Please welcome Steena Holmes, a talented and fabulous young woman who has several published books available at Amazon. Please stop by to see her selection. I guarantee you’ll find a few that are right for you. FINDING EMMA is 5-star rated and I know you’re going to love it!
My friend, Steena and I have a few passions in common. “Whether its passion found in a steamy romance or the sweet love in an inspirational, Steena doesn’t think it’s complete without chocolate.” You’ll see that passion come through in her writing.
Steena, I’m so happy to have you here today! I know my readers would love to hear about your new release, Finding Emma, and your main character, Megan. Tell us what it is that your readers love so much about Megan and your story.
Marcia, darlin’, thank you for having me on your blog!
There are some women that you meet and realize you want to know more of. Marcia – you are one of those women! From the first moment I met you I knew right away you were not only a woman after my own heart but someone who would become a dear friend!
This past week has been a week of celebrations. And if there’s one thing I know about celebrations, it’s that there is always chocolate involved. Always 🙂
This week I’ve been able to celebrate the success of a recent book launch. Within days it made a bestsellers list and then went on to do more than I could even imagine. Finding Emma is my little book that could. Every day I’m getting emails from readers who fall in love with the various characters of my story but, more than not, they will all say that their heart broke for Megan – my main character.
Why?
She’s a mother doing everything possible to find her kidnapped daughter – even after everyone else has given up.
Writing Megan’s character was easy for me. I knew I needed her to be strong. Tenacious. Stubborn. I grew up with a strong mother who taught me so much. I’m surrounded by women of strength that I admire and try to be like. But, I also needed her to be broken. Weary. Alone. I tried really hard to place myself in her shoes. What would I do if my youngest child had been missing for two years? I think I would fall apart. I know I would fall apart. But there’s something about us as women – we are more than just emotional creatures. When we are at our rock bottom – we find the strength to rise up. Every time. All the time. Especially when it comes to our families and those close to us.
While I was writing Finding Emma, I did a lot of research. There is an organization that I’ve partnered up with called Missing Children’s Society of Canada – www.mcsc.ca. I always knew that I wanted to donate proceeds from the sale of each book to this organization but it wasn’t until I found myself in a situation that I knew I needed to. My middle daughter was followed to school one early morning by an older man. I received a phone call at work from her – I could hear the fear in her voice but it wasn’t until I hung up the phone that it really hit me. My daughter could have been taken. I could have been ‘Megan’. It’s a feeling I never want to experience again – but it sure made me realize that if something had happened to my daughter – I would have done everything possible to get her back. Everything.
That’s what a strong woman does.
A little more about Steena Holmes:
Visit my website and enter my world of passions – chocolate and writing!
I’m Steena Holmes. A wife. A mother of three daughters and I live in Calgary, Alberta. I’m a chocoholic and author. I love to read, bake, create cover designs, read and write.
Pull up a chair, fill your plate with sweet delicacies as we learn together how to become stronger writers. We’ll discuss books, indie publishing and passions – not always in that order!
Need to get a hold of me? I’d love to chat! Email me at steena@steenaholmes.com
Steena, thank you for visiting and sharing your newest release with us.
So, what would you like to ask Steena? Ask her anything. She loves talking with her readers!
You all have the opportunity to get an autographed copy of FINDING EMMA. How? Well, Steena has graciously offered to give away a copy of her book to one commenter. The winner will be announced next Wednesday, April 11th.
Remember last Wednesday when author, Jillian Dodd, was here and she also offered to give away a copy of one of her books to one commenter? Well, we have a winner…Diana Douglas! Diana, I will send you a Direct Message on Twitter with instructions to receive your book.
Don’t forget that today is the opening day of The Life List Club’s new blog! Sherry Isaac, our newest author, will be posting for you today. Please stop over and give her some comment luv! I’ll be posting on Friday. See you there!
Wow! It’s December already! That means The Life List Club is closing in on another milestone. December 30th marks our 6-month anniversary and you’re all invited to party with us as we celebrate a few more accomplishments! We’d love for you to join us in sharing your accomplishments, too.
