TCIO Party for Guelph #NaNoWriMo

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

Yesterday afternoon, I joined nine other NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) participants at Fionn MacCool’s in south Guelph for our TCIO (Thank Chuck It’s Over) party.

A diverse group, we hail from Guelph, Milton, Kitchener, and Wellington County. Our conversation was lively and diverse as we shared our NaNoWriMo journeys and discussed recent movies, careers, Canadian and American politics, and screenwriting.

Thanks to our M.L. Cindy Carroll for organizing and motivating us throughout the month.

My final stats…51,446 words with an average of 1,714 words per day.



De-Stress With Humor

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

According to one study, adults laugh—on average—seventeen times a day. Pre-school children, on the other hand, can laugh up to 300 times a day.

That discrepancy becomes even more pronounced at this time of the year. With less than three weeks to go before Christmas, many of us are scrambling to buy gifts, finish decorating, plan and prepare that special meal, and a host of other activities on a never-ending To-Do list.

Continue reading on the Soul Mate Authors blog.

Book Blast: Christmas With You

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome USA Today bestselling author Nan Reinhardt. Today, Nan shares her new release, Christmas With You.

Blurb

She’s loved him all her life… but will he be there when she needs him the most?

Disheartened and adrift after being written out of a hit TV show, actor Aidan Flaherty returns to his family’s historic winery, where he’s invested some of the fortune he’s made. As the holidays approach, Aidan becomes intrigued with the old showboat that’s dry-docked just east of town… and even more intrigued with the daughter of his former mentor, who now owns it. He decides to buy the boat and restore it to its former glory.

Single mom Holly Santos is back in River’s Edge after her divorce and she is over men in general and actors in particular. If she could only get rid of her father’s old showboat, a source of fascination for her son, Mateo. She never expects her old crush to walk into her tea shop or the fireworks that happen every time they’re in the same room. Can Aidan convince her that he is determined to restore their shared heritage on the showboat and that he’s home to stay?

Excerpt

“You have beautiful eyes.” Oh, good God. The words were out before he could stop them. Immediately, he backpedaled. “I’m not coming on to you, I swear, it’s just this is the first time I’ve actually seen someone with violet eyes. I-I mean… in person.” Heat rose in his cheeks. Blushing! Holy crap. He didn’t blush anymore—hadn’t in years.

She punched in his purchases. “Come on, rock star. All those Hollywood starlets and groupies and not a single one had eyes the same color as mine?” Her voice dripped sarcasm as she held out her hand for his credit card. “It’s thirteen sixty with tax.”

He fumbled in his wallet for his Amex Black card. “Why do you keep calling me that? I’m an actor, not a rock star.”

“I’m using it generically.” She passed the card back to him with another eye roll. “We don’t take Amex. What else have you got?”

Biting his lip to keep from expelling a frustrated breath, he handed over his VISA, the one where two percent of the money he spent went to save the redwoods. If it impressed her at all, she hid it well as she tapped the card on the screen, thrust it back at him, and turned the screen around so he could sign it with his finger. He hated doing that. His signature always ended up looking like his six-year-old niece, Ali, had written it. “Thanks so much for opening up for me.”

“Don’t expect me to do it again.” She walked swiftly around the counter to the door, twisted the key in the lock, opened it, then stood glaring at him, one hand on her slim hip.

In that moment, Aidan could have sworn they’d met before. “You look really familiar. Do I know you?”

Buy Links

Meant to Be | A Small Town Christmas | Christmas With You

Author Bio and Links

Nan Reinhardt is a USA Today-bestselling author of romantic fiction for women in their prime. Yeah, women still fall in love and have sex, even after 45! Imagine! She is a wife, a mom, a mother-in-law, and a grandmother. Nan has been a copyeditor and proofreader for over 25 years, and currently works on romantic fiction titles for a variety of clients, including Avon Books, St. Martin’s Press, Kensington Books, and Entangled Publishing, as well as for many indie authors.

Although she loves her life as an editor, writing is Nan’s first and most enduring passion. Her latest series, Four Irish Brothers Winery, includes A Small Town Christmas, Meant to Be, and the newly released, Christmas with You, all from Tule Publishing. Nan is busy at work on Book 4 of the series, as well as brewing a cozy mystery idea.

Visit Nan’s website at http://www.nanreinhardt.com, where you’ll find links to all her books as well as blogs about writing, being a Baby Boomer, and aging gracefully…mostly. Nan also blogs every sixth Wednesday at Word Wranglers, sharing the spotlight with five other romance authors and is a frequent contributor the RWA Contemporary Romance blog, and she contributes to the Romance University blog where she writes as Editor Nan.

Word Wranglers | RWA Contemporary Romance Blog | Romance University Blog

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon

Giveaway

Nan Reinhardt will be awarding a set of six handmade wine charms and a $10 Starbucks gift card (US ONLY) to 5 randomly drawn winners via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

Follow Nan on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

Take Up Space

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In her new release, Keep It Moving: Lessons for the Rest of Your Life, Tywla Tharp shares anecdotes, advice, and reflections on living with purpose. At age 78, she is revered not only for the art she makes, but for her regimen of exercise and nonstop engagement. Here’s one of my favorite excerpts:

When your muscles stretch rather than constrict, you expand your share of the planet. You take up more space, not less. Dancers know this intuitively. They are taught to move so that every gesture is not only precise and elegant but bigger. We call it amplitude. It is not enough to state an arabesque; it must be opened in every direction to its full expanse. In order to be seen, the dancer must occupy maximum volume. You can think the same way in your everyday movements.

• When you walk, think of yourself striding, not just taking mingy steps.

• Greeting a friend, reach your arm out, whether to shake a hand or give a hug, with amplitude and full fellow feeling. Be robust.

• During a meeting, spread your belongings out across the table instead of gathering them tidily in your lap. Speak out. Take up mental space as well.

There is logic in our movement. Remember, when we walk, we go forward. We can move backward, but we are not designed for this. Forward is our natural way.

Think of this all as your personal Occupy More Space protest.

Source: Keep It Moving: Lessons for the Rest of Your Life, Page 8.



Looking for Guest Bloggers

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

guestbloggers

Attention: Authors, artists, coaches, entrepreneurs, and New Age Practitioners. I’m scheduling guest posts for January through June 2020. You can write your own post or contribute to one of the following series: Second Acts, Power of Ten, Author/Book Spotlights.

These are my guidelines. You can obtain a PDF here.

Second Acts Series

The theme of my novels and website is one of reinvention. In the Second Acts series, I have featured the reinvention stories of over 90 women.

You can provide your own post or structure it around the following questions:

1. Briefly describe your first act.
2. What triggered the need for change?
3. Where are you now?
4. Do you have advice for anyone planning to pursue a second act?
5. Any affirmations or quotations you wish to share?

Examples – Second Acts Series

Power of 10 Series

The posts in this series can pertain to your book or any aspect of your life. Some ideas include…

10 Interesting Facts About My Protagonist (Villain, Back Story…)
10 Tips About a Hobby or Special Interest (Parenting, Gardening, Yoga…)
10 Favorite Books (Movies, Actors, Foods, Quotes…)
10 Best Moments
10 Most Embarrassing Moments
10 Life Lessons from… (Mentors, Role Models, Heroes…)

Examples – Power of 10

Author Spotlights

Provide a short post about your writing journey.

Examples – Author Spotlights

General Details

In addition to the post, I will need your picture, book cover(s), social media links, other publications (and anything else you wish to share) at least three days prior to publication.

DO NOT EMBED PICTURES – SEND AS SEPARATE JPEGS.

Contact me here.

Covering All the Bases

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

I couldn’t help chuckling as I read this story about a little boy’s baseball practice.

A little boy was overheard talking to himself as he strode through his backyard, baseball cap in place and toting ball and bat. “I’m the greatest baseball player in the world,” he said proudly. Then he tossed the ball in the air, swung and missed.

Undaunted, he picked up the ball, threw it into the air and said to himself, “I’m the greatest baseball player ever!” He swung at the ball again, and again he missed.

He paused a moment to examine bat and ball carefully. Then once again he threw the ball into the air and said, “I’m the greatest baseball player who ever lived.” He swung the bat hard and again missed the ball.

“Wow!” he exclaimed. “What a pitcher!”

Source: Chicken Soup for the Soul, 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Kindle the Spirit, Page 74

Book Blast: Audition

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome New York Times bestselling author Skye Warren. Today, Skye shares Audition, Book 4 of the North Security Series.

Blurb

Blood and sweat. Bethany Lewis danced her way out of poverty. She’s a world class athlete… with a debt to pay.

Joshua North always gets what he wants. And the mercenary wants Bethany in his bed. He wants her beautiful little body bent to his will.

She doesn’t surrender to his kiss.
He doesn’t back down from a challenge.
It’s going to be a sensual fight… to the death.

