#TenThingsYouMayNotKnowAboutMe

#TenThingsYouMayNotKnow – About #JohnW.Howell

/ Marcia Meara / 135 Comments

Good Morning, Everyone! Today I’d like you to help me welcome a great friend and supporter of writers everywhere, #StoryEmpire member John W. Howell. I think you’ll really enjoy John’s post today, so let’s get things rolling!

Thank you, Marcia, for having me on your #TenThingsYouMayNotKnowAboutMe feature. When we initially talked about doing this, I explained to Marcia that the first item on the list would be the fact that I have evolved into a close imitation of Howard Hughes. You may recall in his later years; he became a recluse. Marcia being the kind and generous person she is, thought that would be an excellent beginning to the list. So, with that encouragement, here are the #TenThingsYouMayNotKnowAboutMe. You will note the Howard Hughes one is not there because you already know that one.

Ten Things You May Not Know About Me
by John W. Howell

1) Detroit, Michigan, is where I grew up in an area that was a melting pot of cultures. This upbringing gave me the experience to conclude that we are all made up of the same hopes, dreams, and expectations.

2) My father died when I was ten years old. He was an exceptional human being, and his example of making the most out of your talent has inspired me throughout my life.

3) I was raised by my mother and sister. My mother had to go to work, but my sister was six years older than me, so she filled in when my mom needed to be elsewhere. I feel blessed that I carried away from our home an appreciation for the female perspective.

4) My mom paid for the first year of college, and then the rest was up to me. I appreciated the help and embraced the idea that I would work and learn. I held several part-time and summer jobs and managed to get through.

5) My first working position out of college was for Procter and Gamble. My responsibilities were to represent the company brands in an assigned territory. In addition, I had the pleasure of introducing products still on the shelves today.

6) I changed companies after three years when it became clear a promotion was not in the works. After twenty years, I took over as the company head. It looks like I made the right choice.

7) I retired once at 51 years old and went into consulting. After five years, I went to work at one of my clients and spent fifteen years working on some exciting new products.

8) I retired a second time when I was 70 1/2. I enjoyed what I was doing, but it became time to go. 

9) My first book was published when I was 71 by a traditional publisher. After waiting for over 18 months for the second to be published, it became clear that I needed to go out independently. I self-published the following five books.

10) I’m looking forward to my 81st birthday. I still blog six days a week and am getting ready to publish my seventh book. Once that is done, I will be publishing a Top Ten Things Not to Do handbook, which will take some of my best posts and put them in a collection.

BLURB:

James Wainwright picks up a hitchhiker and discovers two things 1. The woman he picks up is his childhood sweetheart, only Seventeen years older. 2. He is no longer of this world.

James began a road trip alone in his 1956 Oldsmobile. He stops for a hitchhiker only to discover she is his childhood sweetheart, Sam, who disappeared seventeen years before. James learns from Sam falling asleep miles back caused him to perish in a one-car accident. He also comes to understand that Sam was taken and murdered all those years ago, and now she has come back to help him find his eternal home.

The pair visit various times and places and are witness to a number of historical events. The rules dictate that they do no harm to the time continuum. Trying to be careful, they inadvertently come to the attention of Lucifer who would love to have their souls as his subjects. They also find a threat to human survival and desperately need to put in place the fix necessary to save mankind.

The question becomes, will James find his eternal home in grace or lose the battle with Satan for his immortal soul and the future of human life with it? If you like time-travel, adventure, mystery, justice, and the supernatural, this story is for you.

You can download the Kindle version of Eternal Road  The Final Stop HERE
You can purchase the print version of Eternal Road The Final Stop HERE

Author John W. Howell

Award winning author John W. Howell began his writing as a full-time occupation after an extensive business career. His specialty is thriller fiction novels, but John also writes poetry and short stories.  His first book, My GRL, introduces the exciting adventures of the book’s central character, John J. Cannon. The second Cannon novel, His Revenge, continues the adventure, while the final book in the trilogy, Our Justice, was launched in September 2016. Circumstances of Childhood in October  2017.  The Contract in, 2018. Eternal Road – The final stop in 2020.  The sequel to Eternal Road should be available in September of 2022. All books are available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions. John also writes a daily blog, Fiction Favorites, HERE.

John lives in Lakeway, Texas with his wife and their spoiled rescue pets.

