Tag Archive for maya’s vacation

Need Gift Ideas? Give the gift of (my) fiction!

Hey, it’s not a holiday season without an obligatory “Buy My Work!” post from an author. I swear it’s in the contracts we sign in blood with our publishers…somewhere…I seem to have misplaced them.

Oh, I think I remember where…

In 2015, I added two new opportunities to purchase my work, which is one way of saying some very lovely people agreed to include me in their collections — some even paid me for it! One is a short story in a magazine and one is a contribution to a cookbook…a cookbook with quite illustrious co-contributors from the Speculative Fiction galaxy. Being a member of a professional organization comes with some perks, just sayin’.

Consider this my purchasable compendium, reverse chronological order! Collect all five! And come this time next year, there will be a novel to add to this list, one way or another…

1. Ad Astra: The 50th Anniversary SFWA Cookbook

Fran Wilde and Cat Rambo edited this collection of 150+ recipes from speculative fiction authors of the past, present, and maybe even future. In it, you can find my Seared Peaches with Prosciutto and Basil; it comes with high acclaim from the NC Research Triangle area spec fic community. Purchase the cookbook from the SFWA website here or from Amazon.

2. “Thlush-A-Lum” in PULP Literature Issue #5

“Thlush-A-Lum” is pure horror that would qualify as flash fiction in most markets. The story came about when I challenged myself to write something more focused on the sense of sound than the other four I more commonly use in my writing. Many of those sounds are inspired by what I could hear from my own Southern bedroom window…and a few sounds that I swear I’ve been able to hear no matter where I’ve lived.

Purchase Issue #5 from the PULP Literature website or from Amazon.

3. “Blow ‘Em Down” from Beneath Ceaseless Skies Double Anniversary Issue #131

“Blow ‘Em Down” is the story I describe as a steampunk retelling of the Battle of Jericho with a jazzy feel circa Harlem Renaissance. It’s been taught in a college class and brought me some of my highest compliments, so I certainly think it’s worth the read. Beneath Ceaseless Skies is not available in print, but the e-magazine can be purchased through Weightless Books or on Amazon.

4. “Bother” in Bull Spec #5

“Bother” was the cover story for Bull Spec #5, and I’m honored to this day that the highly regarded Richard Case chose to illustrate it. It’s urban fantasy about how a couple survives, or doesn’t, when a dragon comes to roost on their city block. Luckily, there appears to still be back issues of Bull Spec available, although the magazine has shifted to a web-only presence. Order Issue #5 here or an e-version from Weightless Books here.

5. Maya’s Vacation

The contemporary romance novella I never expected write, Maya’s Vacation came to be in a dream about frying chicken, and I fleshed that dream out into the story of a woman in her fifties rediscovering herself after a divorce and relearning what she used to love through food, paint, and an old flame returned. Maya’s Vacation, published by Clean Reads, is available on Amazon. Warning: No sex scenes in this romance! Just unrequited longing. Or is it requited? I’ll never tell.

I may also mention that anything you buy that features my work is a gift to me as well — word of tongue can only spread after eyes on the page have done their business. Of course, I also have plenty of fiction free to read online as well — just click over to the Creative section to find it. Thank you for your support, and I hope to keep entertaining you in the future. I’m pretty sure I’ll have some snippets to share by the end of next week as well…

Happy holidays, from me and Ben!

Blog Hopping today!

My regular readers know I don’t actually talk about the craft of writing much on this blog, but it can be fun to participate in the occasional blog hop! So today’s post will be your rare chance to peek into my writing window–heck, it’s the rare chance for me to do the same. I’m not talking about food and drink today, but the world of speculative fiction.

This blog hop is taking place to promote Sucker Literary Vol. III, which looks to be a fun collection of paranormal YA short stories edited by Hannah Goodman.

Per its Goodreads page, it’s “Eleven stories that delve into the depths of our experience—driven by fierce and untouched love that makes us seek, lose, fear, desire, long, reflect, survive, steal, protect, fall, and confess.” You can check out the full summary on that page.

I was invited to participate in this blog hop by a new critique partner, Blanca Florido, who gives great feedback and is sloshing her way through her final round of edits on the first book in her YA fantasy Faerie Tales trilogy. As Blanca wrote me,

She has written three musicals and is currently working on a political thriller. Blanca has written a sci-fi children’s cartoon and is planning a picture book for young children. At one time, she thought that was quite a lot writing to do but has recently become intoxicated with the power of a new software package that keeps track of ideas. Imagine her surprise when she discovered she had no less than seven additional ideas for novels she’d like to write, eight screenplays, two more musicals, three short stories, three TV shows, and a partridge in a pear tree! Exhausted at merely listing them, she’s napping now.

