When the Going Gets Tough
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
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.
Blurb Blitz: Sanctuary by Ginny Fite
I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Ginny Fite. Today, Ginny shares her new release, Sanctuary.
Blurb
Sometimes losing your children is the only way to save them. The year is 2039. Chased by government goons determined to quarantine her and a virus that might kill her at any time, Jean Bennett races a thousand miles to Canada to get her five children to safety. On a journey unlike any they’ve ever taken, Jean learns who she is and what she must do to save her children.
Excerpt
THE infection hit with such ferocity and speed that all public transport had shut down by the end of my husband’s meeting in DC, sixty-five miles from home. No car, no commuter train, no way out.
In the five hours since he’d arrived in the city that morning, police had blockaded roads and barred highway entrances. Airlines delayed flights and then canceled them. Residents, under threat of arrest, huddled in their homes, and universities restricted students to dorms. Government officials shuttered public buildings, closing, and locking the gates.
Television news showed black-helmeted National Guardsmen herding panicked tourists back toward their hotels as they stampeded down unfamiliar streets. Coast Guard cutters patrolled the Potomac River; helicopters buzzed overhead. From Capitol Hill to the Ellipse, red lights on Constitution Avenue blinked on and off. Front pages of the morning newspaper skittered across empty streets.
I waited for Ted to call.
Buy Links
Author Bio and Links
Ginny Fite is an award-winning journalist and author of nine traditionally published novels, three collections of poetry, a collection of short stories, and a book of humorous essays on aging. A graduate of Rutgers University and Johns Hopkins University, her 40-year career in communications included posts in newspapers, government, higher education, and a robotics R&D company. Pushcart Prize nominated, shortlisted for the 2019 SFWP prize, a finalist for the 2020 Bakwin Prize, winner of the FAPA gold medal in fiction for the collaborative novel Thoughts & Prayers, her stories have appeared in The Delmarva Review, Women Arts Quarterly Journal, Heartwood Literary Magazine, Coffin Bell, and the Anthology of Appalachian Writers. Writing about ordinary people who grapple with extraordinary circumstances, her novels span the genres of mystery, thriller, adventure, speculative, and women’s fiction. Learn more at GinnyFite.com.
Author Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Threads
Published Novels
Sanctuary
Leave Everything You Know Behind
The Physics of Things
Possession
Blue Girl on a Night Dream Sea
No End of Bad
Lying, Cheating and Occasionally Murder
No Good Deed Left Undone
Cromwell’s Folly
Thoughts & Prayers (co-author)
Giveaway
Ginny Fite will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner.. Find out more here.
Follow Ginny on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.
10 Motivational Quotes
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.
Sometimes, the hardest part of writing is simply getting started. Here are ten quotations to help you get over that motivational hump:
“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.” ~Margaret Atwood
“Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.” ~William Faulkner
“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” ~Anne Frank
“Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.” ~Barbara Kingsolver
“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” ~Louis L’Amour
“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” ~Jack London
“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” ~Toni Morrison
“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy.” ~Norman Vincent Peale
“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.” ~Jodi Picoult
“Start before you’re ready.” ~Steven Pressfield
Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King
Spotlight on Sensible Shoes by Cindy Causey
I’m happy to welcome Wild Rose Press author Cindy Causey. Today, Cindy shares her new release, Sensible Shoes.
Blurb
At her fiftieth birthday party, Tess Thomason, a plain-Jane, divorced mother and decidedly unprepared women’s newspaper columnist, is blindsided by her well-meaning family with a stack of gift cards she interprets as meaning she’s fat, frumpy, and wrinkled. Facing a lonely future and failing career, Tess embarks on a journey of self-discovery, taking her readers along for the ride. But her resolve is nearly derailed by a hilarious season of family chaos that includes a surprise pregnancy, rushed wedding, and unexpected houseguests. In the midst of it all, Tess is drawn into a confusing new relationship with a man who is impossibly perfect for her. But if she can keep herself, her family, and her willpower firmly seated on the crazy roller coaster of her life, maybe Tess will find her own self-worth and a new love in the bargain.
Excerpt
“Tess, Tess, I’m not expecting you to write like Sylvia. I’m not even expecting you to write about fashion. What I have in mind is a column to women, for women, about women. Real women. Like one of those influencers on the Internet. You know…funny, wise, poignant, and… relevant.”
The creeping dread, now fully formed, tossed a grenade into my stomach. She might as well have asked me to write like Shakespeare. “You want me to be funny, wise, poignant, and…relevant? Are you insane?”
