Conflicting Passions

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Kassandra Lamb sharing her remarkable transformation from psychotherapist to mystery writer.

Here’s Kassandra!

Act One

I think I was eleven the first time someone said I should be a psychologist when I grew up. I was stunned. “Why?” I asked.

“Because you’re a good listener,” my friend replied.

I shook my head in confusion. I was the kid whose older brother had dubbed Chatty Kassie. Indeed, everybody teased me for being a non-stop talker. How could I be a good listener when I never shut up?

From middle school on, I had dabbled with writing poems and short stories, losing myself in my own imagination. I shudder now at how awful those early writing attempts were, but still, I tried. In high school, I toyed with the idea of being a writer, or perhaps a translator of others’ fiction. I loved both reading and languages, especially French.

But parents and teachers told me those pursuits would not earn a living wage. Writers and translators both needed a day job.

By the time I was nineteen, a sophomore in college, I had heard the “you should be a psychologist” at least thirty or forty times. But I was bent on being an elementary school teacher. Looking back, I’m not really sure what I was thinking.

After a couple more misguided turns down blind alleys, I finally listened to the advice of that eleven-year-old friend. I ended up in graduate school, studying to be a psychotherapist.

In the mid 1980’s, I started a private practice, and life was good. I loved my family, my home, and, much to my surprise, I loved my work.

Despite my chatty tendencies, I was a good listener. I heard things that others missed. I got where my clients were coming from, and reflected back to them what they needed to hear to move to a better place.

During my thirties and forties, as I raised my child and loved my husband and helped my clients get sane, I occasionally worked on a novel or two. Somehow I never made it past the fifth chapter.

But my need to write was being satisfied in other ways. I wrote journal articles, edited a professional newsletter, wrote articles for a self-help magazine for trauma survivors (my specialty as a therapist). I honed my writing skills without even realizing I was doing so.

Act One and a Half

After twenty years as a psychotherapist, I burned out. What got to me more than anything else was the weight of the job. I knew that I wasn’t responsible for my clients’ lives or well-being. They were responsible for themselves. I was just the “coach,” as I often referred to myself.

But nonetheless, each time I took on a new client I was committing to doing my very best to help them heal the wounds in their psyches and learn to live a mentally healthy life–something they were usually piss poor at which is what had brought them into therapy.

The day I received an emergency call from a suicidal client and my gut response was, “Ask me if I care?” I knew I needed to do something else for a living. (I didn’t say that out loud, btw, and the client is still alive and well today.)

Fast-forward through a couple years of angst and I am a part-time college professor, passing on to the next generation of psychologists what I had learned, and easing out of my psychotherapy practice by attrition. By early 2004, I was teaching four days a week and seeing clients one day a week, and my husband was eligible for retirement from his government job. We were ready to implement a long-time dream of retiring to his native Florida!

Act Two

“Getting serious about my writing” was on my to-do list in retirement. But somehow five years went by before that happened.

In 2009, I had just extracted myself from a commitment that had absorbed way too much of my life. One day, I was batting about the house, thinking, “What will I do with my time now?”

Warning: watch what you say when you talk to yourself, because you never know when God is eavesdropping!

I immediately had a new idea for the opening of one of those two novels I’d been writing for years. I sat down at my computer to capture the thought, expecting to spend fifteen minutes tops on the process.

Five weeks later I had finally finished one of those novels. I had written like an obsessed person. Because I was an obsessed person. Day and night, I wrote, sometimes until I was so tired my fingers were literally missing the keyboard.

Thus was born Multiple Motives, the first novel in the Kate Huntington mystery series. Once my muse was unleashed, there was no stopping her. I wrote the first drafts of four more novels in the next two years, while I was editing and polishing Multiple Motives for publication.

Today, my question is what happened to my retirement? 😉 I’ve never worked so hard in my life. But I’m producing two to three stories a year (some of them are novellas). And while a few aspects of this new “act” are annoying (promoting and bookkeeping, for instance), I’m having a blast!

This week, I’m releasing Fatal Forty-Eight, Book 7 in my Kate Huntington series. Meanwhile, I have the beginnings of Book 8 and a 3rd novella languishing in my hard drive, begging me to finish writing them.

Years ago, as a joke, I gave my husband a plaque that said: Life is what happens while you’re making other plans. Ha, jokes on me!

Blurb

Celebration turns to nightmare when psychotherapist Kate Huntington’s guest of honor disappears en route to her own retirement party. Kate’s former boss, Sally Ford, has been kidnapped by a serial killer who holds his victims exactly forty-eight hours before killing them.

With time ticking away, the police allow Kate and her P.I. husband to help with the investigation. The FBI agents involved in the case have mixed reactions to the “civilian consultants.” The senior agent welcomes Kate’s assistance as he fine-tunes his psychological profile. His voluptuous, young partner is more by the book. While she locks horns out in the field with Kate’s husband, misunderstandings abound back at headquarters.

But they can ill afford these distractions. Sally’s time is about to expire.

Fatal Forty-Eight is available for pre-order at half price–$1.99.
On November 13, the price goes up to $3.99.

