Reinventing Myself

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Jana Richards talking about high school dreams and coming full circle.

Here’s Jana!

I thought I wanted to be an accountant when I grew up. Turns out I was wrong. I wanted to be a writer.

Actually, that’s not completely true either.

Let’s go back. Way, way back to high school in the 70s. I grew up on a farm and went to school in a small town in Saskatchewan. I was a voracious reader, and through work on the school newspaper and yearbook, I discovered an ability and a love for writing. I dreamed of a career as a journalist.

But I was shy, and not very brave. I was easily discouraged when told journalism was a career beyond my capabilities. Aside from that, the only journalism school I was aware at that time was in Ottawa. It might as well have been on the moon. There was no way my parents would allow me to go that far from home, and they certainly wouldn’t pay for it.

So I went to university close by in Regina and got a degree in English. I once took a creative writing class with disastrous results. Other writers in the class produced wonderful works of literary fiction. I floundered, my attempts at literary fiction feeble at best. I felt that writing fiction was an exclusive club to which I could never belong. Whatever such membership required, I didn’t have. I put all my dreams of writing up on a shelf along with other childhood fantasies.

Fast forward a few years. I married, and when my husband’s job transfer meant we moved to another city and I had to look for a new job, I discovered my English degree wasn’t exactly opening doors for me. So I decided to make a change. I started taking classes in accounting with the intention of getting an accounting designation. I worked at my full-time job by day and slaved away at my homework at night.

By the time I had my first daughter, I was burned out. I took one more class while on maternity leave and then stopped, just a few classes short of my designation. But I’d discovered something important. I really didn’t like accounting very much. I was never going to make a stellar accountant.

Several more moves and the birth of another daughter followed. Through all these changes, I worked at various part-time admin assistant/bookkeeper type jobs. By the time my youngest daughter was in elementary school, the old writing bug had resurfaced. I wrote some articles for regional magazines, as well as a small column in the local weekly newspaper. My urge to write also emerged in another form. I discovered romance novels and felt an affinity for them. There was something about the hopefulness and the values of love conquering all that spoke to me. I felt I could truly write one.

That was nearly twenty years and ten published books ago. I certainly haven’t been an overnight success; it took years and many rejections before I was published. If success is judged by dollars, I would have been far better off concentrating on a career in accounting. But I know I wouldn’t be as happy or as fulfilled.

These days I consider myself a full-time writer, though I still work a part-time casual job in accounting. I’m still honing my craft, pushing myself to write a better book with each new project.

I’ve come full circle. That high school kid truly knew what she needed. But it was the adult who made those dreams come true.

Bio

When Jana Richards read her first romance novel, she immediately knew two things: she had to commit the stories running through her head to paper, and they had to end with a happily ever after. She also knew she’d found what she was meant to do. Since then she’s never met a romance genre she didn’t like. She writes contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and historical romance set in World War Two, in lengths ranging from short story to full length novel. Just for fun, she throws in generous helpings of humor, and the occasional dash of the paranormal. Her paranormal romantic suspense “Seeing Things” was a 2008 EPPIE finalist.

In her life away from writing, Jana is an accountant/admin assistant, a mother to two grown daughters, and a wife to her husband Warren. She enjoys golf, yoga, movies, concerts, travel and reading, not necessarily in that order. She and her husband live in Winnipeg with their Pug/Terrier cross Lou and several unnamed goldfish.

Blurb for First and Again

First and Again final Bridget Grant is back in Paradise. Paradise, North Dakota, that is.

She’s swallowed her pride and moved back to her hometown with her daughter after her divorce and the loss of her catering company. Now she’s trying to navigate the strained relationships she’d left behind – including her first love, Jack Davison.

Jack never forgot Bridget, or the day she left town – and him. When Bridget caters a lunch at Jack’s tourist ranch, old flames reignite. They have more in common than ever – Jack’s also a single parent. Though they both try to keep things casual, Bridget, Jack and their girls are starting to look a lot like a family.

