P.C. Zick's Blog, page 8

BOOK REVIEW – WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING

Where the Crawdads Sing[image error] by Delia Owens sat on my book shelf for months waiting patiently until I had the time and inclination to read. Highly recommended from friends, the book remained unopened.

Then I attended a writer’s workshop with several successful authors. A question asked of a local North Carolina bestselling author resulted in a wave of comments raising disdain for the acclaimed novel.

Guess what I did when I came home? Right. I opened the book and dug into it. Before I heard one more comment–negative or positive–I needed to determine for myself what I thought about the book. Same way I felt about Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee .

Once started, I had to finish. Good sign. The language of the naturalist captured me in its net. I lost myself in the descriptions of island life off the coast of North Carolina where even the tiniest of creatures and the most obscure of flora received its due. The character of Kaya broke my heart in its innocence and cheered my heart for her resilience. Tension builds throughout as she learns more about the world away from her narrow experience with human life forms after abandonment by those who should have taken care of her.

But…and this is a big one…this book published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons contains some errors that should make the editors at the big house cringe and rush to correct.

The first one that disappointed me occurred while the police chief and deputy sit after a long day of detective work to figure out who murdered a local man. They are on the deck of their station facing the marsh and then the Atlantic Ocean beyond. The author writes that the two are drinking a beer while watching the sunset. I read the line to my husband and asked him to tell me the location of the novel. “California,” he replied. You’d think. But no. A simple, silly mistake that should have been caught and corrected.

Then there are multiple references to folks in this small community heading on over to Asheville, North Carolina, as if it’s just a short jaunt. Once it’s when the father needs to check on his disability payments. In another instance, a mother wants a special gift, but the Ace Hardware near the island didn’t carry it so she drives over to Asheville . Sorry, but Asheville may be recognizable to the rest of the country, but anyone who knows the area knows two things. Asheville isn’t a big city nor the closest one to the coast. Try Raleigh or Charlotte for checking in the with the VA. Same with the Ace Hardware. I don’t think a busy struggling mother would drive more than three hundred miles for a toy when other larger cities are much closer. The critics at the writing conference where I first heard of this complaint speculated that the publishers wanted to use a popular town as reference. But anyone who knows the state at all knows that Asheville is the furthermost city from the coast located in the western part of North Carolina.

Fiction elaborates, exaggerates, enhances, and embellishes reality. But if an author uses real places, facts and details should be accurate. I usually put down books that contain such blatant errors. Fortunately, Ms. Owens created such an otherwise compelling read, I forgave and forged ahead to the end.

I don’t blame her. I blame her editors and proofreaders.

I recommend reading the book and ignoring the stupid errors. It’s worth it and captures the life teeming on the sea shores in all its bizarre, beautiful, and horrific glory.

Click here for Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

MY EXPERIMENT WITH WRITING RAPIDLY

The experiment continues as I move into writing the sixth book in the Rivals in Love series. So far I’m surviving and perhaps thriving.

The idea appealed to me and made sense. I knew when I wrote and released the first two books, I would need to continue what I envisioned to be a six book series. Then I hit the lull for a few months after Love on Board released, and then nothing. No traction on those first two books and nothing coming from me.

I didn’t panic. I confessed to you, the readers of my blog, and I read and researched. That’s when I came across the concept of the Rapid Release. I decided to give it a try even though Books One and Two had released in 2017 and 2018 respectively. But I pulled them down from Amazon while I began Love on Track, Book Three in March. This book releases September 17.

I wrote Love on Air, Book Four, in May and June. Then onto Book Five, Love on Course, in July and most of August. Both are finished and awaiting final edits and then publishing in October. Currently, I’m furiously writing Book Six, Love on Stage. By the end of September, I’ll move on to the final book, Love on Holiday, a novella starring the parents who face their own romantic dilemma.

And I’m having a blast even with the self-imposed pressure of deadlines. One of my beta readers remarked that Love on Course, written in less time than all of the previous four books, is her favorite book of them all so far.

That’s because I am writing every single day. Some days I have bursts of creative energy and put down 5,000 words. Other days when life interrupts I might only write a paragraph or a page, but I’m in the book, and the book lives in my head. Also, I know this family intimately now. All of the Crandall siblings appear in all the previous books as secondary characters but when it comes their time to tell their story, I know enough about them to bring them into third dimensional view.

Whether this concept of releasing one book in a series on the heels of the one before it does anything for my career, I have no idea. And here’s the beauty of doing what I love. I’m all right with however it turns out. I’m writing, and more importantly, I’m loving it again. That’s a great gift to me.

