The Official Cape Moonshine Mood Playlist!

The best beach vacation music!

A truly essential part of my writing method is that I create a playlist for each book. Sometimes, it’s just about a certain vibe or a rhythm. Sometimes it’s the lyrics. But it’s always a collection of songs that will signal to my brain to get back into the world, get in sync with the story and let the characters dance and sing.

I think the playlist for my book THE MYSTERY IN MOONSHINE is terrific for anyone who wants to be in an easy breezy relaxed beach vibe. Which… also describes the book well, I think.

I’ve been sharing some of the songs on the playlist on my Instagram stories, but here is the complete list, along with a Spotify download code if you’re a subscriber there! (scroll down for the code)

Enjoy!

Somewhere on a Beach - Dierks Bentley
American Girl - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall
Written in the Sand - Old Dominion
You Broke Up with Me - Walker Hayes
Hell No - Ingrid Michaelson
Someday - Michael Buble & Meghan Trainor
Everything - Michael Buble
Afterlife - Ingrid Michaelson
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore - Tony Bennett, Michael Buble
Celebrate - Ingrid Michaelson
Crazy for Now - Jason Jones
Cup of Tea - Kacey Musgraves
Unforgettable - Thomas Rhett
No Such Thing as a Broken Heart - Old Dominion
Carolina - Eric Church
Rich - Maren Morris
All On Me - Devin Dawson
Second Wind - Maren Morris
Whole Lotta Woman - Kelly Clarkson
Baby - Michael Buble w/ Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Hold On - Wilson Phillips
Just Another Thing - Maren Morris
Let Em Talk - Kesha
Company you Keep - Maren Morris
Something to Talk About - Bonnie Raitt
Southern Girl - Amos Lee
Follow Your Arrow - Kacey Musgraves
Shut Me Up - Old Dominion
Save it for a Rainy Day - Kenny Chesney
Gettin Down in a Pirate Town - Jesse Rice
Toes - Zac Brown Band >
Tan Lines - Love and Theft
Doin’ Fine - Lauren Alaina
(Kissed You) Good Night - Gloriana
Wild at Heart - Gloriana
Carolina - Parmalee
Heads Carolina, Tails California - Jo Dee Messina
Good Vibes - Chris Janson
Six-Pack Summer - Phil Vassar
Drinkin’ Problem - Midland
Whiskey Glasses - Morgan Wallen
We Do - Kenny Chesney
Everyone She Knows - Kenny Chesney
Testing the Water - Thompson Square
Girls Like Me - Martina McBride
Down at the Lah De Dah - Jimmy Buffett
Fix a Drink - Chris Janson
Crazy - Patsy Cline
Sand - Thomas Rhett
The Day You Stop Looking Back - Thomas Rhett
Dancing in the Moonlight - King Harvest
We Are Family - Sister Sledge
Walking on Sunshine - Katrina & The Waves
Beachin’ - Jake Owen
Flavor - Maren Morris
Sunshine & Whiskey - Frankie Ballard
Do you Believe in Magic - The Lovin’ Spoonful
Saltwater Gospel - Eli Young Band
Sway - Danielle Bradberry
Coast - Ryan Hurd

Go into your spotify and hit the camera icon. Take a pic of this code and get the playlist!

Need a Weekend Escape? Try Cape Moonshine, North Carolina!

Discover a hidden gem on the Carolina Outer Banks!

Get away from it all!

A travel guide for anyone wanting to escape to the beach!

Cape Moonshine has all the history, the dining, the beach and the perfect margaritas anyone would ever want!
I recently spent a delightful weekend vacation there, and here are my best recommendations!

First, start your morning off right and head down to the charming Sit a Spell bakery where you can sit at an old fashioned counter and enjoy delicious hand crafted gourmet coffee drinks and homemade baked goods, made right there!

Then downtown Moonshine is full of quaint and unique shopping, such as the Belle Sage boutique, where I guarantee you will find the perfect gift or date night outfit!

it’s a truly magical place!

Next you’ll definitely want to visit the historic Cape Moonshine lighthouse! Guided tours are available from locals dressed like pirates! Climb to the top for unbeatable views of the Outer Banks!

It’s the perfect spot for an Instagram fashion shoot or even a proposal!

If you want great local color and cold drinks, the best local spot is the Southern Cross Brewhouse! Slide in through old fashioned saloon doors and ask for a table overlooking the dock for great sunset views!

If you’re needing a relaxing vacation or a fun girls’ weekend, Cape Moonshine can’t be beat!

