Just a Little BSP

Yesterday was the official launch party for the new International Anthology, Short and Happy (Or Not), that contains my short story To Love Again. The book was just released this week on Amazon and already has 9 reviews. One reviewer wrote: "A sampling in all the right ways. Overall one of my favorite reads in the past couple of months. I had a lot of fun stepping inside the minds of somany diverse and engaging authors."

I also want to announce that my mystery, Boxes for Beds, which was a Kindle exclusive for almost a year, is now available for Kobo, Nook, iTunes, Inktera. Of course it is still available for Kindle readers, too. I just decided to open distribution and used Draft2Digital, a terrific company that helps indie authors who don't want to take the time to create all the different formats for all of these retail outlets.

The folks at D2D will convert a Word document into an ebook, create clean chapter breaks and a functioning table of contents. It is a quick and easy process from the author end and I highly recommend the service. There is no upfront charge and D2D only takes 10% of the retail price.

And now, so this isn't just about me, here is an interview with Laura Parker on Regan Walker's blog Historical Romance Review. Laura is the best-selling author of 40 books, many of them historical romances, and her Rose Trilogy is being offered as a boxed set through Untreed Reads. I read all three books in the series that started with Rose of the Mists and they are terrific stories. The new release has a different cover, but here is the original from that first book.

Since books make great gifts, it is not too soon to think about some of the written treasures for folks on your gift list.

Friday's Odds and Ends

 


       Happy Valentine's Day

Do you have special plans for the day - evening? I'm glad I have play rehearsal tonight so I won't  be alone.

Today is the last day for the sale at Untreed Reads where all romance titles are discounted 30% off. All categories of romance from sweet to sexy are offered, including my romance novel, Play It Again, Sam.  One of my favorites from Laura Parker, Rose of the Mists, is also part of this sale.

Have you been watching the Olympics? What are your favorite events in the winter games? Figure skating is always high on my list, as well as the ice-dancing. I always get a bit nostalgic, remembering when I used to do a bit of figure skating, and my brother and I would dance on roller skates at the neighborhood rink.  Those were good times.

Coverage of the events has included the complaints about conditions at event venues not being optimum, especially during the slopestyle snowboarding competition. Apparetnly accomodations for the athletes have not been optimum either. The following notice was given to the Olympics volunteers and staffers in Sochi: "Due to an extreme shortage of pillows for athetes who unexpectedly arrived to Olympic Village in the mountains, there will be a transfer of pillows from all apartments to the storehouse on 2 February 2014."

Huh? They weren't expecting the athletes?  If it's not too late, I have a few pillows to share.

Photo Courtesy of Alaska Sleep Clinic

The other day I heard a comment aimed toward politicians, "Remember, you are running for something not against someone, so you don't have to get ugly."

Someone ought to make a banner out of that and send it to every campaign headquarters to be prominently displayed. Campaigning has gotten increasingly ugly year after year, and right now I am getting so tired of hearing politicians in TX talk about "how they will fight Obama." I know plenty of people don't like him, specially here in TX, but could we please stop portraying him as the enemy? At the very least you could respect the office, and contrary to what some folks might think, he is not "waging a war on Texas." So politicians need to stop saying, "I will win the war against Obama."

Please stop.

I will vote for the first candidate for any Texas office who does not include the president's name in his or her campaign ad.

Now to end on a lighter note.  "Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they’re looking for ideas." ~Paula Poundstone

Monday Morning Musings

First off some book news. I'm about to re-release a mystery, Doubletake, that I wrote with a co-author a number of years ago. It's another police procedural, but not part of the Seasons Series. It was published by a small publisher, and maybe sold ten copies, other than those I sold at signing events or out of the trunk of my car. Hey, didn't Grisham start that way? I think he did, but he put a lot more miles on his car than I did.

Not the finished cover, but close. What do you think?

