Amazon has introduced a way to send blog posts or short stories directly to Kindle devices. A few (hundred?) years ago, a little magazine published a story of mine called Top Secret. Since the story ran on that blog, I never published it to Kindle.

But now, for anyone wanting to read a VERY zany and silly short story just for fun, visit This Page and select the “Send to Kindle” button at the top. You will be asked to log into your Amazon account and okay the “send.” I had to do it twice before it actually arrived on my Kindle. I do not know why I had to do it twice, but the first time, it just didn’t show up on my Kindle.

If you don’t have a Kindle and want to read “Top Secret” you can click the link and read the story online.

If you send the story to your kindle, let me know how it works and whether you like the idea. (You can also tell me if you liked the story.)

The story is a cozy read and contains no paranormal elements.

EDITED TO ADD: I’ve had some requests for epub format. I can’t send epub format directly to anyone’s reader, but I do have the story in epub format. If you would like to read it in epub format, leave a comment (there’s a field that only I see where you can put your email) and request it or email me and request the format. I would be happy to email you the epub format.

Austin recently banned stores from providing non-resuable plastic bags. You know the ones. Everyone uses them in grocery stores, Home Depot–your typical plastic bag, just like the one blowing outside in your street this morning.

Before you start thinking too highly of Austin being great environmentalists, the truth is: They are out of dumping grounds. They’ve been fighting for years to expand or to buy shares in neighboring landfills. They are having to pay higher prices to get rid of trash and truck it further away. Thus, they are taking various steps and one of them was to ban the typical plastic grocery bag. Millions and millions of them clog the landfills.

I shop in Austin stores now and then since I’m right on the border of it and Cedar Park. One of the larger HEB grocery stores is on the Austin side and they are affected by the ban. The first time I shopped there after the ban, hardly anyone had their reusable bags, despite numerous notices. These days, a mere month later, almost everyone has them. If they don’t, rather than pay for bags, they will usually just throw everything back in the cart and then into the car.

Think about it. A month. In a very large city. Almost No One is using plastic, throw-them-out, bags. Sure, there are still millions in cupboards, those ones we all save for the “I might need a bag.” But instead of getting millions more, the entire city of Austin is now re-using bags. Some of them are plastic, but they are larger, thicker and have handles. They cost money so aren’t likely to be tossed aside after one or two uses. 900,000 people are going to the grocery, to the hardware store, to Wal-mart and they are not getting one-time use plastic bags.

The lady in front of me today had a full cart of groceries. If she had bagged that the old way, I estimate it would have been fifteen or more plastic bags. Instead, her groceries were packed tightly into five large bags (two were cloth and the others looked like sturdy plastic/cloth mixed.) And she’ll use those bags again.

In one month, I wonder how many fewer bags made it to the landfill? Think about it. In one year, one city, how many fewer bags will be in a dump, in the street, or wrapped around a light pole?

I’ve used cloth bags for going on twelve years. Every now and then we’d get a plastic bag at a store, but those bags were always stashed and re-used because where else do you put that noxious xyz that you don’t want directly in your garbage can?

It’s not hard to do once you’re in the habit of stashing cloth bags in your car. The ones I have are called boat bags and they can handle 4 bottles of 2 liter soda or two gallons of milk. In the case of today’s shopping expedition, 10 bags of pasta, tortillas and mushrooms. I own several of the canvas bags, as well as smaller bags and a cold-case bag that is lined and insulated for milk and cheese. Dang. I forgot to buy ice cream…

I’m kind of amazed at the bag ban, but it’s really great to see people bringing their own bags. Most don’t seem to mind one bit. It’s just a habit.

One of my bags is a GreenBagLady bag. And it turns out, she is giving away bags this morning. Entry is easy. Enter your email address in the comments (disguised so it doesn’t get picked up by spam bots). She selects winners and sends out free grocery bags. They are good for potatoes, onions, pasta…you name it. The patterns are beautiful (mine is paisley) and the fabric is donated by various fabric and sewing companies.

I wonder how much petroleum it takes to make one million bags?

It was hot and sticky on our walk today, but I finally remembered the camera to take some shots of the remaining wildflowers. Husband had to mow the widow’s yard so I had to run about madly because we had to hurry. I got stung by a bee or something. Then I got back and had a nice shower, but when I went out to the garden, I tripped over a bean vine. When I got out of the garden to brush off my knee, I stood up and smacked my head into a tree branch.

