Welcome to Author Tierney James!

Tell readers a little about yourself so they can get the feel of where you’re coming from.

 I’m a former Solar System Ambassador for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab as well as a former geography teacher. Besides working on a Native American reservation, floating the Okavango Delta of Botswana, Africa and visiting The Great Wall of China, I was lucky enough to have spent time at Space Camp for Educators. Living in a mining community for many years led to writing the novel, The Rescued Heart, a romantic suspense. Attending a week long workshop on mining and geology, hosted by the Doe Run Company helped me with a lot of research. My husband is a mine engineer so he too, helped with the big picture of a mine collapsing in on itself.

How about a little taste of what the book is about.

Between a father who owns everything and everyone in three counties and a mine engineer who intends to take it from him, Fawn is caught between a rock and a hard heart. Trying to escape proved disastrous when she fled from both men to start a new life. Now she was back and the turmoil only increased. This time Garrett Horton intends on winning it all after finding out the lies her father created to keep them apart. The trouble with the truth was it could bury you alive 1000 feet underground.  

You sometimes work on several projects at once. How did The Rescued Heart fit into your schedule?

I actually wrote the first five chapters 20 years ago then stuck it in a drawer. Last year I participated in Savvy Authors online pitch session. I chose 17 publishers I thought might be a good fit for The Rescued Heart. After I pitched my four lines I got a little worried. What if they wanted to see more? So I wrote another five chapters. Wouldn’t you know it—eight publishers wanted to see more. Whew. Good thing I had five more chapters. Then I really got scared. So in about a week I wrote the rest of the book. It was a good thing because I got three contract offers. It was a great experience. 

Will we see more of Garrett Horton and Fawn Turnbough?

There is actually a prequel I wrote years before The Rescued Heart. It involves Garrett’s sister who shows up in this novel. It is sitting in a box in my garage. We’ll see if I’m ready to rewrite the whole thing. It needs a lot of work. I don’t have any immediate plans to write a saga about the Turnbough Mining Company at this point. I’m working on several other projects that are nearing completion.

What kinds of things help you get the words from head to paper?

Music plays a big role when I write. I have soundtracks for each novel or story. For The Rescued Heart I actually used a lot of nature sounds. It seemed to take me back to the farm where I lived in Iron County. I could almost smell the air and hear the whippoorwills. For other novels I have favorite artists like Trailerhead I use. Anything by Hans Zimmer is also good background music. Right now I’m using some classical pieces that tie into the urban fantasy I’m writing. 

A notebook of ideas for a story keep me from getting writer’s block. I jot down names, ideas, characters, tweets, etc. to keep focused. Every one of my novels has a notebook. 

What social media outlets do you use?

http://www.facebook.com/TierneyJamesAction

http://www.ptierneyjames.blogspot.com

www.pinterest.com/ptierneyjames/

Twitter: TierneyJames1

Tierney’s books are listed at Amazon.com   Winds of Deception is due for release June 8, 2015 

An Old Love Rediscovered

I have a confession to make: in December I returned to an old love. No, not a person. My husband and I are a-okay.  What I mean is I returned to the love of laying out publications.

Some, ahem, years ago I edited, did the layout for, and published CreativeReading, Hodgepodge and The Sunny Edition. The craftsmanship of putting the stories and poems of other writers onto empty pages and making the layout work was one of the things I loved about having my own publications.

Most recently I've done the layout on my fiction and nonfiction books. But I never connected the dots. I don't have to wait until I have stories written and ready to publish.

Light bulb! It dawned on me, with POD I could make so-called 'blank' books. Well, duh. And that is exactly what I did and am doing.

Putting a book together and seeing it come out looking ‘right’ as to where the headers and other bits and pieces reside is like completing a puzzle and having all the pieces fit. I love the challenge. Pure satisfaction.

The first books I created when I returned to laying out publications were journals. Because my husband is a photographer, I have taken numerous photos. Some journal covers feature photos I’ve take. Others are more graphically inclined. The journals are sort of ‘blank’ paperback books with most of the pages being nicely lined. I believe I have about twelve out now; they are ready for secrets and thoughts to be penned therein.

An idea I had for a goal-setting calendar also materialized and came out in December. It sold in modest quantities worldwide, and is still selling. Various colors are available, all with an elephant graphic on the front. I hope the goal-setting steps I wrote help those who purchase my calendar journal achieve their goals in 2015.

My latest project is a book wherein you can record web addresses and passwords. I got tired of having to request new passwords whenever I forgot one. So, I created a book for me, which I hope will help out others as well.

The joy of holding one of these books in my hands is comparable to the joy of holding my published fiction or nonfiction books. There is a great sense of achievement.

Confession No. 2: I’ve been having such fun creating these books that my writing has suffered, not abandoned exactly, but languishing for enough attention. To my fans, never fear. I know I will return to writing full steam ahead when the time is right.

Meanwhile, if there is a helpful 'blank' book you've been dreaming of finding, let me know. Maybe I will make one.

FYI: If you’d like to see what I’ve been up to, here are some links: 
Life’s a Beach (journal)
How to Eat an Elephant 2015 Calendar
Remember! Your Simple Solution to Keeping & Organizing Passwords

Guest Blogger: Katie Stephens on Five Things That Influenced Her Writing

Guest Blogger Katie Stephens, whose book Alphabetical Disorder is coming out as part of the Love Least Expected set in February, tells us about five things (books, movies, experiences) that influenced her writing:

1. Series books: from Nancy Drew and Tom Swift to JD Robb’s In Death and Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooters, I enjoy on-going stories that use cross-over characters. I don’t want a snippet of life. I want to see a huge character arc over time. This is the concept I’ve incorporated into my circus anthology. I have twenty ‘chapters’ that I’m using as my character bank to expand into longer adventures.