Anyway, I did all the formatting myself, and gained a great appreciation for those folks who do that for a living. It is the most tedious, eye-straining work I have ever done, and there is no way I am going to do the formatting for the ebook version. I will gladly pay Untreed Reads their nominal fee to do that for me and get the book into all the outlets for ebook reading.

An article in Sunday's Dallas Morning News written by Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld was titled What Drives Success. In it, the authors of  the new book The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America talk about the ethnic groups in America that are currently experiencing the most upward mobility. While doing the research for their book they discovered that some of the most successful ethnic groups in terms of earning power come from India, Iran, Lebanon and Chinese.

The couple noted that it is usually first-generation immigrants who have the most success, perhaps because of the three traits Chua and Rubenfeld identified:

It turns out that for all their diversity, the strikingly successful groups in America today share three traits that, together, propel success. The first is a superiority complex — a deep-seated belief in their exceptionality. The second appears to be the opposite — insecurity, a feeling that you or what you’ve done is not good enough. The third is impulse control.

In the article the authors explain the seemingly contradictory "superiority" and "insecurity" and how the two traits work together to motivate hard work, which is another ingredient of success. The authors believe that anyone can develop these traits:

It requires turning the ability to work hard, to persevere and to overcome adversity into a source of personal superiority. This kind of superiority complex isn’t ethnically or religiously exclusive. It’s the pride a person takes in his own strength of will.

The article is quite interesting and worth a read if you have a moment. Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld are professors at Yale Law School. Chua, one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2011, is the author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, which unleashed a firestorm debate about the cultural value of self-discipline, as well as the bestselling World on Fire. Rubenfeld examined the political dangers of “living in the moment” in Freedom and Time; he is also the author of the international bestseller The Interpretation of Murder. (I'm tempted to buy this one as the write-up on Amazon intrigued me, but I really hate to pay almost $9 for an ebook. I do hope major publishers soon realize that prices should be a bit lower. I'm not the only consumer who does not buy an e-book priced over $5.)

Now a reminder about the special sale at Untreed Reads through Valentine's Day. All romance titles are on sale for 30% off. All categories of romance from sweet to sexy are offered, including my romance novel, Play It Again, Sam.  One of my favorites from Laura Parker, Rose of the Mists, is also part of this sale.

It is still so cold here that my hands don't always want to work. I'm tempted to get some of these gloves:

Available from Japan Trend Shop

Hope you are warm and toasty wherever you live.

Daybreak. Coffee. The Big Two

My friend, Slim Randles is back again as Wednesday's Guest. This essay is a bit different from most of his others that are laced with lots of humor. This one is laced with a bit of homespun philosophy. I like it, and hope you do, too. Since we are not down at the Mule Barn where coffee is served in industrial-sized mugs, maybe you will join me in a cup of tea. I promise it has enough caffeine to stir the old brain muscles into wakefulness.

While Slim is entertaining us here, I am over at The Blood Red Pencil blog today, with the inside story about Untreed Reads. Never heard of that publisher? Here's your chance to find out a bit about them. Good folks there.

There’s something so satisfying about getting out of bed when the world is still dark and quiet and resting. Making the coffee gives us time to scratch and think. Well, scratch, anyway. Most of that thinking will start after about the third cup.

But it’s a quiet time. A private time. When the world is dark, and there isn’t yet a hint of pink over the eastern mountains, it’s very good. We can relax. No one is expecting anything from us right now. Our guilt can take some time off, and we can listen to music or work a crossword puzzle or turn on the TV and watch the weather guy discuss millibars and troughs.

Sunrise at my little piece of Heaven

Soon enough, we’ll have to be out there living for others: our bosses, our customers, our animals, our fields. But right now no one needs us except the dog, and she does well on kibbles and an occasional drive-by ear rumple.

We can look out the window at the eastern glow and wonder what will happen in the hours until our world turns dark again. People will be born and people will die. People will win honors and people will go to jail. People will create things today that live past them and people will disappear forever. People will write about these things and other people will read about these things.

