Imperfect Date-#DumpsterFireLove
February 10, 2023 by Tari Jewett in category Charmed Writer by Tari Lynn Jewett, Writing tagged as #dimpsterfirelove, imperfect date, new releaseWhat happens when a girl meets a guy over a literal dumpster fire? #HeartsAblaze. My latest story in the #HermosafortheHolidays series released Tuesday in the Imperfect Date collection with a total of 22 stories by some amazing authors!
The story was really fun for me to write. It was great to be back in my make-believe Hermosa Beach with all of the characters that I now feel are my friends. The hero in this story is Rob Greer, who you might remember from #12DancingSantas. I had so many people ask me for a story for Rob, that when the opportunity came up to write for this collection, I thought it was Rob’s turn.
I had so much fun writing this story! And just an insiders note. Knight, Cassie’s dog, is really our family pet, Knight. He’s been gone for a few years and I miss him terribly, so this was a way to spend some time with him again. There’s a scene in the book from real life. When we got Knight, we lived in Wyoming and he had lots of open space. We brought him to California where we lived in a townhouse for a few years with no yard. I won’t tell you anymore, but the scene is both funny…and a little sad, and I had to include it in the story.
Here’s the Blurb for #DumpsterFireLove.
So you think your love life is a #dumpsterfire…
Cassie Harper’s first day as a teacher starts with a dumpster fire, her longtime boyfriend dumps her, then she’s kidnapped by a couple of her new colleagues who insist they’re trying to protect her. Now the whole town has her set up with the hunky fireman who put out the dumpster fire.
Rob Greer is on his way home from work when he spots a dumpster fire at Beachwood Elementary School. The new teacher, is trying to put it out with her water bottle. She’s cute, and he’d love to ask her out, but when a photo of them putting out the fire together goes viral, things get complicated.
Can a dumpster fire set two hearts ablaze? Will social media fan the flames, or dampen the embers? Only chocolate, wine…and new girlfriends can help her now!
This story and all of the stories in the book are a perfect way to spend your Valentine’s week! Hope you’ll check out Imperfect Date!
Hope you have a little romance in your Valentine’s week (you can always find it in a book)!
2 1 Read moreDo You Need More Time for All Your Goals? by Kitty Bucholtz
February 9, 2023 by Kitty Bucholtz in category It's Worth It by Kitty Bucholtz, Writing tagged as It's Worth It, Kitty Bucholtz, Online Class, Planning, time management, writing, Writing Plans
Subtitle for This Block
Title for This Block
Every year, when I write down all of my goals, the list contains enough stuff to last several years. And after I trim it down to the essentials, it’s still almost definitely more than I can accomplish in the next 12 months. But I always want to try! Haha!
Do you have a lot on your mind and in your heart to do in 2023? I’m with you, friend! But there’s a saying attributed to the famous American businessman, Peter Drucker: “You can’t improve what you don’t measure.”
So let’s work together and both achieve more this year than we did last year! We’ll write down our goals AND how we’re going to measure them. As we keep track, we can look for ways to improve what we’re doing — and get more done.
And not just “stuff.” If you’re looking for someone to help you get off the couch and clean the house every Saturday, there are better people out there to help you with that. 😉 I’m talking about looking at the next 10-12 months and focusing on the most important things to you — finishing and publishing one or more books, helping your daughter plan her wedding, gain some muscle and lose some fat, do something from your bucket list.
I teach a class that’s helped hundreds of writers over the last two decades to get more writing done. Going the Distance: Time and Project Management for Writers. And with my new and improved version, we’ll look at my WHOLE PATH System to working on your whole life, not just writing in a vacuum.
The class will be online and self-paced, so you don’t have to show up at a certain time. But as a bonus, I’ll offer 4 live Q&A sessions during February and March. If you can’t make it live, you can send me your question and I’ll answer it so you can watch the recording.
Now is the time to get focused on what’s most important to you. And starting February 20, you can get the help you need to write more with less stress and more peace and joy this year!
I’ve created a couple short videos on my YouTube channel to help you in the meantime. The first is Easy Planning for the 3 Most Important Things in Your Life, and the second is Micro- vs. Macro-Planning. I hope you find them useful and encouraging!
And I hope to see you in class! 😀
The Birthday Song(s)
January 30, 2023 by Dianna Sinovic in category Quill and Moss by Dianna Sinovic, Writing tagged as Birthday Songs, music, writing
I often listen to music while I’m writing, and it’s nearly always to one of my two favorite college radio stations: WPRB in Princeton, NJ, or KVCU in Boulder, CO. No Spotify or Pandora for me.
The other day the DJ Dana K from WPRB decided to celebrate her birthday by playing during her two-hour show songs only from the year she was born. What a cool idea, I thought. I’d never looked back at songs that way. And since this post is the closest to my birthday month—I won’t be posting in February because my slot falls on the 30th of the month—I am going to do that look-back here.
