...Getting to Know All About You...I think that's the way the song goes. And I'd much rather get to know you, than the other way around. But my publisher at BWL believes it's time for all her authors to tell their readers something about themselves. So here goes...
I'm not exactly what one would call an introvert, but it's hard for me to be outgoing, and meet a lot of people that I can call my friends. I expect that is because, as a child, from the age of 8 to 12 I traveled all over the US, Mexico, the Philippines, and even Alaska. I spent the first 8 years of my life on a Quarter Horse ranch out in the middle of nowhere, Texas, USA. Then my father, who was in the Army, started being posted to...wherever. Sometimes, the only school was the one on the base, and even when I was able to go to public school, I always tried to be the one who sat in the back of the room, and never raised my hand to answer a question. I knew that just as soon as I made one single friend, we'd be off to a new post.
Finally, my father was posted to Los Angeles, CA, and we actually stayed there! Besides horses, the other love of my life as a child was singing. Once we got settled in LA, my mother found a voice coach for me, and seven months later, I was performing professionally. I sang in Musical Theatre...you know, all the GOOD music of yesteryear, from Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Kathryn Grayson...and if you are too young to know these names, you are really missing something! I also studied Opera, and at 16 was invited to audition with the San Francisco Opera Company, but my mother was working and couldn't go with me, so she wouldn't let me go alone.
The next best thing to happen was that at 16, I sang a duet with Frank Sinatra on stage at the Greek Theatre in Hollywood. There was a big concert at the Greek, for a Heart Charity, my musical troop was invited to sing, and Frank Sinatra was also there. He was asked to sing with one of us, and he chose me. We sang "Make Believe" from the Broadway musical "Show Boat." A very exciting time for me, and my one and only claim to fame!
At 19, a throat tumor ended my singing career, so I did the next best thing, and married my fiancé of a year. When my children were 7 and 12, I went back to school to finish my education, and completed it with a Ph.D in Sociology. Then, as life makes many changes, my husband and I divorced. A year later, I remarried, and will be celebrating 37 years of "almost" bliss with my awesome husband this June.
During those 37 years, my husband and I built a ranch and trained Appaloosa horses for the show ring, for 25 years, I became a professional artist, and now we are retired...supposedly...and I am a writer and author of four books.
Writing is a lonely profession, but my biggest supporter, and my greatest inspiration is my husband. Sometimes, I get tired of this computer. I get tired of fighting with my characters who won't do what I want them to do. But he says, get back there and tell them who's boss. You can do it. I know you can. So here I am...BWL has published four books, I'm working on the sequel to the very first book, The Freedom Thief...and you know what? You have just read practically my whole life's story. Not the most exciting one in the world, but I hope you haven't been too bored.
Monday, January 25, 2016
Getting To Know You...
I live in a small Victorian town on the Central Coast with my wonderful Corgi, and a lazy Siamese cat. I write fiction and non-fiction for teens, young adults and adults who are young at heart.
Sunday, January 24, 2016
My "Glory Days" aren't over, by Sandy Semerad
You've probably heard Bruce
Springsteen’s song Glory Days. His old friends are sitting around,
talking about glory days while life passes them by. I refuse to live like that. My glory
days are here, with more to come, I hope.
While the past has provided fodder
for my novels, I don’t live in the past and can cover mine in a few paragraphs:
I grew up in Geneva, Alabama with
an unconventional mother. She wore big hats and heavy jewelry that jangled when
she played the piano in church. A classical pianist and impressionist painter,
Mama followed her bliss after Daddy died (I was seven when he passed). She
traveled to artist jaunts, sticking me and my sister Alice Kay in summer
camps--Sarasota, FL and Cape Cod, MA. On a whim, she once took us out of school
in the middle of the year, because she wanted us to see the Carlsbad Caverns in
Albuquerque.
At nineteen, I ran off and got married. Mama
and I were living in New York City at that time. She wanted me to become a singer,
model and movie star. Instead, I married Tim Ryles, from Hartford, Alabama. Back
then, my life revolved around family and two amazing daughters Rene and Andrea.
