Book Blast: Picasso’s Lovers
I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Jeanne Mackin. Today, Jeanne shares her new release, Picasso’s Lovers.
Blurb
You know Pablo Picasso. Now meet the women behind the masterpieces. The women of Picasso’s life are glamorous and elusive, existing in the shadow of his fame – until, in the 1950’s, aspiring journalist Alana Olsen determines to bring one into the light and discovers a past complicated by secrets and intrique.
Excerpt
People used to say of my lover that he lived only for art, that women and politics did not matter to him the way his art mattered. But people change. When Franco and Hitler destroyed that Spanish town, Guernica, Pablo Picasso changed. You cannot look at that painting, at the screaming mothers and violence and think, this is a man who does not care about people and politics.
I have seen how his face changes when he speaks of Francoise, the woman who is leaving him.
“I think it will be a fine day,” I said. “But come back to bed, Pablo. It is still early.” I smoothed and pattered the rumpled sheet that was still damp from our little bacchanal…
Pablo returns his gaze to his own image in the mirror and studies it, drawing the razor through the white foam on his cheek and making a curve, olive flesh showing through a white background. Another work of art…
He throws a towel at me. “Get up. The car will be here soon.”
“Lisen to you, my love. A car. A chauffeur. I remember when you had holes in your boots, when you were my young love.”
“That was long ago.”
Author Bio and Links
Jeanne Mackin is the author of several historical novels, including The Last Collection, which has been translated into five languages, and The Beautiful American, which won a CNY award for fiction. She has taught in the MFA Creative Writing program at Goddard College and won journalism awards, and is currently at work on her next novel.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon Buy Link
Giveaway
Jeanne Mackin will award a randomly drawn winner a $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card. Find out more here.
Follow Jeanne on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.
On Getting Better Results
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.
Entrepreneur Shane Parrish shares insights about overcoming unconscious reactions and making better decisions in his recent release, Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results. Here’s an excerpt:
While no one chooses difficult circumstances, adversity provides opportunity. The test isn’t against other people, though; it’s against our former selves. Are we better than we were yesterday? When circumstances are easy, it’s hard to distinguish ordinary people from extraordinary ones, or to see the extraordinary within ourselves. As the Roman slave Publilius Syrus once said, “Anyone can steer the ship when the sea is calm.”
The path to being exceptional begins when you decide to be responsible for your actions no matter what the situation. Exceptional people know they can’t change the hand they’ve been dealt, and don’t waste time wishing for a better one. They focus instead on how they’re going to play the cards they have to achieve the best result. They don’t hide behind others. The best people rise to the challenge—whatever it is. They choose to live up to their best self-image instead of surrendering to their defaults.
One of the most common mistakes people make is bargaining with how the world should work instead of accepting how it does work. Anytime you find yourself or your colleagues complaining “that’s not right,” or “that’s not fair,” or “it shouldn’t be that way,” you’re bargaining not accepting. You want the world to work in a way that it doesn’t.
Failing to accept how the world really works puts your time and energy toward proving how right you are. When the desired results don’t materialize, it’s easy to blame circumstances or others. I call this the wrong side of right. You’re focused on your ego not the outcome.
Solutions appear when you stop bargaining and start accepting the reality of the situation. That’s because focusing on the next move, rather than how you got here in the first place, opens you up to a lot of possibilities. When you put outcome over ego, you get better results.
Source: Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish, pp. 49-50.
How to Inspire Inclusion
Happy International Women’s Day!
Know That It’s Possible
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 a recent post on the Writer Unboxed blog, novelist Lisa Janice Cohen shared thought-provoking insights about hope and fear. Here’s an excerpt from that post:
I recently watched a documentary about Molly Kawahata, a young climate activist who is also an ice climber. It’s called The Scale of Hope. As she talked about the challenge of climbing a steep ice wall in Alaska, it felt as if she were talking to me about writing a novel. One of the things she says in the documentary is this:
“You don’t try to climb something that’s literally impossible. You have to know that you could get to the top.”
That’s hope. And yet, her time on the ice is always tempered by fear, by the knowledge that failure is a possible outcome.
Those of us who write are scaling mountains of a different kind. Writing, like climbing, has its own technical skills and to persevere is to believe you can get to the top.
