Twilight Thursday

Sorry for the long hiatus! We hope to be back up and running with author interviews and such in the next week or two!

Thanks!

Wistful Wednesday

Team Mikey

For writers, inspiration can come from anywhere and for me, that inspiration has come from the situation involving my cousin and her fourteen year old son. Two weeks ago, Mikey was a vibrant, likable kid who has the world at his feet and a world of possibilities laid out before him, ripe for the taking. Today, he's in Children's Hospital in Boston, fighting for his life after suffering from cardiac arrest. This piece from our local news portrays his story eloquently and it is really worth the time to read and to watch the video that accompanies it. Here's another great article from my cousin's local paper.

What inspires me about this story isn't just my personal involvement in it, but the fact that my cousin's condition is a mystery to the doctors, who still haven't figured out what is going on with him. More than that, it is the support system that has rallied around my cousin and her family, not just Mikey, the people who are keeping her and her husband and other children motivated and positive in this trying time. They call themselves Team Mikey and they even have a Facebook page where they share encouraging words for their friend and his family. For them, I can only say thank you for taking such good care of my family.

What are the stories that inspire you?

PANTASM FRIDAY

Madison's Life Lessons on the Road to Hell: SNOW'S HEAT by NICOLE HICKS: "*last minute touch-ups on hair as the producer counts down with his fingers…three…two…one…is cued to begin with a red light on the camera..."

Wistful Wednesday

Healing and Spiritually

by

Susan Peterson Avitzour,

Author of And Twice the Marrow

of Her Bones

At the age of twelve, my daughter Timora was diagnosed with leukemia.  I’d like to share with you how Reiki, a traditional Japanese healing technique, helped her for a good part of her time in this world, until she left it at the age of eighteen.  The story is, I believe, a wonderful example of how body and spirit are intertwined, and how attending to our spiritual side can help us even as we face physical hardship.
Reiki, which means “mysterious atmosphere; spiritual power,” channels healing energy from the spiritual world through a practitioner’s hands into the body of a person who is physically or emotionally suffering.


When Edna, the Reiki Master to whom we turned, laid hands on Timora, her pain would decrease, the color would return to her face and lips, and she would relax as she could under no other circumstances.  She told me it was if a gentle light was radiating from Edna’s hands and spreading throughout her body.  Edna taught her to lay hands on herself between sessions, which relieved not only her pain, but also the depression that would grip her from time to time, and helped her sleep on nights when everything seemed just too much to bear.


No less important than the treatments themselves were the five Reiki Principles that Edna taught Timora to recite every day:


Just for today, I’ll let go of anger.
Just for today, I’ll let go of worry.
Just for today, I’ll be grateful for what I have.
Just for today, I’ll work with integrity.
Just for today, I’ll be kind to others and to myself.


Timora, raised in our observant Jewish family, had always had a strong religious sensibility, but Reiki gave her the opportunity to express her spiritual leanings directly and practically.  After three treatments, she asked to study Reiki in order to practice it herself.


I’ve written a memoir entitled And Twice the Marrow of Her Bones, which describes my journey with Timora over the six-plus years of her illness, and without her after she died.  In it, I describe how she delighted in her ability to relieve other people’s suffering, even when she herself was undergoing the most extreme of treatments:


Timora was a natural healer, a vessel for a life-affirming energy that would pass through her to others when she laid hands on them…. Once, while she was hospitalized for her second bone marrow transplant, Tehila, [a hospital] volunteer… came to visit her feeling nervous and upset about something that was happening in her life at that time. Timora got out of her bed and made Tehila lie down. She then stood by the bedside and gave her a Reiki treatment.  Tehila fell asleep almost instantly and woke up a short time later feeling much better, saying she hadn’t had such a refreshing and relaxing rest in a very long time. Timora later told me the healing energy that had passed through her body into Tehila had refreshed and eased her as well – physically as well as spiritually.


Timora’s Reiki journey didn’t end, it seems, even with her death. Edna has told me that sometimes, when she is treating a client, she feels Timora right there alongside her, strengthening the energy that is pouring through her and into the person they’re both helping.


