Author: Marcia Meara

#ExcerptWeek – Free, a Novella by Felicia Denise

/ Marcia Meara / 17 Comments

Our next guest on #ExcerptWeek is Felicia Denise, who has asked me to share this excerpt with you. Welcome, Felicia, and thanks for taking part. I know everyone will enjoy reading this, and then sharing t far and wide!

~~~

Synopsis:

Lenore “Lennie” Porter’s life had not gone as she planned.
The marriage she put her heart and soul into failed.
The man she sacrificed so much for abandoned her.

But Lennie refused to be broken. She pushed on, running a successful business and raising her three sons alone.

Through health scares and severe family dysfunction and trauma which forever changed their lives, the Porter family clung to each other to keep from sinking into the darkness.

With her marriage over long ago and her adult sons living their own lives, Lenore Porter decides to sell the cold fortress she worked so hard to make a warm, loving home.

A short, final inspection of her former home turns into a confrontation with ghosts from the past, and decisions and events Lennie felt she’d dealt with and moved on from.

Free, a Novella is a short, clean read recounting one woman’s determination to not be broken by life or lose her identity.

Excerpt

Anyone who knew Burt and Linda Kelimore knew they were devoted to each other. More than half a century had passed since the day they each ran into a mechanic’s shop in need of quick repairs. Though they were both on their way to meet other people, a thirty-minute conversation changed their plans for the evening and the rest of their lives.

With their time together dwindling away, the couple did what they had always done… shared each other’s company.

Linda set Burt’s plate aside, and Lennie gathered up the dishes and excused herself.

While putting the food away and loading the dishwasher, Lennie was surprised to see her mother enter the kitchen.

“Everything okay, mo-”

“Yes, yes, sweetie. Leave all this. I’ll get to it later. You can head on home now.”

“Mom, no way do I leave a mess for you to clean up.”

Lennie reached for another dish but Linda caught her hand and held on.

“It’s okay, Lenore. You can go now.”

“But…dad…-”

Linda pulled her daughter into a tight embrace, speaking into her ear barely above a whisper.

“I know. His hospice nurse was here earlier and is returning soon. I talked to your sisters before you got here… and they each spoke to your father.” She pulled back, a pleading look in her eyes.

“I’ve never asked you for anything, honey and I know this is no small thing I’m asking of you now. But… I need this time with him alone. Right now, I’m no one’s mother or grandmother. Lennie, right now, I’m just a wife who has to say goodbye to her husband. Please don’t be angry with me or hate me, but I need to do it alone.”

Hugging her mother close, Lenore allowed the weight of her words to sink in. She did not want to leave. Her father was dying, how could she walk away?

Seeing the pain in Linda’s eyes, Lenore knew she would deny her nothing.

With a simple nod, Lennie returned to the den to say goodbye to her father… just as she did every night.

After a quick kiss on the cheek and a squeeze of his hand, Lennie told Burt she’d see him tomorrow, and turned to leave before she broke down. But her father held on to her hand with a strength Lennie didn’t think he still possessed. Lennie looked from their joined hands to her father’s face when he spoke.

“Very proud… of you, Lenore. Always… have… been. You help everyone… always.”

The weakness of his voice and the shortness of his breath caused Lennie to cringe. She wanted her father to stop talking, to save his strength. But, her own voice was lost to her, blocked by a lump in her throat which refused to move.

“I love you… baby girl.” He kissed her hand and slumped back in his chair, his energy depleted.

“I love you too, daddy.”

Lennie squeezed his hand one last time and rested it across his lap. With one simple nod to her mother, Lennie left the room, her calm belying the anguish ripping her apart inside. She wanted to scream, cry… stop the clock… make him stay.

With her bags in hand, Lenore Porter stood at the front door. Dizziness and nausea rejoined the inner turmoil threatening to break her. She had to leave… knowing she would never see her father alive again.

Instead of reaching for the door knob, Lennie took several steps backward until she could see inside the den.

Linda Kelimore had reclined her husband’s chair and climbed in next to him, cuddled into his side with her hand resting on his chest.

This is what her parents wanted… what they had planned. To spend their remaining time together… together as the couple they had been for fifty years.

With more determination than she felt, Lennie left the house, closing the door quietly behind her.


Author Felicia Denise

A wife, mother, daughter, sister, blogger… and self-published author, Felicia loves all things book-related and coffee-related. A southern girl by birth, the fifty-something, voracious reader now resides in Arizona (via Michigan and California) with her husband of thirty-three years. Their three adult children also reside in Arizona—with their dogs. Felicia frequently reminds them she is the only one of her parents’ nine children who isn’t a grandparent.

