New Stories

 The Wisdom of Ages - A Short Story Collection,  my new short story collection was just released by Books We Love Publishing Partners.

Three stories; four men whose lives take unexpected turns. Meet Samson who wonders what is down that country road that draws people so. Should he get in that old truck and go see? Mel and Rube have been having dinner at the Leavenworth Grill every Wednesday for years. One day the menu changes and so does life for Mel. Tom would give anything for his life to change. Can he beat back the effects of a crippling stroke by sheer force of determination? Growing old is not for the faint of heart.

"These three gems will make you think about time and how you use it. Maryann Miller has a rare gift for taking the pulse of ordinary lives and spinning that into extraordinary tales." -- Craig Lancaster, author of 600 Hours of Edward"and The Summer Son

"Miller shares her skills as a writer and her humanity in this inspiring glimpse into the realities of aging and the heartbreak of letting go." Paula Stallings Yost Editor/Author, What Wildness is This: Women Write About the Southwest

"Sometimes the best stories come at the end of our lives, and so do the strongest lessons. Read Maryann Miller's poignant vignettes about aging and let them tug at your heart-strings. They capture the very essence of our tender humanity." ~ Dani Greer, author, editor and Special Projects Coordinator for Little Pickle Press,

 I like working with a publisher who does all the work of getting a cover, ISBN number, and getting that all up on Amazon and other sites for e-readers. But I have also been experimenting with putting my own content up. That can be very time consuming for someone like me who has a steep learning curve when it comes to new technology, but I am learning.

Last Friday I announced that I have two new short stories up on Amazon for the Kindle. SAHM I Am and The Visitor  They are both priced at 99cents and make a good, quick read.

SAHM I Am is a humorous sci-fi story. Technology may be on the verge of having sophisticated home computers that run an entire household, but have the scientists taken into consideration the human factor? When SAHM, a Sensor Activated Home Manager, is field tested at the O'Neal home, he's up against the biggest challenge a computer has ever faced; one Shanna O'Neal.


The Visitor was first written as an assignment in a writing class to adapt a classic fairy tale, and I chose Goldilocks and the Three Bears. A camping trip in the Rockies becomes most interesting when a stranger shows up and the Cantrell family has to find out who has been sneaking into their cabin.

Sex is Not a Toy

... Or is it?

When I wrote the first draft of my woman's novel, Play It Again, Sam, one of the issues I wanted to address in the story was the growing cavalier attitude about sex. This was back in the early 90s, and I had a contract for the book from Kennsington for their To Love Again series, which they dropped just before my book came out. The book languished for a while, then came out as an e-book a few years ago.

In the story, the central character, Samantha, is divorced after 25 years of marriage and one of the myriad questions she faces is what is she to do about sex. The normal human desires are there, but she no longer has a partner. Her friend, Margaret, encourages her to find someone and just have fun, but Sam doesn't feel like that is something she can do. "I've been preaching to my kids about the dangers of casual sex. How can I be a hypocrite?"

In many ways that reflects my attitude about casual sex, and I was dismayed to read a recent article in The Dallas Morning News, Waiting to Wed by Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker.  In the article they write that young adults, whom they keep referring to as emerging adults, are waiting longer and longer to get married, while pursuing active sex lives before hand. They quote psychologist Jeffrey Arnett, "Those who do not experiment with different partners are warned that they will eventually wonder what they are missing, to the detriment of their marriage."

Who hasn't played that what-if game about sex and about a lot of other things in life? But is doesn't have to be a detriment. Think about it, even fantasize a bit if you want, then get back to appreciating what you have. 

The article continues to support the benefits of exploring different relationships, "...there is value placed on flexibility, autonomy, change, and the potential for upgrading."

What? Is this like buying a car? Let's start with a GEO and end up with a LEXUS?

One of the major reasons cited for delaying marriage was a belief that getting married signaled the end of really good sex.  Hmmmm, most of my contemporaries would disagree. Just thinking about.... no, never mind.

My point is, sexual intercourse is one of the most important intimate acts we can participate in, and I sure wish the younger generation would not have such a casual approach to it. It is not recreation. It is not the same as playing video games or any of the other things we do to amuse ourselves. It is part of building a relationship, and that is not a casual affair.

What do you think? I'm sure younger readers are going to have plenty to say. LOL

Monday Morning Musings

"Screen-Free Week" Starts Today: What to Do without the PDA?
 Turn off your tablet, step away from the computer and pull the plug on the TV. Texans are being challenged to do that for a week in a nationwide campaign to alert families to the enormous amount of time they spend with electronic entertainment. Screen-Free Week, April 18-24, is an effort to encourage parents and their kids to get outside for some physical recreation, take in a community event or just stop texting all the time. Jaci Clement with the Fair Media Council admits it won't be easy. (contd.)  Podcast and entire story available: http://www.newsservice.org/index.php

While that is tempting. There is no way I could be away from the computer for an entire week right now. I have several editing jobs lined up that have to be taken care of before I go on a trip the end of May. Although I suspect this is aimed more at those who use the computer for games than at those who use it for business and for those who are at risk for health problems due to inactivity.

It is true that our sedentary lifestyles have a negative impact on our health. Individuals who are physically active during their leisure time appear to be biologically younger than those with sedentary lifestyles, according to a report in the January 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.  Regular exercisers have lower rates of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, obesity and osteoporosis.

So what are we writers supposed to do to combat the bad effects of the hours we spend on the computer? I thought it was enough to start my day with a walk of a little over a mile, some work in my garden, and then throughout the day take short periods to work outside or do housecleaning tasks. But a recent study shows that might not be true. This is what I found on the Diet Blog

Scientists say the findings show the health benefits of exercise are not enough to cancel out the effects of sitting in front of a screen for too long; part of a sedentary lifestyle.

To help "Fight the Sedentary Lifestyle," the American Heart Association suggests tracking your daily physical activity and daily dietary intake, creating personal walking maps, keeping weekly summaries of your progress, and researching valuable information to help you achieve your lifestyle goals.

While I am not going to get as organized about it as the AHA suggests, I do think I will pay more attention to how often I get up from the computer and move around. If nothing else, walking from one end of my house to the other every hour on the hour might make a difference. And maybe another walk in the evening could be on the agenda.

What about you? How do you combat the bad effects of hours of working at the computer? Do you find it hard to stay motivated?

Book Review: A Puree of Poison by Claudia Bishop

Thank you, Carl, for sharing another review. What would I do on Sundays if you didn't keep me supplied with new reviews? Oh, right, I'd have to write one myself. Enjoy...

A Puree of Poison
By Claudia Bishop
ISBN: 0425193314
Publisher, Berkley Prime Crime
December, 2003, 260 pgs.


This small-town cozy comes with two squabbling sisters, one a gourmand cook, the other an established painter.  They collide in a little upstate New York town called Hemlock Falls.  Aptly named.  Together the sisters Sarah, called Quill, and Meg, own and operate an inn on a perfect plot of property overlooking the namesake falls.  The novel comes with a list of the huge number of characters at the front and an unremarkable recipe at the back.

