Thursday, January 28, 2016

Celebrating National Chocolate Cake Day with Hot Fudge Sundae Cake, Recipe, Romance Readers Want to Know Next Week

Ooey-gooey Hot Fudge Sundae Cake
Courtesy of Starr Roan
Hello and Welcome to the J.Q. Rose blog!

Yesterday, January 27 was National Chocolate Cake Day. Did you observe it? Well, I wanted to get out the box of Betty Crocker cake mix to celebrate, but the day got past me. So, instead, I celebrated today with our neighbors. This auspicious occasion needed a special chocolate cake, not a boxed cake mix. 

How lucky I was to come upon a recipe in my Church Ladies Cookbook. You know all the best tried and true recipes are found in these cookbooks. This cake is fun to make. No bowl or beaters to clean up after putting it together because it is mixed in the pan. Then you pour hot water over the batter. Yeah, really!

Here's the recipe! Thank you Starr for sharing this in The Fruit of the Spirit Cookbook, Fremont United Methodist Church.

Hot Fudge Sundae Cake
Stir the following ingredients together in an ungreased 9 x 9 inch pan.
1 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Add the following ingredients to the pan
1/2 c. milk
2 T. oil
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix with a fork (I used a spoon) until smooth.)
Spread evenly in pan. 

Mix together 1 c. brown sugar and 2 T. cocoa. Sprinkle over batter.
Pour 1 3/4 c. hot water over batter. Do not stir.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.Let stand 15 minutes. Spoon cake into dishes and top with ice cream. Spoon extra sauce from pan over top.
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Michelle Lee's eye-catching book cover design for my latest mystery, Deadly Undertaking, has been chosen for a book design contest at Author Shout's Cover Wars.

Deadly  Undertaking by J.Q. Rose
A handsome detective, a shadow man, and a murder victim kill Lauren’s plan for a simple life.
. Unfortunately it is the third from the last cover at the bottom of the display. If you get a minute, please scroll through the ten covers, then vote for Deadly Undertaking to recognize Michelle's talent in cover designs. 

Here's the link. You can vote all week. Much appreciated.
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Romance Readers Want to Know Series
Thursdays this winter on the J.Q. Rose blog
Thursday, February 4--We kick off the Romance Readers Want to Know series! Meet authors and learn the behind the scenes life of authors. Ask them questions. Win prizes!! Talented, experienced author Nancy Bell kicks off the series on Thursday. She'll be awarding an e-book to a lucky commenter!!
* * *
Did you observe Chocolate Cake Day? I know, I know. We don't really need to eat chocolate cake just on that day. As far as I'm concerned, every day could be chocolate cake day. How about you? What's your favorite cake? Leave a comment below. Thank you.

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Monday, January 25, 2016

Deadly Undertaking Book Cover in Cover Wars Contest, Country Singer Linda Davis and Band Inspired Me

OK, now my competitive nature is fired up! Michelle Lee's eye-catching book cover design for my latest mystery, Deadly Undertaking, has been chosen for a book design contest at Author Shout's Cover Wars.


Deadly  Undertaking by J.Q. Rose
A handsome detective, a shadow man, and a murder victim kill Lauren’s plan for a simple life.
. Unfortunately it is the third from the last cover at the bottom of the display. If you get a minute, please scroll through the ten covers, then vote for Deadly Undertaking to recognize Michelle's talent in cover designs. 

Here's the link. You can vote all week. Much appreciated.


Author Shout  


I just had to get that off my chest, so now I can smile and say, "Hello and welcome to the J.Q. Rose blog."

Country singer Linda Davis Band
Bill Whyte, Linda Davis, Lane Scott
Saturday night was date night with my handsome guy, Gardener Ted. We attended a concert by Linda Davis, her husband, Lane Scott, and comedian Bill Whyte. Linda is an award-winning country singer who has sung with a lot of the great artists including Reba McIntyre. Their performance of Does He Love You is one of my favorite songs. 

Here's a You Tube video of Reba and Linda singing the song.



