Cracks In The Sidewalk

First of all I owe an apology.  Looking at my blog I realized that it has been over a year since I’ve posted anything.  Every time I’ve done this I swear that I will post on a regular schedule.  I love writing especially the creative side when the story comes together. I hate marketing and promoting, no wonder I’m horrible at it.

With that said, this blog isn’t about me. In fact I’m cheating a little in that it is a cross post. I am a member of the Over The Backyard Fence bloggers group where almost all of the blog members are authors.

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Cracks In The Sidewalk is a story based on true life. The author, Bette Lee Crosby interviewed the Grandparents extensively.  It’s an amazing story of courage, love and forgiveness.  It might not be an inspirational genre, but it was for me as in the end I found myself thinking, “God is Good.”

It’s a story that was thought provoking. For one thing I’m afraid I wouldn’t or couldn’t be so forgiving.  And, yet you could see how the mother and grandparents always put the children first. It was unselfishly never about them.

I hate to risk putting in spoilers but nothing I can say takes away from the impact of the story.  When the daughter, Elizabeth, is pregnant with her third child she is diagnosed with a terminal cancer.  Instead of supporting and caring for her, her husband uses the children to extract financial funds from her father. The grandfather, after financing the son-in-laws failing business for over $100,000 finally says enough.

Elizabeth is forced to move in with her parents when her husband refuses to let her come back home and eventually stops bringing the kids to see their mother and grandparents.

Elizabeth is fully aware that her condition is terminal and wants more than anything to instill in her children that they are loved. She wants to leave them with memories that will insure they never feel abandoned. The bravery of Elizabeth is amazing. As she fights to stay alive and see her children, her parents are right there with her.  Finally with no other recourse they take the fight to court where Elizabeth’s husband is ordered to comply to visitation.

You see the best and worse of humanity in this story. Sometimes it’s so horrible on the ugliness of the husband that it’s hard to believe it isn’t fiction. Can people really be so cruel?  The husband with a failed business and unpaid bills disappears with the children and for years the grandparents don’t know where they are. Not only have they lost their beloved daughter, her children are lost to them too.

This story ends well.  It brings tears, but also in the end you regain faith in humanity.

This is the first time I have read a story from this author and I might have missed it if not for Bookbub.  I joined a few months back and would highly recommend it. I get a list of books everyday. Some are free and others at discounted prices. There is nothing I’d rather shop for than books so I start my day with a cup of coffee and Bookbub selections for the day.  It doesn’t get much better than that.

I’d love to hear from you. If you have a minute leave a comment or drop me an email.

Lavada 

 

 

 

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Indie Author Fringe

I know those of you who follow this blog are both writers and readers and I try to do posts that speak to both. However this one is for authors or those who might be entertaining the idea of writing.

Indie Author Fringe is an online workshop put on by the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLI). They are putting on the next event this coming Saturday, June 3. It starts at 10:00am Eastern time. But the good thing about Fringe is that you can view the workshop sessions anytime. And you can pick which ones you want to do. I usually try to do one session a day sometimes skipping a day.

There is a wealth of information in the Fringe sessions and on the ALLI website itself. I can’t say enough about the value to Indie authors this group provides.

I will look forward to hearing from anyone who attends. If you have time please get back to us with your comments.

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Happy 4th of July

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve posted a blog. I know I’m horrible at promoting but not every post is a promotion, or it shouldn’t be.

So a new non-New Year resolution ––– “Stay in touch.”

I wrote a blog on Over The Backyard Fence for the 4th. I’d love for you to pop over and maybe comment. OTBF is eclectic blog by a small blog community. We have a lot of fun and would love to have you join us.

Here in the Pacific NW (known for it’s abundance of rain), we have been having record-breaking temps. As you might guess a lot of us don’t have A/C. So right now I’m trying to get one asap. I’m regressing. Must be the story teller in me.  🙂

Anyway, I recently purchased a plant  that like me droops in this weather. It looks about ready to gasp its last breath, I water it, and it comes back to life. Yesterday I finally took a bucket and a bit of yarn and helped the poor thing out. I’m thinking some containers like this might help some of the other plants that want more water.

I know this doesn’t take a rocket scientist so why did it take me weeks to do it.    🙂

Have a Happy Safe 4th and stay cool.

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Good Morning

Brrr, cold outside this morning.  But the sun is shining.

