October is upon us...

...and the weather here will be much cooler and dryer. Yay! The reason I live in Florida.  I love this time of year and as you are all well aware, Halloween/Samhain is my favorite holiday.  As I dig out my Fall decor, I think how fast the years flash by.  I have been on an unscheduled sabbatical this year, it seems, from writing.  The reason not any one thing or event but a multitude of things.  It seems that I have had to deal with many life-changing things this year, but such is life.  A writer's life is hit or miss so with that said, I hope to be very busy with the muse in the coming new year and the last part of this year. 

Today was the first time in forever that we could work outside and clean up our much overgrown backyard. It felt wonderful to be outside for much of the day!  I am very motivated with the freshness of the coming season to spend a lot of time outdoors.  Funny, people up in the northern states hide in the winter and here in Florida we thrive.  The AC is a thing of the past. Fresh air blows the stagnant air out of the house and life seems nothing less than perfection.

And oh! I haven't even broken the news of my new arrival to you all!  Labor day weekend we rescued a Sheltie/Collie mix and Bea now has a brother!  His name is Shane and he is thriving.  He looks a lot more Collie but is much smaller than a standard Collie much like my GypsyLee who passed over the Rainbow Bridge almost three years ago.  He had a horrible skin issue and the previous owner had shaved him. You NEVER shave a Sheltie or Collie!!!  But since I had to give him two medicated baths a week I have to admit I was kind of glad for the mistaken shaving:)  It definitely helped in getting the soap where it needed to go and now the infection is 99% better.

Bea(right) and Shane(left) get on quite well and one more dog has been rescued into a loving 'forever' home.  We have rescued two dogs now from The Mid Florida Sheltie Rescue. If you or anyone you know is interested in adopting a Sheltie, please give Barbara Davis a holler. The web address is: http://www.midflsheltierescue.com/. Unfortunately, there are plenty of dogs that need to find their 'forever' homes. If you can't adopt a Sheltie at this time, and maybe just want to donate, Lord knows, they could use whatever you can find it in your heart to give.  They are a full non-profit shelter and take wonderful care of the dogs from shots, neutering, grooming--everything the dogs need. Some even receive life-saving surgery.

Sorry to bend your ear but as you all know animals--expecially canines--are closest to my heart.  Thank you for letting me share as always.

I hope you are all faring well.  I'm off to work on something. Not sure what... But mark my words, it will be a story plot of some sort:)

Have a wonderful week.

D~

Happy Autumn! Updates and an important follow up on the "A Word About Reviews" Post.

Yeah! My favorite season and holiday is coming at me fast. Got to get busy with my decor! I love this time of year. A northerner at heart, fall is such an awesome time of year. Still warm with Indian Summer yet so very vibrant. Living in Southern Florida, I truly miss it but this is the time of year that is most comfortable in the south. We get cold fronts that give us the most delectable weather. Breezy and much cooler temps from October through just about May. Ahh...Wintering in Florida is heaven.

I want to mention that this week's Author Spotlight didn't work out. Kelley Heckart's new release has been slightly delayed so her spot will move to November 12th. Be sure to mark you calendars of the change. The first and second week of October are open. Any paranormal authors interested in jumping in to be spotlighted? You don't have to have a new release to be interviewed so don't hesitate to contact me ASAP ( gothscribegirl@aol.com ) if you are interested in some free promo.

I wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who jumped into the review conversation below. If you have not read this post, please do. It's something that touches all of us as writers and reviewers alike. I've even had two reviewers step up to the plate and talk to us about thier perspective.

An update: The author that I talked about who was given a "0" rating on her book has had yet another review by the same reviewer none-the-less at a different review site! This time she was awarded a 1.5! How is this fair practice?

Reviewers out there, a question. Do you review the same books on different sites? I've never come across this practice before. Please pipe in and let us know what's up with this?

Dayana~

A Hard Day's Work

Wow! Today has been a flurry of activity for me. Busy...busy...busy:)

As most of you know, autumn is my favorite time of year. I love the colors, which are bred within me even though I've been transplanted in the South for twenty-five years. I am a Northern girl at heart. Autumn colors and snowy Christmas' Most of all though, I absolutely Love Halloween:)

September is when I begin my home decor transformation and Labor Day has always represented the Fall for me, soooo...I've gone and transformed the house into Halloween central. Well...not completely but I've got the traditional autumn colors, and a lot of the traditional Halloween decorations situated around the house. Inside only for now. Geez, I've even beat Target to the punch. That is amazing.

Here's the tough part. You know how when you decorate, you also have to clean? Yeah, you guessed it. I busied my self today with fall cleaning chores such as shampooing the carpet, cleaning windows, dusting, mopping floors, and moving furniture around. Can I tell you, I'm beat! But the house looks so beautiful and like a completely different space. Vibrant and warm. Good karma is radiating all around.

Now I'll continue to add little touches and, of course, work into decorating the outdoors as well. I'll share another little tid bit of information. I take my vacation from the day job every year on Halloween week. That's love, LOL


I did work on some writing stuff today but I didn't set the world on fire. Too busy with all the other stuff. I am working on a new story that I anticipate being released next Halloween, at least I hope. I have to sell it first*grin* Actually, truth be told, I have to finish it before I do anything else, LOL

Anyway, that's what I've been up to this holiday weekend. What have you all been up to?

Oh and one more thing. Traci Hall who was the author spotlight will pick the winner of her book on Tuesday as she went to a conference this weekend given by Heather Graham in New Orleans--lucky girl *sigh* Can't wait to see who nabs the book.

Talk to you later.

D~