writing

Thinking About Numbers

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Photo credit: beasterchen at Pixabay.

Hey all, welcome back! So I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve been absent lately. I keep thinking that it’s only been a week since my last post, but as my last post was on St. Patrick’s Day, this week will hit a month since I’ve been here. Sorry to let you down, however, here I am!

There’s a few reasons I haven’t been around, nothing major. However, I do put some of the blame on Daylight Savings Time as it does a number on me every Spring. As someone who lives her life at night, the extra sunshiny hours have been messing with my head a bit and sometimes a step back is needed. (We vampires like to keep it dark you know.)

I haven’t been idle though and have recently hit the one year mark of working on my novel. The only update I can really give is that I’ve cut a few more thousand words from it and I’m pretty proud of that. Still so much to do on it though and I’ve been getting rather frustrated with the process. My determination to finish this book is still driving me and come hell or high water, I will finish this thing!

In the meantime, I’ve been thinking a lot about numbers. Not just the word count I’m dealing with, but numbers in a different way. It hit me after my last post. Almost no one read it. Frankly, I was a bit surprised. I thought it was good, gave a bit of my back story and for once, wasn’t about my writing. Looking at it now, I realize that it may have been the title’s fault. Just stating that ‘St. Patrick’s Day is Here’ gave no indication to what the post was about. So ok, lesson learned and no hard feelings. This was all on me.

When I worked in social media, I had to keep track of lots of numbers. Follower count and best times of day to post to what platform, etc…I dreamt in digits. I also had to figure out what posts worked and what didn’t and then troubleshoot the lower tallies as well as try to decipher algorithms.

While that was ten years ago and pre-TikTok, algorithms still elude me. Trying to get something seen has mystified me since the dark days of social media. Not just blog posts either. This goes for my blog posts, my videos, my photos, my print on demand, Etsy and eBay listings, the list goes on and on.

I was most recently baffled when a video of mine on my #booktok account jumped my counts from hundreds to thousands. Before and after this video was posted, I had numbers that ranged from 109 to 906 views with an average of about 349. Still very low but at least seen. Then I posted this one video about a book I had been reading that had misprinted and uncut pages and had to be sent back in the middle of my reading it. My viewer count at the time of this post? 3065. 

Are hashtags the key? The material? The fact that the book was recently released and was taking Booktok by storm? I have no clue. What I do know is that I haven’t been able to duplicate it since and it’s driving me crazy. I’ve had other videos jump past 1000 views which I was always happy with, considering that I currently only have 1068 followers on my NewChapterCove account. However, I’ve also had views as low as 23. Seriously. 23.

Being honest, I don’t have super high views here. That’s ok as this is still a growing site. Sometimes, both posting in a specific niche and not having consistency in my posting as a whole has led to such low views. Again, this is all on me and I take responsibility for it. This isn’t the first time I’ve had such a site, albeit, this is the first one I’ve really posted about my personal life. But in this case, I understand the number counts, which is why I am grateful to every single person who reads, subscribes and shares my site. I know that I don’t make it easy to keep following and I accept that.

But when I’m posting more consistently to a platform in very similar ways to others, using similar subject material and I’m still getting just a handful of views while others get thousands? This is where I lose it. I’ve tried different times of day. Different hashtags. Different filters. Different tags. I took suggestions from the platform itself to post photos instead of videos and then vice versa. And still, the view counts are low.

I think what makes this all the more frustrating for me is that I once made my living knowing just what to do and how to handle the low numbers. I’m not out of touch with social, despite how different the landscape is now compared to when it began. But like many, I learned as it grew and became much more than the old message board and MySpace days. (Dating myself here, but you get my point.) Social grew because of its users and we grew along with it.

As stymied as I am by all of this, I will never stop using social media platforms. There are days when I would gladly throw in the towel and escape it completely. But it is my link to the outside world. While keeping in touch with friends and family this way has been good for me, I also like social because for someone like myself who is trying to promote both products and a blog, these outlets are basically free. I will never be someone who buys follower counts or hires an ‘influencer’. As long as I can keep posting without paying anything, I’ll keep going. 

Having said all of this though, it still comes down to how to get the messages out there. Take my last post here. Again, I left a simple title up and unlike all of my other post titles, it gave no indication of what the post was about. Just that Paddy’s Day had arrived. Now had I added a few words? Had I done what I normally do and use a phrase (or paraphrase) something from the post itself? My numbers would have been better and my story would have been read by more of you. Again I say, this one is on me and I know better than what I did…I’m also changing the title today to see if that changes anything.

Basically I need to figure out how to get the algorithms in my favor so that my posts and products will show up more without shelling out money for them. Because it isn’t just social…if you go to say Etsy, Zazzle or Redbubble (as examples) and try to find my products? Chances are that unless you have a direct link, you won’t find me. It’s discouraging too because I have hundreds of designs on thousands of products and sales are few and far between.

Let’s look at my facebook feed. I once, ONCE clicked on a book recommendation ad from Amazon that popped up. Now my entire feed, no matter the time of day or night, is filled with similar ads, with the ads outnumbering the actual people I’m connected with. Granted, I’m interested in the genre and have accumulated quite a list of future books to download, but how did that first title get to my feed in the first place when I’ve never talked about such books on FB? Inquiring minds want to know.

I know I should be better at this. It was what I did for a living. It was what I was good at. I used to keep daily tallies on a white board and post-its at my desk. Watching the numbers grow gave me a sense of accomplishment and drive. Now I feel like it’s a game of roulette and what is barely viewed one day will go viral the next and that the system is set up to have us fail more than succeed. Oh and for the record, I will never rely on AI to try and get me higher view counts. Yes, I’m one of those that despises it.

So here I am. Continually trying to figure things out while I sit, edit, read and contemplate the inner workings of this internet thing. Some days I like the challenge. I love it. Trying to prove myself wrong and finding that post that gets out there? It makes me feel like I’m still doing it right. And then, some days, I step away and pull a Scarlett O’Hara, “tomorrow is another day.” (It works for me ok?)

And that is where I will leave you for today. I hope you are all well and thank you once again for hanging in there with me. I welcome the new followers that have joined over these last weeks and to those who continue to come back? I appreciate you so much.

Until next time…cheers!

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To follow me on social, including my #booktok and to shop my linktree shop (now with a book rec’s section that I will continue to build): Click HERE

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To find my other shops: Click HERE 

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If you’ve made it this far, I thank you and will see you soon…promise!

Stuck – Stuck – Oh Yeah, Stuck!

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Hey guys, welcome back and welcome to March! We’ve made it through the dredges of the Winter months and Spring is on the horizon. Of course there is still lots of unpredictable weather ahead and I’m fine with it. I love a good stretch of dark, rainy weather. But then, I’m a vampire and am not too fond of sunlight.

Anywhooooo….been trudging along with stuff and trying to find the humor in the everyday nonsense that is life. After all, if we do not do this, we would spontaneously combust and really, who has the time for that?

The one area where my humor is currently lacking is my book. No not in the content, after all, I have it pegged as a romcom (albeit with some serious undertones), but with the execution. I mentioned in previous posts that I’ve found a solution to my word cutting issue. Well, that has since gone out the window.

My solution so far this week has been to try and clear my head a bit. Watch more meditation and ASMR videos (yes, I love ASMR, so relaxing) and recently I’ve found someone on YouTube who deals with art therapy. Using different art techniques to focus on the task at hand to clear your mind up for other things. I love this idea as I used to create things to do just that. Refocus my energy to open myself up to new ideas.

I do this a lot while I’m making dinner or in the shower or even reading. Suddenly an idea comes to me and it’s the eureka moment I crave. I’ve thought of many plot lines while doing other things. In fact, over the weekend I came up with another story idea and had to get it out of my head. I ended up writing two chapters of it which actually felt great as I’ve greatly missed the writing part of writing. However, it didn’t help me with the task at hand.