I hope your September skips lightly into autumn. Leave a comment and let me know how it goes in your world.

[image error]In celebration of the new release and the start of the rapid releasing era, the first book, Love on Trial, is only $0.99 on Kindle until September 23, 2019. Grab your copy today and head to Chicago to meet the Crandall family who keep adding to the family table each week.

Love on Trial Book One

Only $0.99 cents until September 23, 2019

Two lawyers on opposite sides of the aisle despise one another…at first.
Love on Board [image error] Book Two

He worries he’ll never find love. She fights to follow the career of her choosing. 
Love on Track [image error] Book Three

Childhood history between a race car driver and an event coordinator collide at the Indy 500. 

 

[image error] Love on Air Book Four

Preorder – Release date, October 1

Two TV newscasters find they have many things in common, except how they cope with trauma and stress.
Love on Course [image error] Book Five

Preorder – Release date, October 22

A chef and a public relations director share interests but the relationship stagnates from a lack of commitment. 

 

[image error] Love on Stage Book Six

Preorder – Release date, November 19

An actress intent on finding her place in the theater after leaving Hollywood.
Love on Holiday [image error] Book Seven

Preorder – Release date, December 3

The couple who started the whole Crandall clan face a crossroads as their fortieth wedding anniversary approaches.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?

[image error]This post might sound a bit like “What I did on my summer vacation.”

I wrote. After falling out of my office chair and flailing away from my laptop for a few months, I suddenly stood up and swiveled my way back to work. And did I ever.

As with most writers, doubt seeps into my psyche about why I write. The doubts and then eventual commitment have evolved over the years. Once I forgot about being famous, once I decided Oprah had lost my number, and once I remembered why I wrote my first story, some things improved.

I write because I love to tell stories. I love to make things up  write fiction. I do it for myself. But still that niggling thing remains. The thing in our society that tells us that to be successful, there must be the shiny thing at the end of all effort, whether it be a trophy or cash. My writing doesn’t always do that. But still I write.

What have I written? Two and a half full-length contemporary romances in less than three months. I still have two and a half to complete by the end of November. I didn’t think it was possible, but I discovered, the more I wrote and stayed within the lives of the same family, the easier it became. The characters began to live with me when I wasn’t at the computer. I know them. Each books fleshes out characters into full dimension.

The concept is called “rapid release.” The idea simple. Readers tend to lose interest in a series unless they can access the next stories quickly. They forget even if they liked the novel. In my case, the first two novels were published last year, and then nothing. So now starting September 17, the next books in the series will be released every 2-4 weeks through December 3.

We shall see if it’s successful. Either way, I’ve had fun creating the stories, and really, isn’t that all that matters?

I’m looking for team members for my ARC team. This means I’ll provide an electronic version of any of the books below (if finished!). I only ask that you consider writing a review. Please email me at pczick@comcast.net if interested.

In the meantime, here’s a brief look at the books with the links to download or Preorder.

[image error]LOVE ON TRIAL, Book One

Click to download either Kindle or paperback.

Two lawyers on opposite sides of the aisle despise one another…at first. It takes their dogs to bring them together. A Valentine’s Day sweet romance.

 

[image error]LOVE ON BOARD, Book Two

Click to download either Kindle or paperback.

He worries he’ll never find love. She fights to follow the career of her choosing. Flying across the Atlantic, love and careers collide. A sweet romance with a strong female lead breaking through glass ceilings.

[image error] LOVE ON TRACK, Book Three

Click to Preorder. Paperback available now. Release date, September 17

Childhood history between a race car driver and an event coordinator collide at the Indy 500. He can’t be distracted by romance. And she can’t trust love will last.

[image error] LOVE ON AIR, Book Four

Click to Preorder. Release date, October 1

Two TV newscasters find they have many things in common, except how they cope with trauma and stress. He hides behind a polished persona. She freezes then goes on with the show. But both of them require healing.

[image error] LOVE ON COURSE, Book Five

Click to Preorder. Release date, October 22

A chef and a public relations director share interests but the relationship stagnates from a lack of commitment. She moves from Chicago to Florida, and he takes off for Tuscany and then Ireland. In different countries and on different courses, they each seek something better.

[image error] LOVE ON STAGE, Book Six

Click to Preorder. Release date, November 19

An actress intent on finding her place in the theater after leaving Hollywood. A fire fighter with a passion for Shakespeare. When she plays Kate in Taming of the Shrew, he risks his life to draw her attention from her role to real life.

