#GuestDayTuesday – #ChristineSkarbek – #ConfrontingPower&Chaos

/ Marcia Meara / 25 Comments

Today’s guest is author Christine Skarbek, and I think you are going to really enjoy her post, so let’s get going! Christine, take it away!

Thanks, Marcia!
~~~

10 fun (we hope!) facts ~~

1)  Though I’m not particularly intelligent, I outsmarted both professionals regarding my daughter’s OCD which threatened her life for years and “spooks” who had invaded my home and harassed me and my 16-year-old son for about six months. 

2)  My adventure memoir, Confronting Power and Chaos: the Uncharted Kaleidoscope of My Life, has gotten rave reviews from reviewers in the UK, France, South Africa, Canada and USA. 

3)  Hardly knowing a word of Polish, I moved to Poland and lived there by the skin of my teeth for over 12 years.

4)  My youngest daughter is an acclaimed artist in Macon GA.

5) The screenplay I wrote back in 1990 after investigating my distant cousin’s life (the only person male or female to have distinguished herself on both the Eastern and Western fronts of WWII) and interviewing her wartime associates.  That script, in its present version, is now being pitched in Hollywood.

6) I have translated all of Polish author Dominik Rettinger’s novels and adapted three of them to American or UK settings.

7)  I listen to Beethoven, Dvorak, Schubert and Grieg music religiously.

8)  I totally love travelling by train.  I have had the world’s best conversations on trains.  The folks I’ve met have been exceptional!

9)  Best way to entertain your kids at mealtimes is to have them recite lines from their favorite movies, and sprinkle questions about the actors, directors, etc. for them to answer.

10) Best way to educate your kids during summertime is to take them to Europe.

~~~ “That one event, that one ten-minute car ride, radically bowled over my life’s kaleidoscope.”

What’s in a name?

Her trailblazer of a distant cousin forged a solitary, singular path during and after WWII. Unassuming and somewhat clueless, Christine eventually finds she has to do pretty much the same. A teen fully expecting her Midwestern life would be drab and ho-hum, she meets in Germany an elderly man who offered her a ride – and insight into a legacy she was going to rely on throughout her entire life.

 Marrying the wrong guy, divorced, isolated, and responsible for four chronically ill children, she charged forward, brooking no fools to get her children the healthcare and education they richly deserved, even if that meant blackmailing the governor of Iowa. She took on the powers that be (including spooks invading her home for six months), while always striving for the career she pined for.

Throughout all the decades of financial and personal setbacks and the chaos that swirled around her, Christine’s legacy constantly beckoned her: to be worthy of that distant cousin, WWII’s most decorated courier, and of a timeless love story she witnessed.

Christine’s life journey, including her 12 years in Poland (her other homeland), is a stirring testament to determination, imagination, and the power of perseverance and of thinking out of the box.

Author Christine Skarbek

With an MA in journalism from the University of Iowa, Christine Skarbek has worked as a foreign student exchange coordinator, written op-eds for several newspapers—including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution—and co-authored three screenplays. Besides continuing her public relations promotion of D.W. Rettinger’s novels, she has had articles published in online journals.  She’s currently enjoying her semi-retirement in Silver Spring MD as her LA producer pitches her and Rettinger’s biopic on Countess Krystyna Skarbek, WWI’s most decorated agent who distinguished herself on both the Eastern and Western fronts.

You can reach Christine on Facebook HERE
Email Christine here: cskarbek@gmail.com

Check Out Christine’s book HERE

 

My adventure memoir, Confronting Power and Chaos: the Uncharted Kaleidoscope of My Life, has gotten rave reviews from: the UK, France, South Africa, Canada and USA.

 

#GuestDayTuesday – #BillEngleson – #TheLifeOfGronsky – #Mystery – #Thriller&Suspense, #LiteraryFiction

/ Marcia Meara / 26 Comments

Hi, Everyone! Here it is, #GuestDayTuesday again, and I know you’re going to enjoy today’s featured author, Bill Engleson. Bill’s here to share his book, The Life of Gronsky, so let’s get started. Bill, take it away!

Thanks, Marcia!

BLURB:
Gilbert Gronsky has taken up writing late in life and decides in 2021 to spread his writerly wings and enter a three-day novel contest over the Labour Day Weekend. As he writes his ‘novella,’ a mystery, his life alternates between emerging mini-chapters, minor interruptions, his passion for the US Open tennis tournament, his lover, his friend, and, at one point, a shocker of a visitor in his garage.