Okay, I may have stepped over the line with that last bit, because Ruth’s face twisted a little in the ominous way I had seen so often just before she pounded her fist on the desk. “Just write the damn thing, Tess. I don’t care if you’re funny, wise, poignant, or what was the other thing?”
“Relevant,” I murmured.
“Relevant, for God’s sake. Just do it. I need a column for the women’s page starting next week, and you’re it. Write about what you know. Family. Food. The laundry. You’ve got family. You’ve got laundry. It’ll be a cinch.”
“But—”
“No buts. Just do it. It’ll be good for you. You need to get out of your rut.” She turned her attention to her computer screen.
As if in a trance, I rose from the chair and turned to leave. “Oh, Tess?” she said without looking at me.
“Yes?” Maybe she’s changed her mind; she saw my outfit, and she changed her mind.
“Happy birthday.”
Author Bio and Links
Cindy Causey taught herself to type in the 8th grade because she couldn’t write in her diary fast enough in longhand. A degree and career in advertising were the result. A fifteen-year stint as a copy chief at JCPenney Catalog led to the position of Internet Marketing Manager for JCPenney.com.
After 20 years at JCPenney, Cindy retired in December, 2007, and began working full time with her husband Scott in their multi-media production company, Dallas Media Center. They specialized in audio/video production and editing, vintage media transfer to DVD and CD, as well as website design and hosting. Cindy shuttered the company in 2021, three years after Scott passed away.
After her first book, a non-fiction work called Cherish the Gift: A Congregational Guide to Earth Stewardship, was published, Cindy began writing fiction. She found her voice in romance, the stories of the struggles two people endure on the road to happily ever-after. Her debut novel, A Different Drum was published in May 2009 by The Wild Rose Press, followed by A Hot Time in Texas that same year.
In early 2025, her latest novel, Sensible Shoes, a humorous look at a woman struggling with life after 50, was published by The Wild Rose Press. It will be followed in late 2025 by a romantic suspense novel entitled Saving Samantha.
Cindy makes her home in Dallas, Texas. In addition to writing, she enjoys traveling and spending time with her 5 grown children and 4 grandchildren. She would like to see the edges of the entire world from the deck of a cruise ship.
Blog | Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest
Giveaway
Cindy Causey will be awarding a $20 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.
Follow Cindy on the rest of her Goddess Fish Tour here.
I couldn’t put this book down and stayed up two nights in a row to finish it. An expert storyteller, Ms. Causey writes with passion and skill, bringing the topsy-turvy world of the protagonist, Tess Thomason, to life. I found myself rooting for Tess as she embarked on a journey of self-discovery and transformation, all while navigating an avalanche of challenges—from a surprise pregnancy and a revolving door of houseguests to complicated romantic entanglements. All of this unfolds against the backdrop of Thanksgiving and a whirlwind wedding.
Even days after finishing, I’m still marveling at the twists and turns in Tess’s remarkable story. Sensible Shoes is beautifully written and a must-read for fans of women’s fiction.
Find What is Unique to You
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:
Stay on your side of the street.
Visiting botanical gardens is one of my favorite pastimes. Large gardens require lots of care and attention. Instead of trying to increase the size of my own garden, I’m satisfied with admiring the lush escapes of the beautiful gardens across the nation.
Sometimes, the lives of others can seem so attractive that you’ll start to believe you are supposed to do the same thing. You will know it’s wrong for you, however, when you do it and immediately find yourself feeling dissatisfied.
Find where you have talents, and go after what you enjoy. Don’t buy into the idea that to be satisfied, you must do or have what others do or have. Rather than mimic others, find what is unique to you.
Source: Consider This, p. 63.
Virtual Book Tour: A Fable of Wood and String
I’m happy to welcome author L.T. Getty. Today, she shares interesting facts about her creative journey and her new release, A Fable of Wood and String.
Interview
What was your inspiration for this book?
When my niece was just transitioning to chapter books, I wrote her a novel. She read and enjoyed it, and I published it when she was just transitioning from middle grade to YA novels. In that book, there was a scene where she wanted to know what was happening, so I took the ideas from that middle grade book and ran with them, only writing for a slightly older audience.
What is the best part of being an author? The worst?
The best part about being an author is I get to partake in the creative process and have a space where I get to be unapologetically smart. I don’t have to omits things from my resume or keep my mouth shut.
The worst is many people have this idea who gets to speak, and act like certain stories are inferior, based on genre or what’s popular at the time. It’s irksome that there’s an assumption of quality because of someone’s social class.
What is your favorite quote?
I was originally going to quote Lewis, but here’s Chesterton:
Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.
Besides writing and reading, what are some of your hobbies?
I like to go biking and kayaking, and in general being active. I used to do kendo and would love to get back into a martial art now that I’m more secure in my job.
