Happy National Book Lovers Day!

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

This is a day for bibliophiles (and wannabe bibliophiles) to find their favorite reading places, a good book, and time to read the day away.

*Bibliophile – A person who collects or loves books.

Here are ten ways to celebrate:

1. Visit your local library and browse through the latest bestsellers and beloved classics. Take some time to check out the bulletin boards and pick up any pamphlets. Libraries have become hubs of activity, offering everything from author readings to craft sessions to technology workshops.

2. Support your local indie bookstore. Introduce yourself to the owner and connect with fellow bibliophiles.

3. Celebrate your favorite authors. You can follow them on Twitter, join their Facebook group, or snap pictures of their latest releases for Instagram.

4. Spend the day with an audiobook. You can purchase your own through Audible or borrow one from the local library.

5. Start a blog, booktube channel, or bookstagram.

6. Organize your bookshelves. As you tidy up, cull those books that no longer speak to you. You can “gift” them to friends, donate them to a Little Free Library in your area, or drop them off at a second-hand store.

7. Write a review. A few sentences on Amazon or Goodreads will suffice. Share what you loved, what you didn’t love, and what inspired you.

8. Invest in an eReader. Physical books take up a lot of space and aren’t too convenient when traveling. Also, ebooks are often half the price of a physical novel.

9. Participate in a virtual event. During the pandemic, authors and publishers organized online interviews, panels, and in-depth discussions. Visit your favorite author’s website for more details.

10. Use #NationalBookLoversDay to spread the news on social media. Here are four quotations you can share:

“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.”
Maya Angelou

“Some books leave us free and some books make us free.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.” Anne Herbert

“There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.” Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Writing as Restoration

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 a recent post on Writers Unboxed, author KL Burd shares his perspective on the restorative powers of writing. Here’s an excerpt from that post:

Writing has the power to restore, not only within your life but the lives of others as well. That’s why our words, our art, our craft is so powerful. It can be used to tear down or build up. It can be used to enslave and entrap. To inspire and set free.

There are two ways that you can bring restoration through your art. The first is to write your story. It can be fiction or nonfiction, but there’s a certain freedom that comes from putting your story to paper and letting it burst forth into life. You open your world to others and invite them in. There’s healing in knowing that you are not alone.

The second way is the same as the first:

Write your story.

This time, however, you have to go to the place where your human skill and imagination collides. You have to take whatever hope you have, be it small or large, and cast it — like an anchor — into the future. Take your imagination and dream up what your story can be, what it will be. Use your imagination to create your future reality.

Read the rest of the article here.

Excerpt Tour: City of Lights

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome middle-grade author Kelly Byrd. Today, Kelly shares her new release, City of Lights.

Blurb

What happens when oh so ordinary Mary Jingo, follows her instincts (and her nose) and ends up in a magical land Far From Home?

In City of Lights, author Kelly Byrd introduces readers to Mary, who is one week away from finishing fifth grade. Mary’s mind is on starting middle school in the fall and finally getting her own phone. But then this ordinary girl notices glimmers of light and meets a strange little man who conjures the best smell she has ever smelled. Before she even stops to consider what she’s doing, she agrees to accompany the man to the land of LeeChee, where our Mary Jingo from the Shadowlands in seen as warrior and a great hope.

Now this very ordinary girl must find a way to help save LeeChee from Thrall and restore the Everything—a magical life- and joy-giving force that somehow connects Mary’s world to LeeChee. How can she face the Void, the foul-smelling Shoeboxians, or the evil Mellie? And how can she do all of the Far From Home?

Excerpt

“How do you feel, Mary Jingo?” Heavy Dill asked. He was behind a table full of gadgets and instruments, some of them giving off a heavy smell of the Everything. His robes swished pleasantly as he walked back and forth.

“I think I’m okay. I feel, well, more or less normal. Showing everyone my memories really tired me out.”

Mary looked around at all the objects and instruments and wondered if she would get in trouble if she picked any of them up. She couldn’t try anyway, with her hands full of a hot teacup, which she remembered and slowly sipped.

“That was a powerful bit of controlling. Not many oracles or forecasters have that talent.”

Heavy Dill paused as if she were meant to respond. Mary only nodded silently.

“It seems to me that you have heard that phrase many, many times since you arrived here.”

Mary thought about all the things that she had done and been able to do since she arrived in LeeChee. She had disabled Flikes in the air, called a forest to her aid, sensed an entire army of Shoeboxians, and now shown People her memories. She was in awe of it all and still unsure what any of it meant. She looked up and Heavy Dill’s wise eyes were trained on her. She expected him to respond to her thoughts, as so many People here seemed to always know exactly what she was thinking.

“You have gotten better,” he said. “Better at what?”

“Better at shielding your thoughts.” “How do you know?”

