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Forty-eight million Americans
serve as caregivers for friends and family members in need.

I have
always considered myself strong and quite capable of taking care of myself, but
life has a way of swatting our perceptions away. I came to this conclusion when
I was stricken with Covid-19—despite being fully vaccinated— a broken leg that
rendered me unable to walk for two months, and an eye infection that affected
my vision. (No, I never do anything halfway.)

I admit
that I rarely thought of caregivers before, but as I stared up from my
bed—broken and sick— at the face of my masked sweetie pie, I was struck by my
utter helplessness. In the beginning, I was too sick to consider how much work
I’d become. Nor did it register that I wasn’t the only person in Ryan’s care.
His prime caretaking responsibility is his 85-year-old mom who is losing her
eyesight and suffers from dementia.  

So, Ry was now faced with
two of us. When the Covid started to ease, I jokingly called Ryan Ethan Frome, the title character in the 1911 novel by
American author Edith Wharton. For those who are unfamiliar with the story,
poor Ethan, who has a disabled shrew of a wife, falls in love with a pretty
young woman. Then, with no way out, they decide to commit suicide together,
however the plan goes awry. They both live, but the woman becomes disabled, so
Ethan now has two sickly people to care for.

Ryan, as my caregiver, had to
do everything when I was sick and broken.

According
to the AARP, “Every day, some 48 million Americans help parents, spouses and
other loved ones with medical care, meals, bathing, dressing, chores and much
more. They do it out of love, not for pay.”

When I
was well enough to notice, I realized the enormous pressure Ryan faced. He had
to feed his mother, monitor her medications, and tend to grocery shopping and
medical appointments, as well as weather her constant confusion and memory
issues. Then he had to come to my house and care for all my needs, as well.
 

As you
can imagine, caregivers are suffering. “Family caregivers now encompass more
than one in five Americans,” says the research series Caregiving in the US.
 “The study also reveals that family caregivers are in worse health
compared to five years ago.” Caregivers spend a whopping 13 days each month “on
tasks such as shopping, food preparation, housekeeping, laundry,
transportation, and giving medication.”

These
constant demands force caregivers to push their own lives and needs aside,
often causing burnout. Between 40 to 70% of caregivers are said to suffer from
depression, with those attending to patients with cognitive decline being the
most likely to be affected. Also, chronic illnesses like diabetes, arthritis,
high blood pressure, heart disease, and immune system disorders can worsen.

Ryan stepped up and became a
caregiver when I needed him. I will always be grateful.

What
can caregivers do? First, ask for help, if you’re feeling overwhelmed. There
are agencies all over the country that offer services to caregivers that can
help lighten the load, so check the Internet and your insurance company to see
what’s available. Do the best you can but forgive yourself when days don’t go
as planned. And carve out some time out for yourself.

Every
Tuesday, Ryan goes to lunch with his long-time buddies. The gathering is his
one time of respite during the week when most of his efforts revolve around me
and his mom. He always seems more energized when he returns from these
get-togethers and happily tells me what’s new with the boys.

November
is National Family Caregivers Month, so I’d like to give a big shoutout to
those who shoulder the responsibilities for others. Caregiving is an
exhausting, often overlooked effort. So, thank you to all the folks who support
those of us in need.

And, of
course, I’m especially grateful for Ryan who jumped in with both feet when my
health failed, never getting angry, and doing his best to cheer me up when I
was down.

Thank
you, Ry. I love you!

Here is a look at one of my thrillers for your reading pleasure.

Ancient ruins, haunted memories, and a ruthless criminal combine with a touch of mystic presence in this taut mystery about a crime we all must address.

Maggie, a National Park Ranger of Native American descent, is back at The Castle—an ancient pueblo carved into a limestone cliff in Arizona’s Verde Valley.

Maggie, who suffers from depression, has been through several traumas: the gang rape she suffered while in the Coast Guard, the sudden death of her ten-year-old son, and a suicide attempt. 

One evening, she chases a young Native American boy through the park and gasps as he climbs the face of The Castle cliff and disappears into the pueblo. When searchers find no child, Maggie’s friends believe she’s suffering from depression-induced hallucinations. 

Maggie has several men in her life. The baker, newcomer Jim Casey, who always greets her with a warm smile and pink boxes filled with sweet delicacies. Brett Collins, a scuba diver who is doing scientific studies in Montezuma Well, a dangerous cylindrical depression that houses strange creatures found nowhere else on Earth. Dave, an amiable waiter with whom she’s had a one-night stand, and her new boss Glen. 

One of these men is a serial rapist and Maggie is his next target. In a thrilling and terrifying denouement, Maggie faces her rapist and conquers her worst fears once and for all. 

