Goodbye 2016 & Giveaway

GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED CONGRATULATION TO THE WINNERS!

I’ve never done a “year in review” post and I’d really hate to bore you with one this year but so much has happened over the course of the year, and so many unanswered questions still dangle in the air, I think one is needed. It’ll be brief, I promise, then we’ll get to the year-end giveaway.

As some of you know, I’ve had health issues going back to the beginning of 2015. You can read all about that in this post if you don’t know what I’m talking about. Long story short, most of 2015 and 2016 were filled with medications and more sleep than any one body needs and my writing suffered for it. I’ve not had a new release in ages and Wild Horses has been promised for months now and it’s still not quite ready, which is why I decided to come off my meds. It’s been an eye-opener. Medications are meant to help but when they’re prescribed to hurry you out of the office, which I think they were in my case because no one EVER got to the bottom of my problem…just kept shoving pills at me…then they’re very harmful. I went from being depressed but functional to laying in bed in so much pain I could barely move and all the doctors and specialist could tell me was…sometimes our bodies just hurt for no reason.

I’m sorry, but I don’t buy that so I just stopped going to those doctors and made the decision to come off the meds. I’d rather “live” with the pain than waste away in bed a shell of a person. I did research and found herbal supplements that might help and started weening myself off the drugs. I’ve been drug-free (except for the herbal supplements) for two months now and you know what I discovered? The depression isn’t as severe as it once was and the pain is gone.

I’m  not a doctor but I’ve read enough to know that some people with depression suffer from pain, yet not one of the doctors I saw mentioned it. So, after countless doctors and hundreds of dollars of money spent, all it took to get better was….get off those addicting (mind-altering) drugs, invest in herbal alternatives and get smart about my health.

Of course, now that I’m “awake” I can finally see how far behind I am and it’s taking me a while to get back into the groove of things. I’m working on Wild Horses (Alexandra Avery and Jesse Samuels story) every chance I get and I had hoped to have it out by Christmas but that didn’t happen. After two years of no releases, you start doubting everything you write so you delete a lot, rewrite things that were fine and spend countless hours just fiddling with things because you think readers are going to hate it when at the end of the day, the story is what it is…good or bad. Readers will love it or hate it and there’s nothing I can do to change that.

So I hope to announce a release date soon so be sure you’re on my Newsletter list to be notified of that. Also, this year, I’ll be holding a $25.00 amazon gift card giveaway every month for my newsletter subscribers and answering readers questions so be sure you’re all signed up for that. You can join the newsletter list here. If you’d like to get “your” question in the newsletter, then follow this link to the Ask Lily page to submit it. Your question and answers will appear in the newsletter and later archived here on the website the following month.

Now, on to that giveaway!

2016 has been rough for everyone and I want you all to know how very much I appreciate each and every one of you. Without you, I’d have no one to share my stories with and you’ve been beyond patient waiting for a new one so I’m giving back with a giveaway.

I have 5 prizes up for grabs…(2) $10.00 amazon gift cards, (2) winner’s choice eBooks and (1) winner’s choice signed paperback. All you have to do to enter is comment below and tell me something you’re thankful for and mark that you’ve commented on the Rafflecopter form.

Once you’ve done that, other options will open up on the form. Those are not required (only the comment is) but the more options you do, the more entries you gain so, click off all those tasks for 10 entries into the giveaway. The contest will run for a week to give everyone a chance to enter. I’ll announce the winner’s on Jan. 9th 2017.

I hope your New Year is blessed and filled with happiness. Good luck on the giveaway and Happy New Year!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway