It's been a long ass year. I went travel nursing and due to my stupidity, I actually thought I wanted to live where I traveled to. Almost moved my family up...did move my son up. But my husband hadn't gotten a job yet, so he stayed in Texas. 
After long talks, he reminded me that I'm a Southerner through and through. I would be miserable in Maine, and he knew this. He knows me better than I know myself most of the time. 
Thankfully, he didn't just say to hell with us and leave my ass. He reminded me how much I hate the cold. And it's not so much winter that I hate. I don't mind Jan and Feb being cold-that's expected. What I hate is when it's supposed to be warming up and it's not. So, here I am in June in Maine and still wearing a jacket because I'm a Southerner. What the hell was I thinking?!
I was blinded by a good job but wasn't thinking about all the other aspects of life-like family life, activities to do and what not. 
I received a big life lesson in that I remembered there is more to life than just a good job. I'm now on the countdown to moving back to Texas, where I belong. T-28 days and I will be on the 4 day drive back home. 
​I can't wait!! 

Took a few weeks off to visit with my husband. We don't live in the same state right now. My day job is a travel nurse. I'm in Maine and he's in Texas. 1700-ish miles away from each other. But we've been married for 20 years and we're strong enough to handle the distance.
The bad part of writing romance when your S.O. is out of state is that I have no one to research with. If I have some crazy position I want to try out to see that it's realistic, I can't do that right now! I miss being able to put my computer down and tell him that I need to try something out. His eyes grow wide and he drops whatever he's doing knowing what those simple little words mean. I would say he takes one for the team, but it's no hardship on him to help out with this. 
I often wonder what other romance writers do for scene authenticity like that. For me, whatever is in my books, we've tried. Some things unsuccessfully, so they don't make the cut. But for the most part, we've successfully made sure everything in my books is authentic. This method definitely makes for an interesting love life and keeps the spice alive! I wouldn't have it any other way, and am sure he wouldn't either. 
So, this blog's for my wonderful hubby. Thank you for enduring every little whim and idea I have. You make writing fun and creative! Love you bunches and can't wait until we can live together again soon! My assignment will be done in July, so we'll take a much needed break before the next one. Maybe we can get a few things researched before I have to leave again. :) 

Hot new cover! Fresh from cover design. I love it! Who doesn't love a cowboy? This book is all about a wine maker in the hill country of Texas. 
Have you ever been to hill country? It's worth a trip. The wine trail is fun and a great experience. Each winery has its own flair and flavor. No two wines are the same. It amazes me that anyone can blend a bunch of shit together and make such a tasty concoction. I wish I had that kind of talent. 
My husband and I try to make a trip to the hill country every year. A few times, we went with my sister and her husband. Of course, we had to flip a coin to see who would be the sucker that was stuck with being the DD. Not it! 
There's just nothing like letting loose with people you love and feel safe to do so with. My husband will always take care of me and ensure I'm safe...even when I'm shit house drunk and acting a fool. He's always there for me. But I return the favor when it's his turn to tie one on.
The only difference is he can carry me to bed, and I can't even think about carrying him. The closest I came was dragging him from the bedroom to the bathroom so he could sleep in the bathtub. Yes, I said sleep in the bathtub. I wasn't going to sleep knowing he might puke on my carpet if he missed the trash can. So, I dragged his ass to the bathtub and made him climb in. How was I supposed to know he was going to bonk his head on the faucet and chip his tooth? Oops! 
Good times! Anyway, take a trip to the Texas wine trails located in hill country. Go to Fiesta and Fat Ass...two of the best ones! 

Beta Readers...
If anyone doesn't know what a beta reader is, it's a person that agrees (for money or not) to read your unpublished work to provide feedback. 
I don't care how many times you go over a manuscript, your beta will find plot holes and grammar errors that you would have sworn weren't there. "I hand you a perfect manuscript," you say..."no you didn't," they say back. 
I literally reviewed mine 5 times and went through one beta reader...the second found a chapter I switched from one POV to the other within the same paragraph of the same chapter! What the hell!! How did that happen and that many times going over it didn't catch it?! Thank you, beta reader! 
I can't imagine publishing something with that kind of glaring mistake in it. It annoys me to read a book and have the person wearing one color in one sentence and another color two sentences later. Can you imagine the annoyance of the reader if that kind of mistake were published? I can because I would be that reader! 
So, in conclusion...if you haven't used beta readers before when you write, please do. They will save your ass from embarrassment! And improve your work tremendously in the process. 
​

Wanna know why today is a new day? It's a new day because I am going to embrace technology for what it is. Social media posts and my website are the to connect with readers. So, I must embrace that, even if it's hard for me. You see, by nature I'm not someone how shouts everything I do on social media. But to connect and to not look like a serial killer, I need to. Here we go!

I just finished novel #2. I absolutely loved the characters in the first one that I had to write about Piper's friends. Susie's story is next, and I'm working on Meg right now. I loved writing about Susie because she's incredibly strong and independent. But Meg. Well, Meg is Meg and a riot to write about. 

Here's where it's tricky. I'm new to this. See Me is my first novel, self-published. Second and third will be, too, because I can't seem to find an agent to pick me up. I get good feedback, it's just "not what they're looking for at this time" song and dance. Here's the quandary: How does one sell books if they're new? How does one gain a social media following when they're new? How does one gain beta readers when they're new? It's the age old problem of how do you gain experience when no one will hire you because you have no experience? 

But I'm going to try. All I can do is try. If I fail, at least I can say I did it. I won't die wondering what might have happened if I had only taken a chance. Not that I'm dying or anything...just sayin'. 
So, here you have it. A new day. Kat Bennett is going to post more on social media and write in this blog. Now to figure out how to do a newsletter subscription. Yikes!