TGIF! Let’s dive right into sharing five random things about our week.

1. This week had much less stress than last week.
2. The reaction to Wednesday’s announcement of a writing hiatus stunned me (we blanketed my social with the message). I think I was so focused on  making myself face facts and letting readers know what’s going on, I didn’t think about how kind and thoughtful everyone would be. I’m so touched by it. And of course, I have mixed feelings. This wasn’t something I *wanted* to do. However, I think it’s necessary.
3. I adjusted to the time change pretty effortlessly. But Maggie is sad that her dinner has been pushed back a whole hour. Which means I get 60 minutes of sad puppy eyes trailing me around the house.
4. I made some caramel sauce and used that to make a salted caramel cake to test the recipe for Thanksgiving. And also test my new cake pans which baked them exactly as I hoped. But I then immediately froze the cake because I don’t have time to do the frosting and attempt any decoration. Wizard can’t believe I would tease him this way He’s getting used to the abundance of cakes and treats, LOL.
5. Today we’re going to my niece’s wedding, and it’s a quite a ways away. We originally were going to stay the night as all our kids are doing. But there’s been too much going on in life, and we decided to come home. It doesn’t matter, though, we’ll have fun and I’m thrilled for my niece and her soon-to-be husband. These moments are so important to celebrate.

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Before I get into the purpose of this message, I want to thank all my fans and readers. Romance fans are the best, but you guys take that to a whole new level of awesome!

So I’ve been quiet for a while because I’ve been struggling. A lot of you know that I had cervical spine surgery at the end of 2018, and that went well for the most part. Unfortunately, nothing is ever perfect, and I’m left with tinnitus (ringing in my ears). I managed to finish one more book, and began writing PRIMAL MAGIC when the tinnitus got worse. It’s playing havoc with my concentration and ability to write. And so, after months of agonizing, worrying, and being furious at myself, I’m going to take a break.

I’m officially announcing a hiatus from writing until I can get a handle on this and resume doing what I love—telling stories. Which means that at this time I won’t be finishing the Wing Slayer Hunter Series. I’m truly sorry for disappointing you. I seriously hung on, trying over and over, because I care about all my readers. But this is the point where I need to step back and take care of myself a little bit too.

I sincerely appreciate your understanding and support. I hope we can all keep in touch through social media, and I’ll send out another newsletter when I have more to share. Writing and stories will always be a part of my life, and so will the amazing readers to love great books as much as I do.

~Jen

*Please note: While I’m putting my professional career on hold, I will still be here posting on this blog. I’ll continue to talk about writing, reading, dogs, life, family, cakes, yoga, or anything that comes up–including this struggle of make such hard choices if anyone is interested. I hope you’ll stick around! Stepping back from writing is painful enough, I sure don’t want to lose my blog-friends too!

It was a quiet weekend, which given last week stress dump, I’m grateful.  I did make a decision on my writing, and I’ll talk about that a little on Wednesday.

Saturday was our anniversary, and we celebrated as well as we could with Wizard’s mouth issues. We made some lobster at home, and I made a cake. We plan to do a nice dinner out once Wizard’s mouth gets sorted out

I tried this “one bowl” chocolate cake recipe. I adjusted the recipe by 1) sifting all the dry ingredients, especially flour and cocoa powder. 2) I added a 1/2 tsp expresso powder to cocoa powder and 3) I used hot coffee if place of hot water. That both deepens the chocolate flavor and adds a bit of mocha taste. We both loved the cake. I didn’t get to try some decorating techniques I hope to because I was experimenting with chocolate icing. I still haven’t found the right one yet, and so I ended up doing a quick drip cake decoration, but that’s fine for us. But seriously, I loved that cake!

Saturday afternoon I got my Covid booster shot. Sunday, I felt okay, just a mildly sore arm and a slight headache but I took the day slow as a precaution. I did a little local shopping and found one warm pullover sweater which is all I’ll probably need for “heavy” sweaters. And we looked at the model homes being built by our house. We have the floor plans (we got them off the planning commission website) and we able to walk right into the newly framed structures. Nothing is gated off yet, so that was nice.

So how was your weekend?

