Category Archives: Guest Blogging

Spotlight on In Over Her Head

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Krysten Lindsay Hager. Today, Krysten shares ten life lessons from her dad and her new release, In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety.

10 Life Lessons from My Dad

I love the idea of sharing life lessons from my dad because not only was he the one I went to for advice, but he inspired both the character of Cecily’s dad, Mr. Damone, and her vice principal, Mr. Warwick, in In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety.

My dad was always the one people went to for advice and we lost him far too soon, but I still have people ask me what he’d advise them to do on things. So, here are some life lessons from my dad.

10. You know how people will say to treat the janitor the same as the CEO? Well, he didn’t just say it, he did it. Years ago, my sister left my dad’s golf club behind at her down. Weeks later, the janitor came down the hall saying, “Amy’s dad, I have your golf club!” Someone else found it and wanted to keep it, but since my dad had always stopped and chatted with the janitor, the guy went out of his way to return it. He said he locked it up so no one could steal it because he appreciated my dad always taking time to talk with him.

9. He always said people want to feel remembered, so he’d visit people in nursing homes, attend funerals, and visit people who were ill.

8. He told me the hardest thing was being there for someone as they’re making a mistake. I didn’t fully get this until a friend of mine got engaged weeks after dating someone. He told me if I said anything, she’d double down, but if I let her talk, she might need someone to talk to about any doubts she had. I half did it just to show him how ridiculous that was, but you know what? It happened JUST like he said.

7.Follow your passion and not a paycheck. My dad’s passion was helping people find their path in life. After he passed, we received condolences from students saying, “he took the time to really listen to me,” “He cared. No one else had, but he did and I turned my life around.”

6. Take time to appreciate the simple things. He always pointed that out to me and so I gave Mr. Damone this line, “You don’t always appreciate the good things or even the everyday things if you haven’t been through some storms. I remember when my dad got well after being sick and I woke up that morning and it was the first time I truly appreciated a sunrise. That first sip of orange juice was like nothing I ever experienced… Now I make it a point to appreciate the little things like a sunny day.”

5. Integrity is everything. He always kept his word even when people took advantage of that. Integrity is something people don’t put value on because it isn’t something that brings monetary value, but it is invaluable.

4. Education and books are always worth it. He was a big supporter of education and a great Dad to have when you have a book addiction. You’ll never regret paying for something you learn from.

3. Look out for others. I have countless stories of people who told me how my dad made them feel safe during times when they felt intimated by someone else. My dad really hated seeing people of all ages being intimidated and bullied. He even stuck up for a nurse getting bullied when he himself could barely walk.

2. If you have to correct someone then do it without making them look stupid. Remembering that is what gets me to delete responses I soooo want to send, but I know it’s not right.

1. Let people talk and they’ll let you know everything about them. You know how some people just wait for the other person to stop talking so they can start? He was one of those rare people who actually listen and hear what a person is saying. And he was right—you can learn so much just by letting someone talk.

Blurb

Cecily feels like she has it all: great best friends, the beginnings of a career as a model/actress, and she’s dating her favorite singer, Andrew Holiday. Then Cecily’s best friend Lila begins to ditch her every time Lila’s boyfriend calls. Cecily feels lost, but she and Andrew begin connecting more and she’s never been in a relationship where she felt so understood. Andrew even begins to confide in her about his anxiety. Soon Cecily experiences her own anxiety on a magazine photo shoot, but she manages to impress the magazine staff. Just when it seems like all her dreams are coming true, everything comes crashing down when a photo of Andrew with another girl appears online. He swears nothing happened, but Cecily is crushed. She feels like she’s lost two of the people closest to her.

Was her perfect relationship real or was she in over her head?

Excerpt

One day I had the career and the guy of my dreams. Then Danielle King came along. If people could be trusted, maybe it would have been okay, but they can’t. They suck. And now my dream relationship was gone and no one would ever know what had actually been in my grasp.

