Trailer Tuesday: Jill Urbach

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to the Trailer Tuesday series!

Today, I am pleased to feature a trailer from Jill Urbach

Two-Room Flat is a sweet romance about second chances and learning to forgive, set in one of Jill’s favorite cities and a great place for a fresh start…London! Two-Room Flat was a finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Literary Contest. It has also been nominated for a RONE Award.

A fun fact about the trailer: “Polly”, who you’ll see at the very end, is Jill’s eldest daughter. According to Jill, she’s much friendlier in real life! 🙂

Enjoy!

Where to find Jill…

Website| Facebook| Twitter | Pinterest

Cover Reveal–The Bride Gift

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to present the cover for Sarah Hegger’s debut novel…

Blurb

It’s 1153 in the period dubbed ‘The Anarchy’, King Stephen and Empress Maud are not the only ones embroiled in a fierce battle of the sexes.

Determined to control her own destiny, wilful Helena of Lystanwold has chosen just the husband to suit her purposes. But, when her banished guardian uncle attempts to secure her future and climbs through her bedroom window with a new husband by a proxy marriage, she understandably balks. Notorious warrior Guy of Helston is everything Helena swore she would never marry; a man who lives by the sword, like the man who murdered her sister.

This marriage finally brings Guy close to his lifetime dream of gaining lands and a title. He is not about to let his feisty bride stand in his way. A master strategist, Guy sets out to woo and conquer his lady.

Against a backdrop of vengeance, war and betrayal, Guy and Helena must learn to forge a united front or risk losing everything.

This is my very first cover and it marks one of those milestones for me as a writer. I’m still struggling to get past my name on the cover.

Feel free to tell me what you think.

Or drop by and see me on…

Website | Twitter | Facebook

An Unexpected Path

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Soul Mate author Karen Lopp talking about the rich and colorful experiences that led her down an unexpected path.

Here’s Karen!

First Act

I was raised in a small farming community, where almost half of the town were relatives. No kidding. Talk about not getting away with anything as a teenager! If you didn’t know about cows, pigs, and how to drive a tractor you were just not “with it”. The big event for the town was the Friday night football game. Even though we usually lost, it was the social gathering place.

After high school, I started a career in computer programing, loving the challenges and problem solving. I’d have reams of paper strung out on the floor, pouring over lines of code, just to find the one mistyped character that threw the whole sequence off. Fun times. But after years of the 8-5 grind I made my first big change. We started a family and I became a stay-at-home mom.

Shortly after, my husband changed jobs and off we went on a brand new adventure. We moved around several times, eight to be exact, and during those years we homeschooled our children. That is a story for another time, but, suffice to say, I loved every minute of it.

Second Act

The transition to an empty nest was a new challenge for me. I had invested so many hours to being a teacher, mentor, and all around life coach, that after the last kid went off to college I knew it was time to get serious about a new path. I had already been dabbling in writing fiction and had a couple of stories stuffed in a notebook, but me an author? Well why not? So I pulled out that dusty notebook, took some online classes on writing, and attended a few classes at the community college.

Becoming a writer had not been a long time dream of mine. I had visions of traveling, starting a bakery, or several other small business ideas. But time and finances tended to get in the way. But once bitten with the writing bug, I could never go back. The road to publication has been frustrating at times and exciting. I have a wonderful base of supporters and cheerleaders. It must be in the blood, because my grandmothers wrote little stories about their lives and always reminisced about it. And my mother taught me how to be a voracious reader.

Writing about history came naturally, so my first two books are set in the Southwest in the late 1800’s. I love cowboys, the pioneer life, and wide open spaces. Being an action junkie, I also write romantic suspense and my first novel in that line will be out in May.

My advice to anyone is don’t be afraid to try something new. You may have never thought you’d like it, but until you try you will never know. Achieving lifetime dreams is wonderful and fulfilling, but when you stumble upon a venue you never considered before, doors to many different paths are opened and the adventures renew or awaken a jest to start a second act.

Good luck with whatever path you choose and remember to enjoy every step along the way.

Karen’s Books

SHOTGUN BRIDE

A surprise inheritance brings Kathleen Barnes a host of dangers, an unwanted husband, and a chance to start over.

Saddled with a bride he didn’t choose, who has a knack for landing in the middle of trouble, Mike Baca is forced into a private war.

Is this a forced marriage doomed to fail, or will this be an opportunity for both to have a shot at a new life together?

EFFIE’S OUTLAW

Boston heiress Effie Sheridan takes matters into her own hands when her fortune is being stolen. The last thing she expects is to be kidnapped by a gang of train robbers. Forced to pretend to be an outlaw’s lover to stay alive, she questions her sanity when she is drawn to the gruff, yet charming bandit who risks everything to save her.

