flaming newbie at all that. 🙂
(More wrapping highlights: here’s a pix of one of the cuties. He almost held the tape for me…)
Also, one of my besties surprised me with a tiny mountain of wrapped prezzies too – they’re on my dining room table right now, and they’re an ADVENT calendar of gifts! So every day I get to unwrap one. (Yeah, I’ve been pretty damn good, except for yesterday. But who can resist one that you KNOW is chocolate, lol? Okay, there’s a whole story on that…)
This morning was two stunning Christmas red and green plaid tea towels, with a thin thread of sparkly gold running through them. (Oh, who can resist the sparkly? I can’t.) Sigh. It’s a wonderful way to wake up every morning (especially after some of the nights I have!)
So, that’s life in the fast lane, over here. I hope you’re doing good with whatever preparations you’re smack in the middle of.
Now, on to the GOOD STUFF…
I’m super proud of this book — Zachary Undone — and this story. Zach, with his decent, good and wounded heart really is the star of this story. I love him. Yet all the others at Refuge Bay also shine, for me. Galen (his hoped for squeeze), Nathan, Og and Trasher. Seth, Palmer. All of them. I’m really loving these people and love writing about their inherent goodness – through a ton of conflict they have to wade through.
TWO CONTESTS!
Anyhow, in honour of Zach‘s release this coming Friday, I have TWO giveaways prepared for you!
Enter to win a signed, first edition print copy of Zachary Undone! (4 winners in the U.S. and Canada will be chosen by Goodreads, then I’ll get busy and email them out, happily! :))
2 . Rafflecopter contest for the $10 Amazon gift card and a backlist single copy ebook of mine! Enter the Goodreads Giveaway, supply your Goodreads Handle where you entered it, then IF YOU CHOOSE you can tweet about the giveaway and do a few other actions to get even MOAH entries for the gift card and book!
And if you refer ten friends, you can get 10 extra entries!
Fyi – Check out the Contest Queen if you love winning free stuff. The energy just vibrates off her…and she’ll help you win stuff – all the time! (I love her!!)
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That’s all for this newsletter. Here’s Zach, below. I
‘ll email next week a couple of times, too, so you don’t miss out on the contests! =)
HE’LL WALK BACK INTO HELL TO PROTECT THOSE HE LOVES
It’s ended. All of it. Because of his secret, shameful past.
The family he’s surrounded himself with. The healing. The epic sparks–could it be love?–between him and sexy Irishman Galen. The ones that could light up the damn sun.
Now, everyone Zach loves is threatened. Including the amazing little girl his best friend and his partner have adopted. The one he loves like no other. And worse–they don’t even know it.
It’s time for action. Former military man Zachary will walk back into hell to save those he loves…no matter the cost to himself.
Fans of Nathan and his partner Og, their little girl, Trasher, and Irishman Galen Tilth (from Book 1, Nathan Unwrapped) will love this next installment of Refuge Bay!
—
*Book 1 in The Men of Refuge Bay series is NATHAN UNWRAPPED.
That’s it. Don’t forget to enter the 2 contests. And Good Luck! 🙂
Can’t you just smell the earthy scent of that forest?
I know we’ve almost seen the end of October 2021, but we’re having amazing weather in my area the last little while – the final few days of our ‘second summer’, I guess. The big trees outside my window still have all their leaves. It’s like everything has stopped breathing….there’s a hush. And we’re all waiting…together.
🍁 🍁 🍁
I’d like to treat you to an excerpt of my first Delta North Team novel today. Cole Dawson, a Canadian soldier and former leader of the elite Delta North Team Special Ops unit has come home to a ranch filled with trouble, and family issues.
It’s challenging. Doesn’t help he’s on his own, and it all falls to him…
A Real Man: The First Miracle
Cole Dawson strode through the wing of Toronto’s Mount Sinai hospital, a frown on his tanned face. His worn cowboy boots clattered on the shiny terrazzo floor, and he held back an urge to spit.
How the hell had Jack Elbert Dawson Sr., the toughest man he knew, ended up in a cardiac rehabilitation ward?
No matter. He had to see Dad himself. Reassure himself the man, only sixty plus a few years young, was still going strong.
He rounded the hallway, fielded a couple of nurses he’d hadn’t seen yet, noted their upturned brows and lightning-fast looks of inquiry, then headed down the stretch to Dad’s room.
Caught the vibration in his pocket. Damn. He’d forgotten to turn his cell off, like all the signs yelled at him to. He yanked it from his faded jeans. Probably one of the posse back home desperate for news about Dad or Boss, whichever Jack Dawson was to them.
The list of emails flashed, the requisite ads. A couple from Delilah Toms, his agent, still in touch. Some from Jesse, his lead hand, already responded to.
And there was the latest message, bolded. Waiting. Impatiently. From Krystal. Figured. No preamble, just straight and to the point.
—How’s he doing?
Only third time this morning she’d asked.
He texted back with work-hardened thumbs barely hitting all those damn buttons.
—Just about to see, Sis.
And then added, because Krys did fret so much—had to be that artistic temperament she kept telling everyone she had—
—I’ll let you know as soon as I see him.
But Krys, astute young woman she was, wasn’t ready to let him go yet. There came the telltale words, where she shared what she wouldn’t, with anyone else…
—Cole…I’m scared.
That’s all it took, and his mind was back with her. With all the family, back at their beloved ranch at the foothills of the Rockies in Dawson Ridges, British Columbia. Where the northern winds blew down from Alaska, decimated the land with its unforgiving iciness. Where Deep River surged, in the spring, then finally let go, and the hills, the lowlands all flushed an emerald seen nowhere else on God’s green earth.
Where right now, until everything was fixed and the ranch was sorted, there was a huge, gaping hole.
Jack Elbert Dawson was that hole. He had to be back there. Healthy, sound, barking out orders again, at his spread of countless acres.
But right now, Cole needed to ease the worry in his sister and tame the crazy, if he could. Hell, he had tons of experience, right? As the respected platoon leader Dark Storm for the elite Delta North Team, a special unit cobbled together from both Americans and Canadians, like their forerunner The Devil’s Brigade, he’d had to bolster many a soldier under him. Strengthen them, give them courage. He’d done it every which way he could.
Here? Redirection might work.
—How’s mom? The others?
Krys answered, using the voice command feature she loved. Because she could pound out voluminous responses that way, without doing any work.
—What do you expect? Mom’s baking up a whole bunch of Dad’s favorites, filling the freezer. Says she’ll be busy tending him, or trying to, when he comes home, so she wants to be ready. Fighting off Baxter, John QT and Roger, who all want to lick the bowl every time she’s done a batch, and are jumping at the counter, fighting among themselves.
A smile curved on his face. Baxter was their squat little pug, the one who wanted to rule the world, and sometimes just about managed it. John QT was their highly intelligent wolfhound. Roger was an untamed, furry, who knew the heck what. Irrepressible in spirit, but oh, so loyal.
A more unlikely trio you’d never meet, but they were inseparable. They spent their days together, visiting the various operations and people around the ranch.
Making their rounds, Mom called it. Doing their shifts, Dad snorted. They spent a ton of time in the ranch house, in the kitchen when things were going on—and when weren’t they? At night, they cuddled with each other or various members of the family in the huge, rustic living room everyone gravitated to.
They all needed to be back there. Especially Dad. Cole thumbed his own response back.
—Her own fault. She trained them that way since they were pups. If there’s food around…
—Well, when Mom really gets tough with them, they listen. But right now she’s too worried about Dad. And it’s turning into butter tarts, date squares, and egg bread. It’s crazy the output that woman has when she gets in her mind the whole world depends on—or will one day depend on—her culinary prowess.
Cole chuckled, back in the kitchen with Krys, mentally. Watching the scene, first hand, the warm glow filling his heart again.
—That’s why Dad kept the hands on, back when we lost work, years ago. We didn’t have Dax then, and Mom was too sad when there weren’t a zillion people to cook for.
He could see her, auburn hair tied back, the odd pale swatch in it when she didn’t get to the beauty salon on time. Peeling, cooking, stirring. Singing. The dance steps interspersed with the cooking, as she tried to do her routine while handling bowls, fryers, pots. Feeding everyone, and it wasn’t only with food.
But love.