Three months ago all of us writers gave away some really amazing gifts to our members and guess what? We’re doing it again! Mark your calendar for The Life List Club’s 6-month Milestone Party on December 30th! If you missed our 3-month Milestone Party, you can visit it here to get an idea of how we rock ‘n roll!
In the meantime, I am so happy to have my friend, Pam Hawley, here from Hawleyville to entertain you, while I’m posting over at David Walker’s place. Pam’s going to prove to you why kissing a lot of frogs helps you find more than one prince.
After having your fun with Pam, don’t forget to ‘hop’ over to David’s where I’m telling some secrets that will keep you sane! Have fun!
Take it away, Pam –
Growing up, I loved fairy tales just as much as the next girl. The first movie I saw in the theaters was Snow White. I wanted to be like Cinderella and have a little mouse army who made me glittery dresses and sang songs. I wished I had Rapunzel’s long golden hair.
But even then, something about those fairy tales bugged me. Cinderella, Snow White and Rapunzel spent a lot of time daydreaming and singing sappy songs about how one day their princes would come. Eventually, those princes did gallop in with their perfect grins and their white steeds.
Where the heck was the gumption in these girls, anyway? Snow White and Sleeping Beauty couldn’t even get out of bed without some guy kissing them. Why didn’t Cinderella just take that pointy slipper of hers, chase down that wicked stepmother, and well … you know?
I always liked the princess who kissed the frog a little better. At least in that story, she did the kissing to get to her happy place rather than just lay back and let the man do all the work. She had to pucker up, look a warty little critter right in the eye, and overcome a fear – even if that fear was just of smooching something ugly.
Maybe my fondness for chicks who take control of their own lives is why I’m so good at kissing frogs.
No, I’m not talking about the guys I dated in high school or my ex-husband, and I’m certainly not talking about my current partner. He’s a prince and he doesn’t have warts. I’m talking about learning to embrace the ugly in my life and see the beauty under the rough surface.
In my writing life, the monster under my bed has always been rejection. If I work hard, do my job to the best of my ability and my boss tells me what I’ve accomplished isn’t good enough, it’ll sting. But I’ll get over it. My job is what I do, not who I am. My writing, on the other hand, IS me. It is my heart’s work, my dream, and the trait I value most in myself – my creativity – brought to life. That means that I’ve always seen someone rejecting it as the ultimate epic fail.
So for years, I wrote and wrote and wrote. Short stories and half-finished novels filled my hard drive and my head. But they never ventured outside my front door. I was Sleeping Beauty snoozing, or Rapunzel pacing about in her tower. Maybe I was Cinderella sweeping floors and humming songs with my furry friends. I was sitting back and daydreaming, waiting for my prince to come. He was an imaginary publisher who would ride in on a white steed, flash me that supermodel smile, and say “Hey, so-and-so told me about your brilliant writing. Come with me, and I’ll make you famous.” I’d climb on the back of his white horse and gallop off into the sunset to a land of publishing deals and fat checks and movie offers.
It took me a long time to realize that he was too busy sucking face with girls who ate poisoned apples to mess with me. If I wanted my fairy tale, I was going to have to go frog-hunting.
So I puckered up and started smooching. I took a course in marketing my work, and began sending my writing out to various publishers. Web sites, literary journals, e-magazines, anthologies, you name it. I became a frog-kissing fool.
I’m not saying these publishers were warty toad-like critters. I’m sure some of them were quite attractive. But they represented my worst fear, which was putting my work out there to be rejected. I was as scared of this as any princess would be of puckering up for an amphibian.
My first rejection came when I was a thousand miles away from home, attending a conference for my day-job. I had a break between conference sessions, and had gone to the cyber-café to check my email. One of the messages awaiting me was a “no thanks” for a story I had considered a masterpiece. I wanted to cry. I wanted to curl up in my bed surrounded by my partner, my ferret and my cat and stay there sulking all day. I wanted to kick something.
But I could do none of the above. My home was a thousand miles away, my only nearby solace a sterile hotel bed with scratchy blankets. I was surrounded by other conference-goers who would look at me funny if I sat there and bawled until mascara ran down my cheeks. I had a half hour to get myself together and meet my boss and co-workers for dinner.