“Because you were silent for a very long time, and the only thing that came across Mindspan was your wondering if I could hear your thoughts. So, either you spent that entire pause with nothing on your mind, or you have already figured out a way to quiet your mind.”

Mary felt shocked. This was yet another skill that she had just developed out of the blue.

Author Bio and Links

Kelly Byrd is a middle-grade author by choice, a writer by discipline, home-grown chef, and amateur gardener. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and two cute-as-buttons rescue pups. The Far From Home series is about growing up, finding your voice, and rescuing the Everything.

Website | Instagram | Twitter | Amazon Buy Link

Giveaway

Kelly Byrd will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

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

Honoring My Inner Sloth

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

For too many years, I subscribed to the busy bee myth: Complete all given tasks and start on tomorrow’s To-Do List. That was my modus operandi for the first fifty years of my life. Or, more precisely, the first forty-nine years, seven months, and seven days.

All that changed with a diagnosis that came out of nowhere: Inflammatory Breast Cancer, Stage IIIB. To be truthful, my body had tried to communicate with me many years before the diagnosis. Persistent colds and bouts of bronchitis. Slow-healing bruises. Bone-crushing fatigue. Determined to soldier on without taking advantage of sick days or lazy weekends, I chose to ignore those whispers. But I knew all about them from the Oprah shows.

Continue reading on the 2021 Authors Showcase here.

Book Blast: Body Conscious

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Ana Diamond. Today, Ana shares her recent release, Body Conscious.

Blurb

Mortician, Lily Reynolds is used to seeing bodies, but not the type murdered in her own funeral home. As Detective James Rivers zeroes in on her as the town’s number one suspect she must rise above the accusations and rumors to solve the case herself while keeping her attraction to the troubled detective at bay.

James has a past. The last time he let someone into his life she wound up dead. Vowing never to let that happen again he has sworn off dating for good. Until he meets Lily. In his gut he knows she’s not the murderer but pressure to solve the case puts him on the wrong trail while he struggles to keep Lily off the case.

Can she solve the case on her own or will their scandalous romance get in the way of proving her innocence?

Excerpt

“Lily, can you go down and check on the new body? The last thing I need is a decomposing corpse.”

Lily Reynolds sucked in a frustrated breath at her older sister Shanna’s yell from the Reynolds Funeral Home embalming room.

Zachary strikes again.

“All right.”

Her twenty-year-old younger brother, Zachary, often forgot to secure the latch on the refrigerator doors after he pushed the recently deceased into the compartment. It was a critical mistake no one wanted to explain to the dead person’s family. But Lily didn’t understand what was difficult about doing it right the first time. Zachary had been working at the family business for almost five years—same as her. One would think the importance of the simple task would sink into that thick skull.

Now, she had to stop applying lipstick to Mrs. Klein, whose viewing was scheduled to start in one hour, and go downstairs to check on the refrigerator.

She pulled off her latex gloves and made her way down to the basement level where Antonio, their hearse driver, usually pulled in with Zachary in the shotgun seat and their newly acquired client in the back. Upon arrival, the client was inserted into an individual horizontal refrigerator for preservation until it was time for embalming and then a makeover by Lily.

At the bottom of the stairs, she flicked on the fluorescent lights, and didn’t see the black hearse. That meant Zach was with Antonio, probably picking up another client. It had been a busy week at the funeral home—not a complaint. She liked her job. She got to perform a service for the loved one’s family and be creative at the same time.

What’s not to like?

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 cozy 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.

Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tiktok | Books2Read

Giveaway

Ana Diamond will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here

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

Happy National All or Nothing Day!

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

Celebrate this day by throwing caution to the wind and going for broke.

Think of one goal you would like to accomplish but feel fearful or hesitant to do so. It could be writing a novel, running a marathon, eschewing sugar, improving your technology skills, learning a new craft, decluttering your home…

Decide to make the necessary changes and then take that first small step.

Here are ten quotations to inspire you:

Even the greatest was once a beginner. Don’t be afraid to take that first step. Mohammed Ali

The most effective way to do it, is to do it. Amelia Earhart

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. Anne Frank

Well done is better than well said. Benjamin Franklin

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I didn’t get there by wishing for it or hoping for it, but by working for it.
Estée Lauder

Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned. Peter Marshall

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. Mark Twain

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Lao Tzu

You don’t have to be great to start, but you do have to start to be great. Zig Ziglar

Excerpt Tour – Nuclear Power Nuclear Game

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome author Helen Huong. Today, Helen shares her debut novel, Nuclear Power Nuclear Game.

Blurb

The year is 1950. Zoe and John, two young nuclear scientists from Berkeley, seem to have the perfect life, with promising careers and marriage plans. But their innocence is soon shattered when the Chinese Communist Party seizes power. Choosing to postpone the wedding and return back to her home country, Zoe finds herself locked in a political cage and separated from John indefinitely.

Caught in a complex web of revolutionary propaganda and forced to participate in dangerous research, Zoe must confront the looming question of where her true loyalties lie: with her country or with John back in America?