The 133rd anniversary of a minor Civil War skirmish is approaching and the town is planning big doings.  Things get rapidly complicated.  Reenactors are arriving to stage the battle, a poisonous couple of independent film-makers appear, and Quill, who cannot manage a business to save her soul, is trying out various practices on the Inn’s employees she is picking up from a business course at Cornell.  Cornell ought to sue.

Then people start dying.  They are old and not exactly in the best of health, but they weren’t at death’s door, either.  The one thing they had in common was the Inn.  All three victims had had meals at the Inn on the same
day.  The town doctor, who’s in love with Meg, the aforementioned sister, is mightily distressed.  He asks Meg’s sister, Quill, to investigate.  This of course adds to the number of subjects over which the two sisters can disagree.  As one might imagine, there’s a great amount of shouting, stomping about and door slamming.

Quill, of course, agrees to look into the deaths, if only to protect the reputation of the Inn and her sister.  It isn’t like she hasn’t enough to occupy her.  She has to deal with a twit of a receptionist who’s trying to
finish a PhD and her own inept efforts to force worrisome new business practices on her employees without any preparation.

All of this is handled with a light touch and there are several clever scenes, helped by some imaginative and interesting characters, but it all never quite comes off.  The sisters’ constant squabbling, the irritating front office receptionist who should have been fired for insubordination, and half a dozen other offenses, overshadow some strong writing and clever plotting.


~~~~~~~~

Carl Brookins
www.carlbrookins.com, www.agora2.blogspot.com
Case of the Greedy Lawyer, Devils Island,
Bloody Halls, more at Kindle & Smashwords!

Friday's Odds and Ends

 There is some talk of raising the speed limit in Texas to 85MPH. Silly me, I thought that was already the speed limit. If I'm driving 70 to 75 MPH, cars zoom by me all the time.

The Dallas Zoo was briefly charging a giraffe-greeting fee until enough patrons complained. Apparently the zoo was trying to boos revenue by charging people to walk out on a platform that allows them to see the tall beasts up close and personal. The charge was $5.00.

Zoo officials were smart in rescinding that charge. Imagine having to explain to a four or five year old child that he or she could not see the giraffe close up because Mommy didn't have the extra five dollars with her.

And now for some personal business. We're having a party at the Author Roast and Toast blog where I am the guest with Angel and Sarah from Open Season. Stop by if you get a chance. There are some other great guests, including Agatha Christie, and some wonderful food and drinks. We are solving the mystery of who killed the IRS agent, and one lucky person will win an ARC of Open Season.

Also wanted to announce that I have two new short stories up on Amazon for the Kindle. SAHM I Am   and The Visitor 

SAHM I Am is a humorous sci-fi story. Technology may be on the verge of having sophisticated home computers that run an entire household, but have the scientists taken into consideration the human factor? When SAHM, a Sensor Activated Home Manager, is field tested at the O'Neal home, he's up against the biggest challenge a computer has ever faced; one Shanna O'Neal.


The Visitor was first written as an assignment in a writing class to adapt a classic fairy tale, and I chose Goldilocks and the Three Bears. A camping trip in the Rockies becomes most interesting when a stranger shows up and the Cantrell family has to find out who has been sneaking into their cabin.

The Food Police

I'm not a huge fan of the Civil Liberties Union. Like so many organizations and agencies their original purpose was noble, but they have taken too many issues to too many extremes. But I do wish they would get in a frenzy about the latest trends to help children eat healthy.

I heard on the news last night that school districts across the country are starting to ban chocolate milk from the school lunches because of its high fat and sugar content.

Is nothing sacred? Soda is already banned from most schools because it is not a healthy drink, but chocolate milk at least has some nutritional value. And it has been a staple of American dining for as long as I can remember.

Then I heard about schools in Chicago where students are not allowed to bring their own lunches. No more brown bags or cute little lunch buckets from home. Students must purchase a lunch from the cafeteria, and if they bring any snacks from home that are determined to be unhealthy, the snacks are confiscated. The logic behind this move, which apparently isn't limited to the Chicago area, is that the school is protecting the students from making poor food choices and giving them the alternative of a healthier food.

Where is it going to end? Will the food police come into our homes next and confiscate all our unhealthy food? No more Oreos and chocolate milk. No more ice-cream. Good-bye chips and salsa and Buffalo Wings.

Not that I eat all that, but it sure sounds good and we ought to be able to eat snacks without someone slapping our hands.

I understand that obesity is a major health issue, but those who are obese and continue to stay that way are making choices. We all ought to be able to continue to make choices. That is what freedom and democracy is all about. It's not about having the food police tell us what we can and cannot eat.

And they'd  better keep their hands off my pretzels, that's all I've got to say.

Book Review: Spring for Susannah

Since I have totally messed up my week here on the blog -- no review on Sunday, no Monday Morning Musings -- I decided to surprise everyone with a review today. Not sure what I will do tomorrow. Who says I have to be organized? LOL

Spring For Susannah
Catherine Richmond
 Paperback: 356 pages
 Publisher: Thomas Nelson (June 14, 2011)
 Language: English
 ISBN-10: 1595549242
 ISBN-13: 978-1595549242

Following the death of her father in Michigan, Susannah Underhill is left rootless, and she agrees to go west to the Dakota Territory to marry Jesse Mason, brother of Susannah's minister. At the urging of the minister's wife, Susannah has corresponded with Jesse for several months, but meeting in letters is nothing like meeting in person.

Susannah is quiet and shy, a stark contrast to Jesse's outgoing personality. She doesn't know what to talk to him about or how, and is often more comfortable talking to the dog. He is less threatening than this man who seems to overpower her sometimes just by his mere presence. And he is so confident about God and God's love. How can anyone be that confident?

Before her father died, Susannah helped him in his veterinary practice in Detroit, and that experience helps save Jesse's ox and twin calves. She also helps neighboring farmers with their animals, and Jesse realizes that she is an asset and a blessing in this land that challenges the strongest of men and women. For her part, Susannah starts to feel a part of this desolate land and begins to appreciate what made Jesse come out here to homestead. While it is harsh and stark with many challenges, the Dakota prairie is beautiful in spring.

As Susannah works through her awkwardness and feelings of unworthiness the bond that unites these two people grows stronger. This is a beautifully written story with language and descriptions that bring the prairie to life like the sun brings new growth in the spring. The characters are true and believable, and the testimony to faith is woven seamlessly throughout the story with a deft hand. As Susannah learns to trust the love of Jesse, she learns to trust in the love of God.

This is a book that will appeal to fans of inspirational fiction, but it also has a wider appeal because of the strength of the love story.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the words of the author: I was busy raising a family, working as an occupational therapist, and trying to remember where I hid the chocolate, when a song sparked a story within me. The journey to publication has been long, but full of blessings. I couldn’t have done it without ACFW, RWA, and FHL, the inspirational chapter of RWA – and lots of chocolate! Catherine's Web site http://www.catherinerichmond.com/

~~~~~~~~~~
FTC Disclaimer: The author sent me an advance review copy of the book, hoping that I would write a review. But she did say if I didn't like the book, I didn't have to write one. In keeping with full disclosure, I will also admit that I know the author, and I had the pleasure of reading this book in its infancy. For her sake and mine, I won't say how long ago that was. What I will say is that I was impressed with the writing then and am even more impressed now. I am not a fan of inspirational fiction. It is often too preachy for my tastes, but this one doesn't pound the pulpit.