What are you working on next?
I am finishing up the sequel to this duology, though at the earliest it’ll be out is late 2025. I have commitments to Champagne Books and my general rule is let the books percolate, but I was writing both books around the same time. I wasn’t quite done the first book when I started writing Book 2, I wanted to ensure I was giving enough hints so I don’t have to retcon myself. It’s a fantasy adventure but there’s also a mystery as to what happened to Castle Mirador and who’s responsible.
My nephew has since demanded I write him a book, so I’m writing him something redonkulous. Like he wants it to be hilariously campy, so right now it’s quasi-started.
The plan then is to work on a standalone for Chapage Books – the publisher changed hands, but my goal is to try to write shorter, less intimidating books.
Blurb
Would it hurt you to just do as you’re told?
The O’Connell siblings live in the shadow of their parent’s past, held back by obligation to keep the people of Stagmil safe when their father has to lead the non-hunters of their village to drive off a wyvern.
Lily doesn’t trust the stranger who calls herself Madeline when she staggers into the pastoral lands. The puppeteer seems to take an interest in Lily’s talent with the family mandoline, and she teaches Lily new music. Lily’s had songs stuck in her head before, but nothing like this.
Twins Seth and Tiffany however can’t wait for their father to return so they can get on with the shearing. Seth should at least be helping hunt the wyvern, and Tiffany wants to take her best friend Molly and head to the nearest city and see the world.
The twins and several other villagers are lured by song into the woods and transformed into marionettes: Seth breaking free before he can be strung, and Lily tainted in a way she doesn’t understand. They have the skills to track the woman down, but to restore Seth to his body, and rescue Tiffany and the others?
Tracking the woman takes them far from the familiar woodlands they know, across the sea to an enchanted castle, where in an effort to rescue their sister they’ll learn something much more sinister than turning folk into puppets is going on. They’ll get help, of course, but not from who they expected.
After all, last Seth checked, foxes are only supposed to have the one tail.
Excerpt
The figure in black started to play something else, and the other’s eyes widened. Tiffany shouted something, and they all reached for the soft wax of the candle but didn’t know what they were doing. In the haste of grabbing the candle, it was knocked to the ground.
Seth ignored his companions and nocked his bow. “Stop what you’re doing or I’ll shoot!”
The figure seemed undeterred. Seth knew he was about to commit murder, but he didn’t care and he wouldn’t leave Louis or any of them to whatever that doppelganger was, and this thing was obviously part of this plot. He loosed the arrow, and the figure only stopped playing to bat it away with the sword hidden under the cloak. Impossible, Seth thought, nocking another with a second between his fingers for quick redraw. He might not be the finest archer—but at this range he didn’t have to be, and no one could deflect arrows in succession for long.
Someone screamed. It looked like Rebecca was caught in a web when she tried to bolt from the glen between two trees. Seth unsheathed his long knife and went to help her, but the figure of Not-Lily appeared, taking off her face and standing near Rebecca. The face was completely blank underneath; Seth let out a surprised gasp before she replaced that face with something with six red eyes, two in the normal place with another four running up her forehead.
Then he saw it—her—grow. The lower half of her body swelled and became massive, bulbous, like the back half of a centaur; her body remained about the same size, but rather than fur and four legs, shimmering black hair and eight legs protruded from the torso, longer at the bend than Dale was tall. She towered over Rebecca. A giant spider . . . woman? There was something eerily feminine about it, a sort of terrible beauty that froze him when his instincts told him to move. She stepped over Rebecca, barreling down on Seth. He loosed another arrow at her head, but she dodged and shot out webbing from her hands that knocked him backwards, pinning him to the grass. More spider silk flew and pinned his arm to the grass.
Seth tried to wriggle free the monster chased after Dale, and to Seth’s horror, caught him with long strands at his wrists, and wrangled him like a marionette. Dale wriggled against the webbing and she dragged him back, and it seemed that he was transforming in the shadow, shrinking and becoming . . . something else. Seth unbuttoned his over shirt to try to free himself.
Dale was reduced to the size of a doll, and the spider had shifted him to a web in the canopy before going after Tiffany. Brigid flailed between two trees, seemingly stuck in a giant web.
Louis cut Seth free and thrust the bow into Seth’s hand. He shouted something and Seth realized that if he got her attention, there wouldn’t be another time. Louis released his sling in the dark. Seth couldn’t see the rock’s trajectory but the spider reeled, leaving Tiffany and moved with intent on the pair of them. They darted in opposite directions, and by luck the creature honed in on Louis, giving Seth enough time to fire. The arrow bounced off the creature’s bulbous body.
