Where else can you get a compilation of stories that have a connection? I've been told that short story collections don't sell, but the history of Reader's Digest condensed books proves that theory was once wrong.
In Discovery, someone learns something they didn't previously know, and I'm hoping readers might realize the "Discovery" of a love of shorts again. *lol*
Please forgive me if I toot my own horn, but the stories are entertaining, hopefully well-written, and are great for passing time in a waiting room if you have a Kindle. The "book" is available in both download and print if you don't have an e-reader, and I absolutely LOVE the cover. The eye is on you! *smile*
Here's a little teaser to grab your interest: (hint, hint)
A Wing and a Prayer - A flight attendant discovers that her judgement in people might be flawed.
Joy's Revelation - While waiting for her wedding, Joy makes plans to get a passport for her honeymoon. Why is her mother dragging her heels when it comes to finding Joy's birth certificate? Is there a secret to discover?
Just the Right Fit - An older heroine discovers more than shoes at a sale she visits.
Masked Love - Divorced, overweight, and trying to find love. Will my heroine discover the health problem she has might be her doom? Betcha think you know what she has. *lol*
Hurricane Warning - When my heroine moves to Florida to be next to the water, she discovers help comes in the strangest and most handsome of ways.
The Forget-Me-Nots - When a mother passes away and her daughters clean out her belongings for donation, one discovers three strange objects in her jewelry box and sets off to find what they mean and where they came from.
Paging Dr. Jones - A woman injured in a domestic violence incident discovers a doctor that doesn't just care for her injuries, he treats her soul. Will she discover a connection?
***
So, there you have it. My seven stories and I hope you'll try them and let me know what you think. You can always email me at mizging @ gmail dot com or leave a "non-snarky" review on Amazon. Really, most authors pay attention to what their readers have to say, if the comments are given as positive feedback. Thanks for visiting today.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Meet Cindy from Shortcomings by Ginger Simpson #YA
My name is Cindy Johnson, and I’m a freak…at least I feel
like one. Although Momma says I’m
beautiful, other people look at me like I’m uglier than sin. You see, I was born with one leg shorter than
the other and I have a very bad limp. I
go to high school, but if I had a choice, I’d just stay home and read romance
books all day. At least, through novels, I can escape to a world where people don’t stare and say
unkind things.
Funny thing is, I have a crush on the HS Quarterback despite
knowing I don't stand a chance with him. His
name is Cory Neil and he’s polite, but probably only because he feels sorry
for me. Knowing Math is my strong subject, he called and asked me to tutor him.
I was so blinded by his attention, I agreed because he was so sure he’d lose
his place on the team if he failed the class. I couldn't let that happen. He's awesome.
Anyhow, I arranged to meet him in the library because our house…well,
let’s just say, it isn’t a mansion and I decided I’d be much more comfortable
without him seeing how I live. Oh, don’t
get me wrong, my dad does his very best, but we’ve not had the best of luck
which is how we ended up with me at a new school and people less forgiving than
those I grew up with. Wouldn’t it be a
wonderful world if people thought before they spoke?
Anyhow, Cory asked me to Homecoming and that made me
so mad. Why would he ask someone who
obviously can’t dance unless he was dared by his friends? I’m not stupid, and I immediately knew I was
the butt of someone’s joke. I absolutely
refused to go and he pretends he doesn’t understand why I won't. Yeah, right!
I don’t think I’ve
ever wished for anything as much as to be normal and go to the ball with Cory,
but no matter how much I want things to be different, I’m who I am. Yes, maybe I let my “Shortcomings” define me,
but I just can’t afford to open myself up to more ridicule and hurt. He doesn’t seem to want to accept my answer,
but I’ve already made up my mind. He can
take the pep squad captain. She takes great delight in reminding me I’m nothing but a gimp whenever I run across her. I'll get even...somehow, someday, someway, just you wait and see.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
RED MAGIC ~ CHRISTOPH ~ A Character Blog
My days of intemperance--of gambling, womanizing, and drinking--are
done. Whether my sins ended when the cannon burst , nearly taking
my leg, or whether they ended last month, when my affianced, an endlessly
forgiving lady whom I’d at last agreed to wed, fell from her horse and broke
her neck, matters little. My dear lost Wili, fool that I am, I took you for granted, thought you would
always be there, arms open, ready to love and forgive!