But Bridget’s only planning to stay in Paradise until she’s saved enough to relaunch her business. Jack’s invested too much in his ranch to leave. And with their daughters involved both have a lot more at stake than heartbreak. How can they risk falling in love?

Where to find Jana…

Website: http://www.janarichards.com

Blog: http://janarichards.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JanaRichardsAuthor

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JanaRichards_

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/janarichards

Newsletter signup page: http://www.eepurl.com/m3UnT

Joanne here!

Thank you Jana for sharing your remarkable journey. I am impressed by your work ethic–12 published books since 2007. You are a poster child for perseverance! Best of luck with First and Again.

Eden Mills Writers’ Festival–2013

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

It’s hard to believe the Eden Mills Festival is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary. This annual literary picnic does not disappoint, even when the weather fails to co-operate. As the temperatures dropped and the rain fell yesterday, jackets were donned and umbrellas were opened, but very few people left the grounds.

Inspired by such internationally acclaimed writers as Linwood Barclay, Andrew Pyper, Cathy Marie Buchanan, David Bergen and Elizabeth Ruth, I also welcomed the opportunity to sit in on up-and-coming writers from the MFA program at the University of Guelph. I was impressed by the passionate and evocative voices of the 2013 Guelph Poetry Slam Team and not surprised to hear they are the current provincial slam champions.

Linwood Barclay photographed by Patricia Anderson

Andrew Pyper photographed by Patricia Anderson

Hunting for Adventures

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts series!

Today, we have Jodie Esch talking about a life jam-packed with adventures.

Here’s Jodie!

Act 1— Schools, Schools & More Schools.

I appeared destined to become a teacher. Some people joked that I was born clutching a package of felt pens. I was the kind of child who constructed little classrooms around our house and dutifully instructed my baby brother and sister.

My Air Force family moved constantly. Vancouver Island, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec became my classrooms. Eventually, I took teacher training in Quebec and ventured out into the world of schools.

My college roommate and I decided we wanted to work together. In that era, there was a buffet of choices. We signed up for job interviews only in places that had access to skiing. Both of us landed jobs in Quebec City. This was our dream job because we skied every Wednesday night and every weekend.

Operating in a rather ‘abstract random’ style I then chose to work for the YWCA in Quebec City, studied Modern dance in Toronto and generally tried to find myself. I believed that the Canary Islands would be my next destination.

But I was running out of money, so I headed to Canada’s Arctic where I taught Grade 2 and discovered my husband-to-be. However, I had only two years of teacher training, so the writing was on the wall. Change careers or sign up for more education.

I decided to follow my dad’s mantra, “When in doubt, go back to school.” And so I did. I acquired graduate degrees and continued to teach. I worked at Simon Fraser University and Vancouver Community college.

In the fullness of time, I found my perfect elementary school on Vancouver Island. Perfect staff, perfect students, perfect parents. It was a stellar experience.

But something was missing. Finally, I left school administration after a total of twelve years, loving the work but on the hunt for the next adventure.

Act 2—Looking Within

I dug deep and unearthed the lost link in the land of words. I decided to embrace fiction writing. I bought craft books, took classes, joined groups, entered contests, met with editors and agents and sent my work to publishing houses. And I continued to read and read. Very obsessive I know. But that has turned out to be my style.

I wrote and wrote, not really knowing what I was doing. Everything was a thrilling venture. I tried romance, women’s fiction, romantic suspense and a middle grade novel. I finished all of these manuscripts, over a ten year period.

Finally I stumbled upon the Young Adult genre. Ah yes! I could utilize all the voices, all the drama, all of the compelling stories of my life with students.

And so, for your reading pleasure, I now have The Girlfriends Series –Best Friends Forever. (Available on Amazon). Less than a latte!

Book #1 Little White Lies

Book #2 Little White Pills

Book #3 Little White Magic (to be released at the end of Sept. 2013)

The moral of this story? It’s never too late to find what you’re looking for in your life. Embrace your own journey. You will discover what you want and need.

Thank you Joanne for inviting me to join your blog. I wish you all the best in your writing adventures.

