New book!

As I promised yesterday, here is a snippet from the short story that I put on Kindle today and will be released in the next couple of days, I believe for a short time it will be free, then only $0.99! The book is called: Mana, Pa, and Me. " When I was five, Mana and Pa moved closer to the beach and into a park with lots of grandpas and grandmas. Mana said they didn't want to have so much to take care of anymore. We got to see them more often when we moved down. While Mom worked, Mana and Pa would pick me up after school and we would take walks on the beach sometimes. It was fun to skim rocks across the water at the inlet. I liked Mana and Pa's new house. Their park had two pools, a basketball court, and a clubhouse where Pa taught me how to shoot pool and play ping-pong. Some days we would go swimming and other days we would go shoot hoops. Pa and I would pick somewhere to stand and then aim and try to make a basket. He said I did pretty good for a little guy." So, I hope you all like the little teaser of what's to come. It is a short but sweet story that will captivate the hearts of many, young and old, so please get it, share it, and let me know how you like it. I will release one of my books every other month so keep watching! Thanks!

New Experiences

So here it is, time to release one of my children's books onto Kindle! It will be released Friday and is called "Mana, Pa and Me". It is a story based on my son's relationship with his grandparents and told from his viewpoint as he starts from toddler to teenager, up until his grandpa passes. It happened on his 14th birthday so this story is in memory of my dad. It's been five years and we still love and miss him terribly! The book will be free for a little while so I hope everyone checks it out and lets me know how they like it! I will post some parts of it tomorrow, before it is released, as well as parts from some of the other books I release in the future before their release dates. Hopefully, it does well. Time will tell. And now, for my quote of the day: "I would rather be able to appreciate things I cannot have, than have things I cannot appreciate." Writer/Philosopher E.L Hubbard

Busy Lives

Well, it's of course been longer than I expected since my last post. School is getting busier as we wrap up the end of the year, testing, meetings, and I was at the coast with middle-schoolers for Outdoor science Camp at Camp Keep: a wonderful environmental education camp for kids that our charter school, Learn 4 Life pays for and buses the kids there for a week. I just got back this past weekend, in time to enjoy Cinco de Mayo with some of my family and friends, and then start back to school. We only have 5 weeks of school left, prom is this week, graduation for high school is in 2 weeks, and then 8th grade graduation, and then school is out and we teachers take a one-week break before coming back to prepare for summer school! The publishing company I spoke about in my last post had a lot of bad reviews and wanted me to pay a lot of money for their services, which I found out through my investigative research, and also heard that they do not provide all the services they had told me I would get. Authors said they had a hard time getting the royalties they were promised, if they got any at all, and so I decided I wasn't going to take that chance. I'll continue working on my writing projects for Outskirts Press, Hallmark, and any others I may get. I heard something the other day that goes along with the quote I am going to add to today's post. A woman said go out into the world and be intentionally kind, not randomly. I thought about that and found this quote: "Allow me to be a blessing to you and allow yourself to be a blessing to others." The author is cancer survivor John Coonley. I couldn't have said it better myself:)

Recognizing Opportunities

God always is working on His plans for us and opens doors, shuts doors, but also tests us to see are we going to go our own way or recognize the doors He opens for us. I was contacted by a hybrid publishing house last week and have been talking with them. I'm flattered that they love my book published a few years ago and are interested in re-publishing my updated, revised version when I'm ready for that. They want to send it and me to the Miami International Book Festival in November for 8 days and give me an agent, among many other incentives. I'm taking a couple of more days to read over the material they are sending me before I make a decision, but I have to admit, it sounds good. This could be a door that the Lord is opening with the promise of great opportunities to come, or it could be a test to see if I'm going to just jump at what sounds like a great opportunity. I'm not going to make this decision lightly, definitely not without praying to God and asking for His help. Next week, I'll post the news about what was decided and upcoming events. "Doubt of whatever kind, can be ended by action alone." Philosopher and Author, Thomas Carlyle

Writing/Networking Trip

I just got back from a networking and writing conference in British Colombia, Canada a couple of days ago and had such a great time! The countryside was so beautiful. My sisters and I put together our own Hallmark movie locations tour last year and went up in May, meeting some various crew, cast, and producers for some of our favorite Hallmark Channel Shows, including the wonderful Lori Loughlin, Holly Robinson Peete, and Rick Fox. They were all very wonderful and invited us onto their set to watch some filming. This year, we planned our 2nd Hallmark Tour, visiting the set of 'When Calls The Heart',and a new Hallmark movie coming out this summer, meeting more producers, directors, and cast/crew, including the main cast from the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries series: Candace Cameron Bure, Marilu Henner, Niale Matter, Peter Benson, Miranda Frigon, and the wonderful director Martin Wood and producer Trevor McWhinney. They chatted with us, took pictures, and let us watch filming. It was great! Last week, we finished up the tour with a writing conference in Vancouver that was really great. I got more writing done, was inspired with the idea for an intriguing new mystery, and networked with publishers and authors from all over the world. Looking forward to a year of new opportunities! And now, for the quote I promised I would include with my posts: "I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot. . .and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed." Michael Jordan. And Jeremiah 29:11 says: "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Thank you God.

Changing Your Life

Some people hate change and do all they can to avoid it; others love it and are continually inviting it into their life. I embrace change in all facets of my life. Life is always changing and can't be avoided. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not so good, but it always happens and you can choose to embrace it, or you can choose to whine and spend time trying to make it go away and return to what it was, but it never will go back. Change is like time, it only goes forward and never back. But as today's quote says: "You're one connection away from being able to change your life." Author, Larry Bennet. This can be in a positive way or a negative way. We may not be able to order God to bring us the opportunities and changes we want, but we can order the perspective we view those changes with and adapt our lives to them in a positive way. Matthew 12:35 says: "For the good person brings good things out of the good stored up in him, but the evil person brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him."Let's decide to bring out the good things.

Changes and Choices

I am going to start this and my future posts with a quote that is relevant to the post, then end with a verse. "You may have habits and daily patterns that are so much a part of your daily life that you may not recognize them as choices." Unknown Author Life can be usually so busy that we tend to go through it on autopilot some times, I know I do. But we need to realize that these are choices we make each day, what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Some things are things we take care of that must be done, like getting ready for work or school, other things are running errands or helping someone in need. When things need to be done, we can still choose how we want to do it and in what order or when we want to do it. Other things we can do are choices in a different way-we can choose whether we want to do it or not, and if we want to do it, we can choose how much we want to commit to doing. Breaking the pattern of when and how we do things can actually build more brain connections! So start building, but remember, it's always better to think before making a choice, and make it a good one. "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." Matthew 7:13-14