Excerpt

Blinding lights. Aching lungs. Thunderous applause. The final show concludes the same way we rehearsed for months, the same way we performed for weeks. My muscles know the movements better than they understand rest. The prospect of after, of what comes next, makes my breath catch. Even as the primas take their bows, relief echoes around the stage. Vacations are planned. Relief for strained muscles. Everyone needs a break, even professional athletes. I’m the only one onstage dreading it.

We bow and curtesy with practiced grace. The curtain descends to the floor. Almost to the second we break formation—a flock of crows startled from the woods. The more exuberant among us, the young ones, the new ones, the ones using steroids, prance and jete toward the dressing rooms. Most of us limp our way out. One hundred percent of NFL players are injured every season. Professional dancing is the same. We hurl our bodies through the air, forcing massive impact through tired joints night after night. I catch my friend Marlena in my arms. Her face is white with pain.

“Ice,” she says. “Or better yet—tequila.”

I push my shoulder under hers as we exit the stage. “Don’t sell yourself short. You can have both.”

A delicate snort. “Not likely. We have to smile and flirt with the old men with big, fat wallets. And for what? I won’t be here next season. You won’t be, either.”

The reminder clangs inside me like a copper bell. I won’t be coming to the New York City Ballet after the break. We fall into our creaky chairs in the dressing room. “Are you going to miss it?”

“Miss it? Of course I’ll miss it.” Marlena turned twenty-eight last month. It’s comfortably retirement age for a dancer. “When the little children do their terrible pirouettes, when they sneeze and throw up and cry all over my leotard, I’ll think fondly of the beautiful art I left behind. Then I’ll be able to walk home. That won’t happen if I try to dance another season.”

“You’ll make a wonderful teacher. You know you were mine.” She didn’t teach me to dance. It was my first love, before I learned to flip and contort myself. Before I ever leapt from a trapeze bar.

Marlena taught me the ropes of the ballet company when I joined two years ago. Most of them thought I wouldn’t last a week. Some of them didn’t want me to. It’s a rigid world, the hierarchy stacked with graduates of Juilliard or the John Cranko school.

I don’t have a pedigree.

All I have is a body that does what it must, no matter how much it hurts.

Which means changing out of my sweaty leotard into a fresh one. We’re contractually obligated to attend the ball. Like Marlena said, we should smile and flirt with the high society people who attend. Both the male and female dancers have to do it. It’s what convinces the sponsors to write checks that will fund the next season. By the time they’re rehearsing The Nutcracker I’ll be in New Orleans, the place I swore I’d never return.

Buy Links

Amazon | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble

Author Bio

Skye Warren is the New York Times bestselling author of dangerous romance. Her books have sold over one million copies. She makes her home in Texas with her loving family, sweet dogs, and evil cat.

Website – http://www.skyewarren.com

Giveaway

Skye Warren will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

Follow Skye on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

Movie Review: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

Tom Hanks delivers a stellar performance as Mister Rogers, the popular children’s television host and America’s most beloved neighbor. Hanks nails the details from the bushy eyebrows and flat silver hair to the red cardigan to the folksy singsong voice. Even the ties that Hanks wears once belonged to Fred Rogers (they were donated by his widow).

The movie was filmed in the same Pittsburgh studio where Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was shot, using some of the same crew and cameras.

For almost two hours, I was transported to a kinder, gentler time: pre-9/1l and one year before the Columbine Massacre. Inspired by a magazine article published in 1998, the film explores the friendship between Fred Rogers and cynical journalist Lloyd Vogel (well played by Matthew Rhys). Note: Lloyd Vogel is a fictionalized version of real-life journalist Tom Junod.

Assigned to write a brief (400-word) profile of an American hero by his hard-nosed editor (Christine Lahti), Vogel chafes at the task but grudgingly agrees to interview Mister Rogers. What should have been a quick, 20-minute interview evolves into an intense relationship between the two men. As Vogel spends more time with Mister Rogers, he starts opening up about his personal and family challenges.

While this film isn’t a Fred Rogers biopic, it does reveal the essence of the entertainer. We learn that he had a temper and dealt with anger by reading scripture, swimming, and pounding on the bass register of the piano. His adult sons gave him plenty of grief during their adolescent years.

When Vogel asks Joanne Rogers (Maryann Plunkett) how it feels to live with a saint, she immediately dispels that notion. But there is an authenticity and genuine interest in the lives of other people, especially those who are broken.

In a recent interview, Director Marielle Heller commented, “There’s a reason that everyone feels so connected to him…Some collective consciousness thing where we all want Mister Rogers in our lives right now, myself included.”

A must-see film!