Blurbs

In Little White Lies, Book # 1 of the Girlfriends Series, eighth grader Rachel Scott finally has the perfect boyfriend. He’s good looking, athletic and wealthy. The only problem is he doesn’t actually exist. Rachel’s escape into her fantasy world worries her parents and they insist she meet with the school counselor. Frustrated with her life and without her best friend’s approval, Rachel heads down a dangerous path, looking for love in all the wrong places.

Tenth grader Steph Baxter has it all, perfect looks, perfect grades and a perfect life. She’s a model high school student and a member of the cheerleading squad. But in her quest for excellence, she makes dangerous choices. Soon her simple solution becomes a complex problem. Follow Steph and her best friend Rachel as they cope with Steph’s unexpected journey. Can Steph find support before it’s too late?

Where to find Jodie…

Website: http://www.JodieEsch.com

Author Page: http://bit.ly/JodieEschAmazonAuthorPage

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JodieEsch

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JodieEsch

A New Invention

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Professional Certified Coach Penny Gundry talking about trapezes and transitions.

Here’s Penny!

Ever thought of doing something a bit different? I was talking to a woman the other day who was telling me she felt quite trapped. She wanted to do something completely new with her life, to reinvent herself, but she couldn’t because it would be letting her family down. Also she couldn’t see how she could leave such a well-paid job. As I listened to her story I felt quite sad.

I started thinking about how important transitions are in our lives. It reminded me of the story by an anonymous writer about trapezes and transitions. As we hang on to our current trapeze bar we feel safe, it is familiar, and we know what is expected of us. But sometimes in the distance we spot another trapeze bar coming towards us. What do we do? This new bar may offer us a whole new world of many possibilities. It starts to swing closer and closer. There comes a time when we have to make a choice. Do we jump or do we stay? The decision is difficult enough but if we do let go, for a few terrifying moments we are in the void between bars with nothing to hang on to. The writer tells us:

“What this also means, of course, is that for some moment in time I must leave behind this bar and hurtle through space in order to reach the new one. Each time I am filled with terror. It makes no difference that in all my previous hurdles across the void of unknowing I have always made it. Each time I am afraid I will miss, that the new bar won’t hold me, that I will abandon the safety of what I have, only to plummet into the bottomless chasm of the unknown. But somehow, I have to take the chance. No guarantees, no safety net, no affordable blanket insurance policy – but there you are, soaring across the dark void of ‘the past is gone, the future is not yet here’, It is called transition.”

Bio

My life has evolved and changed over the years just like many of us. I started my career as a youth worker in Dublin Ireland working with teenage girls who lived on the streets and were often drug users. I was later involved in a number of conflict resolution programmes as part of the Peace Process In Northern Ireland before the Good Friday Agreement was signed. I wanted to be useful, to make a difference in the world but all too soon found out that change comes from deep within us not through trying hard to save others. It was my brief time living in Venezuela, South America which had the biggest impact on me. At one point I took a trip to the Angel Falls in the centre of the country. As we were slowly drifting down through the Rain Forest in a dugout canoe watching the toucans fly overhead and the monkeys leap from branch to branch I realised I was in paradise but I was not at peace. The contrast was so defined I made a decision that day to start on a spiritual quest and it has led me on an extraordinary journey.

About four years ago during times of meditation I started to see pictures almost like visions and noticed full sentences were coming into my mind. They seemed different from my thoughts; I didn’t recognise them as mine. I started to take notes and realised that a story was emerging. And this is how the book Glimmers of Light Dancing: A Fable for Our Times came into being. It was the easiest thing I have ever done.

Glimmers of Light Dancing follows Idan on a journey across a world that reveals the true meaning of life. Idan crosses an ocean full of storms, vast plains that reveal our true nature, a snowy wilderness, the Great White Mountain of truth and life beyond. It fills the senses, capturing the imagination, telling us secrets of a journey well travelled. It is a tale of hope and success in the face of self-doubt, fear and adversity. The purpose behind it is to tell a narrative that captures the essence of who we truly are and give the reader pointers for their own self-discovery.

Where to find Penny…

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Joanne here!

