Mystery Thriller Week 2017 – A fan / reviewer’s thoughts by Kim Hunter

The 11th to 22nd February 2017 I disappeared!  I only left my computer chair to take care of necessities, one of which was NOT sleep!

I heard about the event in November 2016 after joining a book review blog.  Not realising what I was getting myself into, I agreed to read and review as many books as I could so that these reviews could be posted during the event in February 2017. I ended up reading / listening to 12 books by the end of January and had the reviews scheduled for posting during the week of the event.   This part was hardly a sacrifice as the authors very generously gave audio or electronic copies to the readers wanted to review them.   What I did not realise was how interactive the event was to be!

There were many live events during the extended week – this gave those interested an opportunity to learn more about the art of writing, to question authors and other players in the industry.  However, most started from about 10pm my time, so I spent many sleepless nights chatting, not sleeping.  Oh, the sacrifices we make…….!  I’m sure that some of the authors felt as I did as they were participating from all over the world too.   However, it was an opportunity not to be missed and I was there as often as possible.  There were many give-away’s and I have a TBR pile of note!

From my point of view, the event was about exposing readers to new authors and authors to new readers.  It certainly achieved this for me.  I discovered the existence of ‘cozy mysteries’ and have now decided that I am not a great fan of gruesome thrillers or horror stories!  I met the author Barbara Venkataramen during this event – a writer of cozy mysteries.  I love the conciseness of her writing – the whole plot is developed and solved in about four hours of reading.  This means that you can take a Sunday afternoon and feel like you have read a 400 page novel (I am not a speed reader BTW!) with all the characters coming to life in an environment you can envision and a mystery solved in a short space of time.  Spectacular!  This is a new genre for me and I will be looking for more cozy mysteries to read.

Another of my favourite authors, Susan May, also participated.  I always find her amusing and informative.  CJ Petterson and Sarah Key were two other authors who willingly gave of their time – each trying to make the event interesting in different ways for the participants.  I can honestly say that they succeeded.  For the many other authors and book people who participated (simply too many for me to list), I, as a reader, need to give you my thanks.  Your participation made the event fun, interesting and worthwhile.  The orgainsers added a few competitions along the way so that bloggers could be discovered and followed, and authors read via the prizes they donated.

Will I participate next year? ABSOLUTELY.  I’ll stock up on caffeine drinks and exercise my fingers in advance, for getting to chat with people who have the courage and perseverance to write and publish the stories we are privileged to be able to read, is priceless.

Kim Hunter

Tangowithtext.com

Thank you to Kim Hunter for participating in Friday's Fun and Family-Friendly Guest Posts. Kim, you are welcome to participate any time. 

Newsworthy Announcements for Who's That in the Cat Pajamas? by Sojourner McConnell

I have several grand announcements today about Who's that in the Cat Pajamas?. In an exciting buildup to Launch day there are several noteworthy moments to share.

First, it is on pre-order with Amazon. It will be exclusive and available in the Kindle Unlimited program.  The hardback will be available on Barnes and Noble as well as Amazon. 

Secondly, the cover has been attached. I have gotten some lovely feedback on the cover. I hope you like it as much as I do.  Ellie Barrett, the illustrator is capturing Dolcey in all her splendor. Those eyes are hiding a huge secret that is almost bigger than the little cat body. 

Here is the back blurb. 

When the wind brings the cries of children to her ears, Dolcey is spurred into action. Comforting and aiding children in need are her main focus. Welcome to Dolcey's world. Welcome to a world of magic and endless possibilities. When Emily has a big problem, her family tries to help, but some problems need something special to make things right. In Emily's case, the special treatment is a visitor named Dolcey.

I have shared Dolcey and Emily in some blog posts and I hope you will want to read more about them in this adventurous chapter book. Release day is June 2, 2017.  

Join me on Facebook and receive copies of new releases for review purposes and get to know more about the works in progress, in my support group. 