Anyway, when I got into this rut of just reading my manuscript over and over and not coming up with something that would help me, having this artist woman say exactly what I used to say to myself? It was like a mini eureka moment. I mean, how have I not been doing this? It’s my pattern after all! When I used to make jewelry, I’d come up with so many ideas for other things. When I design a new card or sticker or bookmark for my creative business, I become clear headed about life stuff. However, sometimes it takes an outsider to give you that virtual slap against your head to jiggle your brain into action. Now I just need to find that trigger that lets me know how to get from point A to point B in my book.

In the meantime, I’ve been revisiting some other small business owners’ socials that I’ve followed for a while to learn how to create new products and how to integrate certain things into the shops that I have now. I’m thinking that this incredible bout of editor’s block may end up helping me in other ways. I just really, REALLY want to finish this book.

If you’ve been following me, you know of my passion for this work of mine. I love it. I really do. And I think the fact that my mind won’t get off the endgame of it…having it published and in the readers’ hands…is now more of a distraction than motivation. As someone who has trouble with focus, I need to get back to the motivation of it.

So here I am, hoping that by writing this post and getting my worries out into the universe, my mind will clear up even more and I will suddenly get the revelation that I so greatly need. Because I know it’s there. I can see it off in the distance waiting for me. Now I just need to figure out the best way to find it.

And that is where I will leave you for today. I know that most posts, I try to leave you with a bit of motivation. I really strive for that and do hope you got something from this post as a whole. However, every now and then, a ramble such as this just needs to be let out and I thank you for being here to read these ramblings.

Until next time…cheers!

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To follow me on social including my #booktok, click: HERE

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To find my creative shops, click: HERE

(You’ll also find my StuffWeFind link to my eBay listings on there as well where I sell vintage and estate jewelry.)

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If you’d like to help support this site, you can shop though any of the Amazon links, you find around here or head to my Ko-Fi (click logo on the page) click: HERE

Blizzard – Edits – Learning on TikTok

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Photo credit: ME!

Hey guys, welcome back! So since the last time I was here with you all, we got a ‘little’ snow. I’m sure you’ve heard by now that we in the Northeast US were inundated with a bit of flakeage. I gotta say, it was really something to watch.

I’m a snow person. I really am. My inner kid still looks to see if there will be school the next day and a huge part of me wishes I could go out and play in it. Instead, I made a big cup of cocoa and watched overnight as the winds picked up and the snow got to white out conditions…and I enjoyed every damned minute of it. Part of it was that the Olympics were over and I had nothing to watch anymore, so I dove deep into the intensity of the storm. Nature is incredible and should be respected and watching this storm? Reminded me of just that.

As fierce as the winds of that storm were, when we received even more snow yesterday, it was a much different type. Heavy but quiet. The kind that highlights every tree branch making the outdoors look like an Ansel Adam’s black and white photograph, creating light and shadows where there were none before.

One of my favorite things about snow is the quiet it creates. Nature’s own insulation from the noise of life. The only sound you hear are the flakes landing onto each other creating a blanket of silence. It is peaceful. It is somehow warm despite the cold. It is a time to stop and reflect and look at the new vision it has created…a wonderland of white that reminds us that nature…is…beautiful.

Having said all of that, while kids had the days off because of the weather, I was here toiling away at my manuscript. I approached it a bit differently this time after learning a few things from an editor I follow on TikTok.

Let me just say this, I love TikTok. I know many think it’s just a place for silly dance challenges, crazy people doing crazy things for attention and of course, there is a part of it that is like that. However, there are SO many other ways to use the platform.

As a former social media specialist, I would have killed to have this platform available when I was working. I didn’t like doing videos back then. As someone who doesn’t like to be on camera herself, I felt limited. However, it is such a different atmosphere now, that you don’t need to be visible and the creativity of TikTok alone is endless.

I started using it with my small businesses as a free way to promote my products, send out updates and better yet, meet other small business owners. I learned so much from these folks, I really did. When I decided to start a creative business (stickers, cards, bookmarks, clothing, etc) I looked to these folks both on TikTok and YouTube to find the best ways to start out with little money. To find out where to get some things made and find discounts share and swap tips and we even buy from each other.