Thank you, Penny, for sharing your extraordinary journey and providing us with unique insights into transitions.

Exploring, Changing, Dreaming

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today we have award-winning author Jacqui Nelson reflecting on her multi-act life.

Here’s Jacqui!

Act 1 – What to do when your life is a blank canvas?

Start exploring. I spent the first eighteen years of my life in one place—one community, one farm, one house. Most of what I knew had come from reading books. My first real challenge was to decide what I wanted to study, what I wanted to be. At the time I was reading Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear series. I enrolled in a geology/zoology double major at the nearest university. I was going to be a paleontologist.

Act 2 – What to do when you don’t want to dissect a cat?

Be open to change. I love going to school, but I dreaded that dissection class. And how many jobs are there in paleontology anyway? I decided I should be practical. Computers seemed popular even if I hadn’t used them more than a handful of times. Note: this was in the latter part of the 80s. I took a two-year computer systems college course, got a job immediately upon graduating, and worked for seven years as a computer programmer/systems analyst.

Act 3 – What to do when you want a job you adore? tyle=”font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:’Times New Roman’, ‘serif’;”>Go after your dreams. I’ve loved animation for as long as I’ve loved reading. My theory became—someone’s doing that dream job, why not me? I went back to school, found my first animation job in Germany, worked there for two years, and then worked one year back home in Canada and four in England. I was pursuing my dream.

Act 4 – What to do when you burn out at your dream job?

Be crazy enough to give it up, then lucky enough to clear you mind and remember a previous dream– writing a book. I researched writing groups, discovered a Romance Writers of America chapter nearby, became a member, and started learning again…but slowly this time. I still need a day job to pay the bills. I’ve worked as a fund-raising assistant and in a variety of retail shops.

Today I work in a bookstore.

Seems like a good place for me. For now. For as long as I’m able to write in every free moment that presents itself.

And what advice can I give anyone planning to pursue a new act in life? Work hard at whatever you choose to do. The following anonymous quote has been with me (and kept me going) since the day I left my childhood home: The race is to the driven, not the swift.

As long as I push forward, as long as I keep exploring and changing and dreaming and even on occasion being a little crazy—I have faith that I can accomplish whatever I desire and that the best acts in life are yet to come.

Bio

Jacqui Nelson writes historical romantic adventures set in the American West and Victorian London. Her love of Western stories came from watching classic Western movies while growing up on a cattle farm. Her passion for Victorian London wasn’t far behind and only increased when she worked in England for four years and explored the nooks and crannies of London on her weekends. Jacqui currently lives in Victoria on the west coast of Canada where she works as a book seller. Her previous jobs have included animator, systems analyst and fundraising event coordinator.

Her debut release, Adella’s Enemy, is part of the Passion’s Prize anthology and the Steam! Romance and Rails series. She is a Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® winner and three-time finalist.

Blurbs

Adella’s Enemy (a novella in the Passion’s Prize anthology)

Can the pursuit of an old enemy lead to a new love?

Five years after the War Between the States, a Kansas railroad race heats up as former Rebel spy Adella Willows receives her mission from a Washington senator—play havoc with the Katy Railroad and derail its bid to win the race. The senator craves wealth. Adella craves revenge against the man responsible for her brother’s death. But her plans crumble into chaos when she matches wits with the railroad’s foreman, a handsome Irishman torn between two desires: winning the race or winning Adella’s heart.

The Passion’s Prize anthology (in the Steam! Romance and Rails series) features three interlinked Western historical romance novellas revolving around the true story of a cutthroat construction race between two powerful railroads.

Outlaws, soldiers and spies bedevil the Katy Railroad as crews rush to reach the Indian Territory border before the rival railroad. The stakes are just as high for three women whose lives hinge on the outcome.

In Adella’s Enemy by Jacqui Nelson, a spy pursuing an old enemy must choose to live for revenge or die for love. In Eden’s Sin by Jennifer Jakes, a woman with a soiled past must trust the one man who could ruin her future. And in Kate’s Outlaw by E.E. Burke, a railroad heiress abducted by outlaws must escape before her Cherokee captor steals her fortune—and her heart. Passions rise. Fortunes fall. In a race for riches, anything can happen.