How can a person go from having a whole life with someone, and then it ends like you were never even together? No wonder people talk about how awful divorces are. That must hurt a million times more. Sure, I don’t have to see Andrew every day at school like I did Zach, but it seems like Andrew was everywhere. I went to the grocery store with my mom and they were playing one of his songs because he’s technically a local.

Andrew’s music was always what I listened to when I was sad. His heartache music got me through the worst times and now, not only could I not stand to listen to it, there was now the chance I could end up hearing music about our breakup. Actually, I didn’t know which was worse: the possibility he’d use our relationship as inspiration for a song, or finding out I was barely a blip on his radar and not even warranting a mention.

What was I supposed to do with my life now?

Buy Links

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon Japan | Amazon IN

Author Bio and Links

Krysten Lindsay Hager writes about friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, frenemies, crushes, fame, first loves, and values. She is the author of True Colors, Best Friends…Forever?, Next Door to a Star, Landry in Like, Competing with the Star, Dating the It Guy, and Can Dreams Come True. True Colors, won the Readers Favorite award for best preteen book and the Dayton Book Expo Bestseller Award for childen/teens. Competing with the Star is a Readers’ Favorite Book Award Finalist. Landry in Like is a Literary Classics Gold Medal recipient.

Krysten’s work has been featured in USA Today, The Flint Journal, the Grand Haven Tribune, the Beavercreek Current, the Bellbrook Times, Springfield News-Sun, Grand Blanc View, Dayton Daily News and on Living Dayton.

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

Giveaway

Krysten Lindsay Hager will be awarding a $10 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

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

On Navigating the Murky Middle

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I love beginnings—in life and on the page. Anything and everything is possible whenever a blank slate appears before me. That momentum can last for days, weeks, months, and sometimes even longer.

At least, that’s what I like to think whenever I begin a new writing project.

A linear pantser, I write brief character sketches, plot the first three chapters and the last, and then let the words flow. At some point, usually around Page 80, I encounter the murky middle, that nebulous place where I find it difficult to continue or sustain the tension of the novel. In short, I’m lost with no clear trail or direction in sight.

Continue reading on the Sisterhood of Suspense blog.

All About the Mesdames of Mayhem

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome the Mesdames of Mayhem. Today, Madeleine Callway shares the history of this group and their new anthology, In the Key of 13.

Here’s Madeleine!

In 2012, my writer friends and I faced a new and challenging publishing world. What to do about social media? Some of us were comfortable with computers and software, others were pretty expert at digital marketing. Many of us though knew nothing at all.

My friend, publisher and author, Donna Carrick and I came up with an idea. Why not pool our strengths and share our skills with our friends? That’s how our two writing groups came together to form The Mesdames of Mayhem, because at the time, we were all women.

The way we came up with our name is lost in the mists of time, but what I do know is that we voted on it. We operate as an autonomous collective (thanks, Monty Python!) and vote on all important decisions, like the themes, book titles and covers of our anthology.

As a retired management consultant, I knew that to keep the Mesdames motivated and going as a group, we needed a goal. What better way than to give our readers a sampling of all our work? Readers could discover new favorites, especially since we all write mysteries ranging from comedy to cozy to noir.

Our first anthology featured 13 writers. Since our launch coincided with Halloween, it seemed logical to have a scary title. We called our book simply Thirteen. And indeed thirteen has become our lucky number!

Our anthology received two Arthur Ellis nominations for best short story. Thus encouraged, we published a second collection, 13 O’clock, with the theme of time and our third, 13 Claws, featuring animals: cats and dogs, of course, but also snakes, animal crackers and even a dragon!

Our stories have since been honoured with several Arthur Ellis nominations and in 2018, Catherine Astolfo’s story, “The Outlier”, won the Arthur Ellis Best Short Story award. Cathy’s story is truly one of the scariest I have ever read!