[image error]LOVE ON HOLIDAY, Book Seven

Release date, December 3

The couple who started the whole Crandall clan face a crossroads as their fortieth wedding anniversary approaches. As their six children plan a surprise party, the couple struggle to stay together through the holidays.

I’ll be posting more about the process and sharing special offers throughout the process of rapid releasing this series.

Happy end of summer days,

P.C.

 

 

 

LIVE FROM THE ROAD – NOW LIVE ON EZVID WIKI

[image error]Live from the Road, my Route 66 road trip novel, is featured on the video site, Ezvid Wiki! Not only is it featured in the video “Exhilarating Books That Chronicle Life On The Open Road,” it’s the first listing. Click here to watch the video and to see what other books made the list.

I conceived of the novel while on my own journey with a good friend, her daughter, and my own daughter. We started in Chicago and tried to stay true to the old Route 66 as possible. Not much of the original road still exists or it has been paved over and made a part of the Interstate system. When I returned from the trip, I looked at my journal and wanted to relive the trip, which I was able to do at the keyboard. But on this “virtual” trip, I let my imagination run rampant over the page while trying the capture some of the magical feelings and happenings that infused the journey and fueled my creativity.

From reviewers:

“What a quirky, nonsensical, gorgeous, joyful, sad bit of inspiration! And if you can’t understand that, then you’re in the best position to readthis fun novel!”  – Glenda A. Bixler, Amazon VINE Voice

“Ms. Zick perfectly balanced the turmoil of personal battle with light-hearted antics, and the story flowed quickly and beautifully.”  -Literary R&R

Synopsis

Best friends Meg and Sally seek a change in the mundane routine of their lives. “Is this all there is?” Sally asks Meg after visiting a dying friend in the hospital. That’s when Meg suggests they take a journey to discover the answer. Joined by their daughters, they set off on a journey of salvation enhanced by the glories of the Mother Road.

Along the way, they are joined by a Chicago bluesman, a Pakistani liquor store owner from Illinois, a Marine from Missouri, a gun-toting momma from Oklahoma, and a motel clerk from New Mexico. Meg, mourning for her dead son, learns to share her pain with her daughter CC. When Sally’s husband of almost thirty years leaves a voicemail telling her he’s leaving, both Sally and her daughter Ramona discover some truths about love and independence.

Death, divorce and deception help to reveal the inner journey taking place under the blazing desert sun as a Route 66 motel owner reads the Bhagavad-Gita and an eagle provides the sign they’ve all been seeking. Enlightenment comes tiptoeing in at dawn in a Tucumcari laundromat, while singing karaoke at a bar in New Mexico, and during dinner at the Roadkill Café in Seligman, Arizona. The four women’s lives will never be the same after the road leads them to their hearts—the true destination for these road warriors.

Purchase Live from the Road by clicking below.

Kindle

Paperback

Audio

Click here to watch the video and grab your copies of road trip books for your summer reading!

 

IT WAS MEANT TO BE

[image error]We recently traveled to southern California to attend the wedding of my husband’s nephew. While at my mother-in-law’s funeral, we learned of the wedding in San Diego and decided we would make the trip.

The decision to go turned out to be one of the best decisions we’ve made in recent years. There are times when the stars align, the heavens open, and serendipity ensues. Our visit proved to be one such time.

Since we were traveling so far it only made sense to see as many people as we could. Sixty years ago this month, when I was only four, my oldest brother married his college sweetheart, Joyce. My brother died ten years ago, but I have kept in touch with Joyce, who moved to Palm Springs several years after his death. I had been yearning to see her, so our trip would mean a chance to visit Joyce and see her new digs. Then there was the friend from our hometown who had been good friends with both my husband and another brother. His business is in Los Angeles. My husband’s cousin in Ventura was another chance to reconnect with a favorite relative. And finally, there was my very dear Sarah AKA S.R. Mallery who lives in North Hollywood. Was it possible for the two of us to meet in person after working together for years? I’ve edited and formatted most of Sarah’s books, most recently, Ellie & And the War on Powder Creek.

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Wedding Day – Pacific Ocean roars behind us

The first part of the journey–the wedding–may have been the original impetus, but it may not have been the reason we went. Another family member who came to the wedding spent a day with us, mostly walking on the beach near San Diego. It turned out this person needed accepting ears to listen to his problems and concerns regarding a transitional period now facing him. We walked, listened, and hugged. We even found impossible-to-find parking spaces right on the beach (and for free) right when we needed it. Serendipity.

