BLOGWORDS – 30 September 2025 – NEWSLETTER, SECOND EDITION – a little birdie told me
BLOGWORDS – 30 September 2025 – NEWSLETTER, SECOND EDITION – a little birdie told me
The Bird House Book Club
What I am / have been reading:
The Secret Door by Scott Rezer
All They Need to Know by Eileen Goudge
Charting the Course by Leslea Wahl
Canyon of Deceit by DiAnn Mills
The Inheritance by Pat Nichols
Currently reading
Quentins by Maeve Binchy
What are you reading?
Friends of Authors Society
Who knows the best way to show your love for your favorite authors? (I’m one, right? Your favorite?) Besides the obvious of buying and reading my books, leaving a review on Amazon tickles their calculations and formulas and moves my books up in their ranks, which in turn means more peeps see my books, which means more peeps are likely to buy them.
There are other things you can do, as well. Suggest my books to your library or book club. Tell your friends, buy gift copies to give to your friends. Heck, tell ME how much you love ‘em!
Robin’s Readers Flock
Facebook group just for my reader friends!
I appreciate every one who has read or will read my books, and this group is for you!
“This group, as with my blog and website—and my writing—are all about community and family. It is a place to gather to chat and discuss my books, but also to become better acquainted and to encourage and pray for one another.”
I share snippets and tidbits that I don’t share elsewhere, as well as first previews of cover design. And when I’m stuck, I go to the Flock for help.
If you’re interested, gimme a holla! I’d love to have you as part of my Flock!
FourSquare, the Series
I know I’ve mentioned (belabored) the difficulties I’ve had the past couple of years, and how that has affected my writing. What I hadn’t allowed for was that what I did manage to get written is a complete and utter MESS!
So once again, I’ve pushed the release date back so I can clean it up. I’ve printed it out so I can better see what scenes I’ve moved and where.
As a recap, book one in the series, One for the Price of Two released in October 2022, and the between-series novella, Christmas at Blue Heron Inn released six months later in April of 2023. I now have book two, Double, Double, Who’s in Trouble, scheduled to be released in June of 2026, with the next between-series novella, Christmas at Blue Spruce Lodge, later in the year.
Here's the NEW Prologue for Double Double
That night played over and over in my mind like a movie on repeat. I knew Howell Road, had been down it a hundred times. I knew where it split off to Halsey and that upscale neighborhood. Historic and all. There was even a sign saying you were entering a historic district.
And the pavilion. Like out of some old-timey town in the movies. There was this pond next to it.
I should have got hurt. Bad. Could have even died. I mean eighty miles an hour ain’t no joke. If I’m being honest I was probably pushing closer to a hundred.
So I’m coming to the curve. I saw it, I knew it was there. I knew to turn, to follow the curve.
But my brain was slow on the uptake. I don’t even remember what all I had been doing at the farm. More than just weed, I know that. Tequila for sure. Maybe other stuff. I honestly don’t remember.
So I should have plowed right into the pavilion. Should have flipped my bike and landed on my head. I should be in a hospital bed instead of this cushy rehab room.
Not only did I miss the curve, I didn’t even brake.
I think the bike crashed into the sign. And instead of cracking my skull on the concrete, it felt like… Okay, this is going to sound crazy but it felt like someone was holding me. I mean, I was flying, I remember that. But it was like—like Aladdin on that magic carpet. Smooth sailing, almost cushioned even.
Then, I was in the pond with a frog in my hair, and I remember flashing lights and voices around me. I know now they were the officers on the scene.
I don’t remember riding in the back of the squad car, or being processed at the detention center. I don’t remember anything until I woke up the next morning.
More Writing
I’ve so many stories swirling around in my head! One that I had actually started writing several years ago, Baked to Perfection, will now become the introduction to Detective Aris Scarpacci’s stories. Triggered by watching CSI, it’s the story of a serial killer that made national news; it’s what drew Aris to police work. Then, the first case she works as lead detective, Life.Dot.Com, is another story that’s been hiding out in my brain for years.
