Glory be! As I take a look back over 2019, one thing stands out to me above all else. In spite of new health issues, a serious fall, and a jam-packed schedule, I managed to end the year still standing! (And still crazy, after all these years!) Yep. I’m here, I’m mostly healed up again, and while I’m glad to see the backside of 2019, I’m eager to tackle 2020 with optimism and hope, ready for the adventures that lie ahead. Hope you guys are, as well.
On the blogging front, I’m also ready to start resuming many of my regular features. I think I will bring them “online” one at a time, and I’m going to start with #FirstLineFriday this week. If you aren’t familiar with that, it’s pretty simple. I give you a famous first line and you EMAIL me with your guess as to the book it opens. The first five correct answers win a download of any of my books. Sometimes, we have an author offering a free download of one of their books as an additional prize choice. The full details can be found in the header above by clicking on General Blog Rules and Various Feature Instructions. Tune in Friday at 8:00 EST for this fun challenge (which ends at NOON), and don’t forget, it’s about more than winning a prize. It’s a chance to study some of the best opening lines out there, and learn ways to improve our own. Hope to see you there.
Next week, I will bring back #ShareAReviewDay Tuesdays. Full instructions for that are in the same link mentioned above. If you have a new or favorite review you’d like to share here, email me with the items listed in the header bar above, and I’ll set up your post and schedule it. I only do two per Tuesday, morning and afternoon, to maximize exposure time, and I set these up in the order in which I receive the requests. I’ll notify you via email as to the date your post will be going live so you can check it out (to be sure I didn’t make any errors) AND respond to comments on your review. Looking forward to getting this one going again!
I will also be adding some new features over the weeks ahead, and will be continuing my #MondayMeme feature (memes about writing/reading/books) and #ThorsdaySmile (memes about anything I find amusing). So, stay tuned for things to get back to normal around here. Or as normal as it’s ever been, anyway. 😀
Don’t forget, you are also welcome to email me about promos, new releases and other news you’d like to share. If possible, we’ll help you get the word out. That’s what this blog is all about. Authors helping authors.
And last, on top of the blogging and my newly revised and SUPER busy schedule of local events, I’m planning to–wait for it!–write another book!!! Yes. The writer in me is dying to get out, and so happy to be working on something new. So, be forewarned: Jake, Dodger, and Azrael are about to have another adventure as I get going on The Emissary 3. And when it’s done and out in eBook format, I will combine these three novellas into a set and publish them in print, too.
SO! Lots to do in the next twelve months. Roll on, 2020! I’m ready for ya!
Wake-Robin Ridge
A Boy Named Rabbit: Wake-Robin Ridge Book 2
Harbinger: Wake-Robin Ridge Book 3
The Light: Wake-Robin Ridge Book 4
Swamp Ghosts: A Riverbend Novel
Finding Hunter: Riverbend Book 2
That Darkest Place: Riverbend Book 3
The Emissary: A Riverbend Spinoff Novella
The Emissary 2: To Love Somebody
Summer Magic: Poems of Life & Love
You can reach Marcia via email at marciameara16@gmail.com or on the following social media sites:
The Write Stuff
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter: @marciameara
Happy New Year! Glad you’re feeling up to working on your blog again 😊
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Thanks, Jeanne, and the same to you! Hope 2020 brings loads of blessings your way! 🙂 ❤
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I am delighted to know you are feeling so much better, Marcia. That is great news.
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Thanks, Robbie. Still having some bad days here and there, but mostly I’m feeling great! 😀 ❤
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Wow! You are definitely hitting the ground running. I am so pleased you are starting your fabulous features again. I love First Line Friday. I’ve nominated you for a blog award just because you are awesome. You don’t need to do anything about it if you don’t want to. https://darlenefoster.wordpress.com/2019/12/29/a-winner-and-a-blog-award/
Happy Happy 2020!! ❤💝
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Oh, how lovely, Darlene! Thanks so much! I’ll take a look at it shortly, and I’m smiling all over because you think I’m awesome! (I’m showing this to my husband!! Hahaha.) Fingers crossed that I can keep up with my somewhat ambitious schedule. I’m gonna give it the ol’ college try, anyway! 😀 ❤
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PS, I know you love #FirstLineFriday, and you are darn good at it. In fact, I just remembered yesterday that I owed you & 3 others downloads of The Light. If you haven’t already gotten it, I’ll gift you yours today. Just let me know. And if you want something else, I can make it happen. 😀
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I don’t think I have The LIght yet. But no rush.
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Good. Will send it along today! 🙂 ❤
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I haven’t written my Wednesday blog yet but looking back at the last decade a lot has happened in our family – most of them good things. What do we call this last decade? The Teens? My mother will be entering The Twenties for the second time in her life as she was born in1926!
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I’m not sure my brain would HOLD all the things that have happened to me in the last decade! It’s been jam-packed, for sure. Six years of it have encompassed my late-blooming writing career, so that’s huge. But many, many changes in our family. Some, we’ve said goodbye to, and some, we’ve said hello to. Just so much to think back over. I’m going to focus on saying goodbye to 2019, though, since it was a somewhat disruptive time, and on looking ahead to what’s coming up in 2020. Good stuff, I think!! I’ll have another (shorter) post on Wednesday, but wanted to alert everyone about the resumption of blog features today, so they can be thinking about reviews they might want to share soon. And congratulations on your mom’s second go-around with the 20’s. That’s wonderful! 🙂 ❤
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That is so true. My mom was born in 1928 so it will be her second time to enter the Twenties as well. Will they be the Roaring Twenties again, I wonder.
