Patricia Rice's Blog, page 3

Happy New Year!

It���s a bright new year, with a clean slate ahead of us. I choose to believe the forces of evil will be defeated, humor will return to the media, and we are all smart enough to know politicians won���t change anything. It���s up to us to make a difference in the world around us.

So my new year���s resolution is to give what I can to those who need it, to smile at everyone whether they deserve it or not, and to bring as much pleasure to my readers as I am able. That really is the trick, isn���t it? To do the best we can with what we are given.

So hugs to you my wonderful readers, and may the new year bring you blessings that you may not have expected!

Hobbies?

Once upon a time, in a place far away��� I used to have hobbies. I���d sew quilts for cold winter evenings, embroider pillows for rocking chairs, paint Christmas ornaments��� What happened to those times? What do people do for hobbies these days? Binge watch streaming TV? I still hike, so there���s that. Not sure it���s called a hobby. I notice a lot of people work jigsaw puzzles. Does that count as a hobby?

Does reading count as a hobby? I���ve always done that. It���s an essential part of nature for me. Have you given up hobbies or do you still have them?

 

Home Again!

No matter how much I look forward to a trip���planning a year in advance, studying, researching, dreaming of housekeepers and cooks and seeing sights I���ve only just read about���I am always relieved to be back in my own bed. I���m not so relieved to be doing all the laundry, but there are prices to be paid for everything.

We finally reached our dream destinations of Machu Picchu and the Galapagos. ��Peru and Ecuador are amazing. And the food.��.��. Incredible. I cannot begin to cover all the history, the ecology and biology, the tortoises and boobies!, the cultures. . . I hope you���re signed up for my newsletter so you can have access to all the images! (and the discounts and freebies!)

 

Newsletter News

My newsletter will be coming out shortly with travel and book news and discounts and all the Good Things. But this month, the fun part will be a link to my Machu Picchu and Galapagos photos online. If you sign up now, you’ll even get free books and extra material: https://www.subscribepage.com/ricewebsite

I’d love to have you stop by!

Good News Week

Well, the subject header may be illusory, but it caught your attention, didn���t it? We all need good news these days. So I hope y���all have signed up for my newsletter to catch the latest news on book releases, contests, freebies, and all that jazz, because I���m really negligent about remembering to post it here. Actually, I���m pretty negligent about any form of promotion, relying on my assistant to handle everything. Except this month, she���s in Europe, taking a much-needed escape from my insanity. In my defense, I give her all the material to promote, I���m just not much good at figuring out how to post it everywhere at once the way she does.

So here���s my good news of the week: The Mystery of the Missing Heiress, second book in my new Gravesyde Priory romantic Regency mystery series, releases this Friday, October 6th, in print and e-book. All the info can be found at this link, so I won���t bore you with it here!

Have your own good news week, please!

Summer Lost

It���s September! I don���t think we had a summer. That happened in the Regency era when a volcano coated the skies in ash. I���m very afraid we���re doing that now with pollution, and I���ll have to find where the sun lives. At least, we finally have tomatoes !

Did your summer fly by as mine did? I���m pretty sure they���re making the calendars shorter. Remember when Christmas used to be a million years away? Now, it���s always just around the corner. All I can do is keep my calendar in front of me and try to meet deadlines and not forget play dates and birthdays and blog days and.��.��. I���m not sure there���s time to remember what day it is.

But I do remember Book #2, MYSTERY OF THE MISSING HEIRESS, in the Gravesyde Priory series is due out in a few weeks! Mixing romance and mystery in the Regency era is just too much fun…

All Work, No Play, Makes Life Dull

I know I tend to make the writer���s life sound glamorous and exciting���or at least not boring. But the truth is, it���s more fun to write about interesting things, and not the day-to-day routine. So here we are at the end of the dog days of summer. We don���t travel much in summer because of crowds, so I stay home and work. There���s nothing exciting about writing cover copy and overseeing the final production of my October 6 release, including proofing every comma and quote. I should be doing the first edit on my March 19, 2024 release, but Life keeps interfering. And I���m desperately attempting to plot a story for next July, except the characters keep running off in different directions.

So my most exciting news:

My fancy air mattress blew out and I had to find a new one, pronto, and now the freezer is giving dying gasps. And then there are the tomatoes we waited for so patiently for months���they all came on this week. So I���m making ketchup. I need a play date.

 

Touring Alaska

I’m chatting at the Word Wench blog today about my recent Alaskan visit. Want to cool off? Stop by and say hi and enjoy the glaciers and snow-covered mountains!

North to Alaska

I don���t know if you remember that song. I���m sure it dates me. After last year���s exhausting trip to Egypt, we vowed to make our next one simple, so we booked a lovely small ship cruise around Alaska���s coastline. We foolishly thought it would be a short trip from here In California. Scratch that. No trip is short these days unless you take private jet and travel between airport hubs

Today is release day for my very first Regency mystery���with romance! I hope you���ll take time to check a sample of THE SECRETS OF WYCLIFFE MANOR while you���re here.

(scroll down for sample)

Have you ever run away?

We just did. Here in supposedly sunny and seventies SoCal, it rained all winter. We woke up to gray and rain almost every single day. And then spring came, and we saw glimpses of a strange yellow orb in the sky. . . until May arrived. We are accustomed to May gray and June gloom, when the land heats and the ocean is still cold. But right now, the land is as cold as the ocean, and I demand a refund. It���s been foggy, drizzly, and currently���raining���again. I know, I know, climate change. That doesn���t help my severe SAD.

So we threw our suitcases and summer clothes into the car, drove over the mountains, and stayed in Palm Springs for a few sunny days so I could finish the current WIP–the third book in my Gravesyde Priory mystery series.

I highly recommend short escapes when the walls start closing in on you. Even a trip to the mall might help. Get out. See people. Smile at the sun and little children. Read in the park! Well, OK, you folk down under, find a nice warm place with a crackling fire and snuggle up!