This post is part of Long and Short’s Review Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win a free e-book of Mind Waves..
I’ll be frank. The holidays stress me out. While others are hanging mistletoe, I’m busy finding ways to avoid the malls and shopping. The day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, is aptly named in my opinion. Although I love the spirit of Christmas and all it represents, I wish I could dodge the pressure to shop and bake and decorate that come with it.
It hasn’t always been this way
As a child, I felt great joy in the days leading up to Christmas, dreaming of all the wonderful presents I’d find under our tree.
As a young mother, I delighted in holiday shopping, flipped through cookbooks to find the perfect recipe for Christmas breakfast, and crafted countless gifts for my children to present to their teachers. One year, I even bought sparkly mini evergreen trees for my coworkers to display on their desks.
But with three teens, a busy corporate job, and more books coming out in 2017, I truly don’t have time for the annual holiday preparations.
Enter Ebenezer
“Bah, humbug!” I mumble under my breath like Scrooge. “All I want for Christmas is time alone and to write more books. Ahem…preferably, best sellers.”
This is a fantasy I cannot indulge. Not if I want my family to have a Christmas celebration. And I do want that. A lot. So I will endeavor to do the shopping and decorating and baking AND write my next book.
Can Santa bring me a clone?
Paying attention to your eyes and taking action when buy levitra uk symptoms arise will help you battle dry eye. And due to the cialis prescription check fact you will discover contradictions of utilizing the drug. Both males levitra shop uk and females have to undergo many problems due to this condition. Young guys cialis levitra online face more psychological erectile dysfunction as a result and lead to restrictions in the adjacent tissues. Santa baby, if you’re listening, please help me find time to edit one novel, write another and still hang out the holly.
With my first book, Mind Waves, released from The Wild Rose Press Oct. 7, readers have been asking for book two. I’d dearly like to grant their wish. I also need to time to complete edits for my newest manuscript, Charmed By Charlie, which is with Boroughs Publishing.
If your elves don’t build clones, I’d gladly accept a pill allowing the swallower to bypass sleep.
Otherwise, it’s a distinct possibility my family and I will be roasting chestnuts on an open fire with no Christmas dinner in sight.
And that would be ho, ho, ho…horr…not so jolly.
If he can control her mind…
Government operative David Jenkins is skilled at controlling his emotions. Feelings are lethal when your job is to infiltrate minds, erase and implant thoughts, and guard the nation’s intellectual capital. But even he can’t fight his strange attraction to Grace Woznisky. He’ll do whatever it takes to protect her from a madman intent on possessing both their minds. Neither suspect their dangerous enemy has a larger motive, and David may be Grace’s only chance for survival.Can he control her heart?
All freelance artist Grace wants is steady-paying work and to see her flighty sister to the altar. But after David offers her a job, she finds herself in the middle of a mental tug of war—one that has her reeling from nightmares and fighting for her life. She must decide: Are her growing feelings for her new boss authentic, or is she a victim of his mind-altering abilities?
About the Author: Amanda Uhl has always had a fascination with the mystical. Having drawn her first breath in a century home rumored to be haunted, you might say she was “born” into it. After a brief stint in college as a paid psychic, Amanda graduated with a bachelor of fine arts in theatre and a master’s degree in marketing. Over the past twenty years, she has worked as an admissions representative and graphic designer, owned her own freelance writing company, and managed communications for several Fortune 500 companies, most recently specializing in cyber security. Amanda is an avid reader and writes fast-paced, paranormal romantic suspense and humorous contemporary romance from her home in Cleveland, Ohio. When she’s not reading or writing, you can find Amanda with her husband and three children, gathering beach glass on the Lake Erie shoreline or biking in Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Buy the book at The Wild Rose Press, Amazon, Kobo, Nook, iBooks, All Romance eBooks, Bookstrand, or Google Play.
Yeah, I also have mixed feelings about this time of year. I love spending time with my loved ones and seeing how empathic everyone becomes over the holidays, but I could definitely do without all of the commercialism and greed that companies encourage. 🙂
Astilbe, since I wrote this post, we’ve gotten lots of snow in Cleveland and the tree is up so I’m now feeling more in the spirit and a little less stressed! Happy holidays to you and yours!
Thanks! And happy holidays to you as well.
It is stressful. Now I give my kids gift cards and shop online. It is easier. I hate crowds and people trying to get in front of you and not wait on line.
Great idea Debra! Anything to make the holidays peaceful. Happy holidays!
Great post, Amanda. I agree with you totally. There is so much pressure at this time of year for everything to be perfect…just like in the movies. And of course, most of this pressure falls on women. No wonder we struggle with the keeping the Holiday Spirit alive.
Good luck with your recent release and I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas…whatever it is.
I’m feeling better now that the tree is up. But still not done with all the shopping. Hope yours is restful and merry!
I agree with your post, this can be such a stressful time of the year, the joy and wonder of it isn’t the same as when I was a kid, it has become almost frantic with all the pressure of trying to make the perfect Holiday season.
One thing I’m seriously thinking about not doing (and I don’t have much time left) is not sending Christmas cards. They’re fun to get but expensive and time-consuming.
Great post! I hear you Amanda! Sending you warm wishes for some writing time along with family time this holiday season.
Thanks! Happy Holidays!
As my children grew up I found myself feeling the same way you do about this season. Now that I have grandchildren though, some of the magic has come back for me. Best of luck with your book. It sounds intriguing.
Thanks Debra! I hope that is true for me as well — not that I want to have grandkids just yet, since my kids are still teens:)
Oh, boy can I relate!! Thanks for sharing. Hope you find the time necessary to complete the rest of your holiday chores. I’m still looking for the time. Best of luck with your book. I loved the excerpt!
Thanks for your kind words, Tena. I think all writers hear my cry..haha. Happy holidays!
Hi Amanda- the struggle is real!! I always feel like I’m running a week behind and running to keep up! Thanks for a great post and good luck- looking forward to your next book!
Thanks for commiserating Laura:) Happy holidays!
As much as I love to write, my family always comes first. I guess that’s why I’m not popping out novels one after another. With age comes the realization that real people are more important than characters.
You are so right! Family and friends are what Christmas is all about! Have a wonderful holiday!