Where to find Jacqui…

Website: www.JacquiNelson.com

Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/jacquinelson

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/JacquiNelson

Facebook: www.facebook.com/JacquiNelsonBooks

Twitter: www.twitter.com/Jacqui_Nelson

Joanne here!

Thank you, Jacqui for sharing the long and winding path that led to your successful literary debut. I’m certain this post will inspire many readers to start exploring, changing and dreaming.

I Hate to Be Pigeonholed

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Debra H. Goldstein talking about a childhood promise, high-powered careers, and writing.

Here’s Debra!

When I was a child, I spoke so quickly I couldn’t be understood. My parents dragged me to professional speech therapy supplemented by reading poetry aloud every night. My favorite poem was John Greenleaf Whittier’s “Barefoot Boy.” It inspired me to never want to be confined in my thoughts or actions.

My resolution to think outside the box resulted in choosing to graduate college a term early, determined to immediately go to New York to try to accomplish two goals: landing a publishing job and getting on Jeopardy. Lest you not think me pragmatic, by day I looked for a job while at night I applied for admission to law school. Eight months later, my two goals fulfilled, I started law school. I figured down the road, I would mesh writing and law.

My first job out of school was as a corporate international tax attorney. I hated it. A year later, I gave up my big salary and benefits to become a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Labor. I loved litigation and kept my hand in writing by producing a number of boring legal articles and continuing legal education pieces. After a few years I reached a fork in my legal career—continue as a litigator or seek a federal administrative law judicial appointment. Many people advised me not to get my hopes up as I was in my thirties and the average age for a federal Administrative Law judge was fifty-eight, plus only thirteen women held the position in the country. I applied anyway. In 1990, whether because of luck, having tried an equal pay case of first impression, or I don’t know what, I became one of the youngest people ever appointed as an Administrative Law Judge. During the next twenty years, I carried a heavy docket, raised four children, was a wife, volunteered in the community, and continued to write legal articles and decisions. I also was the go to person for party skits, but other than occasionally commenting that I’d like to write, that was as far as my creative writing went.

In 2009, two friends challenged me to stop talking and actually write. One went so far as to loan me a beach condo for a weekend. I left that condo with eighty-five hand-written pages and the confidence I could write a book. Maze in Blue, a mystery set on the University of Michigan’s campus in the 1970’s, was published in 2011. It contained four or five pages from the original eighty-five. Between juggling promotional appearances, signings, my continued responsibilities as a judge, and making a consistent effort to write non-fiction and fiction pieces, the next two years flew by. I found myself joking that I had a day and a night job.

I started to feel I only wanted to do one of these jobs. When I announced that I was stepping down from the bench, my colleagues thought I was crazy. They pointed out that the last three judges to retire from our lifetime appointments were 89, 86, and 79. I responded that I had been on the bench twenty-three years and that with luck I might have the opportunity for my new career to last as long or longer.

Will I write the great American novel? Probably not, but I’ve been enjoying a very diverse new career. It includes writing non-fiction, fiction, and beach or bedside fun pieces like my 2012 IPPY Award winning novel, Maze in Blue, and the book I now am shopping, Should Have Played Poker: A Mah Jongg Murder Mystery, which recently won an Alabama Writers Conclave First Chapter Award. Whether this is my final act or an interim one, I know the variety of things I have done and people who have influenced me can all be tied back to the decision I made in childhood to never be pigeonholed.

Bio

Judge, author, litigator, wife, step-mom, mother of twins, civic volunteer, University of Michigan grad, and transplanted Yankee are all words use to describe Debra H. Goldstein. Her writings are equally diverse. Her debut novel, Maze in Blue, a murder mystery set on the University of Michigan’s campus in the late 1970’s received a 2012 Independent Book Publisher (IPPY) Award. Even though Maze in Blue is a murder mystery, it is a safe bet that when it comes to her writing, “It’s Not Always a Mystery.”

Where to find Debra…

Website: www.DebraHGoldstein.com

Blog: http://debrahgoldstein.wordpress.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DebraHGoldstein

Joanne here!