And then the world will go dark and dormant on us again and we’ll think about what happened in our tiny portion of this huge moving amalgam and hopefully we’ll sleep easily tonight. Then, when we arise tomorrow and head for the coffee pot, we can think about what happened today, and how it has made us slightly different for taking on the next tomorrow.

Come to us, daylight. Bring us the new day. But do it gently, please, and slowly enough for one more cup.
---------
If you like what Slim shares here, you will enjoy his books. Check out his author page on Amazon if you have a moment. His books are a delight, and they make perfect gifts for any occasion,

In order to provide these columns for free and still buy groceries, Slim has sponsors, and the current sponsor is Beltone Hearing Aids,  so we do have to do this little ad:

Beethoven never heard his Ninth Symphony, but you can. It begins with a free hearing test. Beltone.  1-866-867-8700.

Monday Morning Musings - Too Much Money?

A few times I've mentioned on my blog my dismay over the widening gap between the very, very rich and the rest of us. Some folks have wondered, by way of a comment, whether I was suffering from a bad case of sour grapes. They have pointed out that this is the way the free enterprise system works, and people should be able to make as much money as they are capable of. That is true on so many levels, and I have never begrudged the financial success of most people.

What I have railed against are the people who have bajillions of dollars and still want more. Shouldn't there be a point where enough is enough?

Photo courtesy of  SignSpecialist.com

I was pleased to read a column in The Dallas Morning News yesterday written by Sam Polk, a former hedge fund trader. In the article he chronicled his own addition to greed and what it took for him to reach the point of enough. He was honest about how he, and others like him, made money in 2008, when so many of us were watching our retirement fund wither away to practically nothing. He thought that it was perfectly okay for that to happen, until he heard a callous remark by his boss about the financial crisis. "All I'm concerned about is how this affects our company."

Then he noticed "the vitriol that traders directed at the government for limiting bonuses after the crash."

Polk then wrote, "I'd always looked enviously at the people who earned more than I did; now, for the first time, I was embarrassed for them and for me. What had seemed normal now seemed deeply distorted."

Polk referred to his, and others, desperate need for more and more money, as a greed addiction. A former drug addict, he was well-acquainted with the signs and symptoms of addiction, and that need for more money to him was just like his previous need for more drugs. That addiction cost him his long-time girlfriend who told him "I don't like who you've become."

So I'm going on the record again. There is something distasteful and disturbing about this mad scramble for more and more money, no matter the cost to others. According to Polk's essay, in 2012 the McDonald's CEO, Don Thompson, was paid $14 million in compensation - $8.5 million of that being a  bonus, while at the same time the company published a brochure for its workforce on how to survive on their low wages.

That is only one example of how this disparity affects people and business, and it is sad to think that could be multiplied thousands of times.

What can be done about it? I don't know. Not government interference, that's for sure. Is there a way to teach financial integrity in business programs at colleges and universities?

Polk has taken one small step toward doing something by helping disadvantaged people throughout the world. He founded Groceryships, a program that provides money for families to buy fruits, vegetables, grains, beans and seeds for six months. The program then provides education and support to empower people to increase health by incorporating more of these healthful foods into their diets. Polk also ended his essay with this plea to others who may be addicted to wealth. "If you identify with what I’ve written but are reluctant to leave, then take a small step in the right direction. Let’s create a fund where everyone agrees to put, say, 25 percent of their annual bonuses into it, and we’ll use that to help some of the people who actually need the money that we’ve been so rabidly chasing. Together, maybe we can make a real contribution to the world."

Maybe they can.

Now a reminder about the special sale at Untreed Reads through Valentine's Day. All romance titles are on sale for 30% off. This includes all categories of romance from sweet to sexy, this includes my romance novel, Play It Again, Sam.

And finally, a reminder that spring will come again.

