Life's a Beach!

11:22 PM Elizabeth Seckman 16 Comments

The only bathing suit pic
I will EVER post!

What's the best vacation spot?

That's easy! The beach, baby.

I was born to be a beach bum.

It's the place where flip flops and windswept, saltwater hair are high style. Where sunglasses are the only accessory.

It's the best place to relax. It's our primordial cradle. Our reminder that no matter how big we think we are; we are small. A drop in the ocean. A grain of sand.

It's timeless and eternal. It's the same water Jesus stepped out on. That the Titanic sank in. That will fill a cloud and become rain- that will nourish a field and feed the world.

It's simple in its beauty. Complex in its creation. It's recreation on a good day and destruction at its worst. It's the yin and yang of the universe.

And it's the best place to make sand castles.

Now, what's not to love about that?

Visit our hosts and check out some amazing summer reads!

Join the favorite summer vacation blog hop here!

Lexa Cain
Melanie Karsak
TF Walsh
Vanessa Morgan
Jolie Du Pre
Stuart R West

16 comments:

Goals and Scores

1:32 AM Elizabeth Seckman 19 Comments

Join the Goals Blog Hop Here!

Misha Gericke & Beth Fred host this monthly goal update. The idea is to think big...and then work hard to make it happen. My two goals are publish two books and master marketing.

1. Two Books on schedule. Working on second round of edits. Have the mock-up of the cover. It's coming together!

2. Master Marketing meh. I went to the Women in Agriculture conference and sold quite a few books. Other than that, my marketing habits have been shoddy at best. The writing part is just way more fun.

Join the Celebration Here!

Thanks to our hosts in this weekly check in: Lexa, L.G, and Katie!

1. I had a great time camping.

2. I am almost unpacked from said camping trip.

3. All the things that are still packed, I may leave packed. That would give me a jump on beach packing, right?

Best historical find of the day.
Lexington, VA

The family outside the Stonewall Jackson House
Carter (son), Cathy (sister), Jay (nephew)
Cole (son), Caleb (son), Conner (son)
and the guy with the sexy, white legs is my husband, Chad.

Seckmans spelunking
(well, it was a cave, and we paid to take the tour)
Caleb, Conner, Carter, Cole

My sister, Cathy and me!

Chilling in the cabin. Seriously- I don't do tents.
Cole and Carter

That's me. Updating my blog via iPhone.
Does that make this trip a tax write off?

19 comments:

A Musing

1:01 AM Elizabeth Seckman 25 Comments

Sarah Foster @ The Faux Fountain Pen is hosting the Muse Blog Fest where everyone is invited to introduce our muses to the world.

Mine is a lot like this guy. No, I didn't do the artwork. I can't draw a stick man convincingly. I found him on the net, and he's perfect. He's exactly what I imagine when I talk to my muse.

1. Who is your muse?

Picture from Zombie Hugz

2. What are you guys wearing? Dressing up or keeping it casual?

We like to spruce things up a bit in our pink tutus. I like to add a feather boa to my outfit to girl mine up a little.

3. It's a potluck! Did you bring something yummy?

Of course! There is some stale pizza somewhere. I think it's under Muse Damny's old cigar.

4. Open bar! What are you both drinking (booze or otherwise)?

Anything fruity with an umbrella, please.

5. Wallflowers or social butterflies?

Social butterflies. If there's a party or a distraction to be had, we'll be there!

6. What song(s) will you and your muse sing for karaoke?

He's not really a singer. Too many cigars left him with an awful smoker's hack.

7. What's your favorite party game?

Every time someone dangles a participle, we have to take shots.

8. Which one of you is more likely to end up dancing on a table top?

Damny. Though honestly, he doesn't need to be drunk. He just knows he missed his calling as a Rockette.

9. Has your muse been a good date and would you ever hang out with them again?

Most certainly. He's a crusty sort of guy, but like a barnacle, he grows on you.

25 comments:

Things to Celebrate!

9:40 AM Elizabeth Seckman 23 Comments

Join the Celebration HERE!

I'm not going small this week. I'm going big.
1. Oorah!
2. Hooah!
3. Hooyah!

The respective battle cries for American Marines, Army, and Navy Seals...and I'll add an affirmative to the Air Force and an Aye, Aye for regular sailors, who don't seem to have a battle cry (or none that I could find, so if you know one...let me know!)

Best explanation (in my mind) for the oorah, hooah, hooyah..1800's British military acronym HUA...heard, understood, agreed.

In commemoration of our fallen soldiers, I sent a donation to America's Mightiest Warriors. It's not a big organization. It was created to honor Navy Seal, Marc Lee. Marc was the first Seal to die in Iraq. In Marc's last letter home to his mother, he wrote about how...we could change our world by doing more random acts of kindness. He ended that letter with “to my family and friends, do me a favor, pass on the kindness, the love, the precious gift of human life.”

Marc's mother accepted his challenge and uses the platform to pass on small kindnesses to servicemen and women and their families.

John 15:13 “Greater love has no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends.”
************************************

I'm packing and getting ready to go camping for the holiday weekend. I'm not a camping fan, but we're cabin camping with AC, so it's more like staying in a hotel with your own yard. That's pretty sweet.

