Ryshia Kennie's Blog, page 14

They're In The Mail

A reprieve in the postal situation in Canada that was threatening a mail shutdown, gave me enough wiggle room to get the signed books off to Goodreads winners this morning.  I believe the man having trouble with the photocopier was decidedly frustrated with the amount of time the transaction was taking.  But he'd already taken a fair amount of the clerk's time before my arrival and she seemed prepared to ignore him.  Meanwhile, he kept shooting frustrated looks our way, getting closer, scowling borrowing and not returning the stapler - which took more time as the clerk hunted for it.  Scowling some more, moving back and forth.  All, it seemed in a bid to get some help.  But it appeared the clerk was determined to remain focused on my mailout.  So there wasn't much I could do.  And with ten
packages all heading off to different corners of the world, it was taking a bit of time but I'd done everything I could to speed things up, the labels were written up and the packages organized as much as I could, by region.   But it all ended well, another clerk stepped in to give more assistance to the inexperienced photocopier and twenty minutes later - I can safely say the books are in the mail!

Later in the day, an afternoon jaunt headed straight into a prairie storm on a drive into the country just outside the city.  It's  the kind I remember as a child always capped off a series of hot summer days.  Recently, our summers have been up and down, hot one day, warmish the next.  But this storm came on like we'd had 30 C for a week, thunder that made me jump, and blinding rain and hail.

The storm started without much warning and ended in true prairie fashion, the air cool with the remains of the hail and everything
looking fresh and shiny.

Meantime, it's mailing list Monday over on Facebook's Harlequin Intrigue site.  My newsletter, The Walkabout is featured .  If you want to be the first to hear my book news or have access to my contests that might not be featured elsewhere, sign up now.  I'm thinking of another contest - specifically for the newsletter crowd.  Vintage anyone?  Don't miss out - The direct link is:  The Walkabout.  


Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com



http://ryshiakennie.com
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Timing is Everything

This week my timing was incredibly off.  A contest I had running on Goodreads ended at the same time that Canada Post labour negotiations appeared to hit the rockiest ever - lockout, strike were words hot in the air - oh my, what is an author to do.  I hope everything works out fairly for both sides but in the meantime I have a pile of signed books that need to get in the mail and start making their way to a few cool sounding spots in the world.

So what to to do?  I'd sat on my hands for as long as I could and on FridayI heard what could only be called, a miracle!  The union proposed a cool down period - 30 days, more than enough time, if I'm first in line at the post office on Monday, to get my books jaunting across the globe and reaching their destinations before everything again threatens to shut down.
But then, you guessed it - the  "but only if" clause kicked in and not everyone's happy.  Now I don't know if there will be mail on Monday or if the mail in Canada just ground to a halt.  My fingers are crossed for the former.  But - no worries, all you winners of Suspect Witness and you know who you are, if the post office doesn't come through, this author has decided to get creative.
Who said travel had to be a long trip.  This time, a day trip, a slip over the border and a visit with the United States Postal Service in a little Montana town not too far from home should do the trick.  A win all around, I get a jaunt, short - so no suitcase needed, and the contest winners get their books.  Not sure what customs is going to say about this when they ask the reason for the trip...sigh.  
Surely they'll agree - Problem solved - almost...  Still, fingers crossed that Monday's news makes this week's proposed trek null and void.
Ryshiawww.ryshiakennie.com
http://ryshiakennie.com
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Suspect Witness - Giveaway

Check out my latest contest at Goodreads - June 20 - July 4.  You could win one of ten signed Suspect Witness with matching bookmark - plus a special little gift tucked in with each book.  Check it out here:







 

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    Goodreads Book Giveaway
 

   
       
   

   
     
          Suspect Witness
     
     
          by Ryshia Kennie
     

     
         
            Giveaway ends July 04, 2016.
         
         
            See the giveaway details
            at Goodreads.
         
