Kari Trumbo's Blog

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Hello, READERS!

�������� On the first day of Christmas (in July)��� 

We had so much fun at Christmas, that we wanted to spread the love. I���ve teamed up with some author friends to bring you 12 Days of Christmas in July. 12 days with a gift for you from each one of us. All you have to do is save this link and on each day click the link below to download your free book. Don���t delay���the books will only be free for twenty-four hours on their assigned day.

���� July 1 ��� Teri Blake, Tidewater Summer

���� July 2 – Cathe Swanson, Hope for the Holidays

���� July 3 – Macie St. James, Mistletoe Kisses

���� July 4 – Katherine Karrol, Taking Risk in Summit County

���� July 5 – Tess Thompson, Come Tomorrow

���� July 6 – Liz Isaacson, The Mechanics of Mistletoe

���� July 7 – Tara Grace Ericson, Hoping for Hawthorne

���� July 8 – Laina Turner, Ari’s Adventure

���� July 9 – Laura Ashwood, A Little Something Sweet

���� July 10 – Jessie Gussman, Cowboy Taking a Chance

���� July 11 – Chautona Havig, Christmas Party in a Box 2

���� July 12 – Tabitha Bouldin, Trusting the Cowboy

Merry Christmas in July!

Continue reading It’s the 12 Days of Christmas in July! at KariTrumbo.com

Happy Christmas in July! Welcome to the 2022 Christmas in July Reader Blog Tour & Giveaway, which runs July 15-22, 2022 (contest closes at 8 p.m. Eastern on 7/22). At the bottom of each author’s blog post, you will find the name of a Christmas song. Write them all down and provide the provide all song titles (26 in total) on this Google form. Click here for a list of all participating authors and their links!

Note: You must grab all the song titles from every author in the 2022 Christmas in July Reader Blog Tour & Giveaway to be eligible  to win the grand prize of a $520 Amazon gift card, plus a copy of each participating author’s book OR first place prize of a copy of each participating author’s book.  At the end of this blog post is a link to the next blog, and so on, to the final blog post (26 authors in all). 

A sweet romance that will leave you feeling the kisses in the falling snow and cheering for a happily ever after.

Continue reading 2022 CHRISTMAS IN JULY READER BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY at KariTrumbo.com

The Conundrum of the Pants Pocket

Earlier this month I had a crisis (okay, it wasn’t quite that dire, but hear me out).

I’m doing rewrites on a story that involves a Yellowstone Law Enforcement Ranger. I wanted to make sure that I described everything accurately, so people don’t roll their eyes at me (at least not for that part).

In the story, it was imperative that my LER have back pockets… but I didn’t know if rangers actually do.

Amanda Llanes, Seasonal Law Enforcement Ranger with National Park Service

I hunted through images and there are a good amount. Rangers are pretty amazing, and they do all sorts of things. They handle various emergencies, and I just knew my ranger was ready for any situation. But were his pants?

Crazy question, right?

But if I don’t get this correct, people will know.

So, I asked my tribe on Facebook (by the way, if you’re on Facebook, you can follow me here and help me answer questions in the future.).

https://www.facebook.com/KariTrumboAu...

Within minutes, one of my friends had found a page with an order form for Ranger pants.

Continue reading I’m Doing Research, Not Staring at Butts at KariTrumbo.com

Congratulations to Lila Diller! I’ve sent you an email, so check your inbox.

Because she commented on my post asking about what you’re currently reading, she wins a copy of Chance of Loving You and To a Brighter Tomorrow. If you’re bummed but still want a copy of those books, I’ve left the links below. Thanks for playing, I’ll do another giveaway soon.

Continue reading Winner Wednesday! at KariTrumbo.com

I am no grammar queen, or a drama queen for that matter.

In fact, let’s just put that to rest. While I may wear a crown as a romance author, I am not a queen of any sort.

But I do still have pet peeves, ones that—as a reader—pull me out of any story.

You’d think, with my fundamental hatred (yup, I’m going there) of head-hopping that I would love first person tomes. I don’t. In fact, there are only a few authors I love who write in first person, and one of them is on hiatus right now. I’m looking at you, Dawn Crandall, I hope you can write again someday.

