Today, we have Soul Mate author Brenda Stinnett sharing insights and advice gleaned from her writing journey.
Here’s Brenda!
I graduated from California State Univ. Stanislaus with a BA in psychology. I taught kindergarten for twenty-one years in California, but I’m now a Florida transplant and a full-time writer. I have to admit that I’m a late bloomer. I didn’t get my teaching degree until my mid-thirties. However, I started writing after my daughter was born in my mid-twenties. Once I started teaching though, I got distracted from my writing and focused mainly on my family and my teaching career. Of course, I don’t think this was a bad thing.
Once my daughter started the Air Force Academy, I found more time to focus on my writing, so I took Writer’s Digest classes and went to some conferences. I also subscribed to Writer’s Digest and Romantic Writers Report. Both of these magazines have helped me tremendously in my goal to a writing career.
In my mid-fifties, I retired from teaching and focused more on my writing. It seems once I reach midway in a decade that I decide to try a new direction. My favorite pastime has been traveling and I’m fascinated by history and the paranormal, so I combined those interests into my passion for writing.
I submitted my paranormal romance, “The King’s Vampire,” to Soul Mate Publishing and I was fortunate enough to get a contract with this great publishing organization. My latest novel, “Tenth Degree of the Paranormal,” veered off into strictly paranormal suspense, so I decided to try the Indie route with it.
Second acts in life are scary and I think persistence and courage are major factors when we want to change our lives. It’s important to avoid people who send out negative vibes and seek out supportive groups who encourage us in our endeavors. I’ve found the authors at Soul Mate Publishing to be some of the most helpful, generous people around. I think we just have to hang on to our dreams and make sure we actually know what it is we want to do. We need to break down our goals into small steps. If we take five small steps every day to achieve our long-term goal, I think we have a good chance of fulfilling our dreams. We need to take joy in every step of the process and enjoy the journey as well.
Blurb
Whether a hunch, intuition, or something more sinister, Barbara knew she had no choice. Self-deception was no longer an option—comfortable but not an option. She knew each denial she’d ever made left a scar on her soul, each more painful than the last.
An epic battle between good and evil pits a mother who struggles to deny her paranormal powers against a megalomaniac intent on world destruction.
Barbara Stevens has always struggled with her inexplicable powers. Her unwillingness to acknowledge her pent-up abilities has not stopped her young daughter Tiffany from exercising her own powers.
Recruited by a group intent on honing and harvesting these paranormal powers to create a super race, Barbara and Tiffany are soon kidnapped and held on an island off the coast of Russia.
Suspicion soon grows that Tiffany may, in fact, manifest the ten highest paranormal abilities of astral projection, aura reading, bio-energy transference, levitation, past life regression, precognition, spontaneous healing, telekinesis, and telepathy.
If proven true, Tiffany’s abilities will trigger an opening to the gates of hell. But can this descent into evil be stopped in time?
A fellow teacher and late bloomer, I found myself nodding in agreement as I read your post. Your advice is spot on. Thank you, Brenda, for sharing your inspiring story.
Today, we have Soul Mate author Anne B. Cole chatting about seven-year itches and her debut novel Souls Entwined.
Here’s Anne!
My First Act is similar to many other women.
• Married my high school sweetheart after 7 years of dating
• Taught Elementary school for 7 years
• Stayed home to raise three children for 7 years
• Taught preschool for 10 years.
Whoa! What happened to the seven year itch my life seemed to be following?
It happened…I just didn’t know it…
Seven years into my preschool teaching I found myself at the pool where my children were competing in a very long swim meet. Swimmer parents know these things can take up to six hours for one session. I had kids swimming in both sessions, so I was parked at the pool for over ten hours.
I love to watch my kids BUT there is gobs of wait time in between their events. I grabbed my bag at the beginning of warms up and found that I forgot to pack my library book. Darn! For someone who is constantly on the go I have a hard time sitting still with nothing to do. Knowing that I was too far away from home to get my book, I turned the heat sheet over and started to jot down ideas. That outline became the foundation of my Second Act.
I began to carry composition books around with me so I could write in the car, at the pool, anywhere I could find a minute or two. What started out as a hobby became an obsession. Two years later, I finished writing my novel and found two wonderful critique partners. One pitched my story in a contest last year. A month later I found myself with a contract with Soul Mate Publishing.
On April 30th I became an author.
During last minute edits two weeks ago I saw a quote that inspired me;
“No Pressure. No Diamonds.”
