Monday, December 31, 2012

Guest Post w/ Cindy Holby + grand prize entry


Happy end of 2012! Can you believe it's the last day of the year already?! 

We're spending the last little bit of 2012 hanging out with Cindy Holby. If you haven't met her she writes historical westerns and is just fabulous. She has a new release, Colorado Heart , that I'm itching to get my hands on. 

She also writes YA dystopian as Kassy Tayler! The Huffington Post called it a likely successor to Hunger Games. Pretty neat, right? She works with animal rescue too which makes her even more awesome in our opinion since we do too!! 

So, I'm handing off to Cindy for a bit so check out her guest post and leave her some love!


I had to laugh when I saw the name of this blog. Herding Cats pretty much describes my life in the past year. Since October 2011, we have had a wedding for my youngest son, and then a few weeks later we lost my dad, which was not un-expected as he’d been dealing with a lot of health issues. In January my oldest announced his engagement and my youngest, the newly wed announced that we were going to be grandparents in September. In May our oldest broke up with his finance for all the right reasons and met somebody else. In September my oldest announced he was getting married the end of October of 2012 and the same week, Hayes was born. During this time I also wrote two books while promoting the release of three.

Deep breath. Did I mention that these two books are totally different genres and published by two different houses under two different names?


If you are a writer, writing keeps you sane. But it is also very difficult to write when your life is spinning out of control. Writing is such a mental state, especially for women. We are geared to take care of ourselves last, so we make sure everyone and everything else is perfect before we concentrate on ourselves and our writing. Is the house clean? The laundry done? Then you get to the point where your realize the book has to be done and everything else has to wait whether it wants to or not. But when your father dies or your grandchild is born the writing has to stop.

The last weekend I spent with my dad was a long one in the hospital. I had a book due in two weeks and I had to just take a deep breath and say it doesn’t matter. I didn’t know at the time that he would be dead within ten days. I just knew he was in the hospital. So I left everything behind and just went and sat with him. He slept most of the time, but that was okay. Every time he woke up I was there. We watched baseball, his favorite sport, and luckily his favorite team, the St. Louis Cardinals was making a run for the series. I look back and have no regrets about that time I spent with him. The book still got done, and even though I turned it in four months late, it still got published for its release date.

The same with Hayes, my grandson. I rushed a book because I was trying to beat his arrival. I turned it in on Wednesday and he was born on Sunday. Holding him was more important that writing. And I knew the book could be bettered during revisions. And it was. (just turned those in early even with a wedding)

We are all herding cats and burning soup. Our lives are busy. But take time for the important things. My dad was proud of me and hopefully Hayes will say, hey my Mimi writes books. But she always has time for me.

We’ll see how that works out as I will be keeping him part time when his mom goes back to work. Baby sitting and writing. There are some moms who do it. I admire them greatly. Now if I can just find time to knit!

~Cindy Holby



Cindy Holby first became published in 2002 with her historical western Chase The Wind. Since that time she has written eleven historicals, three sci/fi romances, one time travel, four young adult novels and two short stories. Some have even won awards. Her latest release is Angels End, from Berkley, the first book in a new historical western series. This November, Ashes Of Twilight, the first book in her highly anticipated steampunk dystopian series will be released from SMP under the pen name Kassy Tayler. Cindy lives in NC with her husband Rob, her doxie Cody and two cats, Cisco and Dax. She also works with the humane society and has a blog about rescue titled Authors For Animals.

Cindy Holby
 Website   Twitter   Facebook   Blog (rescue)

Kassy Tayler
Website    Twitter




For entries in the Grand Prize Drawing check out Cindy's guest post and leave her some love!
And don't forget to enter your points in the Rafflecopter over on the right ----->

31 comments:

  1. Wow, I got tired just reading everything you've gone through. My condolences on the passing of your father. I only have my mother for family and I dread the day I have to say goodbye to her.

    I've yet to read your books but you got my attention with westerns and historicals. I can't remember the last time I read a western.

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  2. That was a lot of stressful events for you in just a little over a year! Please be sure to take care of yourself, because even the positive events can add up to have a negative effect on your health. Best wishes for the upcoming year.

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  4. Thanks for sharing!! Best of luck in the next year.

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  5. My gracious! That was a busy year! I hope you got a moment to take a breath and relax before you ring in the new year and start all over! Congrats on the grandbaby :-)

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  6. my condoleances i also lost my father ( though it was more unexpected even if he was ill) it hurts more that what a feared but i'm glad you also had really goods news : a grandson it's fabulous^^

    i hope 2013 will be a grand year for you and your loved ones, full of happiness

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  7. Sorry about the loss of your father. Congrats on the grandbaby. Wow you had so many things happen in one year. Hope 2013 will be good to you.
    Sue B

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  8. I'm sorry for your loss. And congrats on the new baby. Happy New Year!