Photos courtesy of Mother Nature and my Nikon Camera

Special Wednesday's Guest

Happy Hump Day everyone. This morning I was going to post another column from Slim Randles, but then Sam started bugging me. Sam, Samantha Rutgers, from Play it Again, Sam, had a few things on her mind, and she wouldn't go away and leave me alone. I'm not making this up folk. Well, I guess I am partially responsible because I did make her up when I wrote the book, but I'm sure all the writers reading this are nodding and saying, "I know what you mean."

Characters become very real to us, and even when the book is finished and has been published, sometimes they come back to talk to us again. On one hand, that can be disruptive when we are working on a new story, but on the other hand, it is kind of neat to have a visit with them again. So, here is Sam with the questions she had for me today. Grab a cup of coffee and a slice of this hot apple pie and join us....

Sam: Now it's my turn?

Me: Yes. What do you want to know?

Sam: Well, first I want to thank you for giving me a happy ending.

Me: You're welcome. Most stories should have a happy ending. Otherwise the reader will be disappointed, especially in a romance novel. So what is your question?

Sam: I wondered why you named me Sam. And why the whole Casablanca thing?

Me: Didn't you like it?

Sam: Hey, I thought I was asking the questions.

Me: Okay, okay. Boy, you sure have gotten pushy now that you are all self-actualized and all.

Sam: Self what?

Me: Sure of yourself. Strong. Confident. Remember how you were in the beginning of the story?

Sam: Oh, right. So anyway, my question?

Me: Okay. When I wrote the story I wanted to say something about a person who starts her life over again, and the phrase "play it again" kept running through my mind. That reminded me of Casablanca, one of the best love stories ever, so I decided to make it a favorite of yours.

Sam: What if I didn't like it?

Me: But you did, right?

Sam: Yeah.

Me: And I didn't make you like it just because I wanted you to, right?

Sam: That's true. At first I wasn't sure, but when I saw the movie I fell in love with it. And then that whole thing you did with Frank when he-

Me: Stop! Don't tell. You don't want to give anything away. Then people might not read your story and see how you became all self-actualized.

Sam: I kind of like that. Self-Actualized. Thanks.

Me: You're welcome. That was all part of your character arc.

Sam: I don't care why you did it. I'm just glad that my life turned out so well after John. He sure did kick the foundation out from under me.

Me: So you built a new one. There's an old adage "That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger." Or something like that. But you know what I mean. You made choices throughout the story that made you stronger, until you became who you are now.

Sam: I did, didn't I.

Me: Yes you did. This was your story. Not mine. So... now could you go away for a while. I do have some other characters I need to be talking to right now.

Sam: Okay, okay. I think I'll go someplace warm and play on a beach. It is freakin' cold here.

Me: Can I go with you?

Sam: Nope. You said you had to work. Chop, chop, girl.

If you enjoyed meeting Sam and would like to know her "happy ever after" ending, Play It Again, Sam is on sale at Untreed Reads for 30% off the cover price from now through Valentine's Day. It is just one of the many romance novels on sale during this special event.

Monday Morning Musings

Today we honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Some people don't think any more of the day other than the fact that it is a holiday and a day off work. Other people are irritated that there is yet another holiday to inconvenience them by closing banks, the postal service, and other government offices. Thank goodness, there are many more who recognize the importance of what he did and the need to celebrate and honor that.

And thank goodness that we teach our children and grandchildren the legacy that King left us. Here in my small town there is an annual celebration that draws close to two hundred people, which is good since the population is just over 3,000. The majority of those people are African-American, but more and more people of other colors and cultures show up each year. There are, of course, the obligatory speeches by city and church leaders, but there is also a wide variety of entertainment, singing and dancing and dramatic readings of some of King's most memorable speeches. It is always a good reminder of what Dr. King stood for.

I was proud to be active in the Civil Rights Movement, and we have made strides in acceptance and equality since the early 60s, yet prejudice and bigotry still impact our society way too much. Dr. King's mission will not be complete until that no longer happens.

Dr. King left quite a list of inspirational quotes, and this is one of my favorites, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

Wonderful words, but only wonderful if we take them to heart and act on them.

