Lauri Robinson's Blog, page 17

Aw, April.

The wonderful month of April is upon us. Spring. Sunshine. Just makes you smile, doesn't it?
So…Did you get April fooled? I got two of my sons. The third one had his radar out and caught on to me immediately. But it was still fun. Saturday was chilly here, but we still enjoyed a wonderful Easter egg hunt, and Sunday was gorgeous, so DH and I spent the day working in the yard and then watched Secretariat last night. What a fabulous movie! 
As April rolls around, my book, An April to Remember , comes to mind. For those of you familiar with it, I apologize for the repeat, but for new readers, I'd like to tell you more about it. The history behind this story never fails to amaze me. 
A few years ago, while on vacation in Memphis, we took a ride on a riverboat, the Island Queen. The tour guide, "Rooster," shared the remarkable story of the Sultana, a river boat which exploded near Memphis in 1865. More passengers perished in this accident than any other American maritime disaster including the Titanic. However, due to the time of its demise, (the same month Lee surrendered and President Lincoln was assassinated) the story of this remarkable ship was swept into history along with many other Civil War tragedies.

Upon our return home, I couldn't get the ship out of my mind, and began to research the Sultana. I knew I had to share this ship's fatal voyage, and tried to hold true to as much history as possible, while creating a love story between the two main characters. Bottom line is, the cause of the ship's sinking was never proven, nor was anyone ever charged. The main suspect was questioned, but ultimately released, and died a few years later down in New Orleans.
The Kindle version is on sale at Amazon for $2.99 and Night Owl Reviews gave it a "Top Pick" award.  
Other book news, I wrote the dedication and reader letter for Unclaimed Bride which is scheduled to be released in November and I completed the Author Fact Sheet for The Reunion , my next contracted Undone. I hope to spend most of today working on One Chance —that's what I've titled it anyway.
Enjoy the warm weather and sunshine!

Laundry Day

I am amazed how two people create so much laundry, but, in comparison to the days when all three boys were at home, I don't have near the amount I used to. Once or twice a week keeps us up to date, and today wasn't a scheduled laundry day. (Not that I actually schedule them, but the hamper wasn't full, until…)
Yesterday oldest son called and asked if baby girl (she's now 19 months old, but her daddy still calls her that) could spend the night while they took advantage of spring break with a night away. I said of course, and Papa and I were excited with the adventure. Which was wonderful. She and I went shopping –she found a lovely pair of pink light up shoes she just had to have (grandma agreed) and I found a fabulous deal on a new comforter, shams, and bed skirt. Upon arriving home, she put on her shoes and I stripped the bed for us to put on the new covers. 
I threw the old comforter in the washer, and that's when it happened. The laundry room flooded. I thought the drain in the utility sink was plugged, (the washer drains into it) so I started plunging—which is hilarious to a nineteen-month-old. Nope, that didn't do it. While I was bailing out the water, son number two called to see if the other two grandgirls could come over while they went to see a movie. I said of course.
Papa took over the work in the laundry room, with three helpers, while I made supper. To clarify, when I said flooded, I meant flooded, rugs, dirty clothes, stripped bedding, etc. were all soaked. Well, wet things sound funny when they hit the concrete floor and water squishes out of them when you step on them. Yeah, you get the picture—three little girls and water. Anyway, a trip to the hardware store was needed, which was already closed, so we shut the door to the laundry room and spent a fun evening with the girls. 
This morning, after our overnight guest went home, we started in…It took more than one trip to the hardware store, but now I have new pipes and all is working well, and only one load left to go. I am so thankful Papa is a plumber as well as a mechanic. He's a good carpenter, too, and can grill an amazing steak. All in all, I'm pretty lucky. 
On the writing side, I completed edits on my next Undone and gave the final author's approval for His Christmas Wish this week. Currently, I'm working on an internet dating story set in Montana and an inspirational one set in Wyoming. All's good on that front, too.  Happy Spring!

The Weekend is Here

Our youngest granddaughter arrived at eight this morning, left at two, and the other two arrived at two-thirty, one left at four-thirty, the other stayed and went out for supper with Papa and I, (her sister has a 'date' with us tomorrow night), and we took her home at eight. It was a wonderful day and very busy. 
We have a busy weekend, including taking the oldest granddaughter with us to the Wild Turkey Federation Banquet tomorrow evening. Tomorrow morning and afternoon we will be Celebrating the Life of a wonderful man who is already greatly missed. He was 96 years young, and I feel so blessed to have known him. 
I'm working on edits for another Undone, and received the final galley of His Christmas Wish to read through. It will be released in October. And tomorrow there will be a post about the Lumberjack Sister, who makes a cameo appearance in A Wife for Big John, over at Sweethearts of the West.  
Be happy, be kind, and don't be afraid to love. It's worth it.

The snow is all gone!

 It may be back, for this is Minnesota, but for right now the snow is all gone and the weather is gorgeous. We have certainly had an interesting winter, and I'm not complaining! I made the appointment to get my Mustang out of winter storage this evening. YeeYaw! 
Celebrated our youngest son's birthday this weekend, which was a lot of fun, and we had a wonderful barbeque at our other son's house the evening before. Family and fun, the best way to spend weekends!
I've been invited to participate in a new group blog. Cowboy Kisses. There are an even dozen of us over there and we'll be blogging about writing stories that include a kiss or two, I'd imagine. Stop on over and say hi when you have the chance. And don't forget to hop over to check out all the wonderful posts at Sweethearts of the West. 
I have my RWA writers group meeting this coming weekend, and am looking forward to seeing all the wonderful writers over at Northern Lights Writers. With birthday parties and such I've missed the last couple meetings. This Saturday DH and I will be attended the National Wild Turkey Federation Banquet. That's always a good time and such a wonderful cause.
The final edits for Unclaimed Bride have been approved. I'll let you know when I get the official release date and of course the wonderful cover. 
Enjoy the day, enjoy the week, enjoy your life. It's yours!