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My very dear Joyce in Idyllwild

The visit to Joyce’s began in Idyllwild, CA, where she’d recently purchased a cabin in the mountains for the summer months. Cool temperatures, outstanding mountain vistas, and a rejuvenating visit with someone who has been a huge influence in my life. Joyce, who is eighty-one and laughs with ease, who practices yoga and lives in peace. We built fires in the huge stone fireplace in the living room. We made friends with Elvis, her Scottish terrier/poodle mix. And as we sat watching the flames in front of us one night, we felt the rumbles in our feet and heard the bomb blast outside–our first earthquake, a 3.3 minor occurrence, quickly over. We left from her home in Palm Springs after driving by Cary Grant’s former home and drinking beer while water misted over us at an outdoor bar on a 100 degree day. But, hey, it’s dry heat, right? No. It’s still hot, but the mists helped when the wind cooperated.

The other visits went well. We happened to plan our trip at a time when the friends in LA and the cousin in Ventura were present. The cousin and her husband had just returned from Australia and were headed out to Denmark in a few weeks. We caught them between their extensive travel schedule and even managed to meet two of their kids. The friend in LA only comes down from his ranch one week a month. That’s right, we picked the right week. Both visits cemented friendships and strengthened family ties.

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S.R. Mallery and P.C. Zick do Hollywood.

And Sarah. What can I say about the phenomena of meeting someone who I feel is a good friend even without ever had hugged or looked at each other in the eye? It was wonderful. We just held each other at arm’s length for a few minutes before hugging for real. Then we went to the dining room where we were told to pick our table. Sarah and I chose a booth in the corner. A plaque on the table informed us we were sitting at a table where Walt Disney had often sat with members of his Imagineers team. They even carved some designs in the wood surface. Perfect because Sarah’s husband had been an Imagineer as a special effects designer. Both of our husbands have the scientific head for specifics and details, while Sarah and I are definitely the other end of the spectrum. Luckily for us, the two men bonded immediately and left us to our chatter about writing, marketing, and life. We couldn’t even stop to read the menu, but we had a lovely waitress who loved our story about meeting for the first time. She said it was like online long-term dating. All I know is the lunch ended much too soon, and we had to get on the road to avoid rush hour traffic in LA.

Our flights, both ways, were easy and efficient. Even our luggage arrived everywhere it should have arrived. And as much as I love Florida, I have to say, California wins the friendly tourist destination prize. Everywhere we went, we met helpful, kind, and friendly folks from our bartenders, waiters, drivers, flight attendants, and clerks. One day at Mission Beach in San Diego, we visited a beach bar with lots of craft beers. We had a couple and chatted with the bartender, Juan. When he gave us a bill, he’d only charged for one round. We pointed it out, and he said, “I just want you to enjoy your visit here in San Diego, so it’s my treat.” Can’t say I’ve had that happen at a beach bar in Florida.

And now we’re home, happy to be here, but extremely grateful we made the trip west. Sometimes, it’s just supposed to be that way.

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COME WHAT COME MAY

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Click image to escape into a treasure trove of summer reading deals. Plus enter daily until May 31 to win some great prizes!

 

Welcome to Summer – It’s almost here. The Memorial Day weekend always signaled to me the start of something fresh and new. No school, fun days at the beach, and sleeping late. In early summer, I would go out to our wild raspberry patch in the side yard and pick the best tasting fruit I’ve ever had. Then I’d plop those little red beauties on my cereal. I can still taste it.

But over and above all else, reading dominated my summer life from the time I could pick up a book. I spent hours in the basement of our village’s town hall where the librarian stocked books that brought the world to  my small Michigan community.

Reading created a yearning in me to see more, do more, and write more. All these years later, the need to do all those things remains. That’s why I’m pleased to be able to offer you these great deals to load up your eReaders for the summer season. Let yourself escape into the lives of some unforgettable characters and powerful settings. Click here to see the free and 99 cent books offered May 20-24.

There’s more – Click here to enter to win cash prizes. You may enter daily through May 31.

Here’s to happily escaping into fiction!

P.C.

Here’s my special offering May 20-24 – My Smoky Mountain Romances for only 99 cents! (Regularly priced at $5.99) – Four sweet romantic novellas set with the backdrop of the Smoky Mountains providing the idyllic setting for a community of folks who discover family is more than blood.

