A Day In The Life…of Tori

I have an extra fun treat for all of you today.

Instead of “That’s Life Wednesdays” being about me this week, I’m handing the reins over to, Tori Sinclair–the protagonist in my Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series. After all, with yesterday’s release of DANGEROUS ALTERATIONS (book 5), it seems as if it’s only fair to let my star have her day.

So, come on over to Dru Ann Love’s wonderful site and spend a little time with Tori.

  http://notesfromme.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/a-day-in-the-life-of-tori-sinclair-by-elizabeth-lynn-casey/

I’ll be back here again tomorrow!

~Elizabeth

With the Help of Renoir

Last week, while my daily challenge question was posting itself to this blog, I was off on a delayed honeymoon with My Special Guy. The weather was superb, the company spectacular, and memories-in-the-making around every corner.

Here’s a few pictures I figured I’d share with all of you as it shows me crossing something off my personal “bucket list.”

  Yup, that’s me…tummy to tummy with a real dolphin. His name is Renoir and he’s nine years old. He’s one of the world famous “cabo dolphins.” 

 I think I smiled non-stop through the whole ride! 

 Here we are in the pool together. Renoir is giving me a little love to make up for the body-soaking splash he tends to favor as his initial greeting….  

 If you’ve never done this, you should. They truly are sweet creatures.

So tell me, what’s something on your bucket list?

~Elizabeth

Play Time

Over the Columbus Day weekend, we dragged the volleyball net out of the shed and set it up in preparation for the arrival of six 13-year-old girls who were coming to celebrate Dear Daughter #2′s birthday.

Then, yesterday, I found myself peeking out at that volleyball net again and again throughout the school day–wanting someone to come home so we could go outside and play. The day was gorgeous (after way too many rainy days the past few months) and the temperature perfect.

So, as the school day drew to a close, I positioned myself on the front step and waited…

Dear Daughter # 2 arrived at the same time as both my stepsons. The second they approached, I posed my idea and they bit, eagerly! Ten minutes later, we were playing volleyball with a big purple ball. Twenty minutes after that, my Special Guy joined the game. And then, within another twenty minutes or so, Dear Daughter #1 arrived home from play practice and promptly begged to be put in the game.

We ran.
We cheered.
We cracked jokes.
We laughed.

And it was the best and most fun workout I’ve had in a very long time.

So tell me, when was the last time you had an urge to play? What did you do and who did you do it with?

~Elizabeth

Looking Forward

I’m looking forward to a lot of things right now…

*Finishing my current work-in-progress or wip (book 7–Sweet Briar Christmas themed story)

*Seeing the cover of book 6 (REAP WHAT YOU SEW–due out April 1st)

*Seeing the cover for the very first book in my Amish series–HEARSE AND BUGGY (I’m being told it’s very different but in a “good way”).

*The release of DANGEROUS ALTERATIONS (my favorite sewing circle book so far) on November 1st and the coinciding events I have scheduled.

*Going on a long overdue trip with my Sweetie.

*Taking a few weeks off from writing in November and getting caught up on other stuff (like reading, organizing, friends, etc).

So how about you? What are you looking forward to over the next month?

~Elizabeth

May I Pick Your Brain?

I was wondering if I could pick your brains today.

I’m in the process of giving this website a once over. I’m keeping the look/the feel, but it’s time for some content tweaks. The first change is on the “home” page (which I have my weblady do). If you click on the tab at the top, you’ll see that we’ve added the cover of the upcoming book and placed ordering information beneath each available title (if you haven’t pre-ordered Dangerous Alterations yet, now might be a good time to take care of that   ).

The page I’m feeling the most need to change is the “about” page. But I’m not sure if I should change it completely or simply add some stuff.  Any thoughts? What kind of information do you think would work well here? Any particular format that might be fun?

~Elizabeth

Escape Hatch

Sometimes, when life seems just a wee bit more than a person can handle, they either turn toward destructive behavior or find a more productive relief valve.

From the time I was about twelve, my valve has always been books. When I read, whatever book I was devouring at that time allowed me to escape into someone else’s world for a little while. It didn’t always have to be stories of flower dotted praries to escape. Quite the contrary. In fact, some of my favorite go-to books at that crazy time were suspense stories. I guess they enabled me to lose myself in someone else’s issue. An issue that would be over when I turned the last page.

When I write (particularly my series books), I escape with people who have become my friends. People who come to life (quite literally in some respects) the moment we meet. They make me laugh. They make me teary-eyed. They even surprise me at times. But they’re steady and true. Like books.

What’s your go-to when you’re in desperate need of an escape?

~Elizabeth

Misty-Eyed Pride

When your children are little, the most simple things–like sitting and waving–are worthy of photos, journal entries, and a host of other documentation methods. 

