Featured Author: J.Q. Rose

 

BWL Publishing Mysteries by J.Q. Rose
Click here to discover JQ's mysteries at BWL Publishing

Hello and welcome to the BWL Publishing Insiders Blog. Thank you to BWL Publishing for featuring authors on the blog. Today it's my turn to introduce myself to you.

Life Experience is Fodder for Authors by J.Q. Rose

Terror on Sunshine Boulevard

I always thought of horror writers as eccentric, peculiar people. But my perception changed when a horror story sprang from my own mind. You can imagine my surprise when my first publisher categorized my novel as a mystery/horror tale. That made me a published author of horror stories. BWL Publishing released that revised horror story as Terror on Sunshine Boulevard, the perfect read for this scary month.

Right away, I must tell you I am not an eccentric, peculiar person. I am just a regular woman who is an aunt, sister, sister-in-law, wife, mother, mother-in-law and grandmother. I like eating a burger at McDonald's, shopping at Walmart, and reading mystery novels. But, perhaps some would think my childhood was different. You see, my father was an embalmer and funeral director. I was reared in a funeral home.

An author’s life experience shapes the stories in their minds. I based my romantic suspense, Deadly Undertaking, on growing up as a funeral director’s daughter. The story is fiction, but my funeral director brothers helped me with some details for the story. So, it is loosely based on the real funeral business. The keyword here is loosely.

Deadly Undertaking

In the story, I include how I helped my mom and dad in the business. I dusted caskets, set up the display of funeral arrangements for the visitation/funeral, hauled them to the church for the funeral service and rushed in after the service to load up the flower car to race out to the cemetery to set the flowers up around the gravesite. I always felt the colorful flowers from friends and family helped to soften the stark setting of the casket among the tombstones. I loved working with my parents and doing something to comfort grieving families.

Arranging a Dream: A Memoir

                                       To be released by BWL Publishing on January 1, 2021 

My husband, Ted, and I dreamed of being entrepreneurs in the greenhouse business because he had a hobby house attached to the garage at our home in Marseilles, IL. Instead of working at his dead end job in a windowless building, he was ready for a new challenge and so was I. We made that dream a reality when we purchased a greenhouse operation along with a flower shop.  I used the knowledge I gained from setting up the funeral arrangements in my future role as a floral designer.

Revealing my life experiences as a mom, floral designer and business owner, I penned my memoir, Arranging a Dream a Memoir. BWL Publishing will release the paperback book in December and the digital book on January 1, 45 years to the day we became entrepreneurs. This work of creative non-fiction is about that first year when we became shop owners and moved to a town of strangers with our one-year-old baby girl. We had no friends or family in that city and no experience in the fresh flower business!

Come along with me and discover the laughter and tears, the struggles and triumphs that first year as I learn about the floral industry, floral arranging and motherhood.

About JQ:

            J.Q. Rose, author

Whether the story is fiction or non-fiction, J.Q. Rose is “focused on story.”  She offers readers chills, giggles and quirky characters woven within the pages of her mystery books. Her published mysteries are Deadly Undertaking, Terror on Sunshine Boulevard and Dangerous Sanctuary released by 

BWL Publishing. 

Using her storytelling skills, she provides entertainment and information in articles featured in books, magazines, newspapers, and online magazines J.Q. taught elementary school for several years and never lost the love for teaching passed down from her teacher grandmother and mother. She satisfies that aspect of her character by presenting workshops on Creative Writing and Writing Your Life Story. 

J.Q. features writing tips on the Focused on Story blog and hosts guest authors from diverse genres.  When J.Q.  isn’t writing, she stays out of trouble with photography, Pegs and Jokers board games, and traveling with her husband. They spend winters in Florida and travel up north in the summertime to be with their four grandsons and granddaughter.

Connect online with J.Q. Rose

J.Q. Rose blog 

BWL Publishing

Facebook 

J.Q.  Rose Amazon Author Page 

Goodreads

The Rose Courier October 2020 Edition

Want to keep up-to-date, with JQ? Sign up for the Rose Courier delivered to your inbox once a month. Click here to subscribe for articles, excerpts, prizes, freebies and more.

 

Thank you for stopping by.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

 

 

 

Excerpt from Terror on Sunshine Boulevard: a Scary Read for Halloween

Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q. Rose
Paranormal mystery
Click here to find more mysteries by J.Q. Rose released by Books We Love Publishing

📙🎃 📙🎃📙🎃📙🎃📙🎃

Hello and welcome to the BWL Publishing Insiders Blog.  I'm sharing a short excerpt from my "terrifying" novel that is perfect for a scary Halloween read, Terror on Sunshine Boulevard.

A reader told me she discovered she shouldn't have read Terror on Sunshine Boulevard before bed. She was too scared to turn off the lights and go to sleep!

📙🎃 📙🎃📙🎃📙🎃📙🎃

Back of the Book: Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q. Rose

Rescuing a naked woman lying in a geranium bed or investigating mysterious murders are not the usual calls for first responder Jim Hart. He expects slip and fall accidents or low blood pressure emergencies in his retirement community of Citrus Ridge Senior Community and Golf Resort. The ghastly crime scenes turn the winter time fun into a terrifying season of death and mystery when the authorities cannot track down the predator responsible.