Donna and I often ask each other: what would we have thought seven years ago if we could have seen what the Mesdames have accomplished together? We’ve given numerous talks on Canadian crime fiction and the art of writing and met hundreds of new fans. More importantly, we’ve all been there for each other, through triumph and tragedies, illness and good health.

We now number 19 crime fiction authors, with members as far away as Fort McMurray. And we even have two Monsieurs.

Last year, at one of our library events, a young filmmaker approached us about doing a documentary. Her passion is supportive communities especially ones that are a little unusual. The filming proved to be an amazingly rewarding experience for us. Cat Mills’ film is due to be released on October 25th by the CBC and should be available for viewing on GEM.

In addition to GEM, the film may be available here:

CBC Short Docs Website | CBC Short Docs Facebook Page | YouTube

Blurb

Our fourth anthology, In the Key of 13, has a theme of music, mischief and murder.

Music from Mozart to Beethoven to Elvis is a sweet accompaniment to sin in 19 wicked tales, ranging from cozy to noir, by 18 acclaimed Canadian crime writers and one talented newcomer.

Can you hear the violins? They may be plotting your demise. Are you an opera lover? Take care, your passion means a revenge served cold. And that tune that refuses to leave your mind? That brainworm will truly drive you mad.

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Bio

Madeleine Callway (M. H. Callway) is one of the founders of The Mesdames of Mayhem. Her thriller, Windigo Fire, was short-listed for the Debut Dagger, the Unhanged Arthur and the Arthur Ellis for Best First Novel. Her short crime fiction has appeared in several anthologies and zines.

To learn more about the authors who belong to the Mesdames of Mayhem, please visit our website.

Mesdames of Mayhem Links

Website | Facebook | Twitter

M.H. Callway Links

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Spotlight on The Monday Book

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome author Shari Ramming. Today, Shari shares her new release, The Monday Book.

Blurb

In the midst of pain, Shari Ramming saw an opportunity to learn and create The Monday Book to help others find themselves in their brokenness. With personal evaluations, she guides you to wholeness. Shari lays out steps to finding the treasure in the trauma of life: Acknowledge, Honor, Connect, Practice, and finally, Open to receive the gift of the lesson. Her simple straight-forward advice for fixing whatever feels broken is “begin and continue.” It seems hard in practice, but in showing up for yourself, you’ll find small ways to daily love yourself and become the cure for your own brokenness. Her message puts your problems outside so you can interact with them in a productive way. By seeing everything and everyone as a reflection of yourself, you’ll become more compassionate toward yourself and everyone else. Open yourself up to the true and best you.

Excerpt

Imagine this. A woman seemingly without doubts about her life. A wholesome and satisfying life filled with family, travel, friendships, children, and social activities. Her focus is on accomplishments, security, and home life. A life that is fast and full. Caught up in the way life seems to zoom when it is bursting with an abundance of three children, a few businesses, multiple homes, a crowded travel and social schedule, and the usual day-to-day duties.

I believed putting my family first was important, that coming in second (or third) for myself worked out okay. With that belief I lost myself and my own power. My passion and my uniqueness.

Life showed me where I was powerless, and also where my power was. My life, until that point of reckoning and painful loss, was ostensibly satisfying. What had guided me was being challenged.

What I had used previously needed some serious updating. I was being tested and I was being shown my darkness. I was meant to understand that I needed to let go of previous held beliefs that kept me going but were not evolved enough for where my life’s journey was taking me. All the change, death, disease, and dishonor was a fierce way of being shown a new path.


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Author Bio and Links

Shari Ramming writes on a broad range of subjects. She feels there is a great intelligence that is not of the mind. Loving her three grown children fiercely she uses verve and wanderlust to make her home in Austin, Texas. She is still learning.

To learn more about Shari and her books, go to http://www.shariramming.com.

Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon

Giveaway

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

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

Chia Seed Power!