Sharing my schedule for releasing an Indie book and marketing for any author

I have another blog where I write reviews and personal stories. Today I delved into the scheduling of a book launch. I feel it is good sound logical advice, so I will give a bit of a recap here. I only do this to help any writers like me that want to Indie publish and are afraid of all the steps. I hope this breaks it into simple to understand structure to take some of that fear away.  

You are still writing the book and you are getting close to the much anticipated moment when you can type The End! But you might not be there yet. This is the time to find your editor, choose your cover designer and wrangle up some beta readers.  
Many editors want you to have been at least beta read before they take a look at it so that there are less errors and problems for them to deal with. Three Beta Readers to me, are enough. Some writers use more some while use only a selected few. 

But lets plan for starting your process, three to four months before releasing your book. Take a look around at the different websites that are available for authors to set up, many basic ones are free, Blogger, Wordpress, WIX, Author's Den, just to name a few. 

• Create your author website or author's blog.
• Create an Author Facebook account or spruce up an existing author page.
• Tweet out your new or revamped author page.
• Share on your personal Facebook pages and in groups.
• Share your character's journey on Twitter, Facebook, blog, and Website.
• Set up Mailchimp or other sign up forms for newsletters.
• Create a relationship with reviewers, bloggers, and readers.
• Arrange for beta readers, editors, illustrators and cover artist.
• Polish your book blurb and your elevator blurb.

Now we can work on these for the next few months and polish each step so that they become the piece of art you know they can be. At two months before the anticipated launch you need to be finished with the second draft and ready for eyes on the book. Contact your beta readers, get their input and start fixing those plot holes and confusing bits. Don't forget the semi colons. 

• Final line, copy and editorial editing,
• Final proofreading once all the changes have been made.
• Begin to introduce characters in blog posts, Facebook posts, and tweets.
• Create an email address for character reader interaction, if wanted.
• Begin to network with parent/genre specific groups on Facebook, Twitter, and blogs.
• Upload to Amazon as a pre-order. Pre-orders will also secure your title and author page on Goodreads.
  • You can upload an unedited version without a cover up to three months in advance as long as you make sure to upload the final version 3 days before launch.
• Reach out to other bloggers about potential guest posts and character interviews.

This is where you have to wait on other people and have a moment to focus on the non-creative side of publishing. allow your editor to do their magic, while you focus on the author side of the business. 

You are one month out from your launch date and you have pretty much decided you will be ready to launch on a certain date. Claim it. Focus on completing all your tasks by that date. 

• Increase name branding in all platforms.
• Confirm blog interaction with the correct genre bloggers and reviewers. Arrange interviews, launch day events and guest posts leading up to the launch.
• Create author group on Facebook inviting reviewers, supportive friends and network members such as illustrators, editors, bloggers, and known readers.
• Confirm launch date and start sharing definite launch date.
• Send out welcome newsletter introducing your characters, interesting information, and launch date.
• Remind the newsletter readers of the Goodreads giveaway and invite them to read and review to make your launch a success.

Now you are gearing up, you are feeling the pressure, but you have a game plan. Stick with the plan. You are about three weeks from your launch date and it is all marketing while you make the last edits on your book. Sending it to the proofreader and once again waiting for responses.  Use this time to take it to the next step. 

• Send out Newsletter announcing the launch date, request for ARC reviews, and guest blog opportunities. Never hurts to have new bloggers interested in hosting a post.
• Host a cover reveal. Invite all your readers, friends, blogger friends, twitter followers and Facebook audience.
• Advertise Cover reveal in Goodreads on groups for writers, readers, genre specific groups.
• Make a Facebook page for your book. Invite people that enjoy your work to visit the page.
• Make the page a merchant page with the buy now button.  Learn how here!
• Like similar genre pages as your author page and book page.
  • Right, click on the down arrow next to the share button and you can like the page as your author and book pages.
• Create a presence in Goodreads leading up to your launch.
• Post on Goodreads in both groups and review areas.
• Reach out to reviewers as soon as you have an advance copy available.