2. Writer versus Author: I’ve kept every snippet of writing I’ve done since high school. It wasn’t until I joined the critique website Scribophile, where friends pushed and prodded and then encouraged me to submit my stories, that the writer’s bug really took a tremendous chunk out of my hide. And once bitten, authors are born.

3. Emotions: My first-ever-published story featured my kids in a half-truth, half-fantasy story of a possible future. When these grown children read the story and ended up with tears in their eyes, everything clicked in my mind. The best stories I have ever read usually evoke some sort of strong emotion in me—so my goal is to bring that feeling to other people.

4. Social networks: My fellow authors are taking me by the hand and teaching me about Facebook, Twitter and many other networks and blogs. I’m learning more every day and creating an entirely new group of friends and colleagues (a very good thing). I find it interesting that although my life has been spent in creative endeavors, the first part—as a musician—was a much lonelier existence. Because of the demands of the instruments, there were hours and hours of solitary practice. With writing, I’m either on my game or totally dry (the perfect time to turn to my writer friends for encouragement and advice). Sweet camaraderie!

5. Imagination: I can’t remember a time in my life that I didn’t make up stories in my head. I’m pretty sure it’s a prerequisite for being an author. Having the time now to write down these stories is a grand luxury. It boggles the mind how my younger colleagues can juggle a young family or school, a job and writing. They awe me.

Alphabetical Disorder 
by Katie Stephens


Everyone in Mason’s Circus understands and respects the powers of the resident gypsies—the Romani tribe—and most steer clear of any involvement. But when Susie gets caught in a web of prophecy and magic that brings danger to the troupe, her non-Rom interpretation turns out to be flawed. She pushes aside the man of her dreams to date alphabetically, in the hopes of saving her circus family.

Sam has had his eye on Susie since she joined the company. He’s puzzled by her actions, but not blind to the way she responds to him. A patient man by nature, he battles his need to claim her immediately or allow her game to continue. When disaster strikes, they join forces with their Romani friends to stop the curse before it destroys the circus.

About Katie Stephens:
If you discovered a sealed box with “Katie’s memories” scribbled on the side, you’d find a lifetime of partially completed stories, plays and musicals. A retired music teacher and curriculum writer, Katie Stephens has opened that box and switched her need to create from music to literature. She writes both non-fiction and fiction, where she happily experiments with all genres.

When her muse takes a break, Katie is a staff reader for freeze frame fiction and a grant writer for the Empire & Great Jones Creative Arts Foundation. Although her grown children are scattered east and west across the country, she lives solidly in mid-America with three kitties and a husband who keeps asking when she’s really going to retire.

Facebook  / Twitter @standardishue / Website / Email standardishue@gmail.com

~~Love Least Expected, coming February 3, 2015~~
Pre-Order today for only 99¢ at:
All Romance / Amazon / B&N / iBooks / Google Play

Spotlight Post: Haunt My Heart

Haunt My Heart by Lisa Medley
Paranormal Romance: Ghost, Witchcraft, Hex and Sex. 
Words 68K (272 pages)
eISBN-13:  978-0-9908856-0-3
Kindle: http://amzn.to/1Bx3fzQ
Print: http://amzn.to/1Bwurio

Blurb:
A Civil War soldier dies to save his men. Can he find true love to live again?
  Sarah Knight has a job she’s good at, a quirky BFF, and a boyfriend who’s bad for her. When Sarah unearths a Civil War artifact on a ghost hunt at Chatham Manor, she brings home more than a souvenir.
   Lieutenant James “Tanner” Dawson fought for the Union, working as a supernatural liaison for his Major General in a secret Masonic offset called the Brothers of Peril. When he’s hexed by a witch, he learns the only way to save his men is to die himself. But death is not the end. Awakening 150 years later, he knows if he wants to be corporeal again, he has to find true love to break the hex—a task no easier in 21st century than it was in the 19th.

Excerpt from Haunt My Heart: It all starts when Sarah finds a ring on the grounds of Chatham Manor after a night of ghost-hunting. She takes home much more than a souvenir.
   Ellie opened the driver’s side door, and Sarah waited for her to crawl across the seat of the old Mustang and pop the passenger-side lock. The broken power locks were one of many deficiencies in the classic car. Sarah retrieved her betraying phone from her pocket and powered it up as Ellie shuffled about inside the car.
   As she checked her phone display, a glint of light on the ground to her right caught her eye. Aiming her screen at the ground like a flashlight, she bent low and searched for the source of the flash. Just as she began investigating, though, she heard the lock pop, and Ellie pushed the door open. The door hit Sarah in the head, knocking her to the cold, hard ground.
   “Sorry,” Ellie said, scrambling to catch the door before it slammed closed again.
   Sarah mumbled a few choice obscenities and rubbed her head. She reached down and ran her finger over something half-buried in the ground.
   “What is that?” Ellie was hanging out the car, her body stretched across the seats.
   “I don’t know.” Sarah turned the flashlight of her phone up to full beam and picked at the object in the frozen turf. “Do you have a pen or something?”
   Ellie scuffled around inside the dark, rolling landfill that was her car—the interior lights long burned out—and produced a screwdriver instead. “Will this work?”
   Sarah took the offered screwdriver and dug at the buried treasure. After breaking it free from its cold grave, she examined it by the light of her cell phone. “It’s a ring.”
   “Let me see.”
   Ellie scrambled back into the driver’s seat. Sarah joined her in the car, then shut the door against the cold.
   “Hold the light,” Sarah said, digging a Kleenex from her coat pocket to clear as much of the mud from the ring as possible.
   The ring remained caked with mud, which filled the engraved edges, but the stone cleaned off easily enough. The set, a square cut black onyx, glinted. The cold metal of the band warmed in her hand.
   “You know what that is, right?” Ellie asked.
   “A ring?” Sarah couldn’t keep the sarcasm from her voice, not after the night she’d had.
   “An artifact.”
   “No. Someone just lost a class ring. Like one of the sorority girls.”
   “Does that look like a woman’s ring? No. No is the answer. That is a man’s ring. An officer’s ring or something. That could be a real-life, true-blue Civil War artifact.”
   “I doubt it. And if it is, we’ll return it. This is a national park. There are rules.”
   “I say finders keepers. Let me see it better.”

