Last week, I heard two people mention their bullet journals. I wasn’t exactly sure what they meant. So, I looked it up.
The goal of the bullet journal is to help you slow down, clear your mind, and decide what is the most important so you can focus on it. If you’ve read Clutter Free, you’ve met Kate Sloan. She would be a big fan.
I have a prayer journal, and it’s designed to help you focus. See what you think.
My friend, Rose Kerr, says she uses a bullet journal. Here’s what she shared. “Here are two photos of my Bullet Journal – also known as BuJo.
This journal is the one I keep with me all the time. It has my personal life and my writing life in it. I wanted one planner to use for everything and with the Bullet Journal I can. You can make it as simple as you want, as pretty as you like, or you can add all the layers you need. The index makes it easy to find what you’re looking for. All pages are numbered.”
Thanks for sharing, Rose.
Friends, if you’d like to get to know Rose better, here’s a link to her website. https://rosekerr.com/
I’m curious if you use a bullet journal. How do you like it?
Do you have another way of journaling? I’d love to hear about it.
My friend, Paula Charles, has a new book releasing on August 11, and I’m excited to share. You’ve probably guessed the title is “Awl Shook Up.” It’s the fourth book in the A Hometown Hardware Mystery series. Paula was also kind to share her graphic with me. Thanks, Paula.
Awl Shook Up takes place in February, and my birthday is in February, so I’m going to treat myself to an early birthday gift by reading this in August.
Murder has hardware store owner Dawna Carpenter all shook up.
Pine Bluff, Oregon’s annual Winter Carnival is the perfect remedy for the cabin fever that has hit the town hard. Dawna pulls on her bobby socks for this year’s 50s-themed event, ready to relax and mingle after a long winter.
But with the angry high school French teacher spitting nails at half the town, the social event of the winter is anything but relaxing. What should have been a fun evening ends in disaster when Dawna’s daughter, April, finds the teacher sitting behind his desk, dead as a doornail. To make matters worse, his ghost is still in the classroom, unaware he’s just been murdered. With an ice storm in the forecast, Dawna must chisel out the clues to find the killer before there’s another nail in a coffin.
We’ve all heard of Agatha Christie, and I’ve heard of Kelly Oliver and even saw her win the award for Best Historical Mystery Novel:The Case of the Christie Conspiracy at Malice Domestic.
Kelly has a new novel coming out, and it also involves Agatha Christie. I’m excited to read it. Here’s a quote from Kelly about the new book… “Many readers know Agatha Christie as the Queen of Crime, creator of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, and one of the bestselling authors of all time. Fewer know that in September 1930, she quietly slipped away to Scotland and married a young archaeologist fourteen years her junior in a ceremony so private that many of her friends didn’t learn about it until afterward.
That secret wedding became the inspiration for my latest Detection Club Mystery, The Case of the Christie Wedding Affair.”
Isn’t the cover cute?
Here’s the back cover blurb:
cotland, 1930: Agatha Christie is getting married. She invites fellow members of the Detection Club to the windswept Isle of Skye for a quiet break while the banns are read. But tranquility proves elusive when the formidable Lord Blackwood, leader of a hunting party sharing their lodge, vanishes from the moors.
Sharp-eyed assistant to the Detection Club secretary, Eliza Baker, suspects foul play as the strange occurrences pile up: a mysterious grave in the churchyard, a missing rifle, and late-night excursions across the rugged island. There may be no body—yet—but someone at Dunmara Lodge is hiding a deadly secret.
As a storm cuts them off from the mainland, Eliza and her friend Theo must navigate lies, half-truths, and a treacherous landscape… but can they uncover the killer in the stalking grounds… or will the moors keep their secrets forever?
Do any of you feel like me? May flew by so fast, and now we’re well into June. Happy June!
We recently went to Kentucky to celebrate my mother-in-law’s 99th birthday.
Tim and I also celebrated our 37th anniversary by doing a little hiking in Asheville.
And, I got to talk about books and writing to a group of retirees in Louisville, and my parents were there. I’ve done a lot of talks, and this was extra special because they were there.
