"Living an Alive Life" Book Review

Scrapping my career and work life and starting over is something I've done a number of times, so I was glad to see that it is part of what Tara Schiller includes in "Living an Alive Life."

Tara will be joining other bloggers on my book tour for "At the Corner of Magnetic and Main," so we agreed to a book swap since I liked the look of her book as well. Our books have similar themes: LIVE! Get out and find your life and do what you love and find love and stop worrying so much about making other people happy.

A book like "Living an Alive Life" is geared to take readers from an unhappy and confused place to one of joy and freedom and enjoyment of life. In general, I'm not Tara's target audience because I've already done much of the journeying she suggests. Maybe that's just part of what happens when you are pushing 50. I've come to terms with not worrying so much about what others think of me and worrying more about making myself happy. But I guess, from this vantage point, I can say that she is right on track.

One portion that really spoke to me was about being a bit more "selfish" and understanding that word in a new way. The expectations of wife and mother that I take great pride in accomplishing definitely butt heads with being selfish, but I'm getting better at standing up for what I want when it really isn't an imposition on someone else. Guilt. Ah, guilt. Getting over making everyone else happy at the expense of my own happiness and being "good" can be the journey for the next decade of my life. It's a slippery, mine-strewn slope--and also a theme of "At the Corner of Magnetic and Main." Yes, we write what we know.

I'm a big fan of lists and goals, and I credit them with keeping me focused on my current ten-year plan. If you are not this kind of person, this book can help you start at the beginning and break down what you really want from life into attainable goals and baby steps.

"Living an Alive Life" is a short read, but Tara adds activities and "to do" lists to create along the way. You can also follow her blog at Absolutely Tara to interact with her and other adventurers along the way. Grab a copy of her book today by clicking on the book cover above and get started on living your own alive life with purpose and meaning and joy.

Preorder "At the Corner of Magnetic and Main" Now!

The links are up from my publisher, and you can start preordering copies of my new book, At the Corner of Magnetic and Main, immediately!

Click here for the link to preorder from the publisher.
or
Click here for the link to preorder autographed copies directly from me.

Penny had been stuck in the same diner for decades—ever since she died in 1952. Her diner was comfortable and safe. Serving ice cream to those who dropped in on their way to the next level of existence, she helped to ease their transition into The Light, the one place she can't go. Her afterlife was perfect. 
      But when the ridiculously handsome, bad boy biker Jake Thatcher shows up and becomes stuck as well, Penny rediscovers feelings that she thought had been buried with her body. 
      Life is still life, and love is still love. But was her existence really perfect, or was it something else entirely?

There will be much celebrating in October and November, and I'm in the process of setting up a blog tour. But you can get in on the first copies during the soft launch in September. 

Order your copy now! 

There will be much more to follow during the craziness that is September at our house, but that's all for now. I have a first draft of Slinky Steps Out to finish if it's ever going to be ready by April. And those other books from Pen-L are not going to edit themselves. Onward!

Book Sale! "Max's Wild Night" This Weekend

Just a quick heads-up: the kindle copy of "Max's Wild Night" is on sale for 99 cents from the 14th through the 17th this month. I'm celebrating the end of the Dog Days of Summer and the beginning of the school year--and The Fussy Librarian is helping spread the word. Get yourself a copy by clicking here!

Max didn’t mean to run away, but when he found himself alone in the moonlit woods, he saw his chance for freedom. No humans to tell him what to do. No cats running the house. No one to call him Bad Dog. No fences and no rules. He could be wild and free and never have to answer to anyone again! But will that freedom turn out to be the fantastic journey he was expecting? What adventures and strange creatures will Max discover in the Ozark forest on a full-moon spring night? 

That's all. Have a great weekend!

Wagapalooza and Updates

Well, we were very excited to have a booth at Wagapalooza, a fundraiser for the Gentry Arkansas Animal Shelter. I think they made some good money, but I don't think any of the vendors did. Folks came out with their dogs and to play, but no one was buying. We have found this many times at events like this, and this was our final attempt to prove that theory wrong. My husband--the guy who does the books and pays extra attention to this stuff--begged me to finally learn my lesson. Yes, I get it. No more pet events. At least, this time, the booth fee went to a good cause. We both are happy with that.

It was a very long day and around 98 degrees. Whew. We had thought that being near the bounce house and water slip-slide thing would be good, but it only meant that I spent a lot of time worrying about dripping wet kids backing into my tables. Having fun, they become completely unaware of anything around them. Many of the kids liked the look of my books, but their parents weren't buying. Maybe a couple of kindle sales will follow. I'm not holding my breath.

This is the thing about events. It has to be a good match. We did a Jeep Festival on Holiday Island that actually led to some nice sales. You never know. Animal events have consistently been bummers. There's lots to look at. Dogs are cute and all.

This little guy, with his pony cut, was adorable. He pranced around for hours, mane flying.

But it usually eats up the entire day and my time is better spent. No one but me is going to finish that rough draft of Slinky Steps Out. We are getting pickier and pickier as time goes by. I love sharing my books, but this is a business I'm running.