Edna told Timora the day we met her, “Reiki won’t cure you, but it can heal you.”  After my daughter’s experience, there is no doubt in my mind that whatever our burdens, if we open ourselves to what the spiritual world has to offer us, it will help us heal – by easing and enriching our path through this unpredictable, and often cruel, material world.

To learn more about Susan Avitzour, author of And Twice the Marrow of Her Bones, we invite you to visit her site - http://www.fiveyearslater.blogspot.com. For the full virtual tour schedule, visit http://bookpromotionservices.com/2011/01/06/twice-the-marrow-virtual-tour/


(My apologies to the author. After several attempts, I was unable to upload pictures of the author and her book to blogger.)

TWILIGHT THURSDAY

Thanks so much, Gracen, for having me here today! For readers who don’t know, I write erotic romance with my husband under the pen name Adriana Kraft.

When Lara Zielinsky proposed that the Sapphic Planet (www.sapphicplanet.com ) authors create a twelve-book Lesbian series on the signs of the Zodiac, hubs and I knew immediately which sun sign we wanted to write and who we’d match our heroine up with: Cancer and Aquarius. You can connect with the entire collection of Sapphic Signs HERE, and our story for Cancer just joined them yesterday: The Lady Wants More.

The two of us have lived the Cancer/Aquarius combination all our married lives, so we know up close and personal how these two signs fit together. Or not. To have some fun with it, we decided a little research wouldn’t hurt. Here’s a paragraph from Astrology.com (http://www.astrologycom.com/cancer.html ) that made my husband laugh out loud – oh, did I say he’s the Aquarian, I’m Cancer?

“Paradoxically combining a love of travel with a deep need for security, you (Cancer) surround yourself with sentimental objects from the past, including souvenirs, hand-me-downs and keepsakes. Cancerians are remarkably good at accumulating things; indeed, you can be unwilling to throw anything out.”

Um. Desperately cleaning closets as I write! That also applies to our memories – Cancer tends to cling to the way things were. Naturally I tend to think that all those things –keepsakes and memories – are going to be useful. If nothing else, I’ll put them in a book!

Here’s another one from the same source:

“The emblem for Cancer is the Crab, a creature with a very hard shell which protects a soft interior. The crab walks sideways, which is how the Cancerian skirts around a problem until forced to take it on with gritty determination and a creative flair.”

I love the “creative flair” reference, but have to cop to the sideways style. I’d always much rather take an indirect approach and solve a problem without a frontal attack.

As you can see, living with a Cancer Sun Sign can be a trial – all the more so, if your sun sign is Aquarius, according to Zodiac Signs:

“They are very unconventional and always full of excitement. An Aquarius friend always makes life fun…Conventional people beware, Aquarius likes to shock and deviate from the norm, this is how they live.”

So that’s the challenge we set for our two characters, Janet Baxter (Cancer) and Brenda Cassidy (Aquarius):

BLURB

The Lady Wants More: Janet Baxter keeps her post-divorce life neatly compartmentalized: Secure job, spacious Westchester County home, successful adult children, dependable community volunteer activities. Why is she drawn – for the first time ever – to attend her twenty-year college reunion in New York City?

Always a free spirit, Brenda Cassidy is comfortably bisexual and has no plans to ever settle down. But a fling? The reappearance of svelte, reserved Janet Baxter in Brenda’s life is nothing less than a gift, worthy of every enticement Brenda can conjure up. Can Brenda seduce Janet into an endless night of the lovemaking they enjoyed too briefly as college roommates? What if the lady wants more?

EXCERPT

Brenda spun around to face Janet when they got to the far corner of the dance floor. She knew Janet would prefer to be in the corner rather than on the front edge where bar patrons could easily gawk at them. She, herself, preferred center stage but—she grinned at her partner—tonight she’d cater to Janet’s desires. She just wished she could get a better read on her former roommate’s desires. Did they include her, yet? There was no need to rush things now that they’d reconnected after all these years.

