I've been working on Snow Blood Season 5.  In it I wrote a passage that has haunted me for days. Narrated by Snow Blood, the vampire dog, it reads:

I could never have had this life as a normal dog. If it would soon be over, I knew I had been blessed with the solid connection I had as a vampire. Humans and other creatures live a solitary life, always inwardly alone. Since becoming a vampire, I had been connected to all my kindred. It had been a fortunate life indeed.

This got me to thinking about companionship and why all humans strive for love and acceptance. We do, indeed, live a solitary life, always inwardly alone. No one can live our lives for us, and no other is connected to us in the manner in which fictional vampires can see, hear, and feel what their kindred do. 

The closest we can come to it is through companionship of other humans and our animals. We strive for that closeness, that need to be wanted, loved, needed, and accepted. Some of us are very lucky to find what we feel to be are our soul mates. 

In my opinion, these relationships with our companions should be handled with a great deal of love, care, and respect. They involve trust, appreciation, acceptance, forgiveness, and the desire to be of help. They also require  a show of ongoing love and affection. Sometimes we forget, though. We take it for granted.

This was brought to the forefront recently when both my beloved dog Neo and my husband Mark fell ill. I often take for granted that they will always be with me. I get caught up in the day-to-day and overlook the fact that tomorrow is never promised to us. So, when this happened, I had to back up and think about what life would be without them. It was a terrifying thought. It made me realize that I need to put aside the day-to-day and make every moment we have together count.

I hope that this note to you will give you pause and make you think about your relationships and how you can nurture them so that the time you have together is lived to the fullest.

Til Next Time,
Carol

​P.S. Both Neo and Mark are recovering... Thank God.

It should be no surprise that I have been a huge fan of the Vampire Diaries. It is a wonderful book series that was successfully made into a long-running TV show. For complete honesty, I have to admit that I also, as most of you know, have written a vampire book series

Unfortunately, I just watched the final episode of the Vampire Diaries series. Totally satisfying, it tied up all the loose ends and, of course, made me cry. Why? Because in addition to my fascination with vampires, it was a love story on multiple levels -  brotherly love, love between men and women, and love of friends. That element of making the reader/viewer love the characters, to care about their fates, is the key to writing. 

It certainly is what I've tried to do with the Snow Blood Series. Which leads me to my final challenge with it. 

Can I end my series with my fifth book in the excellent, satisfying way that the Vampire Diaries did? I hope so. I'm working on it. I hope that I will be able to take the characters that my readers say that they have grown to love and tie up all the loose ends. My publisher thinks I have. I hope you will too.

And, if you haven't watched the Vampire Diaries, you've missed out. Look for it On Demand.

Til Next Time,
​Carol

I wanted to share some wonderful insight provided by my friend and fellow author, Lonnie Ostrow. Lonnie has a long history of working with some of the greats in the music industry. It is this insight that makes his epic rock n roll novel, Poet of the Wrong Generation, so compelling. It is a love story based on music. As Lonnie says, "Throughout the history of pop music, there have been countless songs of pleading, anguish, longing and finality. Unrequited love and despair are almost certainly the greatest source behind the most heartfelt songs ever written."

Click here to read his unique look at some of the most heart-wrenching ballads and the surprising stories behind the musical heartbreak..

And, just so you know, ​​​this is one of my very favorite, gut-wrenching ballads of all time. 

Lonnie Ostrow has been a PR and marketing innovator in the world of celebrity for over 20 years. Now, its his turn to share his insights and reminiscence from "the other side" of the entertainer's life... just in time to coincide with the launch of his debut novel, ​​Poet Of The Wrong Generation.