What would you do with a Million Bucks

$$$  This is much harder to decide than one would think…at least for me.

My immediate families are in good shape. All grown and supporting themselves. Some of it would still make a nice gift just for the fun of sharing.

My life is settled and I can’t say I am unhappy at all, although no amount of money would cure unhappiness anyway.  

We love to travel and camp but that isn’t impossible now.

See what I mean by difficult? So far I’ve really done nothing but list what I probably wouldn’t do with a million dollars.

There are many legitimate charities I would like to help. A million dollars can only stretch so far, but I think I’d like to help a few where even $5000 is a big donation.

I can’t say that one is more important than another. How in the world could someone say cancer is worse than hungry children, Parkinson’s should come first before Alzheimer’s and so forth? 

Many of the small charities live from day to day and usually only exist because of a few dedicated volunteers, I think that’s who I’d like to help.

 Scholarships and education are important to me too.  

Planning and saving is something every family should be doing. No matter how small or big the amount we have always tried to budget wisely but catastrophic things can happen. We are both already very aware of this. So saving some of that Big Bucks would be important to me.  

So I’ve just now been able to spend about $100,000 in my thinking.

What would you do with the rest? Let me know.  

Check out other blogs or write one yourself at Long and Short Reviews

The Young Adult Writer's Journey

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The authors will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B&N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. See below to sign up for the GIVEAWAY.

Finally, an all-inclusive book on young adult fiction must-do, don’t do and how-to. If you want to write a young adult novel, you need to read this book first. Coauthored by an award-winning YA author and an acquisitions editor, both experts on kids and what they like to read, this encyclopedia contains all you need to start or improve a career as a YA fiction author.

From an examination of the market, genre and its sub-genres, to mechanics and the business, everything is at your fingertips. This amazing writer’s resource is written in a relaxed and interesting style, with plenty of contemporary references and examples for clear understanding and easier application.

Read an excerpt...

Joseph Campbell was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College, where he worked in comparative mythology and religious studies. He was strongly influenced by Carl Jung's view of myth. In his 1949 work The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell described the basic mythic structure as follows:

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered, and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. (Campbell, Joseph (1949). The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 23.)

His iconic classic deconstructs universal story patterns. In his study of the myth of the hero, Campbell posits the existence of a Monomyth (a word he borrowed from James Joyce), a universal pattern, structure, found in heroic tales in every culture. While outlining the basic stages of this mythic cycle, he also explores common variations in the hero’s journey, which, he argues, is an operative metaphor, not only for an individual, but for a culture as well. Although the stories may vary to suit the needs and beliefs of a specific culture, the underlying universal archetypes remain.

Christopher Vogler used this hero’s journey to write, The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. He simplified Campbell’s 17 steps into 12, handy in today’s 12-step minded society. What he did that was fantastic is make it more accessible for modern writers, who are not always scholars. There are several similar editions, including one for screenwriters. Women like Maureen Murdock have written books specifically about The Heroine’s Journey. Although the steps may vary, the universal pattern, used in a novel or screenplay, creates a story with themes that resonate across cultures. It is so powerful, creating hit after hit, that it was required reading for Disney executives, a company that knows the importance of creating a hero’s journey to appeal to mass audiences. Using this pattern to construct books in Young Adult novels provides the reader with a satisfying experience.

To illustrate the hero’s journey, it’s easier to understand in the context of a classic young adult book/movie, such as Harry Potter, already used to illustrate points throughout this book. It will be broken down for you according to the different stages in The Hero’s Journey, with particular attention to how the journey relates to a YA hero/heroine, the focus of this entire book. Following are some things you need to think of before you sit down to write your first scene.

My Review...

At first, I thought I was reading a psychology book about children and then I realized this book is just what it says it is. You can’t sell a book without defining your audience. Unfortunately, in today’s world just writing what you want is not necessarily going to do anything but sit on your own shelf and no one else’s. The “audience” of young adult and middle grade kids is not what it was when we grew up. When I say we, I don’t care what your age is. Everything is changing fast enough that my statement is still true. Things aren’t as they were. Not being aware of the teens interests of today would be like writing a “Little House on the Prairie” book. If that’s what you want to do, no problem. These authors are on top of things and worth listening to.

This is also a book to help you lay out the frame or skeleton of your story.  I was unhappy at first of the many famous author examples that were used but then again, what better way to explain how to do something to create a book from one we already know has sold. I’m not saying anyone should follow the examples verbatim nor should you lose your own identity. This is just a well-written book to help you. Either as a layperson for ideas or for well-seasoned YA authors. Then comes the ultimate, marketing. It is covered in depth here and should be the most important part of the book in my opinion. If no one knows you wrote a book or never sees it, never buys it, is it really a book?

I think this really is an encyclopedia and yet I also think it can inspire you to get started or move forward on your book. There is no author that doesn’t have that periodic moment of being “stuck”. This is one of those sources you use as a reference material and keep on your shelf.

Read an Interview with the author. Click HERE

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Daughter of a Colonel, Janet Schrader-Post lived the military life until she got out of high

school. She lived in Hawaii and worked as a polo groom for fifteen years, then moved to Florida where she became a reporter. For ten years she covered kids in high school and middle school. Kids as athletes, kids doing amazing things no matter how hard their circumstances. It impressed her, and it awed her. “How wonderful teens are. They have spirit and courage in the face of the roughest time of their lives. High school is a war zone. Between dodging bullies, school work and after school activities, teens nowadays have a lot on their plate. I wrote stories about them and I photographed them. My goal was to see every kid in their local newspaper before they graduated.”

Janet love kids and horses, and she paints and writes. Now she lives in the swampland of Florida with too many dogs and her fifteen-year-old granddaughter. She started to write young adult fiction with the help of her son, Gabe Thompson, who teaches middle school. Together they have written a number of award-winning YA novels in both science fiction and fantasy.

Elizabeth Fortin-Hinds knows kids well. She spent decades teaching teens and adults to write and improve their reading skills. As a literacy expert and certified coach, she helped both teachers from elementary to secondary and preservice graduate students learn to improve reading and writing instruction. She has taught at both the secondary and graduate level, everything from rhetoric, essays, and thesis statements, to poetry, short stories, and how to write a novel. She has learned to use both sides of her brain simultaneously, but enjoys the creative side the most, learning to play piano, draw and paint, and find time for her own writing since retiring from her “day” jobs. 

A “true believer” in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, mythic structures, she uses that lens when considering manuscripts for Tell-Tale Publishing Group, a company she founded with some friends from her critique group a decade ago.

The book will be $0.99 during the tour

Wise Words Publishing, an Affiliate of Tell-Tale Publishing Group, LLC

We are a small press, a traditional publishing company bringing you the best in E-books, print and audio books to feed your body, mind and spirit.  Our cutting-edge fiction includes old favorites and edgy speculative fiction for today's eclectic readers.  Our stories will grab your attention and take you on a fast, exciting ride that will leave you breathless. WW, our affiliate, publishes select literature under our Cosmos Imprint and nonfiction titles under our Ivy Tower Imprint. www.wisewordspublshing.com

Founded in 2009, in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Our company motto of "excellence in creative entertainment and learning, " informs our artwork, manuscript selection, editing and publishing. 

www.tell-talepublishing.com

Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVcMaGh7cng

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Young-Adult-Writers-Journey-Encyclopedia-ebook/dp/B07K3VZ2ZK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0

Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-young-adult-writers-journey-janet-schrader-post/1129903135

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King of the Blind and The Company of Demons

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Caiseal Mor will be awarding a $15  Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. 

Sign up at: https://www.ourtownbookreviews.com/p/king-of-blind.html  for the GIVEAWAY and to read an excerpt.

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Michael Jordan will be awarding a $50 Amazon/BN GC to one randomly drawn winner and an audio copy of “The Company of Demons” to 10 randomly drawn winners (this prize is US/Canada only)
 

Sign up at: https://www.ourtownbookreviews.com/p/the-company-of-demons.html   for the GIVEAWAY and to read an excerpt.

The Prophetic Mayan Queen and Paradigm Shift

Historical Fiction

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Leonide Martin will be awarding a $20  Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. 
Click HERE to sign up for the GIVEAWAY and for all other stops on the tour.

Science Fantasy

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. STK Chan will be awarding a $20  Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. 

Click HERE to sign up for the GIVEAWAY and for all other stops on the tour.

Midnight Girl

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Nora LeDuc will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. See below to sign up for the GIVEAWAY.

When a teenager mysteriously disappears in Hawick Falls, New Hampshire, Lisa Raynes fears her kidnapper, who recently escaped from prison, is hunting girls again. She also believes he’s targeted her for his next victim when she receives a threatening message. To add to her problems, her ex-boyfriend Travis Bodell, nephew of her captor, shows up in town. Five years ago, he promised to love Lisa forever, but he left her to start a new life. Trusting him was a mistake she will never repeat.