In November, Gronsky fashions a more complex crime novel set in post-war Canada, 1946-48. 

As he writes, he is occupied by a plethora of larger world actions including extreme weather events, COP 26, Haiti missionary kidnappings, love, food, and Covid.

 And, of course, tennis wherever it pops up on television.

Review of The Life of Gronsky:

https://thebcreview.ca/2023/07/16/1846-dombrowski-engleson/

Author Bill Engleson

Bill Engleson is a retired social worker, pickleball aficionado, novelist, poet, humourist, essayist, and flash fictionista. He was raised in Nanaimo, lived for decades in New Westminster, and retired to Denman Island in 2003.

Bill is the author of two novels, Like a Child to Home, which received an Honourable Mention at the inaugural 2016 Whistler Independent Book Awards, and 2023’s The Life of Gronsky.

In 2016, Silver Bow Publishing released his second book, a collection of humorous literary essays entitled Confessions of an Inadvertently Gentrifying Soul.

Deep into Covid’s first and second wave, his poetry appeared in several anthologies including, The Vancouver Island Regional Library’s Alone but Not Alone – Poetry in Isolation; Drift, Poems and Poets from the Comox Valley; Planet Earth’s The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling! and the first and at least one subsequent edition of the Van Isle Poetry Collective.

In the past few years, his fiction/creative non-fiction has appeared in Island Writer Magazine and Geist.

Bill is currently writing a prequel to his first novel entitled Drawn Towards the Sun and a sequel to The Life of Gronsky tentatively dubbed, The Book of Gronsky.

You can Buy The Life of Gronsky HERE:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-life-of-gronsky-bill-engleson/1143136764

https://www.amazon.com/Books-Bill-Engleson/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3ABill+Engleson

https://tertulia.com/book/the-life-of-gronsky-bill-engleson/9780228888413

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1350532

https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-life-of-gronsky

#BreakTimeComingUp – #GuestPosts – #PassTheTeaPlease

/ Marcia Meara / 9 Comments

I think I’m overdue for a bit of a break, with or without tea … though WITH is always better! I do have several guest posts coming up very soon (Bill Engleson on 4/30, Christine Skarbek on 5/7, Jackie Lambert on 5/14, and Yvonne Blackwood on 5/21) so I’ll be around for those, for sure. But my brain has been on overload the last couple of weeks, and I definitely need some time for both gardening and reading. (The hotter it gets, the better that second option looks.)

I’ll be keeping an eye out for anything that might pop up needing immediate attention, but barring that, don’t worry if I’m away for a wee bit.

#GuestDayTuesday – #DarleneFoster – #AmandaInScotland – #TheStandingStones

/ Marcia Meara / 68 Comments

It’s #GuestDayTuesday, folks, and today our special guest is Darlene Foster. I know you’ll enjoy Darlene’s post, so please welcome her to TWS. Darlene … take it away!

Thanks, Marcia!