YouTube Video--Reba McIntire and Linda Davis
Does He Love You?
During the entire performance I was in awe of the sound, the showmanship, the ease with which they did the concert in the "round." I couldn't stop wondering why they would be performing on the stage of our community center for only about 250 people. They're not ready to slow down. In fact Linda will be going out with Kenny Rogers on a Christmas concert tour this year with 160 engagements. 

Future Country Stars
Photos of the show courtesy of Cassidy Kinsman
I thought perhaps this gig was more to introduce new talent to audiences because four young girls ages 10 -16 performed. Amazing girls. Teen-ager Cassidy Kinsman, almost a Reba look-alike, sang Does He Love You with Linda. You could see how proud Linda was of Cassidy's performance as they sang and Cassidy hit the notes to blend together so beautifully. Linda offered fist pumps and smiles as they overwhelmed the audience with their beautiful sound.

Cassidy Kinsman singing with Grammy-award winner Linda Davis
At the end of the evening, Lane Scott answered the question niggling in my brain all night. Why are they here? Lane said they had toured the world and played for tens of thousands of people, but during that evening in the informal, intimate setting they have the opportunity to connect with people. These shows complete a circle in their careers to bring them back to the reason for getting started in the music business--connecting with people. 

I understand that feeling completely. With my stories, my biggest desire is to connect with a reader. When someone reads my books, I hope each one  feels entertained and touched by the story. Perhaps an emotion brought tears to the reader's eyes or put a smile on her face. Reaching out from my heart to the reader's heart through words.


Certainly the musical performances on Saturday night reached my heart.

Why do you read? Please leave a comment below to let us know. Thank you.


Please enter your e-mail addy to receive updates on the J.Q Rose blog. New series begins in February. Meet new authors and win e-books and prizes! Thank you.


Thursday, January 21, 2016

My New Year's Resolution--Write a Memoir, Bill Roorbach's Writing Life Stories Book Review, Tiny Tidbits on Writing and Life


Hello and welcome to the J.Q. Rose blog!
Fairview Floral and Greenhouses circa 1990
Photo by Cheryl Sneller
My new year's resolution, goal, priority is to write a memoir about our first year (1976) as business owners. My husband, Gardener Ted,  and I were co-owners of a floral shop, garden center, and greenhouses for nearly twenty years. That first year was a year of firsts and a roller coaster ride with giddy highs and crushing lows. But we survived and thrived. My hope in the writing of the memoir is to inspire others who have a dream they want to make into a reality. Perhaps seeing that we could live our dream will help guide and assure others they can do it too.

The photo above is the shop and greenhouses in 1990. We opened the business in 1976 then relocated a block away after building a new shop and greenhouses which opened in 1986.


Writing Life Stories: How To Make Memories Into Memoirs, Ideas Into Essays And Life Into Literature
Writing Life Stories by Bill Roorbach
Okay that's a long introduction to what I really want to share today. I've led workshops on writing life stories and have written little vignettes of my life as I taught the workshops. Now I'm taking on writing a book, I mean a 30,000-50,000 word book about my life. Gulp. I haven't decided if I'll have it published or if I'll just keep it for family members. I guess I'll decide that after it's written to see if I might get sued for defamation of some of the characters in this story. Oh yes, there are some folks who "done us wrong!"

So I've been reading memoirs and studying books on memoir. Writing Life Stores: How to Make Memories into Memoirs, Ideas into Essays, and Life into Literature by Bill Roorbach is eye-opening, thought-provoking, and full of wisdom for burgeoning writers, as well as experienced authors. His literary grade language and insight into what writing really is made me appreciate my choice to become a writer. This book is an inspiring read.

Bill, if I may call him that, brings clarity to the memoir genre. Incorporating rules of fiction writing with non-fiction events is an art. I soaked up every bit of the information he shared. He's a teacher as well as a writer and allows us to explore this marvelous genre through writing our own articles as exercises at the end of the chapter. I wish I were actually sitting in his classroom so I could be in a lively discussion with him and students on all the topics he covers.

My vocabulary grew because of his expertise in the English language. I discovered words like "adumbration" and "enjambment." 

These are quotes by Bill I want to keep in mind such as:

In regards to the writer's voice--"Emotion is the sound of a writer's voice."
In regards to writing--"This is art we're talking about, not a job."