I had closed my eyes and kissed the frog. When I opened them, there was no prince, just the warty face of all my fears staring back at me.
For me, that was a moment of truth. I had gotten my first rejection under the worst possible circumstances, when I was far away from all my comforts and securities. I could decide this rejection thing hit too hard and hurt too bad, or I could keep going. In other words, I could decide that frog kisses tasted too much like flies and worms, or I could pucker up and go off in search of another amphibian.
I’m glad to say I kept smooching. To be honest, many of those frogs still leave a wormy taste in my mouth. But I’ve also found a few princes. To be a writer who has been submitting work for less than a year but has two publishing credits to her name so far and is looking at a third is nothing to sneeze at. If I’ve had to leave a trail of toads with lipstick on them behind me to get there, so be it.
To reach your goals, you can’t sit back and wait for the prince to ride in and carry you away. You have to pucker up, kiss the frogs, and see what happens.
So what about you – smooched any amphibians lately?
In addition to short fiction, Pam Hawley writes humor pieces and is working on her first novel, which blends the creepy and the funny by bringing a brutally murdered “player” back to life as a naked ghost. Her short story “A Wingding and A Prayer” appeared in the July issue of eFiction Magazine (available at http://www.efictionmag.com). Her short horror fiction, “Peanut Butter and Jelly,” will appear in The Spirit of Poe Anthology available at http://literarylandmarkpress.blogspot.com. When not working, writing or in the gym, Pam can most likely be found curled up on her couch reading, hanging out at her family pub Hawley’s in Baltimore, or cheering the Pittsburgh Steelers. She blogs regularly at http://hawleyville.wordpress.com.
I love this, Pam! I’ve had one rejection and one near-miss with a contest, and I know exactly how you feel. I’m going to keep smooching, though, just like you! Thanks for being here today. Please give Pam some comment luv and then hop on over to all the LLC blogs to see what else is cookin’!
This is it! I’m going for Round 4 to see if I can finish my manuscript!
All of you who have been stuck, floundering, procrastinating, dozing off…
HOP TO IT!
Get yourself motivated to jump in on the fun and inspiration to get your butt moving in the right direction! Oh, don’t worry…yes, I know, life can throw a wrench in the works. That’s precisely why ROW80 is for you! You can tweak your goals if you need to. We all think we’re capable of scaling a tall building in one bound; climbing Mt. Everest in an afternoon; writing a novel in one month! No way!
Goals take time, perseverance, motivation and GUTS to accomplish. I’m here to tell YOU…you have the will, the determination AND the strength to accomplish a goal!
As you might expect, at my house we have CHOCOLATE Parties! So dive in to the goodies on the table…come on, I’ll show you what we have:
Flouted Milk Chocolate Custard
Chocolate Amaretto Semifreddo
Chocolate-covered Strawberries
Dark Chocolate and Mocha Truffles
Grab a Chocolatini or a glass of Merlot and a plate of your favorite chocolates. Then rock to the music!
Wow! What a party! Okay, settle down a bit. I need your attention!
I have an announcement to make!
We have A GIVEAWAY, PEOPLE!
Each of The Life List Club writers has a gift for one or more subscribers/commenters on today’s post. Check individual writers’ blogs for their details on how many winners will be chosen and when the contest ends.
My contest runs between 7am, 9/23 and midnight, 9/30(EST). Winner will be announced Saturday, October 1st! You have lots of time to subscribe and comment!
For one subscriber commenting on this post, my Prize Package includes:
1. A copy of my flash fiction story, Night Moves!
2. An invitation for you to guest post or be interviewed on my blog! (A guest post can be a work of flash fiction, a short story up to 2,000 words, or a post on history, life lessons, sweet obsessions, women’s issues, health & wellness, or writing)
3. I will name a character in my trilogy, The Dance and The Dancer, after you!
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Let’s get to the reason for this celebration…my 3-month progress report: (My progress is in red.)
1. Write for the book no less often than 5 days a week. I did poorly on writing daily due to grandchildren life getting in the way.