Interview with Amanda Jane Ross by Darlene Foster
~~~

I would like to welcome intrepid traveller, Amanda Jane Ross, to Marcia Meara’s radio show.

DF: Hello Amanda. Welcome to the show. I understand you have just returned from a visit to Scotland.How did you enjoy It?

AR: It was awesome! I spent a week on the Isle of Arran which has everything the whole of the country has. It’s called Scotland in miniature as it has highlands and lowlands.You are never far from a beach and there are all kinds of wildlife like cute red squirrels.

DF: What took you there?

AR: My bestie, Leah Anderson, has an aunt who lives on the island, and she invited us to spend some time with her. She lives in a really cool old house. I already knew Aunt Jenny because I met her in Malta and she took us to France too. She is a cool aunt.

DF: You sure like to travel. What is one of your favourite places?

AR: Oh, I don’t have a favourite place. I love every place I visit. I like trying new food and learning about the history and meeting the local people. My teacher tells me that I get a better education travelling than she could ever teach me. I always share my experiences with the class when I return.

DF: You always seem to get involved in a mystery wherever you go. Why is that?

AR: Well, I don’t do that on purpose. It just seems to happen. There wasn’t going to be any mystery to solve this time, but a woman from the past kept showing up. At least she seemed like she was from the past. I did touch the standing stones, hoping I would be transported back in time. That didn’t happen, but someone could have come though to our time. I mean, you never know, do you?

DF: No, you never do. Do you have any other plans to travel.

AR: My cousin, Taylor, is marrying an Irish girl and they asked me to be a junior bridesmaid. The wedding is going to be in a castle, in Ireland! I’ve never been there before so I can’t say no.

DF: Sounds like fun. Thanks for taking the time to be on the show, Amanda. Happy travels.

Amanda in Scotland: The Standing Stones

Blurb:

What could possibly go wrong on the magical Scottish Isle of Arran? It’s such a peaceful, charming place with castles, mountains, old graves and ancient standing stones.

Amanda Ross and Leah Anderson are visiting Aunt Jenny who owns an old house on the island. But something is not right. A mysterious woman, who seems to have stepped out of the past, keeps appearing, Leah’s father hasn’t contacted the family for some time, and Aunt Jenny’s house may have an uninvited guest.

Amanda is intrigued by this picturesque island, often called Little Scotland. She watches exciting sheepdog trials, attends a lively ceilidh, makes friends with the locals, and visits the mystical Holy Island. Join Amanda as she tries to solve the mystery of the strange woman and the disappearance of Leah’s father. Will the past catch up with the present?

Short Excerpt:

Amanda grunted lifting the heavy metal bar to open the gate. She tugged at it but it wouldn’t budge. The muddy ground caused her to lose her footing. She slipped and fell—face down in the sticky mud. As she looked up, she saw someone running through the trees. A woman in a white cap and a plaid shawl. The woman from the past.

Author Darlene Foster

Brought up on a ranch in southern Alberta, Darlene Foster dreamt of writing, travelling the world and meeting interesting people. She also believes everyone is capable of making their dreams come true. It’s no surprise that she’s now an award-winning author of the children’s Amanda Travels Adventure series, and divides her time between the west coast of Canada and Orihuela Costa, in Spain.
Social Media:

Website: www.darlenefoster.ca
Blog:  https://darlenefoster.wordpress.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3156908.Darlene_Foster
Twitter: https://twitter.com/supermegawoman
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DarleneFosterWriter

Buy Links:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Darlene-Foster/author/B003XGQPHA

https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Darlene-Foster/author/B003XGQPHA

 

#SixPack – #BlueAngels – #AirDotShow

/ Marcia Meara / 38 Comments

 

Air Dot Air Show 

Sanford, Florida
April 20 & 21

Spent half of the day today standing in my front yard, looking up, where we were treated to the Blue Angels and their cohorts, flying directly over our house. And they couldn’t have had a more beautiful sky as a backdrop!

Again and again, they performed maneuvers that were a treat to see. How lucky are we that we can walk outside and watch the entire show? I got goosebumps with every pass they made! Fantastic! 😀 ❤

#NotSoClassicPoetry – #SummerMagic – #Bruises

/ Marcia Meara / 33 Comments
…Not So Classic…

Time for another “Not So Classic” poem by none other than ME. Hope you enjoy this one. It’s from the first half of my book Summer Magic, wherein the  poems are about my Wake-Robin Ridge character, MacKenzie Cole (or Mac, as he’s called) as a young boy in the mountains of North Carolina. (His Dad took him there for a Father & Son vacation every summer.) Happy Reading!

Bruises

Pale blue eyes,
Fringed in black,
Look out at the world
With the wild, free spirit
All ten-year-old boys
Know how to nurture.

A shock of black hair falls over his brow
As he frowns thoughtfully,
Examining a scab on one knobby knee.
A souvenir from yesterday’s hike,
Acquired while showing off for Dad.
Again.

Long and thin, his scraped-up legs
Have become maps of small injuries,
Tracing each day of his summer . . .
A scratch here, from picking
Wild blackberries,
And a bruise there, from
Swinging on a low limb . . .
Those and so many more,
Evidence garnered while calling,
Watch, Dad, watch!
See what I can do!

Badges.
Attesting to his bravery,
Marking his adventures,
And confirming in his mind
His place among Immortals.

His dad sighs, all too aware
More bumps and scrapes
Lie ahead.
No way to guard him
Against the future bruises
Life will bring.
His boy will be marked,
Abraded by time and
The world around him,
Though some scars will be
Much less obvious than others.
And someday, scabby knees
Will be counted as nothing,
When weighed against
Those other
Invisible wounds.

You can download Summer Magic HERE:
Summer Magic: Poems of Life and Love

 

#GuestPostsInformation

/ Marcia Meara / 5 Comments

I recently put out a call to folks who’d like to be guests on The Write Stuff in order to promote their books, or share writing related posts. I do have the FULL instructions as to what I’ll need to set up guests posts at the top of this page, under General Rules and Various Feature Instructions, but it appears I need to be more clear on this.  In order for me to handle an influx of guest requests in an efficient manner, I really need the following from you:

**Here Are the Things I Need From You For ALL Guest Posts**

PLEASE do not send links for these:

  1. Your Cover Image, Author Photo, & any other appropriate images submitted as SEPARATE jpgs or pngs* only.
  2. Word Document or Documents (NO PDFs, please) which contains the following:
    a) The Review, Article, Short Essay, or Promo material you wish to share
    b) Your Book Blurb
    c) Your Author Bio 

THESE ARE THE ONLY LINKS I NEED:

  • Links 1: Your Buy Links & Social Media Links 
  • Links 2: Your Contact info

I really love having guests visit my blog, and having the above would be of immense help when I am dealing with several requests at a time. Please let me know if you have any further questions, and thanks again for guesting on The Write Stuff.

#GuestDayTuesday Instructions

/ Marcia Meara / Leave a comment

 

Hi, everyone! I need to apologize for not including the basic things I’ll need if you want to be a guest poster on TWS. This information is also available at the top of the page under General Rules and Various Feature Instructions, and I should have pointed that out for you.  (You can see how long I’ve been away from any regular blogging! Urk!)

Here are the basics:

#GUESTDAYTUESDAY INSTRUCTIONS:
(Note: This is usually an every-other-Tuesday feature)

Tuesdays are now  #GUESTDAYTUESDAY on The Write Stuff. I am very happy to help you share your book releases, cover reveals, and most any promos or news you like on my blog, with the goal of helping others find your books or your blog. Posts should be writing, reading, or blogging related, but I’m open to new ideas. My only requirements are the following things:

  1. Send me the items listed below in the formats requested so that I can get your posts scheduled promptly. Email them to: marciameara16@gmail.com
  2. Include an introductory paragraph or two with your post. It can be about you, your work, or maybe the reason you wrote the book you’re promoting. It’s just a nice a way to ease into the rest of the post.
  3. Please find time to engage with those who comment on your post, even if it’s just a quick thank you. It’s only polite, after all, and readers will remember your friendliness.
  4. And let’s all remember to PAY IT FORWARD when possible. Try to stop by on Tuesdays when you can, and share the posts of others. That’s how it all works.  😊

If you are willing to do those four things, when possible, I’ll be pleased to do my part to help promote your books whenever I can.

