Monday, February 29, 2016
The Seeress and the Stone
Wow! I realized it's been a long time since I posted chapters of my fantasy novel, so here are the next three chapters. Sorry for the delay. You can also continue the series on: http://hubpages.com/literature/The-Seeress-and-the-Stone
Friday, February 26, 2016
Books to read . . . in addition to mine of course.
Okay, it's been a while since I've recommended a few books. So I have three more to add to the list.
Maxine Larabee (Max) owner of Larabee Investigations, needs a big case to solve and she needs it now. Taylor Hodges, field producer of Hollywood’s hottest reality show, Marry Me, hires Max after someone tries to kill her while scouting next season’s filming location in Arizona. Maxine hopes solving the celebrity’s case might end her company’s financial struggle, and at the same time prove to her lead investigator, Jace Atmore, she has what it takes to be a good detective.
But she has a bigger problem than just trying to prove her investigative abilities to a man with whom she’s attracted and probably falling for. The strongest lead in Taylor’s case trails straight to an ex-contestant of Marry Me, Lemon Beauchamp, a woman who’s engaged to His Royal Highness Prince Dante of Monterra. Getting to question her might be more difficult than keeping Taylor alive, or getting Jace’s respect.
Crown Princess Adeline of Montevaro has her life planned out for her: get her Master's in international relations, marry nobility, produce an heir, inherit the throne. There's no room for romance with the single father she meets when their cars collide on an icy winter night. Parliament - and her father - would never approve.
Charlie Brewer grew up without roots. The son of an archaeologist father and anthropologist mother, he either traveled along or lived with his aunt and uncle in the States. He's determined to give his daughter the stability he never had. He also wants to give her a mom, but the beautiful European he's falling for refuses to move to Serenity Landing, Missouri permanently.
He won't move. She can't stay. What will happen when they try to forget each other by dating someone "acceptable"? They find themselves drawn together by one of the girls in the after school program Addie supports - a girl who happens to be Charlie's daughter. How will Charlie, and his daughter, feel when they find out the woman they've both fallen for is a... princess?
A trip halfway around the world shows Charlie and Addie how much they long to be together - and how impossible it is. Is there any way he can prove he is Good Enough for a Princess?
The first is actually a series of four books. I'm on the fourth, but I love them all.
M. Louisa Locke is the author. I've talked about her books before, but here they are.
Locke creates a delightful atmosphere in Victorian San Francisco. She offers mystery, intrigue, with a touch of romance and her stories are clean. I highly encourage you to check out her books. https://mlouisalocke.com
Next up is a mystery novella by Debra Erfurt.
It Takes a Sleuth is a fantastic mystery to read in an afternoon (during your responsibility vacation.) that will have you turning pages all the way to the end.
Maxine Larabee (Max) owner of Larabee Investigations, needs a big case to solve and she needs it now. Taylor Hodges, field producer of Hollywood’s hottest reality show, Marry Me, hires Max after someone tries to kill her while scouting next season’s filming location in Arizona. Maxine hopes solving the celebrity’s case might end her company’s financial struggle, and at the same time prove to her lead investigator, Jace Atmore, she has what it takes to be a good detective.
And lastly, a wonderful Christian romance by Carol Moncado.
Good Enough for a Princess is a delightful romance that seems like your typical love story, but there are twists and turns that surprised even me.
Crown Princess Adeline of Montevaro has her life planned out for her: get her Master's in international relations, marry nobility, produce an heir, inherit the throne. There's no room for romance with the single father she meets when their cars collide on an icy winter night. Parliament - and her father - would never approve. Charlie Brewer grew up without roots. The son of an archaeologist father and anthropologist mother, he either traveled along or lived with his aunt and uncle in the States. He's determined to give his daughter the stability he never had. He also wants to give her a mom, but the beautiful European he's falling for refuses to move to Serenity Landing, Missouri permanently.
He won't move. She can't stay. What will happen when they try to forget each other by dating someone "acceptable"? They find themselves drawn together by one of the girls in the after school program Addie supports - a girl who happens to be Charlie's daughter. How will Charlie, and his daughter, feel when they find out the woman they've both fallen for is a... princess?
A trip halfway around the world shows Charlie and Addie how much they long to be together - and how impossible it is. Is there any way he can prove he is Good Enough for a Princess?
