Dawn Baca

Creating Ripples on Every Page

Mother Nature didn’t get the memo –  Summer is officially over!

Posted on Sep 8, 2020 by Dawn Baca   Comments Off on Mother Nature didn’t get the memo –  Summer is officially over! | Posted in Animal Antics · Books

“Courage is found in Unlikely Places.”
~J.R.R. Tolkien

“Courage originally meant – 
To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.”
~Brené Brown
KeepInspiring.me
The temps are still soaring!

I’ve been doing more research lately and wanted to check in with the hive mind. Where would you live if you could move anywhere in the world? What is it about that location you love enough to want to put down roots? Where do you live now, and do you love it or hate it? And why is that?

I’ll start, I live in the central valley of California, and I pretty much hate it. I love my friends who have become family, we’ve been here for almost 18 years so we’ve become very close to quite a few people over time. The summers seem to be getting hotter each year. I’m pretty sure that even Hade’s is cooler sometimes. And the winters are chilly and useless since we don’t seem to get nearly the rain we need to stay pretty and green, let alone water efficient. Worst of all are my allergies/asthma. Which I didn’t have before we moved. Granted it’s probably a combination of environment and old age, but now it just feels like I’m pretty much allergic to air. Cats, dogs, and grass, with a milder allergy to trees, pollen, mold, and mites! and then mother nature threw in allergy-induced asthma! So fun times over here.

The numerous fires here in California have finally gotten to a controlled stage where the smoke hasn’t traveled hundreds of miles away to choke us as well.

Some day, I’d love to move to a milder climate, moderate temperatures, low humidity, little to no snow, and a decent cost of living, unlike California where the dog pretty much has to work to help pay the mortgage! I know, I know, crazy dreams.

So where on the map should we pin our dreams, and send our next round of characters to? I’ve got a couple of free e-books for the best ideas, so help me out here!

Let’s Go Shopping:

My sister Amy and I are having a virtual (Facebook) Pampered Chef party this month. Sept 4th through the 13th we are going to be showing off and selling some awesome gadgets to make our lives a whole lot funner and easier. For our “family” bridal shower, my husband’s aunt hosted and bought us a ton of amazing pampered chef things almost 20 years ago, and I still have most of what everyone bought us. I love Pampered Chef and that their products really last.

Join us and see what’s new and exciting. And if you are interested in hosting a virtual party yourself, reach out to Amy and she’ll hook you up, she’s awesome like that.

All Things Writing:

I have been swamped with critiques, and editing assignments, so I haven’t had much time to really focus on my current WIP, AKA Leila… But I have been working on getting more feedback for the very next book in the series once Leila is out making waves in the world. Cassie was the very first actual book I ever wrote. Over the years I wrote short stories, essays, articles, and some seriously questionable poetry! But Cassie was a compilation of all the things I didn’t know that I didn’t know. And boy that list is long. You never realize just how much goes into a novel until you actually sit down and put those wayward thoughts down into an actual cohesive order. GAH. While I’m immensely proud of how much I’ve learned and how far I’ve come in the last 6 years, Cassie has remained a project on the back burner. I’ve pulled her out, dusted her off, made changes, and cuts, oh boy have there been lots of cuts, but then she got put back on the shelf waiting her turn in the series to be able to really shine. The goal is to have her out following Leila and Yuri’s love story. So wish me luck as we continue to whip them all into shape.

 

Book News:

The fabulous Carmen Cook has been sitting out in her beautiful “revenge garden” reading great excerpts from fabulous romance authors, to give us all a taste of how wonderful they are. The garden is aptly named after a neighbor cut down a tree in her yard, that hosted hummingbird eggs. She was crushed, and decided to plant as many beauties in her backyard, far away from the prying clippers of said neighbors! It blew up and turned into a stunning sanctuary. She loves to sit out there and write on occasion and make the rest of us jealous.

Below are some fabulous pictures of her garden, but also a link to her Instagram page to watch her reading a small section out of my third book His Heart’s Promise, as well as a scene from Saranna DeWylde’s upcoming Fairy Godmother Inc. novel, so tune in and check her out. That link is below as well.

All the Books Promos: 

All new promo’s this month. New authors, new stories you can sink your teeth into.

You can find even more Free books below if you are interested in finding and following different romance authors. My first book Her Guarded Heart is included in ALL of the promos below, so we would all be so grateful if you could check out the pages for books and authors you might be interested in, and please forward these links far and wide. Some promos will extend farther than a single month so you may see them more than once, but you never know, check them out again in case you missed something good the first time.

This month we are promoting not only free books you can download when you join an author newsletter, but we also have a list of books available in Kindle Unlimited’s Free Reads as well.

