Shoveling

 

The above sandcastle picture if from http://bigpicture.typepad.com/writing/2006/11/sandcastle_comp.html and taken at the Harrison Hot Springs BC Sandcastle Competition. If the picture or the website is yours and you object to my use of your photo, please contact me at disonij@aol.com and I will take down the photo. Thank you, Charlene Leatherman.

Email from Doctor Who

I got an email from Tom Baker.

He was my favorite Doctor Who. So I was thrilled.

I figured he was hitting a different time line and wanted me to be his companion.

 

I clicked on the email.

 

To my surprise, I found the Daleks got there first.

 

My dream email transformed before my eyes.

 

 I was not invited to be a companion of a Doctor but to be a

 Mystery Shopper

 

Imagine my disappointment!

 

 

 

 

 

Review: Raven's Secret by J. Matthew McKern

Raven's Secret by J. Matthew McKern

Psi-Talented High School Student, Branwen, has leukemia. She is in an experimental treatment program. She has no family but has made friends with Cecily, an older girl who is in the same experimental program. Cecily is well. For Branwen, however, the treatment is failing. She is near death. At night, when everyone is gone, Cecily sneaks a 'booster shot' into Branwen's IV. Everything turns around. Branwen gets better, much better in fact. She and Cecily celebrate with a big birthday party.

On the way home from the birthday party, Cecily is shot and killed.

That one tragic act of violence plunges Branwen into a world of secret societies, inexplicable powers and constant danger.

J. Matthew McKern is an author with great promise. His potential shows in the story structure and flow. He writes an engaging story. I look forward to seeing more of his work and watching as he grows as an author. If a sequel is not in the works, it should be. Raven's Secret byJ. Matthew Mckern

NaNoWriMo is Over -- Life Goes On -- With A Smile

I now live in San Diego, California. (Did you know there is a San Diego, Texas? I didn't until I tried looking up just San Diego.

The other day, I went to the park with my Daughter-In-Law and my youngest GrandBaby. He played on the swings.
                        

 

 

"Play with me, Bubbi" he squealed. So I sat in a swing and swung. (No, there are no pictures of me swinging.)

          There was an amazing amount of joy in doing something so childlike as swing. I pumped my feet and pulled with my arms. I was lifted and enchanted. It was magical.

 

I also read a really fun book. GNOME ON THE RANGE

 

 

                 

I write romances - albeit romances that are in fantasy worlds with powerful fantastical heroines. However, because I write romances, I read a lot of romances. Romances are fun escapism.

 

Gnome on the Range was no exception. It was fun escapism. However, it had one thing going for it that I find rare in the romance genre.

 

You see, most romances have the hero and heroine in an unconventional, threatening or scary situation. The heroes are hunks (and I have no problem with that. I love a good hunk.) The heroines are sometimes fragile, sometimes heroic, sometimes etc. etc. etc.  If you read romances you are familiar with the traditional heroine. The hero and heroine make it through the situation and live happily ever after. The background, the real life is barely a whisper. If the heroine keeps a shop, it is hardly mentioned. Restaurants are breezed through. Cars always work, unless it is a murder mystery then it conks out at the right time. If children exist, they are patted on the head or do a run through to remind the reader there are some.

 



Gnome on the Range did something different. It made the book a treasure to read. It was pure delight. Jennifer Zane put her heroine in real life. She ran a store - not a comfortable quilting or antique store but an adult store. She had kids, kids that tumbled, made a mess in a restaurant, came in at inopportune times and fought with each other. Yes, the hero and heroine were in a threatening situation - no I will not tell you what it is - that would be cheating. However, the wonderful thing about this romance was that no matter how scary the situation became there was real life around the corner. I could see someone really being in this predicament. I didn't have to pretend that the outside world was perfect with poor beleaguered hero and heroine running around in it. The world was messy and their problem caused more messiness but they managed it, both the worldly, normal messiness and the scary messiness.

Okay, so this review is a bit off kilter. But I really enjoyed the book. If you like romance, I would suggest you definitely pick it up. It is available at Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Gnome-The-Range-Jennifer-Zane-ebook/dp/B006QQRH3A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386632177&sr=8-1&keywords=gnome+on+the+range      

Everyone is celebrating a holiday this time of year. So I wish you a very pleasant holiday season. Stay warm. Enjoy family. Read a fun book.