Kawahata brings that same sensibility to her work as a climate activist. And even more challenging is her personal history of living with a mental illness. She is very frank about her own mind being both her antagonist and her protagonist.
Regardless of our specific neurochemistry and limitations, we all bring our full selves to the table in the act of creation. The only way to get to the top of that particular mountain is to first know that it’s possible.
There is one additional aspect to Kawahata’s climbing experience: preparation. As writers, our preparation includes craft and community, research and practice. We would not even attempt to climb without having the right gear, the appropriate training, backup, and knowledge. Communities like Writer Unboxed, conferences, craft books, writing groups, and beta readers are some of our essential tools. However, all the preparation in the world can’t eliminate the fear; it only gives us the resources to draw upon when the work challenges us.
The mountain we set out to climb when we begin a novel isn’t a sheer cliff of ice, but it’s just as slippery and difficult to maintain traction and balance. At any given point, we are looking up to see how much of the face we have left to climb and looking down to see how far we’ve come. It’s all too easy to let fear leave us clinging to the ice, unable to move. But, if we rely on our preparation and equipment, understand that fear is necessary, we can set our toeholds and keep climbing one sentence, one word at a time.
Reach higher. I believe in myself and I believe in you.
What are you climbing?
What fears do you face?
How do you harness your joy to keep moving through the fear?
Blurb Blitz: A Twist of Hate
I’m happy to welcome author TE Lorenzo. Today, he shares his debut novel,
A Twist of Hate.
Blurb
They love to hate each other…
Natalia is content with hating her co-worker, Adrian. The two can hardly stand being in the same room, despite having worked together for several months. When Natalia agrees to a trip out of town with a friend, little does she know that Adrian will be there, too. This is the time to crank up the hate, right?
The trip is not what Natalia thought it would be. Forced to spend time with her enemy, she finds there is more to Adrian than meets the eye. Will Natalia push aside her hatred and see the true Adrian?
With a twist of hate, just maybe…
Excerpt
All Natalia could think about was another opportunity to get Adrian to speak to her before they wandered around the desert together. She thought the odds might be in her favor, considering she had overheard Denver mention that he and Adrian would leave for the airport immediately after their shift ended today. Vegas would be at the forefront of Adrian’s mind. Surely he would clear the tension that had grown so awkward and heavy between them before he left.
Further playing into her hands was the special seating arrangement drawn up for the day. Lopez assigned both Adrian and Natalia to desks on the suite level, and they’d be in the same row, four seats apart.
Once she saw this seating chart posted on Friday, Natalia knew she had to crank up the heat for the big day. She dressed in a form-fitting pencil skirt that cut off just above the knees, revealing the Speedy Gonzales tattoo just above her ankle. She had even shaved—in the winter—to make sure her legs were as appealing as possible.
Natalia also wore a blouse that revealed the slightest glimpse of cleavage. She questioned herself as she dressed earlier this morning, wondering why she was putting in so much effort into her appearance to get Adrian’s attention. She hated him, after all.
It’s not for Adrian. It’s for me. I’m freshly single, going to Vegas in two days, and life is good. I can get sexy all for myself if I want to.
Author Bio and Links
TE Lorenzo is the debut author of A Twist of Hate. Having lived through his own enemies-to-lovers story, he believes love can come from the most unexpected of places. When he’s not writing, TE is likely chasing his kids around, playing baseball, or relaxing with a good book. He is currently living out his happily-ever-after with his wife and three kids in their hometown of Denver, CO.
Website | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | Google Play
Giveaway
The author will award a $15 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.
Follow the author on the rest of his Goddess Fish tour here.
Spotlight on Brighter Than Her Fears
I’m happy to welcome author Lisa Ard. Today, Lisa shares her new release, Brighter Than Her Fears, based on her great-great-grandmother’s experience in 19th century North Carolina.
Blurb
The 19th century women’s rights movement and the rise of public education intertwine with one woman’s story of struggle, perseverance, and love.
When her father dies and the family inn falls to ruin in 1882, western North Carolina, thirty-year-old Alice Harris is compelled to marry Jasper Carter, a Civil War veteran twice her age. Far from home and a stranger in a new family, Alice remakes herself. She learns to farm tobacco, mothers her stepson, and comes to love her husband.
