The Holiday Season has arrived. Thanksgiving is over and December is here. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I haven’t put up my Christmas tree or started decorating yet. It’s on my list. At the top of my list is Finish the Damn Book. I am writing and editing Death Southern Style. My goal is to send it for editing December 5th. I also have a beta reader ready to read and share her opinion If anyone would like to be a beta reader for me, please contact me at babateman@shaw.ca . I’d love to have another person share their honest opinion of my book. I’ve also got my cover artist working on a cover for Death Southern Style. Check out my blog site in a week and I should be posting draft copies of a cover and asking for your input.

I am getting more done being down south with warmer weather and no snow. I’m signing up for guest blogs for next year. I’m planning my goals and priorities for 2020. My dog is holding her own, which is great. My health is better. I don’t do well in the cold. I’m busier but more organized – I hope.

 

Did you realize we have reached the end of another decade? What are your goals for the next decade? I find that a scary thought. I usually do one-year goals and priorities, sometimes five-year goals but ten years – yikes!

Here’s s short excerpt from Death Southern Style

 

Marie uttered another growl. The hairs on the back of Julie Ann’s neck stood on end. She could hear a noise downstairs. Footsteps? A door?

Julie Ann hesitated then moved to the closet and pulled the hangers aside. She closed the secret room door and climbed on to the cot. She wrapped her arms around her legs, listened and waited. She couldn’t believe someone was back again, especially after the attack on Savannah. The stakes appeared to be getting higher. What did they want? What were they afraid she knew and might expose?

She heard Marie growling and barking.

A man’s voice shouted, “Go away and get out of here. Damn dog, go.”

The barking continued.

Julie Ann heard steps come into the bedroom. The cupboard door was opened and slammed shut. The man swore and stomped off into Perrine’s room. Marie continued to bark and follow him. Julie Ann could tell where he was by the sound of his feet.

She sat quietly and shivered at the sound of someone wandering through her home, sure that it was the same man who had killed her mother and probably attacked Savannah.

Why was he back here? He hadn’t found anything on his previous visits so the only reason she could think of for this one was that he wanted to kill her, too.

Still shivering she listened to the steps move downstairs and out the door, Marie barked at his heels.

There was silence, then a scratching at the closet door.

“No, Marie – go away.” Julie Ann whispered.

Marie continued to whine and scratch. Julie Ann jumped up, opened the door and let the dog in. “Shh, be quiet.”

Marie jumped up on the cot and snuggled next to Julie Ann. Julie Ann patted her absently, “Good dog, good girl.”

Everything had gone deadly quiet.

She waited for another few minutes. There still wasn’t a sound. “Okay girl, let’s check and see if he’s gone.”

Julie Ann slid the door open and slipped out into her bedroom. She stopped, pressed her back against the wall and listened.

Silence.

“Okay girl, we’re going downstairs to make sure he’s gone, so no barking.”

The house was in total darkness. Julie Ann crept out into the hall and down the stairs. Silence echoed through the house.

She flipped the light switch. A soft yellow light flooded the room. There was no one there. The front door had been closed and locked

Julie Ann noticed a scrap of paper caught under the front door frame.

He must have dropped it when he left.

She scuttled across the room and grabbed it. It was folded in squares. She opened it and read it. Blindly she reached for a chair and collapsed into it, the note clutched in her hand.

I can’t continue. The guilt is too much.

I don’t want to live without her.

This is the only way I can escape.

Julie Ann

 

 

This month check out:

December 4th for my cover and post and the rest of the month Christmas Holiday Festival and  four Amazon or Barnes and Nobel gift cards from $10 - $50 at https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/christmas-holiday-festival

 

 

All month my cover and book Missing and give away at https://www.redcarpetfiction.com/author-giveaways-contests

All month you can check out my book and be eligible to win a $50 amazon gift card at Rafflecopter http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e226730a42/?

December 27 - Group Blog – start at https://beverleybateman.blogspot.com/and we’ll be writing a short story, flash fiction, or excerpt from one of our books.

Don’t forget to check out my blog and some great authors with their new books and other information at https://beverleybateman.blogspot.com/ and post comments.

And come back next month to see if I’ve got Death Southern Style on sale.

 

 

Here’s here is a favorite Christmas recipe of mine if you like Cranberry sauce with your turkey

 

Cranberry “N” Cot Relish (Makes 4 cups)

 

3 cups raw cranberries

1 cup sugar

1 28 oz can of apricots

1/3 cup rum

Measure cranberries into a 13x9x2 inch baking dish

Sprinkle with sugar

Cover with foil and bake in a slow oven, 300 deg F, for 45 minutes

Drain apricots, reserve ½ cup of syrup

Remove foil and add drained apricots and syrup

Cover and return to oven.

Bake an additional 15 minutes.

Stir in rum.

Cover and chill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Holiday Season everyone!