That part of my life, full of deception and lies,
those days of selfish pleasure—are over.
As my confessor says, God has granted me wealth, position, strength and
grace of form, but I have taken His gifts for granted, have evaded the duties and
tasks which are required of a gentleman.
I am to marry my lost bride’s little sister and take up the
duties of lordship, tending to neglected family property and assisting my father with
diligence and honesty. My young cousin Caterina will not make an easy wife, for
she justly blames me for her beloved sister’s years of unhappiness. Caterina
is, to all intents and purposes, a child, with little knowledge of the world or
of the duties required of a gentleman’s wife. There is almost nothing about her—beyond
her lanky promise of beauty—which interests me, except for her surprising knowledge
of horseflesh, which rivals that of any man I've ever known.
If
I am to fulfill the promises I’ve made to my family and to God, I must be
patient with my young cousin, be at first far more a stern and loving father than a husband. This will not be easy for me, as I have
hitherto been accustomed to always have my way with the ladies...
~~ Christoph von Hagen
At Amazon, now reduced price!
http://amzn.com/B00774BXDA
~Juliette Waldron
Historical Novels with Passion and Magic
http://www.julietwaldron.com
Labels:
adventure,
alps,
books we love,
Fantasy,
historical,
horses,
Juliet Waldron,
magic,
rake,
Red Magic,
romance
I am in the grandma zone, a long time writer and poet, posting at Crone Henge and BWL these days just because. Wish I could travel, and last year I was lucky enough to get back to the UK, specifically to Avebury to reconnect with the ancient temple. Hiking, camping, lover of solitude, cats, moons and gardens.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Spring Cleaning
It's that time of year again. Usually by now I'm done, but I've been putting it off this year. Probably due to the weather.
However, this past weekend was absolutely beautiful and motivated me. So far my living room is half done. Curtains are down, cobwebs removed, and furniture vacuumed. There was a time I flew through the room. Not so anymore. I'm not as young as I used to be, so I had to take a break before I dust the furniture, wash the windows, vacuum the floors and hang the new curtains.
Wow, looking at that, I realize I'm not even half done. Age does take its toll. Part of the reason I'm procrastinating is I'm thinking about buying new curtains. I do like the ones I have a red and white plaid, it gives the room a fresh cottagey look.
So why do I want to change them? Hubby is making new pictures for the walls. Sail boats and sea gulls and they're predominately blue. I'm hoping to find a blue and white plaid similar to the red and white. They're a linen type material, but sort of sheer. So far I've not been able to find anything like them. I bought them at Penney's a few years ago.
I guess I'll just save the money and put the red and white ones back up. So it's back to work.
By the way, two of my books are on special right now from Amazon, Secrets, Lies & Love is on sale for 1.99 for a limited time
and Deadbeat Dads for 99 cents.
However, this past weekend was absolutely beautiful and motivated me. So far my living room is half done. Curtains are down, cobwebs removed, and furniture vacuumed. There was a time I flew through the room. Not so anymore. I'm not as young as I used to be, so I had to take a break before I dust the furniture, wash the windows, vacuum the floors and hang the new curtains.
Wow, looking at that, I realize I'm not even half done. Age does take its toll. Part of the reason I'm procrastinating is I'm thinking about buying new curtains. I do like the ones I have a red and white plaid, it gives the room a fresh cottagey look.
So why do I want to change them? Hubby is making new pictures for the walls. Sail boats and sea gulls and they're predominately blue. I'm hoping to find a blue and white plaid similar to the red and white. They're a linen type material, but sort of sheer. So far I've not been able to find anything like them. I bought them at Penney's a few years ago.
I guess I'll just save the money and put the red and white ones back up. So it's back to work.
By the way, two of my books are on special right now from Amazon, Secrets, Lies & Love is on sale for 1.99 for a limited time
and Deadbeat Dads for 99 cents.
Labels:
author,
Roseanne Dowell,
sail boats
As the second youngest of six children, I always had a vivid imagination and loved to make up stories. I often sat and daydreamed about imaginary characters and lost myself in books and make-believe worlds.
My love of writing began as a teenager, but only recently pursued it seriously. With encouragement from fellow book-club members, NEORWA and my husband, I began writing and submitting my work.
Although Satin Sheets was my first published novel, I have over forty articles and stories published in magazines such as Good Old Days, Nostalgia, and Ohio Writer along with several online publications.