However, Alice uncovers pending trouble with the family’s land holdings, which threatens their livelihood on the farm. The growth in Asheville promises a different future—one of manufacturing, transportation, tourism, and wealth. Alice believes this future demands an education and she rebels against the limited rural instruction. She joins forces with other women campaigning for Asheville’s first public schools. Her actions spark the rebuke of the Carter men.
Tragedy strikes and Alice’s newfound security is ripped away. The family challenges her property rights and files for guardianship of her stepson. Battered but determined, Alice turns to the law—and a friendly court clerk—to fight for her independence. Will Alice lose everything? Not if she can help it.
Lisa Ard’s debut historical fiction novel will resonate with readers for its parallels, between then and now, on women’s rights, inequality, and racism.
Excerpt
The dressmaker probably saw every kind of bride—joyful, nervous, excited, even frightened, yet rarely two sisters on the same day and seldom ones of our advanced age. At thirty years old, I’d long since abandoned the idea of marriage. The War had ended when I was thirteen and with battlefields turned to cemeteries, the marriage prospects in the South had dimmed considerably. I didn’t favor the title spinster, but I valued my independence. Especially now, as it slipped from my grasp.
“Shorter, Miss Harris?” Miss Shackton asked. “You might wear it after the wedding.”
“Yes, thank you. It’ll make a fine church dress.” My cheeks warmed at the suggestion for thrift. My thoughts thundered over my family’s losses. A hastily arranged marriage to a man I barely knew was my only option.
While Miss Shackton circled to pin the dress’s hem, my eyes swept the neatly kept shop. It was narrow, not two wagons’ breadth across with a front counter crafted from a rich, dark slab of wood laid on top of postmaster shelving. The many nooks and crannies held the dressmaker’s tools of the trade: threads, spools, pin cushions, bolts of fabric, scissors, and more. The orderliness soothed me.
“I’m almost finished here. Be with you in a minute,” Miss Shackton announced to my sister.
Jennie slumped on a faded settee and dabbed her eyes with a damp handkerchief. She’d always been delicate and our rushed marriages, and that of our two sisters, Louise and Ina, didn’t help.”
Author Bio and Links
Lisa Ard is the author of the new historical fiction novel Brighter Than Her Fears, which is based on her great-great-grandmother’s experience in 19th century western North Carolina. Her previously published children’s books include Fright Flight, Dream Team, and the Kay Snow award finalist Saving Halloween. When not writing, Lisa enjoys reading, hiking, golfing and sharing her love of history as a bike tour docent with the Palm Springs Historical Society. She and her husband live (and golf) in both Palm Springs and Portland, Oregon.
Website | Shepherd | Goodreads | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
Giveaway
Lisa Ard will award a $10 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.
Follow Lisa on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.
Ms. Ard has crafted a powerful novel set against the backdrop of the post-Civil War period in western North Carolina.
Thirty-year-old Alice Harris (the author’s great-great-grandmother) faces an uncertain future after the sudden death of her father and the family’s subsequent financial ruin. She enters a marriage with Jasper Carter, a Civil War veteran who is twice her age, with low expectations. To her astonishment, she survives and thrives as she learns to farm tobacco, love her husband, and raise her stepson. When tragedy strikes, she is forced to reinvent herself once more and fight for her independence and property rights.
Told in the first person, we are privy to Alice’s innermost thoughts and feelings. The use of letters between Alice, her sister, and her friends further advances the plot and provides insights into the lives and motivations of the secondary characters.
If you enjoy reading historical fiction about women who persevere despite their circumstances, you will love this book.
Effective Coping
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:
Coping certainly isn’t an easy practice and I’m not suggesting that it is. What I am suggesting is that it’s worth your while. With practice, effective coping allows you to find better ways of managing life’s continuous stream of unexpected and uncontrollable events. For example…
*A task is harder than you expected it to be. — Instead of running from a daunting and overwhelming task, you can accept it and see what it’s like to feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed, and still take action anyway. Writing a book, for example, is daunting and overwhelming, but you can still write one even with those feelings rolling through you
*An interaction with someone you love angers or frustrates you. — Instead of lashing out at a loved one when you’re upset with them, you can sit quietly with your difficult feelings and just be open to what it’s like to feel them. And then, once you’ve had a moment to breathe, you can see what it’s like to deal compassionately with someone you love who you’re also upset with. To try to understand them instead of just judging them at their worst.