Some Sunday Fun

No book review today. I am a guest at Lelia Taylor's  Creatures and Crooks Books Blog today. Well, that is not entirely accurate. One of our cats, Little John, is a guest there. If you have time,  hop over and see what he has to say.

I have done several blog pieces about our cats on the blog, and we have had so much fun with it, I will do at least one more. Then I run out of cats to write about.

Friday's Odds and Ends

Since I resigned as Managing Editor for WinnsboroToday.com, I am not as connected to the news as I used to be. Part of my daily updates at the online magazine included the latest news blurbs from several sources. Now I don't check those sources daily, and I don't watch very much broadcast news, either. In some ways it's nice to be disconnected, but that also means I am not finding those absurd news bits I like to comment on every Friday.

I did hear that the Federal Government is on the verge of shutting down because the elephants and the donkeys can't agree on a budget. Apparently on the pachyderm side it is the newly elected representatives that won with Tea Party support. And here I thought they had promised to put partisan politics aside if they got into office.

I guess you can't trust an elephant.

Doing a quick Internet search for bizarre news, I came across this from  Bizarre News.org . A 13-year-old Norwegian boy avoided being attacked by wolves by playing a heavy metal song on his mobile phone. I knew there had to be one good use for heavy metal music.

I also found this on NewsBizarre.com  The new official worlds tallest man is Sultan Kosen of Turkey. Standing at a giant 8ft 1 or 2.5 meters, Sultan Kosen is the newly crowned Guinness World Records worlds tallest man. With money he can make with special appearances, he hopes to be able to buy a car. “The first thing I want is a car I can fit into,” Sultan Kosen said. “More than that, I want to get married. It’s really difficult to find a girlfriend. They are usually scared of me.”

I'm reading The General and Monaville Texas by Joe G. Bax. So far, it is a good read and last night this line had me cracking up: "It was so quiet you could hear a mouse piss on a cotton ball."

Too bad my husband was already asleep when I started laughing.

That's it for me today. Did you run across any absurd or funny news stories this week?

Drowning Ruth - a novel

I know this is not my normal book review day, but I just finished this book today and wanted to share some things about it, both from a reader's standpoint and a writer's.

First of all, Drowning Ruth, was an amazing story. It was published in 2000 and I am sorry that I didn't read it when it first came out.

It was hard to like the central character at first, and she only became truly endearing at the very end, but there was the mystery of what happened in the past that shaped her that kept me engaged in the story.


Writers are advised to make their central characters likeable so the reader can connect. Who wants to connect to someone who lies, is harsh and manipulative, and is very demanding? If we decide to go against this advice, we'd better make sure we can do it well. Christina Schwarz does it well. (Last week, Kathryn Craft wrote a two-part series on The Blood Red Pencil blog about unlikeable central characters.)

As a reader, I like books with multiple layers to the story and several strong characters who are tied together by plot elements. This novel has Ruth, Amanda, Mathilda, Carl, Clemment, and Arthur who all have a stake in each other and a connection that propels the story. They are all deeply affected by the secret that Amanda, Mandy, has kept for many years, and it is that secret that changes all their lives.

This is all beautifully written from various points of view, but all the threads are woven together in a smooth and seamless story.

Point of view (POV) is another hotly debated issue for writers. In genre and category fiction with narrow parameters, writers are told to stick to one or two points of view, and never switch POV in the middle of a scene. Mainstream and literary novels are not bound by those constraints, but if the POV changes are not handled well, they can still be jarring. Again, it takes a deft hand at the pen to write a book like Drowning Ruth and not jar the reader out of the story by awkward scene changes or POV changes.

I'm not sure my hand is quite as deft as Christina Schwarz's, but I do like to change the point of view in scenes. Because my books are categorized as mystery, sometimes my editor questions the fact that I will switch POV like that, and sometimes she is right and it is too abrupt. Other places in the story it just feels right to me so I campaign to keep them in. So far, I have not had a reader complain.

What about you? Do you like to read stores with multiple points of view and many layers to the plot? Is that what you write?

Monday Morning Musings

As I write this a storm is brewing here in East Texas and I will have to close down my computer soon. When we have lightening, I have to unplug everything electronic because we frequently have an unwanted visitor come through the wire.

Since I don't have time to write a blog this morning, I thought I would treat you to a piece from a wonderful writer, Slim Randles. He has written several books and is a syndicated columnist. He is also a cowboy and hangs out with his friends at the Mule Barn Think Tank where they solve world problems and trade stories. Enjoy....

Someday it would be interesting if social scientists would spend some of that grant money on finding out how some good things get started, as well as discovering sources of pestilence and plague.

It shouldn’t be all that difficult. The cookie thing wasn’t all that hard to figure out.

The cookie thing, we concluded, began with old Jasper Blankenship. He came down from his cabin at the diggin’s and brought with him an entire half pillowcase of cookies. He had found the recipe in one of those 30-year-old magazines he has up there, and since the snow was too deep to do anything else, he baked cookies.

Jasper walked into the Soup ‘R Market and handed a cookie to Annette. “We don’t often get to say how much we appreciate each other, Annette,” the old man said, “so here … have a cookie.”

She thanked him and talked about it for the rest of the day.

Jasper found Doc walking toward the Mule Barn and his daily cup of coffee and handed him a cookie, too.

“Doc … the way you took care of that … little problem of mine … well, I want you to know how much I appreciate it. Here, have a cookie.”

Before the day was over and Jasper headed back to the diggin’s, half the valley had been cookied, and the other half wished they had. Carla Martinez had been cookied and decided to carry on the tradition, so she whipped up a batch of biscochitos and began passing them out, along with compliments.

Herb Collins asked Maizie to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies, his particular favorite, and handed them out, along with compliments. Mickey Baker had store-bought cookies to hand out two nights later at the ticket booth at The Strand, where a Randolph Scott Western was playing for the first time in 60 years. Each cookie came with a compliment, too. This seems to be the most important element of Jasper’s new valley tradition.

Cookies and compliments. Not a bad way to say I love you.

~~~~~~~

Slim Randles lives in New Mexico and his books are: Sun Dog Days, Raven's Prey, Ol' Slim's View From the Porch and Ol' Max Evans The First Thousand Years    Web site

Thanks to Carl Brookins for sharing another review. 

How to Survive A Killer Séance
By Penny Warner
Mass Market release in 2011
by Obsidian, 290 pages.
ISBN:978-0-451-23279-3

Party planner Presley Parker is back. In another delightfully cozy murder mystery, she’s got herself enmeshed with some high-roller, high energy, digital silicon-valley types who are nothing if not focused. The problem is they seem to have left everything resembling human values back at the starting gate. Compassion? Nowhere to be found. Fidelity? It is to laugh.

The women are sexy and high energy, the guys are bright and energetic, if often ill-tempered, and poor Presley is caught between some over-stressed corporate types, her own urges and career needs, and her flakey mother. It’s easy to see where Penny gets some of her idiosyncrasies.

A wide range of characters? You bet. Unusual ideas and offbeat characters? Absolutely. This author fully understands what her readers are looking for and in spite of having already produced a huge number of enjoyable books, she continues to plumb her creative muse to write stories that satisfy a certain risibility and belief in the quirkiness of human nature.

A fast read, well-plotted, with a setting to die for, and characters that are distinct. This is yet another of Penny Warner’s diverting, novels. Here there is no gloom or doom, just a murder or two in dark rooms, secret passageways, unreal emanations and a fast romp to a perfectly designed conclusion.

~~~~~~~

Carl Brookins
www.carlbrookins.com, www.agora2.blogspot.com
Devils Island, Bloody Halls, Reunion, Red Sky
more at Kindle, Smashwords & OmniLit!

Friday's Odds and Ends

Say it isn't so: The comic strip Baby Blues had a story about the liltle girl, Zoe, being invited to a "shopping party" for a friend's birthday. For the party, everyone goes to a mall and the birthday girl gets to pick out presents which the guests then buy the gifts. Wanda, Zoe's mother comments, "So, it cuts right to the greed."

Thanks, Wanda, you said it all.

A flyer came in the mail with a coupon for a new water enhancer, MiO, for all those folks who need a flavor for their water.

Hmmm.... Why not drink soda, or Kool Aid, or some liquid that already has a flavor.  Water is just water.

Two teachers in the Dallas ISD have been charged with sex crimes and suspended. Letters were not sent home with students informing parents of this because officials thought that could interfere with the investigation.

Wouldn't officials want to know if these sex crimes involved any of the kids at the school where the teachers were employed? Seems to me the parents had a right to know about the investigation and have an opportunity to offer information that might be pertinent.

OMG- The Oxford dictionary has added some Internet-inspired expressions to its latest online edition.

In 2008 a district court in Texas declared Ben Spencer innocent. He had been tried and convicted on charges of murder and robbery in 1987 and has spent the last 24 years in jail. Despite the district court's declaration of innocence, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has not started the process to release him.

Talk about a travesty. It is not like the district court judge simply ordered a new trial. Apparently there was sufficient evidence of innocence that the judge made a direct ruling. Certainly that should carry some weight with the Court of Criminal Appeals.

Family Pets

Today my short story, The One O'Clock Nap is featured on Daily Cheap Reads, along with two books that sound really interesting. Every time I do one of these promotional gigs, I discover another new book to buy. LOL  Here is the link if anyone is interested in checking out the books and stories.

I haven't posted an excerpt from my humorous memoir in a while, so I thought I'd share a bit with you today. Enjoy....

Needless to say, we did not adopt one of the kittens, and for a while we thought we could survive without a pet. After a few months, however, it became clear that we were not the kind of family that could live without a four-footed friend. So I started looking for a dog, and we got Ruffy, who was part German Shepard and part wolf. He was a cute little fuzzy puppy who grew up into a good-sized dog, and he stayed outside. Except for the time something scared him and he crashed through the window on the French door leading into the house from the patio.

I was in the kitchen cleaning up from supper when I heard the commotion. Anjanette ran in and announced, “Ruffy came in?”

“Who let him in.”

“Nobody. He came through the window.”

“What window?”

“The window in the door.”

“But he’s huge and that window is small.”

By then, Ruffy had come into the kitchen and was checking under the table for scraps. I went into the living room, and sure enough, one pane of glass was broken out of the French door. Luckily, it had come out clean so there were no jagged edges that could have cut the dog, but still, I had to wonder how that great big dog fit through an opening about 8 inches by 12 inches.

Ruffy was quite fierce when storms weren’t scaring him. One time when the kids were out in the back playing and a neighbor tried to come through the gate, Ruffy sat like a growling sentinel and wouldn’t let the neighbor in. I had to tell my neighbor to always come to the front door when she wanted to visit.

When he wasn’t loose to play in the yard, Ruffy had a large pen and loved to run the perimeter while one of us squirted him with the hose. That was especially refreshing in the heat of a Texas summer, but it did have one downside. The weeds and grass grew like Jack’s beanstalk inside the pen.

Ruffy was always good for a romp or a walk, and it was undeniable that he wormed his way into all our hearts. Never was that more evident then when the kids did a survey at the dinner table and decided they all liked the dog better than me.

Radio Interview

Today I will be appearing on Red River Radio with five other authors of children's and Y/A books on March 29 at 4:00pm ET, to talk about my book for tweens, Friends Forever, and share what inspired the story.

This is a special edition of the Book Discussion shows for teachers, children, parents, grandparents and anyone who loves to read children’s and Y/A books. Book Discussion is hosted by Fran Lewis, an author and book reviewer. This show will feature the best of children’s writing with authors writing in many different genres. The books are geared to early childhood children, elementary school students or young adults and teens. The lessons taught in each of these books can be used in classrooms teaching Character Education, Sunday School Classrooms, for parents to read at night to their children, and in libraries or bookstores during story time. 

The show promises to be informative and just plain fun as we talk about our books and the delight of writing for young audiences. We invite all to stop by and listen to the show and join in the discussion.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rrradio/2011/03/29/childrens-authors--fran-lewis-and-marsha-cook

Monday Morning Musings

The headline caught my attention: Music is a lesson in "Yes, you can" By the way, I liked headlines better when they looked like headlines, not a sentence that someone forgot to punctuate. But I digress.

The headline was for a column in The Dallas Morning News written by Tracy Begland, a freelance writer and volunteer at the school her kids attend, shared some heartwarming stories about band and choir and music and how kids benefit from the experience. One girl who was not performing well in an elementary school music program, started to improve after the teacher took time to talk to her outside of class to see what the problem was. Later the girl told the teacher all she needed was a little encouragement.

Another teacher encouraged a mediocre singer by putting her in the top choir and the girl rose to the challenge. She never became the best singer, but she became a better singer and took great pride in that and herself.

Perhaps the most touching story Tracy related was about a boy with cerebral palsy. The middle school band teacher was warned by the elementary music teacher that Bill might be too much of a challenge in the more structured middle school program and perhaps it would be better if Bill's parents were encouraged to remove him from the band program. The middle school teacher didn't notify the parents and accepted the boy into the band. By the end of middle school, Bill showed some physical improvement. His drooling decreased, his fingers worked independently, and he was able to speak more clearly.

When I worked as a hospital chaplain, I routinely provided music in the rehab department. They had a room where out-patient therapy clients recovering from head trauma would gather in between sessions and they would have lunch together. I would come with my guitar once a week, and we would sing after lunch for an hour. I did not realize at first that I was doing more than bringing a little fun and good cheer, but the head of the program told me that the music was benefiting the patients physiologically. The music was helping their brains to make new synoptic connections to compensate for those that were broken.

Just like Bill. And I guess that is why this column resonated so with me.

Kudos to  all the teachers who take the time and make the effort to help and encourage kid who most need it.

Book Review: The Summer Son by Craig Lancaster

The Summer Son

Craig Lancaster

Paperback: 304 pages

Publisher: AmazonEncore (January 25, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1935597248

ISBN-13: 978-1935597247

Craig Lancaster has a knack for exploring relationships on all levels, and The Summer Son does that as well as any book out there.