But, anytime you any-kinda-camp there is a lot to pack and get ready, so I am so happy to have Mac here today helping me out. Mac is my very most favorite hermit writer. Not only is he an awesome friend to know. He's sweet, generous, and about as honest as a dude can get. And I really enjoy his books. I can always count on Mac to deliver a great story with a bit of humor and a lot of heart.

Welcome Mac!!

As a reader I remained locked in complementary genres and rarely tried anything new. As a writer I experimented. It's great to learn your writer's voice by experimenting in different worlds. Placing products in multiple niches can be a great idea…I mean, diffract your marketing message. Fracturing your genre niche will make your audience go, "Huh? Is she a SF or a paranormal writer?" Then click, Next. Reading something you'd never think would interest you can change your world.

Writing in multiple genres explodes your marketing options. You can touch various audiences with a single campaign. Uh…spread your marketing budget thinner and thinner to reach various audiences. How exactly do I market myself? SF/F is a lot different from suspense. But I wrote a barn-burner of a bounty hunter tale. I am so glad I tried reading paranormal. I have found so many intriguing stories.

But marketing is cheap. Ads are ubiquitous in the search engines and social networks. So common the human eye completely ignores them. Hum…I need to write a zombie novel. That is really hot now. A business person must follow the trends. Uh…I mean…follow her heart.

I started out assuming I would write only SF and other-world fantasy because that was what I read. The number one rule according to the experts, "Read, read, read, across the genres to learn your craft." I learned I loved the written word. It depended upon the author's style a whole lot more than the world the characters traipsed around in. So expanding my breadth of genres I wrote in grew with my reading interests. Uh…the common reader sticks with what they like. They don't cross over. Never. Ever.

Oh…my head hurts.

R. Mac Wheeler is an author of suspense, paranormal, SF and fantasy. A former IT professional who broke Rule #1…keep the day job, he loves to write, hates to market. Doesn't sell much, but that will one day change*.

*I added that for Mac. He's a talented guy...it will happen. Buy Mac's Books HERE!

23 comments:

Flesh Gordon

6:00 AM Elizabeth Seckman 64 Comments

Want more Blood, Boobs, and Carnage?

Alex J. Cavanaugh and Heather M. Gardner are hosting the Blood, Boobs, & Carnage Blogfest.

It's a day to celebrate the best (or worst) of of movies, books, or TV with ample amounts of sex and violence.

For my pick, there was no competition:

Flesh Gordon!

IMDb Description

I never actually saw this movie. It was released in 1974, and I was only five. I was always mature for my age, but even begging couldn't get me a ticket to this raunchy movie.

And that really made me mad.

My dad would rate movies based on their T&A value. Any movie that lacked plot, he'd still consider redeemable if it had enough naked ladies. I remember my dad suggesting Flesh Gordon, with its sex rays and dildo shaped space ship, should get an Academy Award. I never realized until I went to look it up for the hop that you can watch the entire movie on YouTube.
I'm an adult now, and my dad can't stop me from watching. Now, the biggest question is- do I still want to see it?

64 comments:

Rats, Books, and Good Causes!

6:00 AM Elizabeth Seckman 72 Comments

Thanks to Lexa Cain and her co hosts: L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge and Katie @ TheCyborgMom for keeping us looking on the bright side!

1. Kudos to Laura Johnston and Donna K. Weaver! These ladies set up Authors United Against Child Slavery.

It's inconceivable that someone could hurt a child, but sadly, it happens every day. There isn't much we can do alone, but united, we can do something. We can donate books, buy books, and/or spread the word.

Buy/ Donate/ Share!!

2. My son was invited to the WVU Future Scholars Reception. He's a smart kid with a big heart.

My son, Carter, in the navy shirt.
His friends and fellow scholars,
Hunter and Troy.

3. The Seckman family has a new member. Meet Wilbur, the lab rat. He was my oldest son's psychology test rat. Wilbur's college days were over, so my son had the choice of bringing him home or euthanizing him. The rat comes to his name for crying out loud- he had to bring him home!!

Wilbur Seckman

Now, for a good book...
Welcome Chrys Fey!!

Thank you for letting me steal your blog for the day, Elizabeth.

Since I’m releasing two short stories nearly at the same time, I decided to put both of my first paragraphs up for a battle.

First paragraph from Ghost of Death:

I’m dead.

Jolie Montgomery didn’t know how she died, but all of a sudden she stood over her body in an alley. Her dark hair swam in a pool of blood. Her pale skin glowed in the moonlight, making her look like a porcelain doll, and her blue eyes shone with the metallic sheen of death. Across her throat was a deep slash. No blood pumped from the slit in her flesh as all her blood pooled outside her body.\

VS.

The first paragraph from Witch of Death:

The moon was a ceramic bowl overflowing with milk in the amethyst sky, and all the stars were sugar crystals. At three o’clock in the morning, the suburban neighborhood slept with its manicured lawns, matching mailboxes, and cars parked in spotless driveways. All the residents were asleep in their beds, dreaming dreams of beauty, emptiness, and horror. Outside, insects hummed a chorus of noise. Even the frogs roared.

