Lost Soul

Hi, all.  Hope you're all doing well, or at least striving for love and happiness.  I've had a lot of my fans ask me why I'm a few months late on my sequel to my first novel, Castilian Heat. To be fair, I suffered a major personal setback:  My good friend, Beth Tegarden, died suddenly in February. She was an ex-Ford model and did some movies that were noteworthy. She was a beautiful human being who was not terribly happy here on Earth. A very loving soul, she had been unsuccessful in finding a long-lasting love that was meaningful and this led to severe depression at times. All of you can actually find her either on Google and/or www.imdb.com. Beth had a marvelous, quirky sense of humor and possessed a singular intelligence. Apparently, she was very active in women's advocacy groups highlighting domestic violence. I shall keep her in my heart always.

As to my sequel, I now attend to the finishing touches and will disappoint my fans no longer: May is the month of its debut, this I promise you wholeheartedly. My continued prayers to the families of those on Malaysian Flight 370 and for those poor children and others on the Korean ferry.

How little do most of us know how good we have it until some or all of that goodness is taken away from us. Be well, to all of you, dear hearts.

2014 - Full Speed Ahead!

Hello, everyone.  As you've discerned from my tweets, I've been fully immersed in finishing my sequel to my first novel, Castilian Heat, now called Castilian Heat 2 - A New Beginning.  I won't give the storyline away, of course, but suffice to say, Sheila, my heroine, continues to mush on courageously in the face of grief, and has a new baby to boot. I'm excited because a lot of the book takes place in Barcelona this time, which is where I spent some time last year doing research.

I shall have Castilian Heat 3 finished sooner than expected as well this year before moving on to a different series. While not writing, I went to see the second Hunger Games movie (the book was written by the marvelous Suzanne Collins) and was thoroughly enthralled ... yet heartbroken, too, of late, with the untimely passing of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who had one of the lead roles in the film. He was marvelous as always. A great tragedy how he died and it forever exemplifies to us all that drugs are a very bad thing indeed.

And with that, I am going to take a break and go see the film, Pompeii, which is supposed to be a good love story in addition to a gala spectacular tent-pole film filled with special effects, pyroclastic clouds and lots of lava!

Stay well, my beloved readers.  Monica