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It all sounds very exciting! I’m thrilled you’re back, healthy, and ready to tackle 2020 with so much enthusiasm. I look forward to your blogging schedule and in participating. Woohoo!
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I’m excited, for sure. It’s been way too long since I was able to do all the things I want to do. Or at least a reasonable portion thereof. I hope you’ll enjoy the increase in blog features and maybe even the new novella when it’s done. And mostly, I hope for an evenly-paced year with no rude interruptions! 😀
Wishing you all the best in 2020, too, my PenderPal! Let’s make it a great one! 😀 ❤
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So glad you’re back in action, Marcia… and so well organised!
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Thanks, Jaye! I hope I haven’t gone berserk with my schedule, but I’m sick of languishing around doing nothing, all pallid and forlorn, and full of sighs. (There. Now doesn’t that paint an awful picture??) I’d rather be overworked than underworked any day. Except, of course, for the way it cuts into my reading time! 😀 2020, here I come! 😀
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I wish you could bottle some of your enthusiasm, Marcia, as I could do with a crateful!
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Thank you, Jaye, but honestly, I have my share of down days and have even been known to pitch a temper tantrum or two, as well. I guess you could say I throw myself into them with as much enthusiasm as I do the good stuff. 😀 Mostly, though, I like to laugh. And I like making others laugh, too. That usually keeps me going, even when I have to work a bit harder at it.
BTW, if you figure out how to bottle enthusiasm, let me know. Even I’d stock up on supplies for those times when generating my own takes more energy than I can dredge up. 😀 😀 😀
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Wish I could, Marcia… We just settle for the best we can do, despite the lows…
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Happy New Year, Marcia. Good to see you return to your schedule.
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Thanks so much, John. It’s good to be able to do so. There were days when I had my doubts, and it wasn’t a happy time, for sure, but–here I am, rarin’ to go! 😀 (And I haven’t forgotten that you asked about #ShareAReviewDay, so when you’re ready, send along the things mentioned in the header, and I’ll get you set up for the next open slot.)
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Thank you, Marcia.
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Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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Thanks so much for sharing, Jaye! Always such a nice thing to do! ❤ 🙂
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New writing all round then – may we have great inspiration and the time and health to bring our books to fruition ❤
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Yes! To ALL of the above! And you are on my list (that I just found) for a free download of The Light, unless you already have it. I’m guessing it hasn’t been a pressing issue with all you’ve had going on, but let me know, and I’ll send it out to you today!) ❤ 🙂
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Yes please! Send it right on over.
I started Wake Robin Ridge yesterday – totally hooked by the end of the first page!
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OH, wow! So glad. That was my first ever book, so I’m super glad you like it. I didn’t excpect to write another one, so I threw everything into it I could think of. Hahahaha.
Now, I seem to remember I can’t gift you folks across the pond from Amazon, but I can send you either a Mobi or a PDF. Which would you like?
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Correct, and a Mobi would be perfect, thank you 😀
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Amazon won’t let me send the new book (submitted through KDP) as a Mobi, so I sent you a PDF, which you can send to your Kindle to read. If that doesn’t work, I’ll find another way to convert to a Mobi for you. I want you to be able to enjoy it when you reach that point in the series. 😀 .
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Cheers, I see what I can do with it 😀
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Let me know if you have any problems, Debby! I’ll find a way!! 😀
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Happy 2020, Marcia!
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And to you, Olga! Hoping this is a great year for us all! 🙂 ❤
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Congratulations on bouncing back from all of life’s curveballs, Marcia. You had your share of tough moments in 2019. Let’s hope that 2020 is a healthier year for all of us.
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I’m down with that, Pete! 2020 is going to be a great one! As inspector Clouseau would say, “I feel it in my buns.” 😀 😀 😀 (The ones I didn’t break this year!) 😉
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Wishing you a happy New Year, and glad you’re feeling better.
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Thanks so much, Craig! Hope you have a wonderful New Year, too, and a great 2020! 🙂
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Here’s to the happiest of 2020s and recognition for your talent in book sales. I can’t wait for The Light to come out in paperback as well as Kindle. By the way, you keep the temper tantrums well hidden – all I’m ever aware of is your quick and engaging sense of humour and your willingness to drop whatever you’re doing to help an eejit friend in need. Look after yourself, my friend – I need you!
And I have to add that the list of books in your stable is an increasingly impressive one. ❤ ❤ ❤
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Good to see you dropping in, Trish! I hope your holidays were wonderful. Ours were pretty quiet, but we had our pre-Christmas trip to Denver to rest up from, anyway. 🙂 Thank you so much for all your kind words, and well-wishes. I hope you have the best year, EVER. Truly, I feel like 2020 is going to be a great one!
As for the list of books in my stable, I don’t know how impressive it is, but it’s certainly amazing to ME. Seven years ago, I’d never written a one, so I’m still shocked to see what I’ve done since 2013. Finally! I’m writing! *happy sigh* AND, Happy New Year to you, my friend! I hope it’s a humdinger, in all the BEST ways!! 😀 ❤
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