Bio

Kassandra Lamb is a retired psychotherapist/college professor turned mystery writer. These days she spends most of her time in an alternate universe with her characters. The portal to this universe (aka her computer) is located in Florida where her husband and dog catch occasional glimpses of her. She and her husband also spend part of each summer in her native Maryland, where the Kate Huntington mysteries are set.

Where to find Kassandra…

Website | Misterio Press | Amazon

Joanne here!

Kass, thanks for sharing your inspiring journey. The Kate Huntington mystery series sounds delicious. Congrats on the launch of Fatal Forty Eight.

Making the Most of Second Chances

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have author Julie Ryan sharing her whirlwind first act and the unexpected second act that followed.

Here’s Julie!

First Act

I see the first forty odd years of my life as Act 1. After an idyllic childhood and University I met the man I thought I would be with forever. We travelled the world teaching English as a Foreign Language and I have some great memories of those years. Teaching children in Alexandropolis and Athens in Greece, working for the British Council in Bangkok, Thailand and setting up our own Language School in Warsaw, Poland. No sooner had we found one job it seemed than we were off again. My partner seemed to live in a constant state of flux, searching for what I don’t know, whereas after a while I was beginning to long to settle down. Moving to London, I was offered a post as Head of Languages in an all boys’ school. I loved the job but it was the most stressful thing I’ve ever done, especially since the school had been put into special measures just before I started. Soon it became the usual grind of work, eat, sleep and weekends spent recovering while looking forward to the next holiday. Something had to give, as neither of us was happy, yet neither of us wanted to be the one to break things up after almost twenty years. I knew for my own sanity I had to get out as by this stage we were barely talking. Just when I felt I was at breaking point, I met someone who was to be pivotal in forming Act 2.

Second Act

Just one month after meeting Tony, I left home with just a plastic bag containing a change of underwear and my toothbrush. It was a huge gamble. I had no idea if this new relationship was going to work and felt horribly guilty about leaving my ex even though I knew I’d tried my best. However, sometimes you just have to go with your instincts and jump in with both feet. People who know me say I don’t do things by halves. Within two months I’d handed in my notice and within four months we were looking at property in Gloucestershire. We both wanted a change of scene to start a new chapter together but couldn’t find anywhere to buy that was in our price bracket. Then Tony spotted a convenience store for sale in a small Gloucestershire village. I don’t think my feet touched the ground for the first six months as we took on a business as I worked as a supply teacher. In addition, the upstairs where we were living needed totally renovating as there was no plumbing, heating or electricity. It was hard but satisfying and I knew I’d made the right decision. When Tony proposed on my birthday I was in seventh heaven. We married in our local village Church surrounded by a few friends and family eighteen months later.

Where are you now?

I was 43 when I met my husband so we both knew that children were most unlikely. Nevertheless that didn’t stop us trying even though Tony said it didn’t matter. It wasn’t easy but nobody could have been more overjoyed than this pair of elderly parents when I gave birth to our precious son. After waiting so long for a child, I couldn’t face going back to work and we made the decision that my husband would get a full time job while I stayed at home and looked after our son and managed the Post Office and shop part time. That was another pivotal point – the first time in my life that I found myself with the freedom to live my life the way I wanted. I started writing, which I would never have done as a full time teacher and really appreciate the joys of country living. Would I change anything? Only that I wish I’d started the Second Act sooner. However, then neither of us would have been the people we are now. For a while we had to sacrifice holidays as we lived hand to mouth and any spare cash went on renovations. These are still ongoing but over the years we’ve got used to living in a muddle. Life isn’t perfect but I know how lucky I am. In September 2013 I published my first book in the Greek Island series followed by the second in 2014. Like many people I worry that my best isn’t good enough. I’m a perfectionist so I’m never really happy with my writing and then I came across this quotation:

So, while I encourage you to do your best, just remember that not everyone can be THE BEST. For me life really did begin in my late forties and I’m embracing my fifties with gusto in the knowledge that not everyone gets to have a Second Act.

Julie’s Books

When Jenna decides on a whim to go to Greece, she’s trying to escape her failing marriage. Will Greg let her go so easily though? Can she make a new future for herself and how did she get involved in an antiques smuggling ring? Is fellow holidaymaker Tom all he seems and will it be happy ever after with Nikos? It’s not until twenty-five years later that some of the questions are finally answered.

This is the second book in the Greek Island Mystery series. Although each book is intended to be read as a standalone, some of the characters from the first book, ‘Jennas’s Journey’, do make an appearance.

Kat has never understood why she was sent at the age of seven from Greece to live in England with her Aunt Tigi. When she receives an email from her grandmother, the first contact in over twenty years, informing her of her mother’s death, she knows this could be her last chance to find out the truth. Little by little she finds out the shocking facts as her grandmother opens her heart. It seems everyone has a secret to tell, not only her grandmother, as Manoli, her school friend, also harbours a guilty secret.

Then there’s a twenty year old mystery to solve as well as a murder and what happened to the missing Church treasure?