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    1. I love your books Cindy. My condolences on the passing of your father.
      And congratulations on the birth of your grandson, the best things come in swaddling little blankets. I have six grandchildren ages 9 yrs to 1 yr. and they are the greatest blessing.
      Happy New Year!

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  10. Congrats on your grandbaby! How exciting :) You are a new author for me and I really like historicals so will add you to my TBR stack.
    Happy New Years,
    Lori

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  11. Wow....we sort of have similar lives! First of all, I'm so sorry for your loss. Sounds like you gave your Dad all he needed just by being there. My youngest (son) got married in Dec.2011, and I'm crossing my fingers there is a Grandbaby soon! I want to be called Mimi!!!!
    I also live in N.C., and often take care of our closest friends long haired Dachsund, who is 15! We love her like our own.

    I am NOT a writer, but I love to read and review. I have such a respect for all the hard work, stress, and " voices in your head" that authors deal with. Happy New Year!

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  12. Wow....we sort of have similar lives! First of all, I'm so sorry for your loss. Sounds like you gave your Dad all he needed just by being there. My youngest (son) got married in Dec.2011, and I'm crossing my fingers there is a Grandbaby soon! I want to be called Mimi!!!!
    I also live in N.C., and often take care of our closest friends long haired Dachsund, who is 15! We love her like our own.

    I am NOT a writer, but I love to read and review. I have such a respect for all the hard work, stress, and " voices in your head" that authors deal with. Happy New Year!

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  13. So sorry to hear about the passing of your father. My mom passed less than 2 years ago and it's been a rough time for everyone involved.

    I'm gonna be a grandma too! My daughter is due in 1 month! I'm so excited.

    Thanks for sharing your story with us.

    Happy New Year.

    miztik_rose@yahoo.com

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  14. Sounds like it's been a busy year. Good luck with the babysitting and I hope you find time to knit as well as get your writing done. :D

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  15. sometimes I think the more we have to do the more we get done cause we have to be super organized about it.

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  16. Sounds like you have your priorities straight! NOTHING is more important than family!!!

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  17. My condolences on the loss of your father. I have no idea how I will handle that loss when the time comes. But you also have a new little one in your life. I bet you will have a lot of help in your writing when you start sitting for him. Busy, busy busy. You know what they say, ask a busy person to get something done and you can count on it being done. Continued success for 2013.
    luvfuzzzeeefaces at yahoo dot com

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  18. Thank you for sharing a verd difficult time in your life.My heart goes out to you.
    lauratroxel@yahoo.com

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  19. Thank you for all you've accomplished and shown that what's closest to the hard is really the most important! I'm glad you spent that time with your father that you'll always cherish and I know he really held close to his heart! Wishing you and yours a happy 2013!
    ivegotmail8889(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  20. What a year you had! I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm glad that you had those days with your father and I'm sure they meant the world to him.

    Congratulations on the weddings and the grandchild. I, too, had two weddings this past year. My daughter married in May then my son in November.

    You're a new to me author and I'm looking forward to reading your work. :)

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  21. So sorry to hear about your dad, glad you got the chance to spend those last days with him. I lost my dad two years ago, suddenly and without warning, and i still regret not being there more than i was.
    Reading is my way to get away from the stress of day to day life, and i´m sure to put your books on my TBR list, =)

    Happy New Year!
    //Linda
    fr_larsson at hotmail dot com / readourlips dot l at gmail dot com

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  22. Thank you everyone for your kind words! Spending this New Years Day relaxing on the couch!

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  23. Happy New Year, hope this year is better for ya..

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  24. My condolences to you and your family on the loss of your father. The loss of a dear one is always heartrending regardless if expected or not. I loss my mother in 2007 quite suddenly and unexpected and my grandmother in 2011. I have still not gotten over either. I am happy for you that you have close family to rally around and a new grandson to cherish and focus on and I wish you all a Happier New Year filled with only joyful tidings.

    Congratulations on your 2 book releases. With everything that was going on, I'm in awe that your were able to finish them. I've had me eye on Ashes of Twilight for some time now and am looking forward to reading it. Romance and Steampunk are 2 of my favorite genres. I love it when they are two mix. I was not aware of your other books under 'Cindy Holby', so thanks again to 'Author for the Holiday' for bringing another author to my attention. Historical Romance is another fav genre of mine and I already have your webpage bookmarked to check out your books.

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  25. Congrats on the grandbaby. Sounds like it's been a busy year.
    Happy new year.

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  26. Congrats!

    susanmplatt AT hotmail DOT com

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  27. Sorry for your loss. May 2013 be a better year for you!

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  28. Sorry for your loss.
    Amazed that you managed to write 2 books while ALL of this was going on! Congrats on the grandbaby!

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  29. Wow what a year. But you survived and may 2013 be better.

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