U.S. Deputy Alex Marshall is mad enough to spit nails when the beautiful, city-bred girl lands in his arms. Unable to abandon her to the cruelties of the gang, he searches for a way out of the responsibility. But her courage and sweet kisses begin to chip away at the bitterness inside his heart and he must choose between revenge on the gang that slaughtered everyone he loved or redemption for saving a woman he can never have.

SPLINTERED LIES (Coming May 2014)

Detective Rissa Marten sacrificed her only chance for a normal life to put a drug lord behind bars. Now, her life in the shadows has to be brought to life to save the man she has secretly loved for years. With a price on her head can she risk letting him know?

Detective Jerah Qassem has built his career as an undercover agent in the dangerous world of drug cartels. But when a ghost from his past is resurrected can he overcome his bitterness in time to save her life?

Where to find Karen…

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Joanne here!

Thank you for sharing your experiences, Karen. Effie’s Outlaw is on my e-reader, at the top of my TBR list. I will be adding your other books–they sound delicious!

Cover Reveal–The Earl’s Enticement

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to present the cover for Collette Cameron’s third novel…

Blurb

She won’t be tamed. A fiery, unconventional Scot, Adaira Ferguson wears breeches, swears, and has no more desire to marry than she does to follow society’s dictates of appropriate behavior. She trusts no man with the secret she desperately protects.

He can’t forget. Haunted by his past, Roark, The Earl of Clarendon, rigidly adheres to propriety, holding himself and those around him to the highest standards, no matter the cost. Betrayed once, he’s guarded and leery of all women.

Mistaking Roark for a known spy, Adaira imprisons him. Infuriated, he vows vengeance. Realizing her error, she’s appalled and releases him, but he’s not satisfied with his freedom. Roark is determined to transform Adaira from an ill-mannered hoyden to a lady of refinement. He succeeds only to discover, he preferred the free-spirited Sccottish lass who first captured his heart.

Bio

Award winning, Amazon best-selling, and multi-published historical romance author, Collette Cameron, has a BS in Liberal Studies and a Master's in Teaching. A Pacific Northwest Native, Collette’s been married for thirty years, has three amazing adult children, and five dachshunds. Collette loves a good joke, inspirational quotes, flowers, the beach, trivia, birds, shabby chic, and Cadbury Chocolate. You'll always find dogs, birds, quirky—sometimes naughty—humor, and a dash of inspiration in her novels. Her motto for life? You can’t have too much chocolate, too many hugs, or too many flowers. She’s thinking about adding shoes to that list.

Where to find Collette…

Website | Blue Rose Romance Blog | Twitter | Facebook

You can connect with Collette on Goodreads, LinkedIn, and Google+ too. Go to her website for the links, her email address, and mailing address.

RELEASE DATE: May 28, 2014

Oprah and Gary Zukav

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Yesterday on Super Soul Sunday, Oprah celebrated the 25th anniversary of The Seat of the Soul with best-selling author Gary Zukav.

As I listened to this gentle and insightful man, I was surprised to learn of his own journey from a “macho punk with a chip on his shoulder” to an eloquent master teacher. Raised by hard-working parents in Kansas, Gary was an outstanding student who was offered an academic scholarship to Harvard. Later, he joined the prestigious Green Berets. In spite of these achievements, he was embarrassed by his name, his town, and his life. He also battled a sex addiction.

After undergoing his own amazing transformation, Gary dedicated himself to helping others through his books and lectures.

Throughout the telecast, Oprah provided us with flashbacks to Gary’s appearances on her television show. So many wonderful insights were shared, among them Oprah’s Gloria Halleluiah moment: “When the personality comes to serve the energy of the soul that is authentic empowerment.”

Other quotable quotes…

When you make a decision to heal, the universe will back you up.

Anyone who has challenged an addiction has done holy work.

When you strive to heal an addiction, you are ready for your highest calling.

What is failure? We can’t possibly know what failure is. Who is to say what is a success, what is a failure? Trust, relax, do your best, and know you cannot fail.

We are not powerless. And the more we think that, the more pain we create for ourselves.

The foreclosure can be the beginning and not the end.

It is exciting to come of age spiritually.

Transitions are a B*$^%!

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Soul Mate author Roz Murphy giving us her take on transitions.

Here’s Roz!