Thanks for the invite, Blanca! You can read her answers to the blog hop questions here. Now to answer those questions on my own writing…

1. What am I working on?

Well, I’m glad you ask, because I’m never quite sure from one minute to the next. I have two novels that I’m fleshing out and writing first drafts for, which takes me quite a long time. One novel is post-apocalyptic, but it’s not about the wastelands we typically associate with such fare. Instead, it follows Eloise, a search-and-rescue agent, as she negotiates life and love through the constant barrage of natural disasters that Earth’s climate has become. The second is a YA novel about a pair of fairytale-monster bounty hunters.

But that’s not all! I always have several short stories running through my head. In addition to a few resting cozily in slush piles at various magazines, I’m nearly done with the most recent versions of Treasure, a fantasy fable, and Good Genes, a modern-day horror story. Of course, I also have one page written on that carnival idea I thought up last month…

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

As I’ve had several writing friends tell me recently, so I suppose there must be truth to it, I take a unique perspective on typical speculative fiction plots. For instance, Bother, my urban fantasy short published in Bull Spec, is less about the dragon terrorizing city streets and more about the domestic issues facing a young couple and the futility of fighting when you can’t win.

“Bother” made the cover of Bull Spec #5.

Some people love that; others wish there was more dragon.

My horror is more of a throwback to the Twilight Zone style than it is modern-day gore or anti-heroes. I hope my fantasy novel, currently seeking publication, does a good job of injecting social theory and feminism into what could be a traditional quest and chosen-one tale. Well, if the chosen one were actually a chosen three in which one of them had murdered another one’s brother…oh, and they’re being chased by a spiritual menance that can eat people from the inside-out. Did I not mention that part already?

3. Why do I write what I do?

I’ve always been a storyteller–I have the giant, handwritten, marker-colored whale storybook to prove it.

Fantasy captured me young, with C.S. Lewis of course, but even before Narnia, the picture book the Runaway Fairy had my affections. Escapism fiction serves a wonderful, and needed, purpose in our society, and I am happy to contribute to it. I have always thought speculative fiction to be some of the finest writing out there on the human condition. I saw myself in Polly Plummer who looked in the White Witch’s pools and I always will.

I won’t lie, though, I also write speculative fiction because there’s less pressure to get the exact details right–which is why my fantasy is other world, but my science fiction is less about space travel and more about aliens in your own backyard. I hate research. I do it only under duress, by which I mean when the stories refuse to progress without it.

4. How does my writing process work?

Not by listening to music! Learning that other writers often have soundtracks for their work was an interesting discovery for me when I first started doing blog hops to promote my romance novella, Maya’s Vacation. I prefer silence to let my thoughts flow.

Maya’s Vacation, published by Astraea Press.

More to the point, however, I am 99% pantser. I try to outline, but I don’t have the whole story in mind when I begin writing. Most of the time, I have images from an actual dream or a lost train of thought that start my process. Often, those images are the beginning, end, or climax of the story, but I don’t know yet how I’ll get to them through plot. I’ll try to get those images down in scene forms, and then I’ll discover my main character–or a few main characters, depending on the story. The character’s journey is far more important to me than the actual plot, which is both my strength and my biggest flaw.

As I write, more ideas for the plot jump to mind, and I keep track of those through handwritten lists, a blackboard, or Word documents, whatever is handiest. Once I have a lot of scenes written, I think about how to connect them in the plot that’s taking shape, and eventually, that’s a whole short story or a book. Or in the case of my novel currently seeking publication, it’s two books I had to cut down to one! I spend a lot of time editing as I go through my first draft, a big no-no that I blatantly ignore, and then do what needs doing to make the next and subsequent drafts strengthened in plot, finesse, action, etc.

It’s not the most efficient writing method, but I don’t know how a story’s going to go until I write it. And god forbid I do any research ahead of time to make it go faster.

Done! I hope my answers have entertained you. Mainly, I realized I haven’t had a vivid dream that inspired a story in a while…but I shouldn’t be complaining. I have too many half-written already!