 Just a quick note to let you know that I’m the featured author on the Snow Globe Contest today. If you have a second pop over for a visit. The site is at http://snowglobeawardcontest.vpweb.ca/contest-participants

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Christmas Party

It’s Christmas and time to party.  Evernight Publishing is holding a Christmas Blog Hop.  It will run from December 10^th to the 14^th.  There are a number of Evernight authors participating.  Three of my favorites are Sadie Sinclair, Lace Daltyn and Faye Avalon.  For information and to start the hop visit any of their blogs by clicking on their names.

There are a lot of prizes, wishing you bundles of luck in winning some to put under your tree.

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November News

I am happy to announce that A Divorce For Christmas is at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.    I loved writing this story and getting to know Lori and Brad.

2012 is winding down for me. When I set up this blog it was to replace doing a newsletter so most of the posts are news related.   But a few years ago I started an eclectic blog called Over The Back Yard Fence with my friend and fellow author Laurie Ryan.   We now have 8 members of the community and post on various subjects.   We would love to have you drop in and visit.  It’s a great place to meet new friends.

And the last news item — Laurie is featuring Holiday Magic, the anthology we did together over at her blog.  We are giving a digital copy away so drop over there and leave a comment.

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

Lavada 

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A Divorce For Christmas

A Divorce For Christmas is a short Christmas story (approx 10,000). It is available at Smashwords for $0.99 and will be on Amazon and Barnes and Noble soon.

All Lori Harper can think of is having a baby. But it isn’t proving to be easy so she has ramped up her efforts. With How-To-Books in hand she has become a woman with a mission. With ‘things’ down to the clinical, Brad is feeling anything but amorous. In fact he has had enough of the command performances.

Unable to live this way any longer Brad asks for a divorce. Lori is so caught up in her body and getting pregnant that she is blindsided. To make matters worse things come to a head right after a very unsatisfactory frustrating act that Brad has barely been able to complete.

Lori is at first in denial but when Brad rents an apartment she asks for time. Christmas in less than a month away and their families are intertwined to an extent that it will affect everyone’s holiday. Besides she is still convinced Brad will change his mind.

 

Excerpt

Brad ground his teeth to keep the oath he wanted to shout from escaping. He rolled away from Lori and lifted his arms over his head. Moonlight filtered in from the window and danced across the bed. His breathing slowed and the room fell silent with nothing but the click of the electric clock disturbing it. This had to stop. He couldn’t do it anymore. He was through! Quitting! No more command performances. With new resolve he swung his feet out of bed and pulled on his briefs and pants.

“What are you doing?” Lori sounded concerned but not enough to risk moving. Nothing short of a fire would get her out of bed. No, the latest in a long list of how-to-get-pregnant books said not to move for at least a half an hour after intercourse. Knowing Lori she’d probably still be lying in the same position in the morning.

Brad headed for the door, but with second thoughts strode around the bed and nudged Lori’s leg for a spot to sit.

“Don’t.”

“Don’t? For cripes sake Lori, moving your leg isn’t going to make a damn bit of difference. I doubt that fiasco we just performed impregnated you and . . .” His voice trailed off. He took a breath and continued. “And, I sincerely hope it didn’t because . . .” Again he couldn’t finish what he was trying to say. He took another deep breath and tried to ease the pain around his heart. “I don’t think I want children anymore.”

Lori gasped at his words. A tear trickled out of the corners of her eyes and he felt like a heel. A sob escaped with her words. “I don’t understand. You’ve always wanted a family. You said you wanted two, maybe three. We planned it all out and have been trying for over a year.” Another sob escaped.

Brad handed Lori a tissue. He was hurting and now she was, too. He’d tried, heaven only knew how much, but with all her concentration on a baby she didn’t hear him when he asked her to give all the time schedules a rest and just enjoy each other and let nature have a chance. She wouldn’t even consider counseling when he asked her to go with him. Still he’d never meant to say the things he had or at least he hadn’t meant to say them in anger and frustration. Watching Lori wipe her eyes, he got a glimpse of what he’d become. The deterioration of their marriage was changing them both and he didn’t like who he was anymore. How had he let it go on for so long? With a sigh he got off the bed. “I’m sorry. You are going to hate me but I can’t do this anymore. I know I should wait until morning to say anything more, but since we’ve gotten this far . . .” He looked away. This was hard, but it wasn’t going to get any easier. With a sigh he said, “I want a divorce.”

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