TGIF It’s been a week. But now it’s time to share five random things about our weeks, so here’s mine:

1. Wizard’s Tricky Tooth Saga goes on.  I won’t bore you with the details, just sum it up with: Every attempted fix had uncovered a deeper problem. No one’s fault, they really couldn’t see how deep it was on the x-ray. Sooner or later, we’ll get it resolved. This has not been Wizard’s idea of a good time, now he’s on antibiotics and waiting for an appointment with a third dentist (two are different specialists).
2. Our anniversary is Saturday. We had dinner plans and cancelled them. Wizard isn’t going to be able to eat, and we’ll celebrate once he’s feeling better. And honestly, there’s just other stressors going on.
3. I baked a new-to-me mocha chocolate cake yesterday and immediately froze it–trust me this keeps them fresh. Then I made a big batch of buttercream and made part of that buttercream in chocolate mocha flavor using melted chocolate. I’m going to see how “soft” it is when I decorate the cake. If it’s too soft to decorate with, then I’ll use it for filling between layers. My plan was to make the cake tomorrow or Saturday if Wizard feels like eating it in a mini-anniversary celebration.  It’ll be a simple design because…life
4. In good news, we have Thanksgiving planned at middle son’s house, and I’m really looking forward to that.  It’s nice when the family pulls together. I love that.
5. This week, we got to see Wizard’s sister and brother-in-law that we haven’t seen since Covid began. He’s a doctor working in a major hospital so he’s  been understandably cautious about exposing others. We’ve really missed them. It was so wonderful to see them, catch up on our lives and how our kids are doing. That was a true highlight of the week!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

As the holidays approach, I thought I’d share some of my coping strategies.

1. Wine.
2. Dogs.
3. Chocolate.

That’s pretty much it

Okay, let me add a few silly things to the items (written quickly off the top of my head):

1. Kids get gifts, adults get patience and kindness. Most of us are trying.
2. Holding grudges takes a lot of time, effort and energy. Just move on.
3. Other people don’t need to know our opinions. No really, no one needs to know at Thanksgiving dinner, office parties or even shopping trips.
4. Put your time and effort to the parts of the holidays you enjoy. If you love to cook, do that. Love to decorate? Teach me how. Just kidding, go for it and I’ll admire. Like to bake? Make all your friends fat! Just dive in, have fun and don’t worry about imperfections–they make us memorable and unique.
5. Lets remember to laugh at ourselves. It’s okay, and it makes us so much nicer to be around. Go ahead, tell the story about the time you accidently used the men’s restroom in the airport and didn’t notice until you passed the male pilot while leaving. Wait, that wasn’t you? Oh, right, that was me
6. Be safe. Watch out for scammers, thieves, and the assorted injuries we manage to inflict on ourselves when we’re busy and distracted. Let’s all try to slow down enough to be safe and well through the holidays.
7. And let’s not forget our friends going through a hard time this year. Many people have lost loved ones (two people I distantly know lost husbands this week alone). Let’s take a few moments to remember them in thought AND deed. I’m often terrible at follow through, so I’m pointing right at myself here. But a phone call, text, private message or a card, or if you can safely manage it, a quick visit, will help them feel less alone during very difficult time.
8. Remember we’re building memories, so lets build them on positive attitudes and actions that will hold up over time. Let’s strengthen our family bonds, deepen our existing friendships and make new ones with kindness.
9. And if all else fails, go back to my first list!

Okay, friends, that’s what I’ve thought while writing this. Would you like to add anything?

Happy Wednesday!

How the heck didn’t November push her way in???

My weekend was fine. The “surprise” was when Youngest Son dropped by with one of his dogs, Roxy. Maggie couldn’t believe her luck, not only did one of her favorite people come over, but he brought her a friend. I thought her little chihuahua brain might explode, LOL.

Roxy is a older Border Collie who has slowed down a little, but is still a happy girl. I’d say it’s been at least a year since Roxy’s been to my house, but she came right in, went straight to Maggie’s water bowl and got a drink, (Maggie doesn’t care), then went right to the treat cupboard. Her hips and hearing might be giving out, but there’s nothing wrong with her memory and cognitive function. When Roxy was eight, she fought a battle with cancer against some pretty stacked odds and won, and now she’s living out her golden years. She and Maggie get along well, although Youngest Son and I both like to manage our dogs social interactions, so that helps to prevent problems.

Sunday, we went to hang out with Turbo. I took him a plastic pumpkin with a couple toys and a minimal amount of treats. We spent most of the time playing with cars in mud, LOL. That sure takes me back! Tonight he’s going trick or treating to a few houses on his street in his policeman costume. His parents are dressing up with him, which I’m looking forward to seeing pics of.

How was your weekend?