You can reach John on Social Media here:

Blog: Fiction Favorites
Amazon Author’s Page
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
BookBub
|Story Empire Blog

 

 

 

 

#TenThingsYouMayNotKnow – About #MiriamHurdle

/ Marcia Meara / 135 Comments

It’s time for #TenThings again folks, and I know you’re going to enjoy today’s post! Please help me welcome author Miriam Hurdle to The Write Stuff! Miriam, take it away, my friend!

Thanks you for hosting me on Ten Things, Marcia! 

Ten Things You May Not Know About Me
by Miriam Hurdle

  1. My favorite number is 7 because I’m #7 in birth order. My mom gave birth to 13 children. My #2 sister survived but the other five older siblings didn’t. When I was born, my parents named me “Love Siblings” hoping to bring more siblings. They were thrilled that I survived. My six younger siblings survived, except one who died of meningitis at three years old. My mom got married when she was fifteen and my dad was sixteen. They never talked about the kids who didn’t make it.
  1. When I was in first grade, I walked 0.8 miles to school by myself. Back in those days, it was safe for kids to walk on the streets. The routine I took to school was not busy with cars. To these days, I still remember the stores and a theater I passed by on my way to school. The following year, my sister started first grade, and we walked to school together.
  1. As a teenager, I went to a church that had restricted practices. Going to movies was a “no, no.” I didn’t go to the theater for 10 years. When The Sound of Music played in Hong Kong, my best friend saw it 10 times and had the script memorized. I didn’t get to see it in a theater, but I bought the DVD afterward and watched it many times.
  1. I went to a pirate’s cave on Cheung Chau Island in Hong Kong. According to legend, a pirate named Cheung Po Tsai used this natural cave as a hiding place from being captured and to keep his treasures. The cave is about 33 feet (10 m) deep and 289 feet (88 m) long from the entrance to the exit. It was a church youth group outing. The group leaders helped us to go in from the long-drop entrance. The narrowness of the cave allowed us to move in a single line. We had to lean at a slanted angle to walk in some part of the cave. We didn’t find any treasures.
  1. I went to a college on an island in Hong Kong. Swimming was a regular afternoon activity. My friends and I went swimming one day. I kicked into a sea urchin. The spines broke and pierced into my right heel. My friends helped me walk back to the campus. One fellow schoolmate used a tweezer to remove them.
  1. Before the seat belts and number of passengers were mandatory, I went on vacation with some friends from Portland to San Francisco in two cars. There were nine of us. On our way back to Portland, one car broke down. We jammed in one car. Probably the front seats were not bucketed seats. Three people sitting in the front with four adults holding two kids in the back seats. I was amazed that we made it back.
  1. When I finished my graduate study in Counseling at Seattle Pacific University, I moved to Los Angeles. I drove 1,137 miles from Seattle to L.A. with my entire possession in my car. Most of them were books. I put the houseplants by the rear window, leaving a small space to watch for the rear traffic. When I got to San Francisco, the glare of the setting sun blinded my eyes. So, I pulled into SF to spend a night. I drove the rest of the way the next day. The freeway system in downtown Los Angeles was intimidating to navigate, especially when I arrived in the evening. Fortunately, I visited Los Angeles previously which helped me find the right exit. That was the only long-distance driving all by myself.
  1. I took my year-and-a-half daughter with me to run an errand. There was something I needed from a convenience store. I left her in the car seat, locked the car, and ran to the store. Upon my return, I realized the key was inside the car. Fortunately, I had my purse with me. Using the payphone, I called the auto club. While waiting for the truck to rescue me, I waved at Mercy and smiled at her through the window. She waved back at me; didn’t know why I was outside. It could have been worse if I didn’t have my purse with the auto club phone number and the change to make the call.
  1. When the Phantom of the Opera toured around the world and went to Hong Kong, I was there, but the tickets were sold out. When the show came to Los Angeles to perform in the Pantages theater, I took my nine-year-old daughter to see it. I spent more money on the souvenirs than what I paid for the tickets. I still have the brochure and my daughter still has the mug with a mask that turns white when pouring hot liquid into the mug.
  1. One winter, my husband and I went to Victoria, British Columbia, in Canada, ​without making hotel reservations. We flew to Seattle, rented a car, and wanted to take the car ferry from Bremerton to Port Angeles on Washington Peninsula. From there, we would take the ferry to Victoria, BC. But we “missed the boat.” So, we drove to Edmonds to catch the next ferry that took us to Port Townsend, then drove to Port Angeles. It was late by the time we took the ferry to Victoria, BC. Without prior reservations, we went up and down the streets looking for a hotel room. Somehow, all the hotels, large and small, were fully booked. By 1:00 am, we quit looking and spent a night curled up in the car in freezing cold. By the first light, we went to get a cup of hot coffee. We found out that weekend was a local holiday. That was the last time we went anywhere without a hotel reservation.