On the opposite side of the "love/peace" coin is the increasing danger students face when they go to school. According to a report in The Beast by Brandy Zadrozny, there have been 24 school shootings since the Newtown tragedy two years ago, the most recent in Philadelphia. While this latest one appears not to be the same as incidents of anger-motivated mass shootings, it still causes great concern. In a more recent article in The Guardian Liberty Voice,  giving more details about the shooting at Delaware Valley Charter High School  Michele Wessel questions how a young man was able to get a weapon into the school that was equipped with metal detectors. 

Good question, but perhaps a better one - how did the kid manage to leave home with a gun?

On another note, as we look ahead to February and Valentine's Day, Untreed Reads is having a special sale on romance novels - 30% off - from now through February 14th. I'm happy that my romance, Play it Again, Sam will be included in that sale along with other romance titles published by Uncial Press. They publish everything from sweet romance to hot, hot, hot, so there is something for everyone's taste in a love story. Visit the Untreed Reads Store to see all the titles in the sale.

Ebook Challenge

Today's Wednesday's Guest is Jay Hartman, one of the partners at Untreed Reads, a terrific ebook publisher. The folks over there came up with this idea for something fun to do during the bleary days of January. I am pleased to have several of my titles among the hundreds of books offered by Untreed Reads. They all qualify for this special.

Let's all have a glass of lemonade and pretend it's summer. :-)

January is typically the month where people set all types of goals and challenges for themselves. One type of very popular challenge is to read a certain number of books over the course of the year.

We think reading is pretty essential to a happy life, and challenging yourself to read more over the course of a year will keep your brain as healthy as giving up chocolate cake or soft drinks. So we want to make it even easier to help you meet that goal.

We've setup The 2014 Untreed Reads Ebook Challenge to get everyone's brains all fired up. If you'd like to participate, all you need to do is the following:

1. Send your name and email address to 2014Challenge@untreedreads.com . If you're participating in another reading challenge on the Internet, be sure to let us know that too. We won't EVER share your info with anyone else, but we'll add you to our New Releases newsletter so you can see the great new books coming down the pike...plus get even more coupons!

2. Each month we'll send you a coupon good for a free download from our store (http://store.untreedreads.com). You can choose any title up to $5.99 and in any format you prefer: EPUB, PDF or Kindle.

3. Read the book and leave a review in our store and as many other places you can, such as Amazon and Goodreads. Please leave an honest review! You'll also need to include in your review that you received a free copy of the book in exchange for a review. The government requires that. Darn red tape!

Don't break your resolution to stop procrastinating! We're only accepting sign-ups through January 31st, so be sure to take advantage of this great opportunity!

On another note, I will be out of town until next week, so I am taking a break from blogging. See everyone next week.For a little bit of fun for your Wednesday check out the nonsense Slim Randles shared at The Blood Red Pencil.

I also want to mention that my mystery, Boxes For Beds, is on a special countdown sale at Amazon through Saturday.  If you missed out  on getting a copy when it was offered free, this is your chance to get it for only $1.99. After that, the price goes back to $3.99. If you don't have a Kindle reader, you can get Kindle Apps for all other electronic devices. Here's what one reviewer had to say about the story, "Excellent characterization and a good plot."

Finally, here are a couple of jokes I stole... er.. borrowed from my friend LD Masterson.

The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn sing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

That's all folks. Have a great week.

Monday Morning Musings - Cyber Monday Sales

There are a lot of terrific sales going on for Cyber Monday, and this is my preferred way to shop rather than deal with the crowds at the stores over the weekend. I found a website, Cyber Monday 2013 Deals, that has 29 pages of links to special deals. I like being able to find things in one spot, rather than having to check all the online retail sites. 