You are two weeks from Launch date and there are still more things you can do to prepare. If your edits are complete then upload the finalized version to your Amazon account so that when the book is sent to the pre-order buyers, it is the correct one. You can wait up until 3 days before it goes live, but I usggest yuou do it as soon as the finalized version is ready. 

• Provide the links for your book to ARC readers on both amazon and Goodreads.
• Send out newsletter thanking the ones that have joined your group, ARC launch team, and provided support by spreading the word.
• Invite readers to pick up your book on launch day or using the pre-order button on Amazon and don't forget to provide the links.

One week from launch and you are beside yourself with anticipation and excitement. Relax, you are almost there. Let's go over some last minute steps to bring this to a successful conclusion. 

• Post blog posts reminding followers of your launch. Invite them to the giveaway on Goodreads. Invite them to read and review your new book. Thank them for being a huge part of this process.
• Blog about your release on your Goodreads author blog.
• Bring your author page on Goodreads and Amazon up to date. Make sure you have a professional look and have connected your blog to your amazon Author page.
• Create a launch party on your group page and send out invitations to those on your regular friends' list and author page followers. This is your moment to shine.

You have done it! It is Launch day and you are ready, calm, cool and collected. You know you have done everything in your power to make today a success. 

• Celebrate!
• Read your reviews.
• Contact any reviewers that posted and thank them for being a part of your exciting day.
• Enjoy your launch day party.
• Blog about your exciting journey and share any early reviews. Remember to attach links to your books and author page.
• Enjoy the fact that your much-loved project is now safely in the hands of the public.

I hope you enjoyed this check list of sorts to help you prepare for one of the most exciting days of your life as a writer.  Congratulations for your success.  

I hope these ideas help you along the path to your book launch. If you would like to be a part of my launch team, let me know. You can also find Sojourner McConnell on Facebook, Brand new  Facebook Group,  Twitter,  Goodreads, The Path of the Writer, and  Amazon.

And to show you I follow my own schedule I just tonight uploaded my book as a pre-order and it is now sitting on Amazon while I go through the other steps preparing for my June 2, 2017, launch.  Here is my new book, Who's That in the Cat Pajamas? 

On a personal note, I hope if you have children, you will pick it up. I am quite proud of it and excited to see it on Amazon. 

Unexpected Opportunity comes to Nancy Lynn Jarvis in this Friday's Fun and Family Friendly Guest Post

I was nearing the end of The Widow’s Walk League, my fourth Regan McHenry Real Estate Mystery, when it felt like someone tapped me on the shoulder. I looked, but no one was there. The next day the same thing happened again. When the sensation returned on the third day, I spun toward the empty space above my right shoulder and yelled, “Leave me alone. I’m trying to finish my book.”

A disembodied voice replied, “Write fast. I’m eighty-three years old so who knows how much time I have left. I have a story to tell and I want you to write it down.”

For me, writing mysteries is a disciplined affair. I need a timeline so I can remember who knew-what-when. Even though I know the storyline, an outline to help me give the reader clues without giving away the identity of the murderer is helpful. And I don’t have my protagonist do all the talking; I write in third person. But it was clear, if I was going to let the voice in my head speak, all that was going to change.

When I finished The Widow’s Walk League, I stared at a blank computer screen. I had no outline and no idea what I was going to write. It was my turn to speak. “OK, I’m listening. Who are you and what do you have to say?”

Writing Mags and the AARP Gang” was an adventure. I’d get up every day not knowing where the story was going and anxious to find out what would happen next. I’ll let Mags tell you a bit of her story starting with the first words she said to me: “My name is Margaret Sybil Broadly Benson, née Spencer, but you can call me Mags.