My Second Act is a little more frantic since I remain a wife, mother of three teenagers, and a preschool teacher. Add to that; learning social media, writing a sequel, and promoting the release of my novel.
My advice to anyone with a seven year itch? It’s never too late to do something new.
Thanks, Joanne for having me here on your Second Act Series!
Blurb
When a cursed family heirloom sends Gretta Dobbs back in time, a hunky construction worker, Sam Daggett, suddenly finds himself love struck and joins her adventure. Their souls entwine within the bodies of young lovers on a Greek island in 1829, where they begin to unravel the mysteries behind Gretta’s ring all while avoiding a bloodthirsty pirate who is determined to seek revenge. Gretta and Sam must find the secrets needed to save her and her relatives from an afterlife in purgatory and return to their own lives—or risk becoming prisoners of the past, continuing the evil cycle of the ring’s curse.
Today, we have Smiljana Orlic sharing the struggles and strong sense of commitment that shaped her life.
Here’s Smiljana!
I have been an individual with many interests. The truth was not the fact that I could not focus but I saw much excitement and fulfillment in life. I have always been passionate and I have always followed my heart.
Hence, this made it difficult growing up and in a society where I was told it was not possible, I needed to figure out my one purpose, get a safe job or just told it can’t be so. This created doubt, lack of confidence and consistently being hard on myself. At the time, I closed down and found it easier to be “normal” and more “like” other people. This consistent battle within myself caused me much pain and robbed me of complete fulfillment.
After much experience in the corporate world, I was tired of chasing the power and fulfillment I sought. I no longer could divide myself in two between my Divine self and the Power I knew was within to the superficial power that comes when we look for the answers outside of ourselves. Hence, I created my own business that incorporated the strong spiritual principles inherit within me and I intertwined them with strong business strategies to help others build their dreams. I have a process that I take individuals through and together we create systems that they can walk away with and incorporate to get the goals they desire in their business and/or lives. I love sharing the true ‘secret sauce’ of life, connecting them with their passions, empowering others and seeing them succeed in living their unlimited potential of themselves!
The advice I would share to professionals alike is not to ignore the voice of your spiritual soul, your uniqueness or your passions, as they are the nuggets that will lead you to building and creating a life of purpose. There is always a way without compromising your true authentic nature.
Success to me can be measured in many ways, beyond living the life I desire, living in the state of flow and having the things that make me happy, I rate my success on how many others I can help bring passion back in their lives and in their businesses. Seeing them truly free themselves in becoming all they can be and deserving of the business and life they desire brings a great smile to my face. Living a life that is thriving and not just surviving is what truly invigorates my core being and purpose!
Smiljana, Thank you for sharing your journey and insights. You are an excellent role model for your clients. Best of luck with all your future endeavours.
Today, I am pleased to feature a trailer from Soul Mate author Rebecca Heflin.
Dreams of Perfection is Book #1 in the Dreams Come True Series. Best-selling romance author, Darcy Butler, is holding out for perfection in the form of her own carefully-crafted heroes. But when her latest hero, Blake Garrett, comes to life, will she find perfection isn’t truly perfect?
Yesterday on Super Soul Sunday, Oprah and Arianna Huffington chatted about mothers, success, and spirituality while having tea at at Starbucks.
Well known and acclaimed as one of the world’s most influential people, Arianna attributes much of her success to her mother, a woman who provided her daughters with unconditional love and an enriched upbringing, despite modest beginnings in Athens. After selling all their belongings, the family moved to England where Ariana obtained a scholarship to Cambridge University. At age 21, she held the distinction of being the first international student to become president of the famed debating society, The Cambridge Union.
After moving to New York in 1980, Arianna married, had two daughters and become politically involved. In 2005, she founded the Huffington Post, a news and blog site that quickly became one of the most widely-read media brands. But this success came at a price. On April 6, 2007, Arianna collapsed from exhaustion and woke up to find herself lying in a pool of blood.
We must disconnect with technology to reconnect with ourselves. To improve the quality of her sleep, Arianna transformed her bedroom into a device-free sanctuary.
Take a nap in the afternoon. There are two (well-used) nap rooms at Huffington Post and Arianna is planning to add a third room.
Give up what no longer works. Several years ago, Arianna found it liberating to drop several projects that were no longer relevant or necessary.
Quotable quotes…
Life is a dance between making it happen and letting it happen.
A eulogy has nothing to do with our resume.
We can integrate death into our lives, not in a morbid way but to give life meaning.