Bio

Julie was born and brought up in a mining village near Barnsley in South Yorkshire. She graduated with a BA (hons) in French Language and Literature from Hull University. Since then she has lived and worked as a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language in France, Greece, Poland and Thailand. She now lives in rural Gloucestershire with her husband, son and a dippy cat with half a tail. She is so passionate about books that her collection is now threatening to outgrow her house, much to her husband’s annoyance!

‘Jenna’s Journey’, her début novel set in Greece, a country to which she has a strong attachment, was published in 2013. The second novel in the Greek Island Mystery series,‘Sophia’s Secret,’ is due to be published in the summer of 2014.

Where to find Julie…

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon UK | Amazon US

Joanne here!

Julie, thanks for inspiring us with your journey. If you ever run out of ideas, consider writing your memoirs.

From Classroom to Lunchroom

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Gwen Stephens chatting about her transition from the classroom to a perfect (but temporary) second act.

Here’s Gwen!

Ask a young child what she wants to be when she grows up and the answer may surprise and amuse you. Princess, baker, dermatologist, Olympic gymnast, and Hollywood stunt double are some of the future careers my girls have dreamed up over the years. My imagination rarely stretched this far when I was a kid. From an early age I knew I wanted to be a teacher, and my sights never wavered.

But in my working class, inner city neighborhood, higher education was regarded as something other people did. College was reserved for the elite – rich kids, great athletes, the academically gifted. Fortunately I married a guy whose vision extended beyond the confines of the old neighborhood. He encouraged me to follow my dreams, and as soon as it was financially possible, I earned my teaching degree.

Throughout the course of my career, I’ve worked everywhere from the gang-infested inner city to upper-middle class suburbia. What I’ve learned is regardless of life’s challenges, children at their heart are remarkably similar. They all need love and trusted adults to guide them, instill confidence, and believe in their abilities. It’s what I’ve tried to do with each student in every class I’ve taught.

What I never expected was how truly difficult the profession would be. The work is physically and emotionally exhausting, and as I gradually discovered, it never gets easier. Those challenges compounded when I had children of my own. Trying to be a good teacher and a good mother at the same time seemed an impossible feat. Something had to give, and for a long time it was my family.

My decision to resign from classroom teaching was not reached easily. I loved my job, and years of hard work had earned me the respect of colleagues and the community. But ultimately I loved my daughters more, and they deserved a better mom.

My Second Act began in 2011 when the ideal opportunity came along: a part-time position in the same school, working just four hours a day. In my view it was the perfect “Mom Job,” so I decided to snap it up and call myself a Lunch Lady.

Friends and colleagues thought I’d lost my mind, yet this job is one of the best I’ve had. My team includes five other 40-something moms who are also on career hiatus for the sake of the family. We supervise the lunchroom and playground for each grade level’s daily recess. There’s almost no stress. I get to spend my workday outdoors. And I still have daily interaction with students.

Probably best of all has been the difference in my home life. A much more relaxed Mom has had a trickle-down effect on the rest of the family. Home cooked meals have replaced pre-packaged convenience foods. I’m able to help with homework and drive carpools. The extra time in my day allows me to pursue my interest in writing and participate in neighborhood book clubs. I know how lucky I am, and every day I’m grateful for my good fortune.

Returning to the teaching profession is a question of when and not if. It’s my true calling, and I can’t imagine myself in any other career. Someday when my children are grown and I can devote myself entirely to the demands of the job, I’ll go back to the classroom. Until then, I’m making the most of each day with my kids, because it’s time I’ll never get back.

Visit Gwen at her website.

Joanne here!

Gwen, I applaud your decision to take a “Mom Job” and devote more time and energy to your family and creative pursuits. Best of luck with your writing.

How Many Acts to a Life?

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Soul Mate author Ryan Jo Summers sharing the events that transformed her idyllic life and propelled her toward a previously unimaginable reinvention.

Here’s Ryan!

There are some events that forever alter our lives, propel us forward and leave us changed in ways we never could have imagined. I have a grand little quote on my desk that reads: When life looks like it is falling apart, it may just be falling into place. How simple and how true.

Back in the early 1990’s and 2000’s I was happily married, living my dream life in Michigan. I was a wife, madly in love with my perfect husband. We had two sons. We owned businesses. We worked hard. We accomplished a lot. I had a pet boarding kennel and a non-profit collie rescue organization. I had horses and lots of pets. We competed professionally with our collies and built a reputable kennel name. We had acres to make it all work. We had great friends and family who all loved us. That was Act 1. It was idyllic and challenging and I learned so very much from those years. Looking back, there are only a few things I would have done differently. Things I now know were done through youthful ignorance.

Two collies taken in 2003. Blue merle Ruffian was my confirmation and obedience showdog/ pet. Sable Kip was a stray who became adopted through the rescue.

Then the fateful day came when not only did my life fall apart, it suddenly crashed at my feet in a fiery inferno. While out of the country on holiday, I received an email from my perfect hubby saying he was leaving me. I thought I had mistakenly received an email intended for someone other poor soul! The following eleven months might be considered an intermission or an act all unto themselves. They were eleven months of unbelievable events and horrific news sweeping over me in never ending wave upon wave of heartache and injustice.