Author Miriam Hurdle

Miriam Hurdle is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). She published four children’s books at twenty-six years old. Her poetry collection received the Solo “Medalist Winner” for the New Apple Summer eBook Award and achieved bestseller status on Amazon.

Miriam writes poetry, short stories, memoir, and children’s books. She earned a Doctor of Education from the University of La Verne in California. After two years of rehabilitation counseling, fifteen years of public-school teaching and ten years in school district administration, she retired and enjoys life with her husband in southern California, and the visits to her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughters in Oregon. When not writing, she engages in blogging, gardening, photography, and traveling.

Miriam’s Books and Buy Links

Buy Tina Lost in a Crowd HERE


Buy Songs of Heartstrings: Poems of Gratitude and Beatitude HERE

You can reach Miriam on social media here:

Website/Blog 
Amazon Author’s Page
Goodreads 
Twitter 
Facebook

#TenThingsYouMayNotKnow – About #TeriPolen

/ Marcia Meara / 107 Comments

Today,  one of my favorite bloggers and writers is our special guest, and I know you’ll all make her feel at home here on The Write Stuff. (I will, too, in spite of the #1 item on her list! 😋) So please join me in saying welcome to Teri Polen! Teri, the floor is yours!

 

Ten Things You May Not Know About Me
by Teri Polen

Thanks so much for hosting me on Ten Things, Marcia! 

  1. I hate snakes (I know Marcia has a different opinion, but I still consider her a friend). I’ll take rats, mice, spiders, insects, etc. any day and have been known to usher some of them out of the house/garage. When my sister and I were children and playing with our dog, we hid from him in a tall lilac bush.  I glanced down and saw the glistening of snakeskin in the sun, shoved her to the side, and took off.  I did a similar thing to a friend when we had the crazy idea to build a tree house.  It’s every man for himself if you’re with me and a snake shows up.  I will not rescue you.
  2. My earliest memory is being in a walker as a baby and getting stuck underneath a television. It was the kind with long legs (from the 60s), and I somehow managed to wedge myself underneath it and couldn’t move my head.  My parents confirmed the story, but swore I was too young to remember that experience until I described it in detail.  To this day I’m claustrophobic. 
  3. I’ve bungee jumped (it was awesome), ziplined (my activity choice for Mother’s Day a few years ago), and tried to scuba dive, but the aforementioned claustrophobia nixed that plan. Skydiving is on the bucket list.
  4. You don’t want to vacation with us. Hubby and I took a cruise that was extended by a few days when Hurricane Andrew hit in the early 90s.  The ship sat off the coast of Cuba to wait it out.  We’ve spent a week in Hawaii when temps never rose above 50 degrees.  Same during a SC beach vacation in the middle of June.  We had a lovely time in Napa one year and thought the curse was over – then had an emergency plane landing during our trip home when the landing gear sensor malfunctioned.  There was no guarantee it would descend.  Seeing a line of firetrucks and ambulances lined up along the runway when you land is pretty unnerving.
  5. Several years ago (when video stores were still a thing) I accurately predicted the winners in every major Oscar category and won a free year of movie rentals. Sadly, I’ve played the lottery and bet on horses and failed epically.
  6. I’ve been to more KISS concerts than I can remember and saw Gene Simmons at a record store a few hours before a concert.
  7. I played flute and piccolo for high school marching band. These days I’m not a half bad drummer at the easy/medium level on Rock Band.
  8. I was questioned by the FBI during college. Something about the boyfriend of one of my roommates, the disappearance of some guy, and an abandoned car at the Pittsburgh airport.  To this day, I still don’t know the whole story.
  9. I’m not a superstitious person. After learning black cats are the last to be adopted at shelters, I’ve always chosen them, and they’re the most loving and appreciative furry friends.  My youngest son was a planned C-section, and I was allowed to select the date.  He was born on Friday the 13th  and is quite proud of it.
  10. Friends who have known me for years are shocked when they learn I was a cheerleader and majorette in school. I’m not a perky type of person.  Snarky is a more apt description.

