Tag Archives: author linda welch

Alive and well and living in Utah.

20160403_131649When I get emails and personal Facebook messages asking if I’m still alive, I know it’s time to write something on this little old blog.

I’ve never been a social media butterfly, never blogged frequently or spent as much time as I should on Facebook and other sites. I do appreciate the opportunities it’s given me, and I’ve met some wonderful people, but as little as I’m active on social media, sometimes I still want to give it a rest. So I’ve been busily filling my life with the mundane. You know, the family, the home, the garden, all very un-writerly things. Gasp! If you want to know what I’ve been up to, read on, but I warn you, it’s all very boring.

We started the year with a redecorating project: painting the kitchen/dining room, living room, upstairs bathroom and hall. In February this was interrupted when I went downstairs late one night and stepped into several inches of water. A toilet tank running water for three hours had filled up our septic tank, which showed its displeasure by belching back into the house. Luckily our floor downstairs slopes slightly so the water was only in the east side of the basement and didn’t get into the den. But the laundry room (it’s a BIG room) the downstairs bathroom and a bedroom were flooded. We were up till 3 AM sucking up water with shop vacs. Such fun, especially having to carry the full vacs upstairs and outside to empty them. Also lucky, no lasting damage and almost everything was salvageable. We did have to move everything out of the bedroom and take up the carpet, and decided to repaint the room while it was empty.

Lo and behold, water started to come into the same bedroom and we realized we have a crack in the foundation. Husband had to chop out a lot of newly painted drywall to find the crack and patched it on the inside, but we still have to dig down outside to patch that.

Are you having fun so far? We did. Ha ha. I hope you can hear the sarcasm.

We’ve since learned our septic system is on the way out. The poor old thing is damaged and all the snow melt is leaking into the tank, plus the leach field needs to be replaced.

We took a vacation in Mesquite, NV. We spent one day on our ATVs south of Mesquite in some incredible red rock canyons. Unfortunately I didn’t take my camera because Husband had his, and his camera batteries died, so no pictures. Another day we drove up into the mountains west of Mesquite, along one of the little country dirt roads which deteriorates the farther you drive. When we got to the warning sign – go farther at your own risk – we went farther. The road got very bad, and ended with a punctured tire. My, what an adventure.

We took another mini vacation to Kanab, UT, and stayed at the Best Friends Animal Society in one of their cabins. What an incredible place! I’ve supported Best Friends for probably 20 years and this was my first visit. The staff is amazing, the work they do with abandoned and abused animals is amazing. The countryside is wonderful. Rock formations fascinate me and I got my fill there. One day we took the ATV on the Mail Drop ride. As per usual, the trail maps were not 100% accurate and we wasted quite a bit of time trying to find the actual Mail Drop, driving miles of trails and clambering up cliffs. The two men who directed us – I’d love to meet you again and tell you what I think of you. These two guys sent us in the wrong direction and we ended up taking some really nasty trails. We did eventually find the Mail Drop. What is the Mail Drop? In the 1800s, it was easier to send mail down a cliff to the valley below and the communities there, than ride all around the mountains to deliver it. The history of the Mail Drop is interesting, if you want to take a minute to read it. This is the best account I’ve found so far.

Lately I’ve had a spurt of domesticity. It’s as if my mum is inside my head, possessing me, telling me Linny, you have a lovely home but it’d be lovelier with a dusting rag and polish applied, the floor mopped, the junk tidied away (the list goes on and on.) You’d have a beautiful garden if you tidied it up. So on and so forth. To demonstrate how far down this road of doom I’ve gone, I even took everything out of my display cabinet, cleaned them and the cabinet! This is something I usually only do when we’re expecting visitors and the dust is so thick you can’t see what it’s hiding.

And, oh yes, I have been writing. Almost finished the first draft of a young adult paranormal romance: Icari. And I’ve also started on the third and last Downside book: Fallen.

And you thought I’ve done nothing but waste time with domestic issues, didn’t you.

IMG_0173 A very small area of the Angel’s Rest pet cemetery at Best Friends. Beautiful and peaceful. Can you see the wind chimes?
IMG_0201 This is actually the ceiling inside a cave on Best Friends property.
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The Beehives on the Mail Drop ride.

 

Looking out over the Mail

Drop.

Where Have All The Whisperings Gone?

Scribd did done me wrong.

Click to continue reading “Where Have All The Whisperings Gone?”

Coming Soon: a new Whisperings novel

Whisperings book seven is almost here!