Along the way I earned a B.A. degree in journalism from Georgia State
University in Atlanta and worked as a newspaper reporter, broadcast news
director, columnist and editor. I barely had time to breathe and often
daydreamed to escape reality.
Tim and I separated. I moved to the Florida
Panhandle and got a job, reporting and writing columns for a local newspaper. A year or so later, a publisher of
chamber of commerce literature offered me a better position, involving travel.
I have been traveling
hither and yon ever since. I’ve worked with chamber publishers for many years.
Being on the road has given me a chance to write the stories in my head. I’ve had
three novels published: Sex, Love &
Murder, (previously Mardi Gravestone)
Hurricane House and A Message in the Roses (The sequel is in
progress).
Would Mama and Daddy be pleased
with me? I hope so, although I don't often think about that question.
Mama might be happy to know I
still sing, sometimes at the Presbyterian Church in Freeport, Florida, where husband
Larry plays rocking New Orleans piano.
He and I have also written songs together.
As to dwelling on the past, I’d rather live in the moment. I
want to treasure each second of the here and now. I want to feel truly alive while
I’m on this earth.
Whether I’m writing, reading,
exercising, traveling, cooking, walking our dog P-Nut, (Miss Kitty trails
along), or spending time with Larry, my daughters or grand Cody, I try to take a moment
to say, “Thank you. I’m grateful.”
When I see a butterfly on a
flower, I think, I want to
drink all the sweetness I can out of life.
Did you know butterflies have none
of the DNA of the caterpillars and chrysalis from which they emerge? One of my
characters in A Message in the Roses
mentions this, and it’s a scientific fact.
Butterflies are a true
metamorphosis, and like the butterfly, I have evolved. The birth of a New Year reminded
me of this. I feel new. The past is gone. My glory days are happening now, with
more to come. I hope you feel the same.
Buy Link |
Buy Link |
To read more, visit my web site: http://www.sandysemerad.com/
Labels:
#A Message in the Roses,
#BooksWeLove,
#brucespringsteen,
#butterflies,
#FreeportFlorida,
#GenevaAlabama,
#glorydays,
#HartfordAlabama,
#HurricaneHouse,
#LarrySemerad,
#SandySemerad,
#Sexlovemurder
Welcome to my blog. I invite you to participate.
I have worked as a newspaper reporter, editor and broadcaster and I've written two novels: Mardi Gravestone is available in paperback and in the ebook version it is called, "Sex, Love & Murder," to reflect the steamy content.
I hope you will take the time to read them. Hurricane House is my second novel, set in a Florida fishing village with a murderer at large.
Midwest book Review gave Hurricane House five stars and Romantic Times gave it four-and-a half-stars. My books are available everywhere books are sold.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
HELLO, I'M VICTORIA by Victoria Chatham
Hello, I’m Victoria and I’m pleased to meet you. I’d
rather get to know you than have to write about myself but as my publisher Books We Love suggested we share something of ourselves so our readers can get to know us, I’m creeping out from under my
writing stone.
You can take it from that statement that I’m something of
an introvert, a trait I believe many writers share. However, I think I came by
that attitude as a form of defence. Being a first born I had something of a
Type A personality, taking charge even as a child. Once, on overhearing my
parents discussing how they were to get to an upcoming regimental dinner and
dance, I marched from my grandmother’s house several blocks to the taxi
driver’s house and promptly ordered a taxi for them. I was five years old.
But, being constantly on the move as an army brat drove me into myself and my books. My Dad was classed as a Permanent Staff
Instructor to Territorial Army units, but we were anything but permanent. After
the third move when I was about eight, I can clearly remember thinking there
was no point in making friends. In a year, or less, we would be packing up and
moving on again. I started making myself as inconspicuous as I could at each
new school I arrived at and although friendly, I chose to not make close
friends. As such I was considered something of an oddity and left pretty much
alone. Because I read so much I usually had an answer for everything in class,
something else that did not endear me to my class mates although my teachers
praised my efforts as they totted up my house marks.
