Sarah Madison's Blog, page 8

The Number One Rule of Writing: Have Fun!

I’ve been away from the keyboard for a while. The week before last, I was on vacation, and then I came home with a nasty respiratory bug that has knocked me flat for several days.

As per my norm when I’m ill, I tend to enter a weird shadow zone of ginger ale and crackers, comfort reads and cheesy television shows from the past. I don’t want anything that requires too much concentration. I don’t want anything that is going to blindside me or hurt. I read or watch TV until I doze off, sleep as...

The Value of Your Tribe…

For some time now, I’ve suspected the need to categorize people into Us and Them is something that’s deeply ingrained in human nature. When you think about it, survival pressure has probably selected for those of us who have the ability to organize ourselves in communities, since those who live in groups have increased survival rates. But the flip side of this benefit is the tendency to see everyone that is not Us as Them. It’s as though we’re constantly playing a game of “What’s Wrong with T...

The Elephant in the Room that the Diet Industry is Ignoring

elephant–freeimage.com

At the beginning of last month, I posted a little rant about an article I’d read, which suggested ways in which the ‘average’ person could easily lose weight throughout the day. I found the article so ludicrous, so not in keeping with the daily lives of most ‘average’ people I know, that I felt I had to say something.

I got that off my chest (with a fair amount of bad language on my part), but I’ve been thinking about it ever since. You know, the diet industry has a ves...

Rogue Soldier: Book Tour, Interview & Giveaway with Jamie Lynn Miller

Please welcome Jamie Lynn Miller as she joins us today to talk about her latest release, Rogue Soldier! This is book two of the Shadow Unit series, the followup to Broken Soldier.

Thanks for joining us here today, Jamie! Welcome to my blog and thank you for answering my nosy discerning, questions! First, please tell us a little about yourself and the kinds of stories you like to write. Would you say there is an underlying theme behind your stories?

Thank you so much for having me! Little bit...

Dear Entertainment Industry: A little hope, please?

candle by Q8y_dream Flickr Creative Commons

Sometime toward the end of last year’s television season, I quit watching most of my shows. I work in an incredibly stressful profession. I describe it as life and death in a microcosm every fifteen minutes. I come home at the end of the day totally wiped out, with barely the energy to walk the dogs and cobble together some sort of dinner, which is often the first chance I’ve had all day to sit down and eat a meal.

One of the things I look forward t...

Galloping Toward the Finish Line

Some of you might notice I haven’t been around much lately. I apologize, and want you to know I haven’t forgotten you–I’m just behind on my emails with a lot of catching up to do.

What have I been doing?

Well, I’ve been deep in edits on my upcoming Christmas story called Holiday House Swap. I’m so excited about this one, guys! It’s a fun little story about opposites attract when circumstances throw an in-the-closet writer and a forcibly retired Air Force major into frivolous circumstances. Th...

Dear Weight Loss Experts: Tell It Like It Is

I had to laugh at this post I ran across this morning: 14 Easy Ways to Lose Weight All Day. I admit, I’m a sucker for these kinds of things. Easy weight loss! Sign me up!

I’m one of those people you probably hated when growing up. For most of my adult life, I’ve been at an ideal weight with little effort on my part. I could eat pretty much whatever I wanted and lived off cheeseburgers, Pepsi, and peanut butter crackers. I didn’t live for food–it was just something I ate when I got hungry. I d...

Dear Internet: I Want My Life Back

Periodically, I decide I need to break up with the Internet.

It usually comes after a week fraught with huge blowups among my circle: meltdowns and high drama, like the exposure of a catfisher or outrage over someone/something that is Absolutely Wrong.

More and more these days, it comes as a result of feeling overwhelmed and anxious about the future of my country and the planet as a whole, especially when we’re constantly bombarded with images and messages that tell us to be afraid, be very a...

Fool’s Gold Nominated in the 2016 Indie Book Awards!

It’s been two weeks since the launch of Fool’s Gold, and I’m pleased to say the reception has been outstanding! I knew the subject matter might be a bit of a hard sell for anyone except a die-hard horse lover, but to my delight, most of the reviews have been enthusiastic.

Sales have been strong, the best I’ve ever had for a new story. I’m sort of gobsmacked by that, to be honest. I wasn’t expecting that!

Today I discovered Fool’s Gold has been nominated for the first annual 2016 Indie Book Aw...

Dear Church Lady: Why Do You Care What I Read?

Angry woman: freeimage.com

This post was prompted by an article that was being shared around on Facebook the other day, in which a Christian woman held up romance novels as one of the ‘new’, great evils of all time, sucking hapless female victims into their thrall. I’m not going to link to it here because it’s not necessary to drive more traffic to her blog post. There’s enough of that sort of thing out there as it is. In fact, the GOP has declared pornography a public health crisis that is ‘...