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Reality Informs Fiction: Trails in the Sand

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I published Trails in the Sand in 2013, three years after the disastrous oil spill after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. From the first moment I heard about the explosion nine years ago and through my job as a public relations director with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, I was glued to the news on the struggle to contain the tar balls and greasy water approaching the Panhandle beaches of Florida.

When not working at my day job, I was also starting a novel about a dysfunctional family struggling to change generations of heartbreak.  April 20, 2019 marks the nine year anniversary of this event. Each year on the anniversary, I offer a special on Trails in the Sand, normally priced at $5.99 on Kindle. April 21-28, 2019, the book may be downloaded for $0.99. Click here to grab your copy.

Four years ago, I wrote about the disaster and how the book Trails in the Sand was born. Here is that post to commemorate both the oil spill and Earth Day and to remind us all the importance and fragility of our natural world.

Published originally on April 20, 2015 – Five years ago today, the oil rig Deepwater Horizon caught on fire.  Even though the newscasters downplayed its significance at first, I felt a black cloud deepen. I’d just moved to southwestern Pennsylvania where news of the Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster a few hours away in West Virginia still dominated local news. Twenty-nine men died in that explosion on April 5, 2010, just ten days earlier.

We soon learned that BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico had blown its cap, which allowed gushing oil and killed eleven workers on the rig. As I’ve done for the past two decades, when something bothers me, I start to write. The result from my sorrow and unease with both disasters resulted in the novel, Trails in the Sand.  The novel serves as a reminder of two preventable disasters that occurred within two weeks of one another in 2010. Forty men died and countless wildlife and their habitats were injured or destroyed. Both events touched my life in some way and both made their way into the writing of Trails in the Sand.

When the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia exploded, twenty-nine miners, doing their job in the bowels of the earth, lost their lives. Subsequent reports showed the company ignored safety regulations, which played an important role in the explosion. At the time, I was in the process of moving from Florida to western Pennsylvania. The mine is located several hours from my new home, so the local media covered the disaster continually for the next few weeks. The national news also kept its eye turned toward a small town in West Virginia where families mourned their husbands, sons, fathers, brothers, and cousins. After April 20, the lens of the cameras shifted to the southwest.

The news began as a whimper before erupting into cries of outrage. An oil rig somewhere off the coast of Louisiana caught on fire on April 20, 2010. Soon the whole rig collapsed, and eleven men never made it out alive. Oil gushed from a well several miles below the Gulf’s surface.

As I made the transition to Pennsylvania, I still held my job in Florida, although I was in the process of leaving. I was a public relations director for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. I made the trip back and forth sixteen times in 2010. I conducted meetings from a cell phone in airports, highway rest areas, and at a dining room table from our small temporary apartment in Pittsburgh.

Every time I started to give my two-week notice to my supervisors, something happened, and my wildlife biologist bosses pleaded with me to stay. During a crisis, the spokesperson for a company or agency suddenly becomes a very important part of the team. Scientists become speechless when looking in the face of a microphone.

Nothing much happened in those early days of the oil spill for the wildlife community, although as a communications specialist I prepared for worst-case scenarios, while hoping for the best. Partnerships between national and state agencies formed to manage information flowing to the media. By May, some of the sea turtle experts began worrying about the nesting turtles on Florida’s Panhandle beaches, right where the still gushing oil might land. In particular, the scientists worried that approximately 50,000 hatchlings might be walking into oil-infested waters if allowed to enter the Gulf of Mexico after hatching from the nests on the Gulf beaches.

[image error]An extraordinary and unprecedented plan became reality, and as the scientists wrote the protocols, the plan was “in direct response to an unprecedented human-caused disaster.”

When the nests neared the end the incubation period, plans were made to dig up the nests and transport the eggs across the state to Cape Canaveral, where they would be stored until the hatchlings emerged from the eggs. Then they would receive a royal walk to the sea away from the oil-drenched waters of the Gulf.

[image error]The whole project reeked with the scent of drama, ripe for the media to descend on Florida for reports to a public hooked on the images of oiled wildlife. Since I was in transition in my job, they appointed me to handle all media requests that came to the national and state agencies regarding the plan. From my new office in Raccoon Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, I began coordinating media events and setting up interviews with the biologists.