Not only was I convinced my life had fallen apart, I was stunned just looking at the jagged shards littering my life each day. I truly was clueless what had happened to my idyllic little life. Only later into that period did I learn it stemmed from a mid-life crisis, leading to dissatisfaction, infidelity and guilt. Our friends and family were divided. At then of that act/ intermission, I was forced to take my shattered life and leave the home I had worked so hard for, my dream life and the last of my ‘people’. The premature death of my marriage, my dreams and my long term friendships all led to a door that was now forever shut and sealed.

Now I am ten years into my Act Two. I left Michigan for the quaint charm and beauty of the Appalachian south. I made new friends. I took a job outside the definition of my twenty plus years’ experience. I went from successful business owner with secure finances to a hourly wage worker barely able to make the rent and put gas in the tank. It has been an education on many planes for me. I was starting over all over again, only this time with the experience of twenty plus years packed in my trunk.

Blue Ridge Mountains near my home

At first I felt like I had landed on a foreign planet but it has all fallen into place. And it has continued to gradually fall into place. I still get stuck in the holding patterns while I wait for doors to open or events to unfold, but I don’t worry about it. Eventually the holding pattern ends and I move forward in my life just a little further.

Selling my debut novel in 2012 was a huge leap forward. Having two more coming out this year is another huge jump. Selling short pieces to trade journals and local periodicals has been gratifying. Learning social media and building a platform was initially going back to that foreign planet again, but I know I can survive and learn and, in time, thrive.

That has been my goal in the last eleven years, to not only survive but to also thrive. It has not been easy. Six years ago my body was beset with chronic conditions that left me challenged to continue living a normal appearing life. Yet I had come too far to give up so I became educated with my options and got serious. I am stuck with this body and it is stuck with me, there must be a peaceful co-existence within myself, which will transfer to everyone I encounter in my life.

What has been my grounding force during this second act has been a strong faith in God. I have learned to be happy in the trials, knowing I will emerge stronger and better. I have learned to be patient in the waiting because it will be better on the other side. I have learned we can see both sides better once we have lived through the hell in the middle. I have learned that life is a journey, not a guided tour and it is only when we feel the stress of the storms do we learn the strength of our anchor.

River near my house where I go to meet with God

I have learned that to change, we must want something else more than what we have now and that now is not forever. I have learned God always give His best to those who leave the choices with Him and I have learned life is lived forward and understood backward. I have learned to value of thanking God for what I currently have and trusting Him for what I will need. I have learned that the upheaval we sometimes experience as we move from one act to another in our lives proceeds our spiritual progress and it is the action added to the faith that lets the pieces fall into place.

I know I would have never made it through the pain and betrayal of the intermission and come this far through my second act without the Divine help of God at my side. I know I wouldn’t want to go one single step into my next stage in life without Him.

Ten years ago I came to NC, little money, pride beaten and tail between my legs. I used what little cash I had to put a security deposit and rent down on a house and a down payment down on a Jeep. Then ten years of struggle, survive and place one foot in front of the other. Now, ten years later, I am still struggling, though not as much and differently. I am thriving and still placing one foot in front of the other. And I am buying my first ‘My’ house. Waiting to close later this month. What a change in just ten short— and very long—- years. If this is my second act, I wonder what will the third act bring?
The relief of God granting me this humble little house is such a real, palatable thing. I can’t wait to get settled in, write and donate the praises to God above.

Ryan’s Books

Civil War hero turned renegade, Logan Riley, is hanged by the law in 1869. His story should have ended there, except it doesn’t. In 2014, anthropologist Dr. McKenzie Lynne is hired by a team of physicists, protected by the military, to find a missing link to their time travel theories. She finds Logan, in the back of a cave, buried in glittering golden dust, alive and handsome.

When she returns to camp with him, and learns what plans they really have in store for him, she is horrified. Reacting, she grabs his hand and makes a run for it, taking their living treasure, escaping into the mountains and desert of Arizona.

Now pursued by the military, and the obsessed physicists who will stop at nothing to get their living treasure back, Kenzie and Logan must fight to stay alive. Each moment is a challenge to stay free, because getting caught would be very bad.

Meanwhile, Kenzie’s strong Christian faith works on Logan’s bad boy heart, convicting him of his lawless past, something the hangman’s noose could not do. With Kenzie’s help, he works to allow God into his heart while fighting to keep theirs safe. Undeniable feelings bloom between them as tense moments spread into longer periods of developing love. As the hunters close in, their new love must face the toughest test of all– a showdown between the armed military, Kenzie’s Christian character and Logan’s nineteenth century sense of justice.

Darby Adams has a full, happy life with a successful Bed & Breakfast Inn called The Brass Lamplighter, her teen-age son, Matt, and a menagerie of stray pets she oversees. Then a guest is found dead in one of her rooms, murdered, stabbed to death. Suddenly she becomes Driftwood Shores’ number 1 suspect. With her world spiraling out of control, she desperately needs a friend.

The surviving family wants answers so they hire Private Investigator Sam Golden to prove her guilt. Busy with his own rebellious, disobedient teen daughter, Madison, Sam takes the case. He begins in a dual role in the guise of a much needed friend for Darby yet still with plans to investigate and send her to prison.

