Barbara S. Stewart's Blog, page 12

Tuesday morning – waaaaay too early…

Oh, a sleepless night – but you’ll be happy to know that Andy is working through me… I have been busy with my ‘scribbles’ and they seem to be turning into a story!

Many are asking (as they tell me they like (or LOVE) When I Look to the Sky) when the next one will be ready…. I don’t know! That’s my honest answer. I don’t want to rush because this one ties it all together and I have to take my time with that. Keep an eye out here for updates – or on my facebook page.

Lots of brainstorming this past weekend. I still have some work to do on the website, so I’m not sure where this will show up, not where I want I think! ha ha! But I’m liking the new look. Hopefully, in the near future, I will have it good-to-go! Sunday I met with my friend Jennifer (JMac). She is helping me with promotions and marketing and I am already excited to see where our journey will take us! She had some ideas that we are working on, so keep an eye here (especially my local friends! for local events).

I’m reading an ARC for a friend who has a new book coming out in July – Emelle Gamble, check her out at mlgamble.com.

Well my friends, it’s 5:15am and I have bananas in the oven roasting to make a new banana muffin recipe – if it’s good, I’ll tell you about it – if it’s not you’ll never hear another peep from me about it! ha ha ha!

I LOVE the notes and fb posts you are sharing – keep them coming – they make me HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY! (Phil Robertson Duck Dynasty) ALSO – don’t forget….. when I hit 200 likes on my fb page I’m doing a giveaway – it’s gonna be a good one!!!

Love Y’all! Barbara

 

 

One more day….

I have enjoyed these last few days being home with my honey so much! We did a lot, but not really anything – does that make sense? I have tomorrow yet and then back to work – but only for two days – ease in slow!

I went to Apple school on Sunday morning and feel as though I am almost comfortable that it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks, and the MacBook and I have made peace! ha ha!

Andy has eluded me for the most part – he gave me on idea to run with, and I did! And he gave my lyrics to a new song that will be in the third book, but I think he decided that I needed some time without him. Don’t worry, he was whispering to me early this morning, so I believe he thinks my staycation is over.  : )

I indulged in something I haven’t done in a while – R E A D I N G! I’ve read four books this weekend. For the most part – one of them was good, two were really good, and one just reinforces that as I’ve grown in my writing I needed to pull Sweet Surrender. I’ll share it again when I can go back and RE-LOVE IT!  I’ll add my weekend reads to the What I’m Reading Page asap – or you can find them on goodreads…

I took a workshop a while back and one of the things they suggested was to read the work of others to see what I liked and what I didn’t. It was good to see the differences, and I can still promise you that I’m not ready for 50 shades of anything. Everyone says they see me getting a little ‘bolder’ but I can’t go there….

I did a freebie on Sunday for Rock and Roll Never Forgets and I’m shocked at the outcome – and more than pleased and excited by those of you who have already read it and took the time to share your thoughts – goodreads, amazon and facebook. Time is a gift and I appreciate that you gave me the gift of yours to share your thoughts.

I’m working on the website – you will notice two HOME PAGES – I’m trying to figure out how to make one of the “static” whatevahthehell that means and add widgets (listen to me – talking like I know what I’m talking about! ha ha ha!) I may have to call my personal help desk #daleprice and ask for help! ha! So bear with me till I figure it out.

Havent shared this in a while… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k8craCGpgs

Thanks for sharing this experience with me!

Love, Barbara

 

Long weekend…….

Good morning to all!

Today is my ‘work’ Friday! and then I have six days off to rejuvenate my brain…. too much stuff going on in there ALL THE TIME!

Gene asked what we were doing…. pulling weeds and planting flowers, a day trip, maybe two! Might try to do some “cleaning” on the blog site – I’m a novice and I want to have a real home page – add some widgets (WHAT???) I’ll figure it out!!! My good friend Cathy is retiring from 37 years of teaching, and tomorrow is the retirement party. I’m joining her friends to send her off on the next leg of her journey! I’m somewhat nervous about this because there is a full moon tomorrow… HA! I’m going to school Sunday to learn to use my new MacBook (I’m a creature of habit and my creature is struggling with this thing! ha ha!) And… I’m going to do some things, MAKE TIME for things I don’t make time for when I get home from work (because I’m exhaustipated!) or because Andy is usually telling me a story  :)  Boy was he giving me some stuff yesterday driving home from work. At the stoplight before I get o the interstate I had to go to the voice memo app on the phone and TALK to him so I wouldn’t forget  

Anyway, all that said… I’m taking a staycation with two of my favorite men!