I don't usually do book reviews, but this is more of a love letter to this book. If you are looking for a book on memoir-writing, pick this one up. I actually borrowed the kindle edition through amazon Prime's program. You know it had to be worth reading because I broke down and actually bought the paperback book!



Tiny Tidbits for Writing and Living:

Writing Life Stories by Bill Roorbach is definitely a tip you can use even if you're a writer and not even planning on penning a memoir. I had planned to just include this book in the tiny tidbits, but as you can see, the topic is neither tiny or a tidbit. I decided it needed more space, and so the tidbit became a blog post! 

New Words to Me--Sorry if you already looked up these words--or you may already know them anyway--but I added the definitions from dictionary.com for you if you are curious about the meanings.
adumbration--
verb (used with object), adumbrated, adumbrating
1.to produce a faint image or resemblance of; to outline or sketch.
2. to foreshadow; prefigure.
3. to darken or conceal partially; overshadow.

enjambment


nounplural enjambments 

1.
the running on of the thought from one line, couplet, or stanza to the next without a syntactical break
Use hair spray to get ink out of clothing. Spray and blot.


Monday, January 18, 2016

Martin Luther King, Jr Day, Anna Simpson's White Light Cozy Murder Mystery Released, Giveway

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Washington, D.C.Photo from USA Guided Tours
Today, January 18, 2016, we honor and celebrate the life of 
Martin Luther King, Jr.
 leader in the Civil Rights Movement in the USA. 
His fight for equality through peaceful means 
brought about change for all of humankind. 

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White LIght by Anna Simpson
Cozy Murder Mystery
Hello and welcome! 
I've been looking forward to cozy author Anna Simpson's visit to the J.Q. Rose blog. We met as fellow bloggers on the Insecure Writers' Support Group blog hop. Her name on her blog is Emaginette. And let me tell you, her blog handle is perfect for her because she has a fantastic imagination and is a creative writing talent. I'm so excited to have the opportunity to introduce you to Anna and her new cozy murder mystery, White Light. Enjoy her article on small towns and be sure to take time to read an excerpt from her brand new release.
Welcome, Anna!
Small Town Living by Anna Simpson
Thanks for having me here today.
Did I use my small town as a template for White Light?
Small towns aren’t just a location on a map. They are a state of mind. A place where it’s okay to make a face at a kid in the grocery checkout, or wear a weird necklace because your first grader put it around your neck when you picked him up.
This way of thinking changes huge cities into warm comfy places full of memories and enjoyable places to visit. Where saying hello to a stranger isn’t that strange.
I wanted to capture that state of mind, that small town feel I grew up with, and share it in a cozy mystery. Lucky for me, cozies are only loosely based on the real world. Cozy lovers, and I do mean cozy mystery lovers, expect a certain amount of wholesome atmosphere, definite lines between right and wrong, and quirky characters.
So the answer to the question is yes I did draw on my small town experience, but it was a place I remembered as a child. I’m not sure how accurate it is. Even then, I had quite the imagination.
Have you used anything from your past to make your life more enjoyable? Family traditions or celebrations? Have you made them your own?
White Light Blog Tour
Anna is having a rafflecopter drawing during the blog tour. After her post, enter the raffle. Here's her schedule of hosts for the tour.


About the book:



Emma never dreamed of being a super-sleuth. In her mind, she’s more Scooby Doo than Nancy Drew and when her nosy neighbor, Mrs. Perkins, drags her to an anniversary party to solve a mystery, she rolls her eyes, buys a box of chocolates and hops in the car.
What’s a party without an attack on its host—or more accurately on the host’s grandson, sparking an allergic reaction and moving the party to the hospital waiting room. Suddenly, everyone is a suspect. Emma and Mrs. Perkins, along with Great Aunt Alice (a spirit with boundary issues who keeps stepping into Emma’s body like a new dress and playing matchmaker), dive into an investigation that almost gets Emma killed along with the man they are trying to protect. With so many reasons to kill him and so much to be gained if he died, Emma and Mrs. Perkins must unravel the tenuous ties that point to every member of his family as potential killers.
Even if it means going back to the psych ward, Emma will protect her friend and this innocent man. What good is freedom if it’s haunted with guilt?