Then strange things start happening at the B & B, scary things. Darby leans on Sam’s friendship and he has to seriously question her guilt or innocence. Until feelings start to develop between them in the heat of the mysteries. Until the day arrives Sam has to tell her the truth. Until someone kidnaps their children.

Reeling from Sam’s confession, Darby knows she has to trust him to get their kids back. But can she ever trust him with her heart?

Where to find Ryan…

Website | Blog | Facebook | Amazon

Joanne here!

Ryan, I am inspired by the courage and strength you demonstrated throughout the past ten years. Thank you for reminding us that there is a morning after. Best of luck with your books.

Start, Stop, Start, Sputter, Sputter … Full Speed Ahead!

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

I am happy to spotlight fellow Canadian author, Nancy Fraser, and her debut novel, Home is Where the Hunk Is. Put on your running shoes…You’re in for an amazing ride!

Here’s Nancy!

To say my writing journey has been unconventional is an understatement. Yet, it’s not as uncommon as you’d think. I know a number of writers, now multi-published authors, who wondered … is this ever going to happen for me. And, when it does, will it happen again and again?

I published my first romance novel in 1996 as one of the launch authors for the quickly-defunct Precious Gems line from Kensington Publishing. Back in those days, your manuscript was mailed in, your line edits done with red ink on paper and you waited with nervous anticipation for “the call”.

Along with my first published novel came the end of my marriage and my writing career went on hold while I supported myself and put my life back in order. I still continued to write, maintained my membership in both RWA and my local chapter, but the writing suffered, both in quantity and in quality. How could I write a romance when I wasn’t living one?

I did manage to published a few short stories, some non-fiction articles and, those few successes, kept my dream alive. A book I’d co-authored with a good friend/critique partner, Patti Shenberger, sold in 2007, eleven years after my first book. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. The drive came back, the creativity began unfolding at a rapid pace. I sold a solo book to the same publisher … my one attempt at paranormal. Time and Again, garnered some great reviews and sold well. My career had received the jump start it needed.

I began my ten-story novella series, The Golden Decade of Rock and Roll, releasing the first three stories in a year and a half. Then, life intervened once more. Health issues, for both myself and Patti, forced the writing to take another back seat. Again, the creative process slowed but never stopped. A manuscript we’d worked on for nearly two years sold in less than two weeks. We were off to the races again, eventually turning that first book into a three book contract.

And, again, in addition to our co-authored work, I began selling on my own. It was a hectic, but welcome 2013. My final tally for the year, two co-authored books, a novella in a holiday anthology, and three releases of my own. November, 2013 saw the release of the second book in our series, and the recurrence of Patti’s cancer.

This year has been slow going, another sputter in the writing life. I lost Patti in May and, for the few months following her death, I found it hard to work on anything, much less finish the next book in our contracted series. I’d already signed a few contracts of my own and worked my way through edits. Now, here I am, in the fall of the year and promoting two releases at one time, and prepping for a third in December.

And, loving every minute of it.

When I’m tired, or the words won’t come, I sometimes think … maybe I’m too old for this. Heaven knows … social media scares me to death! Maybe, with 17 published works under my belt, I should just sit back and relax. That’s when I realize, I’ve come too far to stop now. It’s full speed ahead or nothing.

The journey’s been filled with ups and downs but I’m pretty sure, if I quit, a certain writing angel would swoop down here and kick my butt! So, for both Patti and the love of creating romance, I keep writing.

Blurb

When globe-trotting photographer Allison Cain comes home to her family ranch in Montana it’s to get to know her nephew and to make amends with the widowed brother-in-law she’s left alone to raise his young son.

Evan Carver could never deny his late wife’s younger sister anything, despite the fact she’s been conspicuously absent over the past three years since her sister’s death. Now she’s home again on what she’s called an extended vacation. Evan’s first concern is for his son, Cody, and how his aunt’s visit will affect the five year old when she decides to return to her high profile career.

Allison has no intention of going back to work. In addition to getting to know Cody, she needs to confess her biggest secret to Evan. How do you tell the man you’ve always loved that you’re not just his son’s aunt, but also his mother?

Bio

Like most authors, Nancy Fraser began writing at an early age, usually on the walls and with crayons or, heaven forbid, permanent markers. Her love of writing often made her the English teacher’s pet, which, of course, resulted in a whole lot of teasing. Still, it was worth it.

When not writing (which is almost never), Nancy dotes on her five beautiful grandchildren and looks forward to traveling and reading when time permits. Nancy lives in Atlantic Canada where she enjoys the relaxed pace and colorful people. She invites you to visit her website (www.nancyfraser.ca) and follow her on Twitter (@nfraserauthor). Or, more importantly, just enjoy what she writes.

Click here to participate in the Rafflecopter giveaway.

Where to find Nancy…

In a Tree House by Hafiz

Posted on October 25, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Light
will someday split you open
even if your life is now a cage,

For a divine seed, the crown of destiny,
is hidden and sown on an ancient, fertile plain
that you hold the title to.

Love will surely bust you wide open
into an unfettered, blooming new galaxy
A life-giving radiance will come,

O look again within yourself,
For I know you were once the elegant host
To all the marvels in creation.