“You took so long getting back to me, I thought you forgot about me. I’m not complaining, though. In my eighty-three years I’ve learned there are advantages to being overlooked. Sometimes people make assumptions about the elderly; imagine they know how we think, what we’re capable of, and more importantly what we aren’t capable of. Take me and the AARP Gang, for example. Our mobile home park was about to be foreclosed and we were about to be kicked out of our homes, all political und underhanded what was going on…oh, don’t get me started. Bottom line is it was assumed that at our ages we wouldn’t have any fight left; that we’d just be nice little old ladies and gents and go off quietly to live with family.

“What people didn’t realize is we were already a family and that after a lifetime of living and reaching our eighties, none of us were quitters. No wonder we decided to rob the bank that held our note and pay off our mortgage with the proceeds. We liked the irony of that, besides, the bank was within walking distance, which was handy because most of us don’t drive any longer.

“We devised a masterful plan that made the most of our assets. My cohorts disguised themselves as old people (yes, I know we are all already old people, but they still needed disguises) making the most of the unobtrusiveness of age, while I used my rather formidable-if-never-used-on-stage acting talents to become our distraction, keeping people’s eyes busy so they wouldn’t see what was going on behind their backs.

“I was doing my award-worthy impression of a dear old lady who had lost her wallet and pleading with the people in the bank to help me find it when Melvin, who managed to bring along a rifle that none of us knew he had, got upset with a teller, brandished it, lost his balance, and fired the weapon, accidently shooting one of the overhead fire sprinklers. That happenstance caused all the other sprinklers to spurt in sympathy and automatically call the fire department. Oh my! So much for our carefully rehearsed plan.

“Did we get away with it you ask? Well, I am writing from home instead of from a jail cell, but it took quite a bit of complicated maneuvering, a whole novel’s worth in fact, to get from being soggy in the bank to where I am today. Melvin—oh, he’s a hard man to control—in drag didn’t help my case much, not to mention all the trouble Batty Betty with her early onset Alzheimer’s caused what with remembering exactly what she should have forgotten.”

You can read the whole story about Mags and her colorful friends in Mags and the AARP Gang.

Find Megs on Amazon

Learn more about Nancy Lynn Jarvis from her Amazon author page.

Thank you to Nancy Lynn Jarvis for participating in Friday's Fun and Family-Friendly Guest Posts. Nancy, you are welcome to participate any time. 

Scat Cat!

Scat Cat!

    When we left the urban lifestyle of Washington, D.C., for a more tranquil existence in the rural mountains of Montana, one of our adjustments was learning to live with the new neighbors.  Our home was in a different kind of neighborhood.  Instead of being surrounded by men, women, and children, we had cougars, wolves, and bears.  These predators rarely comprehend the idea of boundaries, or the notion that good fences make good neighbors, so we find them roaming about our property, often very close to the house.  

    Our most frequent nocturnal visitors are cougars that seem particular interested in our daughters playhouse swing set.  Perhaps it is just the curiosity of all felines, but I often wonder what they would do if I left out a ball of string.  It’s doubtful they would play with it because it isn’t food.  As stunningly gorgeous as they are, we don’t want to encourage their visits.  For the safety of my family, dogs, and horses, our goal has always been to discourage predators.  As an example, one particular night stands out in my memory.

    On the second floor of our home we have a large bedroom window that provides a grand view of the back of our property.  While admiring the stars one dark evening the motion detectors suddenly activated the perimeter lights, nearly blinding us.  Once our eyes adjusted, we saw standing in the middle of the yard a very large cougar.  He paused only long enough to realize the brightness was nothing to fear before walking over to the swing set.  This had me wondering how many times he had visited us before, unnoticed.  He sat regally in the play area, surveying all about him, like a king overlooking his kingdom.  Being a wildlife artist, I was enamored with his beauty and grace, temporarily forgetting what a potential threat he was to our family.  It would be dangerous to allow him to believe this was part of his territory.