My biggest passions were reading and horses. My parents
could never understand where this passion sprang from and were less than
understanding when I left home to work in a hunt stables. I was in my element
with four horses in my string and loved everything about them from Thor's weird sense of humor, Doctor's pleasure in cuddling, Zulaika's fascination with birds and Tangerine's inability to walk, he was a constant jogger. I was at the
age, of course, where boys and horses were on a par, until one boy beat the
horses by a head and we were married. We produced three children, before
parting company fifteen years later.
I’d tried writing as a teenager, lurid tales about
Virginia, Girl of the Golden West. Virginia was my alter ego, the girl I would
loved to have been. She could ride, shoot, was incredibly brave and did
everything I would never have dared to do. I wrote about her freedom with utter
longing. Unfortunately, my parents read one of my scribbled stories and laughed
until they cried. Probably rightly, but it was a long time before I took up the
pen again.
My working life after the horses and the family was a
series of office management positions, some interesting others not. In my
mid-30’s I took up horse riding again and gained a great deal of pleasure from
being around them again. In between times I had variously been on one committee
or another, starting with the PTA, then Cubs and Scouts for my boys and Junior
Red Cross for my daughter. I was on our family horse riding club committee for
years, helping to organize and run shows.
After meeting and marrying a Canadian, I made Calgary,
Alberta my home. While my immigration processing proceeded, I volunteered for
various organizations until I was able to legally obtain work in my new
country. This time I went into apartment management, something that never had a
dull moment. You never knew what people were going to do next from the super
nice, young professional man who was arrested for drug dealing, to the cheerful
hooker I had to evict under the ‘wrongful use of premises’ clause in the lease agreement. After the
apartment buildings I managed properties for a self-storage company. No lack of
stories there I can tell you! I guess my childhood managing ways came to the
fore in the end.
These days I can look back on my varied positions and see
how each one involved record keeping and writing of some kind, usually reports.
I ran my riding club’s newsletter for a couple of years, wrote a book for my
daughter and finally, with huge encouragement from my new husband, took up
writing for myself. With my first writing group I was membership director and
assistant newsletter editor, then editor for about two years. As such I
attended most board meetings. With my second writers group I again managed
memberships before moving on to Program Director for monthly meetings and
workshops. Whereas some people are intimidated by organization I find great
satisfaction in working out all the parts of the whole and making them work
together. I guess that five year old still lurks beneath my skin!
These days, and fortunately retired from formal
employment, I continue to write, read and volunteer at Spruce Meadows, the
world class equestrian centre just south of Calgary. I enjoy hiking and trail
riding in the summer. I snow shoe in winter. I’m involved in the AMBER study, a
five year study being conducted by the University of Calgary on the effects of
diet and exercise on breast cancer patients.
Yes, I’ve beaten that beast twice now. I was first
diagnosed in 2006, had treatment in 2007 and had follow up hormone therapy from
2008 to 2013. One year after that it was back again. In 2014 my course of
treatment was very different as I refused chemotherapy, radiation and hormone
therapy. Instead I chose surgery for a complete bilateral mastectomy and
altered my diet and lifestyle. All the reading and research I did during my
first course of treatment convinced me it was not the best for when I faced it
again. Along with discussions with my own doctor, my surgeon and oncologist, I
consulted with a naturopath and nutritionist. I researched several clinics that
were having huge success in treating their cancer patients with alternative
therapies. My friend Maxine helped me enormously in researching various
superfoods to help boost my immune system. And from my early 30s, when one
riding instructor recommended I take up yoga, I still go to class and practise
at home most days a week.
I’m happy, healthy and love my life. I have a super group
of friends, I visit my family in England as often as I can and have a great
deal to be thankful for. While some women worry about maturing (hey, that’s
what fine wine does!) I wouldn’t want to be any age again. Been there, done
that, I’ll just enjoy now and what’s ahead.
