Tidbit Tuesday

WOW! Last night my small group crafty group from church went to see The Shack.

I'd read the book and loved it. I'm always a little apprehensive about going to see a book made into a movie.

Dare I say that I loved the movie more?

Have you seen The Shack? What movie have you seen that was better than the book?

Weekend Round Up!

Gosh...the weekend flew by and it was filled with family, food, and fun.

I was so excited for the weekend. It's not only because it's Easter and I do love Easter, it's because all my little ducks were home!

Over the past week, Jack went on his last high school spring break with his friends. I don't ever recall being away from him over the past seventeen years for that long...even book signing events I'll come home for a night or day. Seven days is a long time not to see my baby. So it was so nice to have him home and safe.

Austin came home for the weekend. I told him that he didn't have to, but he told me that he wanted to come home for Easter and see his family. My heart melted and he used that opportunity to have me take him shopping!!

Brady was off work, since he's still living at home and going to college, we rarely see him because he works so much.

Cody came home for the day and he was able to show off all the fun photos he took on his trip to Spain last month.

Saturday was spent cleaning up around the yard and getting my summer office ready. I do love our pool. It's not a huge pool. It's considered a play pool. Each end is about four feet deep and it gradually goes to six feet in the  middle. It's a great pool to play volleyball and with boys, I always put physical activities at the forefront of each decision.
It's a great pool to just float in. It's saltwater which is also great for you skin!

Saturday night we went to Eddy's sister's house an hour away for a cook out. It was so nice to be able to relax and enjoy instead of cooking the food!

Sunday was amazing. I love going to church. My parents spent the night and we enjoyed my sausage breakfast casserole before we went to an amazing church service. After church, my sister and her family came over and we enjoyed a wonderful Easter lunch.

The night was a little bitter sweet as the kids and family went their separate ways. But it was When Calls the Heart night, so Eddy and I curled up on the couch to end a spectacular weekend.

Of course between the events, I got a few thousand words written! Yay!

How was your weekend??

Rereading the Written

I'm not going to lie to you. After I write a book and it's been sent off for the  final edits and approval, I kinda. . .well I do forget about it until it comes out. That can be two years from then.

I know my characters and the  basic plot, but I forget about the little details. The little details like the ghost cat at the end of A Ghostly Mortality. When I get a ton of emails about how excited they are about the cat, I have to admit that I wonder what cat?

Ah, oh! I better re-read what I wrote and what was published. . .

So I'm rereading A Ghostly Mortality because it's time to start writing that seventh book if I'm going to get it turned in on time!


What are you reading?

Easter and the Derby?

Okay..
Easter is in April and the Derby is in May! But here in Kentucky and the south, we don't have Easter without the Derby pie!

Kentucky Derby Pie

(from my mama~Linda Lowry)

My mama’s Derby Pie is smack your mama good! It’s a southern pie with walnuts and chocolate chips. You can use pecans in substitute for the walnuts, but I really like my walnuts!

Ingredients:

½ cup melted butter

1 cup sugar

½ cup flour

2 beaten eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

¾ cup Walnuts or pecans (your choice not both!)

¾ cup chocolate chips (or more if you really want it gooey!)

Directions

Mix in the order that’s written under the ingredients. This is very important. Pour the mixture into an unbaked 9 inch pie shell. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Enjoy this amazing video of an artist decorating eggs. 

Happy happy Easter!!

Easter Giveaway!!!! 

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Want some more southern fun? Check out the Kenni Lowry Mystery Series and the special Kenni Lowry Mystery Series website where you can meet the folks of Cottonwood and even take a virtual vacation in Cottonwood!

SOUTHERN FRIED is the second novel in the Kenni Lowry Mystery Series.

“Fabulous fun and fantastic fried food! Kappes nails small town mystery with another must-read hit. (Also, I want to live in Cottonwood, KY.) Don’t miss this one!” – Darynda Jones, New York Times Bestselling Author of the Charley Davidson Series

In the South, it’s better when the food is fried and the secrets kept buried…After the dead body of a beloved Cottonwood resident is found tangled up in an electric fence, Sheriff Kenni Lowry has a hunch that somethin’ ain’t right. Her investigation heats up with a fierce cook-off competition, a euchre game where the intel is sweeter than the brownies, and a decades old family recipe that may just be the proof in the pudding.

