It’s that time of year again. It’s hard to believe it’s going to be 2017. This past year went by so quickly, and each year seems to go by more and more quickly the older I get. I don’t know why that is because each year still has 365 days. But around this time, I always find myself looking back over the previous year and counting my blessings–and there have been many. I said a final good bye to my Shadow Falls characters in Midnight Hour, my final Shadow Falls book. Now that was hard–really hard, but I’m a better person for having known them. I also wrote a new book, unrelated to Shadow Falls, but it’s still about friendships, has a bit of paranormal, some mystery and a lot of heart. I’ll let you know when to expect it in book stores in a bit. I also did some traveling in 2017 to many states in the U.S. and also to Denmark, which was beautiful. I met so many of my fans this year at book stores, conferences and book fairs. I appreciate you all more than you know. So, thanks for making 2016 a year to remember and be thankful for.

As I look ahead, I’m thinking about what 2017 will bring. I already have some exciting things planned–but I can’t say anything about that just yet. So, I guess you’ll just have to wait. 🙂

I have my final giveaway of 2016. If you leave a comment telling me about something wonderful that happened to you in 2016, you could win a signed foreign edition of one of my books.

Wishing Happy Holidays to you all!

It happened.  My closet had gotten out of control.  So hubby and I were cleaning it together.  We had clothes and shoes strewn all over the bedroom floor.  Hubby’s was on the floor, holding up items and asking, “Keep or throw?”

He picked up a purse.  I saw it was worn on the bottom, so I said, “Toss.  But check to make sure nothing’s in it.”  I swear I did not know what was it there.  Had I known, I wouldn’t have been in the house.

He stuck his hand in the purse, moved it around and then turned the purse over and shook it.

I saw it fall out.  A scream rose up my throat.  I leapt back.

It was the biggest darn spider I’d ever seen.  I swear I saw the thing blink.  It landed on all eights, crouched down like a dog ready to attack.

I screamed, one of those kind of screams that come from the belly button area, and I started doing the It’s-a-Spider-Dance.  Hubby grabbed a shoe and smashed it.  And believe me there was a lot of smash to clean up.  Which hubby did. Guess who is going to be cleaning the closet out by himself from now on?

Who says closet monsters don’t exit? What’s in your closet?

October 28, 2016 this interview was posted on Lisa Loves Books. I thought I’d share it with you.

1. If you found a genie, what would be your three wishes?

* Good health for myself and my loved ones.  We so often take that for granted.

* More laughter.  I think laughter is a weapon we need to confront the stresses of everyday life.  I love to laugh and do it often.  But I could still use a little more.

*  More time.  I really need twenty-eight hours in a day.  It’s so hard to balance everything I want to do in a twenty-four hour period.  I need a few more hours of work time. an hour more of play time and another hour of family time.

2. What do you hope readers will take away from reading this book (Midnight Hour)?

I don’t write a book for the take-away lesson, I write to entertain.  That said, every book I write ends up with an underlying message depending on what the character needs to learn, and what she will encounter on her journey through her own character arc.  For Miranda, my dyslexic witch, her arc included overcoming self-doubt.  Discovering that even our flaws. when dealt with properly, can offer us gifts and talents.  This story was close to my heart considering that I’m also dyslexic.

3. Tell us seven things we may not know about your writing life…

* I’m a workaholic.  I work around ten to twelve hours a day.

* I’m not one who writes well in Starbucks.  I like my office and I produce the most pages when I’m there.

* I love organization.  I don’t like clutter, but my office is a cluttered, organized mess.

* I have a foot massager under my desk, so I spend at least an hour a day getting my feet massaged while I write.

* I love writing. It’s my passion and I don’t ever plan to stop.  I love it so much that often I will forget to eat or even take a potty break.

* I cry, laugh and talk to myself when I write.  If someone saw me, they might think I need to be committed.

* I’ve not only written and published young adult fiction, I write and publish adult humorous, romantic suspense as Christie Craig.  I also have published three non-fiction books.  And have published over 3000 articles for magazines.  In my non-fiction career, I interviewed Tom Selleck.

4. What can we expect from Midnight Hour?

Tears and laughter and a romance that will leave you sighing. You can expect a book that’s hard to put down.  A story that concludes the Shadow Falls series.  Good byes are hard.  I want to think I gave the readers the best one I could.

5. Was there any particular research that you did for the new book?

You know, if someone checked out my Google searches while writing this book, they might be very concerned.  While writing this book, I searched bombs and explosions, snakes—if they can smell and what a cobra bite will do to a person—and how long it takes for a dead person to start stinking.

6. When you start writing, do you already have an ending in mind, or do you just let the narrative go where it takes you?

I call myself a pantser, meaning I write by the seat of my pants.  My agent argues with me that I’m not a pantser, that I always know what’s going to happen.  I guess I do know some of it.  Before I start a book, I kind of know the dramatic events that will happen in the story.  I know what my character wants and sort of what is going to stand in their way to achieving that goal.  I figure out what they are most afraid of and how I’m going to make them face those fears.   I never write anything down.  It’s all in my head.  So, I might know a few things about the character and sort of have an idea of a few plot points.  It’s always the emotional cues that I know.  But much of my stories evolve as I’m writing them.  Amazingly, I don’t always have the ending scene in mind.  Often, that scene comes to me when I realize what is most important to the character.  The ending has to be powerful.  It needs to give me and my readers a big gulp of satisfaction.  A feeling that all is well in life.

If you found a genie in a lamp, what would be your three wishes?

October 30, 2016, Angela from The Reading Cave sat down with Kylie, Della and Miranda for an interview. I thought I’d share it with you.

