Hello fellow reader,

I’m sitting outside. The thermometer says it’s ninety degrees. The only saving grace is that the sun has set. Ninety degrees an hour and a half after the sun has set. That’s Texas for you. There’s a lot of similarities in that regard to the south of Spain. Blistering sun rays during the day that send people seeking water or shade and hot nights that invite everyone out to the verandas for a cold caña (small beer), a breeze breaking up the stifling air every once and awhile.

A glass of cold wine or cold beer would make this evening complete as I watch my daughters swim in a pool that has become inky black without much light around. Sparkling water is my drinking companion tonight though. Wine would only hurt this lingering tension headache.

While living in Texas, I quickly learned that despite the air-conditioned houses the fruit ripens too quickly, bringing fruit flies to hover over them in a kitchen, flying upwards in a black poof when a small hand reaches for an apple or banana. Don’t ever leave strawberries or other berries out in the summer, just fyi. They will become soggy messes in the heat.

The summers in Toulouse also brought little flying critters to my apartment, but I always assumed it was due to not having air conditioning. The fruit and vegetables come fresher to the market in France, with the distance they have to travel drastically cut down from the distance here. The French are obsessed with freshness and it’s obvious in their food, but no one can stop food from ripening in the heat. And the fruit flies would come no matter what the fruit, seeking out their dinner from your fruit basket.

In Toulouse I got over my disgust at killing them and would clap at the small, black specks as they flew around me, or sneaking up behind them when they rested on a wall, delighting in my kills. Sometimes I would kill several at a time, a sinister ‘ha-ha!’ sneered at their corpses.

If they had been smarter than fruit flies they would have told each other that the lady in 25 Rue du Languedoc, second level was a vicious killer.

The fruit flies aren’t much better here in this hotel. It’s hot and the cleaning crew come only ever few days due to COVID. Who knew a pandemic would actually make us less hygienic? But I have a skill the fruit flies were not expecting. I’ve killed twelve so far and am on the hunt for more.

What annoys you most about summer?

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The relaunch of my historical romance, Stepping Across the Desert is almost here! The formatting on the ebook is complete, I just need to finish the formatting on the print book. The new edition has some accents tweaks and some grammatical improvements, but otherwise it's the same. If you haven't read it yet, you can check out the ebook now or wait for the print, which should be done in one more week.

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Summer read recommendation

Do you like women's fiction? If you don't know what that is, it's books that focus on stories about women's lives. One of my friends, Emma Dhesi is great at writing it, with storylines that are so intriguing. I think you'll like Belonging. Read about it below. Get it here.

When her happiness comes under attack from all directions, can one desperate mother hold her family together?

Scotland. Kathi Beattie is used to things going her way. So when her thriving blog is attacked by a vicious Internet troll, her tidy world starts unraveling. And her feelings of spiraling inadequacy worsen after her adopted fifteen-year-old arrives home drunk, angry, and spitting blame.

Fighting with her husband over how to help their struggling son, Kathi is distraught when the boy bonds with another middle-aged woman. And even as she finds a measure of control in her quest to unmask her cyberbully, a terrible accident changes everything…

Will Kathi’s fierce tenacity be enough to keep all she loves from coming apart at the seams?

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Don't forget about Stacy Juba's TIME MANAGEMENT course! I really loved her Book-Editing Blueprint course (which you should definitely check out if you're a writer) and have been waiting for this course specifically and it's now on sale through June 26 with some fantastic limited-time bonuses!

Just FYI, the links above are my affiliate links with Stacy. If you buy through them I make a small commission, but you pay nothing extra. If you prefer that I not make any money, you can get the course through Stacy Juba's website directly:)

Get the Time Management course!

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A bit of flash fiction to end this newsletter. Remember, if you want access to the writing prompts each week all you have to do is find me on Instagram. Find all of my flash fiction on my website.

What if?

What if we stopped trying to make the world different and instead we embraced it for what it is?

Imperfect 

Beautiful

On fire

Peaceful and falling apart

What if we walked through the street and allowed to to be?

Not judge them for where they are or where they lead to?

Straight

Curvy

Pot hole fpitted

Smooth, yet weary

What is we stopped trying to make everyone fit into a certain place in this world?

Instead embracing them as they are without question or frown?

Baggage

Happiness

Incompetence

Curiosity and the desire to be loved

What could we accomplish if we stopped trying to hard to change ourselves?

Taking a good look with a smile and see that we aren’t so bad?

Pock-marked

Scared

Hopeful

Dream-filled and yearning for more

If we accepted ourselves, could we accept others? If we accepted the streets, could we accept the world?