First, here are last week’s contest winners: Judy Cooper and Midge Watkins. Congratulations, ladies!
I’m doing well on my Simply Filling plan, via Weight Watchers–where has this been all my life?? 🙂 I LOVE it! I never, ever feel deprived, and my cravings for sweets and greasy food are gone, as if by magic!
What I’m reading/listening to: a series of lectures from The Great Courses (I get them on iTunes), called “Jesus and the Gospels”. It’s totally fascinating. I also listen to several podcasts regularly: The Daily Audio Bible, of course, but also The Moth–in which people from all walks of life tell brief stories about their experiences. I love A Prairie Home Companion, Garrison Keillor’s very funny tales about a small Minnesota town and its people–I get at least one laugh out of this podcast every time. Finally, I listen to This American Life, hosted by Ira Glass–the program lasts about an hour and usually tells three different stories, all with connecting themes and, moreover, Ira has a very nice speaking voice.
And speaking of voices–here’s a shout-out to Jack Garrett, the actor who narrates most of my audio books–the man knows how to speak ‘cowboy’, and I get a big kick out of listening to him. (And not just because he’s reading my words!)
BIG SKY SECRETS is enjoying a third big week on the bestseller lists–#2 on the New York Times mass market paperback list–and a phenomenal #1 on Publisher’s Weekly! I am so thrilled and so grateful–this kind of placement amazes me, since for most of my 30-plus year career, I would have been overjoyed to be holding on to the bottom rung of these lists by my fingertips. Thank you, one and all, for the large part you’ve played in making the BIG SKY books do so well.
In other news, I’ve been invited to participate in an autographing at Nora Roberts’ Turn the Page Bookstore, this July 19, in Boonesboro, MD! Again, I’m thrilled—I have admired Nora for a very long time, and it will be great to see her again. My ranch crew is over-the-moon about the invitation, since they’re also BIG Nora fans! If time allows, I hope to extend the trip by a few days and head on to Washington, D.C., where niece Kelly works. I’d like to see the Ford Theatre, in particular, since it was closed for renovations the last time I was there–but will also visit the World War II monument (my dad served proudly in the Pacific, with the United States Marine Corps) and also the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, because so many soldiers in my family and my generation fought there. In both cases, the erection of these monuments was long overdue–I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Freedom isn’t free, folks. Real people, like you and me, pay for it in blood, sweat, toil and tears.
And now I’d better wrap this up–lots of writing to do, and the kids, Wendy and Jeremy and my grand-dog, Margie, 🙂 are coming over for a Sunday evening pot roast.
Be well.
About Linda
The daughter of a town marshal, Linda Lael Miller is a #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than 100 historical and contemporary novels, most of which reflect her love of the West.
Raised in Northport, Washington, Linda pursued her wanderlust, living in London and Arizona and traveling the world before returning to the state of her birth to settle down on a horse property outside Spokane.