Next Monday, this blog hop is leaping over to writers Krysten Hager, Margaret S. McGraw, and Katrina Rasbold. Krysten is one of Astraea Press’s newest authors, and I’m happy to welcome her into our fold of clean romance writers. Her YA romance debuts in July. Here’s her biography:

Krysten Lindsay Hager is an author and book addict who has never met a bookstore she didn’t like. She’s worked as a journalist and also writes middle grade, YA, humor essays, and adult fiction. Her debut novel, TRUE COLORS, will be out June 17th from Astraea Press. She is originally from Michigan and has lived in South Dakota, Portugal, and currently resides in Southern Ohio where you can find her reading and writing when she’s not catching up on her favorite shows.

And a link so you can check out her blog on 5/17.

Margaret S. McGraw is a writing critique partner of mine. We may have exchanged a few words–or a few novels’ worth of them–over how to stop head-hopping while I was in Durham. Her bio:

Margaret S. McGraw’s imagination draws on her lifelong love of science fiction, fantasy, and anthropology. Her education and experience range from anthropology and communication through web design and IT management. Margaret lives in North Carolina with her daughter and an array of cats, dogs, Macs, and PCs, and too many unfinished craft projects. Her writing includes a daily blog, several short stories currently in circulation for publication, and two novels in progress: Mira’s Children is a YA science fiction adventure, and OceanSong is a fantasy begun in the NaNoWriMo 2012 challenge.

For more details on her writing and to see her answer these questions on 5/19, visit her daily blog at margaretsmcgraw.blogspot.com.

And finally, Katrina Rasbold is one of the fastest and most engaging writers I know. She’s written over twenty books in the amount of time I’ve written a third of one, so you can bet hearing about her writing process will be interesting! Here’s her bio:

Katrina Rasbold is a prolific writer in many different genres. She is the author of the popular Seven Sisters of Avalon fiction series, Spiritual Childbirth, Get Your Book Published, Leaving Kentucky in the Broad Daylight, An Insider’s Guide to the General Hospital Fan Club Weekend, several fictional novelettes, and a large number of metaphysical instructional books. Her book Energy Magic held the #1 position in the category of Paganism on Amazon.com for many weeks in 2013 and 2014.

Katrina is a professional life coach with a Ph.D in Religion and a minor in psychology. She is happily married and has six children, to whom she personally gave birth. She lives on a remote mountain top in California with her husband, two of those six children (the rest are grown), three dogs, a turtle named God, several chickens that are all named Helen, and Elvis, a slightly neurotic shih tzu.

You can find Katrina’s blog here.

Can’t wait to see what they have to share!

Interview Bragging — Promoting Maya’s Vacation

It has come. This is the last week I’m spending on bragging about Maya’s Vacation, my romance novella about a woman who has to decide if she wants to chance her heart on an old flame all while painting and eating her vacation away. This week, I’m sharing a few snippets of interviews I’ve done to promote Maya’s Vacation. I was interviewed at a couple of romance book and author sites. If you’ve ever wanted to learn a bit more about me or my romance novella, you should swing by them!

First up is I Am A Reader, Not A Writer from last June. Here is your teaser:

What is one book everyone should read?

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. It is a beautiful book that blends religious striving, human suffering, cultural understanding, and language into a narrative about learning to live with aliens on another planet and learning to live with ourselves.

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Viennese Cafe Waltz—it was a specialty flavor done by Safeway Groceries’ store brand for a few years: chocolate covered hazelnuts in a cinnamon, vanilla, and mocha ice cream.

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?

Eggs Goldenrod—cheese sauce over toast with sliced and grated hard-boiled eggs. Calories for the win!

Night owl or early bird?

Very much a night owl. I get a lot of eye rolls when I say I wake up around 10 am…until I remind them that means I’m in bed around 3 am.

Skittles or M&Ms?

M&Ms, especially those new coconut ones. If they made those in dark chocolate, I’d be in heaven.

Next on the agenda is Astraea Press’s blog, where I did an interview the day of Maya’s Vacation‘s release.

A random fact about your story.

Scrabble is not a recommended matchmaking method.A random fact about you as an author.

I’ve been writing stories since I mastered handwriting—though whether I’ve ever actually mastered cursive is up for debate. My first stories involved the La Brea Tar Pit and taking a ride on a unicorn with She-Ra. It was horror and fantasy from an early age.

Favorite line in the story (can be funny, romantic, etc).