BLURB:

If a megalomaniac threatened your family, would you give up your freedom for them? Would you give up your soul?

Asher Solomon is faced with that choice. And makes the ultimate sacrifice.

Exactly as Director Silas Reeves expected him to.

Unable to live as the Colony’s premier assassin, Ash retreats to a corner of his mind, ceding control of his body to the alter-ego he was engineered to be—Subject A36. As he’s unleashed to battle the Insurgents, the only family he ever knew, the tide of war shifts in Silas’s favor.

Combined with his expansion into new territories, the director is poised to take over the world.

But the Insurgents don’t give up easily. Not on their cause, and not on their people. With the help of a few double agents deep in the Colony, they stand a fighting chance at ending Silas’s reign.

In order to shut down the program, they face almost insurmountable odds. And their most dangerous foe—their former champion turned killing machine, A36.

Pre-order  The Insurgent HERE

Teri Polen reads and watches horror, sci-fi, and fantasy.  The Walking Dead, Harry Potter, and anything Marvel-related are likely to cause fangirl delirium.  She lives in Bowling Green, KY with her husband, sons, and black cat.  Her first novel, Sarah, was a horror finalist in the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.  Subject A36 was voted one of the 50 Best Indie Books of 2020 at ReadFree.ly.  Visit her online at www.teripolen.com

You can reach Teri on Social Media HERE:

Author Page:  https://www.amazon.com/Teri-Polen/e/B01MYOUA6V
Website:  https://teripolen.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/TeriPolenAuthor/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/TPolen6
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16114393.Teri_Polen
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/tpolen6/

 

 

 

Quick #Update and a Smile – #TenThingsYouMayNotKnow – #Humor

/ Marcia Meara / 23 Comments

 #TenThingsYouMayNotKnowAboutMe: For those of you who haven’t yet chosen a date for your #TenThings post, here’s a list of the remaining open Wednesdays. (You’ll notice they run clear to the end of the year, so you can grab one far enough out that you’ll have plenty of time to put your post together.)

OPEN DATES:
July 6
August 3, 17, & 31
September 14
October 12 & 26
November 29 & 23
December 7 & 21

And for those of you who enjoy my  bi-weekly #MondayMeme posts, I’m sorry I didn’t get one put together for today,  but here’s something to help make up for it a bit, I hope. It sure made me laugh, anyway! 

Have a great week, everyone!

 

#Updates – #TenThingsLists – #RiverOfLakesHeritageCorridor – #NationaScenicByway – #FloridaWildlife – #FloridaBirds

/ Marcia Meara / 27 Comments

Hi, Everyone! Just wanted to let it be known that I’ll be gone for several hours tomorrow. For the first time in THREE MONTHS, I’ll be giving a wildlife talk at Enterprise Museum, and I can’t wait! Boy, have I missed chatting with everyone, and sharing some laughs, while talking about our fabulous wildlife down here. Wish me luck. I’ll probably be pretty whipped by the time I get home, but it will be SO worth it to be getting back to the things I love to do! Yay!

Also wanted to thank everyone who has responded to my announcement about taking part in the #TenThingsYouMayNotKnowAboutMe feature here on TWS. I’ve already filled up several dates, but here are the Wednesdays still left open, if you want to join in the fun:

March 30
June 22
July 6 & 20
August 3, 17, & 31
September 14
October 12 & 26
November 29 & 23
December 7 & 21

The rest have been taken or removed due to conflicts with my own schedule, but that still leaves us with 14 Wednesdays from now until year’s end. Would love to have someone scheduled for every one of them, so give it some consideration and let me know if you’d like me to hold one of these days for you. (First-come, first-served basis). I’ll check my emails as soon as I get home tomorrow and get right back to anyone who has contacted me.

Thanks to those who jumped right on this, and to each of you who’s thinking about joining in. It’s gonna be fun!