When I began getting deeply serious about my writing, I decided to start a #booktok. For those of you who don’t know, booktok is a subdivision of sorts of the main platform dedicated to readers and writers alike.

From the reader standpoint, I’ve discovered new authors to read, popular books I might be interested in (as I’m always looking out to add to my TBR) and then came the best discovery of all…author profiles.

I’ve connected with other authors, both beginning and established, as well as publishers and editors. One of the best things about finding other authors from around the world? Finding out that many of the struggles we face? Universal. We are not alone in doing the crazy things we do, including having astronomical word counts.

Recently after posting a video of my own with my current read, my feed brought up an editor I honestly forgot I was following. She shares quick tips that are so damned helpful, it’s like taking a master class for free. When this particular tip played, I watched it several times to let it sink in. I then went to my own book and started from the beginning again.

That one fast tip helped me cut almost 5000 more words from the first 20 chapters alone! Something so simple yet I wasn’t seeing it. Sometimes, that’s what we need whether we realize it or not. Another perspective to push you in the right direction.

I’ve read my own manuscript upwards of a dozen times. I get lost in the story instead of the cuts I’m supposed to be making so often, I’m convinced this is one of the reasons it is taking me so much longer to figure out how to get this done. This one editing tip out of hundreds I’ve watched both by her and others, woke me up. Opened my eyes to something I was doing over and over again and never even realized it.

Once I paid attention to how I was saying something in dialogue or description, it clicked. I was yelling at the screen about how often I do this. How there is no need for over describing a scene, or explaining laughter when the reader should experience it for themselves. As someone with an editing background herself, I should be more than aware of this. Again, perspective.

After the first few cuts, it got so much easier. I was a madwoman on a mission. I was going through the chapters much faster cutting this, cutting that and soon the word counts were getting lower. Make no mistake, I still have hundreds of thousands to get rid of, or move to the sequel, but to see the progress move along this much faster than it has been in a while? The relief is real.

Now I’m not saying the book will be ready to submit next week. TONS of work still left to go. But at least I have a new starting point of how to do my edits. And because of this, I’ve also been rewriting scenes that are making the book take shape in a new way. Adding more depth to the characters that should have been acknowledged long ago while also decreasing the word count.

So I say, if you think that TikTok is just a doom scrolling time waster? Sure. It can be that. I’ve certainly spent hours escaping life watching cute animals and other stuff as well. It can be a fun app. But there is so much more to it and learning from others and supporting one another? These are the added bonuses of social media in any form. I am personally grateful to those I have learned from and look forward to more lessons that will help me get out of my own head and make the progress I know I can make.

And that is where I will leave you for today. Thanks for being here and I hope some of this resonated with you! Until next time…cheers!

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If you’d like to follow me on social, including my #booktok, click: HERE

Btw, you can find both my social links as well as my linktree shop in that link.

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If you’d like to see what my small businesses are about? Click: HERE

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If you’d like to help support this site, you can click the product links around the site or the Ko-Fi logo. Or you can click: HERE

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If you’ve made it this far, I thank you! It means so much that you spend some of your time here with me. Stay safe and warm folks! ⛄️

Victory – Defeat – Inspiring Peace

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Photo credit: Kanenori on Pixabay

Hey guys, welcome back! I’m going to go out of my usual  box this post because I haven’t been able to concentrate since the opening of the Winter games in Milan.

I mentioned in my previous post that. I’ve been a fan of the Winter Olympics since I was a kid. As much as I like the Summer games, I like the Winter ones so much more. They are action packed, sit on the edge of your seat, holy crap did that just happen kind of sports that get my blood pumping. I can’t stop watching. And because I’m up in the overnight hours, I see a lot of the competitions live before they head to prime time reruns.

 I’m watching so intently, that the screen in front of me, the one I’m supposed to be working on, is the one being neglected. I’ll read a sentence, watch three skiers go down the slalom run. I’ll read a paragraph, watch the snowboarders spin until I’m dizzy. I’ll scroll to the next page and then watch as a bobsled almost flips over and don’t even get me started on curling. (This is the first year I’ve watched a lot of it and I’ve actually yelled at the tv during matches.)