Available at Amazon and all major vendors.

Anne Montgomery has worked as a television sportscaster, newspaper and magazine writer, teacher, amateur baseball umpire, and high school football referee. She worked at WRBL‐TV in Columbus, Georgia, WROC‐TV in Rochester, New York, KTSP‐TV in Phoenix, Arizona, ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut, where she anchored the Emmy and ACE award‐winning SportsCenter, and ASPN-TV as the studio host for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. Montgomery has been a freelance and staff writer for six publications, writing sports, features, movie reviews, and archeological pieces.

When she can, Anne indulges in her passions: rock collecting, scuba diving, football refereeing, and playing her guitar.

Learn more about Anne Montgomery on her website and Wikipedia. Stay connected on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.

Halloween October 31 –  Centuries ago ancient Celtics believed that at summer’s end the barrier between
our world and the world of spirits thinned, allowing evil to cross over to us.
Time passed and people dressed as saints and went door to door which is the
origin for tonight’s ghosts and goblins to magically appear at your front door
to trick you if you don’t treat them. 

Invite friends over and celebrate
Halloween with this menu that will tame your creatures who go bump in the night.

This
is an easy appetizer recipe you adjust to suit you. Add more jelly if you
prefer a sweeter taste or cut jelly amount and increase barbeque sauce if you
want a tangy taste. Plan on 4 – 5 meatballs per person.

Scoop
jelly into a medium-sized saucepan set over medium heat. Add 1 bottle barbeque
sauce. Stir until jelly melts. 

Add
meatballs. Stir in more barbeque sauce if needed. You want the meatballs
covered but not swimming. Simmer 5 – 10 minutes, stir occasionally. 

Serve
warm.

Lay
cream cheese in a medium-sized mixing bowl. I know this seems too large, but
you need the room. Use a wooden spoon to mash the cheese against the sides of
the bowl. 

Sprinkle
on garlic. Stir well. Add salt and stir well. Taste for flavor. Add more garlic
if necessary. Don’t add more salt. You’ll get plenty of that flavor from the
pretzels. 

Drizzle
in milk. Stir well. Carefully stir in milk until you reach a consistency soft
enough to dip the pretzel without breaking it. 

Scoop
into a serving bowl, cover with cling wrap, and refrigerate. Remove from fridge
a half hour or so before serving. This dip lasts 1 week in the fridge. 

Combine lemon, orange, apple, and sugar in a large
pitcher. Stir in wine and brandy. Taste for sweetness. If the punch is still
not sweet enough, carefully add another ¼ cup (30g) of sugar.

Refrigerate for several hours to intensify the flavors.

Just before serving gently stir in club soda. Fill
wine glasses with ice and pour in Sangria.

Preheat
oven to 325° F (160°C).

Pat ribs dry. Grind pepper over meat. Pour flour and thyme into a paper bag.
Add 2 – 4 ribs at a time. Shake bag gently to coat meat. Remove ribs and set on
a large plate. Continue until all ribs are coated.

Melt lard or shortening in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until it
shimmers. Carefully add ribs and brown them on all sides. Don’t crowd the pan.
Best to brown meat in batches so the cooking temperature remains constant.
Return ribs to plate. Lower heat to medium.

Add onions and carrots to the same pot. Sauté until onions are soft and
transparent. Add garlic. Cook 45 – 60 seconds.

Stir in stock. Bring to a boil over high heat. Scrape in any brown bits
clinging to the bottom and sides of the pan.

Reduce heat to medium. Stir in bay leaves and Worcestershire sauce.

Nestle ribs in pan and bring to a boil. Cover and then place in oven. Braise
ribs for 1½ hours or until meat shows no resistance when pierced with the tip
of a sharp knife.

Arrange ribs on a clean platter and tent with foil to keep them warm.

Strain braising liquid through a fine sieve into a saucepan. Press down hard on
vegetables to extract juices. Discard vegetables. Skim off surface fat. Bring
to a hard boil. Cook 2 – 3 minutes to intensify flavor.

Pour sauce into a gravy boat and
serve alongside ribs.

Preheat
oven to 220° F (100°C).

Pour
one-inch (2.5cm) chicken stock into saucepan. Place potatoes in saucepan. Add
tap water to cover by at least one inch (2.5cm). Cover the pan and bring to a
boil over medium heat. Lower temperature to a strong simmer. Cook approximately
20 – 25 minutes. Potatoes are done when a fork inserts easily into a section.

Drain
potatoes. Stir in butter, sour cream, and pepper. Mash well. Drizzle in milk.
Mash and continue to add milk until you achieve the consistency you prefer.

