Curtiss Ann Matlock's Blog, page 22

The Loves of Ruby Dee

“Her books are wise and wonderful. I loved it!”
~ Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Three men love her…but only one man can win her.

Ruby Dee D’Angelo came blowing up the dusty ranch road and into the lives and hearts of the Starr men: the failing but intractable patriarch, Hardy Starr; the youngest son, Lonnie Starr, lost in a mad whirl of rodeo and loose women; and Will Starr, eldest son holding everything together and seething with unfulfilled dreams.

When the dust settled and Will Starr got a good...

Let Me Learn When to Say No

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.” ~ Steve Jobs (Apple Worldwide Developers’ Conference, 1997)

Dear Lord, let me learn to say no at the right time.

Filed under: Inspiration, quote, Writing Life Tagged: choi...

The Implementation Factor

This morning my grown son and I were cooking breakfast together. I asked, “Do you plan? I mean, do you have tips you could share about planning projects?” After all he has built his own business from the ground up. Surely he know something that he’s learned (and I know I didn’t teach him.)

He cast me that crooked grin that says his mother is crazy again and said, “Well, you plan…and then you implement the plan.”

“I know that. But I’m having trouble with the planning. I know how to schedule ti...

Sale – $1.99 e-Books! Enjoy a Christmas Romance Today!

Once Upon a Christmas and Miracle On I-40 are on sale right now for $1.99 each!

Once Upon a Christmas is a Kindle exclusive.

“Curtiss Ann Matlock has delivered a beautiful and warm Christmas story just in time for our own Christmas Holidays.”
~ Carolyn Mers, author of The Alzheimer’s Roller Coaster

Miracle On I-40 is available on E-Book sale today at:

Kindle iBook Kobo
Also available at B&N and Inktera at the regular price.

Miracle On I-40 is also available in a print book, and is part of...

Christmas is My State of Mind.

I’ve read of stores who are taking the stand to not put out Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving. I applaud them for standing by what they feel is important. I used to make the same rule–none of the Christmas china or linens came out until the first week of December.

But this year I’m throwing rules out the window. I have already gotten out a festive Christmas tea mug and the napkins. I’m in the mood.

Frankly, I think the more Christmas the better at this point in my life, and in th...

Coming Soon: The Loves of Ruby Dee

“A wonderful antidote to glitz romance. Ruby Dee is so sweet, so loving, so wise, that you know she’ll get it right in the end, and you stay with her all the way to make sure she does.” ~ Detroit Free Press

I am thrilled to announce The Loves of Ruby Dee will go on sale November 25 in eBook at all major online bookstores.

For those of you who prefer the paper print version (as I do), The Loves of Ruby Dee is now being prepared for print and should be available before the end of the year, God...

Treasures Found: Writer Cleaning Her Desk

Summer is definitely over, and fall has come at last. And at last I am moving on, too. I feel it inside, but the evidence is real this morning, as I move automatically into cleaning my desk, preparing for writing projects. Tip: when you are stuck, in writing and in life, clean the most important things to you. (I mean close to your heart. A bathroom is most important to all of us, but I’m speaking of heart here. )

I found treasures on my desk. Scraps of paper with possible book titles– cool,...

Endless Opportunities to Start Over

Don’t you love that phrase: “Endless opportunities to start over.” I stare at it, read it again.

I got those words from a post by fellow blogger and artist, PS MacMurray, who writes of this true fact in her recent post Gone Fishing. She says, “All it takes is a new choice and a fresh start.”

Honey, you can make a choice all day long, but it isn’t a choice until you do something with it. You must act on the choice.

So, I go downstairs and get the dog who is at the back door barking, barking, b...

Gleanings: Gable, Cameron, and Kafka

Montgomery Clift asked Clark Gable how he would approach his role in the Misfits. Gable replied: “I bring to it everything I have been, everything I am, and everything I hope to be.”

That is what we do when we write, or when we create anything. We bring all that we are in the moment to our endeavor. We can do nothing else, so it behooves us to believe in ourselves and what we have to offer. The better we know ourselves, honestly and with acceptance of the whole–even those parts that make us c...

Harvey, the Best Jimmy Stewart Movie Ever

See article at Wikipedia

I’ve done a post of the movie Harvey before, but here I am again. I’m a classic movie fan, and a small collector of vintage movie posters and lobby cards. In my inbox today was the newsletter from Conway’s Vintage Treasures, featuring a rare jewel: a full vintage movie poster for the 1950 film Harvey, staring Jimmy Stewart.

Are you familiar with this old classic? I’ve watched it possibly fifty times throughout my life. I can remember some of the dialog when I watch, y...