I will be sitting next to the chocolate stash the rest of the day if you need me.

Amazon has several of my paperback novels on sale. No, I have no idea why. Perhaps it is my incessant clicking or maybe Junior asked nicely. Perhaps it’s the phase of the moon or a special for summer reading books?

At any rate, Executive Lunch is a dollar off (maybe they liked the new cover!), Under Witch Moon is also a dollar off, Under Witch Aura and Dragons are also about a dollar off.

Now to talk them into putting the ebooks on sale…

No Money Down – Julie Moffett
Look what came in the mail for me this week!!! SQUEE! I should have read this a long time ago, but since I started with a later book in the series, I just never got around to it. Well, this one can be read out of order (I think it’s really book 1) and I highly recommend it. I loved it. Zany, fun, and a great way to chuckle your way through the afternoon. I had to stifle my giggles lest the husband give me that “look” of his. This series is right up my alley because Lexi is a great big geek.

I’m really disappointed that the new Lexi Carmichael isn’t out until Sept. I really love a good funny cozy. If you like Karen Cantwell, Donna Andrews or Janet Evanovich, you owe it to yourself to give the Lexi Carmichael series a try.

It makes my great books under 5 bargain bin!

In the last three months or so, we’ve been having trouble with some neighborhood kids vandalizing my plants. Oh, it started innocently enough. Trampled flowerbeds. Loud bangs on the garage door when soccer and baseballs went further than expected. But next thing we knew, husband caught one of the kids swinging a bat at our newly sprouted oak tree. Warnings were issued. Parents were talked to. I became that old lady on the block who yells out the window, “GET OFF MY LAWN!”

To make a long story short, three trees were mysteriously de-leafed and destroyed despite protective fences and barriers. In one case, the barrier was removed and hidden. No kid took responsibility. Well, we are a household of engineers (and one mad old lady who has a great love of plants).

The only sane thing to do was wait for the kids from behind a bush and hose them down with vinegar, blue dye and skunk oil. No wait. I mean, the only sane thing to do was to wait until the kids were in school and install a camera.

Husband worked hard to place the camera PRECISELY where it could not be seen, but was pointed at the newly planted tree. He studied angles. He downloaded software. He climbed ladders and trees. The only thing he wouldn’t consider was the rosebush, and I still say he erred on the side of “I’m not getting stuck by those thorns.”

The camera was barely installed in time for “home from school.” It was in place for all of two, maybe two and a half hours when we heard a hellacious bang from the garage region.

I ran for the front door, determined to catch the little fiends running away. Husband sat complacently, trusting in his technology. Technology, smology. I wanted to see the fear in the whites of their eyes…only no one was there. The driveway was completely empty and…a little boy that I knew very well, but who had never been a lick of trouble, called out, “I was riding my bike and going too fast and I couldn’t stop. I ran into your garage.”

“Are you okay?”

He nodded, his helmeted head well protected.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I was just going so fast, I couldn’t stop.”

“Okay.”

I went inside to tell husband that of all kids, it was the nice kid who appeared to have had an honest accident.

Husband said, “Well, let’s review the tape.”

Into the control room we went.

“Hey!” Husband shouted. “My camera isn’t even pointing…That isn’t where I set the thing!” Mouse clicks. Sorting. “Which side of the garage did you say he hit?”

“I didn’t look closely.” Off I went. There was a foot long smear of tire up the side of the garage, right next to the bush where the camera had been carefully installed.

Back inside, we reviewed the tapes. Sure enough, we saw the kid make two circles. On the third round, he came right at the camera. BAM. He hit the garage door, bounced off of it and fell RIGHT INTO THE BUSH ON TOP OF THE CAREFULLY PLACED CAMERA, knocking it askew.

Never underestimate the power of a kid, a bike and pure dumb luck.

Starting next month, sometime during the first week, I’ll do a post asking everyone to comment and leave the name of the best book they read the prior month. For the first month, (June), I’ll pick a random comment and that person will win either a book bag or one bar of the olive oil soap that I made! I’ll post pictures of said bag and soap in June. I may not do a prize each month or sometimes the prize will be different–a book, veggie seeds…and I may take on “sponsors” which will probably be an author who donates a book for the month.

What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? Other prizes you’d like to see?

As you know, after I finish a book, I am likely to tackle the sewing pile under the mistaken assumption that 1. the pile needs to be smaller and 2. I can create something other than book bags.

The first thing I did was sew a bag. Great confidence builder.