Mitch Quillen has had a rocky relationship with his father that has dwindled into two phone calls a year and maybe two visits in 25 years. All of a sudden his father, Jim, starts calling frequently but won't say what has prompted the calls. Mitch doesn't need this aggravation on top of what he is already dealing with. His marriage is so strained it could easily break, and his career is not going so well either. His wife, Beth, a very wise woman, encourages Mitch to just go visit his father and see what is going on. Maybe the break will also give him an opportunity to consider the marriage and where it is going.

So Mitch goes to Montana where he spent summers after his parents divorced and he moved to Washington State with his mother. He thinks his current visit is only to find out what is going on with his father, but he ends up finding out so much more.

The book alternates between two storylines: the last summer Mitch spent with his father back in 1979, and the present. Jim is characterized as an angry, remote, hard working man who is brutal at times. He drinks, and things are not pleasant when he is tipping the bottle. An older brother, Jerry, can't take the verbal and physical abuse and leaves to join the marines, which leads to a tragedy that Mitch blames his father for.

The relationship between the man and the boy mirrors the current relationship and frustration builds between the men. Anger dominates so many scenes, and they are both unable to speak what is in their hearts until almost too late. This push and pull between the characters adds to the tension in the story and keeps the reader engrossed.

Nothing is held back in this emotional story of relationships lost and the search to find them again, and it is hard to decide which character one will root for the most. They both need redemption. It will resonate strongly with readers who are dealing with similar issues, but it is also a good read for those who are not. If you are sentimental, as I am, it will bring a few tears, as well as a smile or two. But that is what a good story is supposed to do, engage the reader on an emotional level.

~~~~~~~~~

FTC Disclaimer: I purchased this book for my own enjoyment and even though I know Craig, he did not pay me, or bribe me, or threaten me in any way to influence this review. I just happen to think he is a damn fine writer.

Friday's Odds and Ends

Somebody recently opined in a letter to the editor in The Dallas Morning News that teachers are overpaid. He said the average pay is $53 thousand and change, and that there is little to show for it.

First of all, that figure is not the norm. Most teachers make between $30 and $40 thousand - some even less. And they work long hard hours for that pay. If results aren't what people expect, maybe it has more to do with the work ethic of the students and not the teachers.

Earlier this year the government announced that there would be no cost of living increase in Social Security payments. The reasoning was that there has not been a significant increase in the cost of living.

Excuse me, but what about the fact that it now costs $80.00 for four bags of groceries that cost $60 last year. And now we have gas prices going out of sight.

Recently the House voted to cut funding for NPR, which received $5 million in federal funds in 2010.

As if that is really going to significantly impact the federal budget. I'm going to say this again, and continue to say it until somebody in Washington pays attention, CUT SPENDING FROM THE TOP. Sorry about the shout, but it would be so easy to fix the federal budget if we streamlined agencies and administration. Just streamlining the IRS would save hundreds of millions a year. The top agents make annual salaries in the high six figures, with entry level starting at about $50 thousand. And just recently it was announced that the IRS is requesting 1054 new staff members that will cost about $359 million in salaries and offices.

Glenn Beck just couldn't let the tsunami go by without saying it is part of God's plan to punish mankind for how we are behaving. Never mind that the Japanese people have responded with the utmost dignity and character, so what exactly are they being punished for?

Despite the floods and fires and swarms of locusts cited in the Old Testament, I do not believe that the God I believe in would use disasters to punish His people. Stuff happens because it happens, not because God wants to teach us a lesson. The lesson comes from within as we deal with tragedy and disaster.

What have you found of interest in the news this week?

Time out for a little fun

It's been a while since I shared some of the nonsense.... er, humor, from my friend, Tracy Farr. Enjoy....

When life is getting you down, just fiddle

There comes a time in a man’s life when he wakes up one morning, feels his bones creak as he gets out of bed, and realizes his tree-climbing days are just about over. He feels old, he feels tired, he looks like he hasn’t slept in days, and the monotony of every day life is an anchor that keeps dragging him further and further down into the abyss.

It’s at that moment that a man decides his life would look a whole lot better from the saddle of a brand new Harley Davidson Fat Boy – a black one, with straight pipes kicking out un-godly decibels of thunder, with the optional Biker Babe attached and holding on for dear life.

Yes indeed! Sometimes you need a bit of spice in your life to make it through the day. But I say a Bike and a Babe might not be the most prudent way to go about it. In my opinion, if a man really wants to add some flavor to his meal, what he truly needs is a fiddle – a down-to-earth, honest to goodness, low-tech, cat scratching, fingernails-on-chalkboard, wife yelling “Get that thing out of my house before I lose my ever-loving mind” fiddle.

Poppycock you say? Nonsense you say? You think I’m full of hot air, gibberish, gabble rubbish, and baloney? Maybe so, but I bet you good money that if you were to give a man the choice between a Harley/Biker Babe and a fiddle, he’d choose the Harley/Biker Babe every time – but only because that’s what society demands of him. Deep in his heart he yearns to play fiddle. Just ask him. He’ll lie to you, of course, but you and I know the truth.

(WORDS OF ADVICE: If you decide after reading this essay that you indeed need a fiddle, keep in mind that your local music store will try to sell you a violin instead. Don’t let them. Stand your ground. Tell them you weren’t born yesterday. You want a fiddle, and you won’t leave until they sell you one. Now, back to our story.)

Like I was saying, when a man has sunk so low as to think a Harley and a Biker Babe will make life worth living again, that’s the time he desperately needs a fiddle – even though he’ll resist with all the man-ness he can muster. And why does he need it? Because learning to play one makes you realize that your life isn’t as bad as it could be.

You know that boss you can’t stand? You’ll be hugging his neck after five minutes of trying to hold a fiddle. You know all that paperwork that’s been piling up on your desk? You’ll be eager to tackle it after a day of trying to correctly hold a bow. You know that guy in the next cubicle who plays his Rap Music so loud it can be heard even through his headphones? You’ll be begging him to turn up the music after a week of listening to yourself scratch out a melody on the fiddle.

There are not many things worse than listening to a beginner fiddle player. Someone learning to play bagpipes comes to mind, as well as stepping in cat vomit in the middle of the night, Macaroni and Cheese Pizza, and Oprah. But after that, I’m hard pressed to think of anything else.

Playing the fiddle is one of those things that takes time to learn. Some people develop the skill quickly, while others keep scratching until the day they die and their relatives are happy to put them in their grave – along with the fiddle.

But when it’s all said and done, and you’ve accomplished what you’ve set out to do, you’ll feel as if you could leap tall buildings in a single bound; you’ll feel more powerful than a locomotive; you’ll feel as if you can run faster than a speeding bullet. And when you finally have this unimaginable feeling of invincibility, that’s the time you head over to your friendly neighborhood Harley shop, pick out a sweet ride, and take your pick of Biker Babes.

And what about the little woman at home? No need to worry. You’re invincible! Besides, she’s been debating on whether to kick you out of the house or shoot you ever since the day you brought home that fiddle. She’ll be happy to see you go. She might even pack you a lunch.

~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy Farr lives in East Texas with his wife, three children and some goats. To read more of his stories, visit his website at http://www.tracyfarr.net.

Monday Morning Musings

First, I want to thank everyone who has bought copies of One Small Victory this month for their Kindles. The book has become quite popular, and I am so thrilled that Jenny's story is getting read by so many people.