Writing has been a hobby of Felicia’s since grade school, but other than serving as editor and writing for her high school newspaper, she never publicly shared anything until the early 2000s when she began writing fan fiction. At the urging of a good friend, Felicia took on the challenge of NaNoWriMo in 2015, writing what would become her first published book, In the Best Interest of the Child. It was released in the fall of 2016.

In her free time, Felicia sews, creates new recipes, reads, and of course, writes. She’s also an avid history buff and loves exploring museums and libraries.

Currently working on several projects, Felicia plans to release book 2 of In the Best Interest of the Child – Family Matters, in summer 2017.

Buy Free, a Novella Here:

Amazon US 
Amazon UK 
Amazon CA 
Amazon AU 
Goodreads

Reach Felicia Here:

Author Website
Blog (Nesie’s Place)
Amazon Author Page
Facebook Author Page
Bookbub Author Page
Goodreads
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest
Google+
Monthly Newsletter

#ExcerptWeek Reminder

/ Marcia Meara / 11 Comments

Just wanted to remind everyone to use the Hashtag #ExcerptWeek in your post title, and to include both your name and the name of your book there, too. It will help people find you. Also, don’t forget to use #ExcerptWeek as your category, and to list some tags to help others find the post, too. For instance, your name, the title of your book, the category (Romantic Suspense, Fantasy, etc), and anything else suitable that might make this post pop up during a search of the blog.

We want to get as many folks learning about you and your work as possible. Now go forth and have a great Excerpt Week.

#ExcerptWeek Update!

/ Marcia Meara / 14 Comments

You guys are GREAT! I’ve gotten many, many more emails from folks wanting to take part in Excerpt Week than usual, and I’m NOT complaining, believe me. Just wanted you all to know that, if need be, I’ll extend this event another week, to be sure everyone has a chance to take part. I can’t wait to see what all you plan to share!

Thanks so much!

#ExcerptWeek – Poem from Summer Magic by Marcia Meara

/ Marcia Meara / 26 Comments

The first half of this little book contains a series of poems featuring my Wake-Robin Ridge hero, MacKenzie Cole, as a boy of ten, exploring his beloved North Carolina mountains each summer, with his dad. The second half contains poetry about Life. And Love. (Hence the line at the bottom of the cover. 😀 I’ve chosen to share one of Mac’s poems, since the Perseid meteor shower can be counted on to show up right around August, every year. I hope you enjoy it.

Star-Gazing by Marcia Meara

The Perseids . . .
Lying back under
The ink-blotted sky,
He tries out the words.
They tickle his tongue.
The Per-see-ids. Those
Pinpoints of brightness
And streaks of fire,
Lighting the night
In a spectacle
Older than he can
Possibly know.

Look Dad, he cries,
Look how many!
I see a hundred,
Maybe a thousand!
I see them, too,
Dad says,
And together, they laugh,
Delighted!
Joy shared,
And excitement
Doubled.

Come see the meteors,
Dad said, as he
Shook him awake
Just before dawn.
He crawled from the tent,
Rubbing his eyes,
Then staring in wonder.
With the sky still a midnight black,
And bright stars wheeling overhead,
The fireworks came.
Racing toward Earth,
One after another,
The Perseids.
The miracle of hot August nights.
A late-summer light show
That electrified his soul.
His young heart transfixed
By the sight of the universe,
Lit with streamers
Of flame.

A meteor shower,
Dad tells him again,
But he knows nothing
So beautiful has a name
So ordinary.
Stars, he thinks, pulled loose
From the fabric of the sky,
And flung toward earth,
Trailing silver and gold,
And bringing pieces of Heaven
To those watching below.

He holds up his hands,
Cupped reverently,
To catch one of his own.
To be blessed by
This summer magic.
He holds his breath, waiting
For the illumination
Of his soul to begin.
Falling stars,
Falling from the
Summer sky,
For him.

Since my bio and photo are already on display in several places on this site, I’m going to skip that, and just share a couple of lovely reviews, instead.

“What beautiful, sensory poems! In Summer Magic, Marcia Meara writes that “Sometimes I think I’m drowning in a sea of words . . . Words have the power to make us laugh and cry . . . They lift us up in joy or slam us to the ground in misery . . . Amazing things, words.” And her beautiful poems use words to do just that. When I read the poems of Mac at Ten, I’m there with that little boy, not just seeing, but feeling it all––the magic of a sunrise, the fun of collecting treasures, the beauty of a meteor shower, the freedom of a carefree summer.”