Failure is part of the journey to success.
Failure is not the opposite of success. It is a stepping stone to success. (Arianna’s mother)
Failure is God trying to move you in a new direction. (Oprah)
No experience goes wasted. Whatever arises in life is the right material to fuel your growth…All of life is here to greet you like an old and faithful friend. (Marcus Aurelias)
Live life as though everything is rigged in your favor. (Rumi)
Today, we have Soul Mate author Janis Lane sharing a lifetime of experiences.
Here’s Janis!
Growing up: It’s an interesting thought to consider life having first, second, third, etc. acts. They’re the early days when I was growing up which included schools, proms, first kisses, learning to drive a car and a standard shift in a pick up, and skinny dipping once with my girlfriends. College and that sort of thing. Those were big changes as I left home really for good, only visiting after that. I wrote letters home and made them amusing.
Marriage and Babies: I had a few memorable adventures in my early marriage days. We moved around a lot initially, which I was eager to do. Life was a constant surprise and I was up for it. Hubby bought an airplane. Then came the beautiful baby girl and I wanted instant stability. I remember how puzzled my hubby was at the change in me. I thought he was weird not to understand. We planted ourselves in Western NY and there we welcomed a sturdy baby boy to go with our gorgeous little girl.
Years of Mothering: At the time they seemed to go on forever, but now it seems they were too fleeting. I wrote a bit. Seems I meant to do that when I majored in a few courses in college, but life was too interesting and I just couldn’t settle. The muse was knocking, but “…I hear ya knocking, but you can’t come in…” I painted, learned all about wild flowers, birds, nature, and how to be a Blue Bird leader and that seemed to subdue the urge to create. In between, I read tons of books from all sorts of genres and played an excessive amount of tennis. I earned this bum knee quite honestly.
Empty Nest: You think I’d sit down and write, don’t you? Nope. Freedom meant I could go with hubby and travel became an intense hobby. We made it a habit to “collect” art museums all over the country and quite a few out.
Beginning to Write: Then one day I sat down and started to write. I always meant to and the time seemed right. And I wrote, and I wrote, and I finished a novel. It was satisfying. I joined a local writers group and that was satisfying and illuminating. There were people like me!
I don’t know how long this writing bug will continue. So far I have more ideas than I can possibly get written and I have a lovely office all my own. I do know there is a deep urge in me to continue, some call it the muse, and some call it a creative talent. I call it having fun and living a satisfying life, which runs with hills and valleys but always interesting.
Blurb
MURDER IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD is the first of handsome Detective Kevin Fowler Mysteries. MURDER IN THE JUNKYARD and THE GLASS CAT (a short story) are due out sometime in May.
Life in a peaceful neighborhood is turned upside down when middle-aged women are found dead on their front steps. Detective Fowler races the clock searching for the identity of a madman and is aided by that beautiful, home town, princess reporter, Beverly Hampton.
Today, we have Lori Anding King talking about her personal challenges and sharing remarkable insights and advice.
Here’s Lori!
I’m happy that I got a degree in something I enjoy: biology. I was grateful to land a job at a biotech company founded by Jonas Salk working on a Phase III study to boost the immune system of HIV infected people.
The same year I started, Magic Johnson announced he was HIV positive and HIV was thrown into the spotlight. I worked hard for a great cause and played hard too. I traveled all over Europe with a backpack on my back, biked through Northern Italy and traveled solo down under for 3 months when I decided to leave the company. I earned the nickname of “Indiana Lori” for my adventurous spirit and lack of fear for traveling to the unknown.
Then, I got serious, and took a partner position in a translation agency. All work and no play. This provided the foundation to venture out on my own to create AXIOM Translations with a business partner. I learned more in the 9 years as a small business owner than I did in my whole life. It was exciting, painful, fun and arduous. Towards the end of my 1st Act, I realized that I was recruited into this line of work recruited into someone else’s dream. Wake up, Lori, it’s time to live your dream. What is your passion?
What woke me up?
As I was walking on the treadmill of life, I didn’t even notice the pace was picking up to the point that I was running until signs of stress began to set in. A full blown breakdown occurred with my husband after dropping off the kids at school: “I just can’t handle all this juggling anymore!” With the relief of letting off some steam, I jumped back on. Next, my neck gave out. I was in a brace but could still function so I kept on running. Then, my neck gave out again, this time I could barely move it. “What, I can’t drive!” Flashes of my responsibilities run before my eyes. “I can’t drive the kids to school or pick them up? Who else is going to do it?”