Besides teaching three writing courses for Long Story School of Writing, I taught a writing course at Cuyahoga Community College.
In my spare time, I enjoys spending time with my six children, fourteen grandchildren and great grandchildren. My hobbies include ceramics, knitting, quilting, and jewelry making. But after my family, my first love is writing. I reside with my husband of forty-eight years in Northeast Ohio. You can visit my website at: http://www.roseannedowell.com
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Erica Morris Tells All
Dealing with divorce isn’t easy. Dealing with children
during divorce is hard. Dealing with an ex-husband who doesn’t care about his
kids is almost impossible.
How do I know? I lived it. After fifteen years of marriage
and two kids, my ex walked out. Left us on our won, almost penniless to deal with
life without him. Not only that, he left me to tell the kids. How do you tell
an eight and ten year old, their father’s gone and not coming back?
Not that he was a great father to begin with, the kids
rarely saw him, but he was their father. I’ll never forget the day he told me
he was leaving. It wasn’t working for us, he said. He found someone else. You
could have knocked me over with a feather. But I should have known. All the
signs were there, working late, lipstick on his collar. How could I have been so stupid to ignore it?
He wanted a quick divorce to marry his pregnant secretary.
Can you beat that? He never called our kids, never visited. The worst part, he
refused to pay child support. I’d about had enough, but what was I to do? How do
you force a man to pay?
I know, I could take him to court, they’d tell him to pay,
but how to make him. Worst part, he was a lawyer. They tended to stick together
no matter how wrong they were.
So I formed a group with a few friends who’d gone through
the same thing. I was shocked to see how many women experienced the same thing.
Had the men of this town gone crazy? How does anyone walk away from their kids?
How does an self-respecting, responsible man refuse to pay child support?
I didn’t have the answer, but there were a lot of them. Now
if we could figure a way to make them pay. Many of these men had disappeared. No
one knew if they were alive or dead. Women who supported these men through the
hard times were now left to deal with life on their own. I discovered most of
these men were controlling. Not only didn’t they allow their wives to work,
most of them weren’t allowed out without their kids, except for school
functions.
I finally decided to take matters into my own hands. I’d
demand my ex pay child support. I’d had enough. So, I went to his work and
waited for him in the parking garage. We were going to have it out once and for
all and I wasn’t leaving without some money.
What happened next tore me apart. Read about my experience
in Deadbeat Dads available for 99 cents for a limited time from Amazon.
Read more about my books from my website: www.roseannedowell.com
Or my blog: http://roseannedowellauthor.blogspot.com
Excerpt:
“Okay
ladies,” I looked at the women gathered around me. Lisa Daly, who encouraged me
to start this group, was here and Nicole Brown. Poor thing never went out while
she was married. Oh, and Louise Conners, I still couldn’t believe her husband
ran off with his receptionist, and now they were going through a nasty divorce.
Not sure why that surprised more than the others. It shouldn’t. There was quite
a turn out. Half the women I didn’t know.
I
brought my attention back to the meeting. “First order of business, a name for
our group, any ideas?”
“Deadbeat
Dads Anonymous,” someone called out.
“Wives
of Deadbeat Dads,” someone else yelled. “Or Women Against Deadbeat Dads.”
“Better
yet, how about Mothers Against Deadbeat Dads.
MADD!” Lisa Daly shouted.
I
laughed. I couldn’t help it. There certainly wasn’t a shortage of names. “We’re
mad for sure but that sounds too much like Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.”
“ADD,”
someone else yelled. Against Deadbeat Dads.”
Nicole
Brown’s hand went up. “Nicole, what’s your idea?”
“How
about Wives Enraged at Deadbeat Dads. W.E.D.D.?” Nicole’s voice barely reached
above a whisper.
Poor
Nicole. Her ex-husband had knocked her self confidence so low. I was surprised
to even see her here. I met her at a
school function. Nicole’s daughter, Cindy, was in the same class as my Josh. I
had heard through the grapevine that Bob, Nicole’s ex, had run off with a
stripper. Talk about humiliating. I shivered at the thought.
Suddenly
everyone came alive. Shouts of “Hey, that’s great, I like that,” sounded
throughout the room.
“Okay
then it sounds unanimous, Wives Enraged at Deadbeat Dads it is. All in favor
raise your hands. W.E.D.D.” Kind of
funny when you thought about it. None of us were wed any more.