*Unhealthy cravings overwhelm you out of nowhere. — You may be inclined to indulge in unhealthy cravings like alcohol and sweets for comfort when you’re feeling stressed out. But you can sit with these feelings and be open to them instead, and then gradually build positive daily rituals for coping in healthier ways — taking walks, meditating, talking with someone about your feelings, and journaling.
*You are forced to deal with a loved one’s death. — When someone you love passes away the loss can seem overwhelming. At that point, it’s incredibly easy to succumb to unhealthy ways of alleviating the pain. But you have to practice doing the opposite — to give yourself compassion, to sit with the powerfully difficult thoughts and feelings you have, and to open your mind to what lies ahead. Gradually it becomes evident that death isn’t just an ending, but also a beginning. Because while you have lost someone special, this ending is also a moment of reinvention. Although deeply sad, their passing forces you to reinvent your life, and in this transition is an opportunity to experience beauty in new, unseen ways and places.
And of course, we’ve merely just scratched the surface of a deep pool of possibilities for effective coping. The key thing to understand is that by learning to internally cope more effectively, you are better equipped to handle anything life throws your way. Because in the end the world is as you are inside — what you think, you see, and you ultimately become.
Note: I highly recommend subscribing to Marc & Angel’s website.
Interview with D. W. Brooks
I’m happy to welcome author D.W. Brooks. Today, she is sharing interesting facts about her creative journey and new release, Homecoming Chaos.
What was your inspiration for this book?
I was part of the inspiration for the main character. I came up with her based on some experiences I had in my life. I am a physician by training. Once I finished my residency in ophthalmology, I went to business school because I realized that I didn’t want to practice medicine for the rest of my life. My family was not very excited about me quitting medicine. I wanted to write a story about that situation. However, I didn’t want to write it right then, and when I got back to it years later, I didn’t want THAT to be the actual story anymore.
I kept the backstory and shifted the story to the fallout after a return home. There was going to be some significant family drama after her return, based on how she left town. I added a murder mystery and a romantic entanglement into the mix. These are the main three elements of Homecoming Chaos.
What is the best part of being an author? The worst?
I enjoy the creative aspects of writing. I enjoy forming a character from scratch or generating a story about the characters I created. It’s fun to figure out plot points and whether what you want to do in the story makes sense or would it strain credulity. I find the process to be very exciting.
The worst part so far has to be the marketing process. It can be difficult to put yourself and your product out for people to make a judgement on. And knowing that judgement is part of the process doesn’t always make it any easier! However you publish your book, at the end of the day, the marketing and promotion responsibility falls on the author. There are so many ways that you can try to get the word out about your book or get your book in the hands of your readers and what works one time may not work the next time. My husband says that you can always spend more money, if you are not careful, on marketing your books. I have to juggle between paid marketing sources and unpaid public relations. It is a lot of work and tends to move slowly.
If you had a superpower, what would it be?
I would want to be able to manipulate time. I would be able to make more time, so I could get more things done. You can also reverse time or move time forward. But, being able to manipulate time also causes you to not be affected by time. I could pick my favorite age (age 33) and remain that age forever. I was the healthiest that I ever was, my kidneys were still functioning normally, and I had muscles. Come to think of it, I would like to freeze fashion at that time too. I really like the clothes that were popular in 2000.
Besides writing and reading, what are some of your hobbies?
Other hobbies that I enjoy are cooking, traveling, and sports.
I have so many cookbooks and cooking magazines. If you saw them, you might expect that I was a stellar cook. But don’t let the shelves of Cooking Light and Bon Appetit magazines fool you. Before we had children, I would spend the weekend cooking for the week, trying out different recipes I found in my magazines; my husband was a willing taste tester. Once I got pregnant, cooking became a necessity and not the enjoyable task it once was. Now I find recipes on special occasions, and I now have three semi-willing taste testers.
I enjoy traveling, but with kids and my health issues, I didn’t get to travel as much as I wanted to in the past. Now that our youngest in 18, we are making a few more plans – like potentially going back to Kenya next summer so our kids can meet some of their family.