As the project began in June 2010, I began writing Trails in the Sand. At first, I created the characters and their situations. Then slowly I began writing about the oil crisis and made the main character, Caroline, an environmental reporter who covered the sea turtle relocation project. Then suddenly I was writing about her husband, Simon, who mourned the loss of his cousin in the coal mine disaster in West Virginia. I didn’t make a conscious effort to tie together the environmental theme with the family saga unfolding, but before too long, I realized they all dealt with restoration and redemption of things destroyed. As a result, the oil spill and the sea turtles became a metaphor for the destruction caused by Caroline and her family.

I’m a firm believer in the subject choosing the author. When that happens, it’s best to let the muse lead me to the keyboard and allow the words to find their way to the story. Trails in the Sand stands as my testament to the process.

[image error]Trails in the Sand synopsis

When environmental writer Caroline Carlisle sets off to report on endangered sea turtles during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the last thing she expects is to uncover secrets – secrets that threaten to destroy her family, unless she can heal the hurts from a lifetime of lies. To make matters worse, Caroline’s love for her late sister’s husband, Simon, creates an uproar in a southern family already set on a collision course with its past.

Using real-life events as the backdrop, Trails in the Sand explores the fight to restore balance and peace, in nature and in a family, as both spiral toward disaster. Through it all, the ancient sea turtle serves a reminder that life moves forward despite the best efforts to destroy it.

April 21-28 – Only $0.99

 

 

 

SPRING FLING INTO ROMANCE AND MORE

 

 

 

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Click image to win $100 in prizes

 

To celebrate the season, I’m participating in a romantic spring fling book event. Scroll down to see all the great books offered April 8-12 for 99 cents or FREE. Also by clicking the link above, you can enter daily to win $100 worth of goodies. Enjoy!

Warm Wishes,

P.C.

FREE April 8-12

Love on the Wind by P.C. Zick

Contemporary Romance – An uptight builder. A quirky travel show host. An explosive passion that surprises them both.

After six years of traveling, Kiley wants to settle down. While vacationing at the beach, she buys a house. She meets Jeff, a contractor, who can help if his stubbornness doesn’t interfere with the job and the attraction.

FREE ON AMAZON

FREE April 8 – May 30

Count the Roses by Jackie Weger

FREE FREE FREE

Contemporary Romance – Travel with Jennifer DeWitt from New Orleans—that humid, high-stepping city of music and magic on the Mississippi River to the depths Louisiana swamps where real life happens. And where a sexy Cajun just happens to live.

FREE ON AMAZON

99 cents April 8-12

Creatus Talis by Carmen DeSousa

99 cents on Amazon

Paranormal Romance – Vev, one of the first generations of creatus talis, finds herself torn between her younger family members and a forbidden love as she fights to save the young talis from being turned into a weapon — or worse, annihilation.

AMAZON SPECIAL – 99 CENTS

99 cents April 8-12

jADED by M.J. Kane

99 cents on Amazon

Women’s Fiction, Contemporary Romance – A devastating breakup leaves Yasmine Phillips in shambles. Unable to trust another man with her heart, she focuses on the one thing she can control — starting her own business.

AMAZON SPECIAL – 99 CENTS

99 Cents April 8-12

The Beast Within by Jacquie Biggar

99 cents on Amazon

Murder Mystery – Julie Crenshaw didn’t expect to land in the crosshairs of a serial killer. Connor O’Rourke has seen his share of human depravities during his years as a homicide detective, but is still sickened by the murderer terrorizing his island shores.

Can two people give love a second chance or will a killer become the winner?

AMAZON SPECIAL – 99 cents

FREE April 8-12

Time for Honesty by Mette Barfelt

FREE FREE FREE

Sweet romance – Small-town romance with a dash of suspense, set in Norway! Misunderstandings and jealousy can ruin friendships – unless you face up to it and embrace new love!

FREE ON AMAZON

FREE April 8-12

Meant for Me by Lyn Cote

FREE FREE FREE

Historical Christian Romance – When a handsome stranger about to leave for World War I proposes elopement, Chloe, the perfect Southern lady, runs away to 1917 New York City. “

FREE ON AMAZON

99 Cents April 8-12

Flicker of Light by Roberta Kagan

99 cents on Amazon

Historical Fiction – She’s trapped in Hitler’s home for the Lebensborn. In order to save her unborn child she must try to escape. But if she’s caught it will cost her dearly

AMAZON SPECIAL – 99 cents

FREE April 8-12

The Betrayal of Lies by Debra Burroughs

FREE FREE FREE

Police ask Lalla Bains why an elderly widowed piano teacher, who couldn’t see beyond the hood ornament, is found strapped in the driver’s seat in Lalla’s vintage Cadillac. Dead. Lalla is gonna find the answer.