From a sacred crevice in your body,
a bow rises each night
and shoots your soul into God.

Behold the Beautiful One
from the vantage point of Love.

He is conducting the affairs
of the whole universe
in a tree house – on a limb
in your heart.

Spotlight on Sophia Kimble

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

I am happy to spotlight Sophia Kimble and her debut novel, Protect Her. Her long and winding path to publication will inspire writers (and non-writers) to pursue their dreams.

Here’s Sophia!

I’m going to preface this spotlight with the fact I hate talking about myself, so bear with me folks. I make up stories for a living—telling the truth leaves something a bit sour on my tongue. Oops, I’ve said too much already.

Whew, okay, I feel better now.

I’ve been an avid reader all of my life. Heard that before, I’m sure, but hey, it’s the truth. (Oh no, get me my toothbrush.) My love of romance novels began when I was thirteen after I read the first book in the Calder Saga series by Janet Dailey. I mean, come on, what’s not to love? Gorgeous alpha male cowboys who live and love in Montana. Well, I can tell you, I saved my allowance and bought them all, stayed up all night to finish, and took a trip to Montana when I was older. Even dreamed of meeting and falling in love with a real cowboy!

It was probably in College while I was taking interior design and acting classes that I began to think I could write a book, but I was always too afraid of failure to give it a go. (I grew up in Southern California, so it shouldn’t surprise you what my first majors were. I was even an extra in a couple of movies.) I know, what the heck was I doing studying to become an actor when I feared rejection?

Those were my thoughts exactly, which is why I changed majors. So what does someone who wants to be an author, interior designer, or an actor, but is too afraid, do with her life? She becomes a nurse. Makes perfect sense, don’t you think?

Twenty years later an accident left me unable to work for an extended period, and I began thinking about that long-ago dream of writing. Talked to my husband (who’s not a cowboy, but oh so sexy just the same) about it, and he urged me to give it a try.

The first year was full of not only writing Protect Her, but taking classes, entering contests, having my work reviewed by critique partners, getting rejection letters from agents, and many…many rewrites. Like many first time authors, I wavered from this book sucks, to it’s actually pretty good, and then back again. Usually within a five minute time span.

Then, (here’s where it gets good) Savvy Authors held on online pitch event, and Protect Her received requests from publishers to see my manuscript… four partials and three fulls. Yay! Two of the partials became fulls, and Protect Her received 3 contract offers!

I was floored! No literally, I fell on the floor and my husband came running to see what was wrong. After much consideration, I signed with Soul Mate Publishing, and couldn’t be happier with the decision. Protect Her is now available on Amazon.

Life is good.

Blurb

Golden Alexander is trapped in a nightmare.

Trying to flee her hallucination of a demon, she runs heart first into the brooding alpha male she’s been dreaming about for years, and then her nightmare really begins.

Kris Pietka is done with women…he’s broken. But when he meets Golden, an overwhelming need to protect her tests everything he thought he knew about himself, and the paranormal.

A bond forged centuries ago thrusts them together as they search for a way to break an ancient Druid curse prophesying their demise. Racing against the clock, they travel from Vermont, to the Carpathian Mountains in Poland, and the Scottish Highlands in search of answers and a way to break the curse.

But something evil watches—it covets, and time is running out.

Will fate allow love to prevail against unbeatable odds, or will Golden wake to find it was all a delusion?

Bio

Sophia Kimble has always wanted to be an author, but for years, life got in the way. She wouldn’t change a thing about how her life turned out, though. Her family keeps her laughing and loving. Her wonderful husband and two extraordinary children stand beside her every step of the way and make this journey called life worth living.

Sophia has worked as a nurse for twenty years, but has put that career path aside to devote her time and imagination to writing down the stories that keep her up nights.

She takes her love of the paranormal, history, and genealogy, and weaves them into tales of family, fated love, and supernatural occurrences.

Where to find Sophia…

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Life Is What You Make Of It!

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have prolific author Dormaine G chatting about the varied and rich life experiences that led to literary publication.

Here’s Dormaine!

Thank you Joanne for inviting me to write for your segments on Second Acts.

Well, let me tell you a little something about me. I was born in New York but moved to Mississippi as a child. I went to Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana to study medicine then moved to Massachusetts for life experience. I needed more than the typical life routine. Eventually, I moved back to New York where I became a registered nurse and studied forensic nursing. After working a few years in New York as a nurse, I started doing travel nursing and loved it. Eventually, I decided to stop traveling, while in Colorado, to stay closer to family. Shortly after, I met my wonderful husband and have been here ever since.

Getting into writing wasn’t so much as triggered but forced. I worked as a triage nurse for a pharmaceutical company but the business relocated out of state. I believe things happen for a reason because it forced me to pursue my dream of writing. Even as a child, I have always had a love for science fiction and enjoyed it through books, movies and comics. I have dabbled in writing throughout the years, and realized it was time for me to take the plunge. Instead of going back to work immediately, I stayed home to write. I published my first novel titled Connor in late 2013. I plan on following up with a series of books under the Connor name. My other books are under the Madame Lilly saga and plan on having her around for many more years.

