WeWriWa - April 26, 2015 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

Welcome back to this week's eight-sentence excerpt from my forthcoming memoir, MISSI WANDERIN' IN THE WOODS. Last week, Sara followed two MP's into the dark Mental Health wing of the Army Clinic where her husband, Charlie, had his first appointment. Our last scene closed with Charlie being escorted out by the MP's and a pregnant Sara wondering what in the world was going on. 
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Charlie, however, didn’t lower his voice as heat flooded my face. “I was honest, just like you told me to be.”

Once outside, the MPs clarified the situation without going into detail, also without lowering their voices. “Sergeant, do you understand that you are not to enter this facility unless for a valid medical reason and you are forbidden to make any appointments with Mental Health until a new provider arrives?”

Charlie puffed out his chest and squared his shoulders. “Yes Private, I do.”

Most of those peeping eyes from the clinic had followed us outside, anxious to catch a glimpse of the dirty laundry that my husband had no intention of hiding. Covering my face with my hands, I wanted to melt into a puddle.
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Thank you for stopping by and sharing in these experiences with me! Though MISSI WANDERIN' IN THE WOODS is nonfiction, please feel free to visit my other two blogs dedicated to my distinctly different fiction works: 

Sara's Amish Dreams
An Everlasting Heart

Weekend Writing Warriors are a group of diverse, talented,and passionate authors who share pieces of their hearts and souls in eight sentence snippets each week in this bloghop. Check out their work, fall in love with their books, and be sure to leave them a comment on their blogs :-) Reach out to them here!

WeWriWa - April 19, 2015 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

Welcome back to this week's eight sentence snippet from my forthcoming memoir, Missi Wanderin' in the Woods. Without further ado, let's jump right back into the mix and see what is going on in the Army clinic that drew the MPs on the run . . . and see why in the world I followed them inside. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The MPs stepped to the side, like something out of a movie, revealing my husband standing between them.

“Is this your wife?” one of the burly officers barked.

Charlie nodded and stepped beside me, but the Military Police officers just stared at us - unmoving. “Are we leaving?” I asked, feeling as though I’d walked into a group where the punchline of a joke had just been delivered.

Charlie just put one hand on the small of my back and began guiding me toward the door with the MPs following us closely.

I kept my voice at a whisper, acutely aware that all eyes in the clinic were fixed on us. “Charlie, what is going on?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To get back to the other amazing WeWriWa participants, click here! 

To see my other blogs for this week, click here for my snippet from A Heart on Hold, my debut novel, and click here for a snippet from my forthcoming Amish novel, Old Amarillo. 

Welcome Kirsten Lynn -- RONE nominee!

Welcome Kirsten! Thanks for coming by today. Can you tell us a little bit about your RONE (Romance Novel Excellence Award) nominated book, HOME FIRES?

Cord Matthews sets his sights on the open Montana Territory when the War Between the States rips everything from him. Olivia Bartlett, the only woman he's ever loved, has been killed--a cross marks the place where she lies buried. Cord builds a new dream, but a ghost from his past won’t let him forget what his heart wanted most.

Olivia, forced to flee her Virginia home, finds new purpose as a nurse to the wounded at Fort Laramie, Wyoming Territory. War and separation haven’t diminished her love for Cord Matthews, or her stubborn belief that he is coming for her. Danger threatens once more with the impending arrival of a new commander at Fort Laramie--a man who has already tried to kill her once. Olivia flees to Montana Territory, seeking refuge.

Reunited on the Montana frontier, can Cord and Olivia hold tight to their love and defeat the man who seeks to destroy them both?

What prompted you to write this particular story?

HOME FIRES was actually the first historical Western romance I wrote.  I had been living in the DC area for about five years and was homesick for the West.  Civil War history has always fascinated me, and was my focus during my undergraduate studies, so I combined my love of Civil War history and my love of Wyoming and Montana and moved Cord and Olivia from the East to the West.  Through this couple, I could travel the trails of home and visit well-loved places while adding a bit of danger and a whole lot of love.

Cord and Olivia helped me get through a rough time in my life. They gave me something to look forward to and allowed me to go home for a few hours a day.  This couple and this story will always hold a special place in my heart.

Where can we find you and your work?

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/KBuddy

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/KLynnAuthor

TSU: http://www.tsu.co/KLynnAuthor

Newsletter:  http://www.kirstenlynnwildwest.com/contact_kirstin.php

Website:  http://www.kirstenlynnwildwest.com/

Awesome! I love Civil War history. Here's some more about Kirsten! 

Kirsten Lynn writes stories based on the people and history of the West, more specifically those who live and love in Wyoming and Montana. Using her MA in Naval History, Kirsten, weaves her love of the West and the military together in many of her stories, merging these two halves of her heart. When she's not roping, riding and rabble-rousing with the cowboys and cowgirls who reside in her endless imagination, Kirsten works as a professional historian.

How can we vote for HOME FIRES in the RONE awards? 

http://indtale.com/2015-rone-awards-week-one

WeWriWa -April 12, 2015 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

Welcome back! Last week, a character I called Villa the Strangler swept by and it was pointed out to me that such an interestingly named character hadn't been properly introduced. I hope you enjoy this next eight-sentence snippet from my memoir, Missi Wanderin' in the Woods, as you brush shoulders with Villa the Strangler :-)

***

I kicked my way through the ankle-tall grass, wishing I had an Italian version of an Audubon field guide so I could identify some of the interesting birds that flitted about. I’d already discovered ivy, growing unchecked, choking out an ancient grove of towering trees, but when I mentioned to my husband’s unit commander the need to get someone to cut down the troublesome vine, I was met with condescending smiles and smirks, laced with a general who cares attitude. I was seriously considering, in all of my pregnant glory, taking to the ivy myself with a pair of scissors when I noticed a twosome of Military Police officers, or MPs, walking down the street toward me. Abruptly, they turned up the covered walkway and almost sprinted into the clinic, passing me without so much as a glance.

Curious, I followed them. Had Villa, the friendly soldier who tried to strangle his pregnant wife in her sleep, freaked out on her right there in the clinic?

I squinted as I entered the dark building, unable to make out much of anything except for a flurry of excited chatter coming from every direction. Then, as the MPs slowed to a stop, everything started to come into focus. 

***

Thank you for stopping by for this week's eight! Be sure to come back next Sunday to find out what happens when Sara's world comes into sharp focus . . . 

Are you in need of a professional editor for your manuscript or WIP? Contact me, Sara, at Silver Line Editorial Service to see how I can be of service to you! 

silverlineeditorial@gmail.com

The Weekend Writing Warriors are a group of talented writers that spans most every genre imaginable. Head over to check out some more of their work back at the WeWriWa blog!

Meet Author Ann Swann

Today, join me in welcoming the beautiful and talented author Ann Swann to the blog. Not only is Ann an amazing author, she is also a fantastic mother and grandmother! Yup, she is my mommy!

Welcome Ann (er, Mom!) Give us the run down on your newest release, Lilac Lane, your suspense follow up to bestseller Stutter Creek. 

Ella and son escaped her ex's drunken wrath once. Now he's out of jail. Can they survive another round?

        He shattered the old wooden door from the inside with one well-placed kick from his size twelve boot.

            The chair was still beneath the knob, but the entire top panel of the door had splintered. In the moonlight coming through the kitchen window, Ella could see his massive silhouette.

            With another kick, the whole door disintegrated. Shards of wood flew in all directions. The red kitchen chair went scooting across the floor until it hit a piece of debris and flipped over on its side.

Sounds like a good one -- as usual! Where can readers grab a copy? 

Amazon    http://tinyurl.com/qf2makb

iTunes   http://bit.ly/1z7ArgW

Barnes and Noble   http://bit.ly/WJt2H1

Smashwords   http://bit.ly/WJt8yf

http://www.5Princebooks.com

ARe  http://bit.ly/1lzgV4S

I hear you're working on a third installment in this series, Copper Lake. Care to share a bit?  

Here is a snippet from Work in Progress: COPPER LAKE ~ Book Three in the STUTTER CREEK series

            The bones were wet. The clay in the soil trapped the moisture as efficiently as a layer of mulch in a flowerbed. When Edgar held the femur up to the moonlight, he was thrilled to observe how fully the dirt and mold had settled into the cuts he’d made. It created an inky labyrinthine abstract on the once-white surface.   Ecclesiastes says there’s a time for everything.

            I think the time has come.

            He caressed the soil around the bones, and then he pulled on latex gloves and lifted the rest of them from their shallow bed. Time has come, he whispered. Time has come. He often repeated things to himself when his hands were engaged in pleasurable activities—and this was the most enjoyment he’d had in a long time.

Want More? Here's a little bit more about Ann . . . 

Bio

Ann lives in Texas with her husband and rescue pets. She loves libraries and book stores and owns two e-readers just for fun. Ann writes what she likes to read.

All For Love, a Contemporary Romance filled with heartache and hope, was Ann’s first novel for 5 Prince Publishing. It was an Amazon bestseller in Literary Fiction.

Her Romantic Suspense series begins with

Stutter Creek (Amazon bestseller), and continues with

Book Two, Lilac Lane, which one reviewer labeled “scared-the-pants-off-me.”

Book three, Copper Lake, will be out in 2015.

Ann’s Phantom book series centers around a couple of teenage ghost-hunters.

Stevie-girl and the Phantom Pilot,

Stevie-girl and The Phantom Student, and

Stevie-girl and The Phantom of Crybaby Bridge

All have been on Amazon’s bestseller lists for scary tales and ghost stories.

Ann also has short fiction in several anthologies. The most recent short story, Sleepaway Pounds, is included in the anthology, Seasonal, Sweet, and Suspenseful.

To find out more contact Ann at one of the ways listed below, or click on the STAY UPDATED button on her Amazon Author Page.

Amazon Author Page: http://tinyurl.com/6wl3oe2

Blog: www.annswann.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/annswann.books

Twitter: @ann_swann      

Email: swannann76@yahoo.com

Author Christine Steendam

Welcome to the Wednesday edition of my blog, where I feature one spectacular author each week!

Are you an author who would like to be featured? Contact me at sarathreesuns@gmail.com for available dates.

********************************

Hi Christine, thanks for stopping by today! I fell in love with your OCEAN series with the first book, Heart Like an Ocean. Can you tell us about your most recent release in this series? 

I guess I'll start with a little background on Betrayed by the Ocean. It is book 2 in the OCEAN series, sequel to Heart Like an Ocean. When I wrote Heart Like an Ocean, I intended it to be a standalone. It is the story of Senona Montez and in my mind, her story was done in that book. Even Brant Foxton had his happily-for-now. But after talking with a few readers and one of my editors , I came to realize there was more to Brant Foxton's story. So I began to explore it. That's how Betrayed by the Ocean came to be. 

Oooh, Brant Foxton. Now that is the name of a hero! What's his story? 

I realized that the person he ended up with in Book 1 wasn't the right person for him, he hadn't become to person he needed to be and Senona wasn't going to be the one to change him. So I began writing Book 2, Betrayed by the Ocean and was taken on a journey of discovery right along with Brant.

Most authors say that their newest releases are their favorite stories. Is that true with Betrayed by the Ocean? 

It is one of my favorite stories to date. Brant has a very special place in my heart, and the writing of Betrayed by the Ocean was a very organic process. I knew how it began, but I had no idea where it was going after that. But I am very happy with how it turned out.

Do we get to look forward to more installments in the OCEAN series in the future? 

I'm currently working on book 3, Embraced by the Ocean which centers around Johnny Marshall, but the rest of the characters in my Ocean series still play a role. Although I mostly wrap up Brant's story in Betrayed by the Ocean, you'll see a little bit more development for him in the last book. I think readers are going to be more than happy with where I leave everyone off.

We can't wait to check it out, Christine! No doubt you will leave your readers happy once again and, as always, wanting more. Where can we find out more about you and purchase your books?

Links to Christine's OCEAN books . . .

Amazon 

Kobo

B&N

iBooks

Smashwords 

Keep up with Christine by checking out these links below! 

Christine's Website: http://www.christinesteendam.com

Christine's Author Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authorchristine.s

 Follow Christine on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/chrissteen1991

WeWriWa - March 15 - Missi Wanderin' in the Woods

Welcome Weekend Writing Warriors and Guests! 

Enjoy this eight-sentence excerpt from my newest work: 

Missi Wanderin' in the Woods. 

***

I slid my white gold wedding ring, the one we’d picked out together after only two weeks of dating, off my finger and sucked in a breath, trying not to let the hurricane of familiar emotions drown me yet again. 

Across the house, my husband of five years threw everything that was outright his into various bags and suitcases, taking care to fling the pictures of us and our life together onto the ground. Like trash.

“There’s no going back,” he bellowed as he stormed into the kitchen where we'd sought refuge, his words slurred by the drink, “this is for real. We're finished!”

Up until then, I had been futilely attempting to shield his leaving from our two youngest children, sugar sweet and ever-grinning boys aged two and four, but as he carried on, the baby began picking up random toys and shoes. “Don’t yell at Mama,” he shouted, his own little words garbled by the speech impediment that afflicts three quarters of my children, before hurling what he could grab at his daddy, who up until then had been the center of his protected little universe. 

My oldest babies, ten and eight, retreated to the dark corners of the kitchen to watch this all-too-familiar scene, always brought on by combat anniversaries and alcohol, play out yet again.

***

Thank you for stopping by and checking out these eight sentences from my forthcoming memoir, Missi Wanderin' in the Woods, the story of one woman's reliance on her eclectic wilderness background to face front-country struggles ranging from a war-ravaged marriage to cancer.

Need a cheap read? Rebekah's Quilt is on sale for just 99 cents this month!

Sara Barnard's Author Website

Check out more excerpts from other amazing 

Weekend Writing Warriors 

here!

See you next Sunday for more from 

Missi Wanderin' in the Woods!

Good Reads Giveaways! Oh yeah, there's three!!!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

A Heart on Hold

by Sara Barnard

Giveaway ends January 31, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Chunky Sugars

by Sara Barnard

Giveaway ends January 31, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The ABC's of Oklahoma Plants

by Sara Barnard

Giveaway ends January 31, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Interview with author of THE PHANTOM PILOT Ann Swann

Who from the past would you want to bring home to dinner and why?

At first I thought I would say my other dad just so I could ask him why he robbed that bank. But then I realized I probably already know the answer to that. So then I thought maybe I would ask him why he didn’t try to stick around a bit longer, you know, for us girls, but having suffered depression myself, I guess I know the answer to that, too.
What would you eat?
Mexican food, no doubt.
Who is your literary inspiration?
It started with Poe and Hitchcock when I was a kid, and evolved into Ray Bradbury and Stephen King when I was a teen. These writers/story-tellers always made me care about the characters in the story first. And for some reason I like it when a story starts out normal and mundane and then all you-know-what breaks loose. Heh heh heh. Better add Shirley Jackson to that list come to think of it. And Rod Serling. Always Rod Serling. Oh, and Mary Stuart and her Merlin Tales…
What about your overall inspiration?
I’ve always written thoughts and stories, since I was a teenager. Now, I’m inspired by grandkids…just check out my story “The Blister Bear” in the upcoming Campfire Tales anthology. It was inspired by a five year old’s nightmare.
On the other hand, “Skeleton Rock” was actually inspired by a bunch of rocks out on my walking trail.
From whom were Stevie and Jase born?
Well, that’s tricky. I grew up the way Stevie did, riding my bike all over Lamesa, Texas. But actually the two characters are a mishmash of kids I knew or wanted to know back in my hometown. Actually, I think some of the characteristics of my former elementary students may have gotten mixed in there, too. Of course, like most authors, there’s always a little bit of me in every character, even the dorky ones. Or maybe that should be, especially the dorky ones!
What future projects do you have in mind?
Working on the sequel to The Phantom Pilot right now; The Phantom Student will be published around Halloween, and it will be available in digital and PRINT! Also working on a story for the Terminus X anthology Cool Well Press is putting together, and I’ve got a couple of other short stories started just for grins. Oh, and my Women’s Novel, How Long Does it Take to Fall Out of Love? is making the rounds of agents as we speak. So far, no bites, only nibbles…
If you were stranded on a desert island, what five tangible things would you take with you?
All my grandkids and a good stick for spearing fish and for writing and drawing in the sand.
On what reality show would you consider being a guest?
Well, the only one I watch is American Idol, so I would be on that—if I could sing.
What are your all time favorite works of literature?
Red Sky at Morning, The Crystal Cave, The Dead Zone, The Stand, all of Poe’s short stories (even that really horrid one about the black cat), The Hobbit, Lonesome Dove, a short story by Stephen King called “The Last Rung on the Ladder,” The Body, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, and last but not least, Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. Oh, and a little book from my childhood called Silver Chief, Dog of the North. Oh, and “Thirteen Tales They Wouldn’t Let Me Do on TV,” a collection of weird tales gathered under Alfred Hitchcock’s name. And so many more…
What is the biggest obstacle you have had to overcome as a writer?

Me!