I lose it.
Then, I remember, I need to let go. I am not in control. This is the way it is.
B R E A T H E
Months later, I found out a fellow alumna of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program unexpectedly and suddenly died while 9 months pregnant. The news of Sandra Huerta’s death rocked my world. She was a beautiful spirit who lived life to the fullest and I asked myself: “What are you doing with your life?” Subsequently, I read an article asking: which one would you pick 1. A raise or 2. Time off. Hands down, TIME OFF! I tell this story to my business partner who takes it as “Lori is going to take a few months off.” Cool. I go with it. And that is how I took the summer of 2013 off of work. I couldn’t bring myself to get back on the treadmill. I resigned as an active partner in the business in December 2013.
I wish I could say I have it all figured out; but I don’t. My mother always said, “Do what makes your heart sing.” That is exactly what I am doing, delving into the world of social media. My passion is for empowering people and small business owners to thrive. As a small business owner, I know how all-consuming it can be and how easy it is to lose sight of what is truly precious – family.
What I’ve learned:
– I will honor my passion.
– I will frequently check-in to be sure I’m not consumed by work.
– I will seize the day!
If you are pondering a 2nd Act, I have a few questions for you.
1. Are YOU happy?
2. Is what you are doing resonating with YOU?
3. Are YOU listening? Take time to really L I S T E N
I couldn’t hear on that treadmill; the wind in my ears prevented me from really listening. A mother’s death woke me up. Now, every day, I practice listening because I have time.
Life is too short to ignore your heart.
This is dedicated to Sandra Huerta, a much loved daughter, sister, mother, friend who was taken from this lifetime much too soon. She touched many souls with her kindness, love, zest for life and generosity of heart. Carpe Diem
Today, I am pleased to feature a trailer from Soul Mate author Rachel Sharpe.
Cold Ambition, the first novel in the Jordan James, P.I. series, is about a girl from New Orleans living in Boston and taking on her first case, a mysterious, unsolved murder from the 1980s. Little did she know that her life-long dream of becoming a private eye would turn into a life-threatening nightmare with her very first case…
I am pleased to welcome Soul Mate author and editor Char Chaffin. She will be sharing her insights on tempting fate (or not) and chatting about her latest release, Jesse’s Girl.
Here’s Char!
Everybody knows what ‘tempting fate’ means. Change this, fix that. Remain stubborn when a certain path is the better way. Do your best to trod a different road even if it goes against every other instinct you might have.
“If I had it all to do over again, I’d do . . .” And then you start listing stuff that in reality probably wouldn’t have made a difference. Some call it fate, a kind of karma, a set journey; that no matter how you progressed in your life, nothing would alter certain truths. Up to a point, I agree.
Some of it is obvious: after all, that ‘left turn at Albuquerque’ made all the difference to Bugs Bunny. He lost his way to Pismo Beach (and all the clams he could eat) because he went right. Then again, he ended up in Aladdin’s Cave, dripping in diamonds and swimming in solid gold coins. Not too bad of an alternative for a wascally wabbit.
I was recently asked what I would change in my life if I could go back. It took but a moment to respond with, “Nothing.” Because sometimes the smallest changes mean everything.
In 1968, my widowed mother had the chance to move us to California. I was thrilled at the thought. At loose ends, we could technically live anywhere, and cousins on my father’s side wanted us to move to Anaheim to be near them. My older brothers were married and settled; nothing was really holding us in our little home town. My fourteen-year-old head was packed tightly with all the marvels of the “Golden State” ever since I’d first heard The Beach Boys and then The Mamas and the Papas sing about it. I had actually started packing up my room when she came to me with the sad news: we wouldn’t be leaving New York after all. It broke my heart. Well, at the time, that is. I mourned the loss of California for a lot of years, even after I met the most amazing man in the world, and married him.
Then, I got to thinking one day: what if? Sure, I believe in fate. But there are things even fate can’t necessarily beat against. If, at age fourteen I had moved to California, I wouldn’t have been in the right place at the right time, to meet the guy who changed my entire life. In this case, Fate wouldn’t have had an opportunity to intervene. Everything that came after would have been affected. Here’s why: I walked into a honky tonk bar, late in the evening, just as my future man was walking out. One minute later and I’d have missed him. But he saw me, decided he liked what he saw, chose to turn and walk back in, sit down and wait to see if I was meeting someone. Then he made his move on me. Boy, did he ever. ::le fond sigh::
None of that would have happened, even if Fate had found a way to wrangle me back to New York at that time in my life. Because I’d have returned an entirely different person and probably wouldn’t have walked into a honky tonk on a bet. And because he already had an off-again, on-again relationship going on, there’s every indication that had we not met, my love would have married someone else shortly after that night. It just so happened that we met when he was on the ‘off.’