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

From the start, I loved the sound of the Mayan word “chia” and its meaning: strength. Originally grown in Mexico, these seeds were valued for their nutritional and medicinal properties. Runners and warriors used chia seeds as fuel while running long distances or during battles. Aztec warriors claimed that one spoonful of chia seeds could sustain them for 24 hours.

Recent research has found even more benefits. An excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, protein, and antioxidants, chia seeds support the heart and digestive system, build stronger bones and muscles, promote healthy skin, and can help reverse diabetes.

Definitely a superfood and one that can be easily incorporated into our daily diets. A reassuring fact for non-foodies who don’t like to cook.

Continue reading on the Soul Mate Authors blog.

Book Blast: Wait

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome author Rebecca Brewster Stevenson. Today, Rebecca shares her new release, Wait: Thoughts and Practice in Waiting on God.

Blurb

What are you waiting for?

Everyone has endured the endless traffic light, the queue that goes nowhere, the elevator music piped through the phone line. But what of those periods in your life when everything seems on hold? When you can’t do the next thing in your professional or personal life because you can’t get to it?

Waiting—be it for health, a life partner, a child, a job—can be an agony. The persistently unrealized goal feels like an endless road. And hope’s constant deferment can be exhausting. A firm answer against the thing you’re hoping for—”no”—might be easier than this constant lack of closure. It might be easier to give it up.

But what if waiting means to be something else? Waiting doesn’t have to mean idleness. Our prolonged state of need might teach us to look beyond the desired goal to something infinitely better. We find lessons on this throughout the Bible and, if we are paying attention, in our own lives.

Rather than fostering frustration, periods of waiting might have great truths to tell us. It might show us that hope is worthwhile. Waiting might even be a gift in and of itself.

Excerpt

The first lesson of waiting is that we are on the outside. Like the boy on the sideline; like the not-engaged friend who pins wedding gowns on Pinterest; like me squinting for lines that fail to emerge on the pregnancy test; none of us–whether or not we are actively waiting– is where we want to be. This might not seem true, of course. This actually might seem patently untrue. You might be happily ensconced in a loving family, a marriage, a tight-knit circle of friends. You might belong to a country club or a sorority, a church, a civic group.

But, like that of all who wait, the human condition is actually a condition of being on the outside, an unhappy state that writers and poets have noticed since time out of mind. It’s true of all of us, but we manage to obscure it from ourselves with all manner of distraction: accumulated wealth and possessions, meaningful or frivolous activity, even what is truly good and beautiful.

The problem is that you can’t contend with something if you simultaneously ignore it. And the fact of our exile–the fundamental state of all human existence–is not going away.

Waiting can teach us this.

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Author Bio and Links

Rebecca Brewster Stevenson is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has a master’s degree from Duke University and has lived in Durham, North Carolina for over 20 years with her husband and three children.

Before dedicating herself to writing full time, Rebecca worked with Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill to develop the curriculum for their humanities department; she also worked as an English teacher at public and private middle and high schools in Durham and Pittsburgh.

Rebecca’s debut novel Healing Maddie Brees was published in 2016 to literary acclaim. Her beautifully crafted personal essays on her blog “Small Hours” have earned her a strong audience of readers who enjoy her explorations of themes relating to family, marriage, faith, writing, language, literature, and film.

“Rebecca Brewster Stevenson’s writing is consistently powerful, complex, honest, and hopeful” (Andy Crouch, author, Culture Making and The Tech-Wise Family). Rebecca’s writing has also been called “exquisite” (Stephen Chbosky), “thought-provoking” (Barbara Claypole White), and “gorgeous” (Kirkus Reviews).

Website | Blog | Light Messages | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Giveaway

Rebecca Brewster Stevenson will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

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

Spotlight on New Beginnings at Promise Lodge

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome multi-published author Charlotte Hubbard. Today, Charlotte shares her new release, New Beginnings at Promise Lodge.