First Act: Imagine it’s 1985, Manhattan, a rainy night in late September. All the sane people have fled midtown and huddle in their suburban homes. Hurricane Gloria howls around the creaking skyscraper where, on the eighteenth floor, you and a band of merry accountants (yes, accountants! and, yes, merry!) hustle to put the finishing touches on a report due in Congress tomorrow morning. Deadline pressures, tension, teamwork, worrisome groans from the surrounding building, occasional gusts of laughter…you don’t know it, but this is one of the peaks of your life and your career in corporate communications.

Second Act: Quiet and isolation. The frozen waters of a Finger Lake stretch in every direction outside your kitchen window. Siberia could not own more snow, or be more deserted.

So, how does someone move from Act I to Act 2? I wish I could say a little Tinker Belle sprinkles fairy dust and wafts you effortlessly from one place to another. But noooooo… that would be way too easy. My transitions usually involve pain and loss, heartbreak and fear, which is why I always say–”Transitions are a B#%@$!” As for deets, try divorce, job loss, deaths, multiple relocations, and The Great Recession.

For some reason, we don’t hear much about the destructive power of the Recession, but it was all too real, and it plays a major role in the opening of my debut novel, Bob at the Lake.

This novel explores, in a very light-hearted way, how we survive–and triumph–in the face of adversity. Survival tools include family, friends, writing, Fred Astaire movies, a moderate amount of loopiness, red geraniums, and chocolate. Lots of chocolate…

If I had to pick a couple of motivational quotes that I’ve held close to my heart over recent years, I’d select the following. I don’t know who said the first one, but it goes something like: “Every ending is a beginning. You just don’t realize it at the time.…” The second quote comes from Winston Churchill, who led England through the bloody and battered years of World War 2: “Never, never, never give up!”

I never will.

Blurb

Bob at the Lake narrates the humorous chronicle of a crabby ‘woman of a certain age’ who moves to the wintry shores of a New York lake—and gets a ghost. And not just any ghost, mind you. Bob’s a plump, middle-aged ghost from 1920s Manhattan who swans around in a silk smoking jacket and drinks far too many martinis. Stir the good-looking grape grower who lives up the hill into this mix and you get a pretty potent screwball cocktail!

Where to find Roz…

Amazon | Twitter | Facebook

Joanne here!

Thanks for sharing your transitions, Roz. The storyline for Bob at the Lake sounds intriguing…I’m putting it on my TBR list.

Take Two or Three…

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Tara Coulter sharing the many acts of her extraordinary life journey.

Here’s Tara!

Act One

Sometime during high school, I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer. The guidance counsellor’s advice that girls couldn’t succeed in law school (I kid you not) could not stop me from pursuing this path.

I worked in Lake Louise, Alberta during the summer after my second year of university and this experience awoke a deep connection to nature that would influence my life’s direction. With no word from my law school applications, I accepted my failure with resignation. There was a lengthy mail strike that summer and when the mail resumed, my acceptance letter from the University of Windsor was delivered. I should have been excited, but I wasn’t.

Sitting in the Calgary airport watching the fading light over the mountains change from blue to indigo, I was tempted to get back on the Brewster bus and return to Lake Louise. By the time the plane landed in Toronto, I had decided not to pursue law school, much to the shock of my family. Confused and disillusioned, I completed the last year of my degree and went backpacking in Europe to find myself. I found a lot of other lost people and churches – lots and lots of churches.

Act Two

While in Europe, I reflected that the thing that brought me the most joy was anything that required creativity – theatre, singing, writing, making things with my hands. I also recognized that living in a natural setting was core to my happiness. Back to school I went, this time to study Arts Management. The program provided me with strong administrative and project management skills and prepared me for work in major arts organizations in Canada. I felt like I was back on track.

The pull of the Canadian Rockies brought me to the Banff Centre and eventually back to Lake Louise where I fell in love and married. Through all of this, I wrote small articles for newsletters and the local paper. After ten years in the mountains, we decided to make the move to a small community on Vancouver Island.

Acts Three through Four

Small communities are wonderful places to live, but tough places to launch a career, especially in arts management. I enjoyed a successful career working as a Realtor only to learn that you can be very good at a job only to find out that the job isn’t right for you. I burnt out and my health suffered.

While trying to get healthy, I discovered natural therapies and became trained in reflexology, aromatherapy, Bowen Therapy and Reiki. I worked for the next 10 years in a spa. I learned so much during this time about our connection to spirit and how absolutely everything in our lives is mirrored in our cells.

Act Five

The decision to sell everything and move aboard a sailboat was my husband’s. However, we both wanted more from life and were looking for adventure. Moving from an acre of land into 200 square feet of bobbing living space is all about adventure. We originally planned to circumnavigate, but we soon discovered that neither one of us was particularly interested in doing passages – we were curious to see beautiful, wild places and could do that here in British Columbia. I have grown so much through this experience and share this information in my blog.