WINNER NANOWRIMO YAY

WINNER NANOWRIMO YAY

• Dec. 3rd, 2013 at 6:44 AM

Happy Thanksgiving, NaNoWriMo and Amtrak

Thanksgiving Day, NaNoWriMo and Amtrak

• Nov. 27th, 2013 at 1:52 PM

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY EVERYWHERE.                                                                                  NANOWRIMO WORD COUNT 43276    
                                                                                                                                                  HEADING TO CALIFORNIA TODAY BY AMTRAK

• Current Location:Soon to be California

NaNoWriMo Week Four

NaNoWriMo announced that winning starts TODAY! November 25. I have 38138 words.
THAT MEANS I HAVE 11862 -Eleven THOUSAND Eight Hundred Sixty Two words TO GO!



S  C  R  E  A  M  !!!!

NaNo Update

27789 words

Wheeee! Finished NaNoWriMo-A-Thon

5,520 words                                                                                                                   POW!

NaNoWriMo Novel-A-Thon

Great Thoughts for a NaNoWriMo-er

Stolen from Facebook Creativity Takes No Excuses

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH

NANOWRIMO Starts TODAY

• Nov. 1st, 2013 at 12:17 PM

http://www.nanowrimo.org          READY!  SET! WRITE!!                                                                                                                                   http://www.mybooktherapy.com

Book Review The Dark Citadel by Jane Dougherty

The Dark Citadel (The Green Woman) by Jane Dougherty

 

 

The apocalypse has happened. The Earth is a wasteland. The survivors, the known survivors, live inside a crystal dome where life is controlled.

There are other survivors, though. Demons, angels, old gods, or the radiation mutated. Their names depend on who tells the story. They all want what's inside the dome.

They want Her.

Deborah.

Problem is, no one inside the dome wants her. Father is in prison. Mother is gone. Deborah is unruly and outspoken, something that is forbidden in a society that is ruled with cruelty and an iron fist.

The most horrible thing of all is that she keeps seeing things - like green grass, singing birds, people laughing and caring for one another. Those are things forbidden as well.

There is only one solution for Deborah.

Go outside the dome.

The Dark Citadel (The Green Woman) Part One of Three is, by the age of the protagonists, a young adult novel. Teenagers and Adults are the audience. Jane Dougherty creates a multi-dimensional world layered with suspense, danger and most surprisingly, a social commentary that not only entertains but provokes thought as well.

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift was and is a social commentary that became a children's book. Perhaps, The Dark Citadel trilogy by Jane Dougherty will be this generation's young adult's book that becomes a social commentary.

It is well written and absorbing. Anyone who reads The Green Woman, which is part one, will be anxious to continue the saga with the rest of the trilogy.

 

Joined NaNoWriMo. Getting back into the Writing World.
Novel Title "The Perfect Gift."
Violet loves unusual gifts and unusual parties so when her friends, all except Maggie who has no sense of adventure, buy strange antiques from a spooky antique shop, she is thrilled. Instead of making her own birthday day wish when she blows out the candle, Violet insists that everyone make a wish for themselves based on the gift they brought.
Add spilt wine, a cut finger and lit candles and you have the perfect combination for everyone to disappear. Everyone except Maggie. She bought a bath set from a normal store. She is left alone. She finds the Antique store and the weird looking owner who gives her a compass and a leather pouch.
"Use these and you will find your friends." the owner tells her. No other instructions. No other pointers.
Maggie, who has no sense of adventure and no idea where to start, has to find her friends who are who-knows-where.

Saying Good Bye

 

I said Good Bye to a wonderful man on June 4, 2011

Kenneth Wayne Leatherman 63, passed away Saturday June 4, 2011. Ken was born Oct. 28, 1947 in Fort Worth, TX. He served in the U.S. Marines. He like reading, working on Volkswagens, photos, cameras and trying get-rich-quick ideas.
HE IS REMEMBERED FOR MUCH MORE AND MISSED GREATLY.

 

 

I am putting this here for those of you who followed my blog and wondered what happened. He fought valiantly and passed peacefully. It has taken me two years to "get over it" and start writing again. However, life goes on and I am once again at the computer.
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