Lisa Medley writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance about monsters in love, because monsters need love too. Look for Reap & Repent (Bk 1) and Reap & Redeem (Bk 2) of The Reaping Series, available now. A lover of beasties of all sorts, she has a farm full of them in her SW MO home including:  one child, one husband, two dogs, two cats, a dozen hens, thousands of Italian bees and a guinea pig. Not so in love with the guinea pig. She can do ten pushups IN A ROW and may or may not have a complete zombie apocalypse bug-out bag in her trunk at all times. Just. In. Case.

Website | Facebook  | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads | Google+ | Amazon Author Page

Guest Blog: Nessie Strange, Love Least Expected

Ask The Author

Question:

Who is your main character in Love's Not Viral? What do they do, what is their outlook on love and life at the beginning of the story?

Nessie Strange's answer:

Aster Sanderson is the main character and the narrator for Love’s Not Viral. She’s a 24-year-old artist who also works part time as a bartender to help pay the bills. Aster is a spitfire. Free-spirited. She’s kind of a speak first, think later type of gal. And with tattoos, piercings, and light pink hair, her appearance definitely grabs attention.

In the beginning of the story, she’s not overly worried about love and relationships. Sure she’s dated plenty, but she hasn’t found anyone who has really clicked and made her want to commit. Aster loves her independence and following her own rules and schedules. She doesn’t need to be in a relationship. She’s young and still finding her way in the world, but she’s not afraid to march forward and find what she wants. 

I think Aster’s biggest concern is how to find success with her paintings so she can take her career to the next level. Beyond that, she hasn’t planned much for her future. She lives in ‘the now’ and enjoys life on her own terms. She’s not really prepared for something bad to happen.

I enjoyed writing Aster and there will be more of her to come in the future. 

Love's Not Viral is in Love Least Expected:

Twenty-four-year-old bartender Aster Sanderson’s life is turned upside down when drunken Hollywood actor Bradley Stone snaps a picture of her...and tweets to his 12.8 million followers that she's his fiancee. As the internet blows up with the news and gossip flies out of control, she’s left feeling helpless. This has to be a misunderstanding, right? But when the actor in question shows up on her doorstep, it's clear he's unhinged and she soon becomes a prisoner in her own home (literally).

Her savior? Bradley’s handsome—and seemingly normal—older brother, James, who quickly stirs up feelings she never expected. Can they disarm the ticking time-bomb that Bradley Stone has become before any more damage is done? And is their mutual attraction the result of these unusual circumstances...or could it become something more?

~~Love Least Expected, coming February 3, 2015~~

Pre-Order today for only 99¢

All Romance / Amazon / B&N / iBooks /  Google Play / Kobo

Love Least Expected Tour Rafflecopter for a $50 Amazon Gift Card: 
CLICK HERE

Nessie Strange

Nessie is a Massachusetts native and mother of two who has dabbled in everything from abstract painting to freelance sports reporting. She also loves a good story, whether it’s reading or writing one. Living Dead Girl and Reaper Madness, the first two novels in her urban fantasy Living Dead World series, were published by Etopia press in 2014.

You can visit Nessie at:

her website / Facebook / Twitter / GoodReads / Pinterest

Merry Men Blast -- Guest Announcement

An Exotic Heir
Weaving a web of revenge can be satisfying, but dangerous to your heart.
London society is shallow and cruel, sending Cassandra Renwick running to Calcutta, the exotic seat of the British Raj. It’s a fascinating place filled with interesting sights – including the dark and mysterious Julian Ritchie. But she never thought that an even greater heartbreak could be here in this alien and enchanting land.
Julian has always been discriminated against for being only half English. Embittered, he plots an intricate plan for vengeance with the innocent and lovely Cassandra as his pawn. But he soon finds that payback can be painful for the avenger as well when the threads of revenge unwittingly turn into the silken bonds of love.
Buy Links
Amazon: http://amzn.to/15ot59G
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/10hNHhj
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/1x2Xbko
Kobo: http://bit.ly/12NiZTE
Google Play: http://bit.ly/1dK08HG
~~~~~~~~~~
A Dandy In Disguise
Can he lose the disguise... and find himself?
St. John Fotheringay-Phipps has nearly forgotten who he truly is. As the dashing, amusing dandy known to all in society as Fungy, he has hidden himself behind a mask of merriment. But he is reminded that there are pleasures beyond society -- when he finds himself feeling responsible for the innocently lovely and fiercely intellectual Rose, the daughter of a famed archaeologist, and her charming, if socially inept, family.
Rose Grace knows that she cannot gamble with her future. She has suddenly been thrust into the role of mother to her two young sisters, companion to her brilliant, distracted father --and family savior.  She needs to do the right thing -- to forget her own desires and quickly find a wealthy husband before the creditors come beating at their door. Then why is she distracted by the foppishly handsome Fungy, who seems so very irresponsible and pleasure-loving?  Surely he's the last person whose advice she should follow!
Buy Links
Amazon: http://amzn.to/19dNJuE
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1dIIZjO
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/1x2Xewy
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1x2XoUJ
Google Play: http://bit.ly/1diXrAd
All Romance eBooks: http://bit.ly/1x2XCew
~~~~~~~~~~
Merry Marquis
Through the beauty of music, brings love and the will to live a life lost.
It is only at the pianoforte with beautiful music flowing from her fingertips that Teresa Seton is happy. New to English society, she feels awkward and unsure of herself.  Only the attentions of her handsome neighbor can convince her that she is where she belongs—a stolen kiss proves that he means what he says. But the kiss is witnessed and the pair are forced to marry for propriety’s sake.
Once known as the “Merry Marquis”, Richard, the Marquis of Merrick, now lives the life of a recluse. Finding a beautiful stranger at his pianoforte strikes a chord within him, bringing back feelings he thought were lost with the passing of his wife. He is mesmerized by Teresa and her beautiful music, but can he convince her, and himself, that he can live and love again?
Chronologically, this is the second book is the Merry Men Quartet:
An Exotic Heir
The Merry Marquis
A Rake’s Reward (coming in January, 2015)
A Dandy in Disguise