WOW! Thank you, Debra, for giving us glimpses of the beautiful life tapestry you have expertly woven.

Second Act Reflections

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today we have Lynn Chandler Willis reflecting on forgiveness, redemption and second chances.

Here’s Lynn!

I knew early on I wanted to be a writer. I thrived on junior high and high school writing prompts. I wrote short stories, misguided novels, song lyrics, poems, greeting cards, journal entries, newspaper articles…you name it, I wrote it.

So when the opportunity to pen a True Crime book came about, I jumped at it. I was familiar with the crime – it happened in the small town where we lived. I even knew the suspects. I had covered the story for the local community paper and knew it inside and out.

I pitched the idea to a True Crime publisher and they wanted it. The book, Unholy Covenant, was published in 2000. It would be thirteen years before I published another.

It wasn’t the dreaded sophomore slump that prevented the words from flowing. They flowed fine. I just couldn’t bring myself to pursue having anything else published. It took me many years to figure out why. The publisher of Unholy Covenant wanted more. He really liked my style. But, I kept remembering something he had said early on in our publishing relationship – True Crime has to have a murder. Someone has to die. And as cold as it seems, the bottom line was the more sensational the murder, the higher the profits.

I just didn’t have the backbone for it. Knowing people in my community thought I was profiting from a neighbor’s tragedy made me re-think the whole writing gig. Yes, I gave the victim a voice, and I told her story…but still…the reality was always there. A family lost their daughter in the most horrible way. No amount of pretty prose would ever change that.

But, like I said, during my thirteen year hiatus I never stopped writing. I just stopped submitting for publication. Until I ran across a call for submissions from Pelican Book Group. I read over it, and read over it again, and within the hour, The Rising was on its way to Pelican. It’s a story involving forgiveness, redemption, and second chances. It was a perfect fit, for us both.

The Rising was released through Harbourlight/Pelican Book Group in July. This time around comes with no mixed emotions. I’m very proud of the work that went into bringing it to life and humbled by the welcoming it has received. Is it my story? Not really. I’ve never dated anyone as handsome as Jesse.

Bio

Lynn Chandler-Willis has worked in the corporate world (hated it!), the television news business (fun job) and the newspaper industry (not a fan of the word “apparently” and phrase “according to”). She keeps coming back to fiction because she likes making stuff up and you just can’t do that in the newspaper or television news business.

She was born, raised, and continues to live in the heart of North Carolina within walking distance to her kids and their spouses and her nine grandchildren. She shares her home, and heart, with Sam the cocker spaniel.

She is the author of the best-selling true crime book, Unholy Covenant. The Rising is her debut novel.

Blurb

A little boy, beaten and left to die in an alley. A cop with a personal life out of control. When their worlds collide, God intervenes. Detective Ellie Saunders’s homicide investigation takes a dramatic turn when a young victim “wakes up” in the morgue. The child has no memory prior to his “rising” except walking with his father along a shiny road. Ellie likes dealing with facts. She’d rather leave all the God-talk to her father, a retired minister, and to her partner, Jesse, a former vice cop with an annoying habit of inserting himself into her life. But will the facts she follows put Ellie’s life in mortal danger? And will she finally allow God into her heart forever?

Excerpt

“Jack told me you were at lunch. Caper’s is one of my favorites, so I thought I’d take a chance.” He winked at her then sidled closer. “Anyway, I was thinking about your dead kid—“

“He’s not dead.”

A waitress slammed a sandwich down in front of Ellie, and Jesse helped himself to a homemade chip.

“OK, so he’s not dead. You have sent his picture to the National Center for Missing and Exploited

Children?”

She huffed. “Did Jack send you?”

“No, Jack didn’t send me. I was just thinking if the center didn’t get a hit, I’ve got a few connections with the FBI, and they’ve got some really cool equipment.”

Ellie pulleda piece of bacon from her sandwich and chewed on one end. “Thanks, but no thanks. I really don’t want the Feds involved.”