So, here’s where I get attacked with pitchforks. “But, writers used to do it all the time! If it’s done well, it’s really good! So-and-So author does it and everyone loves her!”

And therein lies the problem. About 1 in 100 books I read where they employ head hopping/POV shifting, it’s actually done well and in 100% of cases, it’s noticeable (thank goodness or romance characters would look terribly narcissistic). One book I read had three hops within one paragraph.

Continue reading A Pet Peeve: One that May Bother You Even if You Don’t Know it. at KariTrumbo.com

My writing music (for mood)

I know so many people have playlists on Spotify or YouTube. Authors even somehow share their Spotify playlists with readers. That would be wonderful if I knew anything at all about music sharing technology, much less how to share it. I haven’t quite hit that century yet.

My personal favorites are anything Lauren Daigle or Crowder (odd mix, but so am I). I also love most of what Mercy Me puts out.

It’s not often that I get to sit and just listen to music. It’s often playing while I’m driving or cooking.

Frankly, I get too caught up in anything with words to write while this music is playing. However, it does put me in the right frame of mind and it’s a really good way to focus. If I’m feeling a little negative, this is often a good cure.

The song that makes me turn up the radio right now is Desesperato by Evan Craft (Link below is mostly in Spanish, but it is available in mostly English. I just feel this has more emotion). I haven’t wanted to dance in a long time because of pain, but with my weight loss and feeling good, this song makes me want to just sing and dance.

Continue reading What do you listen to when you’re busy? at KariTrumbo.com

What am I reading?

I recently finished Saving Mrs. Roosevelt by Candice Sue Patterson. I was expecting more romance, but I knew it would be a good portion historical fiction, so the semi-lack of romance didn’t bother me too much.

Saving Mrs. Roosevelt

If you’re a reader who likes their books a little lighter on the romance side, DO try this book. Aside from a few kisses, this book is more Stevia than sugar (that’s not a bad thing). But, with the hero and heroine actually only in the same room together a small handful of times throughout the entire book, the sprinkling of romance makes complete sense. Any more than there was, and it would’ve been unbelievable.

I liked the research that went into this book. I loved the information about Maine and the very tip of the country, a place I’ve never visited but could clearly picture through the author’s descriptions. I loved that we got to travel and the romance wasn’t “easy”. Both H/h (Hero/heroine) had to work hard for their HEA (happily ever after).

I love that most of the villains were not caricatures, especially dealing with a controversial time period.

Continue reading Friday Fiction Recommendation at KariTrumbo.com

Or, my house is clean

Authors will do a lot of strange things when the words aren���t flowing. I can honestly say that my writer���s block is a rare occurrence (Praise God) because I hate cleaning.

Like, I love a clean house and it helps me focus so much better, but I really hate getting there.

Caption: Who suffers from Writer’s Block?

I���ll probably jump with joy if I ever get to a point where I can hire someone to clean my house for me.

But then I���d have to make curtains or something when I do face writer���s block because that is inevitable.

So, what are some things I do when I need to enable my back-of-my-mind focus? I clean things that no one ever touches, like closets.

I will hide in a closet and go through every item (mostly because that way I won���t have to face people who will KNOW that I���m facing writer���s block and have the gall to actually point it out). OR I will work on going through the boxes of toys in the basement.

Continue reading Do You suffer from Writer���s Block? at KariTrumbo.com

Or, my house is clean

Authors will do a lot of strange things when the words aren’t flowing. I can honestly say that my writer’s block is a rare occurrence (Praise God) because I hate cleaning.

Like, I love a clean house and it helps me focus so much better, but I really hate getting there.

Caption: Who suffers from Writer’s Block?

I’ll probably jump with joy if I ever get to a point where I can hire someone to clean my house for me.

But then I’d have to make curtains or something when I do face writer’s block because that is inevitable.

So, what are some things I do when I need to enable my back-of-my-mind focus? I clean things that no one ever touches, like closets.

I will hide in a closet and go through every item (mostly because that way I won’t have to face people who will KNOW that I’m facing writer’s block and have the gall to actually point it out). OR I will work on going through the boxes of toys in the basement.

Continue reading Do You suffer from Writer’s Block? at KariTrumbo.com