A special sale on e-books has begun with 50% off all titles from Untreed Reads, This includes books published directly by Untreed Reads, as well as books they distribute for publishers like Uncial Press and Books We Love. The sale runs until just before midnight tonight, and most short stories only $0.25 each. There are hourly special deals, as well, so check the main page of the store to find out about those. I'm pleased to have my holiday short story, The Last Dollar, as part of that sale, along with my other short stories, so this is a good time to load up an e-reader for yourself or as a gift.

The Holiday show I have been working on at the local art center will open this Friday, so I am going to be busy all week with the last minute things that always seem to pop up. This is a special show that has some music in addition to a short original play, Calliope's Christmas. The story concept was developed by a local lady, and she gave me free rein to adapt the story to a stage play. It has some wonderful characters, primarily a cat and a hare who learn the meaning of Christmas, thanks to Max, the dog.

It has been great fun working with the kids to prepare the show, and I have had great assistance from so many people who have helped with costumes and set decorations. Many hands working together certainly does make any job easier and more fun. But I must say it was quite a challenge to make a costume so the boy playing the hare would look like a real animal.

Are you taking advantage of the Cyber Monday sales? Did you do Black Friday? Are there favorite holiday shows that you like to see at a theatre or on Television?

Sale on E-Books

 All Untreed Reads And Distribution Titles On Sale 50% Off This Month At Kobo!

 

The folks at Untreed Reads just let me know that Kobo is running a special sale for the rest of this month. There is a coupon code that will give readers 50% off their purchase. Every title by Untreed Reads and all of its distribution clients can be purchased at 50% off with the code, and there is no limit.   Nearly one million titles are part of the sale, and the coupon can be reused!

  All books purchased through Kobo are EPUBs, meaning they can be read on every single device or computer in the world except for a Kindle or the Kindle app.

  Kobo has its own free app for all reading devices and computers. The person who notified me said he has it installed on a Mac, an iPad, a Galaxy S3 and a Barnes and Noble Nook.

  Readers from around the world can buy from Kobo, and the markets included in this sale are US, Canada and the UK.

  Kobo has a program that supports your local bookstores and enables your local brick-and-mortar to sell ebooks and stay open.

To take advantage of this promo, simply head over to Kobo. Add as many titles as you'd like to your cart and enter coupon code Sept50 during checkout. This includes all of my books that are distributed through Untreed Reads.

No Book Review Today

Since I thoroughly messed up my blogging schedule by posting a review on Friday, I thought I would just skip it for today. Remember, I said "sometimes a review on Sunday." (smile)

Instead, I want to let you know that this coming Wednesday I have a guest coming, the "Retro" guy, Jeremy Hawkins, who is on the "It's Time" tour to introduce his new books and his new site "Being Retro" where he shares all things retro, and may include a zombie now and then. He is a terrific writer, musician, and artist and has promotional materials available for folks who are trying to spread the word about their business, book, film, music, or whatever. Plus he's just a heck of a nice guy.

I first met Jeremy via the annual Blogging From A to Z Challenge, and even though I don't care for zombies, he let me be on his Minion Team last April. It was fun working with him, and I am so excited for his new venture. Plus I like his website better with fewer zombies on it. (smile)

He sent me some pictures from his books, and they are terrific. Not all are my style, but he already knows my taste in art, music and books is more traditional. However, I can appreciate his talent, and he does have some lovely pictures that satisfy this traditional soul. I do love the covers of the first two books. Here is book one, and you can see book two cover on Wednesday. And the book titles, as well as the name of this tour will all make perfect sense. I'll admit I wondered about the titles.

Please do come back on Wednesday to see what he has ready to share with us. In the meantime, you can catch up with his tour schedule on his Being Retro site.

I also wanted to mention a terrific Labor Day sale going on at Untreed Reads. Many of the books and short stories there, including some of mine, are discounted 40% through Monday. No special codes needed. Just go pick out the book of your choice and get it for the lower price. You can get any of my short stories, including the popular retelling of the Goldilocks story, The Visitor.