We’ve traveled quite a bit this spring, but we’re ready to hunker down and enjoy the summer at home.
If you have time, I’d love to hear about your summer plans.
Last week we had National Poetry Day. When I discovered my friend, Priscilla Bettis, had a book of poetry release last week, I wanted to share it with you. Priscilla and I have never met in person, but we connected years ago through social media.
Priscilla Bettis is an avid reader and a joyful writer. Priscilla lives in small-town Texas with her two-legged and four-legged family members. She enjoys writing short stories and poems inspired by her awe of God and love for fellow human beings.
The story focuses on Mobile Cat Groomer, Molly Stewart. It starts with Molly visiting Lottie and Florence who are octegenerians and cat owners. The two ladies live in houses next door to each other and their Sphynx cats are sisters from the same litter. After Molly bathes the cats, they, and Molly’s own two cats who accompany her to pet visits, take off running for a spot between the two ladies’ houses. The cats come across a dead body lying in the tall grass. It’s a local woman, Carlotta Sykes, a nail technician. And she’s been stabbed in the neck with a nail file.
The local sheriff believes Florence and Lottie must be guilty. But Molly wants to prove they are innocent. She involves her boyfriend, friends, the postman, and people who live in the community.
You won’t want to miss the latest book by Ruth J. Hartman.
I’m excited to share a little about Axe Me No Questions by Paula Charles. I asked Paula to tell us a little about her latest book. (Release date 1/28/25–preorder available now.)
Axe Me No Questions is the second book in the Hometown Hardware Mystery series. Dawna Carpenter was originally based on my grandmother who owned and operated the hardware store in the small town where I grew up. Friends and family have told me they hear and see me in Dawna, so I guess we’re more alike than I knew!
The town of Pine Bluff is fictionalized, but when I thought about what Dawna might be getting mixed up in during the fall, I thought of the Timber Festival my hometown used to host when I was young, and decided it was the perfect event to showcase the area and get Dawna tangled up in another murder mystery.
During the Timber Festival in Pine Bluff, the main even is a lumberjack and jill contest. While I’ve attended these type of events, I’ve only ever been an onlooker, never scrambled up a pole or attempted to roll logs in the water with my fast feet. Though I’m no award-winning axe thrower, I can wield an axe with the best of them to chop firewood!
Here’s the back cover info for Axe Me No Questions.
Heads are on the chopping block as hardware store owner Dawna Carpenter finds herself on the cutting edge of a murder investigation.
In the quaint mountain town of Pine Bluff, Oregon, fall has arrived and it’s time for the annual Timber Festival, complete with Lumberjack and Lumberjill contests, and booths serving spicy chili and creamy pumpkin pies. Dawna and her daughter April have plans to watch the logging contest together. She’s looking forward to soaking in all her favorite things about the season, which includes having a conversation with her deceased husband, who she is certain is still hanging around the house.
But when Dawna falls over the body of one of the lumberjacks, with his own throwing axe imbedded in his chest, her focus turns to murder. With the town in turmoil, Dawna takes Chief Dallas’s request to keep her ears open as a full license to snoop. Who had an axe to grind with the charismatic lumberjack? Dawna had better stay sharp, or she might be the next one to get the axe.
Thanks, Paula.
Friends, I don’t know about you, but I’m excited about the second book in the Hometown Hardware Mystery series.
I was recently asked about my bookish goals in 2025.
I have two books releasing in 2025.
Bleeding Heart Librarian is the third book in A Texas Flower Farmer Cozy Mystery Series, and it’s scheduled to come out at the end of April.
At the end of August, Killer Secrets will release, and it’s the third book in An Organized Crime Cozy Mystery Series.
I want to promote these books, and I want to write a new book in 2025 after I finish polishing Killer Secrets.
I also want to read more this year. My goal is to read twenty-six books. I have so many books in my TBR pile and on my Kindle, and I want to make time to read them.
Whether you’re a reader or author or both, what are your bookish goals for 2025?
In case you haven’t read Bite the Dust, the eBook is on sale January 16-31.
Jackie Layton 