Today I am blogging on All Day, All Night Romance Divas about the tools writers use and how they have evolved. Stop on by if you get a chance. 

I spent most of the weekend unconnected from the Internet and even the news. It was kind of strange as I am seldom totally disconneced. Even when I am on vacation, I will check e-mail and get news online or on television, but I didn't do that this weekend. Wasn't on Facebook or Twitter either. So I don't have much to muse about.

However, I did read something interesting in the Saturday newspaper. It was in the advice column written by Carolyn Hax in response to a woman who wanted to know what to do when one partner in a marriage feels like they are doing all the heavy lifting. Carolyn encouraged the woman to have a frank discussion with her husband about what needs to be done to maintain the home and see what he is willing to do to help. She also encouraged the woman to  review her expectations and perhaps lower the bar. Carolyn concluded by writing:

There comes a point when standing up for yourself fails, when saying how you feel about it fails, when doing everything in angry silence fails, when doing your own cooking, laundry and dishes fails, and that point is when the marriage fails. Best to bring in the disaster team before your anger at the unfairness swallows up all the love."

I think we have all been there at some point, whether it be in a marriage or some other relationship. I can remember being angry with my siblings when I thought they were getting away with not doing their chores and my parents were all over me like hot tar. There were many moments when my anger over something my kids did, or didn't do, clouded my memory of the joy I felt when they were born. And there have been plenty of times I have been angry at my husband and that anger crowded out any feeling of love.

A long time ago, I learned something that helps me when the anger wants to dominate. Love is a decision. We can separate and protect that loving part of our relationships from the things that make us angry. It's part of unconditional love. You can make me so angry that I want to throttle you, but I can still love you if I choose. And it's funny, the more I choose, the less those other issues seem to matter.

How do you deal with the anger issues in your relationships? 

Book Review: Tomb With a View

Tomb With A View
By Casey Daniels
ISBN: 9780425235515
2010 mass market release
from Berkley Prime Crime

Pair one of our less interesting presidents, James A. Garfield, with a cute slender, sexually aware private detective, cum medium, and what do you get? You get this delightful cozy mystery, one of several in Casey Daniel’s series of Pepper Martin adventures.

But be warned. If you don’t like a bad pun or two, several tongue-in-cheek jokes and a huge riff on one of the presidents of these United States, this delightful novel isn’t your cup of tea.

On the other hand, if your humor runs to the mildly risqué, you don’t mind a self-aware sexy cemetery tour guide(!) who happens to be reluctantly channeling the dead President, and you enjoy fast-paced,well-conceived, criminally artful plots, this latest adventure of Pepper Martin is definitely a winner.

Around every prominent figure in history there swirls scandal and scandal attracts the greedy.  If this author is to be believed, an incredibly audacious land swap plan was under way when anarchist Charles Guiteau fired the bullet that cut short what might have been a sterling presidential career.

That’s all in the past. What’s here and now, is a well-managed funny, and twisty story peopled with interesting characters, not the least of whom is one well-named, Pepper Martin.

Carl Brookins
www.carlbrookins.com, www.agora2.blogspot.com
Devils Island, Bloody Halls, Reunion, Red Sky
more at Kindle, Smashwords & OmniLit!

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Thank you for sharing another review, Carl. Since he does not include a  FTC disclaimer when he sends these out for us to use, I will just state that I did not receive any benefit from this review, other than the fact that I did not have to write a post. And I don't pay him to send them and he does not pay me for using them.

Friday's Odds and Ends

Since the news from Japan continues to be so depressing, I thought I would focusing on positives this week…

A Methodist church in Lewisville, Texas has recently opened a drop-in teen shelter for kids who are homeless and need a place for support. At the shelter teens can get tutoring, mentoring for college applications, Internet access, and a permanent address for college correspondence.

What a wonderful idea, and good for that congregation for stepping up to help teens who want to go to college but see no way of accomplishing even the first steps toward making that happen.

Ebby Halliday, the founder of one of the largest and most successful real estate agencies, recently celebrated her 100th birthday in Dallas. According to all reports, she is still spry, sharp, and well-connected to family and friends.

I'm sure her good health, long life, and wide circle of friends and family mean as much to her as the success she has had since she started as a merchant in 1945, selling hats in Dallas.

Parents in Dallas can now access information about their child's school assignments, tests and attendance via a "parent portal." The portal is up at 50 campuses in the DISD, with plans to eventually have it district wide.

What a great way to use the advances in technology to help parents be more involved in their child's education.

And speaking of using technology in a really positive way. I just read an article by Trudy Rubin, a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer about how the recent revolution in Egypt was organized in large part by using Facebook. Young people created a Facebook memorial page called "We are all Khaled Said" in honor of the blogger who was beaten to death by police for protesting police corruption in his blog. They then connected with an Egyptian youth organization and a political group supporting the presidency of opposition candidate Mohammed ElBaradei - both on Facebook.

The connecting continued over several months while planning the massive protests and demonstrations on January 25th that toppled the Egyptian regime 18 days later. I guess we can never underestimate the power of Facebook to do more than just let us post our daily status.

And finally, kudos to the brave men and women who are working in the nuclear power plants in Japan, trying to save their countrymen. What an amazing act of courage.



What good news have you run across this week?

Where on Earth is Maryann Miller?

Today I am a guest on Patricia Stoltey's blog, where we are sharing tips on characterization. Stop on by if you can to read  what we all have to say about the people in our stories.

Responding to Japan Disaster

The other day while we were watching news reports from Japan, my husband wondered aloud when the Blame Game would start. That's what usually happens after a disaster of that magnitude... well actually after a disaster of any magnitude. We have a day or two or three of collective horror and sadness, and then we have to find someone or some entity to be the focus of our anger. We need to vent that emotion, strike out.

Surprisingly, the Blame Game has not started, but the media is busy noting all the ways this disaster is having bad effects for all of us. News sources are leading with stories about the nuclear melt-down and how that will affect people in far reaches of the world. Then there are all the stories about how the disaster impacted the stock market, and oil prices, and commodities trading.

What happened to the stories about the people of Japan? The families that lost loved ones. The people standing in line for hours to get into a supermarket that may have nothing but empty shelves. The heroic rescues of people trapped in rubble for days. The people who voluntarily stopped using non-essential electrical appliances.

And perhaps the most profound new item, at least to me, was about the fact that there has been no rioting or looting by the Japanese people. Perhaps it is because of the strong sense of community that comes from their Buddhist tradition, but whatever influences such restraint and respect for others is most commendable. 

I'm not saying that those other stories are not important. They certainly are. I'm just saying that I wish we could really hold up these positive stories as an example of "grace under fire."

If you would like to help the people of Japan in some way, here is a Web site that has a list of organizations that are providing relief and looking for donations. There is even one man, an American writer, Jason Kelly who is collecting socks. That may sound a bit silly, but he believes that "All human being are comforted by a clean, fresh pair of socks."

Monday Morning Musings