My favorite line in the story is actually the very last one, which I dreamed—or rather, I dreamed a version of it that needed some editing. But I can’t share that one! Instead, I’ll pick this: Maya thought that interesting, but Dean’s soothing voice, like jazz spilling out of a sidewalk café, distracted her from giving it any further consideration.

Since three is such a beautiful number in writing, I’ll end the interview bragging post with this snippet from Fridays Off the Wall at Joselyn Vaughn’s blog last year.

Joselyn: Who would you cast as the main characters in a movie of your latest book?

Rebecca: In Maya’s Vacation, the main character, Maya, is a woman in her early 50s. She has a salt-and-pepper bob and an intuition that guides her strongly. I could see Kathy Najimy playing her. Dean, the main romantic interest, is an artist of the same age, lanky, and has a mop of curly blonde hair. Richard Gere with long hair would be a fun choice and would get that emotional angst just right, but I’d love Viggo Mortenson also. Danny Devito would be a perfect actor for Maya’s bustling friend, John. Naomi and Wynona Judd would have great fun playing Opal and Esther Donnelly, a pair of randy widows, as long as they don’t mind dying their hair pink.

Joselyn: I love the idea of a not 20-something heroine. We can find love at any age. What is your favorite line for your most recent book?

This is not from a book but from my short story, Apocalypse, published recently at Yesteryear Fiction. It is about a woman—a diviner, actually—who is noticed by someone else for the first time in her life, which makes her realize that she’s worth noticing: His face is alight with the reflection of something dazzling, something she has never seen but always been. From the novel, I can only give my second favorite line—my first is the last line of the book, and I don’t want to give that away! My second favorite is Maya thought that interesting, but Dean’s soothing voice, like jazz spilling out of a sidewalk café, distracted her from giving it any further consideration.

Joselyn: That is really nice imagery. Do you have any characters who keep bugging you for their own book? Will you give them one?

Rebecca: I assure you, both John and Opal from Maya’s Vacation are quite confident they are worthy of their own books, largely because they find themselves infinitely entertaining and think they are great catches to anyone of the opposite sex. The fact that I have no plans to do so simply mystifies them. Obviously, I’m not paying due attention to their charms, and they may be forced to try harder.

I hope you enjoyed those little tidbits on why I wrote Maya’s Vacation and just plain learning more about me. I can’t leave you without showing off that cover one more time and giving you links to where you can buy Maya’s Vacation for $1.99, now can I? Here’s where: Astraea Press, Amazon, or Barnes and Nobles.

And here’s that pretty little cover:

Fiction Bragging — Interview With Maya Holden

We are still on my first published book, Maya’s Vacation, in this week’s fiction bragging post, and we will be for a few more weeks — I did a number of interviews promoting it when it came out last March, so I plan to point you toward one each week. But this first one is not an interview with me. Instead, it’s an interview I did with the main character in Maya’s Vacation, Maya Holden. Perhaps she can interest you in her story.

Me: Maya, you seem like such a down-to-Earth woman, but tell me, how did you end up with a litter of ferrets?

Maya: Oh, that. [She waves it away with a giggle]. My husband — ex-husband, now, of course, but he was my husband then — he never let me live that one down. What happened was that Meredith Viera one day on the Today Show had these long, furry animals I’d never seen before. They were so cute, I just had to get one. So I headed to the pet store that very afternoon, and what did I find but a mother ferret with a new litter of four babies! They were all so cute, no longer than my index finger, and I just couldn’t separate them. It felt like the right thing to do, taking them all home! Chuck turned bright red when he saw them, but he never did complain, not really. He’d been married to me too long! You might say I’m a creature of instinct.

Read more →

Review Bragging and Winners of Maya’s Vacation!

Hello everyone! For my bragging series this week, I am going to share a couple of the nicest reviews I’ve received so far for Maya’s Vacation. But most importantly, I am revealing the winners of the free copies of Maya’s Vacation! There were six entrants and I had five free copies, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave only one person a loser, so I scrounged up another one. Thus, everyone’s a winner! That’s right, free books for Rachel, Angie, Heidi, Angel, Lu Ann, and Lisa! Thank you so much for signing up, ladies, and I hope you enjoy Maya’s Vacation. I’ll send you instructions on how to get your free book.

Doesn’t winning feel great?