Keep
the saucepan warm in the oven while you finish preparing dinner.

Veggie
Sauté

Leftovers
from this easy recipe make a tasty lunch when reheated in a little butter and
served with crusty bread and a glass of cold white wine.

Clean mushrooms with a paper towel to remove
bedding soil. Slice them in half lengthwise if medium size or into thirds if
large. 

Dribble
oil into a medium-sized frying pan set over medium heat. Do not let it smoke.

Add all the vegetables except mushrooms. Turn up
heat to medium-high. Sauté about 4 minutes, stirring frequently.

Lower temperature to medium. Stir in mushrooms,
garlic powder, and pepper.

Continue to cook 3 minutes or until peppers are
at the crispness you prefer.

May you enjoy all the days of your life filled with good friends, laughter, and seated around a well-laden table ~ Sloane

Sloane Taylor is an Award-Winning author with a second passion in her life. She is an avid cook and posts new recipes on her blog every Wednesday. The recipes are user friendly, meaning easy.

Taylor’s cookbooks, Date Night Dinners, Date Night Dinners Italian Style, Summer Sizzle, and Recipes to Create Holidays Extraordinaire are released by Toque & Dagger Publishing and available at all book vendors.

What
inspires a writer?

For
me, it was a perfect storm of three factors. Simultaneously, I suddenly had
more time to devote to personal projects, I enrolled in a world mythology
course at my university, and there was a story spiraling to life inside me. 

In
the course, I learned about the common elements in myths across many cultures,
the hero cycle, and how the characteristics of ancient heroes are the same as
those of modern-day heroes.

It
was fascinating to find out that nearly every culture has a flood myth to
explain that there are consequences for disobedience and bad choices. I loved
the course, and it inspired me to get my story down on paper—digital paper that
is. 

The
story I was working on was Disenchanted. My hero was a sixteen-year-old
girl who had to break her ancestor’s true love curse carried down through
generations onto a boy she was destined to fall in love with. The setting, Old
Wethersfield, Connecticut, is the home of the first American witch trials (not
Salem). Witch trials–talk about consequences for bad choices! I was inspired
by one of those Wethersfield witches who went to trial, so I cast her as the
ancestor that curses the family of the witch trial judge. 

Sources
of inspiration are different for everyone. If you’re seeking inspiration for
writing or creating, unplug from social media, take a class like I did, change
your environment even for just an hour, visit a museum, or take a nap and
dream. Let the wonders of the world around you spark your imagination!  

Leigh Goff is an author of three published young adult novels. She is working on her next novel, a young adult thriller, while her current manuscript, Wicked Sweet, is on submission.

You can find her current published novels at Audible | Amazon | Apple   

Learn more about Leigh Goff on
her website and blog.
Stay connected on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkTree

About It Hurts Every Time:

“Death is not the end, sir,

No, sir, not the end of the line,

Just remember what I say to you;

It hurts, baby,

It hurts every time.”

Pluto Garcia is a lieutenant in the Community Militia of Morrisette, a post-communist city-state where a miracle drug has advanced enough to allow the dying a second chance at life by launching them into the nearest available universe in which they are still alive.

In his latest incarnation, Pluto is tasked with investigating the death of Krishna Klein, a brilliant but troubled philanthropist who has been found with a bullet in his head following a week-long bender. With the aid of his assigned partner, Esther Dupont, Pluto uncovers a techno-fascistic plot to plunge the flawed Utopia of Morrissette into authoritarian control once and for all.

October is National Pumpkin month, but we think such a beautiful fruit should get more than just one month of notoriety. So smile, say cheese, and make your own yummy appetizer for Halloween or any holiday get-together.

Cheese Ball Pumpkin

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese
4 ounces crumbled feta or blue cheese
4 ounces shredded sharp cheddar or pepper jack cheese
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. prepared mustard
½ tsp. onion powder
Paprika
The stem of a green bell pepper

Place all the cheeses in a large bowl and let soften to room temperature.

When cheese is soft, add Worcestershire and mustard. Blend with electric mixer or food processor on low speed. Scrape bowl and beat blended mixture on medium speed 1 or 2 minutes more until well mixed (do not over-beat).

Turn the mix onto plastic wrap. Pull the wrap up and secure with a twist tie. Shape the wrapped mixture into a ball. Score the pumpkin “ribs” onto the cheese ball with your fingertip or a flat knife.

With the plastic in place, set the cheese ball in a bowl and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Before serving, sprinkle with paprika and add a bell pepper stem to top.

Keep refrigerated until the crowd arrives, then serve with assorted crackers.