That being said, I’m not getting much done and my sleep schedule, that is already more than screwed up, is getting that much worse. I’ve been up until the afternoon and then finally sleep until much, much later only to start watching the games all over again. I’m afraid to miss anything so I’m trying not to drink a lot of liquids. (You get where I’m going with that, right?) My blood pressure is I’m sure going up, because I keep yelling at the announcers to shut up or the camera guys to stop with the up the nose close ups of an athlete that just crashed and burned.

I live near the NBC Sports HQ building where they are calling all the shots and it is taking every ounce of control not to walk over there to say, “please, enough of the drones!” But I digress…

As frustrating as some of it has been, I love to watch. I love to root for the underdogs and those from my home state of Connecticut. I love to see those who may be competing for their last Olympic Games pass along their knowledge to the next generation of athletes. I love that a lot of the skaters chose music from wayyyy before they were born and that many competing, pushed the boundaries of their sport just to see if they could do it.

 I love watching these competitors from different countries cheer for one another and trade pins or autographs with each other so that they have their own souvenirs. All making friends and showing the world what it means to be at these games.

I’ve been alive long enough to remember when women weren’t allowed to do a lot of these extreme sports and now to see them compete on the same hills, the same tracks, the same venues as the guys? Hell yeah I’m all for cheering them on! (Go Half Pipe!)

There’s been bumps and bruises, broken limbs (we love you Lindsay!) and tears from low scores and times that have kept them off the podiums. Horrible weather conditions and many MANY crashes. But no matter how they’ve done, no matter if they won a medal or not, these athletes can say that they made it to the Olympic Games and that is something no one can ever take away from them.

There’s only a few days left and while a part of me is happy about that so I can remember how to live again, I will miss it…a lot. I get excited to watch months in advance knowing that there is something fun coming up that will take away the dreariness of the dregs of Winter and make it fun. (The games also give me ideas for my next life to become a snowboarder or luge runner.)

There is so much inspiration that comes from the Olympics whether Winter, Summer or Special. The back stories of what it took to get them there and how some have survived both injuries and tragedies. To see little kids watch and get the spark inside of them that makes them realize that hey, maybe they can grow up and do it too! That is what these games are all about…oh and of course Snoop Dog because how could I forget him?

Yes I’m still reading, writing and editing and all of that but really, it has been nice to lose myself in the highs, the lows, the cheers and the battles faced across snow and ice. To see all their hard work come down to thousands of a second in some cases and to watch as for a little over two weeks, the world comes together for something good…something…peaceful.

And that is where I will leave you for today. Until next time…cheers!

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To find my links to my shops, social (including #booktok), donate to my American Cancer Society February Fundraiser and more, click: HERE

You can also shop directly in my linktree shop when you follow that link.

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Didn’t get what you wanted for Valentine’s Day? Treat yourself to something special! You can find my other links: HERE

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If you’ve gotten this far, I thank you and will see you real soon!! 😊

Winter – Olympics – Reading for a Cause

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Photo credit: michaelwedermann at Pixabay

Hey guys, welcome back! Yes, I know I’ve been MIA again. This time, I’m putting the full blame on the Olympics. (Ok so not all of the blame can be put on the games, but it sounded good.)

I love the Winter games. Always have. Even as a kid, I’d be glued to the tv to watch as athletes glide on the ice, soar down a mountain and risk their lives on a tiny sled going at insane speeds. I got to see the torch (both Winter and Summer) a couple of  times during their runs to the big show. And now that the Winter Olympics are here? I am getting nothing done. Add in the Super Bowl and days of long sleep hours due to illness and basically, I’m a lost cause.

Speaking of causes, (nice segue, eh?)…I’m once again doing the Read Every Day Challenge for the American Cancer Society. This is my fifth time doing it and I’m hoping to break my previous record of doubling the monthly goal. It’s a very personal cause for me, having had cancer surgery a few years ago. I followed my mother who also had it a few years before me and unfortunately, the illness has been all over my family in various ways. Friends, family…this monster touches all of our lives in some way and while I cannot do a whole lot to donate or do more physical fundraisers myself, I can turn my love of reading into donations during these designated times. I’ll post the link to my fundraiser page below this post if you’d like to donate or share it to help me spread the word.