 

Bad boy Travis Bodell has a history of run-ins with the law. The police suspect he came back to aid his uncle, not to warn Lisa she’s in danger. With the investigation going nowhere, Travis focuses on Lisa who identifies with the missing teen and wants to find her. To keep Lisa safe, he offers to help her search. She refuses until loving memories of their past surface, and she finally accepts his proposal. Working together arouses strong feelings of attraction that neither will admit.

As time runs out for the kidnap victim, disturbing threats against Midnight Girl, Lisa’s online name, grow. She realizes the only way to stay alive is to open her heart and put her faith in Travis, but can she let go of her doubts and lingering hurt? Can the couple join forces and win against a cunning criminal fueled by hate?

Read an excerpt...

She walked out of the house. The spotlight flicked on and caught the creeping fog. Her footsteps scuffed over the grass. Dampness chilled her legs and arms. The recent email replayed in her thoughts. Payback is a bitch.

“Lisa?”

She spotted him. Too late. She gasped as his fingers wrapped around her forearm. She lifted up the poker and swung.

“Stop. Stop.” He ducked and shot his hands over his head while backing up. “It’s me, Travis. Take it easy.”

She paused with the fire iron in the air. “I know who you are. That’s why I’m trying to hit you.”

Travis Bodell, the boy she went to meet the night she was kidnapped. Was it him? She examined his face for traces of the person she’d loved.

The teenage Travis had preferred to hide his eyes and thoughts under his tousled dark hair. This dude wore a shorter cut, but his style was long enough to look uncombed and gave her a clear view of his features. His tan suggested he’d spent hours in the sun. Travis always loved the outdoors. She swept her gaze over his bristled chin, wide mouth, and the u-shaped scar on his left cheek. It was him! She lowered her arm with the iron.

Why in the name of purgatory was he here? They’d broken up a month after graduation. Her anger resurfaced. “Hold still so I can at least punch you.” She raised her fist.

My review...

This is a story about a young lady and a guy from horrid family backgrounds, mistreatment, abuse, you name it. The young girl, Lisa, is abducted and suffers all types of torture, from none other than her boyfriend’s uncle.  Her beau, Travis, leaves after she is rescued thinking nothing can ever be the same between them. While he knew his uncle was cruel and had beaten him, his uncle had still given him a roof over his head. Travis never thought he was so sick, so evil, to do something like he did to Lisa. Years later Travis reappears to tell Lisa his Uncle Seth has broken out of prison. What follows is an interesting story with a plot leaving her uncertain who she should really trust.

I enjoyed this book and became very fond of Lisa and her boyfriend Travis. While I was hoping they would get back together (you know, just being a schoolgirl hoping for a happy ending) I wouldn’t say it was a romance. In fact, I’m a good judge because romance is not one of my favorite genres. I did get a little tired of the “oh, will he stay”, “oh, does she still care” stuff. It seemed to go on for a long time and I began to get a little impatient. At times I thought this moved a little slow, but I don’t think the action dragged. Instead I think quite a few points were reiterated, perhaps like I’ve just done here, and it made the storyline not flow as it did in most places. 

Nonetheless, I read every page. 

This is the Book 4 in a series titled “Love in the 6-oh-3”. All the books in the series have good reviews. Check them out. 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Nora grew up in rural New England and still lives here. She has enjoyed combining her love of true crime shows with her imagination to produce romantic suspense and mysteries that you keep you guessing.

You can find Nora on her website: NoraLeDuc.com

Facebook: NoraLeDuc-author

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Nora-LeDuc/e/B001KI084O

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Christmas and Cannolis

Contemporary Romantic Comedy

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Peggy Jaeger will be awarding a $20  Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. 

See below to sign up for the GIVEAWAY.

With Christmas season in full swing, baker Regina San Valentino is up to her elbows in cake batter and cookie dough. Between running her own business, filling her bursting holiday order book, and managing her crazy Italian family, she’s got no time to relax, no room for more custom cake orders, and no desire to find love. A failed marriage and a personal tragedy have convinced her she’s better off alone. Then a handsome stranger enters her bakery begging for help. Regina can’t find it in her heart to refuse him.

Connor Gilhooly is in a bind. He needs a specialty cake for an upcoming fundraiser and puts himself—and his company’s reputation—in Regina’s capable hands. What he doesn’t plan on is falling for a woman with heartbreak in her eyes or dealing with a wise-guy father and a disapproving family.

Can Regina lay her past to rest and trust the man who’s awoken her heart?

Read an excerpt...

I spotted my customer in the seat my mother indicated. His back was toward me, but I could tell he was tall from how much of him shot up from the chair. Since I didn’t know how to address him, I simply said, “Excuse me?” when I finally arrived at the table. I was all set to introduce myself and ask how I could help him, but before the words could form in my throat I was struck mute. Truly. I stopped short, my mouth falling open like unfilled cannoli shells, and no sound came out.