Next, I tackled making some tank tops. I don’t ordinarily wear tank tops, but I’ve found that on our daily walks, as the weather gets hotter, I prefer to wear a tank top and then just throw it in the laundry. Takes up less room than a tee-shirt and I stay a tiny bit cooler.

Harmony, of the infamous Harmony Art, and I agreed to an exchange of “Under Witch Aura” for some fabric a while back. The pink knit had been calling to me from long ago, and she also included a half yard of the monk pattern. I set to work on the monk pattern and produced a tank top! Well…yeah, it looks good on paper. Problem: I only had half a yard. My biggest concern when cutting was how to get all of the shirt laid out and have enough material. It wasn’t until I had cut the shirt parts that I realized…shirts have to be made such that the stretch goes SIDEWAYS. Not up and down. And guess what? The only way I happened to be able to cut the shirt out was…up and down. I found this out when I had it all pinned together and tried to put it on. Pins went flying all over the bathroom as I struggled to get it on without pinning myself! I couldn’t get it to stretch enough to pull it over my shoulders and other lumps. HEY, you try putting on a t-shirt sideways and see how much stretch there is! It’s like trying to pull the arm over your head.

Once the shirt was on…and I use the term lightly, it fit. Only there was no way to get it off without taking the few remaining pins out of the one side and setting myself free. I sewed it anyway. The cloth was already cut. What else could I do? Install a zipper all the way up one side including the arm hole? Yes, it did cross my mind, but I’m not that good with zippers.

The fabric, as usual, was very easy to work with. It’s soft and pretty. For a knit it took the stitches without stretching or trying to dive under the needle and bunch (rather than let the needle go through the fabric as it is supposed to do.) Maybe it’s because I made it the wrong direction because when I moved to work with the fabulous pink, that thing stretched every which way, including loose. It got so bad at one point, I had to take the sewing machine apart to get the material out of the bobbin. Yes, I KNOW material isn’t supposed to go down that hole and get stuck there. Beats me how it got there.

I may not be able to sew worth a plugged nickle, but I can take things apart. I’m mechanically inclined enough that I can usually put them back together again too. Not without cursing and quite possibly not without an injured body part or two, but I got that material out and the machine back together in no time. Unless you count an hour as actual time.

For those of you laughing, I do not feel sorry for you if you spewed cola all over your keyboard!

Hmph.

I think pretty much everyone knows and admits that when it comes to book sales, Amazon is the leader. They know it and so does everyone else. I’ve avoided playing the exclusive game of selling only on Amazon for the last two years. I have loyal B&N, Sony and other epub readers. The problem is, I don’t have enough of them. By not going exclusive on Amazon my books miss out on rankings and visibility–and this means it costs me new readers. Over the last two years, sales of all my books have gone down across all retailers, but the biggest percentage drop has been Amazon. As others went exclusive, their books were seen more.

I tried to avoid being exclusive because I think it hurts overall market penetration in the long run, but a girl has to eat. So I’ll be moving my latest book, Under Witch Curse, to the Amazon exclusive bucket on Wednesday. Readers will no longer be able to buy it from my blog or any other retailers for at least 90 days.

Before I pull it from other markets, I’m offering a coupon at my blog store for 2 dollars off. You can buy Under Witch Curse for $2.99 for the next 3 days by entering coupon code WitchCurse at checkout. The bundle includes Under Witch Curse in both epub and mobi formats so you can read it on any reader. If you know someone who might want the book, please spread the word and let them know about the blog sale!!!

Once Under Witch Curse is exclusive to Amazon, it will be available for Prime members to borrow through the monthly “one borrow a month” program. It will be for sale for $4.99 the entire 90 day exclusive period.

If going exclusive is the only way I can continue writing…well, I’ll try to balance things out as much as possible. I don’t like exclusivity because I like free markets. But I hope to be able to get back to writing again someday. Without more sales, that simply isn’t possible.

Cats have been helping us humans write for years. Or so the cats think. I often get emails asking if Junior sits on my lap or crawls across my keyboard when I am trying to type up exciting Sedona escapades or thrilling escapes by Adriel. Junior isn’t much interested in writing; he and Scamper are all about gardening. The garden is usually where I find a tail in my face. Sometimes Junior nearly gets sat on as he crouches behind me and then decides to squeeze around my leg. Our other feral cat from a few years back used to sit behind me and swipe at my shoes. No idea why, but she loved doing that.