Goodreads link:
Purchase links:

Excerpt:

To stay free, I perform a ritual every morning. It begins with stepping outside, where dawn streams through the leafy branches of my maple tree, landing, shifting, and dancing on the flowerbeds at my bare feet. A steaming cup of coffee warms my hands. The fragrant air fills my lungs. I sip, leaving the liquid on my tongue to capture a moment of rich goodness.
My name is Emma, and I need to stay grounded and calm. It’s important for my health, so I walk along the fence and let the cool blades of grass tickle my toes and dewdrops cling to my skin. For fun, I kick a ball of dandelion fluff. Little parachutes take flight catching the same breeze moving the leaves above my head. The seeds float up, and up, over the fence to land on Mrs. Perkins’ perfectly tended lawn. Not a dandelion or mat of moss to be seen.
In a half acre of green sits one flowerbed, brimming with Lily of the Valley. I remember the first time I saw them over fifteen years ago. The delicate white bells could only be fairy hats. Today, the round base of cemented river stone is still full of waxy green spear tips. I don’t see fairy hats anymore. No, now I enjoy the effects of nature—its simple perfection.
Mrs. Perkins does it best. In fact, everything around Mrs. Perkins is perfectly cared for—her home, her yard, her car—all perfect.
But not today. A dark line sits between the jamb and the edge of the door.
A few inches of shadow drives my calm away and prickles the long blonde hairs at the nape of my neck. Butterflies in my stomach tell, no scratch that, demand I find my phone and go next door.
Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not a snoop.
Mrs. Perkins, a wiry old bird, did everything herself. I’m not sure if it is because she’s the independent sort or if she has no one else to help her. Either way, when she suggested we watch out for one another, I agreed.
I’m also alone. It doesn’t bother me unless I catch the flu or something. Then I wonder if I will die and no one will notice. It’s a thought, or fear, I can’t shake. Mrs. Perkins’ house has my full attention, and within it sits the same worry. I’ll check on her because she would do the same for me.
I crash into my kitchen, slopping my coffee onto the counter as I slam the mug down. My phone could be anywhere. My gaze travels from the pine tabletop to the gray marble counter. It’s not here. I push through the swinging door to the living area, run my fingertips between the couch and chair cushions, scan the smoked-glass coffee table through my veil of long blonde hair, and sneak a peek under my overturned book on the throw rug. Desperate, I check around the bowl by the door where I toss my keys as I pass the spiral staircase to the loft. Still nothing.
Down the short hallway, I rush to my bedroom. I tug the midnight blue duvet off the bed and shake it. My pulse speeds up as something thuds on to the carpet. I pick up my smartphone and check the battery. Half power.
Excellent. I dash through my front door, across the lawn and unlatch Mrs. Perkins’ white picket gate. Her shiny yellow front door looks as solid as stone. I follow her path to the back wondering if danger lurks.
I gasp as I near the door. It’s like living a moment in a crime drama. I mimic what I have watched on television and bring up my phone to take a picture. Inching forward, heart pounding, I wonder if poor Mrs. Perkins is sprawled out on the bathroom floor, from a stroke, heart attack, or a butcher knife.
Don’t worry, Mrs. Perkins. I’m coming.
I pull my cotton sleeve over my hand and push the door wider. Her kitchen looks untouched as if it’s sterilized or newly installed. Tiles cool my bare feet with each step. Fear scratches at my nerves, “Mrs. Perkins? It’s Emma from next door. Are you okay?”
Silence.
I raise the phone to call for help.
A small sound carries from deeper in the house. I should stop, leave, and make the call.
Following the sound might be dangerous or, worse, plain stupid. And I’m scared. So scared, my breathing is all I hear over the pounding of my heart.
I’d look stupid if I’m wrong. Ravenglass Lake is so small-townsville, and Benny the bully is like no cop I’ve ever met. He would be no help. Worst of all, they’d call me crazy for sure. I slip the phone back into my denim pocket, quietly open her knife drawer, and pull out a meat cleaver. Armed, I creep forward.
Thank goodness Mrs. Perkins likes an open airy room. Evil housebreakers have nowhere to hide in the dining room.
A small thump like a cat landing on carpet makes me jump. But Mrs. Perkins doesn’t have a cat…or carpet—only allergies.
I tighten my grip on the cleaver as I stick my head into the living room. All is quiet and undisturbed. I enter the corridor to the front door. To my right are stairs to the upper floor. Farther ahead is a hall closet and nook where she keeps a desk and a small bookcase. Nothing seems touched.
I glance up at the glittery ceiling, swallow, and pull my phone from my pocket. The sensible thing is to dial 911. I sidestep for the front door, but in my mind’s eye Mrs. Perkins, wiry but frail, shakes her head. Her arm outstretched urging me not to leave.
Thump, I freeze. The noise is right beside me coming from the hall closet.
Without thinking, I open the door and find Mrs. Perkins tied up with duct tape across her lips. Her green eyes, round and unblinking, grow wide, and her usual perfect curls are mussed. I drop the cleaver. It clatters on the floor, and I pull the tape free.

