Time flies, or at least goes very fast

January 31, 2013

The first month of the new year is all but past. With just a few hours to go until February, I'm trying to figure out where the heck January went. I looked at my calendar, which is much like a diary, and found only a few things worthy of recording. What did I do with the rest of the time?

I do have a day job, so there are those fifty hours a week (including travel time, etc.). And there was the New Year's holiday to recover from. Desert Snow released on January 6th and along with that came the obligatory promotion rounds.

Oh, yeah. Promotion. I bought an INSANE ad package dirt cheap at The Romance Studio for 2013. I did spend some time to gather information for that. Crap. I gotta go look at the TRS schedule and fill in a few blanks.

January saw me at two online chats. One at TalkingTwoLips and the other at LoveRomancesCafe. They were quiet affairs, but both were an opportunity to drop a few excerpts for the lurkers.

I bought a new love seat. The new piece of furniture inspired a small fit of decorating. I actually dusted off the sewing machine to make a few new slipcovers for some throw pillows. (What's with the buying stuff, anyway? It's not like I have money! If I had money I wouldn't leave the house to go to work every day, would I?) 

We celebrated a couple of birthdays and anniversaries in January. That was nice family fun.

The edit of the upcoming Catching Fireflies was completed just this past week. (Look for it to be on sale the last weekend in February.)  I signed up for the 2013 A-Z Blogging Challenge. This will be my third year in a row for that. Since I knew I was signing up, I did prepare the first several blog entries and load and schedule them. It's good to be a little bit ahead of the game.

Pinterest finally caught my interest. I went and joined. It gives me something to play with during the day when I'm doing the "hurry up and wait" on the higher-ups at work. I'm sure you know what I mean. Like everywhere else you can find me on the Internet it's the .com/KCKendricks.

I do a bi-monthly, as in every other month on the last Sunday, column at Brenda Williamson's "An Eclectic Author" blog. I got that in on time.

And the biggie - I've almost completed the manuscript that concludes the story of Ian Coulter and Rick Mohr which began in Double Deuce.

Huh. Maybe I didn't waste the entire month, after all.

KC Kendricks
http://www.kckendricks.com

Six Sentence Sunday: Where it all began

January 27, 2013

I'm sorry to see the end of Six Sentence Sunday, having come to it late in its run. It seems fitting this last Sunday to go back and visit where it all started for me, with the beginning of Surrendered Victory.

His hand brushing mine excited me beyond anything I’d ever known. Large, tanned and callused, his were the hands of a man who earned a living with them. Like the rest of him, his fingers were long and strong, possessing a muscled elegance. Short, neat nails belied his trade, that of a carpenter. I shivered as his hand found mine, hidden from public view between our torsos and the bar, and he trailed those well-tended fingernails lightly across my palm sending me his teasing invitation.

“What do you say - come back to my place for a while?"

SURRENDERED VICTORY

info at www.kckendricks.com/SurrenderedVictory.html

KC Kendricks

website at: http://www.kckendricks.com

blog: http://www.kckendricks.blogspot.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks
mailing list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/betweenthekeys

Family is

January 25, 2013

I’ve been busy lately with a number of projects - the release of Desert Snow, trying to finish the current WIP, and let’s not forget gathering everything in preparation to file my 2012 tax return. But yesterday evening we all took time out to celebrate my mom and stepdad’s anniversary.

Looking back, the last twenty years passed in the blink of an eye. I was happy for my mother when she remarried after being a widow for so many years, but I worried, too. My stepfather is a great guy, but he’s nothing at all like my Dad. I’m constantly amazed at how my mother married two so completely different men.

Dad was a quiet man who only spoke when he had something important to say. My stepdad will sit and chat about any topic you choose. The saving grace of this is he’s very open about admitting when he doesn’t have a clue on a topic. And when he doesn’t have a clue, off to the Internet he goes to find out. He loves to learn new things and in this we are alike.