It was a special picture, and time had taught him just how special.
His throat tightened. Dad needed to come home again, be part of that picture. Be healthy, strong. Be Dad.
More from my 4 day I LOVE FALL Odyssey that I was on a few weeks back!
Guess who DIDN’T get lost in the place below! *preens*
(Of course, they never defined the time amount you needed to get out in, to be considered…NOT LOST. 23 hours and 10 minutes…does that qualify?)
Ha. Just kidding!
Though it WAS fun trailing behind my friend and throwing dry corn kernels off into the maze in front of her….
_______________________________________________
Booky News & Releases…
📚 📚 📚
Look for Zachary Undone to hit in November – book 2 of my Refuge Bay series.
Check out the reviews for Nathan Unwrapped (book 1) here, and add both to your Goodreads list here and here. Read book 1 now so you know the backstory!
Here, everything’s sunny, as summer teases us by dragging into September. Man, we had some tough humidity to get through the last two weeks, but after all the rain, I almost didn’t care.
(Almost. Almost, lol).
I got to do some summery things, too. Walks outside, small pool get-togethers (and a fire-pit!) were on the menu. I don’t know about you, but unless i get outside and enjoy the great outdoors, I feel cheated. I wasn’t cheated this summer. 🙂
I hope you all had a good summer, whatever you did!
Kitties enjoyed it, too. Though they seem to love the creature comforts, and posing in all those cute positions…
Dang. They’re so good at it…
IN ALL THINGS WRITING
I’m doing edits on Zachary’s story, the third book in the Refuge Bay series. I’ve added an extra 10k to a book I thought was already done, but early readers wanted more story between Galen and Zach, and I have to say I agree with them. ( my early readers!)
So every morning, I spend time with Zach and Galen, and I’m already working on the next book in the series. Trasher continues with her witty sayings… (But what’s an adorable, freshly adopted, past runaway little girl supposed to do??
Yup. She’s doing it. Man, I love that kid.)
As well, I’m gathering together all the fine men of the Delta North Security Force, and the ladies that will test them, and yes, drive them crazy. (I mean, us women. We have a job, right?) And there’s going to be some exciting news about this series that I can’t share yet…but I hope you’re going to love it.
Now, I’d like to share the two new books from my fellow authors in the special, multi-author world of Thackeray College..
Available NOW. 🙂
_____________________
Devon and Cooper are HERE!
only .99c each!
The Love at First Kiss Steamy College World!
Changing the Game by Laura M. Baird
Reformed nerd Cooper has loved spoiled society girl Lidia since they were kids. Now that they’re in college, he’s finally ready to do something about it. Will one kiss change the game?
Million Dollar Smile by Becky Brandt
All his life, Devon has gotten everything he’s ever wanted, but his money can’t buy the one thing he wants most: Skye. Until one scorching kiss changes everything.
Okay, let’s be compledely honest (not a typo). There still is CAKE.
Sanity took over on the weekend, AFTER the steak, the wine, and the lovely, weirdo, rainbow cake. My BFF and I had MORE cake to savour (and plough through), and I decided to go with waiting. Can y’all believe? Delicious, fudge, chocolate cake, and I chose to wait.
(Yeah. Somewhere, the universe split. There was a tear in the fabric of time. Faeries and dragons and goblins went…what the hell? No one believed it, no one at all….)
So, yeah. Not a common occurrence. It’s still in the fridge, waiting for me. Tonight, maybe?
What might have played into it too was that I bought some artisan bread in the early afternoon, and I had a third of THAT small loaf, with fresh butter from the health store. (You know, that real, ‘grass fed moos’ butter? Yeah. That.) I thoroughly enjoyed that too – all its cranberry, pumpkin seed, crusty no preservative or chemical goodness – and it kept me going the rest of the day. *sighs*
Were a good day. A good weekend.
I also threw up 2 preorders last night, for the newly written first TWO books in my rebranded series (more on that coming).
Right now, let’s circle back to the critical facts that must still be dealt with…and savoured…
Fun weekend.
And there still
IS
CAKE.
