When I first started this journey, I could barely do half an hour at 2 MPH on the treadmill. Made me sad considering how much better I had been doing pre-pandemic. I started off slowly to build speed and distance and yesterday I was able to do 2.6 MPH for an extended period of time. Normally I just do a 3-mile walk on the boardwalk but the smoke from the Canadian wildfires made that impossible so I had to hit the treadmill. I’m glad since it reinforced how much progress I’ve made on my journey to be healthier and lose weight. Speaking of losing weight, I’ve hit 30 pounds lost finally. The last month has been an up and down of the same two pounds but I’m hoping I finally broke through that plateau!
Big Decade Throwback
The Lost is one of my fav books for many reasons. It had a cool story line about an unusual breed of humans with very special gifts, military heroes, and it was nominated for a RITA for best paranormal romance in 2012. It’s the “third” book in the Sin Hunter series and I say “third” because after the first two my editors wanted something more paranormal than the genetic engineering premise of the first two. But they also wanted to keep the family from the first two books, especially since I had already introduced the heroine of book 3 to readers. It took some work, but I’m so glad I did it. There is another book in the series, titled The Claimed and it’s my hope to finish up the series one day with The Shattered, the final book. That’s a tough book to write because it involves time shifting and an alternate reality that has to be plotted out very carefully. But I do hope to do it for those of you who have been asking! This throwback is to a photo of me signing the books in the series.
Creativity, Intelligence, and Rob Lowe
I’ve been watching Unstable with Rob Lowe and his son John Owen Lowe. It’s a funny and quirky comedy about an eccentric genius — Rob Lowe — who is on the edge after the loss of his wife. To try and restore order to the research company Lowe runs, they bring back his “wayward” son who’s been running away from his own genius genes by playing the flute. Rob’s son is actually his real life son and it’s interesting to see the two of them together. Rob Lowe is fabulous and still as hot as ever. Anyway, in one of the scenes Rob says “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” I thought, wow, what a great line and it turns out that was said by Albert Einstein. Wise man in so many ways. So I leave you with that thought and a recommendation to watch Unstable on Netflix on this Wisdom Wednesday.
Free Vampire Romantic Suspense Reads on Kindle Unlimited
The Calling is Reborn is a series of my heart. From the moment that Diana and Ryder popped into my brain, I knew their story would be special and I’ve loved combining their romance with intriguing suspense stories and a Scooby Gang of other characters as well as vampires from various cultures, like a chupacabra and Chiang Shi. If you loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files, I think you will love the stories in The Calling is Reborn. The various books have been critically acclaimed as Romantic Times Top Picks and finalists in several paranormal romance contests. You can now read the first three books for free on Kindle Unlimited. You can download them at https://amzn.to/3qslQlL.
Mastering Point of View Workshop
I’m doing a workshop on Point of View for Savvy Authors from June 12 to June 18. It’s an online course and the cost is only $25 ($20 if you register by June 5!) I think that Point of View is probably one of the hardest things to understand and to do right. You may be ready to start a book or already writing one and something tells you the POV just isn’t working. Or you may be watching your characters play a game of tennis, sending the ball hopping back and forth from one character’s head to the other, causing confusion. Think you finally got it right? I’ll share some tips on how to check your POV to make sure it’s working effectively to tell your story in the best way! You can register at https://bit.ly/SavvyAuthorsMasterPOV.
Revealing Teaser from Aztec Gold
I love being able to share with you some of the things I’ve learned on my various adventures, like in Aztec Gold. I was lucky to be able to visit Mexico a number of times for business and learn about Mexican culture that I included in this paranormal romance novella as well as The Fifth Kingdom which I will be re-releasing in August. I was able to visit many amazing places, like Teotihuacán where I was able to climb the Pyramid of the Sun and also see the Pyramid of the Moon and Avenue of the Dead. Another great visit was to the Archeological Museum in Mexico City where I got to see so many wonderful artifacts and treasures from the Aztecs. It’s what inspired me to write these exciting stories which incorporate Mexican culture. You can read Aztec Gold for free with Kindle Unlimited and it’s also available for purchase if you don’t have that service. You can find it and many other free reads at https://amzn.to/3IMgpo4.
Excerpt
The feel of old papers called to Cynthia Guerrera the way a lover’s skin might.
Even with the gloves she wore to protect the fragile documents from the oils on her fingers, she sensed the raspy texture of the heavy parchment beneath her fingertips. Smelled the mustiness that hinted at the fact that it had been some time since these papers had seen the light of day.
At first, she had been skeptical about the provenance of the documents. Missouri cornfields were not the place one expected to find a trunk filled with nearly five-hundred-year-old Spanish artifacts. But a Missouri cornfield was just where the trunk holding the papers, journal and maps had been discovered when a developer had begun excavations for a new strip mall.
Setting aside the missive—a letter from Coronado himself to one of his seconds in command—she turned her attention to the leather-bound journal of Juan Domingo Cordero, one of the conquistadors who had accompanied Coronado on his adventures. Gingerly opening the cover, she traced her fingers over the sprawling script. The first entries in the journal had provided her with the identity of the author and the date of the documents thanks to Cordero’s meticulous notations.
With that information, she had been able to check several other sources to confirm that Cordero had indeed been one of Coronado’s lieutenants. When Coronado had left Mexico City in 1540 in search of the fabled Cities of Gold, Cordero had been at his side for the first leg of the journey. Coronado had eventually separated from Cordero and his contingent, ordering them to search in one direction while he went in another.
Cordero’s entries in the journal carefully detailed their travels throughout the south-central portion of Mexico, before his band had turned northward until they crossed the Rio Grande. Eventually the group had drifted eastward and reached the Mississippi, hugging the fertile banks of the river until it landed them in the area that would become known as Missouri.
Tired of their journeys and with their group decimated by a number of incidents, the Spanish conquistadors had built a small settlement a short distance from the sluggish and fruitful waters of the Mississippi.
The notations in Cordero’s journal gradually diminished after the establishment of that settlement, with the conquistador’s adventures giving way to the routine of farming and family life. It seemed that Cordero had finally stopped writing at all.
Cynthia supposed that was when the conquistador had tucked the journals detailing his explorations into the small wood and leather trunk together with his other papers. The trunk in turn had been put in a cellar, and over time, the floods that often occurred in the area had covered Cordero’s home and the surrounding settlement with mud. Further flooding and natural events had added to the layers over the former community, hiding its existence from sight until the developer’s bulldozers had dug up the first hints of the earlier colonization and the trunk.
Cynthia picked up the report that had arrived that morning. The assorted laboratory tests she had requested absolutely confirmed the age of the documents.
With that endorsement came proof of one thing, while serious doubt remained about a series of entries in the journals—unusual and unbelievable tales.
Happy National Hamburger Day
I never thought about it until one of my daughter’s friends said, “You’re mom really likes hamburgers.” It occurred to me then that I ate a lot of hamburgers and honestly, hamburgers have to be my absolute favorite food. I love them medium with cheddar or blue cheese and caramelized onions. Nom nom. I probably will have a burger today when I get together with some friends later today. How about you? Are you a burger girl?