I remember my Dad through the lens of my childhood and youth, and maybe because he was “Daddy” those memories are a little rosy. I think that’s the way it should be. Every girl should be so blessed with a Daddy who pulled her around in the snow on a sled and in later years taught her how to change the oil in her car.

My stepfather I came to know as adults with only one common denominator - a love for my mother. Forging an adult kinship with him was difficult at first because we were total strangers and suddenly we were family. I didn’t know it twenty years ago because we were strangers, but he was just as determined as I was that we find a place together that did not include the word “Daddy” unless we were talking about my father.

I’ve come to know him as a kind, caring and generous man. Smart, too. His love for my mother is absolute. He doesn’t brag about it, but he spoils her every day of her life. And sometimes it’s difficult for me not to laugh at them - with love, of course. I tell my best friend some of their antics and she sums it up best - “They’re so cute together.” Yes, they certainly are.

Today I’m back to work - or rather I’m supposed to be working on year-end statistical forms - but instead, I’m pondering on something my stepdad said last evening. It’s something I want to remember in my stories and I think it sums up what we all search for.

Freddie Mercury was right when he said we all want to find somebody to love, but that’s only the beginning of it. My stepdad nailed it. No flowery speeches, no brave promises, or boastful posturing. Just a simple statement that drove straight to the bottom line. He said he’d take care of my mother, no matter what, for as long as he was able.

Just the way my Dad would have done.

KC Kendricks
website: http://www.kckendricks.com

(The picture above is titled, "To Infinity." Very fitting for family.)

Small kindnesses still exist

January 11, 2013

These days, we're bombarded by negative news reporting, so much so it's easy to believe that decent, friendly people no longer exist "out there." But nice people are still here, and one of them lives in my hometown. 

My house is almost thirty years old and I'm still decorating, trying to create the perfect nest. All that remains of the house of thirty years ago is the kitchen cabinets. Every wall has been repainted and every floor has gone from vinyl and carpet to hardwood, tile or laminate. (So much easier for my partner to navigate without carpet so it's not all by choice, but I have no regrets.) Over the past five years, the house has taken on a cream, maroon and chocolate brown color scheme. 

Except for the sofa. It was green plaid and I decreed it had to go, and go it did last weekend. Now I have a pretty little chocolate brown love seat just big enough for me and the cat. But since one thing always follows another when restyling one's nest, I decided the cornice covers needed to be updated. Last evening, I went to the local fabric store and found the perfect pieces to update the look of the windows, make simple curtain panels at the dining room window, a matching table runner and re-cover a few throw pillows all in the current colors. I call my style a relaxed modern country in case you're wondering.

At the cutting table, I asked the salesclerk if any coupons were available. Regrettably she said no, and that's when a total stranger offered me a kindness. She had an app for the coupon on her phone, and since I run Android, I couldn't get it. This lovely girl offered me the use of her phone with the scannable coupon when I checked out and saved me almost forty dollars. I thanked her and she simply smiled and walked away. I didn't even get her name. 

There are nice people left in this world, people who do a kindness just because they want to. 

Thank you so much. 

KC

New! Desert Snow this Six Sentence Sunday

January 6, 2012

This Six Sentence Sunday I'm showcasing my new release, Desert Snow. How new is it? It's new today! 

Is it about snow? Heck no! It's about an unexpected meeting at the Palm Springs White Party! I wrote a line where our hero compares all the men in white to snowflakes - each unique and beautiful - and I knew Desert Snow was the title. 

So here's a six sentence tease, and a link here to read the full excerpt and view the purchase links.

_*_*_


“I wouldn’t want to come across as easy.”

His left eyebrow lifted. “Not a word I’d use to describe my take on you. I think I’ll get a few more drinks into you and see if you’re more agreeable to some fun.”

I grinned at him. “You give a guy my age too many drinks and the only fun you’ll get will be listening to him snore.”

*_*_*_*


DESERT SNOW
Contemporary gay romance 

To learn more about Desert Snow visit

https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/desert-snow-by-kc-kendricks.html

KC Kendricks
website at: http://www.kckendricks.com
blog: http://www.kckendricks.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks