Blurb Blitz: Finding His Wyoming Sweetheart

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Virginia McCullough. Today, Virginia shares her new release, Finding His Wyoming Sweetheart.

Blurb

When it comes to his seven-year-old son, new lodge owner Mack Fisher has a lot to make up for. Fortunately, the small Wyoming town of Adelaide Creek provides the perfect fresh start—that is, if he can avoid the distraction of Erin Hunnicutt’s warm brown eyes. The free-spirited musician has a way of bringing out the best in everyone—especially Mack. When they’re thrown together unexpectedly to help their town, sparks fly and a dangerous secret is uncovered. But searching for the answers only leads them to fall deeper for one another…and starts Mack wondering if there’s room for one more in his new family.

Excerpt

Mack grinned at Erin. “Admittedly, an awkward introduction. But you’ll have to overlook it.” He put his hand to the side of his head. “I can barely think straight.”

Erin frowned. What did that mean?

“I’m awestruck,” he explained, his grin widening. “It’s not every day I come face to face with a woman who’s a talented musician and also a restoration expert who brings battered and charred wood back to life.”

Without thinking, Erin returned the smile. “Now you’re making me blush.” It was true what he said. She’d built her work life around wood restoration, but making music was her favorite hobby. Although those things weren’t making her cheeks heat up. That had more to do with Mack’s deep, smooth voice and how her stomach fluttered looking into those amused blue eyes. She’d always had a soft spot for a neat—but not too neat—beard.

“As I recall, Mack, you don’t live in Adelaide Creek, but here you are, celebrating the grand opening of the restored town hall with the rest of us. And on Valentine’s Day, too.”

“We do too live here.” Liam stood up a little straighter and lifted his chin a notch. “In a bunkhouse. Real cowboys lived there a long, long time ago.”

“That’s right, kiddo.” Mack spoke to Liam with a laugh in his voice before turning to Erin.

Buy Links

Amazon | Apple Books | Kobo | Nook | Google Play

Author Bio and Links

Award winning author, Virginia McCullough writes romance for the Harlequin Heartwarming line, and FINDING HIS WYOMING SWEETHEART is Book 4 of her Adelaide Creek series. She also writes women’s fiction and nonfiction on a variety of topics. Virginia’s characters could be your family, friends, or neighbors, and all her stories offer hope, healing, and plenty of second chances. Drawn to water, she almost always sets her stories on a body of water, from oceans, lakes, rivers, and the winding Adelaide Creek.

A ghostwriter, book doctor/editor, coach, and experienced workshop presenter, Virginia is a wanderer, but currently lives in Northeastern Wisconsin. When she’s not writing, she’s walking on trails near her home or in some faraway place. She reads, streams series, hangs out with other writers, and daydreams about her next adventure.

Facebook | Instagram | Newsletter | Readers’ Group

Giveaway

Virginia McCullough will be awarding a $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

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

On Diversity

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 recent release, Consider This: Reflections for Finding Peace, bestselling author Nedra Glover Tawwab shares inspiring advice for setting boundaries, rising above drama, and expressing ourselves with clarity and integrity. Here’s a thought-provoking reflection:

If I always do everything my way, it leaves little space for me to learn how to do things in a new way.

If everyone around me thinks like me, I only see one viewpoint.

Thinking like me is just one way, not the only way.

Of course, in practice, it can be hard to accept our differences with others.

But expecting people to be just like us is a recipe for disappointment. Assuming people have the same abilities, desires, or preferences leaves little room for individuality.

“If it were me, I would…” is a phrase often used to imply that others should do as you do.

A “my way is best” or “my way is the only way” type of thinking does not build connection with others. It breeds conflict and resentment.

We are similar and not the same.

Different paths can lead to good outcomes.

Diversity is about being open to differences even when they are not familiar to you.

Source: Consider This, p. 73.

Virtual Book Tour: The Angel Scroll by Penelope Holt

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome writer and editor Penelope Holt. Today, Penelope shares excellent writing advice and her new release, The Angel Scroll.

Here’s Penelope!

So I’ve Got This Writing Quirk…

“Vigorous writing is concise!” So say Strunk and White in their book, Elements of Style, a useful if dated primer and guide for would-be writers. Concise is a word I was forced to take to heart in writing for business, where advertising copy and boilerplate often demand a strict word count and pared-down prose.

Embrace the Frag

As an editor, I learned that writers will often use five words when one will do. I embraced “the frag”—a sentence fragment that used to be a big no-no but is now a staple of breezy bloggers and content creators.

Fine Sanding a Piece

I discovered that my favorite part of writing is the fine sanding of later drafts. Making the writing more muscular. Balancing short and longer sentences to create just the right cadence. Stripping out extraneous words that are not earning their keep. Simplifying, streamlining, and cutting away the fat to give the story a sleek, lean, toned, and muscular shape.

Beware of Cutting Muscle

So business writing has taught me important lessons about crafting and curating words to express the essence of an idea. But a skill taken too far can hinder versus help. Oh no! Sometimes, I step back from a piece and realize I’ve cut away too much, lost important enhancements and embellishments that enrich a description or make a scene come alive. The writing is too sleek. There’s nothing for the reader to linger over, no place to get happily lost. It’s all too stripped down and efficient. Great for business. Bad for fiction. My word diet has gone too far and it’s time to bulk up. Here’s where I get the chance to go back into the story and find opportunities to express more nuance of feeling, linger on the details of an encounter between characters, and luxuriate in describing an evocative scene.

Balancing Rich and Lean

As a fiction writer, it’s a challenge to know when to be brief. When to keep the action moving with minimal words—dynamic writing that infuses a story with energy and momentum. And when to balance such brevity with writing detours that expand on an important moment, or to add those clever, signature details that make the writing original and alive in the reader’s mind’s eye.

Blurb

ONE ANCIENT PROPHECY, TWO HEARTBROKEN LOVERS, AND A WORLDWIDE SCAVENGER HUNT FOR THREE MIRACULOUS PAINTINGS.

After her husband’s death, New York artist Claire Lucas has baffling dreams and waking visions as she channels an enigmatic and healing painting of a holy man in India at the deathbed of a young woman. When widowed antiquarian Richard Markson announces that Claire’s canvas is one-third of three paintings prophesied by the Angel Scroll, a recently discovered Dead Sea parchment, she is pulled into an international scavenger hunt to find the stolen scroll and the paintings it predicts.

As she pursues the paintings with Richard across historic and holy sites in America, Israel, and Europe, Claire encounters a series of remarkable teachers. A Buddhist, a Benedictine monk, and a professor of early goddess worship all provide rich explanations for the artist’s compelling and perplexing psychic experiences — until she assembles the incredible triptych and deciphers its inspirational message for the modern world.

Excerpt

Hilde. Simply to think of her was to feel her presence, vibrant, beautiful, inviting. She had brought color, excitement, and warmth to his somber life of rigid routines and serious study. No matter how hard he tried, Richard couldn’t stop the memory of Hilde’s beautiful face and perfect body from moving through his memory a hundred times a day. He saw her blond hair, cut in a shimmering, sophisticated bob. He pictured how she pushed the hair on one side behind her ears and stroked her neck, as if to remind him how exciting her touch was. He remembered how she would arouse him by absentmindedly caressing him throughout the day. She gave him lingering kisses hello in the morning, and trailed her fingers in a light touch across his back when he was lost in study. She sometimes ran her palm down his arm with an exciting pressure as they talked. And at night, her hands felt for him hungrily beneath the sheets, as he wrapped himself around the beautiful body he had craved all day and finally took his pleasure.

Richard had memorized every inch of his wife’s lithe, petite frame that radiated so much sex appeal. She was vivacious, the center of attention in any group, but languid and seductive when they were alone. Mostly it was her laugh, throaty and full of easy warmth, that haunted him. Her cornflower blue eyes would brighten, and her lovely face would soften and transform itself with an even lovelier smile to accompany that unforgettable laugh. How could he speak of Hilde when it hurt so much just to think about her?