Birthday's, Gifts, and Bargain Books

I know, it's Tuesday and I don't normally post on Tuesday, but there are so many neat things going on this week, and this month, I just had to tell you about them.

First, of course, is my birthday on July Fourth. The other day my friend, Alex J. Cavanaugh suggested we have fireworks to celebrate. What a novel idea. I think I'll try that while my kids are here at "Grandma's Ranch" helping me not to feel too bad about reaching another speed limit number. By the way, it is not the speed limit that is recommended to get the best gas mileage. In fact, one should not even watch his or her gas gauge while driving at this speed. 

It seems that July is the month that lots of publishers and authors have decided to run special sales on their books. I told you last week about the sale Untreed Reads is having on short stories - 4 For the Fourth - in which you can purchase 4 short stories for a dollar.  There's a list of books, as well as all the details on my blog post Special Sale For the Fourth of July.

Tying into the themes of birthdays and gifts, I decided that this year on my birthday, I should give a gift or two, so I am giving one person who comments on any of the blogs from last Wednesday through tomorrow all four of my short stories that are at Untreed Reads. All you have to do is leave a comment, with a contact e-mail please, and I will draw a winner on Thursday morning and arrange the gift. The short stories are; The Visitor, a retelling of the Goldilocks story; Making it Home, a story that was first published in Lady's Circle magazine; The Last Dollar, a holiday story with a message for any time of the year; and SAHM, I Am, a humorous story about a woman and a home computer.

One of my publishers, Books We Love, is taking part in the month-long sale at Smashwords, where many books are priced at 50% off. What a terrific deal, and my short story collection, The Wisdom of Ages, is offered in the sale. As is my YA novel,  Friends Forever. 

Here is the opening of the book:

"Growing up isn’t easy,” Debbie’s mother said as she worked a touch of yellow into the flowers coming to life on a canvas in front of her. “Goodness knows it’s never been easy, but the worst thing I had to worry about when I was your age was whether I’d get a new pimple on the night of my first date. We didn’t have to deal with drugs or wonder if someone was hanging around school with a gun.”

Debbie stood there half-listening, impatient to be off to meet Lauren. She knew her mother meant well, but really. How many times did she have to listen to this same litany?

Her mother’s voice droned on. “I’d never heard of uppers or downers. The only pills I’d ever seen were aspirins. The first time one of those melted in my mouth, I decided I’d never...”

“Mom,” Debbie glanced at the door. “Could we talk about this some other time? I promised to meet Lauren and I’m already late.”

There are lots of great books being offered in these sales, so I hope you find some good books and stories to add to your summer reading list. I have grabbed a few and plan to spend some early mornings on my deck enjoying them.

What do you have on your summer reading list?

Special Sale for the Fourth of July

If you stopped by to meet Wednesday's Guest, you might want to check yesterday's post for a guest who could not make it today and get to know Ellen Harger. I am over at the Blood Red Pencil today where we are discussing authors writing book reviews. It is a discussion that started on Kristen Lamb's blog a week or so ago, and there are lots of pros and cons being tossed around. You might want to toss an opinion into the mix.

On another note, Untreed Reads is having a special sale to celebrate Independence Day! 

Now through July 4th, you can pick any four short stories (priced at $0.99 or less) and add them to your cart. During checkout, enter coupon code FIREWORKS and you'll get those four stories for only a dollar!

Even better news! You can use this coupon over and over, so come back and pick any other four short stories and get those for only $1.00 as well. We've even improved The Untreed Reads Store so that for many titles you can send the EPUB version directly to your Nook from your bookshelf, or send the MOBI version straight to your Kindle.

Click HERE for mystery short stories.
Click HERE for horror short stories.
Click HERE for romance short stories.
Click HERE for science fiction and fantasy short stories.
Click HERE for literary short stories.
Click HERE for experimental fiction short stories.

So many books - How can I choose?