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Back again . . . for now.
So I've been a major blogging slacker lately. A lot has happened over the last few weeks. I've been very busy flying and writing and editing. But that's life as an adult, I suppose. We have so much busy that we can't get done some of the things that we want to do-like blogging. :)
Sometimes I wish I could just "run away" from everything. With my job that could actually be easy (LOL) but in reality running away doesn't help anything. I actually thought about this a week or so back. I was struggling with my writing, my job, and the everyday pressures of having a home and bills to pay, etc. Running away for a while started to sound like a great idea.
Instead I turned to prayer and the scriptures and decided that running away would be very selfish and hurt the people I care about more than help myself. So, I didn't run away. Instead I took a responsibility vacation.
Sounds silly, I know, but in the end it helped me much more than running away would have. Instead of all the stress of knowing that I would be worrying friends and family, I stayed home. For nearly two days (I was between work trips) I sat on the couch in my comfy clothes or pajamas and read books, watched tv, and did puzzles on my computer. I didn't even crack my files of books open to work on anything or bother cleaning the house at all.
Now, I consider myself very lucky to be able to relax like this. So many people I know have families and jobs that don't allow them to take it easy like that. How do you take a responsibility vacation? My only advice is to trust the people around you. Many of us have an amazing community of friends and family in and out of the church that can help us.
Being Mormon we talk a lot about serving others, but we don't spend nearly as much time on letting others serve us. Something I learned when my mom was very sick with cancer, is that other people want to serve those they love and care about, but it is also up to us to let those people serve. My mom didn't want the Relief Society to bring meals to the house. She was supposed to be giving the service and because she had me and my dad and my good friend and roomie Dawn to help, we didn't need the service.
It took Dawn and me lots of talking to convince her that maybe it was time to let someone serve us. What it came down to was the fact that both Dawn and I were working and my dad was tired. We needed the help. We wanted to let others gain the blessings of serving so we could have a break from the stress of cooking that way we could focus on helping my mom, cleaning, yard work, etc.
So, this brings me back to my earlier point. How can we take a responsibility vacation. Utilize the resources around you. Even if it is only for a day or two. Find a family member or friend who can babysit while you relax. Go shopping (you don't have to buy anything, but you can look around). You might be surprised at what has changed. If you like to read, go to the library and spend an hour browsing. Hole up in your room with a box of chocolates and read or relax or watch a movie.
We all need the time off. As women we think we have to do everything until we collapse or explode from stress and exhaustion. I've been there. Though my life seems very easy to some, I have my own set of trials and challenges and every once in a while even I need to set it all aside and take a responsibility vacation.
Well, that's my rant for the week. Now I need to go clean the house. :)
Sometimes I wish I could just "run away" from everything. With my job that could actually be easy (LOL) but in reality running away doesn't help anything. I actually thought about this a week or so back. I was struggling with my writing, my job, and the everyday pressures of having a home and bills to pay, etc. Running away for a while started to sound like a great idea.
Instead I turned to prayer and the scriptures and decided that running away would be very selfish and hurt the people I care about more than help myself. So, I didn't run away. Instead I took a responsibility vacation.
Now, I consider myself very lucky to be able to relax like this. So many people I know have families and jobs that don't allow them to take it easy like that. How do you take a responsibility vacation? My only advice is to trust the people around you. Many of us have an amazing community of friends and family in and out of the church that can help us.
Being Mormon we talk a lot about serving others, but we don't spend nearly as much time on letting others serve us. Something I learned when my mom was very sick with cancer, is that other people want to serve those they love and care about, but it is also up to us to let those people serve. My mom didn't want the Relief Society to bring meals to the house. She was supposed to be giving the service and because she had me and my dad and my good friend and roomie Dawn to help, we didn't need the service.
It took Dawn and me lots of talking to convince her that maybe it was time to let someone serve us. What it came down to was the fact that both Dawn and I were working and my dad was tired. We needed the help. We wanted to let others gain the blessings of serving so we could have a break from the stress of cooking that way we could focus on helping my mom, cleaning, yard work, etc.
We all need the time off. As women we think we have to do everything until we collapse or explode from stress and exhaustion. I've been there. Though my life seems very easy to some, I have my own set of trials and challenges and every once in a while even I need to set it all aside and take a responsibility vacation.