Buy Links
Amazon: http://bit.ly/MMzon
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1x2XRGz
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1x2YboD
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/1x2Ygc0
GooglePlay: http://bit.ly/1x2YnnP
About the Author
Meredith Bond is an award-winning author of a series of traditionally published Regency romances and indie-published historical paranormal romances. Known for her characters “who slip readily into one’s heart”, Meredith’s romance novels include her new Medieval Fantasy series, the Children of Avalon, her Regency-set paranormal romances in the Storm series and traditional Regencies (without magic) in The Merry Men Quartet originally published with Kensington Publishers, of which three have been re-released and the last one will be coming out early in 2015. Meredith also teaches writing and publishing at Frederick Community College. If you want a taste of her class in book form, Chapter One is available at your favorite e-retailer.
Website: Http://meredithbond.com/
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1x2Z54B
Twitter: http://bit.ly/1x2Zjsr
Find other sites participating in this blast: http://booksnpearls.com/current-events/december-27-the-merry-men-quartet-by-meredith-bond-book-blast/

Word Power

Did you ever really think about the power of words? 

We who are writers hold that power. Why with one word we writers can have a character smile, laugh, frown, cry, scream or even live or die. As in, “Ralph lived.” Or, “Ralph died.”

We can make our own worlds. Only us, the writers, see the room, dwelling, neighborhood, town, country where our characters live whether it is placed within the contemporary USA or a Mars colony in 2099. Our room might be a bright blue or a dull slate gray. Springfield, USA might have a street not truly listed on the real Springfield’s street map.

Words are our tools/weapons/brushes and paint. They are our blessings and how we bless others with entertainment and, hopefully, enlightenment. We writers are driven to tell stories because we are blessed with words and the ability to string those words together.

As writers, we can be solitary souls more comfortable with words than with people. That is one way the power of words can work to our detriment. Then there are those wonderful times when we word smiths join together in writing groups or clubs and our words become even more powerful because they are full of cheer, sharing and encouragement for each other.

But the power of words is not limited to writers alone. Non-writers can bestow kind words on family, friends, or strangers which might lighten that individual's life.

Why with one word you--writer or non-writer--can change the world!

Guest Blogger: Nessie Strange, Author of the Living Dead World Series

Welcome to: Nessie Strange on the Reaper Madness Blog Tour

Nessie is a Massachusetts native and mother of two who has dabbled in everything from abstract painting to freelance sports reporting. She also loves a good story, whether it’s reading or writing one. Living Dead Girl and Reaper Madness, the first two novels in her urban fantasy Living Dead World series, were published by Etopia press in 2014.

How did you come to write a series?

When I first started writing Living Dead Girl (book 1), I hadn’t quite planned on sequels, or series. I just had this story in my head that was fighting to get out. It begins with Jen MacLellan, who’s a fairly ordinary young twenty-something woman who happens to have an unusual job: she’s a mortician. She’s kind of going through the motions with life in general--never really challenging herself or venturing out beyond the safe little bubble she’s created. Not to mention, her family takes advantage of her, and her boyfriend doesn’t appreciate her. Basically, she’s stuck in a rut. Then she meets Jack and all that gets turned upside down.

Jack is a musician. He’s a free-spirited, happy-go-lucky type guy. While he’s tattooed and can be a bit of a troublemaker (more of the wise-ass variety) he’s not really what I’d call a typical bad boy. He’s actually a really kind soul. He’s the type of guy who looks out for his friends and the people he cares most about, and with Jen, he finds a partner who has many of the qualities he lacks.

It begins as a hate-to-love, opposites attract type story. The romance between these two builds slowly, but when they do finally get together, their bond grows really strong. They complement each other. Unfortunately, once they find that happiness, tragedy strikes. While it’s harsh, and the things that happen to these characters are terrible, we learn later that this isn’t really the end of things. In this series, death isn’t final--it’s a new beginning.

Living Dead Girl is really a gateway story, because it shows this transition from regular, everyday life to death and what happens after. From book two on, we’re following both Jen and Jack on their journeys through the afterlife. The connections between the characters, as well as their history comes into light, and we learn there is a much bigger picture.

I haven’t decided exactly how many books will be in the series. There will be at least three, leaning more toward four. There is also a book coming from Jack’s POV that begins before and then overlaps some of Living Dead Girl. I look back at when I first started writing Jen’s story, and that first spark of an idea, and I never imagined how complex it would become. I also never imagined how attached I’d become to the characters. It’s funny how that works. Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you will follow along on Jen and Jack’s journey.