Another series that been noodling in my brain is The Steppe House, a six-story house, literally build like a giant set of stairs. Each level is a separate home, and each story holds a mystery, and a clue to the overall series mystery. Agnes Renaldi, daughter of Mercedes and Mikal Renaldi from The Long Shadows of Summer, the first book in my series, Seasons, is an author and is married to architect Francis Llewellyn Wiggins. It’s a tribute of sorts to both Frank Lloyd Wright and Dame Agatha Christie.
All in the Family
Now that I’m getting out and walking a bit—slow and steady and all that—I’ve been able to focus on things around the apartment. Things that got sidelined after the fracture earlier this year. Things like getting pictures and artwork hung. With help, of course; I can’t actually climb up on furniture to do it. I am also the keeper of countless family photos, and have once again tackled the chore of sorting through them, both to create scrapbooks and to share with extended family.
* and this is just a tiny smidgen of what I need to sort through
The other significant “project” is… me. I am DETERMINED to lose the excess weight I’ve gained in the past few years. Those years with all the fractures, and me not doing much but sitting on my fat—and getting fatter—happy side. I’m sharing my journey on Wednesdays, and I’m being oh! so vulnerable and transparent.
So, here’s to seeing less of me in the coming weeks.
Devotional
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. (NKJV) Matthew 5:43-48
This Scripture first spoke to me over 50 years ago, and it is the essence of Spiritual living.
Walking, living, in the Spirit, is diametrically opposite to living as the world lives. Forgiving does not come naturally to us. We, as humans, want justice, and we want to be the ones to make it.
But Father God says that His ways are not our ways. And, to me at least, never is this more so than to forgive our enemies and love those who hate us.
We have a living testimony in Erika Kirk’s words, “I forgive him because it was what Christ did and is what Charlie would do.”
For as Christ Himself said when He was hanging on the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (NKJV) Luke 23:34
Manifesto, Author Tag, and Bio
The manifesto short version is,
“Stories for Christians to see or remember the ugly effects of the lies of the enemy, and for unbelievers to see the beauty of the Truth of the Word of God.”
And my author tag:
“because the battle for identity is the hardest battle of all.”
“I’ve always had voices—er, stories in my head. I once said I should write them all down so someone could write them someday. I had no idea at the time that someone was me!”
My stories are deep and dark, my characters raw and real, with a healthy helping of hope and joy, humor and laughter, and abiding and sustaining faith.
My characters struggle in some way for their identity. Their stories are their journey to know who God created them to be.
There is also a strong element of friends, family, and faith in all my stories, and the difference it makes to have such a support system.
- unsavory heritage series—seven generations, from Cissy to Connie, each with their own secrets, one of which is ugly and unsavory, and initiates the curse they all bear
- Seasons series—four friends, each one struggling to know the truth of just what happened when one of them plunged into the depths of the black waters of the Edisto River
- FourSquare – Four stories about four couples who also happen to be four sets of twins.
“Maybe you have to know the darkness to truly appreciate the light.”—Madeline L’Engle
“There is freedom waiting for you on the breezes of the sky. And you ask, What if I fall? Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?” —Erin Hanson
https://robinsnest212.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Author.Robin.E.Mason/
http://www.amazon.com/Robin-E.-Mason/e/B00MR5IQ9S
https://twitter.com/RobinEMason1
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/robin-e-mason
http://www.pinterest.com/amythyst212/
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https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7808042.Robin_E_Mason
Chatcha’ll next time.
Got questions? Email me at robinemason212@gmail.com.
Here endeth Volume II of
Thank you for subscribing!
“because the battle for identity is the hardest battle of all”
A Little Birdie Told Me, #newslettersecondedition, FourSquare, the Series, One for the Price of Two, Double Double, Who’s in Trouble, Christmas at Blue Heron Inn, Christmas at Blue Spruce Lodge, Baked to Perfection, Steppe House Series, Photos and Albums, Weight Loss Journey,Devotional, Matthew 5:43-48, Luke 23:34, Manifesto and Author Tag
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