VOTE for your favorite in the comments.

Title: Ghost of Death

Author: Chrys Fey

Genre: Supernatural/Suspense

Format: eBook Only
Page Count: 41 (short story)

Release Date: April 22nd, 2015

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Blurb:

Jolie Montgomery, a twenty-one-year-old woman, wakes up in an alley next to her corpse. She has no memories of her murder or the night she died. She didn’t even see the killer’s face before he or she took her life. Wanting justice, Jolie seeks answers in the only way a ghost can...by stalking the lead detective on the case.

Avrianna Heavenborn is determined to find the person responsible for a young woman’s death. She gets closer to the killer’s identity with every clue she uncovers, and Jolie is with her every step of the way.

But if they don’t solve her murder soon, Jolie will be an earth-bound spirit forever.

Book Links:

Amazon US / Amazon UK / The Wild Rose Press / NOOK / KOBO

Available for PRE-ORDER:

Blurb:

Detective Reid Sanders doesn’t believe in the supernatural, but when he’s faced with a crime scene that defies the laws of nature, he has no other choice but to start believing. And solving a magical murder involves working with a witch.

Liberty Sawyer embodies the look of your classic evil witch, so, it’s no surprise when she uncovers the murderer is a witch that she becomes Reid’s number one suspect. If she can’t convince him otherwise, more people could lose their lives to dark magic, including her.

Book Links:

Amazon US / Amazon UK

BIO:

Chrys Fey is the author of Hurricane Crimes and 30 Seconds. She is currently working on the sequel to Hurricane Crimes that’ll serve as book two in the Disaster Crimes series.

When Fey was six years old, she realized her dream of being a writer by watching her mother pursue publication. At the age of twelve, she started writing her first novel, which flourished into a series she later rewrote at seventeen. Fey lives in Florida where she is waiting for the next hurricane to come her way.

You can connect with her on Facebook and her blog, Write with Fey. She loves to get to know her readers!

Author Links:

Facebook / Blog / Website / Goodreads

Thank you for having my on your blog, Stephanie. You rock!

72 comments:

All Write Friday

6:00 AM Elizabeth Seckman 63 Comments

Thanks to Lexa and her co-hosts, L.G., and Katie for reminding us to appreciate the small things.

1. Last day of the semester for my college guys. They'll be home for the summer this Saturday!

2. Seeing Ron White live Saturday night. Should be fun!

3. Is this weekend Mother's Day? Woo hoo- I'll be getting present. They'll probably be stange, but still- presents!!

Now for some writing stuff!

Now for a Good Book!

Ever dreamed of a life that reads more like a book? Rowena did until she stumbled into a fairy tale that wasn't so friendly.

Fabled by Vanessa K. Eccles

Publisher: Bound and Brewed

Young adult fantasy/fairy tale

Rowena thinks the Grimm’s infamous podcasts are simply another teen fad until she finds herself trapped in a land of nightmarish storybook characters. She tries desperately to flee Mezzanine and return home, but Dresdem, Mezzanine’s wicked monarch, plans to use Rowena’s access to her world to bring dark magic and absolute rule into Georgia and beyond.

But when Rowena’s dear friend Madeline falls into Dresdem’s grasp, her battle with him becomes war, and all hopes of home are temporarily thwarted. With the help of an invisible hero, a beast, and an owl, she sets out to free Madeline from a deadening sleep. But Rowena must become her own hero when she finds herself bound by the kingdom’s darkest family. She must make the ultimate choice – align herself with her enemies or live on the run forever.

Excerpt:

“Heads or tails?” Lil asked as she opened the door and stood in front of me.

“Tales.”

“When are you going to learn that heads always wins?” She snickered and rolled her eyes in amazement of my apparent naivety.

“Not always. Besides, tales are more interesting.”

Not understanding my word play, she shrugged and searched her pockets for a coin.

I leaned into the porch swing, coffee and book in hand, and watched as autumn's first leaves sunsetted the deadening grass. I rested the mug on my knee and let the cool breeze sway me back and forth while I waited.

Trying to ignore my little sister's attempts to aggravate me, I looked down at the fantastical book in my hands and realized how beloved, yet unrealistic it seemed. Most of us lead relatively dull lives and are content but never satisfied. The “happily ever afters” they crammed in our minds as children were merely lies, but I couldn’t help but dream of an adventure like the one I was holding. I wanted my life to be epic. Who was I kidding? Only characters in our favorite stories experienced magical lives. Mine had already been planned out for me − go to college, land a mediocre job, get married, and have 1.8 perfectly groomed, smiling children. That was it. The end.

Links: Amazon | Smashwords | Goodreads
(See author's website for all available outlets.)

Meet the Author: Vanessa K. Eccles graduated Troy University with a degree in English. She currently serves as executive editor of Belle Rêve Literary Journal and is founder of the book blog YA-NASisterhood. When she’s not writing or devouring books, she enjoys the lake life with her Prince Charming and their four dogs.

a Rafflecopter giveaway