~Elizabeth Vollstadt

” . . . a perfect read for a languid summer’s day or a long weekend like this one. Taking a breather from grilling and eating, reading the book is like dangling your toes in a cool, rippling brook. It’s not just her poems that reflect the childhood joy of plunging into cool green waters from a “Rope Swing,” or the ‘drip-drip’ of “Showers” on a rainy day that will give you that creekside, summer experience. “Summer Magic” the first poem, and the one that gives the book its title, is awash in words that conjure summer. My favorite lines from the poem:

There! A thin curve of molten red!
A far away sliver of fiery light
Breaks the horizon.”
~SUMMER

You can download Summer Magic here.

The Perseids

#ExcerptWeek Is Coming Up Again!

/ Marcia Meara / 45 Comments

It’s here again! Yep, starting Monday, 7/31 and running through Sunday, August 6, it will be #ExcerptWeek here on The Write Stuff. A lot of you know how this goes, but for those who don’t, this is your chance to share an excerpt from one of your published books or a work in progress, with your Book Blurb, Author Bio, Buy Links, and Social Media Links. It’s a great chance to tell everyone why they should buy your book, so don’t miss out!

If you are already a contributing author on this site, feel free to post at will, on any day that works for you. And you may post more than once during the week, though only once a day, please.  If you are not already a contributing author, you will have to email me to find out how to take part. My contact info is in the Menu at the top of the page under About/Contact Me.

Whether or not you decide to participate by sharing one of your own excerpts, we do ask that you share the excerpts of others, please. The whole purpose is for us to help each other get the word out about our books and books-to-be. This is always such a fun time, seeing what others have written, and helping share their work. Hope LOTS of you take part, otherwise, you’ll be reading a ton of MY excerpts! 😀 I do intend to post a couple, but hopefully, there will be so many posted by others, I won’t have to fill in any gaps.

As an aside, I won’t be posting any of my usual features the week, so as to allow lots of space for you guys.

My only restrictions are no political, religious, or erotic content.  If you aren’t sure, email me, and I’ll guide you.

Other than that, have fun! We are all waiting eagerly (dare I say with “bated breath?”) to read your work, and to share it far and wide! Roll on, Monday!!

 

#NotesFromTheRiver – That’s Just Ducky!

/ Marcia Meara / 3 Comments

This week’s #NotesFromTheRiver is an overview of a new series of posts on ducks and duck-like waterfowl that make their home at least part of the year in the St. Johns River Basin area. I’ll be sharing lots of cool info on seven different species of beautiful and interesting birds, so I hope you’ll check out today’s introduction, and follow along over the next few weeks.  And feel free to share far and wide! The ducks, coots, mergansers, grebes and gallinules will thank you for it.

#NotesFromTheRiver – That’s Just Ducky!

Swag. Do You Have Some?

/ Marcia Meara / 29 Comments

I know many of you don’t meet the reading public as often each month as I do, as I try to build a local readership, but I suspect most of you do attend book fairs and other author-related Meet & Greets from time to time. My cover designer extraordinaire, Nicki Forde, just brought me my newest bookmarks, and I had to share, because . . . gorgeous! Plus, she had the brilliant idea of putting a call for reviews on them this time, and I’m so in love with them, I couldn’t resist showing them off. Take a look at the bottom left of the front of my WRR series bookmark above. How clever is that?

Here’s the flip side with all my contact info. The bookmarks are 7″ long, so larger than they show up here, and very easy to read.

And, of course, she made me one for the Riverbend series, as well. *Happy sigh*

I do give away several other things at each event. Most of you know, I have several (19 or 20) custom tea blends named for characters in my books, and I give away small sample tins of those. People seem to love them, and the best part is they are a perfect size to hold paperclips or other small desk items after all the yummy tea is gone, so they hang on to them. With a book cover graphic and my name on them, it’s good advertising, though not something you want to send out en masse. They’re pricier than bookmarks.

In addition to these two items, I have postcards and brochures, which usually get grabbed up pretty quickly. My brochures, also designed by Nicki Forde, are so beautiful, I had to share them with you, too. They include all my books (so far) with blurbs, a bio, contact info, and some colorful photos. They also include info on how to book a Meet the Author ecotour, which I dearly love doing.

I can’t say for sure what the dollar return is on these things, but I figure anything that puts my name and book titles in front of potential readers is a worthwhile investment. And they make people smile, always a good thing.

So what about you guys? Any freebies for your readers? Do you give them away at places other than Meet & Greets or Trade Shows? Do you mail them out with ordered books, or take them to local bookstores for display? I’d love to hear what you are doing and what seems to work.

Let’s talk swag!