Back to Winter. I don’t know about where you are but it’s been damned cold here! Now, let me just say this, I love Fall and Winter. Love them. Even with my pure and utter hatred for January, I’d still take the cold over Summer’s oppressive heat and humidity any day. Having said this, this particular Winter with it’s below zero windchill factors have been pretty impressive. If there was ever a time to stay inside with a book and hot cup of tea, coffee or cocoa, it’s definitely now. Like I need an excuse. 🙂

I’ve been reading a book series that has had me absolutely laughing every night and keeping me in a much better state of mind. I’m sorry that I’m now on the last book. These four books have really had me not only loving the characters, but letting me ‘live’ vicariously in a fictional small town with a Christmas tree farm destination spot for year round fun. While the series may be ending after this final book, (although hoping she adds to it in the future) I’m happy that I discovered this author and am looking to read more of B.K. Borison’s work. She writes in a very similar style to myself and it’s nice to read the work as someone else who gets it. Plus, I love that I have a new romcom author to follow!

As for my own writing, trying to focus as best I can with my editing/rewrites while still dealing with my medical crap as well as my attention issues. For you see, I’m up in the overnight hours and that is when a good deal of the Olympics are live. So here I am, even while I’m writing this post, watching the slopestyle and slalom finals and this has taken me three times as long to write this because I keep watching the races in front of me.

And for the record, yes, I did watch the Super Bowl. That was pure entertainment and didn’t take away from my writing at all. Hell of a game!

Back to my writing, I am happy to say that in the last two weeks I’ve cut another couple of thousand words and think I have a way to cut a huge chunk out while still keeping the story intact. Trying to keep much of the back and forth between the main characters has been the truest challenge for me. There is so much that is vital to the story but sadly, also really adds to the word count. It has become my biggest struggle while I reread my work every night. A lot of internal conversations that have me both cursing myself at times as well as yelling at my screen, “why did I even write that?” Then hitting delete over and over again. I’m truthfully finding this round of edits to be more cathartic than past runs. There is something quite freeing about clearing away the clutter and narrowing a scene down to its very foundation. Life lesson there? an obvious one but sure, I’ll take it.

The one thing that is worrying me this time around is that I’m starting to get ideas for a new story. This cannot happen. I know how my mind works. Once a new idea pops into my head, it will start to override what is already right in front of me. It is actually how I ended up here in the first place! I already have a book done. Unlike the current romcom I’m working on, it is a mystery. It needs a ton of work to edit, however, while I was working on it, I got the idea for this current book. I dropped the other one and wrote this one. At first I was so happy that this new book took only months to write. My first manuscript took over three years to complete. When the editing started though and I realized how much work would have to be done on it, I knew it was too good to be true. And now, my mind has been alternating between this current work to my previous one to a new idea and I just can’t lose focus. Not when I’ve worked pretty much every night for almost a year on this one. I’m married to these characters. I live and breathe them every single day and night. I will not let them down and I cannot let another story take up residence in my brain right now. I will, WILL finish this book and get it submitted and then I will go back and work on my previous piece and edit the hell out of that one as well. I will finish what I started and hopefully, there are a few bestseller lists waiting for me in my future! (Why settle for just one, right? Go for gold!)

Is my mind all over the place? Sure. But what else is new? Hoping you all are staying safe, warm and happy. That 2026 is treating you kindly so far and that you are also cheering for yourself to make it a great one. Because the way you cheer for yourself, can make all the difference in the world.

And that my dear friends, is where I will leave you for today. Thank you as always for being here and until next time…cheers!

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If you’d like to donate to or share my ACS fundraiser, click: HERE

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If you’d like to check out the Lovelight Farms series by B.K. Borison, (romcoms with some spice) click: HERE

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If you’d like to follow my social, including my #booktok, check out my shops or support this site, click: HERE

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If you’ve made it this far? THANK YOU! Stay warm folks! 🩷