Now for those reviews. Here are just a few of my favorites, though there are plenty more out there with nice things to say about Maya’s Vacation. The most recent one comes first, from just this February. Emma Rae from Romancing the Book had this to say:

Definitely worth the buck or so for this little novella. Go ahead and judge the book by the cover. The two characters are both painters, and so is Rebecca Farrell. I’m not putting a “favorite quote” because I want you to discover the beautiful imagery in this book for yourself. I’m not usually big on descriptions or scenery, and this story doesn’t overdo it, but what is there is superbly written. Calibre tagged this novella as “Christian” when I added it. It’s not, but it’s perfectly clean with just the right amount of chemistry.

The story is mostly from Maya’s point of view, and has an excellent supporting cast. You just know Chuck is a slimy user trying to wiggle his way back into Maya’s life, and he wouldn’t be good for her at all. Dean hasn’t been pining for thirty years, and brings his own hurts to the woods. I wish we’d had some more from Dean’s point of view. I like that nothing is perfect and smooth and clear-cut. There’s regret and sadness, but it’s not the focus of the story and that’s fresh. It’s nice to know romance is still alive at fifty, and there’s always room for second chances.

At Amazon, fellow Astraea Press author, J. Gunnar Gray has the following review:

This is a remarkably fun story of a woman caught between two love interests, and I honestly didn’t know how she’s choose until the very last pages. Becca Farrell writes with subtlety and imagination, building Maya’s character with artistic brushstrokes and showing how she’s tugged between doing what’s smart and comfortable, and doing what she really wants. This little novella isn’t getting nearly the attention it deserves.

And an anonymous review over at Barnes and Nobles:

If you like food, art, romance or any combination of the three than you will thoroughly enjoy Maya’s Vacation! The characters are likable and the plot moves at the perfect pace. There are cute analogies and moments the author describes that are laugh out loud funny. The story starts out with Maya taking a brief escape from her current day to day life — and that is exactly what this story offers the reader: A sweet escape from the everyday. If you’d like a short read that will give you a break from your own reality, then look no further than Maya’s Vacation.

Hooray! And looking for these reviews reminded me that I really need to keep a list of all the reviews the book has received, because I’ve forgotten already! If only I were a better organized writer…someday!

Fiction Bragging – Win a copy of Maya’s Vacation! Bonus: Listen to Me Read From It!

For this installment of my Thursday bragging series, I’m giving away 5 copies of my e-book, Maya’s Vacation! What’s that? You like to win things? Well, entering to win is easy. Just leave a comment on this post by next Wednesday, 5/9, and I’ll reveal the winners on Thursday. Not familiar with Maya’s Vacation? We can fix that easily!

Twenty-year-old Maya knew, as she watched Dean walk away from her front door, distraught at her silence and her father’s threats, that she would never love anyone with the intensity that she loved him. He was her painter, her artist, her soul mate and being apart from him hurt too much. She tucked those feelings away, determined to enjoy the safe and secure life her parents approved of: business school and a marriage to Chuck, a successful real estate agent.

Thirty years later, Chuck has cheated on and divorced her. But when he comes back, begging for reconciliation, Maya follows her intuition and takes a vacation to think it over. Her love of art, food, and wine combine at this retreat in the woods, and she prepares for a week of making new friends, tasting exquisite wines, and learning to paint again. What she hasn’t prepared for is the familiar voice she hears the first morning at camp . . . a voice that makes her skin tingle and brings back memories of who she used to be before Chuck. Has Maya buried her passion too deep to find love with Dean again.

You can also listen to me read from Maya’s Vacation, so if you’re interested in an excerpt, what better way to get one than by listening to the author speak for her characters? Each clip is about 3 and 1/2 minutes long, and you do need javascript enabled for the clips to work.

[audio:https://www.rebeccagomezfarrell.com/audio/mvexcerpt1.mp3] [audio:https://www.rebeccagomezfarrell.com/audio/mvexcerpt2.mp3]

Don’t want to wait to see if you won the contest? You can purchase Maya’s Vacation now in any e-book form direct from Astraea Press (direct from the publisher is where I get the biggest cut, hint hint), Amazon, and Barnes and Nobles.

Next week, along with the contest winners, I’ll share some of my favorite reviews of Maya’s Vacation. There are some great ones out there!

Fiction Bragging – Maya’s Vacation

My bragging series has finally brought us to the publication of my first book, Maya’s Vacation!