2. Write a minimum of 400 words each of 5 days each week. This would have equaled 24,000 words over 12 wks. If we count my WIP, my blog, flash fiction and short story I’ve written approximately 45,000 words. YAY!! (If we only count my WIP, my numbers stink!)
3. Visit ROW80 twice a week to stay motivated in my writing goal. I chose, instead, to visit once a week, but missed a few weeks during the summer. Checked in all this month and am ready to go for Round 4 with a fresh set of goals!
4. Get my butt out of my desk chair for at least 10 minutes every hour. I don’t get up every hour-I get too engrossed in writing-but I do get up more often than I used to.
5. Take at least 2 online classes to improve my blog and/or writing. So far, I’ve taken one (another was canceled) and am signed up for a second one this fall.
6. Find a critique partner/group to get feedback on my book. No luck with this yet. Does anybody have a connection with a good group or individual?
7. Feed my addiction to chocolate, daily. 🙂 I’m stellar at this! Another YAY!!
8. Allow myself only 2 hours a day to read blogs and keep up with social media marketing. I have found that 2 hours is just not enough time everyday. Sometimes it takes 3 hours to take care of the above, plus responding to comments on my blog posts and commenting on other blogs.
9. Get moving! Exercise at least 30 minutes 6 days a week. Ugh! This summer with the grandgirls was more movement in my days, but not necessarily exercise, per se. Started this week back to my routine and got in 3 days so far.
10. Only have 1 dessert each week. Yeah, right! What was I thinking? I vow to do better, though. How about 3 per week?
11. Read 25 books in the next 12 months. On target with this. I’ve read 7 books in 3 months. YAY!!
12. Attend a writer’s conference or workshop. No time so far; found one in Dallas next May that I’m hoping to attend.
13. Teach my granddaughters good new habits, like how much fun it is to do chores. 🙂 Oooh, they learned this so well! They set the table and cleaned up toys, put dirty laundry in the hamper, helped with dusting and making their big bed, and took their dirty dishes to the sink. Even my 2yr old accomplished all of this! They were awesome, especially since they never complained.
14. Add more fruits and vegetables into my diet. So far, no rotting fruits or veggies in the refrigerator drawer! That means I’m eating what I buy every week! YAY!!
15. Create 15 minute pockets of time each day to spend alone with my hubs. We spend time at breakfast talking, planning and catching up. After dinner, we watch a movie together and late night, he stops in my office to chat for a while. It ends up being roughly 2 1/2 hours a day. And you just nevermind what we do after we talk in my office. 😉
16. Lose at least 35 lbs, in order to get off all my meds, about 3 pounds a month. This means I should have lost 9 lbs so far…uh, no. I’ve lost 2 lbs and am working harder now that the grands have gone home to their Mama.
17. Get back to the routine of cleaning bathrooms and dusting weekly, instead of pushing it off on my honey. Done! YAY!!
18. Be in, or finished with, the process of publishing my book by December, 2011. On target to finish the writing and self-editing, but may have to adjust the timeframe for publishing.
19. Floss everyday. Almost.
20. Remember to thank my husband everyday for his constant love and support. Always do! YAY!
21. Learn how to create podcasts, videos and a book trailer for my blog site. Not yet, maybe next time.
22. Eat more slowly. Practice. Practicing, but I still finish first. Dang!
23. Notice the little things and appreciate them. Doing it!
24. Live in the moment. YES!
25. Play. Often.
So, what do you think? Please rate my progress below, 1-5 stars. The score you give me has no effect on choosing the winner of the Prize Package, truly!
Now to go visit the other amazing writer’s blogs and enter to win their fabulous prizes, listed here. Just click on the writers’ links below:
Pam Hawley – package including: 1. Winner’s choice of excerpt from my novel-in-progress or a copy of my short story, “Elevated.” 2. I will interview the winner on their goals and ambitions for a future post in Hawleyville. 3. Option to publish a piece of their own fiction/essay (up to 2,000 words) or do a guest post at my blog.
Visit my website and enter my world of passions – chocolate and writing!
Marcia Richards 