What's Making Me Happy This Week, 12-5-14

Another challenging week for this topic, not so much because I've been unhappy (I haven't especially) but because I've been so BUSY. The day job has been crazy, so I've been either busy or tired. Still, in keeping with my new discipline of finding things to be happy about...

1) Obscure Christmas carols and songs. I get a little tired of the usual standards (though it's nigh impossible to ruin "Joy to the World" or "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing"), so my playlist runs to songs like these:







2) I've just started reading Mary Robinette Kowal's Shades of Milk and Honey, and so far I'm loving it.

And that's all for now. I'll be back next week with another dose of happiness, big or small.

Newsletter signup and giveaway reminder

I'm starting an author newsletter, which will debut on Monday, November 24, the same day my holiday novella, A Christmas Reunion, is released. And to kick off the newsletter, I'm giving away some autographed books I picked up at the Surrey International Writers Conference last month to randomly selected people who sign up by Sunday 11/23. (Here presented by Hobbes and the War Tiger, neither of whom I am giving away. And yes, the War Tiger is the softest, cuddliest stuffed animal ever to have such a fierce name. I bought him as the mascot for my fantasy football team, whose name is of course an Auburn reference.)

The titles are:

Along Came a Duke by Elizabeth Boyle
The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley
Beyond Heaving Bosoms by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan
Valour and Vanity by Mary Robinette Kowal

So sign up now for your chance to win, either on the blog sidebar or at this link. I promise not to spam you--aside from release date reminders and possibly the occasional sale or conference appearance announcement, my newsletter will be quarterly at most.