Blurb

Recently widowed after twenty years of marriage, Frances Lehman is only just tasting the freedom and opportunity that her Promise Lodge friends enjoy. So she’s not about to be pressured into marriage by her widowed brother-in-law, even if she and her daughter have no real means of support. Much more promising is her new friendship with Preacher Marlin Kurtz, though their respective families don’t see their relationship as proper . . .

When Frances suffers a serious injury, she’s determined to prove she can recover—and remain independent—without burdening Marlin. Now, with his steadfast belief in real love tested, Marlin’s hope is that Promise Lodge’s irrepressible residents can help him restore Frances’s joy—and that faith will show them a way to turn their fragile second chance into a blessed and abiding future together.

Excerpts

Frances shaded her eyes with her hand, enthralled with what she saw. “It doesn’t seem like you and I have walked such a long distance, yet from here, the lodge and our homes look like part of a toy village.”

“We’ve come a long way,” Marlin remarked softly. “I’m glad you’ve walked with me, Frances. Our community has taken on even more of a glow because I’m seeing it through your eyes.”

The tone of his voice made Frances’s pulse thrum with an unusual sense of energy, as though the preacher had something on his mind besides the view.

We’ve come a long way.
*****

Allen treasured Phoebe’s rapt expression and the closeness of her slender body as she leaned against him. He’d given her a gift by showing her Promise Lodge from this hilltop vantage point.

“What about that parcel of land behind the Lehman places?” she asked dreamily. “We’d have a beautiful view of the lake. What do you think, Allen? Should I ask Mamm if I can have it?”

Allen’s throat closed with a sudden case of nerves. He eased away from her, pretending to look at something near the lodge so she wouldn’t see how she’d startled him. Their relationship, which had felt so comfortable over the past week, now gave him the sensation that an invisible halter had been fastened around his head—and that Phoebe was holding the lead rope.

Teasers for the Series


Author Bio and Links

In 1983, Charlotte Hubbard sold her first story to True Story. She wrote around 70 of those confession stories, and she’s sold more than 50 books to traditional or online publishers. A longtime resident of Missouri, she’s currently writing Amish romances set in imaginary Missouri towns for Kensington. She now lives in St. Paul, MN with her husband of 40+ years and their Border collie, Vera.

Website | Facebook

Buy Links

Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | Amazon (Canada) | Amazon (Australia) | Nook | Kobo | iBooks (US) | iBooks (UK) | iBooks (Canada) | iBooks (Australia)

Giveaway

Charlotte Hubbard will awarding a $15 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a luck winner of the Rafflecopter giveaway. Find out more here.

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

Spotlight on Sunspots

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome author Karen S. Bell. Today, Karen shares her new release, Sunspots.

Aurora Goldberg Stein is lost in grief. Her beloved husband, Jake Stein, has just died in a tragic car accident and her sorrow is overwhelming. But is this really the end? Perhaps, perhaps not. She hears his voice. She sees his ghostly presence. She travels back in time to another life with Jake. What is going on? What is the message?

Jake Stein, a dashing Texan, sweeps Aurora off her feet and changes her life. A Brooklyn born actress, she moved to NYC and does temporary work to pay her bills. On this particular assignment, she accidentally meets Jake Stein, who is her dance with destiny. Leaving everything she knows, she marries him and moves to Austin, Texas. No longer struggling to make ends meet, Aurora wiles away her time bored and lonely, and trying to recapture the excitement she once had with this man. And then suddenly, it’s all over, her life, her future is gone. Vanished are all her hopes and dreams.

But destiny comes in many forms, and when Aurora moves to a new house, she discovers that the previous owner has never left. The ghostly presence of Viola Parker looms large and becomes Aurora’s guide through time revealing to her the mistakes she’s made with Jake Stein through the centuries. This time, maybe this time, Aurora can get it right.