#ASMSG, #AuthorRT, #IARTG, #IAN1, #SNRTG, #TW4RW, #AmReadingRomance, #BookLover, #Bibliophile, #FreeEbooks, #MustRead, #Kindle, #KindleUnlimited, #Romance

FREE Books
Contemporary Romance Commence 
August 31 – September 30

https://books.bookfunnel.com/contemporaryromancelove/pszg0w8v8d
Autumn Reads Book Fest 
September 01 – September 30

https://books.bookfunnel.com/autumn-reads-book-fest/9b0os4vbhx
Reaping Reads 
September 01 – September 30

https://books.bookfunnel.com/reapingreads/emogvmq12f
Autumn Romance Giveaway
September 15 – October 15

https://books.bookfunnel.com/autumngiveaway/udsbbbbkjv
Kindle Unlimited Free Reads
September Romance Kindle Unlimited
September 01 – September 30

https://books.bookfunnel.com/september-romance-kindle-unlimited/1cvf2shclz
End of September Kindle Unlimited Romance Reads
September 15 – September 30

https://books.bookfunnel.com/endofmonthku2/lb5x5hzaap
Falling Into Romance (Kindle Unlimited)
September 22 – October 06

https://books.bookfunnel.com/fallintoromance/wy00xq7e7p
Great Reads on Sale on Amazon
Falling Into You
September 18 – October 09
https://books.bookfunnel.com/fallingintoyou/zj9s8kpwts
~And check out Awesomegangs newsletter for weekly free and discounted books.
Their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ourawesomegang
~~~
My Books:

Her Guarded Heart – (Book 1)
Now exclusive to Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited 

Amazon

Her Heart’s Desire – (Book 2)
Now exclusive to Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited

Amazon

His Heart’s Promise – (Book 3)
eBook available on all platforms (Paperback coming soon!)

Amazon
All Other Platforms

Blurb (A NEW VERSION):

Lost . . .The love of a lifetime . . .
Sophie Compte and Claude Durand have suffered and survived myriad challenges in their long and storied relationship but are finally living their dream—working side by side at her family’s internationally lauded championship horse breeding farm in the French countryside. Impatient for the day of their lavish wedding to arrive, they look forward to saying their vows and stepping into their forever, together.

Shattered hearts, devastated dreams . . .
Sophie and Claude’s dream has barely begun when a horrific tragedy shatters their idyllic life bringing with it unimaginable loss and soul-crushing sorrow. Facing life without Claude, Sophie fears that nothing can or ever will be the same again. Is the depth of love they shared enough to carry Sophie through an uncertain future?

And yet, true love never dies . . .
With fierce independence and stubborn determination, Sophie faces her new reality. As grim acceptance begins, Fate turns the tables yet again, bringing a stranger to Sophie’s door. With him comes equal servings of joy and pain, and memories of the bond she and Claude once shared. Is love enough? Can love prove powerful enough to resurrect two damaged hearts? Does Sophie dare to wager her future on the strength of the past? And if she does, will the memory of his heart’s promise prove strong enough to survive the most difficult test of all?

Final Book Trailer Video: 

Travels and Adventures: 

Every few weeks we’ve been getting together sitting in our driveways, socially distancing and visiting. A handful of us have been taking turns cooking for each other to break up the monotony of our world of isolation.

A while back I made a big batch of spaghetti for the neighborhood. My electric roaster is a basically an 18 quart crock pot on steroids, and a major appliance in our house. It’s used for all major soups, sauces and holiday meals. It usually takes me at least two days to put it all together and having it simmer overnight.

Well apparently while I was down the street dropping something off at another neighbors, my husband snuck over a half a loaf of French bread and a bowl of the sauce across the street without me knowing. They didn’t even bother to tell me until the next day even though I had given him hell for eating almost a full loaf of French bread in the ten minutes I’d been gone. Well, he was apparently caught on video by the neighbor and she posted it online with a goofy toon to go with it.

Check it out here, I couldn’t help but laugh once it all came out!

https://vm.tiktok.com/J2g4Cv2/

September is the annual “Man Hike” where my husband and a handful of the guys strap on 50+ pound packs, and trek around the Ansel Adams wilderness.  I tried it once… no not the hiking part, well I’ve actually tried that too technically, just never with the pack on. I have however had the hubs strap a pack to me and it took everything I had to remain upright. There was no way I was going to try to hike up a mountain like that. Sheesh. Pure craziness. Yet he does it every year. Hats off to those who can do this, and to all those that think this is fun. I’d rather stay home and put my feet up with a good book and a nice glass of wine!

Animal Antics:

The cats are still a royal pain, and the dog is slowly being less of one. Other than that, not a whole lot of things new on that front. But here are a few pictures to remind you how onery they are.

The New Creative Space:

We still need to go to the paint store together and spend a little time looking at various shades, to get a better feel. My goal is to splash at least 4 or 5 colors up on the wall in little squares to see what it would really look like live. The little swatches never seem to really do the colors justice, so you never really get what you were hoping for. We also need to go to Lowes to get the pricing to special order the French Doors, I’m hoping to have them ordered and installed before the holidays. The summer basically got away from us between the plague drama, and the heat, we just didn’t seem to get nearly as much done as we had planned.

To keep up with all of the changes, and make suggestions, tell me what you like or don’t like, all suggestions are welcome, follow my board on Pinterest here: New Home Office

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