    I was about to comment on this fact to my husband, but when I turned to speak, he was not there, having immediately retreated to the closet.  He ransacked it, searching for his rifle and ammunition.  As he fumbled to load it, I continued to admire the feline in his pose.  My husband opened the window, but was blocked by the mesh screen.  As he tugged fruitlessly to remove it, the cat rose from his perch and began to walk toward the woods.  On my last look at him, the cougar, who seemed completely unaware of the flurry he had created only a short distance above, slowly and confidently sauntered into the tree line, still secure in the knowledge that this world was his.

    We tried to follow his movements through the darkness with a flashlight, but the battery soon died.  My increasingly frustrated husband, incensed by the attitude of the beast, rushed downstairs and out onto the patio where he fired a single shot into the air, then shouted, “And stay out!” as a warning for the puma not to return.

    I have no wish to harm this mountain lion or capture him, except in spirit on canvas and paper.  I have handled many cougars in captivity, but seeing them in the wild is a thrill I will never tire of.

For more stories in our western adventure read “Go West, Young Woman!”   https://www.amazon.com/Go-West-Young-Woman-Military/dp/1555718299?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc  

Book website: https://nancy442.wixsite.com/quinn

Art website:  http://quinnwildlifeart.com/

Thank you to Nancy Quinn for participating in Friday's Fun and Family-Friendly Guest Posts. Nancy, you are welcome to participate any time. 

Something completely awesome in the house this week!

I might have mentioned my daughter, Angie. Well, Angie decided that she would send off for the 23andme DNA screening about a month ago.  

Low and behold, she got her results back this week. What an enlightening week it has been.  I am so jealous I can't stand it. I want to know about my genetic makeup now too. 

Angie was willing to share a few images for this blog. Thanks, Angie!! 

Angie was born with almost white hair and blue eyes with white flecks.  At about six years old her eyes changed into the most unusual shade of green with blues, golds, and a starlight pattern. Very unique and very pretty.  When she received the results it showed this totally unique eye feature and provided an image of her eyes. They were spot on. Down to the shattered glass starlight feature. 

The results were (smallest number shows the greatest genetic factor)showing the Scottish, English, and Irish we expected, but there was even more unexpected ancestry detailed. She has the red hair gene, we suspected that due to her ability to totally pull off the red hair color that the salon carries. The Orcadian that is listed is what they are tracing back to the Vikings that inhabited the Shetland Islands. I totally sang Hungarian from My Fair Lady when I saw that she had a speck of Hungarian. (yep, sang it again)



What was more unique was that they captured the sequences that included the Heermans connection that came from my own Great Grandfather's Mother, Mahala Violetta Heermans Dunning. It is so fascinating and exciting to watch the lines unfold.  

A little piece of history for those that find this as interesting as I do.  This is from Geni.com and is about the ship that brought my 9th great Grandfather, Focke Jansz to America from Holland: 

DE BONTE KOE (THE SPOTTED COW)
Sailed 16 April 1660 from Amsterdam, arriving New Amsterdam
Captain Pieter Lucasz
Source unless noted otherwsie:Lists Of Inhabitants Of Colonial New York by Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan Chapter entitled Early Immigrants to New Netherland 1657-1664
Mentioned on the passenger list from De Bonte Koe
Focke Jansz, farmer from Drenthe, wife and 7 children: 19, 17, 13, 11, 9, 3 yrs old, and nursing child [NWI]

Then comes the unusual parts. The fair skinned Norse looking daughter that has 1.6% Iberian and 1.5% Italian, greek and Mediterranean DNA.  To be fair, this might account for her sister, Casey's ability to tan evenly all summer while Angie gets a sunburn while hiding under a parasol. 

Genetics is really great and a little unsettling when you see the percentages for certain diseases and conditions that you hope are not as likely as the DNA strand would suggest.  But DNA analysis is not for the faint of heart. It is for those that bravely want to see from where they hail.  

For the last hour, while I was making this post, I spent on Geni.com realizing that the man that was my 9th great grandfather's father was only 4 years older than his son.  OOPS.  So I got caught up in repairing that little snafu. 

Like I said, Genetics and heredity are not for the faint of heart.  