For more about Cape Moonshine, download The Mystery In Moonshine for your next beach read!
Get it here: Amazon

Twenty Inventive New Year’s Writing Prompts

I am a professional author, full of interesting ideas and ready to help other writers create amazing stories.

Here are twenty inventive New Year’s Writing Prompts to start your writing year off right.

1.       A professor has a dream about no one coming to her class on the first day of the semester

2.       A mom realizes that her kids don’t go back to school until February

3.       A grumpy neighbor gets mad that Christmas lights are still on

4.       A gym owner hands out cookies and gets punched in the face

5.       The lights go out on New Year’s Eve and don’t come back on in the morning

6.       A candle store goes out of business because every single Christmas gift gets returned

7.       A woman’s New Year’s Resolution is to leave her husband

8.      Fireworks go off on New Year’s Eve but then a city realizes it was a bomb

9.     The ball drops in Times Square, breaks open and ______ flies out

10.   Everyone is forced to relive the last year over again

11.   A child’s New Year’s Resolution is to get their parents to divorce

12.   A January calendar is printed with the wrong date

13.   Travelers use the wrong dated calendar to book airline tickets that are one day off

14.   A woman decides to leave her Christmas lights up all year round

15.   A granddaughter starts to declutter her grandmother’s house and finds a shocking amount of____

16.   A boy gets a new pair of sneakers and discovers they allow him to_______

17.   A grocery store gives away a chance to win a free car with every pound of kale sold.

18.   A blizzard shuts down a mountain highway, and two strangers find the same cabin

19.   There is a national emergency signal sent at 12:01 am that says _____

20.   There is a magical calendar and whatever you write on it comes true

If any of these writing prompts tickle your fancy, you might love one of my books! You can check them out points up up there! And if you write a bestseller based on one of my prompts, please acknowledge me in the back.

To help other authors come up with great ideas, pin one of these photos to Pinterest!

Hobonichi Weeks vs. Cousin - Why I'm Switching Again

So first you should probably check out my 2020 planner post. And my 2019 planner post. And my peek into the 2021 Hobonichi here and HERE

So… 2023 was the year that I tried the Hobonichi Weeks!
I ordered my Cousin in late 2022, per usual, but got an itch to switch in the spring.

I had originally switched from my Medium ring planner to the Hobonichi Cousin years ago because I was in a very busy phase of life. The kids were in a million activities, and with all the practices, orthodontist appointments, etc., I needed SPACE to write.

This Spring, I realized that I was going down a kid and that maybe, just maybe I could go into a smaller planner. One that could fit in a purse! Oh, the luxury.

So for my birthday, I bought myself an April start Hobonichi Weeks, a preloved Louis Vuitton cover and monthly tabs. I moved into it nearly right away and it took some time to figure out how to plan.

You see, the Hobonichi Cousin has a horizontal weekly layout and the Weeks is a vertical weekly layout. This takes some adjusting for someone like me.

But it still had my beloved Hobonichi paper, the graph design, the Japanese words. All in all, it was a good experiment.

Yeah.

You caught that, right? My time with the Weeks was fun, but I’m headed back to the Cousin for 2024.

Why?

See the easily wrinkled pages - from being thrown in a bag. I’m a mess.

I’ll get into some of my pros and cons but I won’t do a full review of what’s in the Weeks or Cousin. There are plenty of YouTube videos about the Weeks and I’ve reviewed the Cousin extensively at the links above.

FOR ME…

I just never fully settled into the Weeks. The note pages in the back were somewhat helpful in meetings and for phone calls and such, but I still found myself using my 2023 Cousin for morning pages/ journaling because the Weeks pages were too narrow for me to journal in.

Yes, I could throw it in most of my handbags, but that would result in some wrinkled pages, no matter how I secured the cover. I didn’t want to invest in another cover for the Weeks, especially when I have a medium ring planner that I could use if I needed a secured cover.

And I guess in the end, I just prefer the room in the Cousin. Even if I have fewer soccer practices and orthodontist appointments to keep track of, I feel more comfortable with a little more room to play in.

So I’m going back - full time - to the Hobonichi Cousin in 2024. It’s not you, Hobonichi. It’s me.

Stay tuned for my posts on how I’m going to use my planners in 2024 by subscribing to my Women With Books Substack.

For ALLLLLLL my planner related blog posts, click HERE

And check out my books - made possible by Hobonichi-assisted planning - HERE.