     
   
   


    Enter Giveaway



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Fitness & Exercise Motivation

Fitness & Exercise Motivation
by James Atkinson

“Fitness & Exercise Motivation” begins with a bang as it opens on a classic demotivating day - cold, grey and rainy.  It’s the type of day that is so dreary that it can easily make you want to stay, if not in bed, at least indoors.  But that isn’t where the book takes you, instead it shows you what you can and will do if you want to succeed at getting fit.
The latest on fitness from fitness guru James Atkinson, is a surprise in that it’s not so much about how to become fit as it is about how to acquire the motivation needed to become fit. He doesn’t pull any punches as, with touches of humor, he leads us along the path of mental training, the key to success.
A certified fitness coach, trainer and bodybuilder, the author knows what he’s talking about when he discusses the trials of establishing a fitness program. With powerful examples taken from his own experiences in the military and body building, he gives vivid examples of how mindset can make or break fitness goals.
Well worth a read to get motivated or just keep on hand to reread at the end of a week long training session to keep yourself motivated for the next.

Ryshiawww.ryshiakennie.com







Note to all you readers:  If you like to review the occasional book yourself, check out this week's Choosy Choosy Bookworm link and then scroll down to my books, Suspect Witness  and Legacy of Fear.  Both books are available for a short time in exchange for an honest review.http://ryshiakennie.com
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Every Life Is a Story

Today, I went for a bike ride along the bike path that winds through city following the path of Wascana Creek.  It's rather like being in the country when you're still in the city.  The  bullrushes crowd along the shore of the creek and birds perch on stalks of plants I can't identify.  The sky is that crystal clear blue that prairie skies are known for.  I pass a couple of women chatting as they walk their dogs, both of them wearing matching pink harnesses - the dogs that is.

The path winds along, I pass another biker and two joggers before I hit the hill that leads to the overpass, taking me over the road that rings around the city.  A semi passes and reminds me that all that nature I just left was still part of the city.

The path leads on and just across the road is the cemetery.  It's a place where my dad, grandparents and a few aunts and uncles now rest.  It's also a place that holds so many stories.  
There are sad stories here, heartbreakers like the cluster of baby graves.  But there's also lives well worn, savoured and enjoyed before a day was called.  There's the couple that were 102 and 101 when they called it a day.  There's the husband who died in 1965 and the wife who waited fifty years after that to join him.  There's the grown daughter who's name is inscribed between that of her parents' and beneath her name is something else, an image of a dog.  I'm not sure if the dog was quietly buried there as well, I like to imagine he might have been.  A lovely tribute even if a major infraction of cemetery rules.

I walk between a row of headstones, pushing my bike along, making sure that I'm the required distance from the headstones so, as my mother used to say, I don't step on anyone's feet.

In an older section, there's headstones that have been there so long that age and time has begun to dull the inscriptions.  And then there there's the imaginative inscriptions:

"He hit a home run.""Somewhere my love."

There are secrets hidden here, some of them buried forever and maybe too dark to ever be told.  And others are just waiting to tell their story.  The stories are told in the cryptic words on a headstone, some say not a whole lot and others describe a life.
The graves are a reminder that every life has it's own unique story and oddly, there's inspiration in that.
Ryshiawww.ryshiakennie.com



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And then there was Alex

So for the first time I've been faced with a deadline that, well arrived sooner than I expected.  Who am I kidding?  Deadlines always arrive sooner than you expect.  So this time, while managing the deadline, I also met a new man.   Yes, that's right, a new man with a sultry voice.  Okay, not quite. Alex claims to be a man but he's not, not really, not like he claims.  In fact, he's not a man that DH need give a second thought to.  He's not fictional but he is kind of real.   He reads to me in the quiet of my office and somehow that seems so wrong.

But let me explain.  There's nothing wrong with just me and him alone in my office, his  silken tones seductive and...   Alright, so his tones are not so silken and aside from a slight hint of an accent, his voice is slightly robotic.  Although he does have his times, little nuances here and there. A mispronunciation, oops he slipped on one of my misspellings.  Alex is not quite the man of anyone's dreams but he's definitely the man I've been spending some times with lately.

Who is Alex?  Well, it's hard to describe him for he lives somewhere in the bowels of my computer.
My MacBookAir has a choice of speakers, sexes and I believe even accents.   So I chose Alex.  Now, he's the voice  that will read my story to me, should I wish.  And after reading a chapter or two one too many times, fresh eyes, no matter how mechanical, are welcome.  So Alex reads and I'm proud to say that he even has the occasional attempt at inflection.