The chances of me even going to that bar that night were ridiculously slim, too. The friend I was with wanted to go there, but I was tired and longed for home. She talked me into one more stop. Not only that, but I personally hated country music, so it took some convincing on her part to coax an, “Oh, all right” out of me.
Everything happens for a reason.
All the places my husband and I have lived, each small or big milestone or event, both good and bad, have led us to this very moment in our life together. They link tightly like the precious metal of a necklace; the “gold” of California that I never got to experience back when I was fourteen and about as sharp as a sack of wet mice. Alter a link, alter a path. Change an event, change it all.
So I stayed in New York and swung into a smoky bar in the fall of 1974, late at night. One dance and three months later, I married my guy, a military man. We lived a kind of nomadic existence until the day we ended up in the state where our daughter grew and flourished, then met her soul mate and settled happily. One tiny, small alteration in our plans along the way would have affected so much for her.
Most sobering of all: if I had moved to California, I wouldn’t have had her. Just thinking about it makes me shaky.
Therefore, when asked what I’d have changed if I’d been afforded the opportunity to go back and do anything over, my response was a loud, definitive, “NOTHING.” I wouldn’t change a single second. Not a breath.
Coincidentally, the question of tempting fate also came up when I was writing Jesse’s Girl, my latest release. The story of Tim and Dorothy hinged firmly on the events of a nightmarish time in their lives that changed everything. Tim has his moments of pondering, thinking that if only he’d never left town; if only he’d fought harder, that he’d have gotten his Dorothy a heck of a lot sooner. But that’s not really true, because Tim needed seven years away from Skitter Lake, and Dorothy wouldn’t have abandoned her mother, Jesse’s parents, or his memory. Seven years had to happen just as it did, for everything else to align into the platform that brought Tim back to town, ready to fight for his love. For the scales of impotent misery to tip just enough to push Dorothy into Tim’s arms when she needed him most.
Everything happens for a reason, better believe it.
My current novel, Jesse’s Girl, is set in 1965 Ohio, in a small town called Skitter Lake.
Here’s the blurb:
In 1965, Tim O’Malley returns to his home town of Skitter Lake, Ohio, to clear his name and get the girl: Dorothy Whitaker, the love of his life since eighth grade. Blamed for a destructive fire he didn’t set, only Tim and Dorothy know the truth; that Jesse Prescott, Tim’s best friend and Dorothy’s boyfriend, did the deed that changed an entire town. But Jesse died in that tragedy and seven years later, Skitter Lake still honors him as a hero, rather than Tim, the boy from the seedy side of town whose father was a drunk . . . and whose quick actions saved six people from perishing in that horrendous fire.
In trying to set the record straight and finally claim Dorothy as his own, Tim—and Dorothy, too—will discover that in some small towns the legend often outweighs the truth . . . and their family and friends will forever see Dorothy as “Jesse’s girl.”
Bio
Char Chaffin writes mainstream and contemporary romance filled with family, rich characters and engaging plots. For her, it all comes back to the love.
From crafting Victorian-style poetry to writing short stories and novellas, Char finally settled on romance novels as her true passion. Over the years she worked a variety of jobs, from farm hand to costume designer to fiscal accountant, before deciding a writing career was her desired focus.
In addition to writing, Char is also an Acquisitions Editor for Soul Mate Publishing.
A displaced Alaskan, Char currently divides her time between Fairbanks, Alaska and an Upstate NY, sixty-acre farm with husband Don. Their extended family is scattered all over the Lower Forty-Eight and Alaska.
When she’s not pounding away at her keyboard, sneaking away to the Last Frontier or burying her nose in books and her beloved Kindle, she edits manuscripts and helps Don
maintain their farm.
I graduated from California State Univ. Stanislaus with a BA in psychology. I taught kindergarten for twenty-one years in California, but I’m now a Florida transplant and a full-time writer. I have to admit that I’m a late bloomer. I didn’t get my teaching degree until my mid-thirties. However, I started writing after my daughter was born in my mid-twenties. Once I started teaching though, I got distracted from my writing and focused mainly on my family and my teaching career. Of course, I don’t think this was a bad thing.
Joanne Guidoccio 