And now … I’ve got a talk to be ready for, so back to thinking about the celebration of the River of Lakes Heritage Corridor and  National Scenic Byway. *goes off mumbling  “Alligators and foxes and manatees, oh my!”*

#BeMyGuest on #TheWriteStuff – #FunStuff – #TenThingsYouMayNotKnow AboutMe

/ Marcia Meara / 26 Comments

Hi, Everyone! Just a quick heads up to let you know I am hoping to get all my regular features back up and running over the next few weeks. Today, I’m looking for folks who might be interested in taking part in #TenThingsYouMayNotKnowAboutMe over the weeks ahead. I can book dates for you every other Wednesday, starting March 16, and on into the foreseeable future. If you think you’d like to take part, email me, and we’ll reserve a date for you. (  marciameara16@gmail.com  )

The good news is, you don’t have to have your post materials to me until about ten days or so before the day we’ve saved for you.  For information on what I’ll need from you by that point, please check in the header bar above under General Blog Rules and Various Feature Instructions. 

This #TenThings feature has been one of the most fun things we’ve shared here on The Write Stuff, and I hope a lot of you  will want to take part. Don’t forget, it doesn’t have to be a list of jaw-dropping experiences, though those are pretty interesting, for sure. But the idea is to get to know each other better, and perhaps have a laugh or two while doing so. AND, you get to promote your books at the end of the post, as well.

I’ll be waiting to start filling in the dates as soon as I hear from some of you. And if you have any questions, please know you are always welcome to email me, and I’ll try my best to answer them.

Can’t wait to see who’ll be next up for this fun event! (And if I’ve forgotten anything here, just give me a nudge and I’ll add it to this post.)

Thanks! And let the fun begin!

#TenThingsYouMayNotKnow About Priscilla Bettis

/ Marcia Meara / 81 Comments

Time for another fun #TenThings list, folks! Today, our guest is author Priscilla Bettis, and I know you’ll enjoy checking out her list, so here you go!

Ten Things You May Not Know About Me
by Priscilla Bettis

  1.  My cats’ names are Wednesday Addams, Pugsley Addams, Thing 1, and Thing 2.
  2.  My favorite place to read is in a hot bath.
  3.  I was born in sweltering Texas and grew up in frigid Alaska.
  4.  I write dark stories, but I absolutely believe in angels and miracles.
  5.  The pope blessed my swim goggles.
  6.  I write best in absolute silence.
  7.  I think the darker the chocolate the better. Same with coffee.
  8.  The smell of freshly cut hay makes me euphoric.
  9.  I have ridden a water buffalo. I don’t recommend it.
  10.  Years ago, I married my best friend. He’s still my best friend … and still my husband. 🙂

Contemporary Southern Gothic meets weird horror
in this new novelette from Priscilla Bettis.

BLURB:

Professor Claire Davenport yearns to be a mother. After suffering four miscarriages, the university microbiologist tries and fails to qualify as an adoptive mother. Then Claire’s husband leaves.

Alone and emotionally wounded, Claire takes a summer sabbatical from her microbiology classes and escapes to rural Virginia to heal. There, she meets local farmers with strange agricultural practices.

Claire moves into the historic manor house she rented for the summer, and an abandoned child greets her. Is the child real, an answer to her prayers? Or is he a figment of her tormented emotions? Perhaps the tight-knit locals are playing a trick on the science lady from the city.

Whatever the boy’s origin, Claire is determined to find the truth, but the truth may be bloody.

Buy The Hay Bale HERE

Priscilla Bettis read her first horror story, The Exorcist, when she was a little kid. Priscilla snuck the grownup book from her parents’ den, and The Exorcist scared her silly. From that moment on, she was hooked on horror and all things deliciously off kilter. As an adult, Priscilla turned to engineering physics, a wonderful profession, but what she really wants to do is write . . . or die trying, probably at the hands of a vampiric wraith. Priscilla shares a home in the Northern Plains of Texas with her two-legged and four-legged family members.

You can reach Priscilla on social media here:
Blog
Amazon Author Page

Email: pbettis@gmail.com

 

#TenThingsYouMayNotKnow – About Suzanne Cottrell

/ Marcia Meara / 70 Comments

It’s time for the first Ten Things post of 2022, and I know you’ll help me welcome my guest, author Suzanne Cottrell, who will get things off to a great start for us this year. Suzanne, the floor is yours!