Goodreads * Amazon

I get so much satisfaction in the writing process. I take care to choose just the right word, to make sure each sentence has the right cadence. I appreciate other writers who respect the craft in this way, and I hope my readers do so with me. Writing is a need, a desire for expression, and springs from well within my subconscious mind. Thoughts rise up, scenes rise up and blend in with the over-arching story. These thoughts emerge whenever they want to and wherever I am and probably not when I am at the computer. The computer is for the craft, the technique. The thoughts come during walks, or while driving the car, or at the grocery store. I am the willing recipient of these thoughts and so they seek me out. It’s a mystery this business and art of writing and it keeps me enthralled.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Amazon * Goodreads

Karen Bell is awarding a $15 Amazon gift card and an ebook of When A Stranger Comes (1 winner each) in the Rafflecoper giveaway. Find out more here.

Follow Karen on her Silver Daggers tour here.

Book Blast: Fire Song

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome bestselling author Tanya Anne Crosby. Today, Tanya shares her new release, Fire Song.

Blurb

Praised for her beauty and grace, deep down, Seren Pendragon fears a tempest rising inside her. Her mother is a witch, her sisters are in peril, and she has been promised to a beast of a man who’s already murdered one king. When she and her youngest sister seize the opportunity for escape neither realizes how much their struggle will cost, and it will take a terrible tragedy to unleash Seren’s inner fire and true nature.

The Bastard of Warkworth is no stranger to misfortune. Everything he held dear vanished one night in a wisp of smoke and fire, and he has been scarred by his encounters with Seren’s own mother, Morwen Pendragon. Even so, when one of the witch’s daughters finds herself in trouble, Wilhelm must find the champion within and ride to her rescue.

Excerpt

If you have not guessed, my true name is Cerridwen. Creirwy, Morfran and Taliesin are all children of my blood. I took this body, thinking it might serve me, but I chose wrongly. I chose the sister, not the brother. Those two scarcely knew what mysteries they would reveal… but I thank them, nevertheless.

Emrys. Poor Emrys. Would he have lain with his sister had I not inhabited her body? I think not. And Morgan? How did she learn? Well, I suppose… a mother always knows.

Stealing over to the cauldron, I peer inside. Empty at the moment, but there lies residue and I reach down to taste the blend.

I need more coltsfoot, I think. And, of course, blood…

Mentally, I pore over the faces I saw in the tavern … a man and woman traveling together, a trader and a thief. These are my choices, and perhaps I should have them all…

Incidentally, do you how the fae were created?

They were cauldron borne to serve the Sylph.

So, you see… my daughters are gifted with fae blood, but I am born of the essence from which they draw. They are whispers of the wind from which I am formed. They are breeze-kissed whilst I am the storm. They are sparks, I am the flame. They are demigods, like the fae. But I… I am a Goddess, and once the light of this world has been extinguished like the flames of a thousand dying stars, and the hearts of men are stillborn in their cradle of night… here, I shall remain.

Fools.

Kill me?

I’d like to see you try.

Author Bio and Links

Tanya Anne Crosby is the New York Times/USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including works of women’s fiction, suspense, historical romance and fantasy. Known for stories charged with emotion and humor and filled with flawed characters, she is an award-winning author, and her stories have garnered reader praise and glowing critical reviews.

Tanya has been featured in magazines, such as People, Romantic Times and Publisher’s Weekly, and her stories have been translated into eight languages. Her first novel (Angel of Fire) was published in 1992 by Avon Books, where she was hailed as “one of Avon’s fastest rising stars.” Her fourth book (Once Upon a Kiss) was chosen to launch the company’s Avon Romantic Treasure imprint. She and her writer husband currently split their time between Charleston, SC, where she was raised, and northern Michigan, where the couple make their home.

Website | Facebook

Buy Links

Amazon | Kobo | Barnes & Noble

Giveaway

Tanya Anne Crosby will be awarding signed copies of the Daughters of Avalon series (3 books)(US ONLY) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

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