A love affair with cows

 

If  bliss is the feeling you get when something hits your soul like glimmering silver then my love affair with cows qualifies. I didn't meet many cows growing up in D.C. But on our drive south after my first marriage my new husband tutored me in the brands/species/breeds of cows.

I can now recognize Holsteins, Charolais, Brama, Jerseys, Guernseys, Angus, and a few others. Then one of our Louisiana neighbors started breeding Galloways and I wanted to cuddle one. They look like fluffy little oreos with legs. So I was thrilled to get to meet these little guys and pet their parents. Crazy huh? I get to drive by them everyday and still take pictures of the newborns when they are at the fence in the Spring.

Besides puppies and kittens do you have a blissful connection witho any Animals?

Blogging all month in the A-Z Challenge. Check out our other bloggers.

(Oh and I have a free book today on Amazon if you like fantasy. Eve of Chaos, bk3 in the Destiny Paramortals)

---

#RELEASEDAY: Storm Warning #ASMSG #MFRWAuthor #IARTG #RomanticSuspense How Brenna and I banished our fear of storms.

 

The first time I experienced the weather of the South was the very month I moved from DC to Mississippi. Only one week landed and there were tornados "walking the Interstate". One of the worst winters the state had ever had.

Coming from Maryland I was no stranger to bad thunderstorms. We had our share being near the Atlantic coast. But in fact my father told me I got my fear of loud noises and lightning from a Fourth of July fireworks event they took me to when I was three.

Tornados, though, were another story. After I moved to the South, I became a weather watcher, a weather forecast addict, listening to all the preventive tips on avoiding lightning strikes, how to tell if a tornado is near, etc.

I remember sitting up in the middle of the night that winter wondering "Is that a train? Or is that a train? To this day I still don't know what part of the train I'm supposed to be on the look out for, the roaring, the whistle, the wheels on the tracks...

But my experiences aren't just based in Louisiana for the last how ever many years. I also spent a lot of time at my mom and dad's house near Tampa. I remember one weekend while I was visiting, four people were killed by lightning. It's the lightning capitol of the world. They were doing everyday tasks like washing a car, boating, bathing and one man was on the phone. Back then the weather authorities didn't advise the public as much as they do now to stay away from those types of activities during a lightning storm. But I was gathering clues to bolster my phobia.

I'm not as fearful of storms as I used to be, but I don't go out when it's thundering either. All this to say that much of what I write about in the Storm Lake series is first hand. As the months go by, I'll share a few of my funny stories about my ridiculous reactions to thunderstorms.

But don't hold that against my heroine in Storm Warning. Brenna has chosen to confront her fears on Storm Lake, which is infamous for its severe weather. Storm Warning is set in Thunder Point (you can see a map in the front of your book or here on my website and read an excerpt as well.)

As you know if you've read any of the series, the books based on the west end of the lake are the paranormal books and as you travel east on the lake things have less of a mystical bent. By the time you get to Larue, home of the Under-Cover Knights and Thunder Point where the most violent weather is because of its location, you've arrived where the books are contemporary (military romance and contemporary).

The Destiny books are a continued series with recurring characters and should be read in order. All the books are loosely connected to the lake and in Blame it on the Moon, Ridge from Her First Knight even made an appearance, but for the most part the Under-Cover Knights and Thunder Point books are standalones.

I hope you enjoy Storm Warning. It was the first book I wrote, ten years ago, in what would become the Storm Lake series. The characters are like family. I've already been asked if Declan will get a story and the answer is a resounding YES!

Sign up for my newsletter on the home page or news page to be entered for the ASUS tablet giveaway at Christmas. And as always, thanks so much for your support. I'd love to hear from you.

Livia

Bad News Winters

I apologize for being absent for so long. I kind of unplugged to get some serious writing done.

It's been the coldest Louisiana winter we've seen in a while. We sometimes get one ice/snow storm every 7 years or so and it lasts a day and we're back up to the 80's for Christmas.

This year was different. Three storms in three weeks. The first one was brief but brought an inch or two of snow and had us all out watching our pets and children play in it. Temperatures rose a bit, then the next one hit. This one put an ice mix down that closed the schools and government offices but not the Mississippi River bridge which turned out to be a mistake because we're not set up for it and NO one around here knows how to drive on it. And besides who can drive on ice? Experience just tells you to stay in, not drive. After a semi spun out on the bridge the local law started handing out tickets to anyone out snow-seeing.

It wasn't just these three storms. We've been in the 30s and below for most of the winter. We're talkin' lows, people, Louisiana remember?  I know you're saying 30's! That's not cold. Well, when your winters are usually in the 50s with an occasional 30 and you have butane or small electric heaters, you never get warm.

I've spent the winter in ski skins and sweat clothes. Thank God for generators which we needed for three days during the last cold front when we got a couple of inches of icy rain and 20 degree weather which froze everything. Trees and limbs were coming down everywhere with booms and cracks. It was scary. But beautiful. Take pictures and pray an iced up spanish moss laden tree doesn't come down on your house.

DH kept coming in and telling me I needed to move to a different room in case the tree over the living room came down. I figure where ever you are, if it's your time, a plane can come through the ceiling, so I stayed in my comfy recliner, writing...

Well! It wasn't all bad. I got a LOT of writing done. Starting with Nano and going straight through until now when I'd planned on opening our snowball stand March 1st. I didn't really want to and it's early but decided people are usually ready so I'd just open early. Of course, I didn't consult the weather man. I did check the Farmer's Almanac and it said, first two weeks of March, colder and wetter than normal. I still didn't pay attention. But I did keep on writing.

The result four books in revision to be published every month beginning in June. And I have a new cover designer I'm giving the whole series to.

So bad news I froze my tail off, but it was great writing weather.

Was this a good news, bad news winter for you, or all bad news? Don't worry, Spring is on the way. It says so on the calendar at least.

Livia