~~~~~~~

**Here Are the Things I Need From You For ALL Guest Posts**

*Your Cover Image(s), Author Photo, & any other appropriate images submitted as SEPARATE jpgs or pngs*
AND
A Word Document (NO PDFs, please) which contains the following:

  • The Review, Article, Short Essay, or Promo material you wish to share with appropriate links.
  • Your Book Blurb
  • Your Author Bio
  • Your Buy Links
  • Your Social Media links
  • Your Contact info
That’s it. Now let’s get the word out! 🙂

#GuestDayTuesday – #GuestPosts – #ShareYourNews

/ Marcia Meara / 14 Comments

Happy Freya’s Day, Everybody! Hope you are all eagerly awaiting a wonderful weekend ahead. I’ll be planting a couple more roses and doing a wee bit of gardening each morning, before the day gets too hot.

Just wanted to put out a call for guest posters. If you have a new book to share, or an old one to remind folks about, we can do that. If you have something writing-related you’d like to discuss, (Do’s and Don’ts, or a book you’ve read recently and would like to chat about) we can do that, too. Actually, I’m open to lots of topics for guest posters, so please contact me if you have something you’d like more folks to know about. Here are just a few of the headers for the types of posts I’ve shared on TWS in the past, though we aren’t limited to just these topics.

I’m open to various topics, and would love to have you visit. Just email me or respond below, and we’ll make it happen. The Write Stuff wants YOU!!

Hoping to Hear From You Soon!