Act Six

I am still debugging old programming that says your success is determined by what you do. I think our success is determined by who we are.

We have recently moved back on land after 10 ½ years of living aboard our sailboat, but our sense for adventure is still strong. We have moved our boat back to our old marina and look forward to summer sailing.

Act Seven

Writing has been the common thread that weaves my disparate acts together. Writing is my lifeline. I want to write a book. I have wanted this for some time now and in spite of encouragement by friends and mentors, I have not completed it. Perhaps that is why I enjoy blogging so much because there are small completions every week. The book is 50% complete and is written in the young adult fiction genre. I am looking forward to sharing it with you.

Tara’s advice for anyone planning to pursue a second act…

• Do not become attached to your plans.

• Practice stillness; it is here that you can hear your soul’s voice.

Shakedown Cruise with Liz, Katy, Angela and Tara…

Where to find Tara…

Website | Twitter | Pinterest

Joanne here!

Wow! Tara, I am in awe of your multi-act life. Consider writing your memoirs in addition to the young adult novel.

Fun Friday

Posted on March 21, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Life Gets Better and Better!

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Joanne Guidoccio

Welcome to my Second Acts Series!

Today, we have Soul Mate author Neva Brown talking about the optimism and work ethic that inspired her amazing life journey.

Here’s Neva!

Describe your first act.

I grew up a country kid, my dad’s top cowhand. I learned to ride on an old cow horse then graduated to a horse trained just for me. I worked cattle and sheep, built fence, repaired windmills, and helped lay in bundled feed and baled hay for the livestock to eat through the hard winter months. I also learned to garden and to preserve vegetables, fruits, and berries for the family’s food. Regular school and church attendance were givens. My dad wasn’t allowed to finish school. Consequently, he was determined my siblings and I would be educated (five of my public school years I didn’t miss a single day). Above all, I was loved but not coddled.

My first date was with the best looking cowboy in high school. Four years later I married him. When our two sons were less than three years old (not twins), we lived on a ranch twenty-three miles from town with no phone or electricity. It was there I wrote my first little stories.

In time, drought and my husband’s battle with debilitating arthritis sent me back to school to get a teaching degree which served us well in the ensuing years. Our sons grew into productive citizens and married wonderful women (found them without my help—can you believe it!). Now the grandchildren add joy and sparkle to my life.

What triggered the need for change?

I retired from teaching and my husband’s health dictated that we move to town where our life style changed. We now live in a community of “active mature adults.” Life is good!

Where are you now?

This second act of my life is fun, challenging, and just might be a little self indulgent. I write romance novels—contemporary and historical. They range from sweet to sensual. I love spending time with my characters be they naughty or nice. They used to be my guilty, secret pleasure. Now I acknowledge them openly. Some of my contemporaries raise their eyebrows and look a little shocked, but others are a regular cheering section for me.

I found kindred souls in the San Angelo Writers Club and connected with my first critique partners. Soon after that, I braved the internet and found a wealth of supportive online writing groups. Just last year, I finally took my courage in hand and sent a novel, CASEY’S COURAGE out into the publishing world. It found a home and is now on Amazon. My second novel, A PRETTY PENNY, is to be published this spring by Soul Mate Publishing. Life gets better and better!

What advice would you give someone considering a second act?

Never let “I’m too old” or “I don’t have time” be excuses for not doing what you down deep in your heart know you want to do.

Any affirmations or quotations you wish to share?

My two maintstay quotes…

“I do the very best I know how—the very best I can, and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.” Abraham Lincoln (1860)

“God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” II Timothy 1:7

Blurb

LOVE hunkers down and hides but abides until Casey and Tres realize life without love is just existing not really living.

Just as accomplished horse trainer Casey Mason, PhD, feels she’s earned her independence, disaster strikes and her life is forever changed. She must put her life back together bit by piece. The obstacles and her old beliefs seem insurmountable; making her wonder if love can conquer all.

Jordan Spencer III (Tres) inherits Spencer Ranch where Casey, the riding buddy of his youth, still lives. Casey, a beautiful, complex woman, creeps into his mind and heart. Bitter experiences make him shy away from a serious relationship with a woman; yet he and Casey have a special connection. As she struggles with her rehabilitation, he micromanages her life with quiet efficiency until he pushes her past some invisible line. When Casey disappears from his life, he learns more about himself than makes him comfortable. Coming to terms with the past so he can move on to a future with Casey is a challenge that tests his mettle.

Where to find Neva…

Amazon | Twitter | Facebook | Website

Joanne here!

What an uplifting post! Thanks for sharing your journey, Neva, and best of luck with all your literary endeavors.