Author Bio and Links

Penelope Holt was born and educated in England and now lives in New York. She is a novelist, playwright, business writer, and marketing executive, whose work has been performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, York Arts Center, and New York’s American Folk Theater. In addition to writing fiction, The Angel Scroll, and The Apple, based on the controversial Herman Rosenblat Holocaust romance, Holt is a prolific writer, editor, and co-author of non-fiction, including Business Intelligence at Work A Personal Operating System for Career Success, Singing God’s Work, the story of the Harlem Gospel Choir, and many other works. She is married with two children.

Amazon Buy Link

Giveaway

One randomly chosen winner via Rafflecopter will win a $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card. Find out more here.

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



Book Blast: Bad Guy by Ana Diamond

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome author Ana Diamond. Today, Ana shares her new release, Bad Guy.

Blurb

Luke Daniels has done his fair share of bad things. But when the FBI offers him a deal in exchange for infiltrating the local Mafia’s infamous Costa Crew, Luke has no choice but to accept the challenge.

Beautiful, smart and tough, Sophia Costa wants out of the Crew. Appointed boss by her brother after he’s sent to prison, she wants no part in the murder, deceit and secrecy typical of Mafia life.

Just as things heat up between Luke and Sophia, a mysterious hitman targets Sophia, and Luke’s handler starts to wonder if Luke is up for the task.

As the lovers face the possibility of losing everything in order to be together, the line between loyalty and betrayal blur.

Excerpt

At the entrance, a burly guy with a pug nose and dressed in a long black trench coat scanned the bar, like he was looking for someone. Kid turned toward the other end of the bar, signaling to a guy wearing a black fedora, who then promptly disappeared into the back room.

Pug Nose took notice of Kid’s intervention and barreled toward him with gritted teeth. But before he could get his hands on Kid, Luke elbowed him right in the center of his face. He fell back, clutching his bloody nose, while Luke continued the onslaught until he sensed surrender. Then he jumped off him while the others in the crowd lifted Pug Nose off the floor. Blood ran down his face and soaked his shirt. The room fell quiet as the sound of stilettos clicking on the floor became louder by the second.

Luke shook off the pain in his knuckles as he watched the dark-haired beauty approach.

She stopped and stared at Pug Nose’s injuries, quickly glanced at Luke, then back at Pug Nose. “Take this message back to your boss. We’re not afraid of you and if you come back, we’ll kill you one by one.” She nodded at her crew to take Pug Nose away, then turned to Luke.

A nervous tickle made him clear his throat as she stared up at him with deep sapphire-colored eyes. He couldn’t imagine what role she played in this dirty game full of thugs and thieves.

“I have to personally thank you for stepping in for Kid. What’s your name, Fighter?” she asked with a tiny smirk on her full red lips.

“Luke Daniels. May I ask who you are?”

“My name is Sophia Costa. I’m the boss.”

Author Bio and Links

When Ana Diamond isn’t writing about tough gals finding love in unexpected places, she’s at work by day in the medical field. She writes romantic mystery novels with feisty strong women and alluring men who can’t resist them. Her books are fast paced, entertaining and heartfelt all at once.

Ana is a 2020 Tara Contest Finalist for Body Conscious and 2015 Melody of Love contest finalist. She lives in New York with her husband, two children and two needy but wildly entertaining kitty cats.

Website | X | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | TikTok | Threads | Bluesky |
Buy Link

Giveaway

Ana Diamond will be awarding a $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

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

Moving Beyond Failure

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 book, When Your Past is Hurting Your Present, author Sue Augustine encourages her readers to view failure as a teacher. Here’s an inspiring excerpt:

It might surprise you to know how many people fail before they reach their goals or experience success. Here is a list of people who were considered failures at some point in their lives:

Fred Astaire was described at an early screen test with the words, “Can’t act. Can’t sing. Balding. Can dance a little.”