Jesse snatched another chip and shook his head. “No black suit with shades is going to swoop in and take your case, Detective Saunders.” He grinned and helped himself to another chip. “I thought we could get them to run his picture through the facial recognition scanner. Maybe we’ll get a hit.”

What was with all the we stuff? The case was complicated enough. The last thing she needed was Jesse involved. She didn’t need a constant reminder of her downward spiral.

Where to find Lynn…

Website: http://lynnchandlerwillis.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Rising-by-Lynn-Chandler-Willis/326832037448082?ref=hl

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LCWillis

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/438147.Lynn_Chandler_Willis

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/lynncwillis/boards/

Joanne here!

Lynn, thank you for sharing your extraordinary journey and reminding us that pauses can be powerful and lead to breakthroughs.

Sharing Favorite Quotations

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Collecting quotations has been one of my lifelong hobbies. In the pre-computer days, I would jot down quotations on slips of paper and toss them in a desk drawer. Once a month, I would type them up and place them in a special file folder. I’ve kept the folder, but now use Pinterest and Goodreads to store my favorite quotations.

Some of my all-time favorites from four extraordinary women…

MARY OLIVER

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

Listen—are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?

Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.

You want to cry aloud for your mistakes. But to tell the truth, the world doesn’t need any more of that sound.

MAYA ANGELOU

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.

A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.

I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.

When you know better, you do better.

Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.

ANNA QUINDLEN

Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination and the journey. They are the home.

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

If your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all.

The life you have led doesn’t need to be the life you have.

NORA EPHRON

Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.

And then the dreams break into a million tiny pieces. The dream dies. Which leaves you with a choice: you can settle for reality, or you can go off, like a fool, and dream another dream.

A Second Act with Al Capone

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Linda Bennett Pennell talking about changing direction, taking risks and Al Capone.

Here’s Linda!

Life can at times be frustrating, joyous, depressing, boring, even mysterious. It is not always clear in the moment why things happen as they do, but one thing is for certain, unless we make the best of what we’ve been given, life cannot be lived to the fullest. I think I always knew this, but it took a change in direction and taking a risk to grasp its true meaning.

I never intended to be a writer. In fact, as an elementary student, I despaired of even being competent in the language arts. It should be said that my early education left a great deal to be desired, but that is another story. It was not until my senior year of high school that I had a rewarding creative writing experience. Thank you, Miss Miller, wherever you are. Once in college, however, I put aside creative writing for the rigors of historical research and expository writing. Another degree and several certifications later and I have come full circle.

My other life is in public education as a reading specialist and secondary school administrator, but about five years ago after I “retired” to part time work, I decided to pick up my creative “pen” again. I can’t say exactly why or when the decision was made. That is one of those mysteries. All I can say is that I came to feel a burning desire to write and the experience has been a revelation and a joy.

It hasn’t been all easy sailing. Nothing in life worth having ever really comes without some pain. Sending out queries and the rejections that came with them were not particularly fun, but it was not as difficult as I thought it would be. With a debut novel that is being well received, I can now say that the process was definitely worth the risk. Most importantly, my venture in writing has allowed me to reinvent myself. We humans are truly multifaceted creatures, but unfortunately we tend to sort and categorize each other into neat, easily understood packages that rarely reveal the whole person. Writing has allowed me to tap into skills and talents I had all but buried for many years. I am a newer, better version of myself for the experience.

Perhaps you, too, want to step out of the box in which you find yourself. I encourage you to look at the possibilities and imagine. Be filled with childlike wonder in your mental wanderings. Envision what might be, not simply what is. Let us never forget, all good fiction begins when someone says to herself or himself, “Let’s pretend.”

Blurb

Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel tells a story of lives unfolding in different centuries, but linked and irrevocably altered by a series of murders in 1930.

