December is the Month of #Sharing

What happened to November? And December is zipping away. I loooove December, the sharing month. But there are never enough hours in the day. Shopping is taking longer now that I check the label to see where the item is made and then hunt for something comparable made in the USA. A difficult task, let me tell you. 

I'm desperately trying to write everyday. December is more family than career with the Solstice celebration with our son and his family and then Christmas with my mom and whoever else we can corral. I'm working on two projects, so in the spirit of December, I'll share a little of both which should be published not too far into 2022.

The third book in The MacKenzie Chronicles, Curse of Wolf Falls, is about Elidor, the youngest sibling and the most clairsentient. 

Elidor MacKenzie has a gift she can’t return. Her ability to absorb the energy from people around her, to take on their joy but also their pain and suffering, lies somewhere between a blessing and a curse. In Joshua, her clairsentient abilities are particularly keen which has kept her away from her family and drove her from the only man she ever loved. But Elidor is back. And in spite of a newfound quiet within, the threat she’s running from will stir the energies of Joshua once again.

This first draft of a blurb sounds rather paranormal. The book is romantic suspense with her gift woven in. I'll have to work on that.

Here is the beginning of the book:

Prologue

“Cameron!” Elidor MacKenzie screamed, as the excruciating sound of bones and flesh meeting rock vibrated in her ears. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” she chanted as she slid and clawed her way off the mountain to the flatland below where Cameron lay sprawled, arms and legs flung outward as if he’d just made a snow angel in the dust. 

Dropping to her knees, she bent close to his face. “Can you hear me? Please, please. Cam.” 

His eyelids fluttered but didn’t fully open. “Ellie,” he rasped. “You…were right…should…use r-ropes.” 

“Hush. It doesn’t matter now. Oh, thank the universe, you’re alive.” She touched his face. “I’ve got to get help.” 

“Wait,” he whispered, the words coming as if with great difficulty. “Get…me back…to camp…first.” 

“No, Cam, I have to call for help.” They were a half mile from where they’d pitched tents, in the shade of trees on the other side of a shallow stream. 

“Not here. Can’t…find us…here. Secret.” He rolled a few inches to his side, struggling to rise. His face contorted in pain. 

They agreed to keep the find in the mountain a secret, but she couldn’t do it at his expense. “But—” 

He shoved at her shoulder with more force than she imagined he could muster. 

“Okay. I’ll try.” She positioned herself above his head and shoulders, grabbed him under the arms, and helped him to sit. “This is stupid, just stupid.” His pain jabbed at her back and limbs—he’d cracked the wall of her empathic shell. Then his determination rocked her breathless.

I'm also working with fellow author Joyce Proell on a cozy mystery set in the imaginary town of Wyatt, Arizona. I'm having soooo much fun with this project. Two sisters meet each year on their birthdays at an infamous hotel in Wyatt for a chocolate martini and a weekend of sisterly sharing. This time, there is murder and mayhem. Leave it to the Chocolate Martini Sisters to solve the crime. 

These projects mean I am leaving 2021 on a good note and opening 2022 on an even better note!