Elvis Presley was fired after just one show at the Grand Ole Opry and told, “You ain’t goin’ nowhere, son!”

Albert Einstein was four years old before he could speak and seven before he could read. He performed badly in almost all of his high-school courses. He flunked his college exams and was advised by a teacher to drop out of school. She said, “You’ll never amount to anything, Einstein.”

Louisa May Alcott, who authored Little Women and numerous other novels, was told by an editor she’d never write anything that had popular appeal.

The legendary tenor Enrico Caruso was told by a voice teacher that he couldn’t sing at all.

Leo Tolstoy (author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, among others) flunked out of college.

At age ten, famous artist Pablo Picasso stopped going to school because he was barely able to read or write. His father yanked him out of school and hired a tutor, but the tutor soon gave up and quit in disgust.

A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney, saying he lacked creativity and good ideas.

Admiral Richard E. Byrd had been retired from the navy as “unfit for service” until he flew over the North and South Poles.

What does all this mean to us? It means we are in good company when we have a flop or produce a dud now and then. It also means that mistakes, failure, and setbacks are not the end of the world. They certainly don’t signify that we aren’t capable of going on to accomplish great things.

Source: When Your Past is Hurting Your Present, pp. 170-171.

Blurb Blitz: Bullets and Dandelions

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome author, Gail Kroger. Today, she shares her new release, Bullets and Dandelions.

Blurb

My name is Tess Reynolds, and I’ll admit few people would think I’m a badass Army sniper called the Scorpion. After all, women snipers were unheard of in 1990. People look at me and see a petite blonde who is cute as a button. My father calls it my natural camouflage.

My time in the Middle East has been full of unforeseen complications. I have a rogue CIA agent trying to kill me and I caught the attention of a Force Recon Marine by the name of Alexander Stone. Wowzer! He’s hot but he’s also the biggest jackass I have ever met. To make things even more interesting, I need the Jackass’s help to stay alive.

Excerpt

“Turn around. You’re moving like a granny, and I need you in fighting form.” He pulled a tube of ointment out of his pocket.

The last thing I needed was Stone touching me, but he was right. I couldn’t fight like this. I turned around. I hoped I didn’t do something stupid, like kissing him.

“You took a bad fall. You’re damn lucky you didn’t break a leg.”

I snorted. “That would have really messed up my father’s plans.”

“Your father needs killing.” Stone massaged ointment into my neck and back.

My knees almost buckled. That felt so damn good. “He was a great father until my mother was killed. Now all he lives for is vengeance.” Shit! My voice came out all breathy.

“What happened?” Stone’s hands slid down my left thigh as he worked the ointment into my colorful bruises.

My pussy pulsed and I fought back a moan. God, I loved the feel on his hands on my body. “She worked for Doctors Without Borders and was killed in a roadside bombing.” I balled my hands. Don’t touch him. Don’t touch him.

“That’s tough.” He switched to my other leg.

Oh, God. My panties were soaked, my nipples had hardened, and pure arousal thrummed in my veins. I wanted that bastard inside me.

“How does that feel?” He gave me a lewd wink.

“You know damn well how that feels.”

He grinned. “You’ve got the color back in your cheeks.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Author Bio and Links

I was a 9-1-1 dispatcher for the Glendale Police Department and to keep from going totally bonkers – I mean people have no idea what a real emergency is. Take this for example: I answered, “9-1-1 emergency, what’s your emergency?” And this hysterical woman yelled, “My bird is in a tree.” Sometimes I really couldn’t help myself, so I said, “Birds have a tendency to do that, ma’am.” The woman screeched, “No! You don’t understand. My pet parakeet is in the tree. I’ve just got to get him down.” Like I said, not a clue. “I’m sorry ma’am but we don’t get birds out of trees.” The woman then cried, “But… What about my husband? He’s up there, too.” See what I had to deal with? To keep from hitting myself repeatedly in the head with my phone I took up writing.