When something just isn't quite working or you've looked at a chapter, paragraph, whatever... once too many times, Alex is my first go-to guy.  And he's done a pretty good job.  Reading to me as I drink my coffee and follow along, as the sun dashes away what is left of the night.  It's just me and Alex, my feet tucked up on my chair.  Me and Alex.  I have to admit, after a chapter or two, I'm ready to turn Alex off but he's got me out of my head and on the right path, and I suppose that was the purpose in the first place.

A good pair of human eyes beats hands down, sorry Alex.

So another deadline is met and book two of the Sheik series for Harlequin Intrigue is off to my editor.   I'm pretty excited about Zafir's and Jade's story.  They've had a wild time in Wyoming and Morocco, and I suspect those wild times have only just begun.  Now it's on to book three.  Four books, that will be out in 2017.  Emir, Zafir, Talib and Faisal - I can hardly wait to hold each of their stories, finished in my hand.

In the meantime, my neighbourhood Robin is celebrating the completion of book two, with his usual daily bath.  Which, by the way, has the squirrels and other birds squawking, chirping and flailing their tails in their annoyance that the local watering hole has been emptied.

I'm off, water bottle in hand to refill and get "everyone" settled down.


Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com







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Rambling into April

It's been quiet on the blog, or at least quieter than usual.  That's mostly because, since Suspect Witness was accepted and then published by Harlequin Intrigue, I've been on a learning curve that's only just beginning to level off.  Of course, now I'm busy on the book that is to follow but that turns out not to be one book but four, a series:

Four powerful Sheiks, four compelling stories.
The Al-Nassar brothers have it all – power, wealth and a wildly successful security agency that provides investigative and protective services. Follow these daring brothers across the globe from Morocco to Wyoming as in case after case these young men take danger to the edge and back before love has them finally meet their "match".
Last newsletter giveawayTo celebrate all of this I'm running a contest or two on my newsletter over the course of the year.  The first contests will be giveaways of vintage Harlequins.  I thought, considering the publisher, that that might be appropriate.   But aside from that, there's always something new from news to giveaways.  If you're interested in checking out my newsletter, yes it even has a name, check it out here:  The Walkabout.

So where was I?  Right, I was coming up with excuses for my absence, and I have many - but I promise I'm changing that.  Here's, another excuse though because I am on a roll.  It's Income Tax time in Canada - Whoo Hoo!  Okay, let's go with the reverse of that.  Math is not one of my favourite subjects and I only took accounting because it was a core part of my administration certification in university and I must say that it was not my favourite course.  So why am I the one in charge of completing income tax not only for me but DH and my mother too.  My mom did tell me that there's
really not much to it.  And I suppose, for her, there's not.  She hands it to me with a "thank you, dear" on giving it up and again on me returning the results to her.  Pretty slick.  I really want her system.

Less than two weeks ago.So that's why things have languished here on the site which was my first home on the internet.  I'm going to amend that because there's been things going on and often this blog was also my place to go back and remind myself of all that's happened in this wonderful writing journey.  Kind of my online journal, okay sanitized journal.  I kept all the nasty stuff to myself.  Got your attention?

So why is it that when you're deep in a story and in no need of more imaginary people speaking to you, you run into more characters?

The other day I was convinced to hit a few church bazars even though my goal is to do the reverse, gather up surplus stuff and donate to one of those same bazars.  Instead, I found books.  What can I say - yes I really did need the vintage hard cover of Anne of Green Gables and yes, Christmas is not my favourite holiday but I really did need that group of free tree ornaments.  While church hopping we stopped for lunch in a basement lunchroom, another experience as two men were sitting at one table and had that distinctive look about them of men who live on the fringes of society.  Their clothes were rather ill fitting and they were unshaven and had walking sticks, not the kind that you use to get more exercise but the kind that are used to shove garbage aside in bins looking for recyclables.  And sure enough they were talking about the methods to best utilize recycling depots.  They were deep in their conversation and it would have been rude to interrupt.  But darn if there's not a story everywhere.  In the end they left after they'd finished their coffee, with smiles, and I'm sure, full of more stories.

There's a world of stories out there and sometimes this blog is the only place I get to write them down.  Till next time...  



Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.comhttp://ryshiakennie.com
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The Walkabout - March 2016 Issue

Just published my newsletter, The Walkabout. It's got all the latest news and a contest - vintage harlequin so cool, I wanted to keep them all to myself. Don't miss out. Go to my website at: ryshiakennie.com or the direct link:
http://www.ryshiakennie.com/contact-a...