FREE ON AMAZON

99 Cents April 8-12

Into the Light by Darcia Helle

99 CENTS on AMAZON

Paranormal Suspense – Joe Cavelli didn’t become a PI with the intent of providing customer service to disgruntled ghosts. Yet, somehow that’s exactly the turn his career has taken. Max is dead, and he refuses to leave until Joe helps solve his murder. This odd couple forms an unlikely friendship while uncovering the truth of Max’s life.

AMAZON SPECIAL 99 CENTS

99 Cents April 8-12

Pirates of Blood Bay Island by Dianne Greenlay

99 CENTS ON AMAZON

Historical and YA Romance – West Indies 1717 – Yesterday Tess’s life shattered when, forced onboard a ship and unwillingly betrothed to a treacherous man, she lost her family in a pirate attack that he arranged. Today she is plotting how to save her own life and perhaps to take his in retribution. She must decide quickly. Tomorrow will be too late.

AMAZON SPECIAL 99 CENTS

99 Cents April 8-12

All Tomorrow’s Memories by Jackie Weger

99 CENTS ON AMAZON

Police ask Lalla Bains why an elderly widowed piano teacher, who couldn’t see beyond the hood ornament, is found strapped in the driver’s seat in Lalla’s vintage Cadillac. Dead. Lalla is gonna find the answer.

AMAZON SPECIAL 99 CENTS

PTSD – IT’S A REAL AND PRESENT DANGER

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Two Parkland shooting survivors are no longer surviving. A father of a Sandy Hook victim took his life this past week as well. These are the very real and present dangers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that affect anyone who has suffered a trauma directly or peripherally.

My first introduction to PTSD occurred back in 2004 when I was contacted by a man and his wife who wanted help telling their story. Their therapist thought writing might help them both recover from the debilitating effects of PTSD. They found an article I’d written in a magazine in the doctor’s office and gave me a call. The first time they called, they were tentative and wouldn’t even tell me what had happened to them that had left them traumatized.

I met with them at a coffee shop. They were reluctant to talk. So, I did what I sometimes do when I’m nervous. I chattered. I told them about my life which had taken a major hit in the past three years. Something about my honesty made them trust me, and they told me their story. As I listened to their tale, I realized I too had been suffering from PTSD symptoms ever since the murder of my two great nieces by their mother in 2001.

I wrote the book for Brent and Barbara Swan and went through their horrific experience with them, which helped us all. Brent had worked for Chevron in the 1990s as a helicopter mechanic. He was stationed in Angola . He’d do six weeks on and six weeks at home. There was a small faction who’d formed an unrecognized government because they wanted the proceeds from the oil production to come to them. One morning as Brent drove to the airfield, he was kidnapped by the rebel government and held hostage for sixty days or “two moons” as he viewed his time in captivity. The U.S. government had strict guidelines about not negotiating with terrorists. Chevron had to work on his release undercover. The rebels loved Brent because he acquiesced and was a good prisoner even though they loaded up their AK-47s each morning next to his bed so he could never forget he was a hostage.

When the release was negotiated, the rebels gave Brent an honorary citizenship certificate with all their signatures. They gave him a map of all their camps, and group photos with their hostage. Brent turned it all over upon his release to the authorities.

And nothing happened. No arrests. Nothing. Brent came home and resumed a life as normal as he could. Six or seven years passed and 9/11 happened. Then all of a sudden the U.S. government became intent on bringing all known terrorists to trial. They started with the head of Brent’s kidnapping team and then the feds called Brent and told him he was the star witness.

Brent and his wife Barbara went into full survival mode PTSD when he had to travel to Washington, DC, and face his kidnapper and testify. Brent fell apart at the trial and afterwards. Barbara didn’t fare much better. When I met them in 2004, they were struggling to pull themselves out of the trenches of psychological warfare. After that initial meeting, I didn’t hear from them for more than a year.

Then I wrote their book, Two Moons in Africa (Patricia Camburn Behnke). Today I’m happy to say they are better but still living with the quirks that come from the PTSD.

My PTSD reasserts itself in times of stress or sometimes just because it can. In the past, I’ve dealt with it by writing about things other than the trauma I experienced back in 2001 and 2002. But this winter when it returned with panic attacks and depression, I decided it was time to write about how the deaths of loved ones has had an impact on me and how I cope with life’s irregularities. So far, my own self-imposed therapy is working.

I will have to finish the book before I decide if I’ll publish or not. It might turn out i’m simply writing for myself unless I see benefit to others going through similar situations.