I have been thinking this would be the perfect birthday/Christmas for the Mama that has everything.  I as a courtesy included a link for my kids so they can conveniently order above. Feel free to use it yourself. 😁

So take a moment to share with me in the comments what you think about her daring sampling and your own journey into DNA screening.  

A 5 star review for The Path of the Child that touched me

 Fantastic book and lots of emotions!, April 1, 2017

By 

Anthony Kummer

This review is from: The Path of the Child (Kindle Edition)

Without giving away any spoilers, I will tell this book was definitely one of the most emotional I've read! I wasn't sure what to expect coming into this. I knew the author was good, and I'd read lots about the book, but never actually gotten a copy and read it. Boy am I glad that I did! This book pulled at all the right heartstrings (I think I said that right) and more than a few tears were shed. It was just so good. This book was very empowering and certainly inspirational. I recommend it to anybody that wants an inspiring read, or likes a good tearjerker book.

Thank you so much for such a heartfelt review. I am touched by your words.  

Beau loves National Pet Day!

Today is National Pet Day!

Meet Beau Goodwin. He is the family boy that keeps us safe, announces all unwelcome and welcome guests.  Beau is a nine-year-old Australian Shepherd and he has been with this family since he was six weeks old.  Before then we watched him grow in photos from day 1. 

Enjoy your special day, Beau!

5 Star Amazon Review for The Path of the Child!

 Adding this book to my UnPutDownAble shelf!, February 21, 2017

By 

LeJeune

Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: The Path of the Child (Kindle Edition)

What I liked about this book was everything. It is a debut novel and some of the best books I have read are debut novels. I don't think I have ever read anything like this before. The story is mostly Melanie's point of view and told in the third person. I was hooked in the first chapter.
The author does a great job setting up the characters and building relationships that you can understand maybe identify with! I really liked the main character, Mel. This is a very uplifting story. This book made me feel good and I had a hard time putting it down.

Thank you LeJune for making this author's heart swell with happiness. I appreciate the wonderful words you shared!  

Excellent writing weather for Hiram and the new book coming together during Camp NaNoWriMo

Writing this month has been going pretty well. The new girl in the book has been sharing her little personality traits with me. all I can say is wow, is she different from any other character that I have met. Kira is one strong independent young lady and yet, she has a fun side to her that keeps me researching.

Kira is also turning chapter nine around. I know this is the first draft, but I am pretty inspired by her. She is so quick and so quick witted. She makes me laugh as she puts Hiram through his paces. He with his superior ways never thought he would meet anyone that could make him want to pull his hair out in frustrations.  But up until now, he had never met Kira.

So only nine chapters in and plenty more to go. For a first draft, I do find the story building to a point of impending trouble.  Watch your step guys, there are more than just bears in the woods. Consider yourselves warned.

Keep up with Hiram and Kira and see how this unfolds.  It has me working like a tiger researching. I am on another continent seeking answers.  Perhaps it would be more correct to admit I am researching like a Leopard.

The Empty Chair

The Empty Chair

It was always his chair, the deep-cushioned recliner with the pop-up foot rest that dominated one corner of the room. He did everything in that chair. Well, not quite everything. But it was his reading chair, his talking chair, his TV-watching chair, his snacking chair, and his snoozing chair. The recliner followed Mom and Dad from house to house, from living room to living room. It shed its upholstery periodically and grew a new covering, like a reptile shedding its skin and emerging glistening and freshly clad. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was always a part of home. A part of him.

The chair didn’t empty suddenly. The process was a gradual one - a subtle stealing away. Nor did the chair empty in any physical sense. Dad still sat in it; he just didn’t inhabit it anymore. The conversations faded first as Alzheimer’s insinuated itself into and through his brain. Reading was next to go; although he kept up the habit of holding a newspaper or book, he never turned the pages. As the months and years marked the infiltration of the leading edge of his illness, he would stare blankly at the TV screen, his book or magazine held forgotten - often upside down - in his hands. Eventually, even the pretense of reading vanished along with his memories, his laughter, his love of life and his awareness of his wife and family.