Twelve
hands went up. “Motion carried. We are
officially Wives Enraged at Deadbeat Dads. Now we need to set up a schedule for
our meetings and discuss our agenda.
First, we need to choose a Chairperson.”
Nicole’s
hand went up again. “I nominate Erica Morris for chair person.”
“I
second that motion.” Lisa Daly raised her hand. “This group was your idea. I think you should chair it.”
Me
as chair person? I wasn’t too crazy about the idea. “Any other nominations?” I
hoped someone would raise their hand. No such luck. Heat rushed into my face. I
had a feeling it turned as red as my hair, which was pretty red. I wasn’t used
to being the center of attention. Never liked it and sure didn’t care for it
now.
The
room remained quiet.
No
other nominees. “Okay then, all in favor, show of hands. Motion carried, I
guess I’m the chairperson. Thank you, I’m flattered.” Flattered but a little
taken aback. Hopefully, I wouldn’t let anyone down. “Let’s break for refreshments and we can
continue our discussion while we snack.”
I needed a moment to myself.
I
never expected the group to name me chairperson. I’d never chaired anything in
my life. In fact, the parents group at my children’s school was the only other
group I had ever joined.
Johnny
didn’t like me to go out and do things. He expected his wife to stay home, and
God forbid, I even suggested going out alone while he stayed home with the
kids. Anger flared in me as I recalled
how often he came home late. Working,
yeah right, spending time with his playmates was more like it. How could I have
been so stupid? I remembered the day he told me he was leaving. Just like that
out of the clear blue sky.
“It’s
not working for us, Erica,” Johnny said. “I found someone else.”
Oh,
he found someone else all right, his young, sexy secretary. You could have knocked
me over with a feather. I should have
known. All the signs were there, his late hours and lipstick on his collar. He
was comforting the wife of a friend, he lied. I did a slow burn as the memories
returned. And then he left, packed his clothes and just walked out without even
a goodbye to the kids, left me to deal with them as usual.
Katie
and Josh woke up the next morning expecting to see their father. Not that they
saw much of him, but sometimes he ate breakfast with them and made polite
conversation. That was nine months ago, and he hadn’t been back since, not even
to visit the kids. He wanted a quick no fault divorce so he could marry his
pregnant secretary.
I
almost refused, but figured why fight it?
The kids and I were better off without him, but how do you explain to an
eight and ten year old that their father doesn’t care about them, that he had a
new life with a new baby? It was one
thing to forget about me, but not the kids. And I haven’t received even one of
the child support payments he agreed to pay in the divorce settlement.
“Erica,
hey are you okay?” Lisa’s hand on my shoulder startled me. “You look mad enough
to spit nails. Thinking about Johnny, I
bet.”
“Huh,
oh yeah sorry, my mind was wandering. Yeah. I was thinking about Johnny. I just
can’t believe he doesn’t care about the kids. He’s missed every scheduled
visit. He doesn’t return my calls, and of course I can’t get past his
secretary, uh wife, at the office or at home.
I could have him arrested, but with his connections he’d get off
Scott-free. I know it.”
“Well
that’s why we started this group isn’t it? Come on if we all put our heads
together we’ll come up with something to make them pay.”
The
rest of the meeting involved mostly chit chat about this ex hubby or that one
and how rotten they all were. It was small consolation to know others had the
same problem.
Labels:
deadbeat dads,
divorce,
romance,
women's fiction
As the second youngest of six children, I always had a vivid imagination and loved to make up stories. I often sat and daydreamed about imaginary characters and lost myself in books and make-believe worlds.
My love of writing began as a teenager, but only recently pursued it seriously. With encouragement from fellow book-club members, NEORWA and my husband, I began writing and submitting my work.
Although Satin Sheets was my first published novel, I have over forty articles and stories published in magazines such as Good Old Days, Nostalgia, and Ohio Writer along with several online publications.
Besides teaching three writing courses for Long Story School of Writing, I taught a writing course at Cuyahoga Community College.
In my spare time, I enjoys spending time with my six children, fourteen grandchildren and great grandchildren. My hobbies include ceramics, knitting, quilting, and jewelry making. But after my family, my first love is writing. I reside with my husband of forty-eight years in Northeast Ohio. You can visit my website at: http://www.roseannedowell.com
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