All the cats inspect any holes I dig. They are quite certain I am burying chicken or other treats. Never mind that I am always planting cucumbers or tomatoes. They still check, just to be sure.

But from at least the 1400s on, cats have been helping us writers.

Eating the first red potato from the garden. Yay! It’s small. It was a test potato where I dug up to see if they were big enough. They can still double in size so I left the rest. We’re having it in a breakfast burrito.

It’s also *raining*!!! This is Most Excellent News! We so need the rain. Yay!

I was recently reminded of a time I was invited to a cookout. It was suggested I bring the wine. Okay, I am not the right person to ask because I don’t drink wine, but when the hostess asks you to bring wine, you do the best you can. When I asked what the main dish would be, she replied, “Hotdogs. New York hotdogs.”

Erm. Is it just me or do writers attract weirdos? I mean, people even weirder than writers???

I muttered about New York and just why did any hotdog require wine? But being a writer, I know how to research. Plus, I have an uncle who claims to be a wine connoisseur. Well, it turns out, uncle is a FRAUD. All he did was sputter when I asked what kind of wine to pair with hotdogs. He may have even called my mom to complain about my attitude. Hmph.

But, never fear! I have a buddy who drinks French wine. He is more geek than connoisseur. He speaks French, at least to the extent where he can show off. He knows fancy phrases, the ones people throw out at parties to show how knowledgeable they are. No one understands the phrase, but we all nod knowingly. For all I know he’s been telling us all these years that eating green peas puts hair on your chest. Still, he was my best bet so I sent him an email. I asked if he could he recommend a dinner wine to pair with hotdogs. NO, it isn’t my party. I don’t even eat hotdogs!

Luckily, my geek friend is more into research than I am. He does not like any question to go unanswered. Nothing like passing the homework on to someone more obsessed than myself!

Friend suggested Scotch straight up to get through the party. As for wines, he asked if maybe she meant she wanted to soak the hotdogs in wine. Or beer.

No, I assured him. She wanted wine to drink.

Well, he came through. For hotdogs, “boxed wine is the only way to go. Doesn’t matter if it is red or white. Get a rose and you’re covered. If you want upscale wine for your hotdogs, get a four or six pack of wines with tops that screw off.”

He didn’t include any helpful French phrases for the party. Not that I’d get them correct. As for the party, I decided to bring hamburger patties because I don’t actually like hotdogs, and if I brought wine, I have nothing to eat AND nothing to drink. Yeah, yeah. So I might not get invited again. I’ll probably get over that.

GreenBagLady is doing a huge giveaway this month — 100 book bags. Amy Butler bags! (I have no actual idea who Amy Butler is. But next time I do a book bag giveaway, I’m going to name my bags!) Whoever the bags, they are very pretty this month. Just leave your name and your email (disguise your email by spelling out the at symbol and adding ().)

Okay, in other news, today is the official announcement day for the new cover for Executive Lunch. BookBasset is helping with the announcement. Go on over there and tell everyone if you love the cover, the series and … in a show of support for all authors, name your favorite author!

DailyCheapReads is having a book club discussion on Anne George’s first book. Overall, wow! They were pretty hard on the book. There are two posts, the first is tucked under the most recent and that is where the initial comments can be found. I thought it was a good cozy read and I enjoyed the mystery part, but others did not find the book so enjoyable. The questions from yesterday’s newest post include the chance to talk about cozies you enjoyed more than Anne George for those who were disappointed in the book, head over there and let them know your favorites.

Just so you know, husband’s espresso maker fried itself this morning. SOME people might be crabby and in a bad mood. SOME people might find that regular coffee does not take the place of a mocha. It’s not just the mocha, people! It’s the routine…

Now seems like a good time to visit Hawaii. They probably have mochas there, right???

Last week, in preparation of company, I took down our storm windows and screens and cleaned all the windows. They were nice and shiny. You could see through them and everything. Today was very windy. Cold too. I had the shades open though because it was also cloudy and there is no sense in moping about in the dark. This afternoon when I went into the bedroom, there on my window was the biggest blob of bird poop I’ve ever seen. It had to be an eagle that left it. Or some sort of giant vulture that ate too much rotten roadkill. Could he have just aimed at the window? No, no, this miscreant had to also make sure that this giant poop bomb hit the screen. It went through that with enough force to splatter across half my used-to-be-clean window.

Hmph. And it’s too cold to spray it off today. And I’ll have to take the screen off and clean it all over again too.

What a rude bird.