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Giving someone a chance

A few years ago when I was looking for someone to narrate not only my books, but my authors over at Shadoe Publishing, I came across new narrators who were looking for their first jobs. If their cadence was what I felt was right for the book, their voice sounded good, and they were professional, I was all for signing them on.

Yesterday I received a thank you, out of the blue, and I have to say, it gave me a smile.

I wished her well and welcomed her back anytime she wanted to audition for another one of our books.

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Malice Masterpieces 5 Books Twenty-One through Twenty-Five in Audiobook!

Meandering Malice (Book 21)

She’s cold, she’s tired, and she just wants to go home to her family.  Those preventing Alice from reaching her goals are about to learn there is a steep price to pay when you get in her way.  With two civilians to protect from their enemies, will the horror she is about to unleash repel them or will they help her overcome the obstacles keeping her from her goals?

Alice is about to unleash the beast within.  Come along and watch as she makes decisions that may affect the rest of her life…they will most definitely affect others’ lives!

Maniacal Malice (Book 22)

Alice is just finishing up a few minor details that have kept her from returning to her family—killing a few people that kept her away, blowing up a few things, taking revenge on the heartless…Can Alice FINALLY go home?

Monitoring Malice (Book 23)

Alice is home and must explain to Kathy why she watched her family go on with their lives and didn’t show herself. 

While she watches her wife being set up by thugs in positions of authority and is forced to witness Kathy’s first foray into dating since being widowed, Alice struggles to control her murderous temper!  She must learn to be patient…very patient.

Come along for the ride as we see things from Alice’s distinct point of view.

Marked Malice (Book 24)

How do you bring someone back to life?  Alice has experience in this, having brought her wife back once.  Now it’s her turn.  Can she keep fact and fiction in their places and how do you keep the truth from your teenage children?  What happens when one of them knows some of the truth?  What happens when Alice and Kathy realize more than their children are aware of what Alice has been doing in her time away?  Who is it who thinks they have power over Alice Weaver?

Mandating Malice (Book 25)

Who is Alice Weaver?  The CIA believes they are about to find out…but are they?  Do they really want to meet the real Alice Weaver?  Perhaps, some things are better left hidden.  Some agents think they already know who Alice is.  After all, they have a file on her and so does the FBI.  But what they know is only what Alice wants them to know.  When Alice Weaver shares information with those in authority, they will be left scrambling for cover!

The links to the various outlets are here.

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You can’t force writing…

Either you have the urge to write, the creativity, much less the time … or, you don’t.  I have TRIED for four years now since covid to write as prolifically as I did back in the day, and let me tell you … it doesn’t work that way anymore.

I was staying with a friend whose mother felt that if I sat down at a set time, for a set period of time, then I would write my stories.  That didn’t work.  Although I did get a few words down, I spent more time procrastinating, reading, and just doing anything BUT writing.  A bad case of the ‘don’t wanna’s’

I used to write as though I had OCD and perhaps, to a degree, I did.  I’d write madly, deeply, passionately and my fingers would literally go numb with the efforts.  My best weekend, I wrote 40K.  20K was an average day.  It’s why, over the last 12-14 years I’d been able to get out so many stories that occurred to me.

Sadly, those days are over.  However, the other day, here, where I am now, I was able to get out 17K and I was like, YAY, maybe the fog brain I’ve dealt with is gone.  The next day, I didn’t write much of anything.  But that is how it goes.  You work manically and then take a few days to rest the old brain.  We shall see if anything comes of it.

I love hearing from fans and the occasional comment that they ‘hope’ I’m working on more of ‘this’ story or ‘that’ series.  Seriously, it gets me thinking of that story and what I can add to it or the series.

Meanwhile, I am working on new stuff.  I have hundreds of stories that were percolating before and during covid, but we shall see if I get ANY of them DONE.  Sadly, they don’t write themselves.

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A Bela e a Fera (Portuguese for Beauty and the Beast)

Uma história para sempre. Um amor que transcende o tempo.

A princesa Gabrielle é obrigada a se casar com um homem para fornecer um herdeiro para o reino de sua família, mas ela está apaixonada por sua melhor amiga de infância, Rosie, que tem seus próprios segredos e obrigações.

Um erro terrível muda seu destino para sempre…

Charmaine, uma inocente renascida em outra época, pode libertá-los da maldição que se abateu sobre eles se ela descobrir o amor que um dia tiveram.

Este não é o seu feliz para sempre normal….

Encontre todos os links aqui

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Two blogs

Hey there, apparently there is some confusion about my blogs. There are TWO of them. One for my regular rants and books and one for my rants and travels. You have to subscribe to each of them to see them, it’s not something that automatically happens if you subscribe to one. So, if you want to see my travels, please, go here and subscribe. Thank you!

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First week of freedom

Well, my first week is coming to an end. I moved out of my house of 20 years and hit the road. I went to my aunts and uncles in Arkansas not only to recover but to work on a book that has been five years in the making. I’d made a book for my mother’s side of the family and upon seeing it, naturally, my aunt, who is on my father’s side of the family, wanted one for the Meinels. I started it immediately since I already had what I thought was a large portion of it done in chapters in the other book. However, I didn’t take into account how many pictures she would want of the German relatives. It would only be fair to have all her kids (there are five of them), as there are five of us in my family, as well as all the grandparents.

What I didn’t take into account was that I would get Covid and be unable to work on it as intensely as I used to. I just couldn’t concentrate and had no real interest. Plus, I’d photo-dumped, and as a result, that lack of organization was driving me insane (short drive, I know). I just couldn’t get enthused and the fog-brain from Covid, other health issues, and here it is five years later. I had planned on coming down here to Arkansas a couple of times to work on it, forcing myself to finish what I had begun, but until I moved, I just couldn’t make it. Now, all the photos are in the book, we just need to label and sort, maybe eliminate a few.

The book is nearly 500 pages and will not be publicly available, but the sense of accomplishment is something I can’t put into mere words. To be honest, my aunt and I are both sick of doing this project. I don’t care about certain relatives in the book, because I had no relationship with them. I do think it’s important though to have the family trees in there because you never know who you might bump into in the future and it’d be nice to have proof of who you are related to.

I also redid the cover because the first was too plain and I could sense my aunt hated it. I was right and she loves the new.

Now, with that project under my belt, I await her editing, then I will edit again and publish it. There will be comments, criticisms, and things that could cause problems from family but as they didn’t help, didn’t contribute, and don’t know how to make a book, they can just shove it. This is for us and we’ve both worked too hard to allow their negativity to affect all our hard work. I think this will be of benefit to future generations and someone, somewhere just might appreciate it.

Now, onto another book or two for me to finish writing and working on. And, take the opportunity to stop and take some pictures for my travel blog and perhaps videos for my vlog. Thanks for following along and don’t forget to check out my website for a good read!