Events that I am looking forward to are school visits for 2015-2016. I haven't put a lot of push into school visits. It's tricky with a self-published series. So we are reaching out to a few area school districts that are large enough to support an author visit financially and already plan them. We shall see where that leads.

Editing jobs for Pen-L Publishing continue. I just started the 15th book since December. Whew, again. I really love being a part of bringing someone else's book to the world. This morning, I finished a "brush up" job on Waiting for Paint to Dry. Sometimes production schedules mean that final polish happens later than anyone would like, but I bet most of the edits are things only I notice.

Buy Link

If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend it and loved reading it again. Inherently, it is a story of recovery from the trauma of a teenage rape (never described in detail). But on this second reading, I just enjoyed the love story and watching Matty's life bloom. Wonderful book!

That's sort of my "work" reading. I usually have more than one book going. I just finished Bossypants by Tina Fey, which was delightful, but she needs no promotion efforts by me to help her success.

I also won a copy of the new release from blogger-supreme Heather Davis and am loving it. Most entries are only a few pages long, so it's great for when I only have a few minutes. I'm not saying "in the bathroom" because that's not quite true, but I'm sure the queen of TMI doesn't care where I read it.

Buy Link

Arriving hot from the library yesterday is Invasion of the Tearling, for when I can really settle in to read for a while (aka before bed). I just finished the first book in this series and feel sorry for people who had to wait for the second one. Fantastic writing and story!

Next time I will have some updates about At the Corner of Magnetic and Main. Publication has been delayed a tad due to some unexpected and completely understandable events in the life of my publisher. It will probably be more like September at this point. But we do have a cover (which I will share shortly) and the preorder page will be up next week. Yay!!

And mark your calendars to join me on August 22 in Branson for the Ozark Writers League meeting. I'll be sharing a presentation about how to make your manuscript and pitch so beautiful that publishers and editors can't help but read it. Lots of other fun speakers and presenters will be there. Join us!!

What Are You Reading?

I normally have a couple of books going at once, besides what I'm editing for someone else or writing on my own. I spend a lot of time with books! It's a great way to live. Here's what has caught my fancy at the moment.

The Queen of the Tearling, by Erika Johansen

I'm not very far into this one, but I am totally hooked. Newsweek did a review a few weeks back for the second book in the series. It began by saying that if you hadn't read the first book yet you should put down the magazine and read "The Queen of the Tearling" immediately. I didn't quite take them literally, but I requested it from the library right away. Loving it! Well written. Characters only slightly described but in a way you know what they look like immediately. Intriguing plot with hawk assassins and threatened kingdoms. Glad I won't have to wait long to read the sequel once I'm done.

Thaddeus Whiskers and the Dragon, by H.L. Burke

I usually have a children's book going on my kindle. Almost always one I got through a free day promotion that I spotted on Twitter or Facebook or through a BookBub ad. This one caught my eye because there looked to be a cat and a dragon involved -- two of my favorite things. I have not been disappointed. It appears to be self-published, but in the best way that I cannot tell without checking the copyright information. Well edited/proofread. Good story. I'm about 75% done, and I can be pretty sure how it will turn out. It's a kid's book. But I'm not sure exactly how she will resolve it all. Well done!

Summer of '58, by Janice Gilbertson

 
This is a book I proofed a few months back, but I always like to go through them again to make sure nothing wonky happened in the formatting process. There's almost always something. And it's fun to get to read them again without having to fuss so much with each line. I can just let it flow. I really love this book. Highly recommend. And I'm enjoying reading it again. The cover says it all. A young girl joins her father on his rodeo circuit in 1958 and her life is changed forever. Coming of age story at its best.

Finding the Buddha, by Eddie Tafoya

This was another that I proofed and was double-checking. I actually got this one done before it hits the market on July 15th. Yay! As the epitome of a middle-aged WASP woman, I'm not really the target audience for this book, but I can still appreciate a well-crafted story. Each character is distinct and has a clear voice, and you always understand exactly where you are in time, no matter whose point of view and story is being presented. Well done. But so much reckless, illegal behavior. Made me want to scold many of them -- or mother them and make it all better. Hah! You can preorder through Pen-L right now!



Then there's the book I'm currently editing for Pen-L Publishing. I can't talk about that quite yet, but it's good so far! And I'm on pins and needles waiting to see the edits and cover on "At the Corner of Magnetic and Main" any day now. All other reading will cease for a bit when that happens, as I'm sure you can appreciate.

Now's when we can find out how many people have followed this blog to its new location. I often get my "next to read" ideas from what others post at blogs and Facebook. So share the love.

 What are you reading? Post in the comments! 

Starting Fresh

So...I've had enough of my WordPress blog that is attached to my website, and I'm back again at Blogger. I've had several blogs here over the years. So much easier to manage! Glad to be back. Hopefully subscribers will actually get to, you know, subscribe and have my blog posts sent to them!