Living Dead Girl is available at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / KOBO / Etopia Press / GoodReads / ARe

You can visit Nessie at:
her website / Facebook / Twitter / Amazon / GoodReads / Pinterest

Book Review: One Wish Away by Kelly Lynn Gets 4 Stars

Kelley Lynn's title caught my attention and I knew I had to read One Wish Away even though it is a YA book and I've passed YA years, let's say, just a bit ago. Immediately the author transported me back to the awkward days of the teenage years though her heroine Lyra who wishes to fit in with the crowd.

Then there is the gradual awareness of young love and the delight of Lyra's and Darren's first kiss. 

All this and more, too, because One Wish Away is a science fiction story with an intriguing concept that develops around the idea of wishing upon a star. Well-written and well-plotted for the most part. 

The only thing I didn't care for was the ending. I prefer books that end with a good solid ta-da, the ending for One Wish Away leaves it open for a follow-up book. Perhaps that will happen?

Still, One Wish Away is an enjoyable read.

The release date is 11/24/14 and the preorder links are:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Enter Giveaway: One Wish Away Giveaway at Rafflecopter

Book Summary:

Be careful what you wish for…

Lyra has always been ahead of the curve. Top of her class in school, a budding astronomer, and with a best friend like Darren she barely has time to miss the mother who abandoned her family years ago. She's too busy planning to follow in her father's footsteps, and to become the youngest astronomer at Space Exploration and Discovery.


When a star goes missing Lyra is determined to get to the bottom of it only to discover her braniac dad is the mastermind of a top-secret government experiment. They promise to build a perfect world, one galaxy at a time, but with every tweak of the present, a bit more of the future starts to crumble.

Lyra has to go undercover to reveal the truth and let humanity decide if the consequences are worth more than wishing on a star.

About the Author:


Eventually the day came when the voices in Kelley Lynn’s head were more insistent then her engineering professor’s. So instead of turning to her Thermodynamics book, Kelley brought up a blank page on her computer screen and wrote. Somewhere along the way she became a Young Adult author. 


Kelley was born and raised a Midwestern girl. She’s not afraid to sweat and fills her free time with softball, soccer and volleyball. (Though you probably don’t want her on your volleyball team.) She occasionally makes guest appearances as a female vocalist for area bands. Music plays a large role in her writing process as well as the characters and plot lines within her stories.



You can find Kelley hanging out at her blog, titled in her name, as well as the group blog she shares with her fellow critique partners, Falling for Fiction. Kelley is a member of the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators.

Author Links:
Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook

Blog Tour Organized by:

 YA Bound Book Tours

Vera's Version, The Book, is AMAZON Best Seller

Best Seller! I'm thrilled, and, I have to admit, amazed at the numbers game which makes my new book Vera's Version a best seller on Amazon.com.  How funny to me that this humor book is doing so well.

Proof? There it is, number three under Top 100 Free in the category Humor Essays. It is also the number six best seller in the Top 100 Free, in the category Kindle Short Reads, Humor & Entertainment.

Being an Indie (love Indiana Jones!) is such fun!

This is also a plus-plus situation. I'm enjoying revamping my old columns which I wrote as a freelancer. That means I no longer have to store all those clippings. No more clipper clutter. Only the ebook in my Kindle, plus a nice neat paperback to store on the shelf (yes, the paperback edition is close to being launched, too).

Another plus: my humor columns from the 1990s are like vampires, coming to life again in a slightly different form. While they won't suck your blood--and hopefully don't suck at all--they may pull some additional income my way, always a good thing for writerly types. (Note: The FREE promotion ends today, November 17, 2014.) And this will be double-dipping because I got paid for them in the 1990s, too. Oh, happy day! 

Way back when, the essays came out under general headings of "Dear Me" or "I'm Not Andy…But" and maybe a few others I don't remember. It was way back in the 90s. Because they are all my columns and I'd already named this blog "Vera's Version" I didn't have to think until my head hurt about what to call my new book. I applied the KISS principle and it came to pass that Vera's Version, the book, was born.

The book needed one thing to hold it together and to draw the reader into the time period: history. Now, while I like history not everyone does. So, I made the history lesson into a rap poem entitled "90s Rap." (I know, yes…I also thought long and hard about that title, too.) The poem itself is newly written this year. The book is almost like a wedding; something old, something new…but I missed out on the something blue, opting instead to make the cover a beautiful yellow of joy.

Remember: a chuckle a day keeps the doctor away.  The world needs more laughter. Seek it out. Maybe by picking up an edition of Vera's Version (just click on the title)? :)

Welcome to Jerry Waxler, Guest Blogger, on the WOW Book Tour: Twenty Years In Choir and the Power of Habits

In high school, I devoted myself to science, and considered self-expression to be a waste of time. My nerdy youth prepared me to earn a living in technology but left me miserably out of touch with my own voice. 

My first attempt to find my voice occurred in my twenties, when I devoted myself to writing in a journal, every day for years. I loved the sensation of self-expression, but the audience was limited to myself. 

In my forties, I read a memoir by Joan Baez, And a Voice to Sing With, in which she expressed hope that no one should leave this earth without experiencing the pleasure of singing. Her appeal made me think about how tired I was of being silent. If I didn’t change soon, I would be one of those people Joan Baez warned about. 

I enrolled in voice lessons at a small music school, where I was 30 years older than most of the other students, and older than my teacher. Each week, she taught me basics such as how to sing pure vowels, how to use my diaphragm, and how to attack and sustain each note. I recorded our lessons and played them in the car, singing scales on my long commute to work. Daily habits supported my effort to learn how to sing.

When I reached a minimum level of skill, I qualified for entry in a choir. Every Wednesday evening, the choir director, a recent college grad, taught us how to follow a conductor, how to harmonize with each other, and how to align our voices on the beat. Week by week, year by year, we rehearsed, taking occasional breaks when our director went on her honeymoon, then had babies. 