He turned to me at the exact moment a slice of midday November sunlight streamed through the window, landing right on him and surrounding his head in a halo of bright, brilliant light. I wouldn’t have been surprised if a choir of angels started belting out celestial high notes because the guy could have been a charter member of the Messenger of God club.

Facially, he looked a little older than my thirty-two, but not over the forty-year mark yet. Where my hair is the color of wet ink, his was a shock of silver threaded with faint stripes of peppery black above his ears. It looked so thick and touch-worthy, the tips of my fingers were actually tingling to clutch the ends and grab on. Eyes the color of threatening storm clouds—gray and tinged with pale shards of blue—peered up at me, a question pulling at their corners. Eyelashes most women had to pay for framed his lids naturally. His jaw was square, his cheekbones carved from marble by a master sculptor.

But his mouth—Madre di Dio, his mouth. It was about as perfect as two lips meeting in the center of a face could be. Full and thick with that natural rimmed outline women were forced to create with a liner pencil, it was the most kissable mouth I’d ever seen. Tinted the color of aged Barolo—my father’s favorite wine—ripe and smooth, full-bodied and intense, it simply stopped me in my tracks.


READ a great interview by the author...Click HERE

AUTHOR Bio and Links:  

Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them.

Family and food play huge roles in Peggy’s stories because she believes there is nothing

that holds a family structure together like sharing a meal…or two…or ten. Dotted with humor and characters that are as real as they are loving, Peggy brings all topics of daily life into her stories: life, death, sibling rivalry, illness and the desire for everyone to find their own happily ever after. Growing up the only child of divorced parents she longed for sisters, brothers and a family that vowed to stick together no matter what came their way. Through her books, she has created the families she wanted as that lonely child.

Tying into her love of families, her children's book, THE KINDNESS TALES, was illustrated by her artist mother-in-law.

Peggy holds a master's degree in Nursing Administration and first found publication with several articles she authored on Alzheimer's Disease during her time running an Alzheimer's in-patient care unit during the 1990s.

In 2013, she placed first in two categories in the Dixie Kane Memorial Contest: Single Title Contemporary Romance and Short/Long Contemporary Romance.

In 2017 she came in 3rd in the New England Reader's Choice contest for A KISS UNDER THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS and was a finalist in the 2017 STILETTO contest for the same title.

In 2018, Peggy was a finalist in the HOLT MEDALLION Award and once again in the 2018 Stiletto Contest.

A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, she is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.

Website/Blog: http://peggyjaeger.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/peggy_jaeger

Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00T8E5LN0

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peggy-Jaeger-Author/825914814095072? 

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/peggyjaeger/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13478796.Peggy_Jaeger

Instagram: https://instagram.com/mmj122687/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/peggy-jaeger

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JF1WQKT/

The Wild Rose Press: https://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/6235-christmas-and-cannolis.html

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In a Wintry Wood

In A Wintry Wood by Jo Hiestand

British Mystery at its best

My review...my thoughts

What if you have a murder right in the middle of the family holidays and even worse what if the family was already doing what a few families do…squabbling, being jealous, arguing over business…the infighting kind of thing. Then what if one of you is a cop and on the Derbyshire Constabulary and it happens to be your family doing the infighting and the body discovered is on your property?

Mark Salt, CID of the Derbyshire Constabulary, just happens to be a part of said family and the beautiful victim just happens to be his sister-in-law. Mark is always joking around at the station about being a Don Juan and women do just sort of flock to him. This is probably all just the male bragging thing but is he just a little too sad? Is he even more stricken about her death than his brother? When something like this happens, every ugly part of your family is exposed. What an embarrassing time for Mark but even more so, can his own colleagues suspect him?

Once again, Jo Hiestand is the artist in descriptive writing and character development. This is a British fiction story and at times the characters seem a little stilted to me, but I think that is possibly a cultural feeling and after all, CID Brenna Taylor is head over heels in love with her superior. That’s most certainly not stilted. On the other hand, I’ve been dying through 3 volumes of this Peak District Mysteries series for her to tell him. Seems like the author doesn’t always see my comments.  

As I said, this is Volume 3 of the series. All these mysteries are based on an old, but possibly still celebrated tradition, in England. This one happens to be about Twelfth Night, the end of Christmastide and a celebration with a feast. A feast, a body and a king and queen. The only way to find out who gets to be the queen or who gets to be the dead body is to read the book.

Well worth the read and well worth my time.