I am so appreciative and grateful for the responses to my work. The first thing I do every morning when I wake up is look at Amazon and at goodreads – and I SEE STARS! Thank you for giving me a chance – I am still learning, and the words and thoughts you share are part of my growth… Your thoughts are even more powerful than the stars and I appreciate the time you take to share them… I APPRECIATE YOU!

I’m heading out earlier this AM, so I better git’along ‘lil doggies!’ Make it a BEAUTIFUL DAY! I’m gonna try.

Love and gratitude (from one of my favorite websites – Vocabulary.com: Gratitude, which rhymes with “attitude,” comes from the Latin word gratus, which means “thankful, pleasing.” When you feel gratitude, you’re pleased by what someone did for you and also pleased by the results.)

Barbara

 

At least Monday has passed…..

…for THIS week anyway

I came home from work yesterday feeling out of sorts. I hate when that happens… I think it was a big mixing bowl of a lot of things, but anyway… After dinner, Gene and I just kinda chilled. He was watching Dancing with the Stars, I heard it and looked up occasionally, but  I couldn’t concentrate on it. I tried to write and Andy eluded me last night – I really hate when that happens! HA! I think he was telling me to PAUSE and think – go back and reread what I’ve got as potential for book 3, and then move forward… but I couldn’t read. I’ve never been ‘diagnosed’, but I believe that I have AADD… I go off in ten different directions and then I get distracted and… well, you know…

So, What I was getting at (HA!) was that I couldn’t concentrate on any one thing and I decided to google my books, curious what I would find, and I stumbled upon a new book blog that I thought I’d share:

http://www.laurasreviewbookshelf.com

You should go check it out. I didn’t find my books reviewed, just mentioned, but I skimmed through the site and liked what I saw so I thought I’d share. LIKE her page on facebook too, it’s worth a look! We can never have too many outlets for sharing good reads!

Anyway, what was I sayin’…  :)

Oh, I know… I was going to tell you to have a beautiful day! Go read something!

B

 

 

 

Happy Mother’s Day

Today I am missing my mom – I do all the time, but today while everyone who is able, celebrates with theirs, there will be messages and commercials and such that will make me miss her a little more.

If you are blessed enough to still have your mom, give her an extra squeeze today because someone you know can’t.

Today, to honor my mom, Alis – I will write. You don’t know it, but she is on every page in some way, because I know she would read every word I write. She loved to read… she read anything she could get her hands on, much to our surprise at times. One quick story and then I will leave you for now.

My mom was curled into a wing-back chair that we had when I was younger; she had a paperback in her hands and was devouring the words on the page.

“What are you reading?” I asked her.

(She was from the south, so I will write it the way she said it, ha!) ”It’s called BIG A, a book about that basketball player Lew Alcinder.”

“Who?”

“You know, the one who changed is name to kare-um abdula jabber.” (Kareem Adbul-Jabbar)

I miss her…

Enjoy your days…

Love, Barbara

Congrats to our winners!!!

Congrats to the winner of the eBook copy of When I Look to the Sky from the giveaway from, http://www.threechicksandtheirbooks.com/search?q=when+i+look+to+the+sky Heather Bogucki

And the winner of the signed copy, Lou Pack-White

I hope you love it ladies, and that you will take a moment to go to amazon.com or goodreads.com and give it an HONEST REVIEW when you are done.

Thanks again to my favorite chicks!

Love, Barbara

P.S. remember:  I have an eBook version of Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under that has never been claimed. Message me here or at my email, (bsswrites@yahoo.com) and tell me WHY you think I should send it to YOU and I’ll do a drawing from the responses! You have til Sunday morning! Attaching the Amazon link so you read about the story.