Well, that's my rant for the week. Now I need to go clean the house. :)
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Another great review
http://www.goawayimreading.com/?p=278
There is also a Facebook Giveaway that she is hosting. Check out the link above for more information.
Monday, January 18, 2016
Review from Deseret News
Check out this awesome review from the Deseret News.
Thank you Sharon Palmer.
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Happy New Year!!!
So I'm a little late in posting this lovely happy new year post, but I do have to admit that I've been crazy busy with work, writing, and family.
I'm so excited for the new year and the possibilities it will bring. Keeping my fingers crossed for more opportunities to publish my books, and keeping my hopes up that I will finally meet my eternal companion.
I've had a few opportunities to ponder life, my life specifically, and I'm hoping the new year will bring a renewed sense of my purpose here on earth. I'm trying to reconnect with all the inner whisperings of the spirit and draw myself closer to my Heavenly Father, all while writing, reading, editing, and flying.
Can we overcome the internal challenges as well as the external ones? I sure hope so. Yesterday I had a few moments to ponder the trials I've been given in this life and when one ponders their trials we also start to ponder the reasons or lessons we are to learn from them. I can list several different lessons I'm supposed to learn right now but none of them really seem to fit.
Patience is a good thing, but let's be honest, I am not really a patient person. I can wait, but it doesn't matter how long I wait, I will still be waiting impatiently and I really can wait for a long time. Perhaps the lesson is not patience.
Trust in Heavenly Father. This is a great lesson, one that I'm ever getting closer and closer to understanding. Trusting his timing, well that falls in with patience and we all know how that lesson is going. But even this didn't quite fit. Yes, these are things I'm learning and they are good things to learn, but they aren't the reason for my lesson.
That's when it hit me, maybe I'm not learning the right lesson. Maybe my trials are the lesson. It's the growth, the understanding, the who I am becoming vs. who I want to become. Perhaps that is the lesson.
What kind of a person do I want to be in 2016. I know that the angry, annoyed, bitter person I was starting to feel like at the end of 2015 isn't who I want to become. So what changes do I need to make to become the person I really want to be. I want to be happy and that happiness comes through service no matter how big or small it is.
My job gives me ample opportunities to serve other people. I try to do it with a smile, but sometimes that smile is forced. And then there is service at home and at church. Sure things don't always go my way, but then again not a lot has gone as planned since high school.
After thinking about all of these things and still wondering if I struck the right lesson I had a different thought come to me. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in high school, yeah things were tough, but really I had it easy. I had great friends who had good standards and values. My talents and experiences, though not exactly what I'd hoped for, were still amazing and awesome. Even in college things were pretty smooth. The few hitches I encountered were easily overcome (though at the time it didn't seem so easy). Looking back my life was easy.
So why does it feel so hard now? Why do I struggle with the trials I have now? That's when the thought occurred to me. I needed a chance to grow and yep, become a better person. If I had encountered the trials and hardships back then that I feel now, I probably wouldn't have been as strong a person in the gospel or in just life in general. I would have floundered and drowned in my sorrows.
Being older and facing the trials I face is probably the best thing Heavenly Father could have done for me. Is it hard now? Yes. Can I handle it now? Yes. Would I have been able to handle this back then? No, probably not without severe loss of faith.
That being said (and I said a lot) I'm grateful for the trials and challenges I've had and I hope that by looking back and seeing the course I could take and looking ahead at the course I want to take, I can strive to be a better person. Will I succeed? Yes, every day a little at a time. I might not be the happy person I want to be every moment of the day, but with the strength of the Lord I can get there.
Does this mean my trials will go away? I sincerely doubt it. In fact I don't doubt that things will get even harder, but each experience helps me grow, so I know that the harder trials I will face in the future I will be able to handle.
Thanks for listening to my ramblings. Happy New Year!!!
I'm so excited for the new year and the possibilities it will bring. Keeping my fingers crossed for more opportunities to publish my books, and keeping my hopes up that I will finally meet my eternal companion.
I've had a few opportunities to ponder life, my life specifically, and I'm hoping the new year will bring a renewed sense of my purpose here on earth. I'm trying to reconnect with all the inner whisperings of the spirit and draw myself closer to my Heavenly Father, all while writing, reading, editing, and flying.