Set during China’s march towards nuclear power amidst the political turmoil of the Cold War, Nuclear Power Nuclear Game spans multiple decades and countries across the globe to tell the story of two nuclear scientists’ fight for world peace and a love torn apart by conflicting ideologies.

Excerpt

The one-room apartment was simple, small for three people but comfortable enough to accommodate daily life. The communal kitchen, shared with five other neighbors, served as a community center where they could work together and socialize. Unlike Little Red, Lanying found the local dialect incomprehensible, but with some guessing, hand gestures, and lots of laughter, she was able to connect with their neighbors. At last Zoe felt she could fulfill her duty as both mother and daughter and pay back everything her parents had given her. She had her own home, a real home, a place where she could laugh and talk freely without fear or intimidation.

“Mama, you look beautiful,” Little Red said through a mouthful of porridge.

“Thank you.” Zoe smiled, smoothing the black-and-white checked skirt. One of the things she loved about her new life was that no one frowned over her choice of clothes. No longer constrained by Chairman Mao and his wife’s dress code, she felt free to indulge her feminine side.

“Can you get home a little early today? I have some questions I need to ask you for one of my assignments.”

“Can it wait until the weekend? Today I’m accompanying the Minister of Energy on an inspection tour, so I’m afraid I’ll be home quite late.” Zoe smiled, amazed at how quickly Little Red had adapted to their new life. At just ten years old, Little Red had become fluent in the local dialect in less than six months and made many friends at school. She was even elected vice-class president. Zoe had never imagined her daughter would be so confident and outgoing.

“OK.” Little Red smiled, proud of her mother’s scientific knowledge and important position at the Institute.

Zoe checked on Lanying, who was still dozing in bed, and then closed the door quietly as she left. After the dim room and crowded kitchen, the brilliant autumn sun in the front courtyard momentarily blinded her. She closed her eyes until her vision adjusted to the light, and then she found her bike propped against the concrete wall. Usually only one gate panel was open, but today both stood wide, creaking as they swung in the morning breeze. She bolted one side, admiring the Western-style façade of her building that reminded her of Berkeley. Lingering, her fingers curled around the bars of the gate as she lost herself in a moment of nostalgia: John’s apartment had the same look, the same filigrees and latticework. John. He would be fifty years old now, a professor if he’d stayed at Berkeley, or perhaps a prominent researcher for some prestigious organization. Maybe he had three or four grown-up children by now; he always said he wanted a big family. Does he still think of me? Or even remember me? she mused. With a short laugh, she dismissed the pointless fantasy. Why would a man like John—a man with a happy family, a beautiful wife, a successful career— think about a stubborn, selfish woman who jilted him almost twenty-five years ago? She had made her choice, and this was her life now. With a deep breath, she repeated the words she’d said so often before: That’s over, move on. Climbing on her bike, she pedaled toward Institute 1970.

Purchase Links

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon AU | Kindle | Indigo | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Kobo | Smashwords | Apple

Author Bio and Links

Born and raised in Shanghai, Helen Huang now resides in Melbourne, Australia. Nuclear Power Nuclear Game is her first novel, inspired by her own experience living under the Communist regime and working at a nuclear institute in China.

To be a novelist was Helen’s childhood dream. She started writing Nuclear Power Nuclear Game when she was a housewife looking after her four daughters. It took her sixteen years to write, as she raised her children and grew her house design and construction business. Helen hopes to finish a sequel to Nuclear Power Nuclear Game next year.

Website | Goodreads

Giveaway

Helen Huang 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 Helen on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

Replace Your Fantasies

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

Replace Your Fantasies

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 longtime fan of bestselling authors and coaches Marc and Angel Chernoff, I look forward to receiving their daily emails. This recent message stresses the importance of releasing our fantasies:

The older we grow, and the more real-world tragedies and challenges we witness, the more we realize how incredibly blessed we are, and how frequently the fantasies in our heads hold us back from these present blessings. In fact, you’ve likely fantasized your way into headaches and heartaches dozens of times in the past year alone. We all do this to a greater or lesser extent…

We stress ourselves out, because of fantasies.

We procrastinate to the point of failure, because of fantasies.

We get angry with others, with ourselves, and with the world at large, because of fantasies.

We miss out on many of life’s most beautiful and peaceful moments, because of fantasies.

So today, I challenge you to move through this day and practice seeing the real life right in front of you as it truly is…

Do what you have to do without fantasizing and fearing the worst, lamenting about what might happen, or obsessing over how unfair everything is.

See others and accept them without hasty judgments. Choose not to allow their behavior to dominate your thoughts and emotions. Just be present and accepting. Then decide if you want to spend extra time with them (or extra time thinking about them). If not, part ways with dignity.

Replace your fantasies with full presence…

And invest your best into what you’ve got right in front of you.

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