MAKE ME WANT TO GIVE IT YOU!  : )

http://www.amazon.com/Whose-Have-Your-Boots-Under/dp/1479116394/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367880353&sr=8-1&keywords=whose+bed+have+your+boots+been+under

 

Whose Bed Have your Boots Been Under?

I have an eBook version of Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under that has never been claimed. Message me (bsswrites@yahoo.com) and tell me WHY you think I should send it to YOU and I’ll do a drawing from the responses!

You have til Sunday morning!

Attaching the Amazon link so you read about the story.

MAKE ME WANT TO GIVE IT YOU!  : )

Love,

Barbara

http://www.amazon.com/Whose-Have-Your-Boots-Under/dp/1479116394/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367880353&sr=8-1&keywords=whose+bed+have+your+boots+been+under

Hoping for a SUNNY day…

Haven’t been here in a few days – I’ve been busy!

Change in my plans. I guess Andy has other ideas for me.. I was going to finish my 2012 NaNaWriMo submission – The Face in the Mirror – to publish next, but Andy’s been speaking to me, (I LOVE when he does! It started as a whisper, but yesterday was more of a shout, and at 4AM this morning I had to come out and type something he gave me, and then I went right back to bed!) And since I’m getting messages ALREADY asking “WHEN” I decided to go on Andy’s lead… So here I am 84 pretty good pages of story for Feel Like Makin’ Love.

I am blown away by the messages you’ve sent me. I LOVE when you share your hearts with me over something about one of the books. Some of you share thoughts and stories that made me cry. I love that you trust me enough to share. I appreciate you for believing in me.

I can’t remember what I last shared, but I went to a book festival last weekend and met some other indie-writers as well as some who have gone the traditional route. EVERY ONE of them that I spoke with shared something with me and I left there feeling better about what I’m doing.

I needed that after my big’ol faux pas. Some books and eBooks got out with the wrong file uploaded. After I went through my bawling and crying bit, my sweet husband reminded me that in my cedar chest (I call it my treasure chest, I have many important things in there – like my mama’s wedding dress) I have a copy of a Nora Roberts book that has correction marks in it. And then he said “Some day these will be a collector’s item…” I love him. All is well now, the Kindle and the book are uploaded again and everything in my world is good.

But I learned a very VALUABLE lesson (with each book I’ve learned something that helps the path along my journey better and easier). With this one, learned that I HAVE TO HAVE ONE CALM PERSON BETWEEN ME AND THE SUBMIT BUTTON…

The Chicks at Three Chicks and Their Books #threechicksandtheirbooks have blessed me with so many opportunities and a BEAUTIFUL REVIEW of When I Look to the SKY

http://www.threechicksandtheirbooks.com/2013/04/giveaway-and-review-when-i-look-to-sky.html

If you’ve not read Rock and Roll Never Forgets, bypass the review of WILTTS for now. Read this one instead!

http://www.threechicksandtheirbooks.com/2013/04/giveaway-and-review-when-i-look-to-sky.html

Well, it’s Cinco de Mayo and I have to get some Crock Pot Salsa Verde Chicken going. Family coming to celebrate with us and I hope for a SUNNY afternoon here in NE Florida.

I mean it when I say – I love y’all, Barbara

 

 

 

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!!

Check out this review and giveaway… It goes through Thursday evening – so get over to the site!

Feeling so BLESSED!

http://www.threechicksandtheirbooks.com/2013/04/giveaway-and-review-when-i-look-to-sky.html  -

 

Love, Barbara

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Good morning to all my friends!

I only have time for a few words this AM, but wanted to tell you to keep an eye on the Three Chicks and Their Books sites next week – I hear something good is coming and I am EXCITED!!!! Keep watching!! It’ll be in my author page on FaceBook too!

#threechicksandtheirbooks

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barbara-Stewart-Author/352239824808537

http://www.threechicksandtheirbooks.com/?zx=153d04cdcc16c994

https://www.facebook.com/ThreeChicksAndTheirBooks?fref=ts

 

Thanks you for following my journey………..

Love, Barbara