Links:
Anna Simpson
Author Anna Simpson aka Emaginette
About Anna:
Anna Simpson lives near the Canadian-US border with her family. Even though she’s lived in several places in British Columbia, her free spirit wasn’t able to settle down until she moved back to her hometown.
She's easy to find though, if you know the magic word — emaginette. Do an internet search using it and you’ll see what I mean. :-)

Enter the Rafflecopter drawing by clicking the link below. Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Merriam-Webster Word-of-the-Year Announced: Is it a Word?

Hello and welcome to the J.Q. Rose blog! I'm J.Q. Rose. J is for Janet, Q is a nod to my maiden name, and Rose because I love roses. I also love words. So I combined all this into making my author pen name, J.Q. Rose, for writing.



I, a wordsmith woman, could not believe the Word-of-the-Year chosen by Merriam-Webster.  They recently announced the most popular word of the year was, are you ready for this, "-ism." Say what? I looked down my nose at the choice of a suffix as a word. sniff sniff, In my mind, I reprimanded the person who wrote the article, Lori Borgman in The Tampa Tribune, for such heresy. Then I reminded myself, Ms. Borgman was reporting the news and that word was news to me!
Dictionary
Courtesy of freedigitalphotos.com Photo by Stuart Miles
I immediately went to dictionary.com to get some fodder to reply to such nonsense. -ism is not a word. Can't you picture a young sixth-grader vying for the win in his regional spelling bee? When the judge tells him the word to spell is "ism" could he ask the judge to use it in a sentence? How would you use it in a sentence? All I can think of is "Ism is not a word." 

If the contestant asked for a definition, here's how ism is defined in dictionary.com--
"noun
1.a distinctive doctrine, theory, system, or practice:
This is the age of isms."


Noun? You can imagine my astonishment when I saw it was defined as a legitimate noun. 

Ms Borgman goes on to explain Merriam-Webster chooses the word of the year by keeping charts noting the highs and lows of a word's popularity at their website, m-w.com. The most frequently checked words for definitions were socialism, fascism, racism, feminism, communism, capitalism and terrorism. 

I still disagree with the choice since, yes, there are a lot of isms in the words that are looked up, but ism is a part of a word, people. 

How do you feel about the choice of ism as the word of the year?  Do you agree? Can you use ism in a sentence???

This Week:

Tuesday, January 19--Delighted to host author Anna Simpson on her book blog tour for her latest release, White Light. 

Monday, January 11, 2016

Winding Up the Deadly Undertaking Book Blog Tour with a Flourish




Deadly Undertaking by J.Q. Rose 
What a fantastic week I've had visiting with so many authors at the Insecure Writers Support Group,participating in an interview with Joan Curtis, divulging five fun facts about moi with Kathy McIntosh, and sharing a short story at the Driving Blind Productions blog. I sure wound up my book blog tour for my myster/romance/paranormal,  Deadly Undertaking, with a flourish. 