*damn that free-flowing poetry form! This is narrative, you!*
Until next time…
Susan, from the writing cave. 🙂
xo
*eyes cake. Breakfast, mebbe?*
My Lovely. Are you waiting for me?? Quivering for me? (Okay, that’s enough. There’s enough smexy in my books. This is CAKE, Susan. Remember?
I write strong men, and strong women. They have things to overcome, it’s true. It could be external things, huge obstacles. Currently, it’s the soldiers of Delta North, and the strong men of Refuge Bay.
They also, always, have internal things to overcome, too. And those? are the hardest. And…the trickiest. Because often? Those things crouch, hidden, in the shadows of their minds, desperately seeking to avoid detection. Couched, often, as fine qualities, they really are things that disintegrate their dreams and shatter their lives. The characters end up living half-lives, if they’re lucky. Often, they live just a vague percentage of what they’re capable of, and the joy they could have becomes only a faint trickle.
Not a pretty picture. It’s true of the characters in the books we read, and it’s also true in real life. In all our lives.
As a person naturally drawn to the study and science of strength, resilience and the vast landscape of our mental power, my close friends all know that I’m an incorrigible, unstoppable student of strength and self-development, in addition to being a writer. Yeah.
I’m an info and high performance geek. 🙂
Every day finds me sucking in some knowledge on this topic. It could be a tidbit, a stray piece of info, or it could be (weekly, for sure, sometimes daily), a life-changing chunk of info. In the past, I called these ‘gold bricks’. (As in gifts of great value, things that are solid and stable, and give real worth.)
The goal…SUNSHINE!
I wanted to quickly share a tidbit with you, this morning, that resonated with me, and that I think is brilliant. It’s from Scott Britton’s YouTube channel. It’s from a video that’s currently up, called Creating Your Vision: Guided Exercise to Win in Your Mind. I’ve only listened to part of it, full disclosure. Here’s what caught my mind.
When you decide on a goal and are all fired up about it, you think of how great your future will be. This is uninformed optimism. Good one, right? (I’ve never heard of this term before. Chew it around a bit, in your mind.)
Then, when you start to implement your work toward achieving that goal, and it’s haaaaaaaaard, you come up against the reality of creating something new, and the work and obstacles that present, and that must be overcome. Now? You’re in informed pessimism.
Isn’t that brill?
That’s it for today, Friend. I didn’t finish the vid, though it’s queued up, for the punchline, when I get to it. I’ve got to get back to work, creating the stories my readers want. That possibly you too, wants! (As well, I have an appointment today, then the stash of dark breakfast chocolate has run out. Yeah. I need a dedicated, breakfast-chocolate-stash-curator and replenisher, on staff. *looks in the mirror*) (*okay. a different one. LOL!*)
*waving from the evil papasan, with the sun peeking over my shoulder*
Have you ever had a serious addiction to something that won’t leave you alone? That keeps pushing in on your daily schedule, demanding to be met?
Well, here’s my latest one. I seem to have awakened a dragon lately, in me.
I seem to want Tacobell’s MEXIMELT…every day. And now…I want it for breakfast!
Have you ever had a meximelt? A soft flour taco, delicious seasoned beef, cheese, and I think? salsa. Some type of a slight vinegary flavour. Yes, tomatoes. Oh…my. It’s soooo good, all melted together. Oh, my (once again.) (*waves to Dorothy*)
I will prevail, I know. Indulging this is not in the daily budget. Nor in the caloric budget either!
Plans a trip to grocery store for ground beef, seasoning, and a few other fixin’s….
Check out the latest issue of my newsletter. It was a quickie (I wasn’t feeling up to par), but I’m committed to treating my VIP subscribers with respect, and sending an issue every 2 weeks, with a gift or something of value in it.
Going to get my HAIR CUT. This is a big deal. I’ve been getting by on Covid Cuts (self administered). First two kicked booty! (Translation: I did good, looked good, and the shock was real. )
2. Had to send an apology email. Did a stupid thing this past week, and didn’t realize it. Trying not to be toats broken up about how dumb I/we humans can be at times.
3. Working on micro goals today.
4. Oh, the normal. Move, eat well, drink water. Thank the chocolate that came into my life for today for its service. LOL
More from my 4 day I LOVE FALL Odyssey that I was on a few weeks back!
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