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram | BookBub | BlueSky | Amazon Author Page

Giveaway

Gail Koger will be awarding a $15 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

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

When the Going Gets Tough

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.

A long-time fan of bestselling authors and coaches Marc and Angel Chernoff, I look forward to reading their emails and blog posts. Here’s an excerpt from a recent post:

When we’re losing our motivation and feeling down and unsure of everything — we need to wake ourselves up and remember…

1. To trust the journey, even when we do not understand it.

2. To accept what is, let go of what was, and have faith in the road ahead.

3. To start exactly where we are, use what we have, and do what we can, one step at a time.

4. To look for the blessings hidden in every struggle we face, and be willing to open our hearts and minds to them.

5. To recognize our backpack of support — our external sources of hope and motivation — before a random guru (or someone with far more crooked intentions) has to steal it from us so that we can finally see what we have always taken for granted.

6. To be present and tap into our own hearts and minds — our internal sources of hope and motivation — which have the power to push us back up on our feet and guide us down the road to our backpack of support, even when it appears to be lost forever.

7. To laugh at the confusion, live consciously in the moment, and appreciate the lessons found at each twist and turn.

8. To not compare our progress with that of others, and accept that we all need our own time to travel our own distance.

9. To see how many of the things we never wanted or expected ultimately turn out to be what we need.

10. To be OK with not ending up exactly where we intended to go, while opening ourselves up to the possibility of eventually arriving precisely in the right place at the right time.

Note: I highly recommend subscribing to Marc & Angel’s website.

Interview with Lauren Martin

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I am happy to welcome psychotherapist and poet Lauren Martin. Today, Lauren shares interesting facts about her creative journey and her new poetry collection, Night of the Hawk

Interview

What was your inspiration for this book?

I had always written without submitting until I was injured and bedridden for most of the last decade. I was inspired to try to communicate what it is like to feel different or isolated from others and what makes us all universally bonded.

Which authors have inspired you?

Poets: William Stafford, Joy Harjo, Naomi Shihab Nye, Leila Chatti, Yolanda Wisher

What is your favorite quote?

My all-time favorite poem is William Stafford’s Ask Me because I think it captures the meaning of life and the way the composite of our experiences forms a life.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Baby steps. I think making yourself begin with writing twenty minutes a few times a week prevents it from feeling overwhelming. Then you end up getting more comfortable with it and craving more time to write.

What are you working on next?

I have a new collection of poetry I am currently submitting and a psychological essay book for which I am also seeking representation.

Blurb

Ifá. Nature. Illness. Love. Loss. Misogyny. Aging. Africa. Our wounded planet. In this sweeping yet intensely personal collection, Lauren Martin tells the untold stories of the marginalized, the abused, the ill, the disabled—the different. Inspired by her life’s experiences, including the isolation she has suffered as a result both of living with chronic illness and having devoted herself to a religion outside the mainstream, these poems explore with raw vulnerability and unflinching honesty what it is to live apart—even as one yearns for connection.

But Night of the Hawk is no lament; it is powerful, reverential, sometimes humorous, often defiant— “Oh heat me and fill me / I rise above lines”—and full of wisdom. Visceral and stirring, the poems in this collection touch on vastly disparate subjects but are ultimately unified in a singular quest: to inspire those who read them toward kindness, compassion, and questioning.

Excerpt

A SEA OF KISSES

One kiss to
Make me stay
Two to
Start the day
Three and
I’m on my way.

Author Bio and Links

Lauren Martin is a psychotherapist, poet, and a devoted Ìyânífá. Born in Boston and spending many years in New York and Paris, she currently lives in Oakland, California. Lauren studied psychology, photography and poetry at Sarah Lawrence College. She spent years writing without submitting her work due to a long shamanic journey, which led her to both Ifá, and to the writing of several books (including this collection of poems.) The upcoming publication of Night of the Hawk (SheWrites Press, 2024), reflects a deeply personal experience of illness, isolation and true shamanism.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Amazon Buy Link

Giveaway

Lauren Martin will be awarding a $10 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

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