Friday, January 22, 2016
It’s Freaky Outside This Comfort Zone
Click here to buy from Amazon |
It’s Freaky Outside This Comfort Zone
Yeah but what a view
This blog is around writing and life in general and why you
don’t get what you say you want. Now you probably heard the term, Comfort Zone,
before. I always wondered if Comfort Zone meant something to do with a nice
cozy couch or snuggling in my warm bed and does being outside of it mean my
electric blanket doesn’t work.
I took some personal development
courses many years ago and learned many things about myself and what I attract
in my life and how I see the world through my unique set of rose-colored
glasses that we all have. Even if I don’t wear glasses, nor even like roses.
Yeah, sorry I’m not a vegetarian and have been known to snarf down the odd
burger and salty deep fried onion rings. Might have to stop for a snack that
sounded good with or without the triple yummy sauce, pickles and bacon and
melted Applewood smoked cheese. That’s it, never write on an empty stomach.
I’ll be back in fifteen.
Burp. Now, back on the topic. Everyone has their own comfort
zones around everything they see, do and interact with in life. For some, like
the pope, he’d have a huge comfort zone around using the fword and would have a
hard time stepping out of it. Where others like Myley Cyrus has very little
around strutting around nearly naked on stage in front of thousands of fans and
even less on human decency. Don’t even get me started.
I
learned that criminals in a study would pick out the same person time and time
again to mug. So while a person doesn’t usually want to get hit over the head
and have their wallets stolen, they are attracting it to themselves by the way
they portray themselves to the outside world. All about comfort zone. Why do
children of alcoholics marry alcoholics? Again comfort zone. While some comfort
zones are nice, others are ugly and until I learn what mine are I will attract
to me certain things time and time again. I need to become conscious of what it
is I’m putting out there and how I want to attract different things into my
life.
I
learned many things in the Context Associated series, well worth trying if
there’s any in your area. But the most important to writers is this. In today’s
world the idea of self-marketing is of utmost importance. Gone are the days of
company paid book tours. The internet has changed our lives and while you may
get a novel published either via self or through an ebook company it is up to
you to do your own marketing. Just ask the aging rock stars of the world. I
don’t think you’ll ever see another Bon Jovi or Rolling Stones rock group making
hundreds of millions off music sales and doing world tours.
I’ve
been busy learning that I have to step outside my comfort zone and believe in
myself and my writings. Just like Ronald McDonald believed once he took off his
clown outfit he could cook a mean burger. I’ve been linking, blogging and
posting on facebook and lately twitter. Hated twitter, as a writer what can I
say in 140 letters? Give me a novel to write and different scenario, Comfort zone.
I have to believe that my writing is better than good. It is great and I can
and will put myself first and out there. Yes, that is stepping outside of what
most insulated writers do. Yup. It’s easy to sit in a room and bang away at
typewriter keys, oh sorry another changing thing of the times. How many of
those do you think they sold last year? So go ahead and put your foot on the
center stage in front of billions, or at least here’s hoping. Get Twittering,
Insta whatever, facebooking and using whatever new medium pops up these years. There
is the old story of a writer who gave up and filed away his ideas for kids
books. Until one of his friends said, after reading the dust collecting book on
his shelf. “I think there’s a market for green eggs and ham.”
Make your New Years Resolution as
Mrs. Frank’s. I bet her context around comfort zone was stretched when she said,
“I put that Sh*t on everything.” Look where that got her.
So get out there and put your books
and life in front of the world.
Click here to buy from Amazon |
Frank Talaber, Writer by Soul.
A natural storyteller, whose compelling thoughts are freed from the depths of the heart and the subconscious before being poured onto the page.
Literature written beyond the realms of genre he is known to grab readers; kicking, screaming, laughing or crying and drag them into his novels.
Enter the literary world of Frank Talaber.
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Prima Doll Card by Cheryl Wright
I will start of this post by telling you a bit about myself - since it's been suggested by my publisher BooksWeLove.