Ten Things You May Not Know About Me
by Suzanne Cottrell

  1. At age 65, I completed a tree top obstacle course consisting of 41 obstacles and 5 zip lines.    The biggest challenge was stepping off the platforms for the zip lines; but once in the air, the  experiences were exhilarating.
  2. Although I did not acquire my private pilot’s license, I did fly solo in a Cessna 150 and later wrote a story, “Calm Down,” about the experience.
  3. I spent several summers as a camp counselor and swimming instructor in western New York, Wisconsin, and North Carolina.
  4. In October, 2021, I celebrated 25 years of being cancer-free. I’m a breast cancer survivor and now thriver.
  5. One afternoon I discovered a groundhog sleeping in the fork of an oak tree. I didn’t know groundhogs could climb trees. That’s another story, “Up a Tree,” yet to be published.
  6. Two treats I love to enjoy, especially on my birthday, are Boston cream pie and homemade chocolate ice cream.
  7. I love baseball. Growing up, I enjoyed attending Cincinnati Reds’ games with my maternal grandfather, who had played semi-professional baseball. Now I’m a big fan of the MinorLeague Durham Bulls, Triple-A affiliate for the Tampa Bay Rays.
  8. My sneezes come in triplets, occasionally quadruplets.
  9. As a child, I grew up in Oxford, Ohio. Since 1987, I’ve lived in rural Granville County, and my mailing address is Oxford, North Carolina. I have to be careful when addressing envelopes to friends.
  10. Some of my favorite authors are Mary Oliver (poetry), Mary Stewart and Kristin Hannah (fiction), and Sy Montgomery (nonfiction).

Author Suzanne Cottrell

Suzanne Cottrell, a buckeye by birth, lives with her husband in rural Piedmont North Carolina. An outdoor enthusiast and retired history and special ed. teacher, her interests include reading, writing, knitting, hiking, Tai Chi, yoga, and Pilates. She enjoys researching history and culture and loves nature and its sensory stimuli. She particularly likes to write and experiment with poetry and flash fiction, as well as working on collaborative projects, especially with her daughter.

Her work has appeared in numerous online and print journals and anthologies, such as the Best Emerging Poets Series, The Avocet, Poetry Quarterly, Plum Tree Tavern, Parks and Points, The Pangolin Review, Burningword Literary Journal, Three Line Poetry, Inwood Indiana Press anthologies, Personal Story Publishing Project anthologies, Proverse Hong Kong Poetry Prize Mingled Voices anthologies, Nailpolish Stories, Quail Bell Magazine, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, and Flash Fiction Magazine. She is the author of three poetry chapbooks: Gifts of the Seasons, Autumn and Winter; Gifts of the Seasons, Spring and Summer; and Scarred Resilience, published by Kelsay Books. She was the recipient of the 2017 Rebecca Lard Award for Poetry Quarterly (Prolific Press).

You can buy Suzanne’s Books by Clicking on the Covers Below

You can find Suzanne on social media here:
Website
LinkedIn
Email: cottrell_suzanne@yahoo.com

#TenThingsYouMayNotKnow – About Amy M. Reade

/ Marcia Meara / 75 Comments

Today, I have the pleasure of welcoming author Amy M. Reade to The Write Stuff, and I know you’ll enjoy getting to know her better via her wonderful Ten Things list. Amy, I’ll turn things over to you now, so take it away!

~~~00~~~

Ten Things You May Not Know About Me
by Amy M. Reade

  1. I played oboe for years when I was in school and my favorite classical music is any piece featuring oboes. I know they sound like ducks, but I love ducks (and I’m not counting ducks as one of my 10 things because everyone loves ducks).
  2. My favorite way to spend an evening is to sit outside in front of a roaring fire. I love everything about it—the woodsy scent, the crackling sounds, and the warmth. I’m always the last one to go back inside and that’s the way I like it.
  3. I don’t want to brag, but I can catch a case of poison ivy just by thinking about it.
  4. A lot of people who follow me on social media or have read blog posts I’ve written know that I love to cook and that I collect cookbooks and read them like novels. What they may not know is that I also subscribe to at least five cooking magazines. When I find a recipe that sounds good, I rip it out and add it to a (forty-foot-tall) pile of folders, each labeled with the type of recipe inside. You know, breads, appetizers, desserts, that sort of thing. Recently, upon surveying the literally thousands of recipes I’ve saved, I lamented that I’ll never live long enough to try them all. It made my middle child cry (she is an adult, so don’t go thinking I said something so callous to a five-year-old), so now I don’t bemoan that issue out loud anymore.
  5. I am one of the millions of people who took up backyard bird-watching during the COVID lockdowns.
  6. I believe that most of us were forced to learn higher math solely in order to help the next generation with their homework. If you majored in math or anything that looks like math, please don’t be offended—just know that you’re WAY smarter than I am.
  7. My idea of a perfect evening snack is a glass of port and a hunk of bleu cheese (eaten with a fork). Bonus fact: everyone else in my family hates bleu cheese … so, more for me. Second bonus fact: if port and bleu cheese aren’t available, a spoonful of creamy peanut butter will do nicely (and not the natural kind—it has to be the processed stuff you get at the grocery store).
  8. I have a weakness for fancy soaps.
  9. My father used to call me “Imelda” (who knows—maybe he still does. I’ll have to check on that) because I also have a weakness for shoes. And yet, shoes are my least favorite thing to shop for, with the exception of anything at a hardware store.
  10. The thing my Alexa hears more than anything else: “Alexa, play songs by Vince Guaraldi.”