Presently, I am working with five other authors on a paranormal sampler titled Mysticism & Myths which is set to be released mid December. My book in the sampler is titled Micco, Anguta’s Reign which is set to be released this November. I’m also working on a third volume under the Madame Lilly series. Besides that, I will continue to write and produce the many tales that I have hidden in my room or stored in my head. I have met some wonderful people along this journey so far and will continue to maintain such relationships.

Although writing can leave you quite exposed, I find it to be liberating. I never imagined that I would be able to live such a dream because that’s exactly what it is- a dream. Now having experienced it, I would not give it up for anything. If you feel writing is something you must do then do so. Take that plunge if you can, but if you do, then it must be for yourself and not others. Not everyone will understand or even get it but that is all right as long as you know what you feel in your heart. Always be true to yourself and your literature.

“I believe the power of positive thinking” If you think it, then it shall be. You just have to believe.

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

Dormaine’s Books

Micco, a captivating Native American man with a desirable physique and statuesque features, radiates a mysterious allure. Living on the reservation with his unapproachable father, he doesn’t believe in the old ways and works as a cop in the local town. The only reason he lives on the land is Nara, his childhood friend and the love of his life, who is married to a cruel reservation man.

Waking up in the heart of a murderous scene, he flees for his life, unfamiliar with his surroundings or how he arrived there. To his horror, he’s assigned to the case. As he works with the local detective, more murders transpire with unusual, terrifying sightings of wolves.

His behavior starts to drastically change, forcing others to take notice. Although trying to avoid the inevitable, Micco is forced to accept the undesirable truth, unable to fight what has been awakened, and all that he has forgotten is finally revealed.

Connor recently discovers she has the gift of invisibility among other gifts but what she doesn’t realize is that her life is about to change for the worse. She is fifteen, sarcastically funny, at least she thinks so, and doesn’t always like to face reality. She meets five other teenagers who have abilities similar to hers but not everyone is so eager to find answers as to why they are different.

Sensing their lives are in danger, she is determined to figure out the truth by any means necessary, forcing her to grow up fast. Connor is slapped with the cold, hard, fact that the people she thought she knew are not who they appear to be and all human beings are not just that human.

Through all of this, Connor and Tony, one other with abilities, start to develop feelings for each other causing jealousy in more ways than one. Then there is Ronin, who is young, smart, and breathtaking. He is set on taking his revenge out on Connor but she has no idea why.

The time is 1890, the place, New Orleans, and Odara is lost to Madame Lilly, her soulless side—and she has not finished what she started. Unleashing two great forces, Theolus and Hearon, with ferocious appetites against her common-law husband, Henry Nicholas, is just the beginning of the end for Lilly—only she doesn’t know it yet.

For the spirits she raised took what was left of her humanity and left a piece of themselves within her; a piece that craves chaos. Needing to maintain control over them to do her bidding, Lilly must do what is required even if it means becoming more like them.

Tortured, scorned and damned, Lilly has one mission in life: Retribution.

In the late 1800’s Odara, a Creole girl in New Orleans, grew up wealthy and having the best of everything. She was taught the ways of plaçage: to be a wealthy man’s common-law wife. She didn’t want to follow the ways of plaçage as her mother had, until she met the man of her dreams, Henry Nicolas. He was handsome, charming and rich; perfect in every way until their first night of marriage when she saw his true malevolent side.

For twelve long years Odara endured abuse in the worst ways possible, taking her from a naive child to a scorned woman. A woman fueled with such revulsion towards Henry she would give anything for vengeance.

Through voodoo, Madame Lilly was born, but with it came consequences beyond even her comprehension.

Where to Find Dormaine

Joanne here!

Dormaine, thank you for an inspiring post! Best of luck with all your literary endeavors.

Oprah and Pema Chödrön

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Yesterday, Oprah welcomed prolific author and world-renowned Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön to Super Soul Sunday.

Born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in 1936, she followed a conventional path, attending a prestigious prep school and college before marrying and having children. Later, she divorced and married a second husband who, in turn, left her at age 35. Shocked and traumatized, it took her three years to grieve and then forge an extraordinary spiritual path from wife/mother to ordained Buddhist nun. Pema learned to embrace her authentic self at Gampo Abbey, a monastery on Cape Breton Island (Nova Scotia) where she is resident and teacher.

Throughout the telecast, Pema focused on what to do when one’s life falls apart. The knee jerk reaction is to run away. Instead, Pema recommends the practice of compassionate abiding with oneself: Breathe in the suffering (unwanted discontent) and be open to it. Be right there with the feeling, taking note of all thoughts. Then, breathe out and create a lot of space. She gently reminds us that nothing wrong has happened. Life is simply pointing us in a different direction.

Quotable Quotes…

If you don’t know the nature of fear, you can’t be fearless.

Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.

The sun is always shining in the rain. It never went anywhere.

Let go of fear and ego to embrace your authentic self.

If you’re invested in security and certainty, then you are on the wrong planet.

We are one blink away from being fully awake.

Spirituality—Going beyond beliefs vs Religion—Holding onto beliefs

Fail. Fail again. Fail better

If You Don’t Have a Dream

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have author and public relations dynamo Adrienne Vaughan chatting about the importance of dreams.