I have been a creative for as long as I can remember, beginning with hand-sketched drawings when I was about eight, and progressing to painting with acrylics at around ten.
I also began writing when I was about ten, after a hippy substitute teacher took over my grade six class for nearly a year. When he arrived, guitar slung over his shoulder, I moved to the back of the classroom. As the weeks went on, I slowly moved closer to the front.
After many months of listening to classical poetry, and learning the stories behind each poem, we progressed to writing our own poetry and then short stories. More time was spent outside the classroom (writing poetry and short stories) than was spent in it.
It was a year of enlightenment for me, and one I will never forget.
By eleven, I was editor of the high school newspaper and began writing non-fiction articles for my local council. Over the years I have written for national and international magazines, written sales pages for internet sites, as well as undertaking business writing. (Sometimes you just have to put money on the table.)
Throughout all of this, my love for writing fiction, particularly romantic suspense, has never waned.
In addition to running a website for writers for over ten years, I have been writing coach on a one-to-one basis for several writers. Working as a staff trainer for about twelve years certainly helped in this area.
On a more personal level, my husband Alan and I recently celebrated 41 years together. We have two adult "children" and six grandchildren, three of whom have lived with us for the past twelve years. It's a challenge at times, but you do what you have to do.
For a little over fifteen years, I have dabbled in creating greeting cards, which I find to be very relaxing. Many a plot problem has been solved in my craft room! I have recently begun art journaling, as well as canvases. (YouTube is a wealth of information for just about any topic!)
On that note, here is a card and canvas I made for my granddaughter's 15th birthday this week.
The image is a Prima Doll, with several different (but similar) images in the range. Since it was for a teenager, I made sure there was lots of bling and ribbons on this card.
Here is the canvas I made to go with it.
I am very new at canvases, so it's not perfect, and is very basic, but I'm pretty happy with it, and my granddaughter did love it. (And that's the main thing.)
I hope you've enjoyed this card and learning more about me. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!
Links:
My website: www.cheryl-wright.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cherylwrightauthor
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/writercheryl
BWL website: http://bookswelove.net/authors/wright-cheryl/
Multi-published author, Cheryl Wright, former secretary, debt collector, account manager, writing instructor, and shopping tour hostess, loves reading. She writes romantic suspense, contemporary romance, and the occasional comedy.
She lives in Melbourne, Australia, and is married with two adult children and has six grandchildren. When she’s not writing, she can be found in her craft room making greeting cards.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Brain-Scrambling Earworms by Stuart R. West
Click here to purchase! |
Not too long ago, on the way back from the grocery store
(imagine this dramatically emblazoned upon the big screen like a Star Wars
scrawl), my wife suddenly shouted, “Oh, my God!”
“What? What’s wrong?” I imagine the worst, maybe a spider
crawling on the window next to her. (And
believe me, with her that is the worst; once she jumped out of her still
running car when she saw a spider).
“I’ve got the EZ Brite jingle running through my head,” she
exclaimed.
That actually brought me a great amount of happiness. EZ
Brite doesn’t exist, nor does the jingle. It’s a fictional teeth-whitening
product I created for my new comedy mystery, Bad Day in a Banana Hammock. One
of my two protagonists, Zak (an extremely vapid, but good-hearted male
stripper), has the jingle crawling through his head at the most inopportune
moments. Particularly when he needs to focus on why he wakes up with no
memories of the previous night. And next to a dead, naked man.
“EZ Brite makes your
teeth clean, EZ Brite gets out the greennnn…”
By definition, an earworm
is a memorable piece of music that continually repeats through a person's mind
after it is no longer playing. It’s also known as a brainworm; some
people refer to it as “stuck song syndrome.” No matter what you call it,
earworms are insidious and harder to get rid of than poison ivy.
What really surprised me, though, is the amounts of research
scientists have given this phenomenon. A
long list of researchers (too long, too boring to list here) has been studying
this illness since at least the ‘50s. 98% of the population is bothered by this
condition. While it affects both men and women, it tends to irritate women more
and stays with them longer (probably due to the natural tunnel vision of men).