Click to continue reading “Coming Soon: a new Whisperings novel”

Road Trip, a Whisperings Paranormal Short Story

Road Trip Cover last tryRoad Trip, a Whisperings short story, takes Tiff, Royal, Jack and Mel to southern Utah in a quest to find the body of a  brutally murdered woman. Tiff would rather her roommates stayed at home in Clarion, but there is no way to shake off shades who cling to your aura and come along for the ride. And Jack is determined to see his ex-lover, Dale, and discover why the man has not been in touch for over a month.

I . . . um . . . borrowed (cough) a Whisperings fan for this story. I know she’ll recognize herself.

 

Only $0.99 on Amazon.com and comparative price on Amazon.UK ~ Amazon Germany ~ Amazon France ~ Amazon Canada ~ Amazon Australia. If not listed here, look for it on your local Amazon site!

Also available on iTunes  Barnes and Noble~ Kobo  ~ Inktera ~ Scribd

 

A Holiday gift for fans of Whisperings Paranormal Mystery

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-holiday-lights-fog-image1627372My holiday gift for Whisperings fans, The Midnight Choir, a Whisperings short story, is free on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Kobo, Scribd and Inktera. Hopefully, it will soon also be free on International Amazon sites. This little story was first published here on my web site, but the new version includes additional material. I hope you enjoy it.

(Disclaimer: Although I have set the price as zero, Amazon can and often does charge for “free” books on some of their international sites. I have no control over this.)

Time has rushed by so quickly. The end of another year, when people look back and reflect on what the year brought into their lives. As  for me, the body is getting old and has forced me to acknowledge it has limitations, but the brain still works. I have family. I have friends who have stuck by me for years and new friends I’ve met online and in person. I can picture events which still make me smile when I remember them. As for the writing – as always it’s been fun, exasperating, stressful, tiring, and exhilarating.

On the writing side, Baelfleur, the sequel to Downside Rain was published in November. Tiff Takes on Halloween, a Whisperings short story, was published in October. I tried it on Amazon’s Kindle Select/Kindle Unlimited as an experiment. All the KU borrows were nice but at the end of the day, being exclusive to one publishing platform doesn’t sit well with me, so the little story will also appear on Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Kobo, Scribd and Inktera when the Kindle Select period expires in January. And while I’m thinking of it, a shout out to Kindle Select staff who have always responded to my questions/problems promptly. Believe me, if you had to work with support staff at some of the other publishing platforms, you’d appreciate the guys and gals who staff Kindle Select.

I almost forgot to say – last week I reached a personal milestone with the sale of my 75,000 e-book.

In January I found out my Scottie dog Duncan has cancer. The discovery resulted in me rushing to England in April and deciding to write a seventh Whisperings Paranormal Mystery.

Why did my dog having cancer make me rush to England? And why did it prompt me to write another Whisperings book?

Well, I wanted to go to England to see my 91 year-old mum. Husband and I planned to go later in the year, but I didn’t know how long Duncan had with us. His excellent vet estimated six months to a year. I decided on chemotherapy treatment for him, but chemo destroys the immune system which meant he couldn’t be put at risk for infection by having him in a kennel while husband and I took a trip. In fact, he can’t be with other dogs at all, or have his annual immunizations and rabies shots, and we watch him carefully during walks to make sure he doesn’t get into anything he shouldn’t.

I didn’t want husband to have to deal with Duncan getting sick, and of course I wanted to be with Duncan when the time came,  so I whipped off to England earlier than planned and husband cared for Duncan while I was gone.

As for Whisperings. I said in my post To Be Or Not To Be that I didn’t know whether or not I’d write another Whisperings after A Conspiracy of Demons, and I didn’t have any plans to. But an odd thing happened when I learned Duncan has incurable cancer. I love my little dog and the news devastated me. I sat down at my computer and piled the whole thing on Tiff’s shoulders. I wrote about her discovering her Scottie Mac had cancer, her grief, and how she imagined the time to come when she would have to help him on his way.

At the end of the little piece, a bullet came out of nowhere.

I was pretty surprised. That wasn’t supposed to happen! I thought about it and before I knew it, I had an outline for Whisperings Paranormal Mystery book seven: Dark Demon Rising. I put it aside while I finished writing Baelfleur and the short stories but I’ll jump back on it after Christmas.

If you’re wondering about Duncan, he’s still with us and still going strong almost a year after the diagnosis.

So although 2014 began unhappily, it turned out to be a pretty good year. I hope 2015 brings good things, to me and to you. Happy Christmas, may the day be merry and bright, filled with love and good cheer.

 

 

April in England.

I gaze beyond the rain-drenched streets to England, where my heart lies.

Click to continue reading “April in England.”

A MEMORY ON FATHER’S DAY

A country tale from way back when.

Click to continue reading “A MEMORY ON FATHER’S DAY”