I have four short stories with Untreed Reads - Making it Home - The Last Dollar - The Visitor - SAHM I Am . They are all included in the sale, so this is a great time to sample them. I have also decided to offer them as a special gift on July Fourth. Since that is my birthday, I thought I would give gifts as well as receive them. So I will give the short stories to one of my visitors who comment on any blog post starting with today's and continuing through the Fourth. Names will be put in a hat and one of my cats will use a very sharp claw to draw one out.

Don't forget to leave an e-mail so I can contact you.

Wednesday's Guest - A Surprise

While I was taking my walk this morning, one of my characters, Samantha Rutgers from Play it Again, Sam, started talking to me. She insisted she wanted the floor, so to speak, so here she is to share some thoughts with you. I figured if I let her have this space, she would then hush and let Sarah and Angel talk to me. It's their book I need to be writing now.

While Maryann did a pretty decent job telling my story in fiction.

Um, excuse me?

Okay, maybe a bit better than decent. Satisfied, Maryann?

Now where was I? Oh, right. I just realized that Maryann has never shared much about the story behind the story. Play it Again, Sam is fiction, but it was inspired by a true story, and, boy, did Maryann ever make me relate to that poor lady who had to hear her husband say he didn't love her any more.

Can you imagine what a kick in the gut that can be?

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who are getting kicked, men as well as women. Their spouses decide for some reason or another that they would be happier with someone else.

The problem with that thinking is that we shouldn't be counting on others to make us happy.  It is ultimately up to us to decide that we will be satisfied with our lives.

That's a hard concept to live. Sometimes we just want to be a child again and have a mommy come and fix what is wrong and put a band-aid on our emotional sores. It takes a lot of courage to grow past that childhood impulse and charge through whatever adversity comes our way.

In my story, I have as much growing up to do as my fictional daughter, Melissa. I relied too much on my husband and our life together to give me happiness and satisfaction, and I had to go out and find it for myself.  It wasn't easy, but I did it, and I can be proud of that.

I am also proud to be patterned after a strong lady who did the same. Authors make happy-ever-after happen in fiction, we make it happen in real life.

For another week Play It Again, Sam, is featured in a special sale at Untreed Reads. It is just one of a number of romance novels available for a 30% discount through February 14. Click on the title link to take advantage of the sale. To see all the novels offered by Untreed Reads, click on their link.

If you take advantage of the sale, I hope you will let Maryann know. She will tell me.

Thanks for listening... er, reading.

Monday Morning Musing

So what was your favorite Super Bowl commercial? Which one(s) would you give a thumbs down to? For me, some were easy to dislike, like the GoDaddy one that had the couple kissing. Sorry, GoDaddy, I like your site, but that commercial was awful.

I liked the Doritos ad that featured the man and the goat. Maybe I related because I have a goat, and I could see her plotting to kill me if I stopped giving her treats. But the commercial that I loved was the Dodge Ram commercial celebrating farmers, narrated by the late Paul Harvey. I know that one resonated with me because I play at farming here on my little piece of East Texas, but I have also loved and respected farmers my whole life. They are in my family and my circle of friends. The ad told of all the reasons "God made a farmer," and it was very poignant.

Inspired by the commercial, I went out and planted potatoes and peas in my garden this morning.

I'm not even going to join the debate about the half-time show, as I did not watch it. I don't care for that style of music, so I cleaned up my kitchen while the show was on. This morning I discovered that there has been some backlash from folks who did not think the show was family-friendly. Well, not much in our pop culture is anymore.

Oops, I just joined the debate. Sorry.

On another note, my publisher for Play It Again, Sam, Uncial Press, has partnered with Untreed Reads for a special sale event, offering books for a 30% discount through February 14. Click on the title link to take advantage of the sale. To see all the novels offered by Untreed Reads, click on their link. 

BLURB: Life as she knows it ceases to exist for Samantha Rutgers when her husband of twenty-plus years decides he no longer loves her. The challenges are myriad. Can she build a life without him? Will her daughter always blame her? Can she ever trust a man again?
    And what is she going to do about sex?