Out of the corner of his eye, Seth thought he saw a fox or coyote dart from the bush and bound through the grass. It ran behind the mandolin-playing creature and bit it in the butt. Suddenly there were two people, but Seth couldn’t watch them.
Seth let loose another arrow, narrowly missing the torso, and shouted at the others to run—he wasn’t sure who it had now, was it Rebecca or Molly? The light was too poor for him to be certain, but whoever the spider held she was shrinking fast.
The creature turned, six red and black eyes focused on Seth, and came down on him with full force. Seth found his limbs caught by two bands of silk and forced above his head, and he was hoisted into the air. He locked eyes with Louis who was looking not only smaller, but . . . wooden. Against his control, Seth raised his hands to his ears and removed the wax, and sound same rushing back.
Buy Links
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Kobo | Barnes & Noble
Author Bio and Links
L.T. Getty is a Manitoba Paramedic. She received her degree in English in 2006 from the University of Winnipeg, and has gone on to write several novels. Her latest title, Titan’s Ascent, is a sword and sorcery forthcoming from Champagne Books for 2025.
Goodreads | Twitter/X | Blog | Instagram
Giveaway
The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.
Follow L.T. Getty on her Goddess Fish tour here.
Book Blast: Lethal Impulse
I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Steve Rush. Today, Steve shares his new release, Lethal Impulse.
Blurb
He’s riddled with guilt. She’s annoyed with the status quo.
The death of a crime boss’s daughter forces Detective Neil Caldera to leave NYC. He seeks refuge in the tranquil embrace of a small town, where he finds himself entangled in the labyrinth of a teenage girl’s murder.
Tess Fleishman’s pale skin and extreme weight loss portrays a disease she wants others to see. While inside, a compulsion for Neil fuels her passion to have him or destroy him.
As Neil delves into the heart of the town’s secrets, will truth deliver solace? Or will Tess prevail?
Excerpt
Tess set the camera on the rear seat. She pictured the murder scene planned at the barn. “You can thank me when it’s over. I need your help with this next part because the doctor told me I’m not to lift anything over twenty pounds. This leukemia drains me.” She popped open the trunk.
“I heard about your diagnosis.” Vanessa embraced Tess. “I thought about going into oncology once I complete medical school. If I get accepted. That is a long way off. What has the doctor said about your prognosis?”
“We view my future differently. I’m hoping for remission.” Tess gestured to the trunk. “Climb in.”
Vanessa glanced inside the trunk. She retreated two strides. “Do I have to get in there? It looks grimy. Why did you not bring your car?”
“We’re documenting an abduction and murder, Vanessa. We can’t let anybody see my car or you with me. It will ruin the surprise. It’s only until we get to the barn.”
Vanessa clambered into the trunk. Tess swathed towels around Vanessa’s wrists and ankles before she bound them with paracord. Vanessa thanked Tess for the use of towels to prevent ligature marks on her skin.
Tess grinned. “A killer must focus on details, Vanessa.”
Purchase Links
Amazon | The Wild Rose Press | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Books-a-Million
Author Bio and Links
Steve Rush is an award-winning author whose experience includes tenure as homicide detective and chief forensic investigator for a national consulting firm. He worked with the late Joseph L. Burton, M.D, under whom he mastered his skills, and investigated many deaths alongside Dr. Jan Garavaglia of Dr. G: Medical Examiner fame. His specialties include crime scene reconstruction, injury causation, blood spatter analysis, occupant kinematics, and recovery of human skeletal remains.
Steve’s book Kill Your Characters; Crime Scene Tips for Writers was named finalist in the 2023 Silver Falchion Award for Best Nonfiction and Honorable Mention in the 2023 Readers’ Favorite Awards. Lethal Impulse won the 2022 Public Safety Writing Association’s Writing Competition for an unpublished novel, longlisted in the 2022 Page Turner Awards and joint first prize in the 2020 Chillzee KiMo T-E-N Contest.
Publishing Credits
Kill Your Characters; Crime Scene Tips for Writers, Genius Books, June 2022
Blood Red Deceit, Wings ePress, (thriller) September 2023
After Her Deceit, Wings ePress, (thriller) October 2024
Lethal Impulse, The Wild Rose Press, (romantic suspense/crime thriller) October 2024
Upcoming 2025 releases
The Shocking Truth (crime thriller) presale 02/15/25, and Deadline 4:59 (crime thriller), Wings ePress
Website | LinkedIn | SubStack | Goodreads | Amazon
Giveaway
Steve Rush will be awarding a $20 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.
Follow Steve on the rest of his Goddess Fish tour here.
Joanne Guidoccio 