It is a romance novella, reaching just about 50 pages in all, and it was published by Astraea Press in March of last year. The whole process of having a book published was so exciting, from perusing the editor’s suggestions, seeing cover art for the first time, and watching as the reviews come in. Maya’s Vacation is available in e-book only, but you can get it for your kindle, nook, or in basic PDF form — however you want it! Here are the buy links from Astraea Press (direct from the publisher is where I get the biggest cut, hint hint), Amazon, and Barnes and Nobles. The novella will cost you a whopping $1.99. And if that’s too much, I’ll be giving away 5 $0.01 copies in next Thursday’s post!

We’ll be on Maya’s Vacation in the bragging series for a while, because it brought me much to brag about! I plan to repost the recordings of myself reading from the book, highlight a few of the reviews, and highlight a few of the interviews at other author blogs to promote its publication in the next few weeks on Thursdays. For this first post on my book, I’m including an excerpt from it. I hope you find your romantic leanings intrigued!

At 4:45, the three of them made their way out of the cabin. Opal led them on the trail to the dining hall. The smell of sap on the pine trees made Maya smile, and she wondered if anyone had ever made a sap-based paint. It would be dreadfully hard to work with, but the smell would be so much better than oil ones. Dean used to smell of nothing but oil paints and sweat.

It was strange how being here made her think of him when she hadn’t in ages. He had come back those many years ago, but it was a year after she’d accepted her parents’ check, and by then she was already engaged to Chuck with their blessing. Dean had found her at her parents’ home in New Rockford. She didn’t know how he found the house — she’d never mentioned which development they lived in — but she wasn’t surprised when she saw him striding up the walkway, holding a large, polished conch shell that must have been for her. Maya wanted to run to him then, everything within her screamed to go, but she’d made her decision months ago.

Read more →

Maya’s Vacation on sale for 99 cents!

Would you look at that? My romance novella, Maya’s Vacation, is on sale for 99 cents until New Year’s day. This sale is only happening at Amazon, so click here to purchase it. Forgotten about this story? Well, listen to me read two excerpts from it here or here or read the synopsis:

Twenty-year-old Maya knew, as she watched Dean walk away from her front door, distraught at her silence and her father’s threats, that she would never love anyone with the intensity that she loved him. He was her painter, her artist, her soul mate and being apart from him hurt too much. She tucked those feelings away, determined to enjoy the safe and secure life her parents approved of: business school and a marriage to Chuck, a successful real estate agent.

Thirty years later, Chuck has cheated on and divorced her. But when he comes back, begging for reconciliation, Maya follows her intuition and takes a vacation to think it over. Her love of art, food, and wine combine at this retreat in the woods, and she prepares for a week of making new friends, tasting exquisite wines, and learning to paint again. What she hasn’t prepared for is the familiar voice she hears the first morning at camp . . . a voice that makes her skin tingle and brings back memories of who she used to be before Chuck. Has Maya buried her passion too deep to find love with Dean again?

I hope you love it, and if you do, please leave a review!

Six Sentence Sunday

It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to play! Here are my six for the week, from my romance novella, Maya’s Vacation.

Dean stopped in front of a cherry-red jeep and put his suitcase down. She could see three or four more of his canvases peeking over the top of the seats. He leaned against the passenger door and pulled her around to look at him. His eyes glistened with tears; when had he started crying?

“Maya—” He choked up at her name. “Are you—are you coming with me?”

If you’re intrigued, make sure you scoot on over to Astraea Press to give it a whirl for $2.99! The rest of my published works are listed over here.

Six Sentence Sunday

Time for another Six Sentence Sunday post–it’s been great fun participating and getting your feedback on such short snippets! Here’s another one from my romance novella, Maya’s Vacation. I’m out of town this week, so I many not be speedy on responding to comments, but please don’t let that discourage you from reading them!

By the time she’d finished her slice of mocha cheesecake and drank her port at the end of the meal, Maya had made fast friends with John, the short man. He’d taken the empty barstool next to her and spent the evening charming her with stories about his granddaughter and her new puppy. When he found out Maya was contemplating a reunion with her ex, he let out a low whistle and cried, “That’s a damn shame! If I’d have known that earlier, I wouldn’t have wasted the last two hours on you.”

“Am I the only person who came here to paint?” Maya replied with a laugh.

“Yes,” John answered. Then he whispered, “but don’t tell Ranger Cliff.”

The synopsis and buy links for Maya’s Vacation are over at my Published Works page, so swing by if you’re interested in more on this romance tale of old flames reuniting!

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