New books, new events... and if you sign up by March 29, 2016 you'll still have a chance to enter this month's contest!

Ryshia

Rewind - Life and Fiction

It's hard to believe how long this blog has been running but it's been here since the beginning, since the book that started it all, From the Dust in the waning months of 2007.  

This morning  I took a bit of a break and stumbled on this long ago post and thought it was worth a share...
The streets are still dark and early morning frost clings to the sidewalks and streets. At this hour of the morning I imagine many to-work-drives are silent. Or maybe the conversation revolves around social activities, kids, the day's schedule. I imagine most conversations don't go something like this:"So," I begin addressing hubbie who is a bit of a political junkie. "What do you think would happen if an ambassador was shot and killed by one of the military in a military dictatorship?" I'm referring to a "small" plot complication in my current WIP (work in progress).

Silence.
The street lights are pooling  glints of light onto the cold chipped pavement. With snow pushing impatiently on the horizon, we're on a rapid slide to winter snow and thousands of miles away from the balmy warmth of Asia where current WIP is set.
"If it was the British Embassy how would Britain react?" I ask because the country in question was once a British Colony and is now a military dictatorship.
"You can't do that," says my previously silent spouse. Probably fearing my next move will be to phone an Embassy. And he's not far off, although I thought I'd e-mail.
"Why not?"

"Aren't you going a little big?" he asks but it's really more of a statement.
And there's some truth in that. 
In life and in fiction - How big is too big? And when is it just too much?



Ryshiahttp://ryshiakennie.com
https://twitter.com/#!/ryshiakennie

It's Out There

I'd heard rumour that the book was out, that Suspect Witness, my first Harlequin Intrigue, had not only been released, it had hit the shelves.  I'm not sure why this came as a surprise to me but it did.   Maybe it was because I'm in the midst of another book and with a dozen things on my mind including Suspect Witness, I was gearing up for February 1.  But, here's the rub, there is a release date for the paperback and one for the e-book.  The e-book is not until February 1 not so the paperback.  Now to add to those dates, there's the time that a Harlequin Intrigue remains physically on the bookshelves - one month.  So, by all logical accounts, okay by my slightly skewed calculations, that would be the month of February.


But there were already reports of scattered sightings.   The author of That Night, Lisa McManus Lange had even rushed to her book store only to get the last copy of Suspect Witness.

Oblivious to all this, I spent the day of January 19 picking my mother-in-law up, a sweet lady despite her relationship status, for an appointment that was booked months ago and then off to lunch.  It wasn't until I got home that I saw a tweet, thank you Janie Crouch, that my book was out.

I was excited but it took me until January 20 to get to my local Chapters to discover if this might be true.  Was Suspect Witness on the shelves and not just lurking on my office floor in the guise of author copies?  I dragged DH along with me who wanted to know as soon as we'd rushed those golden book gates why my book wasn't featured front and centre with the books of interest.  I ignored that comment and charged to the back of the store where the "real" fiction is kept.  After skirting two teenage girls huddled over a table that was mere feet from where I needed to be I crouched down and looked.  

I should have known - not there, but I didn't expect it would be - not really.  But wait, one title looked familiar as did the author and the one beside that.  I looked a little closer, and discovered there it was, Suspect Witness, parked in the middle.  I wanted to yell, hey over here - look.

But the thought of all that was overpowered by the voices of the young ladies only a few feet behind me who were discussing the relative merits of acids and bases.  One really wasn't getting it and the other was trying her best to clarify the concept.  I wanted to interrupt that conversation to ask them if they really believed that my romantic suspense could possibly be of less interest than their scientific analysis?  I'm sure from their perspective they were wondering what my fascination was with the book rack and might possibly even be rolling their eyes at the woman who kept backing so close to their table to take pictures of books that held no scientific relevance.

Leaving acids and bases for another day, it was off to Walmart.  There, the book shelving situation was a different story.  The clerk who oversees the books with a diligence that an army corporal might admire, told me that January books had not yet been cleared off and it would be another week or two before February replaced them.  The way she said it made it clear that she thought this was obvious and that I should look at a calendar and not bother her with February books that were currently not her concern.

But all that was fine for I'd seen the proof that Suspect Witness exists beyond an online entity.  It's out there.



Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com



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