And finally, I am a big sports fan: pro and college football, basketball, tennis, the Olympics, and more. This year has already been a sports bonanza for me because my college team was in the college football playoffs, my pro football team overachieved this year, and the Olympics are coming up! With all the sports options plus the WIPs that I want to finish, I have my year mapped out for me!
Any advice for aspiring authors?
Continue to practice your craft because you are still a writer, even if you don’t have anything published. And if you decide to publish, there are many different ways to get that done. Don’t let anyone put you down for picking the path that works for you, but if you decide your chosen path isn’t for you, it is never too late to change. Try to build a community of other authors—many are interested in offering advice or their experience to help you on your journey.
What are you working on next?
For 2024, I am working on two novellas—one that will be a holiday novella—and Book 2 in the Model MD/Chaos series. I have other ideas dancing around in my head, but I am not sure how much I can get written in one year!
Blurb
A dead body in the parking lot of her family’s business, a killer on the loose, and a handsome detective asking a lot of questions…
Jamie Scott’s life fell apart four years ago when she broke off her engagement, turned down a dream job, and went overseas to run away from her life. Now she’s back, but the reunion is not without problems. She arrives home just in time to attend the soiree her mother planned, but she’s not prepared for what she finds—a dead employee in the parking lot.
Detective Nick Marshall is assigned to the murder case at the forensics lab owned by Jamie’s family. He meets the headstrong Jamie, but he has a job to do. And his attraction to her… well, he’s a professional.
Jamie knows the stakes are high. She has to face the past and save her parents’ business while dealing with her family drama and an uncertain future. She also has to deal with Nick, who wants her out of the way of his investigation. But fate keeps throwing them in one another’s paths… and into chaos that they both want to avoid, but neither can seem to escape.
Excerpt
Jamie entered the simply appointed room decorated in blue, white, and seafoam green. The attached bathroom incorporated blue and white colors. Jamie sat on the edge of the bed and looked around the room. Since she never lived here, the room didn’t hold many personal touches, as did Jon’s and Jillian’s rooms. There were plenty of pillows, a complete set of cherry wood bedroom furniture, and a mid- sized flat-screen TV above the chest of drawers. It represented a fitting guest room since she was now a guest—a nervous guest at that. What if her mother verbally eviscerated her again? Could she deal? Jamie realized she was delaying her meeting with her mom for as long as possible. What else could she do to kill time?
She peeked in the closet to see if she had left any clothes behind from four years ago. Unfortunately, she found nothing that would be appropriate for what would be a formal event on Sunday night.
She went into the bathroom and removed her baseball cap to inspect the state of her hair in the mirror. It was fine for a quiet home visit, but not for a dressy affair. Jamie had let her relaxer grow out while she was out of the country. She typically flat-twisted her natural hair to emphasize the wave pattern. Before this trip, she had only washed, conditioned, and air-dried her hair, thinking that she would have some time after her arrival to moisturize and comb it. Now, it was just squashed down by her hat. Ugh. Since she wouldn’t be able to prep before talking to her mother, she would have to atone by looking her best for the party. For such a formal affair, she would have to visit a salon for a trim and style.
There was a knock on the bedroom door. “Come in!” Jamie yelled as she tucked her cap back onto her head and came out of the bathroom. Jon placed her bags inside her door. “Mother is waiting for you downstairs. I’m going to my room to avoid the tearful reunion.” He didn’t live there anymore but still called his childhood room “his room”.
Jamie sighed. Time to woman up. “OK. Let me wash my face, and I’ll be down. Where is she, exactly?” she inquired.
“Still in the study. Good luck.”
Buy Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple | Google | Kobo | Autographed Copy
Author Bio and Links
The author is a doctor and editor who lives in Texas with her husband and children. She enjoys trying to stay in shape, sporadically cooking, reading (still), writing, and working on her blog. She is eternally grateful to the woman who donated a kidney to her over 5 years ago and continues to advocate for organ donation as much as she can.
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Giveaway
D.W. Brooks will award a randomly drawn winner a $15 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card. Find out more here.
Follow the author on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.
Fun Friday!
Joanne Guidoccio 