Once upon a time there was a mother/daughter author duo named Helen and Lorri, who wrote as HL Carpenter. the Carpenters worked from their studios in Carpenter Country, a magical place that, like their stories was unreal but not untrue. Then one day Lorri left her studio to explore the land of What-If, and like others who have lost a loved one the magical place lost much of its magic. But thanks to family, plus an amazing group of wordsmiths named Authors Moving Forward (AMF), the magic is slowly returning.

Since it’s the Canadian Thanksgiving today, I thought I’d
make it all about my readers! Yay! Authors wouldn’t be anywhere without their
readers, so me being me, I thought it would be fun to share what I think my
readers would want to know about me, on this day of gratitude in Canada. Sending my readers a BIG thanks for hanging out with me, one book at a time. I appreciate you!

I want my readers to
know something personal about me…

My sense of humor is my super power. Whenever
I connect with people, I try to make them laugh, smile, or uplift them. I’m also an empath. Yeah, I feel you. Wink. I also love
exploring anything arcane, attracted to unsolved mysteries, and enjoy single
malt scotch.

I want my readers to
know something about me as a writer…

Whatever I
write is my journey—from seed idea to
finished product—and all that’s happened in between. It’s the way I serve you,
my readers. I want to deliver the best possible story I’ve got in me, while
entertaining and inspiring my audience at the same time. In a nutshell, I want you
to feel my journey through my
characters’ stories.

 I want my readers to
know where my motivation to write began…

I had an
over-active imagination in school, and found it hard to concentrate on mundane
subjects. I often drifted off into the land of story-making until the teacher
called out my name. Yeah. I wouldn’t advise that. As I grew older I never
thought I could channel those stories into something as concrete as a book, but
one evening almost thirty years ago, I was inspired to do so by a deep,
spiritual desire that whispered into my ear, ‘You can write’. True story. Now with six books and two series on
the go, I’m glad I listened to that Divine voice, and haven’t looked back.

I want my readers to
know the grand purpose I have for my work…

The young adult genre is my calling card, and
I play in the realms of fantasy and supernatural. I’ve got two YA series on the
go. I’ve
planned for a total of ten books, plus the prequel for The Last Timekeepers
time travel adventure series. So far, I have four books in this series
published. For my Mysterious Tales from Fairy Falls teen psychic mystery
series, there are five books planned, two of which are already published.
Currently, I’m working on the third book in this series, so as you can gather,
I’ll be one busy gal for years to come.

I’ve learned never to rush the story. Even when you’re writing a series, each book
has something to say in its own time, and that every book has a soul and
purpose. So I step aside, and allow the story’s own unique voice to develop.
After all, every author has their own unique voice too.

I want my readers to
have a sneak peek of my work-in-process…

Presently,
I’m working on the third installment of Mysterious Tales from Fairy Falls, and
is titled Sticks and Stones. It’s
coming along great, and should be out sometime in 2024, if all goes well. Here’s
the premise:

From an early age, Thane Berg found out that he can
bend spoons when angered, then bend them back when calm. He has never told
anyone about his psychic ability which has gotten stronger as he ages. Now
fourteen-years-old, Thane is forced to live with his estranged father while his
journalist mother goes off on an extended business trip around the world. To
make matters worse, Thane must also start over in a new school—Fairy Falls High
School—leaving his familiar life behind.

Trying to juggle high school, feelings for his father,
paranormal lessons from an eccentric neighbor, hiding his psychokinetic
abilities from his new friends, and steering clear from the school bully is no
easy feat for Thane. In fact, it’s damned impossible most days.

Then, when Thane and his three classmates chance upon
a huge illegal marijuana grow-op, things really start to get complicated. Thane
is put to the test and must use his unique psychic powers to save his friends
and himself from an uncertain future, and bring about a just outcome.  

I want my readers to
know the dreams I have in my writing life for the future…

I would love to reach
readers on an international scale. In other words, acquire a foreign rights
agent to broker a deal with publishers from other countries in order to get my
books translated into different languages. I also want to convert my books into
audiobooks in the near future to make them more accessible on a grander scale.
That said, what author wouldn’t dream of having a movie made from their book?
Present company included. Living the dream!

I want readers to know my personal motto that keeps
me going…

Slow and steady progress assures success.

Lastly, I want my readers to know the sage
advice I’ve picked up on my journey along the road less traveled…

I’ve learned that a career in publishing is a dedicated path. There’s no
short cut to fame or fortune, if you’re even lucky enough to get decently paid
for your craft. However, seeing the finished product in my hands is an
amazing feeling, and one that I’ll never tire of. So, whatever your heart calls
you to do, jump in, enjoy, and be amazed at where it will lead you. Trust me,
it’s so worth the journey!