The chair is gone now. It broke down soon after Dad died. He and it had grown old together, had grown tired together. The chair mourned the loss of the familiar contours of his body and refused to form a relationship with anyone else. Mom had the chair removed, and the corner where it once stood remained empty for a long time.

When Mom moved to her new apartment, she purchased a new chair - one without Dad’s imprint. Mom’s chair was her throne. She sat in it to watch TV, to nap, to snack on her tea and muffin, and to bask in the joy of receiving visitors. Especially family. She would sit proudly, the center of attention, trading quips, puns and jokes with anyone who would listen. But not anymore. Mom’s chair is empty now. We lost her last month, just six weeks after she celebrated her 93rd birthday surrounded by her children and grandchildren. She and Dad are back together again, sitting peacefully side-by-side as they used to do. Holding hands, trading stories, and basking in their mutual love.

Bio

Phyllis Entis is the author of the Damien Dickens Mysteries series, which includes The Green Pearl Caper, The White Russian Caper and The Chocolate Labradoodle Caper. Her debut novel, The Green Pearl Caper, was a Library Journal SELF-e Selection. Phyllis is a free-lance writer and retired food safety microbiologist with degrees from McGill University and the University of Toronto. In 2007, ASM Press published her non-fiction book, Food Safety: Old Habits, New Perspectives. 

Phyllis lives in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California with her husband and their Australian Cobberdog, Shalom. When she’s not writing, Phyllis usually can be found walking around town, browsing in the local library, or enjoying her garden

You can learn even more about Phyllis, her books and her other writing at Gone Writing.

Follow Phyllis and see all her books listed at her Amazon Author Page.

Thank you to Phyllis Entis for participating in Friday's Fun and Family-Friendly Guest Posts. Phyllis, you are welcome to participate any time. 

J. Schlenker at home and welcoming Spring and I!

Spring arrived and with it, flowers and a day of regrouping.

I spent the day with my wonderful friend, J. Schlenker at her farm high in the rolling hills of Kentucky. 

I enjoy going to her home. It is so welcoming and her textiles grace the room giving it a warm and gracious feel. Her home is made, even more inviting by the earthy tones and the stonework that are sprinkled about inside and out.  

I arrived early enough that there was still a chill in the air and we began to talk about our various works in progress. We seem to have several ideas that are itching to find a home in a book as soon as possible. We discussed the role of the beta reader and I learned so much from her on that subject. I really did not know how to guide my beta readers the first go round, I might be better equipt to deal with them this time.  

We discussed personal beliefs and shared special moments in our lives with each other. It was a totally relaxing and uplifting day. A day, when I need a smile, I will recall those laughs and those touching moments that we shared. It is not often that you do find a kindred spirit in a person that you just happen to come across while on Goodreads, but I am thankful that I have J as a trusted friend and mentor. Her writing is on such a spiritually in tune level, it is like she understands more than the rest of us and writes in a way which allows us to capture some of that understanding.  

J will probably not appreciate me using her as a blog post, but I can't help sharing what a lovely person she is. When you find people like her, you share them. (Here's her new blog)

When I first read Jessica Lost her Wobble, I had not yet met J. We had written back and forth a little bit seeing as how we only lived about seventy miles from each other. Her book touched me in a real way. It made me see things a little differently and made me realize life is a bit of a mystery that we color with our own interpretations.  If you have never read this book, you need to add Jessica to your list. It is one of those enriching books that takes you on a journey where you come home a little wiser than when you left.  

When I headed home I enjoyed lovely music that made me sing along with the stereo and perhaps encouraged me to drive just a little too fast. Not so fast that I didn't enjoy the view of the Daniel Boone National Forest as I passed through or the clouds that puffed along the horizon trying to catch up to me. No, I believe it was the perfect speed to end a perfectly lovely day.