Does anyone but me hate daylight savings time? I woke up this morning at my usual time according to my internal clock, but it was an hour later according the clock on my nightstand. My watch agreed with the clock on the nightstand.

Getting out of bed at 7 in the morning and starting a day that includes an hour or so of outside chores and exercise, then breakfast, usually gets me into my office to start writing by 9:30. As I type this it is 10:50, and other than a quick check of e-mail, I haven't accomplished one writing-related task, let alone written a word on a new book. All too soon it will be time for noon chores and lunch. That'll put  me back in my office by 1, and I'll be wondering where the heck the day went.

Thinking about this difficulty I have adjusting, made me wonder if anyone has ever let a character deal with this in a story. Might be an interesting bit of characterization. Would one bear it stoically, because that is the right and proper thing to do? Or would one rant and rail against it the way I do?

Leave the #*&@^% time alone, would you!

Whew. Now that I have that off my chest, I want to thank everyone who ordered my book, One Small Victory, during the special celebration of Read An E-Book Week last week. The book made the best-seller list in suspense and thriller at Smashwords, going as high as number 3 and settling at the end in the number 10 spot. It also made the best-seller list on Kindle in the free books category, hitting number 2 for one day, then settling in at # 4.

It may take a while for those folks who ordered the book to get around to reading it. I know I ordered a number of books, some for free and some at deep discounts, and it will take time for me to read them all. But I will read them and leave a quick review and rating on Amazon and Smashwords if I like them. I hope other readers will, too. One of the things we writers are learning is that buzz about a title can make all the difference, and the buzz starts with readers liking a book and rating it on the online markets. So do your part. Support your favorite authors.

That's it for now. Hope everyone has a wonderful day and a productive week, and adjusts quickly to this stupid time change.

Book Review: Kind of Blue by Miles Corwin

 Thanks to Carl Brookins for sharing another review with us...


Kind of Blue
by Miles Corwin
ISBN: 978-1-60809-007-5
From Oceanview Publishing
323 pages, November, 2010

A few years ago, this author wrote a couple of serious non-fiction books about the Los Angeles Police Department.  He spent a lot of time with cops in that city and wrote books that became best-sellers, The Killing Season and And Still We Rise.

Now he’s back with a powerful persistent novel that draws from the same source material. Kind of Blue is not your ordinary police procedural. It constantly reminds readers that the cops involved are no super beings, rising above the worst humanity can offer to save their city; nor are they all thugs, wife beaters, and abusers.  They are ordinary citizens, sometimes corrupt, sometimes honorable and brilliant, often prejudiced, but too often willing to make the supreme sacrifice for the citizens they serve. And, occasionally they violate the rights of criminals.

Corwin bends a keen and discerning eye on this stew of varying humanity to fashion a fascinating novel of human relations. Asher Levine, a dedicated, mostly honest cop, is one of LA’s best homicide detectives. But as the book opens, Levine is a former cop, having abruptly resigned after he was unable to protect a vital witness from being murdered. The death of Latisha Patton, never solved, devastates the detective and causes him to question his abilities, even though it is clear that apart from his dedication, he is a brilliant detective. 

A year passes and a decorated officer has died, murdered in his home and the special homicide squad needs Levine’s help solving the case. More to the point, certain key executives in the LAPD hierarchy need the case solved or at least put to rest. Levine has had that year to discover his resignation hurts him more than it does the LAPD. With clearance from the top cops, Levine is fast tracked back to the force and handed the case.

The problem, of course, is that Levine won’t just concentrate on the current case and thus all sorts of actions that need to be buried along with the ghost of Latisha Patton. Traces of other earlier activity begin to resurface as Ash Levine winds his way through labyrinthine police and social structures of the street until he comes to the shocking final solution.

The title is apt, a riff on a 50 year old Miles Davis studio piece, the cover fits the mood and the attitude of the novel. All the elements fit nicely and it was a pleasure to read this excellent book.


Carl Brookins
www.carlbrookins.com, www.agora2.blogspot.com
Case of the Greedy Lawyer, Devils Island,
Bloody Halls, more at Kindle & Smashwords!

Friday's Odds and Ends

First I want to welcome my new followers. Thanks for connecting with me. I have enjoyed the new blogs I found via followers and love the way we are all finding each other was we crawl along the World Wide Web. Sometimes when I stop and think about the impact the Internet has had on our lives, I am simply amazed. Thank you, Al Gore... Oh, wait. It was really Tim Berners-Lee who invented the World Wide Web in 1991. Sorry Al, you lose again.

And now to our regularly scheduled program....

Howard Marlowe, president of the American League of Lobbyists recently had this to say about the moral quandary lobbyists face in accepting money to devend unsavory Middle Eastern Governments, "Thes kinds of regimes have a lot of money at their disposal, and that's a great attraction… You have to have a strong stomach."

So… Some Americans are making money off despicable mid-east leaders while other American's are dying fighting the terrorists that come out of many of those middle east countries? And just why do they need defending and to whom?

Say it isn't so.... Mark Cuban, the flamboyant owner of the Dallas Mavericks is negotiating with the actor who shall remain nameless because I do not want to add to his Google ranking for a reality TV show. Cuban owns the television station HDNet and said "We always look for interesting programming featuring interesting people doing interesting things.

Hmmm. My definition of interesting does not include someone talking about his addictions, overdoses, and the benefits of sleeping with porn stars.

And now to end on a positive note. Two women in Royse City Texas have walked around the world. Not literally, but the friends who have been walking together since 1978 on a daily basis  for exercise, recently realized they were about to closk mile 24, 901. They decided to hold a parade for their last mile and then hosted a party for friends. 

Way to go, ladies. For several years I walked with a friend several mornings a week. I think our total miles were maybe the distance between Dallas and the Mexico border. I was proud of that accomplishment until I read about these two ladies.

As always, I welcome comments, even if we don't agree on a topic. Getting other points of view broadens our perspectives.

Talk About Absurd

The Supreme Court recently overturned a judgment by a district court that had been given to the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas prohibiting them from demonstrating at the funerals of military men and women.

This group, that calls itself a church, shows up at the funerals carrying signs that read:  "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "God Hates America." The members have no respect for the dignity of the ceremony they are disrupting, nor the feelings of the family and friends who are mourning a loved one. Do they not even know that the proper respect for the dead calls for decorum? Many of us still stop our cars when a funeral procession passes, and I recently saw a State Trooper standing with his hat on his chest as he stopped traffic on a county road so a funeral procession could quietly roll out of a church parking lot. And further down the road when the line of cars turned into a cemetery, that same trooper stood in silent respect.

Compare that quiet, somber moment to the chaos of a demonstration with people shouting and waving placards. Imagine if you were burying your son or daughter, or wife or husband, how you would feel.

Oh, the disgrace, and yet our Supreme Court, with only one dissenter, ruled that the protesters are protected by First Amendment rights.

I'm sorry. I don't think the men who drafted the Constitution of the United States, ever envisioned a time when our moral compass would be so far off kilter that we would allow such ugly and debasing behavior and give it protection under the law.

Shame on the Supreme Court, and shame on us for supporting a society that is swirling closer and closer to the drain.

A Day of Promoting

Even though most of us writers would much rather be writing than promoting, this is still something we need to do. What good does it do to write books if nobody knows they are available, right? So today I'm wearing my PR hat.