The Sheriff's Last Gamble

Just got the cover, and must say, I love it. Then again I love them all. Cover artists are so talented. This story will be released on May 1st. 

Dakota Territory, 1886
Sheriff Jake McCrery gave up gambling years ago; keeping the peace in Founder's Creek Township is all the challenge he needs. Until Stacy Blackwell arrives in town and soon becomes a frequent visitor to the Sheriff's office. Her crime? Diverting the Sheriff's attention with her beauty, charm and the mischievous light in her eyes that ignites a fire in Jake that can't be extinguished. He wants her as he'd never wanted anything in his life—enough to make one final gamble to win her heart.
Papa and I are off to watch gymnastics again tonight. He's made it a habit of taking the girls out for supper afterwards and I'm not sure who enjoys it more, him or the girls.

I had a wonderful weekend—even though I spent a large amount of time working on our taxes—Hubby went up north fishing, so that meant I was in charge of the TV remote, I could stay up writing as late as I wanted (I'm a late night writer vs an early morning one), and I had a 'girl's shopping day' where the granddaughters got their flower girl dresses for the wedding they'll be in next August. To top it all off, DH brought me home fresh walleye. Life just doesn't get better.

Have a wonderful week, and don't let the time change get to you. It doesn't care.

Free Today

Shotgun Bride-The Quinter Brides Book One is free today in honor of Read An Ebook Week over at The Wild Rose Press.

Read an E-Book Week

To celebrate READ AN EBOOK WEEK The Wild Rose Press will be giving away several books March 4th-9th. Every day a different book will be offered for free (some days it's two or more books). One of my books, Shotgun Bride-The Quinter Bride Book One, will be free on Friday the 9th.  Just go to http://www.thewildrosepress.com/  and scroll to the bottom of the page. Also, while on that same page, on the upper right hand corner of the page you'll see the above picture for READ AN EBOOK WEEK. Click on it and it'll take you to a listing of several sites that will be offering free books throughout the week. Feel free to share this information!  You do not need a dedicated reading device for ebooks. I have a Kindle, (hubby bought it for me last year, and I'm still in love with it, and him) but I also have the application downloaded on my Blackberry and on my laptop—which are free downloads at Amazon. I also have the Adobe Digital Reader Program on my laptop—which is also a free download, I got my through the Harlequin site, it automatically pops up when you order a book in the PDF version.
I still love print books, and have several shelves full, and like the ability to switch between the two, ebooks and print. 
It'll be a busy week here, its grandparent's day at our granddaughter's preschool tomorrow, and she already determined where we will have lunch afterwards. She sang at church this morning, and afterwards convinced everyone, her parents, Papa and I, her other grandparents, great-grandpa and uncle to go out to eat afterwards. Yes, she enjoys eating out. 
The temperature is supposed to reach the fifties this week, which will melt last week's eight inches of snow considerably. I may need to dig out the rubber boots. 
Enjoy life, smile at others, and love yourself! You'll be glad you did.

Late Night

We had a late night here. Had to stay up to watch the Daytona 500! I was a Brad Keselowski Twitter follower long before he tweeted the pictures from inside his car last night—I guess he picked up thousands of followers after that. What an amazing race! And educational. I never knew they used Tide to clean the track. 
Our youngest son has been working in the oil fields in North Dakota and with the storm blowing in, he was on his way home last night and couldn't get the race on the radio, so we were updating him as he drove. I'm glad to say he got home at six o'clock this morning. My daughter-in-law said their dog, (Granddog extraordinaire) Bear, was so excited when Cody walk in she thought the dog was going to pass out. Papa said it was probably like Dino when Fred Flintstone used to come home.
I've had a people ask me what happened to reviews on my books at Amazon. Sorry, folks, I have no idea. Must be something going on with Amazon. It's happened before. Thanks, though, to those who asked, and those who have left reviews. 
I received this wonderful cover for Sheriff McBride. (Release date yet to be determined.)
And I received the blurb for The Sheriff's Last Gamble. (To be released May 1, 2012.)
Dakota Territory , 1886
Sheriff Jake McCrery gave up gambling years ago; keeping the peace in Founder's Creek Township is all the challenge he needs. Until Stacy Blackwell arrives in town and soon becomes a frequent visitor to the Sheriff's office. Her crime? Diverting the Sheriff's attention with her beauty, charm and the mischievous light in her eyes that ignites a fire in Jake that can't be extinguished. He wants her as he'd never wanted anything in his life—enough to make one final gamble to win her heart….

That's all for now. Have a wonderful week! Smile even when it hurts!

99 cent books

Doctor McBride and Rancher McBride are now on sale for only 99 cents. And Sheriff McBride has been contracted to be released as a standalone story (it was part of the Lawmen and Outlaws Anthology) later this year. 






For a Sister's Love has always been 99 cents.
Next release will be The Sheriff's Last Gamble on May 1st.

We're having a birthday party for our granddaughter who will be turning three on Saturday. She said we could bring her lots of Dora presents and a Dora cake. Papa and I went to order the cake and thank goodness the girl at the bakery knew her cartoons. We'd picked out one that was Kai-Lan instead of Dora! That could have been a devastating mistake. Out of town family will be arriving on Friday to attend the festivities, so it promises to be a fun weekend!
Be thankful, be grateful, and be happy. Yes, you have it in you!

Happy Valentine's Day!

A special little holiday for sure.
However, I do believe love should be celebrated every day.  
A hug, a kiss, a card, a flower, any of it goes a long way every day of the year. 
Enjoy your day, and carry it with you tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after…