Each rehearsal I learned a little more about reading music, and adjusting the dynamics and going straight to the pitch. Finally I was part of a performance, and, after I all the hours and years of preparation, I was able to see my voice reflected on the faces of those to whom I was singing. I realized I had fulfilled Joan Baez’s challenge. 

In my fifties, another hankering for self-expression welled up in my heart. My years of journaling had given me a love for writing. I wanted to expand my audience to readers. I didn’t know how to reach that goal, but experience with singing had proven to me that adults can learn skills. 

I studied books about writing and attended classes, soaking in the expertise of those who had succeeded. When I felt brave enough, I joined clubs. Instead of being intimidated by the other writers, I discovered that being in their company sped up my learning, by giving me feedback and support. Through every stage of my study, I was sustained by a daily writing habit.  By writing every day, seven days a week, gradually I increased my ability to express myself in the written word.

Through it all, I have come to experience the joy of writing as a means of communicating with readers. The feedback from writing is not as immediate as it is when singing. However, writers also have their ways of feeling the appreciation of readers, such as praise from reviewers, and the willingness of people to invest their time. And it was all earned through the power of daily effort.

What can you do?

For any adult who wants to find a voice, there’s no need to feel trapped by inadequate skills. Apply steady persistent effort. Over time, your writing voice improves, your self-confidence grows, and bit by bit, you learn what writers must do in order to reach readers.

If you have never developed a daily writing habit, take that first step. Read Julia Cameron The Artist’s Way. In it, she describes a method for pouring thoughts out on to paper. She calls the daily exercise, “Morning Pages.” Or read my book How to Become a Heroic Writer in which I outline the steps of forming a habit. By writing every day, you will gradually gain familiarity and skill at shaping sentences on a page. 

If you are already writing in a journal and want to learn to learn a more structured form, keep up your daily habit, but turn it toward writing pieces for strangers. Find a critique group, and accept reader feedback. By learning how your writing sounds in other people’s ears, over time you will gain the knack of writing for readers.  

To learn more about the power of habits, read my book Learn to Become a Heroic Writer to help you develop habits, attitudes and social connections necessary to share your words with strangers.

***

Memoir Revolution is Jerry Waxler’s beautifully written story as he integrates it with his deep and abiding knowledge and passion for story. In the 1960s, Jerry Waxler, along with millions of his peers, attempted to find truth by rebelling against everything. After a lifetime of learning about himself and the world, he now finds himself in the middle of another social revolution. In the twenty-first century, increasing numbers of us are searching for truth by finding our stories. In Memoir Revolution, Waxler shows how memoirs link us to the ancient, pervasive system of thought called The Story. By translating our lives into this form, we reveal the meaning and purpose that eludes us when we view ourselves through the lens of memory. And when we share these stories, we create mutual understanding, as well. By exploring the cultural roots of this literary trend, based on an extensive list of memoirs and other book, Waxler makes the Memoir Revolution seem like an inevitable answer to questions about our psychological, social and spiritual well-being. 

Paperback: 190Pages
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Neuralcoach Press; 1 edition (April 9, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0977189538

Twitter hashtag: #MRevolutionWaxler

Memoir Revolution is available as an e-book and paperback at Amazon.

About the Author: Jerry Waxler teaches memoir writing at Northampton Community College, Bethlehem, PA, online, and around the country. His Memory Writers Network blog offers hundreds of essays, reviews, and interviews about reading and writing memoirs. He is on the board of the Philadelphia Writer's Conference and National Association of Memoir Writers and holds a BA in Physics and an MS in Counseling Psychology.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jerrywaxler

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jerrywaxler

Website: http://www.jerrywaxler.com/

Blog: http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/

Ripe to Write

Today I’m sitting in my office and looking out the window into the backyard where our small vegetable garden is reaching its fall stage. If it had produced as it should have over the summer, the tomato vines would be full of red fruit awaiting plucking.

I’m always amazed when non-writers wonder where we get our ideas. The thing is, life is filled with a garden of creative ideas which produces better fruit that my physical garden. All you have to do is look around and pluck one fruit off the vine.  Gardeners like us know where tomatoes come from. Ideas are everywhere.

Plucking one is simply the beginning. That’s when the work starts.

Like a nice, plump tomato, an idea is tasty. But you need to figure out how to serve it up. Shall it be simply washed, sliced and served up fast? Is it a short story idea?

Or maybe combine the luscious idea with more ripe ideas, pressure cook them, and allowed the jars to sit on the pantry shelf until the time is right. Is it an idea that can’t stand alone but becomes more when combined with other ideas? Is it a part of a novel?

Or perhaps put the freshly picked tomato into a pot on the stove, cooking it until the goodness flows and intermixes with the spices you add. Is it an idea which can be a dish unto itself and simply needs a bit of tweaking to become a nice novella or novel?

Let me share the recipe: Take one or more plump, ripe ideas, add a bit of thinking (what-ifs), a cup of characters, a pinch of plotting, then be sure to write hard to make sure all combines as needed. Cook it with a bit of editing and rewriting. Repeat as needed. The result is sure to be a wonderful story all will enjoy. They should ask for seconds.

Now, go out there and pluck a tomato!

Welcome to Guest Blogger on the WOW Book Tour: Kathleen Pooler, author of Ever Faithful to His Lead: My Journey Away from Emotional Abuse

How Writing My Memoir Helped Me Find Self-Forgiveness

Once you choose hope, anything is possible." Christopher Reeves

https://twitter.com/KathyPooler

I never really thought writing the stories of my life would be so complicated but I will tell you honestly—as I kept writing, I felt like I was standing knee-deep in a swamp trying to avoid the alligators. I wanted to circumvent the swamp, linger along the edges so I didn't have to get in there and wrestle those beasts. There. I said it.