Suggested cures? OCD medication, brain puzzles like Sudoku and chewing gum.
“EZ Brite, nice and
easy, seconds to apply, really breezy…”
Unfortunately, my fictional earworm has been bothering me
since penning my book.
But I had relief over the holidays. Radio stations inundated
us with even worse earworms. You
couldn’t turn the dial without being tortured by Santa Baby. For my wife, it
was Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer. Both equally obnoxious earworms.
Chewing gum didn’t help me (my wife can’t stand to be around
gum-chewers). Perhaps someday, scientists will actually create a true cure for
this sickness that infects 98% of the world. With that high a percentage, you’d
think the men in lab-coats would prioritize it. Maybe they’ll create a
brain-implanted chip that can turn earworms off. I mean, we can “block” friends
on Facebook with relative ease. This just seems like the next logical step.
“EZ Brite goes on
quick, tastes so good, just give it a lick…”
And I apologize for contributing to this sinister disease
with my fictional earworm.
There are more verses of the EZ Brite jingle in Bad Day in a Banana Hammock. There’s
also Zach’s tough, take no guff, ex-detective sister, Zora, who has three kids
in tow and one on the way. She’s also very cranky. Stir in a murder mystery
involving a plastic surgery enhanced femme fatale, a frighteningly large and
deadly European chauffeur, a dead politician, a gleefully loud politician, a
Hillaryesque politician’s wife, a competitive male stripper in a fireman’s
outfit, a conspiracy theory hermit, aging hippie parents, and squabbling kids
and maybe—just maybe—you’ll be distracted enough to not add a new earworm to your
minds IPod.
Monday, January 18, 2016
You Never Know What Tomorrow May Bring by Nancy M Bell
Well, I must say things have changed drastically since last month. I have spent the holidays in Winnipeg, Manitoba at the Health Sciences Centre. Not exactly how I planned to spend Christmas, New Year's and all of January up to this point. My oldest son, who is respected Equine Surgeon, was admitted to ICU on Christmas Eve suffering from some strange symptoms. He has been in ICU ever since and up until last Monday we had no diagnosis. It is without a doubt one of the scariest things I have ever experienced. A huge team of doctors, encompassing more areas of expertise than I can remember, were stumped. Many procedures and tests followed, some of which were sent to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. While they waited for results to come in they began treating him for what they believed was most likely to be the cause. A lot of very terrifying conditions and diseases were talked about, most of which did not have good outcomes. We faced the fact that our son might never leave the ICU alive.
Then last Monday night, January 11, which is actually his birthday, one of his doctors came into the room and said he had some news. A test came back positive for a condition that was treatable! It is a surreal feeling to be overjoyed to be told that your son has a rare form of encephalitis. It was the best news we could have gotten, because it was a treatable thing. The chances of full recovery are very good. We are not out of the woods yet and there is a long road to do down yet, but at least there is a road to walk down with a light at the end of the tunnel.
So, the point of me telling you this is....? Never take anything for granted, ever. Hug your kids, tell them you love them, no matter how old they are. Tell your friends what they mean to you. There are no guarantees in life and this has been brought home to me very clearly. Who would ever guess that a healthy successful thirty-five year old would become incapacitated so quickly. In the space of a few days he went from a highly functioning professional to being hooked up to a machine that breathed for him. Take the time to appreciate the glory of the sunrise, the magnificence of a sunset, the diamond points of the stars on a clear night. Dance in the moon shadows on crisp white snow under the full moon. Don't hate Mondays or wish away the cold winter months longing for spring. Live in the moment of each and every day. Come Hell or High Water live life to the fullest to the best of your ability. Wishing you Peace, Joy, Love and Happiness each and every day of your lives.
You can visit my website, follow me on twitter @emilypikkasso and on Facebook
I am currently working on the next book in the Arabella's Secret series. The Selkie's Song is the first book and is available at Amazon and where good books are sold everywhere.
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