Jim and his wife Gloria could escape the horror and grief by returning to their northern home, but concern for their friends and residents keep them in Florida. With the entire community in a dither over the deaths, the Harts participate in the normal winter activities of golfing, dancing, and pool parties with their friends to distract them from the sadness and loss.

Can Jim and Gloria work with the authorities to discover who or what is killing the seniors on Sunshine Boulevard and stop the increasing body count?

                                         

Excerpt: Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q. Rose, Chapter 8
Warning: This is the chills part of the blog post, not the giggles.

Turning on the warm water in the bathtub, she placed her hand under the faucet to gauge the temperature. When it was just right, she turned the shower on at full force, ready to step in for a relaxing indulgence with the warm water raining over her body.  Before Pamela could step in, she heard Noel’s moan from the bedroom. Terror clutched her throat. Oh, Noel, please don’t have a heart attack now! She yanked open the bathroom door and stood frozen in the doorway. The moonlight through the window added shimmer to the yellow stripes crawling across Noel’s naked body. When a blazing yellow light filled the bedroom, she slammed the bathroom door shut. The animal instinct to escape kicked in. Clambering onto the toilet and stepping onto the granite counter, she yanked the screen off the bathroom window and dove headfirst into the cool night air. She landed face down on top of the flowers in the wood-chipped flower bed below. Pamela’s screams pierced the night as she lay naked among the geraniums....to be continued.  

Do you enjoy being scared? Haunted houses? Horror movies? Scary books?
Please leave a comment below and let us know.

Happy Halloween!!

Click here to connect with J.Q. Rose online.

You are invited to return to the Insiders Blog on Thursday, October 22. 

On October 22,I will be featured as the author of the month and will have the opportunity to talk about how my life experience has influenced my writing.

Click here to join me on Thursday. Thank you.

Two Sentence Horror Stories

These are great. I wish I could take credit for any of them but I can't. Enjoy! ~ Jamie Hill

If you're looking for a horrifying story that will keep you up tonight, don't waste all that time watching a horror movie. Reddit has provided us with pages of terrifying horror stories wrapped up in two sentences or less. Here are some favorite stories guaranteed to make you keep your lights on tonight.

1. Therealhatman
I woke up to hear knocking on glass. At first, I thought it was the window until I heard it come from the mirror again.

2. Jmperson
The last thing I saw was my alarm clock flashing 12:07 before she pushed her long rotting nails through my chest, her other hand muffling my screams. I sat bolt upright, relieved it was only a dream, but as I saw my alarm clock read 12:06, I heard my closet door creak open.

3. Miami_Metro
Growing up with cats and dogs, I got used to the sounds of scratching at my door while I slept. Now that I live alone, it is much more unsettling.

4. EvilSteveDave
In all of the time that I've lived alone in this house, I swear to God I've closed more doors than I've opened.

5. Drrd777
A girl heard her mom yell her name from downstairs, so she got up and started to head down. As she got to the stairs, her mom pulled her into her room and said "I heard that, too."

6. Calamitosity
She asked why I was breathing so heavily. I wasn't.

7. The_D_String
My wife woke me up last night to tell me there was an intruder in our house. She was murdered by an intruder 2 years ago.

8. Doctordevice
I awoke to the sound of the baby monitor crackling with a voice comforting my firstborn child. As I adjusted to a new position, my arm brushed against my wife, sleeping next to me.

9. Hangukbrian
I always thought my cat had a staring problem - she always seemed fixated on my face. Until one day, when I realized that she was always looking just behind me.

10. Wartortlesthebestest
There's nothing like the laughter of a baby. Unless it's 1 a.m. and you're home alone.

11. Vigridarena
I was having a pleasant dream when what sounded like hammering woke me. After that, I could barely hear the muffled sound of dirt covering the coffin over my own screams.

12. Vaultkid321
"I can't sleep," she whispered, crawling into bed with me. I woke up cold, clutching the dress she was buried in.

13. JustAnotherMuffledVo
I begin tucking him into bed and he tells me, "Daddy, check for monsters under my bed." I look underneath for his amusement and see him, another him, under the bed, staring back at me quivering and whispering, "Daddy, there's somebody on my bed."

14. madamimadamimadam
You get home, tired after a long day's work and ready for a relaxing night alone. You reach for the light switch, but another hand is already there.

15. Graboid27
I can't move, breathe, speak or hear and it's so dark all the time. If I knew it would be this lonely, I would have been cremated instead.

16. Aerron
She went upstairs to check on her sleeping toddler. The window was open and the bed was empty.

17. Genetically_witless
I never go to sleep. But I keep waking up.

18. Skuppy
My daughter won't stop crying and screaming in the middle of the night. I visit her grave and ask her to stop, but it doesn't help.

19. Cobaltcollapse
After working a hard day, I came home to see my girlfriend cradling our child. I didn't know which was more frightening, seeing my dead girlfriend and stillborn child, or knowing that someone broke into my apartment to place them there.

20. Guztaluz
There was a picture in my phone of me sleeping. I live alone.