First, I am excited to announce that  I am a guest on Chris Redding's blog with an excerpt from my new mystery, Open Season. Stop on by if you get a chance and meet Sarah, one of the detectives in the book. She's having a face-off with the internal affairs investigator and holding her own.


This evening I will be on  Passionate World Radio (PWR)  at 8:30 ET where we will be talking about One Small Victory and how the book came to be. The story was inspired by a woman who worked as a confidential informant to bring down a major drug distributor, and she is someone we all can admire. If you have the time, I would be delighted if you came by and listened. Once on the site, just click on the Listen Now button.

The host for the show, Lillian Cauldwell, is the founder and CEO of PWR, and she is also an author. She knows the difficulties of balancing the creative and marketing sides of the writing business, so the show will be informative about those issues as well.

One Small Victory was just released in paperback by BooksWeLove Publishing Partners. Even though it is selling well as an e-book via Smashwords and Kindle, I know there are still lots of people who like the paperback books, so I am happy to have this available for those readers.

More Book Deals

This special celebration for the anniversary of the first e-book has created quite an interest on the Internet with authors and publishers offering great deals on e-books.

I posted yesterday with some links to the official Read An eBook site where some authors are listed. You can also go directly to Smashwords and see which authors there are participating in the special sales. I have my suspense novel, One Small Victory, as a free download at Smashwords - a coupon is prominently displayed in the upper right corner. I also have it on my Web site for download. I've heard from readers today that the Smashwords site is sometimes overloaded, so you can do a quick free download from my Web site.

Books We Love Publishing Partners, my new publisher for Friends Forever and the paperback version of One Small Victory, is also celebrating Read an eBook Week by offering special deals. All BWLPP titles regularly priced $2.99 or higher are on sale for half price at Smashwords! Find the coupon code on each book page, and have fun shopping!

Read an E-Book Week

E-books are celebrating a 40th anniversary. Wow, I  did not know they had been in existence that long, as I first heard about them about 25 years ago. Some pioneering e-publishers predicted that e-books would have a huge surge in popularity within 5 years, but it took another 20 years for the surge to really hit. Now we are facing an exciting time for authors and publishers with the popularity of dedicated reading devices and publishing programs that get more books out for readers to enjoy.

E-books began in 1971 when Michael Hart was given $100,000.00 worth of computer time with a Xerox Sigma V mainframe computer. He decided that the greatest value created by computers would not be computing, but would be the storage, retrieval, and searching of what was stored in our libraries. The first "e-book" was born—a copy of the Declaration of Independence. Those humble beginnings would become Project Gutenberg. Today Project Gutenberg houses 20,000 free texts and over 100,000 books are available through their partners. Today over 3,000,000 books are downloaded each month. For more of the history of printing and the evolution to where we are now visit the Web site of Read an E-Book Week.

There, you will also find a list of authors, myself included, who are participating in a week-long celebration by offering deeply discounted or free books for reading on various electronic devices. To view the list of authors and their book, click on the E-Book Week Specials tab on the left sidebar.

Additionally, I am offering a free read of my suspense novel, One Small Victory, at Smashwords, one of the major venues for authors to publish their work.. The coupon code is prominently displayed near the top of the page.


Even if  you don't have a dedicated e-book reader, most e-books are formatted for Palm, iPhone, iPad, and other electronic devices, and there are Kindle apps for most of them. This is a great opportunity to stock up for some summer reading and try some new authors. I hope you will give it a try.

Friday's Odds and Ends

Before we get to the regularly scheduled program, I have a guest piece on Elizabeth Spann Craig's Mystery Writing is Murder blog. We are talking about jigsaw puzzles and writing and what they have in common. Stop on by if you have a minute.

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Add caption

Dennis Montgomery, who owns a California computer company, sold fake technology that was supposed to assist in tracking terrorists to the military. It took two years for the Air Force to cancel the contract after the fraud was brought to light. The extent of the fraud may never be known because the Justice Department believes that releasing the details would be a threat to national security. More details HERE

What is wrong with that picture? Is the bureaucracy of the military so over loaded that someone could not have pulled the plug in, say, a week and saved millions?  Do we have a right to know the details of this fraud?

Obama's 2012 budget cuts calls for reduction of the charitable donation tax deduction. Rick Dunham, CEO of a company that assists non-profits wrote and op-ed piece in which he stated, "Our charitable deduction ensures that the wealthy have an incentive to share their financial blessings with the less fortunate."

While I agree that the deduction should stay in place, the idealist in me wishes the wealthy could donate because it is a good thing to do. Why does everything have to include a personal benefit? Have we totally succumbed to the the "What's in it for me?" mentality?

The latest trend in gardening for the busy family. There are now expert gardeners, who, for a fee, will come to your home and create a garden. They bring tools, compost, mulch, hoses, seeds and starter plants and will build raised beds, then plant your garden. If you are too busy to tend to the garden, they will come out regularly to pull weeds and take care of any other gardening chores. They'll even come out and harvest. According to an article in The Dallas Morning News, this approach to gardening has become popular in Dallas, Austin, and Seattle, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is not springing up in other places.

I'll admit that I have been tempted in recent years to hire someone to dig my garden, I don't think I would go so far as to hire a company to do it all. Some of the physiological benefits of gardening are lost if you are not putting your own hands in the dirt to plant the seeds and nurturing the plants until you are ready to pick that first juicy tomato.

What about you? Would you hire folks to do a garden?

New Opportunities in Publishing

This is an exciting time for writers with all the new avenues of publication opening up with e-books and digital publishing, and I have enjoyed hearing of the success of writers like Joe Konrath, LJ Sellers, and others who have sold hundreds of books. (They also have great tips and advice on self-publishing.)

I have put some titles up on Kindle and Smashwords myself, but recently decided to go through Books We Love Publishing Partners and let them do all the formatting for the different venues. I am not technically savvy and my learning curve for all things computer is very steep. Just ask my kids who dread the e-mail from me with the subject line "Help."

There are pros and cons to going with a publisher as opposed to uploading books independently, and one of the reasons I decided to do the former is because I've had a long relationship with Books We Love. They have been in the business of connecting authors and readers for several years and that connecting is still going on with the publishing arm of the business. Sure, I will still have to do a lot of my own promoting, as most of us writers have to do now, but BWLPP is doing some, too. That is a real advantage for me, as well, because promoting is my second least favorite thing to do.

BWLPP is taking a small percentage of the book sales, and I am willing to give them that for the ease of publication, as well as the added promotion. Many other writers are doing it all themselves, and I admire them for that. But it is not for me, and I think we all need to take the path of most comfort when it comes to taking advantage of these new opportunities.

What about you? Would you go totally independent, or take advantage of a publisher?

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One Small Victory is now available in paperback. It has been on Kindle and Smashwords for almost a year and BWLPP just released the paper edition via CreateSpace on Amazon.

Friends Forever is enjoying a new life in paperback and as an e-book, also through BWLPP. It has been revised and updated since it's first brief publication years ago.