I didn't realize how much fun it would be to co-host the Insecure Writers Support Group blog hop with L.G. Keltner  Denise Covey  Sheri Larsen  Chemist Ken  Michelle Wallace 


Over 200 bloggers participated in the blog hop. I only visited about 60 writers, so far. My IWSG blog post for the day exploded with comments! Alex J. Cavanaugh is the force behind this huge event. Find out all about the IWSG monthly support group at Alex's IWSG page and visit the IWSG page for lots of writing tips.

 One thing I never planned on when getting into this business of writing was the online friends I would make. People I never have met face-to-face, and yet, I feel very close to them. What a blessing that is. 


I also didn't count on the support and guidance writers offer to other writers. Competition doesn't seem to exist, only the honest desire that each writer succeed. For example, I put together an  e-book with writing tips from 15 romance and mystery authors. They were excited to have the opportunity to help other writers. We were all mystery and/or romance writers in this e-book and could be considered in competition for each others' readers. But instead, we all pitched in to help someone else to find an easier path to publication.

Click on the book cover below to check out  Romance and Mystery Authors on Writing: Writing Tips, Publishing, and Marketing.

  


If you missed the action this past week, here are the links to the blog posts. 


IWSG Blog Post

Huge thanks to my hosts.
Joan C. Curtis
Kathy McIntosh
Driving Blind Productions
with Heather Fraser Brainers

Thanks so much for visiting this page. I appreciate your interest in the J.Q. Rose blog and in my books and quirky characters. I look forward to more fun, contests, guests, prizes, and comments in the New Year 2016.



Thursday, January 7, 2016

Blog Swap with Author Kathy McIntosh

Why is this pig here?
Read about Guest Author Kathy McIntosh below and you'll understand.
Photo by J.Q. Rose
Hello and welcome to the J.Q. Rose blog. 

Today humorist author Kathy McIntosh and I are swapping blogs. Kathy and I met online and have become cyber friends, just one of the perks of being an author nowadays with this new technology. She's divulging Five Fun Facts about me, hopefully five fun ones. I asked her to share why she wrote her humorous series with "non-stop plot surprises and humor." After reading Kathy's article and about her books, you'll see why I posted a pig, a handsome pig, at the top of the page.

Please hop on over to Kathy's blog after visiting here and say hi. Thanks.

Welcome, Kathy!!


Why I Wrote the Havoc in Hancock Series by Kathy McIntosh

My parents were lifelong campers and lovers of the wild and they instilled that love in me. I must have passed it on to my daughter, because she became an environmental activist.
Several years ago, my daughter and I had breakfast with an activist friend of hers whose “forest” name is Roadkill. Roadkill wore the skins of animals he’d found beside the road and tanned himself. He was (and is still) truly a character.

That delightful meal and introduction led to my first novel, Mustard's Last Stand, set in North Idaho. I love that part of my former home state. The lakes are deep and the forests majestic and the populace is sprinkled with plenty of loons. The human kind.

The premise for my first novel is admittedly absurd: No one would think of establishing a safari camp filled with African animals in chilly North Idaho. It made for a lot of fun, however, and believe it or not, some folks have asked me if zebras really live in Idaho. (They don’t.)

“Canned hunts” for elk, deer and many kinds of wild birds do exist in Idaho and other states, and in my book I try to point out, with a little humor, some of their drawbacks.

Roadkill played a smaller part in Foul Wind, but he will be the protagonist in the third novel, that I’m setting in my new state of Arizona.

Foul Wind by Kathy McIntosh
Back of the Book: Foul Wind by Kathy McIntosh

A bad wind's blowing from the new energy project known as Windfall Works, carrying the stench of pig poop along with rumors of financial shenanigans, blackmail and murder. Feather Sullivan can't believe her prissy sister Roxanne is involved. But when Roxanne disappears, leaving behind her dead lover and several furious investors in the energy project, Feather and her mother, often at odds, endure hungry hogs, sinister strangers, and a PI with killer instincts and drop-dead looks, to sniff out the murderer.

From the award-winning author of Mustard's Last Stand, the debut novel called "an absolute charmer" and "a totally fun read with non-stop plot surprises and humor."