Can we overcome the internal challenges as well as the external ones? I sure hope so. Yesterday I had a few moments to ponder the trials I've been given in this life and when one ponders their trials we also start to ponder the reasons or lessons we are to learn from them. I can list several different lessons I'm supposed to learn right now but none of them really seem to fit.
Patience is a good thing, but let's be honest, I am not really a patient person. I can wait, but it doesn't matter how long I wait, I will still be waiting impatiently and I really can wait for a long time. Perhaps the lesson is not patience.
Trust in Heavenly Father. This is a great lesson, one that I'm ever getting closer and closer to understanding. Trusting his timing, well that falls in with patience and we all know how that lesson is going. But even this didn't quite fit. Yes, these are things I'm learning and they are good things to learn, but they aren't the reason for my lesson.
That's when it hit me, maybe I'm not learning the right lesson. Maybe my trials are the lesson. It's the growth, the understanding, the who I am becoming vs. who I want to become. Perhaps that is the lesson.
What kind of a person do I want to be in 2016. I know that the angry, annoyed, bitter person I was starting to feel like at the end of 2015 isn't who I want to become. So what changes do I need to make to become the person I really want to be. I want to be happy and that happiness comes through service no matter how big or small it is.
My job gives me ample opportunities to serve other people. I try to do it with a smile, but sometimes that smile is forced. And then there is service at home and at church. Sure things don't always go my way, but then again not a lot has gone as planned since high school.
After thinking about all of these things and still wondering if I struck the right lesson I had a different thought come to me. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in high school, yeah things were tough, but really I had it easy. I had great friends who had good standards and values. My talents and experiences, though not exactly what I'd hoped for, were still amazing and awesome. Even in college things were pretty smooth. The few hitches I encountered were easily overcome (though at the time it didn't seem so easy). Looking back my life was easy.
So why does it feel so hard now? Why do I struggle with the trials I have now? That's when the thought occurred to me. I needed a chance to grow and yep, become a better person. If I had encountered the trials and hardships back then that I feel now, I probably wouldn't have been as strong a person in the gospel or in just life in general. I would have floundered and drowned in my sorrows.
Being older and facing the trials I face is probably the best thing Heavenly Father could have done for me. Is it hard now? Yes. Can I handle it now? Yes. Would I have been able to handle this back then? No, probably not without severe loss of faith.
That being said (and I said a lot) I'm grateful for the trials and challenges I've had and I hope that by looking back and seeing the course I could take and looking ahead at the course I want to take, I can strive to be a better person. Will I succeed? Yes, every day a little at a time. I might not be the happy person I want to be every moment of the day, but with the strength of the Lord I can get there.
Does this mean my trials will go away? I sincerely doubt it. In fact I don't doubt that things will get even harder, but each experience helps me grow, so I know that the harder trials I will face in the future I will be able to handle.
Thanks for listening to my ramblings. Happy New Year!!!
Friday, December 25, 2015
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas an author gave to me . . .
Fill Your New Kindle! The 12 Days of Giveaways
Did
you ask Santa for a new Kindle by any chance? If you’ve been a good reader this
year you probably got it, and I bet you can’t wait to fill it with an
assortment of great new books. If you’re like me that device will soon be
bursting at the seams with a treasure trove of titles guaranteed to keep you
entertained to infinity and beyond. Seriously, that ereader can hold more books
than you can read in a year, in my case a lifetime! I often say I hope I live
long enough to make it through my TBR list.
Starting
tomorrow – December 26 – my short
story Collection will be FREE for two days so you can add that to your
collection too. Story: A young girl and her family accompany their housepainter
father on a trip to collect his wages from a slow-paying customer, and
encounter surprising consequences.
December 14: Tamara Passey & Britney
Mills
December 15: Jason Zandri & Melanie Mason
December 16: Nicole Zoltack & Ava
Mallory
December 17: James D &, KJ Traynor
December 18: AJ Harred & Rachel
Skatvold
December 19: Jennifer Kibble & Kari
Trumbo
December 20: Lea Doue & Brenda
Anderson
December 21: Emily Bates & Stacy
Monson
December 22: Peggy Urry & Anna Del
C.
December 23: Cassie Sheils &
Valerie Gibson Ipson
December 24: Angela Carling & Frances
Hoelsema
December 25: Tara Ellis & me!
Remember: Giveaways end at midnight Christmas Day so don’t delay!
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