As the news of the suicides hit this week , I considered what we can do to help those who suffer after trauma. Staying silent is not an option. Here’s a few things without even researching or digging very deep.

If someone doesn’t show signs of trauma after an event, it doesn’t mean she isn’t feeling isolated and alone in her fear, paranoia, grief. Without being a pest, keep her on your radar with calls, texts, cards, and/or visits. Any acts of reaching out to show her she isn’t alone may be just the thing they need.
Let him talk about the tragedy if he brings it up. Too many times if I tried to talk about the murders, others changed the subject. One person has told me several times he can’t deal with hearing about it because it’s too sad. Other people tell me they don’t want me to get upset by talking about it. It’s upsetting when it’s ignored, and we all should remembered that.
Each of us has our own timetable for grief and mourning. Do not attempt to dictate what you believe to be the proper time for someone to be over “it.” It only makes the grieving person feel as if something is wrong with her.
Don’t discount how a traumatic event has affected another person. Soon after I returned to work after the murders, a co-worker said to me, “Why are you so upset? It didn’t happen to you.” That set me back in my healing process by years. I still hear that voice in my head in the worst of times.

There are more I’m sure, but those are the immediate ones. Share any others you might have by leaving a comment. It can only do good because the alternative only creates another opportunity for PTSD to take hold of another life.

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WHAT’S IN A NUMBER?

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From left, Route 66er, birthday girl, me, hostess – plus Libby and Chewy

Birthdays mark the passage of time, and with each celebration of my friends, I wonder why do we bother with numbers? It seems to mean less and less. This weekend marked one such celebration when I realized I was surrounded by vital, thriving, funny, and loving women and men who were all hurtling toward seventy–some had even surpassed that milestone.

The image of seventy in my youth meant something different than it does today as I’m looking down the barrel at it. It seems unimaginable that the majority of my friends are now over sixty, and in a few short months, I will wake up in bed next to a seventy-year-old man! Not one of those folks fit into that former image of what I imagined life at seventy would look like.

Then it meant closing in on an ending. Today, it means starting something new or doing something just because we can. It means saying whatever pops in our head and being allowed, in most cases, to do it without censorship.

Here’s a sampling of some of the folks at the party yesterday.

The birthday girl turned sixty-nine yesterday. She was late to the party because she’d just biked thirty miles earlier in the day and rushed home to shower before arriving. Last month, we hiked six miles with her over rough terrain in south Georgia when we visited an elephant refuge. Last week she visited the Smoky Mountains and hiked miles along the Appalachian Trail. Besides that, she laughs often.

Another friend will turn seventy in August. She plans to celebrate by taking a month to drive Route 66 from Chicago to LA as a way to celebrate her life and experience new and exciting places. She is active in the community and travels as much as she can.

The over seventy hostess will turn seventy-five this summer, and she was busy planning how she would celebrate. She just came back from a tour of Italy and travels extensively with friends and family. She gardens and works out at the gym nearly every day.

My husband will turn seventy in October. He’s outside right now building a fence in our backyard. The spring garden is planted, and next month he’ll go to our cabin in the mountains and put in the summer garden. We kayaked last weekend, and each morning, we walk around our neighborhood. He also golfs and does all the heavy lifting around the house. And he still enjoys acting like a kid. Yesterday, it was making some letters on his shirt fold over so it displayed the word, “sex.” The only one at the party who noticed was the birthday girl, and she laughed at his silliness. I rolled my eyes, but secretly was proud of him for having fun.

Another woman I met for the first time yesterday, but I hope to see her again soon. She delighted me. On her seventieth birthday, she took her grandsons to the Grand Canyon. Recently, she won first place in the bench press in the Senior Olympics here in town. She had us in stitches about her travels and life as a septuagenarian.

Not only are my friends active, they are fun. We have the best stories to tell–decades worth. And as we age, I swear we become even funnier with each telling. Maybe it’s because as some memories fade, we’re no longer afraid to embellish to make the stories memorable for someone else. Who cares? It’s the essence of an experience that really matters in the end.

I know too many “kids” in their thirties and forties who seem older than my friends and me. They are bogged down with life and worry about every little detail. Will it rain? Is that road too narrow? How much do I weigh? When will we earn enough? I suppose I might have been that way at one time when there were too many responsibilities and too many people depended on me getting things done and getting them done correctly.

So what’s in a number? Very little these days.

By the way, I turn sixty-five in December, which means I was the baby at this party.