My Monsoon Madness Mind

7/10/2017

In the southwest, June is hot as hell-o! It has to be that way to draw up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico for our July rains, known locally as Monsoons. Without the Monsoon rains, we might not get moisture until winter!

This year, June heat set records and it's already July 10 and still no rains. Even the cacti are shrinking! Come on Monsoon, or we'll all go mad! Hence the phrase Monsoon Madness used in advertising by every business in the area.

What do we do when it's so dang hot? Those who can, get out of town or travel northward. But some of us are here year-round. A few people love the heat and claim it doesn't bother them. For most, however, the heat is prohibitive, especially midday. There's always mall shopping, but many of our malls have outside hallways. And golf is out, unless we play very early.

Sometimes using your imagination helps keep everything cool. What if a snowstorm kept me inside this quaint little cabin (my office) and the only way to escape was to write another book? Okay, I can do that! To be honest, there's also swimming (Cool baby!), de-cluttering (Cleaning? Are you kidding?), going to the gym (Boring!), watering plants (Saving their lives!), painting (Some day…), but mostly... Writing. All that other stuff looks good on paper but the writing is what most writers do. Then all the other inside jobs kick in, like revising a first draft, organizing ideas for the future, working with a cover artist to re-brand some older books, and promoting my summer beach reads. That's my Monsoon Madness Mind. Come on Monsoon! I need some rain therapy, wildfires need dousing, and our dried-up cacti need refreshing!

Rogue Diamond, my July 99-cent Special, came about after I read an article in our local newspaper about a "baby ring" trafficking children from Mexico to families or even adoption agencies in the U.S. I have been to Mexico numerous times and never suspected this could be happening. I was horrified and knew I had to write about it. In my story, the heroine can't get the help she needs so she hires a certain rogue to fight fire with fire. But can he really find her missing child after all this time? Get it while it's hot - only 99 cents through July.

Amazon

Smashwords