Brenda had already decided that Janet needed, once again, to break out of her shell and get on with her life. Of course she’d often been accused of making quick judgments, if not rash ones. But surely the universe hadn’t crossed their paths just so they could share a drink and swap life stories. While she wasn’t looking for a permanent relationship, whatever that was, she was always on the lookout for a relationship that might offer enough challenge and spice to keep her going for more than a night or two.

Brenda grinned at Janet. She knew for certain this tall dark haired women with gorgeous long legs could provide ample challenge and spice for some time. She held out her hands, interlaced her fingers with Janet’s and picked up the beat to the fast paced hip hop music. At arm’s length they swayed and stepped to the music. They circled each other.

Brenda filled her lungs. Her body throbbed with the music. Her brain clicked into hypersensitive mode—once again, she’d become the huntress. “Are you ready for me?”

A couple more excerpts (with a little more spice) are posted at my blog, with more about the book.

Adriana on the web:

http://adrianakraft.com/

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Wistful Wednesday

Stanley Fever (Stanley Cup, That Is)

Okay, so I finally finished the edits on my next book (Sloane Wolf, to be released soon by MuseItUp Publishing), just in time to become embroiled in Stanley Cup fever. Now, I don't profess to be a hockey fanatic (that would be my two cousins, Alison and Cindy), indeed I rarely watch a game. Nevertheless, I somehow became caught up in the fever (my daughter was talked into watching with a friend and I caught it from her) and have been watching the games since a team beloved in New England won a pivotal play-off game that put them in the finals!

So this post is just a little way for me to show some love to the boys in the black and gold. Whatever happens tonight, they have been absolutely amazing. Here are some highlights of the latest game: 

Wistful Wednesday

Still Revising

Do you ever get stuck in a cycle and feel like it will never end? Yeah, that's me right now. I am still deep into the edits of my second (to be published) book and I'm starting to feel like there's no end in sight. And this is the second round of editing! Apparently, my changes from the first round never showed up in the file I sent to my editor, so I had to find the other file (it was a backup copy - thank heavens for backups!) and incorporate the changes I'd made in Round One into the new suggestions from Round Two. Grrrr.....

So, I have little of value to report to you today. Instead, I'll leave you with something fun. 

Wistful Wednesday

Deep in the Land of Edits

Hello, just dropping in briefly to let you know that I'm deep into the edits of my next book, Sloane Wolf. So in lieu of an actual post, I'm just going to tease you a little bit. I just viewed and approved the cover yesterday and it is gorgeous! Perhaps I'll share the pictures with you soon. To whet your appetite, here is a little bit on the story:

For more than a hundred and fifty years, the gray wolf has failed to roam the hills of Massachusetts, leading to the belief that they are extinct. But with a spattering of sightings across the Berkshires, the legend of the gray wolf comes to fruition. The product of that legend, Micah Sloane will go to great lengths to protect his kind from the threat of outsiders, who seek to exploit the legend for their own interests. One thing he didn’t count on, however, was finding his soul mate in the company of such men.

From the first time she predicted a stranger’s imminent death when she was little more than a child, Shiloh Beck knew she was different. Wishing to cultivate her gift, her parents made the fateful decision to enroll her in a private school for paranormally gifted children. Unbeknownst to them, the school was just a front for a research facility simply called the Institute, whose secret board members weaned gifted children from their families to exploit their gifts. Shiloh has spent the better part of her life trying to escape the Institute and reunite with the family she was told had abandoned her.

From their first meeting, Micah and Shiloh share a connection that goes beyond the normal to bond them in a way that love alone cannot. But before they can build a life together, they must deal with the fall-out when the legend of the wolves collides with the men behind the Institute.

How's that for a teaser? Oh, and for anyone who might want to read my first book, Nora's Soul, from today until June 8, it's available at a special price - just 99 cents! Check out the details here: http://secondwindpub.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/second-wind-publishing-99-kindle-sale/  (You need to scroll down to get to my link) or you can go directly to the Amazon page (if you're not interested in checking out the other Second Wind titles on special) at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0024NJVRY/sr=1-1/qid=1306812373/ref=sr_1_1_oe_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1306812373&sr=1-1

Happy reading!