~~~00~~~

BLURB

The holiday season should be a time for peace and joy, but for Lilly Carlsen, this Christmas is murder.

On the busiest shopping day of the year, Lilly opens her jewelry shop only to discover that it’s been burglarized. And then … she trips over the body. Talk about a Black Friday.

When a second victim turns up, Lilly finds herself squarely in the crosshairs of suspicion. The clock is ticking as Lilly tries to unwrap the mystery of the real killer’s identity.

Can she figure out who killed the victims before she’s arrested—or becomes a victim herself?

And as if dealing with all this isn’t hard enough, Lilly’s deadbeat ex-husband resurfaces, her mother’s mental health is declining, and her two teenagers are acting just like … teenagers.

Find out whether her family’s Christmas will be merry or scary in this cozy, small-town mystery perfect for fans of Kathi Daley and Jacqueline Frost.

Recipes included!

~~~00~~~

Author Amy M. Reade

Amy M. Reade is the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of cozy, historical, and Gothic mysteries.

A former practicing attorney, Amy discovered a passion for fiction writing and has never looked back. She has so far penned fourteen novels, including three standalone Gothic mysteries, the Malice series of Gothic novels, the Juniper Junction Holiday Mystery series, and the Cape May Historical Mystery collection. In addition to writing, she loves to read, cook and travel. Amy lives in New Jersey and is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.

You can buy The Worst Noel here:

Amazon
Apple
Google
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#TenThingsYouMayNotKnow – About Joan Hall

/ Marcia Meara / 107 Comments

So happy it’s Wednesday again, because you know what that means?  Yep! It’s time for another Ten Things list. This week, our guest is my good friend, author Joan Hall, and I know you’ll enjoy reading this one! Take it away, Joan!

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Ten Things You May Not Know About Me
by Joan Hall

  1.  I bleed burnt orange. Just kidding, but I’m a diehard Texas Longhorn fan. Burnt orange (and white) are the school colors.
  2.  My all-time favorite movie is Casablanca.
  3.  My maiden name is James and much to my husband’s dismay, I’m not related to the outlaw Jesse. (Hubs thinks that would be so cool!)
  4.  I wrote my first novel on notebook paper when I was seventeen years old, but I threw it away.
  5.  I once killed a four-foot coiled rattlesnake with a garden hoe.
  6.  My earliest memory was when I was eighteen months old. It happened during a visit with friends and relatives near Christmas.
  7.  As much as I love cats, I used to be more of a dog person. We once owned five dogs at the same time—two Dachshunds, a German Shepherd, a Lab-mix, and a Chow-mix. Feeding two cats is much less expensive.
  8.  Speaking of pets, we have a family tradition of naming our dogs after songs or singers. This came about by accident when I decided to name my German Shepherd puppy after George Harrison’s first wife, Pattie Boyd. Since then, we’ve had names such as Dylan, (Bob) Maggie (Maggie May), and Penny (Penny Lane). We don’t follow the same naming convention for our cats, but we once named one after a baseball player.
  9.  One of my pet peeves (of which I have many) is people who can’t park straight or park too close to the line.
  10.  In the early 1970s, my brother and I buried a piece of his pottery on our family property with the hope that some future generation would discover it and wonder about life in twentieth century America.

Joan and Hubby

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Author Joan Hall

Joan Hall has always enjoyed reading or listening to stories about inexplicable events, so it’s not surprising she writes mystery and romantic suspense. A lover of classic rock music, songs often serve as the inspiration for her books.

When she’s not writing, Joan likes to observe the night skies, explore old cemeteries, and learn about legends and folklore. She and her husband live in Texas with their two cats. Learn more about Joan at her website, http://JoanHall.net.

Buy All of Joan’s Books HERE

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