Lake City, Florida, June, 1930: Al Capone checks in for an unusually long stay at the Blanche Hotel, a nice enough joint for an insignificant little whistle stop. The following night, young Jack Blevins witnesses a body being dumped heralding the summer of violence to come. One-by-one, people controlling county vice activities swing from KKK ropes. No moonshine distributor, gaming operator, or brothel madam, black or white, is safe from the Klan’s self-righteous vigilantism. Jack’s older sister Meg, a waitress at the Blanche, and her fiancé, a sheriff’s deputy, discover reasons to believe the lynchings are cover for a much larger ambition than simply ridding the county of vice. Someone, possibly backed by Capone, has secret plans for filling the voids created by the killings. But as the body count grows and crosses burn, they come to realize this knowledge may get all of them killed.

Gainesville, Florida, August, 2011: Liz Reams, an up and coming young academic specializing in the history of American crime, impulsively moves across the continent to follow a man who convinces her of his devotion yet refuses to say the three simple words I love you. Despite entreaties of friends and family, she is attracted to edginess and a certain type of glamour in her men, both living and historical. Her personal life is an emotional roller coaster, but her career options suddenly blossom beyond all expectation, creating a very different type of stress. To deal with it all, Liz loses herself in her professional passion, original research into the life and times of her favorite bad boy, Al Capone. What she discovers about 1930’s summer of violence, and herself in the process, leaves her reeling at first and then changed forever.

Where to find Linda…

Website: http://www.lindapennell.com/

Amazon: http://amzn.to/16qq3k5

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLindaBennettPennell

Joanne here!

Thank you, Linda for sharing your journey. It is an inspiring one that will provide hope and encouragement to all writers and creatives. Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel is simply riveting and should be on everyone’s ‘To Read’ list.

A Journey of Self-Awareness

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Certified Life Coach Sandra Dawes talking about the experiences that have shaped her amazing life journey.

Here’s Sandra!

In my mid to late twenties I lived a very passive life. I lived to make others happy, often to the detriment of my own happiness. I was a constant people pleaser, a consequence of low self-esteem and self-confidence. In my heart, I didn’t feel like I was worthy of love, so I did whatever I thought I had to do to prove to the people in my life that I was worth the love I so badly needed from them. In doing this, I put my own dreams and desires on the backburner.

When my father died, my world shifted in ways I didn’t think were possible. While he had been diagnosed with cancer 6 years earlier, I thought he had beaten it. It came back with a vengeance in 2004 and he died on the operating table during hip replacement surgery. I wasn’t prepared for the consequences of my father’s passing. I was in denial that it was even a possibility! With all that happened after his death, I was left hopeless, believing that all that I had done for others was a complete waste of time and unsure if I was ever going to experience joy in my life again, or if I really ever knew what it meant!

It took years of self-help books and a journey of self-awareness to understand that I am the creator of the reality that I experience and that if I wanted different experiences, I needed to make changes in the way I lived my life. I now understand I am worthy of love and don’t need anyone to prove that to me. I just need to believe it in my own heart and love myself the way I wanted others to love me. Instead of allowing life to happen to me, I’m doing what I need to do to make things happen in my life. My self-esteem and self-confidence are stronger than they have ever been and I’m no longer afraid to step outside my comfort zone and try new things and put myself out there in ways that would have made my knees weak just a few years ago!

No matter how bad things may seem right now, or how impossible your dreams might look, the belief that anything is possible is a necessary requirement if you want to live a better life than the one you’re currently experiencing. Belief in your dreams, a plan to make them a reality and taking action each and every day towards making those dreams real, are important steps in living the life that you’ve dreamed about. You have to believe without a shadow of a doubt that you are worth all of the amazing things that you want for your life. Yes, there will be obstacles and challenges along the way, but when you want something bad enough; you can’t let anything deter you from your goals!

Wayne Dyer says “when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” How do you want to experience life? Do you want to live your life believing that you have no control over your circumstances and live a mediocre, unfulfilling life, or do you want to experience life where anything is possible and you can achieve your heart’s desires as long as you are committed to do whatever it takes to make it happen? I’ve chosen to live my life without regret and pursue my passions to the fullest. It’s scary at times, but every milestone I encounter reminds me that it’s all worth it, and so am I!

Where to find Sandra…

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Joanne here!

Sandra, your clients are truly blessed to have such a caring and insightful coach in their lives. Thank you for sharing your triumphant story.