As my memoir, Ever Faithful to His Lead: My Journey Away From Emotional Abuse, began taking shape, it became clear to me how guilt and shame had haunted me for the twenty-five years I was mired in the cycle of abuse. The guilt and shame related to the self-defeating detours I took as a young woman and the harmful ways these detours impacted my life and the lives of my two children. I had to grieve those lost dreams and poor choices.

The main message underlying my memoir is the power of hope in facing life challenges. Hope has helped me transcend every obstacle and crisis that has come my way. Give me a diagnosis of Stage Four NonHodgkins' Lymphoma and I'll wrestle it to the ground with the tenacity and fury of a pit bull. Put me in a marriage that is not working and after careful thought, I'll pack up two babies and start a new life. Just give me anything that seems insurmountable and I'll do everything in my power to prove you wrong. I will fight with everything in me to overcome it. 

But if you asked me to forgive myself for the mistakes, poor choices, hasty decisions of my past, I would balk and feel mired in the guilt, shame, regret of lost dreams and what if's…

This post at authentic-self.com about giving yourself the gift of forgiveness rang true for me: "You only need to spend some time thinking over the things you feel badly about, thank God (or your Higher Power) for allowing you to see that you are, in fact, imperfect and there will be times you mess up.

 I had to apologize to Yourself and let go.

So, boots on, I was on a mission to trudge forward through the swampland of alligators--my past regrets, with a little help from my friends, Linda Joy Myers and my fellow NAMW memoir writers. One week they challenged me to find a way to forgive the young woman who made all those decisions as it appeared to them through my stories that I was being judgmental of her choices and actions. So, for starters, I decided to have a little chat with my Inner Judge:

The Judge and the 24-year-old Me

Judge (sitting all high & mighty on the bench, looking down): I see you have committed the most heinous crime, hastily deciding to blah,blah,blah....

24-year-old Me (head down): Yes, Your Honor, you are right.

Judge: What ever possessed you to make such foolhardy choices?

24-year-old Me: I thought it was the right decision at the time. I just wanted to be happy like everyone else. I was only trying to fit in.

Judge: (slamming the gavel down) Guilty as charged. You are hereby sentenced to a lifetime of regret, lost dreams, guilt for making these choices.

Fast forward to now~

The Now Me: (looking the Judge straight in the eye while standing toe-to-toe)You were wrong. I am working on forgiving myself. I've learned from my mistakes. Despite it all, I have moved on to live a life of joy. I stand in my truth. Those alligators are really just harmless frogs jumping around.

Judge (caught off-guard and stammering, shrinking right before my eyes): But, I am the ultimate judge and jury here.

The Now Me (by now, looking down on the Judge): If you play your cards right, I may even be able to forgive you.

Soon, I was ready to get back to writing my story. I became ready to begin shedding the blame the fear, the regrets and stand in my truth. It took some practice but the self-forgiveness had begun. 

And, as always, with hope, anything is possible...

Like any skill that gets better with practice, the self-forgiveness has taken hold in my soul. Writing Ever Faithful to His Lead has helped me to face the errors of my ways and take responsibility for my choices. It has helped me to heal and move on.

Writing my memoir has helped me to not only forgive the people in my life whom I perceived to have hurt me, but to forgive myself. This has freed me to live the life I am living now—one of joy and peace.

My greatest wish is that others may find their own pathway to forgiveness through my story.

How about you~ Have you given yourself the gift of self-forgiveness?

If you enjoyed Kathleen's post here, you may want to visit her blog: http://krpooler.com.

Ever Faithful To His Lead: 

My Journey to Memoir 

is available as an 

e-book and paperback 

at Amazon.

Book Launch: Reap & Redeem by Lisa Medley

Welcome to Lisa Medley! I'm pleased to say Lisa's new book is out: Reap & Redeem. So cool!

Just the Facts:

Urban Fantasy Romance: Reapers and Demons and Angels and Sex. 
Words 78K * 
Series: The Reaper Series, Book 2
ISBN-13: 9781460337769
ASIN: B00KV62OP2
AMAZON | NOOK | KOBO

About Reap & Redeem:

He’s a reaper who has given up on saving souls. Will a dying woman be his salvation?

After a century of enslavement to pure evil, Kylen Larson is finally free. But he’s long past caring. The only woman he ever loved is dead, and he’s tormented by memories of the horrors his demon parasite forced him to commit. Now, he lives for nothing more than hunting down the infernal creatures invading Meridian, Arkansas, and destroying them.

Olivia Evans is in the final stages of cancer when Kylen accidentally saves her from demonic possession. When he rescues this innocent soul, Kylen rediscovers his mission—and his heart. All he wants is to help Olivia stay alive. He’ll just have to fight off an invasion from Hell first…

Excerpt Chapter One

Kylen kicked the head across the floor of the dark shed with his steel-toed boot. Blood dripped into a pool on the floor from his scythe, which he still gripped tightly with one hand. He straightened to his full height and tilted his neck from side to side, listening to his spine crack and pop. Another demon down.

“You don’t have to keep killing them yourself, you know,” Deacon said, grimacing at the black ooze spilling out of the severed neck.

“Yeah, I do.” Kylen turned and walked to the door, taking a quick survey of the cemetery. A dark, sticky trail marked his course.

“You have to admit, he’s efficient.” Nate picked up the head by the hair and dropped it into a black garbage bag.

“That’s one way to look at it.” Deacon pressed his hand, which was glowing with Reiki energy, to the center of the dead male’s chest, directly over his heart chakra.