Angela: (Sitting in a cool coffee shop near the college with Kylie, Della and Miranda):  Congrats, gals!  I hear you just graduated.  I know y’all are planning on living together at college.  Can you tell me a little about your new place (is it a dorm, apartment, house rental).

Kylie:  We decided to go with a house.

Della:  Duh, can you image us living in a dorm?

Miranda:  Yeah, I mean with Della’s vampire ‘tude, Kylie’s glowing issues and my witch craft goofs, we all decided living by ourselves was the best thing.

Kylie:  Yeah, but we love the house.  It’s a three bedroom, two baths and nice living room and kitchen.

Della:  Yeah, but it stinks.  I think three college guys used to rent it. It smells like old beer and dirty male underwear.

Miranda:  I told you I could cast an aroma spell on it.

Della:  Sorry, I know you’re some big tree witch now, but I still don’t trust your powers. There’s no telling what you might conjure up.

Miranda:  (Rolling eyes and groaning) Can’t you ever lose the ‘tude?

Kylie:  Hey… we’re being interviewed here.  Let’s not fight.

Angela: (Looks at Kylie)  Are they still fighting?

Kylie:  To paraphrase Della, Do bears crap in the woods?

Miranda:  But we love each other.

Angela:  Freedom sounds so refreshing!  No more answering to adults although I have a feeling Burnett will have a bit of a hard time not checking up on y’all.  What are you planning on studying?

Miranda:  (Smiles)  I hate to say this, but it doesn’t feel a lot different.  I think toward the end, we pretty much did what we wanted to.  And Burnett isn’t as bad as Holiday.  She’s dropped in four times.  Not that I’m complaining.  But the last time she showed up, she had tears in her eyes when she left.  She says Shadow Falls isn’t the same without us. We all almost started crying.  I mean, we love it here, but we miss home.

Kylie:  (Nods and then laughs) Yeah, but when Burnett showed up I swear I had to talk him out of setting up an alarm system.

Della:  Yeah, and I told him we didn’t need an alarm.  Not as long as I’m here.  And as for what I’m majoring in?  Criminal Justice. My plans haven’t changed.  I’m going to work for the FRU.  I want to kick ass and catch bad guys.

Miranda:  I’m getting an education degree. Holiday has already guaranteed me a job teaching at Shadow Falls.  But I’m also hoping to work with dyslexic kids.  Teach them that dyslexia isn’t something that should stop you from achieving your dreams.

Angela:  (Looks at Kylie) What about you, Kylie?

Kylie: Psychology.  Holiday even said she got a glimpse into the future.  She said I’d go in that direction.  But . . . I might take some courses in Criminal Justice, too.

Angela:  You want to work for the FRU, too?

Kylie:  Not full time.  Just special cases. When they need me.

Della:  She’s a protector and can turn invisible.  That means she can kick butt like nobody can and walk into a room and spy on people without them ever knowing.  The FRU needs her.

Kylie:  Just not full time.

Angela:  Long distant relationships are hard, do you gals have a game plan for how you are going to handle it?

Miranda:  School’s is only about an hour away.  It’s not really long distance.  The biggest problem is finding the time.  Perry, Lucas, and even Chase are all taking classes at the junior college in Fallen and working part time with the FRU.  So we usually see them two or three times a week.  I wish it was more—I really miss him—but between the studying and classes, it really is probably for the best.

Della:  Lucas is the worst.  I mean he’ll show up here at 2 in the morning sometimes.

Kylie:  Chase does, too.

Della:  Not as bad as Lucas.  I’ve heard him come in for the last three nights.

Kylie:  (Smiles)  So my boyfriend misses me more.

Miranda:  Please.  Perry misses me so much he’s miserable. He would fly here every night if I let him.  But he has to study and work with the FRU. Living on six hours of sleep a night isn’t enough for him to be on top of his game.

Angela:  Can you hint about what you guys are doing after graduation?

Kylie:  Like Della and Miranda, I’ll probably go back to Shadow Falls, too.  With all the chameleons starting school there, Holiday needs another counselor.

Angela:  So all three of you are planning on going back?

Miranda:  Why not.  It’s home.  Not to disrespect our parents and that home, but Shadow Falls is where we learned who we are.  It’s where we faced most of our demons.  It’s where we really figured out our place in the world.  If we can help other supernaturals find that, then we’re happy to do that.  (Kylie and Della nod along with Miranda.)

Angela:  So what about . . .   I know you are young, but is marriage on the table?

Kylie:  Yeah.  (Kylie holds out her left hand and proudly shows off her engagement ring)  It’s official.  We’re getting married as soon as I graduate.

Angela: Congratulations.  (She looks at Miranda and Della.)

Della:  I don’t have a ring, but Chase is my soulmate.  And he’s already asking about the kind of jewelry I like.  He can’t hide shit from me.  I know he’s shopping.  (She smiles and her eyes lights up with love.)

Miranda:  Perry hasn’t come out and asked me.  But he’s hinted plenty.  He’s even shopping for a house and made me go see one right outside of Fallen.  He said I need to like it, because it’s going to be our house.

Angela:  So all ends well?

Miranda, Della, and Kylie:  Yes.  (They all smile and nod.)

Miranda:  It’s been a wild ride for all of us.  We’ve felt pain, we’ve laughed, and we found love.   We’ve discovered our strengths.

Kylie:  We’ve discovered who we are.

Della:  We’ve learned life comes with changes and to accept them is the only way to survive.

Angela:  So is this really goodbye?

Kylie:  Never say never.

So, tell me how you think Kylie, Della and Miranda will do in college? And do you think they’ll all end up back at Shadow Falls Camp?