The icing on the cake: Kenni is fighting an attraction to her recently sworn-in deputy sheriff, and election season is hot on her tail. When the killer comes after who she holds most dear, even her poppa’s ghostly guidance might not be enough to keep her and her own out of the frying pan.

“Kappes captures the charm and quirky characters of small-town Kentucky in her new mystery…a charming, funny story with exaggerated characters. The dialect-filled quirky sayings and comments bring those characters to life. Best of all, for a mystery reader, the culprit was an unlikely suspect, but the solution made sense.” – Lesa’s Book Critiques (on Fixin’ To Die)

For years, USA Today bestselling author Tonya Kappes has been publishing numerous mystery with unprecedented success. She is famous not only for her hilarious plot lines and quirky characters, but her tremendous marketing efforts that have earned her thousands of followers and a devoted street team of fans.
Sign up for her newsletter on her website at Tonyakappes.com  and receive a free Kappes ebook!

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Email: Tonyak11@yahoo.com

Pulling Out The Totes

The weather in Kentucky has been warming up and up. We got from 38 to 70 degrees in a 24 hour period.

The winter to spring the strangest season change. Then we have spring for about ten minutes (really a week) until we get summer temps. I'm not complaining at all. I love writing outside. In fact, it's my most creative time of the year. I love the vivid bright colors of the outside and the bright  sun. It's so lifting to my spirit.

This week, our temps are staying in the late 60's, which is pretty great. I can wear long pants and short sleeves outside while I work. This means one thing though...dragging out my spring and summer totes of clothes and putting away my fall/winter clothes.

I'm one of those. Even though I have a walk-in closest with a dresser in and bench in it, I love to  change out my wardrobe. I love to open the totes and one at a time look at them and decide if I want to keep it or give it away. Most of the time I will keep an item and do the if I don't wear it in a month I get rid of it theory.

Now that I've dragged out my totes, I've got to find the time to change out my closet and that takes a whole new level of energy.

What about you? Do you have a wardrobe switch?

A Vicious Cycle

I love to read. I really do.
There's just one problem...
When I'm deep in writing the first draft of a book, I not only feel guilty about stopping my work to read, but I can't get into someone else's book without thinking about mine.

It's a bad situation for me. I will read another author's mystery and scratch my head wondering why they didn't do something this way or that. I critique the writing more than enjoying the story. Or I'll critique my work and feel so inadequate thinking how much better their story is than mine.

It's a vicious cycle!

Do y'all read for enjoyment? Or do you critique the writer's work as you go?

And they're off....

WOW! I had a super busy weekend. It was filled with fun and fear! 

On Saturday our son Austin was in charge of his fraternity alumni/parent weekend at Keeneland Racetrack.

Now...y'all know I love horse racing and Keeneland. I grew up going to the races and Keeneland is literally fifteen minutes from my childhood home. Friends of my family started Keeneland and still own it today. So...I'm pretty at home there. 

It was opening weekend, which meant there were probably around 40k people there. 40,000 PEOPLE!!! 

(These little jockeys are so cute. They have the names of winners on their little boards.) 

The food line is 1 1/2 hours long to stand in...not to mention the bathroom. You don't think that sounds like fun?? It is! We get there and tailgate on "The Hill." It's the cute name for the grassy area on Keeneland where you can tailgate all day long and never see a horse. But it's the thrill and inside that I love. 

There are two races an hour so there's a lot of down time between the 30 second races. I even saw some friends I'd gone to high school with. It's a lot of fun. AND we got to spend a lot of time with Austin and we spent the night with my parents. It was great!

Then....that say day....Jack and ten of his friends along with four parents drove to Florida ( a 14 hour trip). Jack was driving with three buddies and though it was a caravan, I was still freaked out. I'd been at the races all day and was tired, I couldn't close down my mind with thoughts of Jack and being on the road. 

We ended up texting every couple of hours all night long. When he was driving, one of his friends would text me. Finally around 6 a.m. he sent me a picture of the beach. They'd made it. Not me! I was up all night worried sick on the driving. 

(Jack is in the white shirt. He said they immediately went to the beach and a nice "old" lady took their picture)

We got up and left my parents pretty early, early enough to drive two hours back to our house and go straight to church. No rest though. I spent Sunday doing the business side of the writing as well as maybe napping here and there. 

How was your weekend???