When they go off to school for the first time, news of their accomplishments tends to move to the refrigerator for all who pass by to notice and praise.

Milestone after milestone, new step after new step, we watch our offspring make their way in the world, proudly holding their hands when we can and beaming from the sidelines when we can’t.

But I’ve noticed that the closer they get to adulthood, the harder the milestones are getting. For me. These girls I’ve nurtered since day one are taking steps that will enable them to live on their own one day.

On their own.

Without me.

Sure, it’s what every parent wants–for their children to be successful and happy adults capable of standing on their own two feet. But just because we want it, doesn’t mean it’s always easy to watch.

Like yesterday.

I stood huddled under an umbrella as my daughter pulled away from the curb with the DMV tester who was tasked with the job of determining whether she’s ready to drive a car. As she disappeared down the road, I couldn’t help but notice the way it got harder and harder to breathe. I’ve loved this little girl every second of her life. To watch her drive away, to know it won’t be long before she’s pulling away from the curb in a car that’s jam packed with her belongings for her own life’s journey was, well, exciting and heartbreaking all at the same time.

But no matter where my heart’s teeter totter is at any given time, I know one thing for sure. I am so very proud of the young woman she is becoming.  I may have given her the starting puff, but she’s spread her wings all on her own.

~Elizabeth

Full Salvage Mode

The unofficial end of summer is just days away and for the first time in a very long time, I can’t say that I’m sad to see it go. Don’t get me wrong, there were some good parts of summer this year, but there were some trying parts, too.

The excessive heat wave that hit the New York area (and, frankly, the rest of the country) in mid July was a tough time for me thanks to my M.S. Those ten or so days yanked all of my energy right out of of my body (and brain) at a time I was facing a pretty important deadline.

A few other trials came into play just as the heat wave was subsiding and my energy level was doing its best to rebound sans steroids. I made it, but the next few weeks were less than ideal with a deadline that had grown much too tight, and some unrelated yet unexpected (a.k.a. unncessary) stress that seemed to go on…and on…and on.

Then, just as I started to breathe a little easier, Irene came knocking.  Ahhhh….

Which leaves me right where I am at the moment–looking around at the final days of summer and wondering how I can squeeze every last ounce of goodness out of them before saying farewell to the Summer of 2011.  Some of my ideas (whether they happen or not) to aid in that effort include: reading, spiff-ifying my office (which actually makes me happy), and spending as much time with my Very Special Guy as possible before the school year and its crazy schedule starts back up again.

So what kind of plans do you have for the remaining days of summer?

~Elizabeth

**For those of you who weighed in on the subject of the perfect Southern Sewing Circle cast yesterday, I got such a kick out of your answers! Thank you!! All the ideas were great with my absolute favorite being Doris Roberts for Dixie (wow, that couldn’t be more perfect). After I read all of the great responses, I put everyone’s name into a hat and drew out one lucky winner for a few special little goodies. And the winner is Carolyn C! Congratulations, Carolyn C. If you send your snail mail addy to me at: ElizabethLCasey@aol.com, I’ll get your surprise out in the mail early next week!!

NJ, Here We Come!

Thirty-three years ago, we met for the first time and we’ve been friends ever since.

Life has shot us in different directions at times (both geographically and otherwise) but we always know each other is there…whether it’s to laugh, cry, talk, listen, or giggle like a bunch of 4th graders all over again. There’s no judging, no trying to change the other person, no facades. Just a bunch of memories that we’re about to add to tonight when we head off to see the Journey/Foreigner/Night Ranger concert (blast from the past, huh?) together in New Jersey.

We all need the night together for different reasons. For one, it’s a night away from young kids. For another, it’s a chance to detox after a month of grieving. And for me, it’s a chance to let go of some stress and just have fun.

I’ll post pictures on Friday of the three of us wearing the concert t-shirts we’ll no doubt buy just because we can!

In the meantime, when’s the last time you got together with old friends? What did you do?

~Elizabeth

Back In The Saddle

In the event you think I’ve forgotten about all of you–I haven’t. I’ve just had my nose buried in my computer the past week as I put the finishing touches on my first Amish cozy mystery–HEARSE AND BUGGY (due out June 2012). The rest of today is about the final tweak/polish and then I get to turn it over to my editor. Yay!

Once that’s done, I’m giving myself a few glorious days off before tackling some edits on REAP WHAT YOU SEW (April 2012) and writing the first three chapters of a new romance for Harlequin American. The romance, itself, isn’t due until January but I’ve got to send the first three chaps to that editor as a sort of looksee. Then, come September 2nd, it’s time to hunker down and write Sewing Circle’s first ever Christmas book (November 2012).

No rest for the weary, eh?

Anyway, I’ll be back tomorrow (and all the other days) with regular blogs. So, until then, have a great day!

~Elizabeth