BUY LINK: Foul Wind:  http://amzn.to/1LJXzfx
Dogged Kat Press
ISBN-13: 978-0692525692
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About Kathy McIntosh:
Kathy McIntosh grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California and spent 30 years in Idaho, so she’s familiar with urban and rural kookiness. She and her husband transplanted from Idaho to the Sonora desert in mid-2014, happy to swap snow
Author Kathy McIntosh
Stories full of Humor and Surprise
shovels for sunglasses. The first novel in the Havoc in Hancock series, the award-winning Mustard’s Last Stand, has been compared to the witty but weird works of Carl Hiaasen. It pits an environmental activist against a fanatical developer of an African safari camp in North Idaho.

Foul Wind, the second in the Havoc in Hancock humorous suspense series, was released in October of 2015. Blackmail, wind mills and vicious pigs make for a stinky —and deadly — combination. Can a former activist stop her meddling mother from becoming the next victim?

Kathy’s books blend mad-cap humor, odd-ball characters, light romance and suspense to make readers laugh as they’re nudged to consider what we’re doing to our environment.

Interesting fact: The narrator for the audio version of Mustard’s Last Stand, JoBe Cerny, was once the voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy! He created almost forty different voices for the narration and it rocks.


Connect Online with Kathy
Website and blog:  www.KathyMcIntosh.com


Facebook:  Facebook author page: www.facebook.com/kathymcintoshauthor
 
Thank you, Kathy.
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Readers, look for me on Sunday, January 10--I'm looking forward to spending the day with my friend and talented author, Heather Fraser Brainerd. She and her brother David are a real trip, so I had to share some far-out post for their site, Driving Blind Productions. Come on over and have fun with us.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Co-hosting the Internet Writers Support Group Blog Hop This Week, Achieving Your Goals, Giveaway

Welcome to  the Internet Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop.  .


What is IWSG? Founder of the  Insecure Writer’s Support Group and author Alex J Cavanaugh explains the group's purpose is "to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!" You're invited to become a member of this supportive group.

The group blogs the first Wednesday of every month.  The list of bloggers is always available so you can hop around to the author blogs filled with humor, advice, and thought-provoking topics on writing and publishing. You can find the list of participants at Alex's IWSG page

This month is a special one, not because it's the first blog hop of the year 2016, but because the Insecure Writers Support Group announces the winners of the IWSG Anthology Contest. 

I'm thrilled to be one of the co-hosts for the IWSG blog hop on this exciting day.  Thanks to the brave souls who are co-hosting with me. Please hop over and say hi to them.

The co-hosts for January are:
Achieving Your Goals by J.Q. Rose
It's January! Of course it's time for a new beginning -- to set your goals, organize your life, begin those projects. Well, I'm here to tell ya' you don't have to wait until January to set goals, etc. When I taught school, I felt like September was a new beginning  because I had a new group of students and new challenges. I could change what didn't work last year and improve lessons and relationships in September. I felt lucky to have two New Years.
So many folks fail to achieve their goals by the second week of January. That doesn't mean you just wallow in the misery of failure. You can re-charge and re-set your goal any time of the year. Don't give up because as Zig says "the goals aren't as important as what you become by achieving your goals."

Do you set goals in January?  Are they realistic and specific goals? Leave a comment below to let us know your approach to setting or not setting goals. Thanks.
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Pick up your FREE copy of the IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond at amazon
Tapping into the expertise of over a hundred talented authors from around the globe. 
The IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond contains something for every writer. Whether you are starting out and need tips on the craft of writing, looking for encouragement as an already established author, taking the plunge into self-publishing, or seeking innovative ways to market and promote your work, this guide is a useful tool. Compiled into three key areas of writing, publishing, and marketing, this valuable resource offers inspirational articles, helpful anecdotes, and excellent advice on dos and don'ts that we all wish we knew when we first started out on this writing journey.
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Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) Blog Post: Now About That AI! #IWSGbloghop

  Insecure Writers Support Group Blog Hop #IWSGbloghop What is the Insecure Writer's Support Group? Founded by author   Alex J. Cavanaug...

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