Kylen watched as light radiated from Deacon, encasing him and the body in a soft glow. The demon boiled forth from the dead human host in a thick black torrent of sulfurous haze. Spreading his arms wide, Deacon summoned the stream, which penetrated through his sternum. His body shuddered and the light around him sparked and cracked like the arc of a welder. The glow intensified to supernova status before winking out. Several smaller streams of gray light flowed forth from the ruined body, too, entering through Deacon’s mouth.

“Well? Did you retrieve all the souls?” Nate lifted the feet and legs of the body onto the tarp he’d set beside it.

Deacon frowned. “Yes.”

“How many?”

“Three.” Deacon rose and grasped the body by the shoulders, helping Nate maneuver it. “And the demon.”

“I really hate this shit.” Nate said, pulling a spool of duct tape from his backpack.

They rolled the man tightly in the tarp, taping both ends so that none of the bodily fluids would discharge in transit.

“How many more demons do you think there are?” Nate wrapped the head in a plastic bag and walked toward the door.

“Grim thinks there are at least two dozen more,” Deacon reminded him.

“Great. Slow and steady wins the race, yeah?”

“I’m not sure we have the luxury of slow and steady anymore. At this rate, we’re never going to find them all. There’s already way too much collateral damage. This many missing humans in town won’t go unnoticed much longer. We need to find their exit portals and shut down the rest of the demons. Sooner would be better than later.”

Kylen waited in the doorway, dividing his attention between the business in the shed and the cemetery grounds. Deacon was right of course. They needed to close the portals. Permanently. As it was, they were playing a game of supernatural Whac-A-Mole. Close one portal and another popped up. New entrance portals continued to open each week, which then had to be closed by Grim and Deacon. And while one batch of demons gathered their fill of souls before sliding down the small one-way shoots to Hell—the exit portals, the next batch waited for their chance. It had become a never-ending battle and the reapers needed to press on.

They didn’t bother cleaning up the black ooze or the blood trail. The only way to make sure the scene was completely clean was fire, but arson would be sure to draw more attention to the mower garage by the edge of the cemetery than a few stains that could easily be oil or fuel. None of them were concerned about the law. There were far worse things for them to worry about.

They’d burn the body at home, and then bury the ashes and bits of bone. Just as they’d dealt with the other eleven. This host’s disappearance would never be explained. Good thing, since the guy’s head was detached.

About Lisa Medley:

Lisa Medley writes reapers. The grim kind. Her urban fantasy romance, Reap & Repent is available now. Look for book two, Reap & Redeem, coming October 2014. A lover of beasties of all sorts, she has a farm full of them in her SWMO home including:  one child, one husband, two dogs, two cats, a dozen hens, thousands of Italian bees and a guinea pig. Not so in love with the guinea pig. She can do ten pushups IN A ROW and may or may not have a complete zombie apocalypse bug-out bag in her trunk at all times. Just. In. Case.

Website | Facebook  | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads | Google+ | Amazon Author Page

Welcome to Guest Blogger: Sydney Avey -- Her Topic: The Writer's Journey

Find Her Book Here

The Writer’s Journey

By Sydney Avey

Make no mystique out of the writer’s journey. Depending on the choices a writer makes, it is a job, a career, a calling, a passion, a compulsion, a crazy quilt of motivations, random and disorganized. 

Each sojourner packs a unique talent for a journey that is theirs alone. Dan Blank, who functions as sort of a travel agent for writers who are overwhelmed by their itineraries, maintains you cannot plan for success on this journey, but you can prepare. No one-size-fits-all formula guarantees you success, but if you prepare yourself for what may be ahead, stopping to take joy in the small milestones along the way, success may present itself in unanticipated ways.

The publishing industry is a tough task master liken to the parable of the three servants (Matthew 25:14 – 30). A man apportioned money to three servants for safekeeping. Two of them invested the money and one buried his portion out of fear he would lose it and be punished. When it came time to account for the money, the two who took a chance in the market were rewarded. The one who was paralyzed with fear and did nothing lost what little he had.

The two who took a chance had no idea if it would work out. They saw the money they were trusted with as a gift and knew they were expected to do something with it. The third man saw only a powerful tyrant. He did not recognize the value of his gift.

All writers have some sort of gift. Preparation for success involves investing your words in the lives of others. That could be a book, a blog, a well-crafted letter to the editor, or an encouraging poem for friend. Success may present itself as a ranking on a best-seller list, but more often it is a heartwarming “thank you, your words helped me.”

It is easy to get paralyzed by tyrannical expectations. Put your words out there and not everyone will like them. That’s okay; it’s a long journey that requires conditioning and training to hold up against the slings and arrows that will come. I’ve put two books out. The reviews are mixed, deservedly so. I wear my faith like a bulletproof vest. The shots will hurt, but they won’t kill.

What preparations are you making for your journey? What risks are you willing to take? What protections are necessary?

I wish you joy for your journey.

    

About the author:

Sydney Avey is an author of historical and women’s fiction set in California. The Lyre and the Lambs is the sequel to her first novel, The Sheep Walker’s Daughter, which won an honorable mention from the Center for Basque Studies (University of Nevada, Reno) in their Basque Literary Contest. Both novels were published by HopeSprings Books, a small publishing house that promotes realistic Christian fiction.

  

Sydney and a lifetime of experience writing news for non profits and corporations. Her work is has appeared in Epiphany, Foliate Oak, Forge, American Athenaeum, and Unstrung (published by Blue Guitar Magazine). She has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley and has studied writing at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. She lives with her husband Joel the Sierra Nevada foothills of Yosemite, California, and the Sonoran Desert in Arizona.

Visit Sydney at www.sydneyavey.com and sign up to receive her monthly News for Readers and Writers.