Here’s Adrienne!

Adrienne and Winston

I’ve always loved that song, you know, the one from South Pacific, Happy Talk. It’s so true, if you don’t have a dream, how on earth are you going to make a dream come true?

There again, have you ever met anyone who doesn’t dream they were someone or something else? Most people wish for something different, but it’s the dreamers, and I mean the real dreamers who make a difference. Sighing and wishing achieves very little, as far as I can tell, it’s the proper, ‘let’s take this seriously’ dreamer who gets things done, changes themselves, their environment, the whole world if they mean too.

But it wasn’t until Joanne kindly invited me onto her blog, and I was giving this notion some thought, that I realised that’s exactly what I am, a serious dreamer!

I knew very definitely what my first act would be, from the age of seven I wanted to be a writer, no ifs or buts. I was given a Petite Typewriter and my fate was sealed. I wrote poems, plays, short stories and articles – pasting them together on the kitchen table, creating my own magazines.

My mother, taking a well-earned break with a cup of tea and a copy of Women’s Own, would open the pages and scream. I had usually chopped half of it out, leaving holes in the articles and no pictures to the features.

I was twelve when I decided I was going to be a journalist, ideally the editor of a glossy magazine, where I could meet and marry a rock star – David Bowie or Bryan Ferry were ideal potential husbands in my opinion – so I packed my dream in my suitcase and left Dublin to work in London, on a glossy pop magazine, of course.

Adrienne and Bryan Ferry

Fast forward twenty five years and my career has turned from poacher to gamekeeper, I now run a busy PR practice, and my second act is well and truly upon me, emerging as part of my development as a writer, rather than a real need for change.

Writers write, it’s what they do, so of course I have any amount of half-baked novels under the bed, one is nearly thirty years old! But it wasn’t until I became involved with the Romantic Novelists’ Association, the New Romantics Press and Amazon that perhaps, my most serious dream came true. I published my first novel, The Hollow Heart and to finally hold my work in my hand as a real book was without doubt, one of the best feelings ever. Now, as I blearily edit my third novel, due out at the end of November, I keep pushing the dream on and it’s getting bigger and better.

My advice for anyone pursuing a second act? Use all the skills, contacts and determination you used pursuing your first. I would be nowhere without the RNA, Amazon and my precious chums, Lizzie Lamb, June Kearns and Mags Cullingford – and I wouldn’t even have known them without relentlessly pursuing my serious dream.

(l-r) Liz Harris, Pia Courtney, Talli Roland, Lizzie Lamb, Rowan Coleman, Julie Cohen and Adrienne Vaughan all pictured at Liz Fenwick’s book launch at Waterstones, Kensington High Street.

This is what’s stuck on my computer screen …She turned her can’ts into cans …and her dreams into plans! Go on, you can do it!

Moping about glumly wishing things could be different, if only I were rich, pretty, clever is never going to work is it.

Adrienne’s Books

Marianne Coltrane is a feisty,award-winning journalist who is far from lucky in love. Taking herself off to the wilds of the west of Ireland to recuperate, she literally runs into Ryan O’Gorman, the most conceited, infuriating man in the world. He’s an actor who’s just landed the biggest role in movie history and he loathes journalists. One thing they do have in common is they both think their chance of true love has passed them by…but fate has other ideas!

Escaping to a remote Irish isle, journalist Marianne Coltrane had not bargained for a tumultuous affair with movie star Ryan O’Gorman. When Ryan leaves to pursue his career, Marianne remains on the island to care for those who need her most, but Ryan soon realises he cannot live without her and returns to woo her back. Tricky enough without his problematic ex-wife or the contract he cannot break, but when a good deed puts all they treasure in jeopardy, it’s time to take stock and fight for what matters most…or is time running out for this charismatic couple and everything they hold dear?

Bio

Adrienne Vaughan’s books have been described as Maeve Binchy meets Jackie Collins – as these authors are two of her heroines, she thinks this is just fantastic!

Adrienne Vaughan has been making up stories since she could speak; as soon as she could pick up a pen she started writing them down. No surprise she wanted to be a journalist, ideally the editor of a glossy magazine, where she could meet and marry a rock star! Today she runs a busy PR practice, writing novels, poems and short stories in her spare time.

She was born in England, was brought up in Dublin and now lives in rural Leicestershire with her husband, two cocker spaniels and a rescue cat called Agatha Christie; she still harbours a burning ambition to be a Bond girl!

Adrienne is working on the final book in the Heartfelt trilogy Secrets of the Heart, which she intends to publish in November 2014. She has outlines for her next two books, which are set on the same island but feature different characters and storylines.

A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme since 2012, Adrienne is the current editor of the RNA’s magazine Romance Matters and a founder member of the indie publishing group, The New Romantics Press. In her professional life she is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and the Chartered Institute of Journalists. She also holds a licence to drive a powerboat.

Where to find Adrienne…

Website | Amazon | Twitter | Facebook

Joanne here!

Adrienne, thank you for sharing your inspiring journey and providing wonderful advice and insights. Your books sound delicious. I’m putting them on my TBR list.