To give the range more breadth than Dana K did, I expanded my research (thank you, Google) beyond my birth year to all years that are decades for it—so, all years that end in the same digit. I discovered, though, that, like any best-of list, what’s “best” is in the eye of the beholder. Since I don’t currently listen to top-40 radio, those that floated to the top of the online lists were not often ones I would choose to play (or remember fondly).
I did see some favorites, but many other popular hits did not register high on my interest gauge.
I was delighted to find that both “Hooked on a Feeling” by Blue Suede and “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone were on the list. I am a big fan of the film Guardians of the Galaxy, and those two songs are part of the much-played soundtrack. “Jolene” by Dolly Parton is on the list; I also love Jack White’s version of the song, which came out 30 years later, on the White Stripes’ Under Blackpool Lights.
“Beeswing” by Richard Thompson was not a top-40 hit on the lists, but it’s a stunning song-story on Mirror Blue by one of my favorite singer-songwriters. “Crown of Love,” from the debut album by Arcade Fire, is another on the timeline that swept me away. And I was happy to discover that “Say It Ain’t So” on Weezer‘s Blue Album fit my time parameter; the song speaks to a topic that’s personal for me.
There are many other songs I could mention. Instead, I’ll just slip on my ear buds, crank up the volume, and get back to writing my next story.
Some of Dianna’s Books
Friendly Reminder
January 15, 2023 by Renae Wrich in category Writing tagged as be kind, new year, reminders, writing
For me, January has always felt like a clean slate. An opportunity to psych myself up for the year ahead and think about all the things I hope to accomplish.
On the contrary, January is also a time when I think back on all of the things I wasn’t able to accomplish over the past year.
Did I reach my fitness goals? Nope.
Did I tackle that home improvement project? Nope.
Did I publish my next children’s book? Nope.
I find that I always need that friendly reminder to focus more on what I did accomplish, and less on what I didn’t.
Did I make sure my children knew they were loved? Yes.
Did I keep things like family dinners despite our crazy activity schedule? Yes.
Did I raise a puppy? Yes.
Did I volunteer my time to important causes? Yes.
Did I take outdoor walks when my schedule/the weather allowed? Yes.
Did I tackle massive projects at work? Yes.
Did I start contributing to a new blog? Yes!!!
Did I write my first romance novel? Yes!
Focusing more on what I did accomplish, helps better prepare me for what I hope to accomplish in the New Year.
How can I build upon the things I that I was successful at? How will that help me accomplish the things I haven’t been successful with in the past?
Please remember to be kind to yourself. You’re doing great things and you are enough just as you are. Everything else is a bonus. 🙂
Are you an author or a writer? and my TikTok Confession by Jina Bacarr
January 11, 2023 by Jina Bacarr in category historical fiction, Holocaust, Jina’s Book Chat, Paris novels, Writing tagged as author, Berlin, editing, Paris, World War 2, Writer, writing@jinabacarrauthor WIP woes… #booktok #authorlife #writersoftiktok #amwriting #ameditingfiction #womensfiction #booktoker @bookandtonic #writer #authorsoftiktok #heartbreakingstories #amediting edit
No, this isn’t a trick question.
It’s the challenge we ladies of the pen all face in our social media, digital, crazy, mad, mad world…
The answer is: BOTH.
The writer is me in total chaos working on an insanely difficult book about rape in France during World War II with a deadline looming. My office is a mess, I’m a mess… the manuscript, thank God, is NOT a mess but it’s not finished yet. Weaving such a trauma against the backdrop of the Nazi Occupation is the most gut-wrenching task I’ve ever faced. It’s taken me a while to get a handle on the story of two sisters and how the rape of one of them affects them both.
That’s the writer me.
—–
Now for the author me.
That’s the me writing this post because this is my chance every month to reach out to you guys and let you know what’s going on in my world. It’s how we present ourselves to the book world and at times is as just as trying and difficult as the writer me.
Hence, my TikTok confession.
I hope you enjoy my video showing me in my office drowning in research material… oh, Lord.
——–
And now for some good stuff, if I may.
My WW2 story THE ORPHANS OF BERLIN is now FREE to read in PRIME on Amazon
THE OPRHANS OF BERLIN
Meet the Landau Sisters barely surviving in Nazi Germany… and Kay Alexander, the amazing debutante from Philadelphia who will stop at nothing to save them from the Nazis in 1939 Berlin…
And of course, there’s a British pilot hero to die for…
—————
0 0 Read moreFeatured Books
THE CONSPIRACY
When family ambition turns deadly Chase Garrett must keep Harper safe and both of them alive.
More info →
THE FLING
Every woman is beautiful. Sometimes it just takes the right man to show you just how beautiful you are.
More info → P. R. I. S. M.
Can O'Neill and Jericho work together to unravel lies on both planets and still obtain the respect Jericho craves and the independence O'Neill needs?
More info → 
