Good Friday

6:00 AM Elizabeth Seckman 57 Comments

Today is Good Friday.

As a kid, I thought Good Friday was the worst named holiday ever.

"Why is it good?" young me asked.

Jesus was crucified today.

Hmm. Well, that sucks. Doesn't seem to be anything good about that.

"It is good," adults assured. Jesus had to die to be resurrected.

I suppose. But what about the floggings, the public ridicule, and nails through the hands and feet?

That hardly seemed fair...certainly wasn't good.

He was innocent. He did nothing wrong.

Older me has come to logically accept that life isn't fair.

And that bad things happen to good people.

Map, Belgium, Flag, Borders, Country, States Of America

Prayers for the suffering in our world.

Today is the cover reveal for Chrys Fey's first novel!

BLURB: An Internal Affairs Investigator was murdered and his brother, Donovan Goldwyn, was framed. Now Donovan is desperate to prove his innocence. And the one person who can do that is the woman who saved him from a deadly hurricane—Beth Kennedy. From the moment their fates intertwined, passion consumed him. He wants her in his arms. More, he wants her by his side in his darkest moments.

Beth Kennedy may not know everything about Donovan, but she can’t deny what she feels for him. It’s her love for him that pushes her to do whatever she has to do to help him get justice, including putting herself in a criminal’s crosshairs.

When a tip reveals the killer's location, they travel to California, but then an earthquake of catastrophic proportions separates them. As aftershocks roll the land, Beth and Donovan have to endure dangerous conditions while trying to find their way back to one another. Will they reunite and find the killer, or will they lose everything?

PRE-ORDER DIGITAL LINKS:

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / KOBO / The Wild Rose Press

AVAILABLE APRIL 22nd IN PRINT!

Join the Goals Blog Hop Here!

Misha Gericke & Beth Fred host this monthly goal update.

Here's an update on my balanced goals for 2016!

1. Lose weight. I lost ground on this one this week.

2. Declutter rooms to declutter the mind. I did take a load of excess to Goodwill

3. Publish two books. Working hard getting Swept Away ready...blame lack of exercise on the book.

Thanks to our hosts Lexa, L.G, and Tonja Drecker for this weekly good things check in!

The boy were home for spring break. It's always fun to have them home. Though after bragging on them last week, I had to feel like God was humbling me...

Picked them up on Friday. They fought over who had to pump the gas when we stopped for a fill up. One ate another's left over pizza and there was a day of anger and spitefulness in retaliation.

But, they're still here. I still love them. Even when they're prone to butthole-ish behavior.

57 comments:

Nothing Better to Do

6:00 AM Elizabeth Seckman 58 Comments

Cole, Caleb, Conner, and Carter

These are my boys. Each sporting their state championship football rings.

All four of them have one. Two from 2010. Two from 2015.

And as you can see, all four of them are handsome (disagree and I'll fight you). They're also intelligent, well-behaved (enough to stay out of big trouble), and thoughtful (well, there was the time I was given the animal skull for Mother's Day...).

But generally speaking, they are awesome.

So awesome that I have been asked several times this week-

How did my husband and I raise such good kids?
Hmm.

Could it be our superior training in child development and enhanced parenting skills?

I'd say sure, but I'd be a liar.

Raising genius kids can be freaking hard work. There is nothing tougher than pairing puberty hormones with a mind that can run logic circles around you in a debate. On one occasion, I was caught in an argument with boy #1 and was quickly losing ground, so I flipped him off.

Yep. Flipped him the bird. The middle finger. The not-nice one.

Shocked, he yelled back, "Nice parenting, Mom."

To which, I replied, "Hey, sometimes, that's all I've got."

Perhaps it was our non-violent approach to discipline. I'm not a spanker.

And I'm also about as friendly as a momma bear around her cubs, so my husband never got to be a spanker either.

But then, there was that time...

Two of my boys got into a shoving match in the hallway. It was quickly escalating into what I feared was going to be fisticuffs. By the age of twelve, every one of my boys was taller than me, so I was completely unable to physically break up this little cage match.

In a panic, I screamed (a blood curdling, carries-right-out-of-our-house-into-the-neighbor's-house sort of wail), "You will NOT fight your brother. If I have to get a freaking ball bat and bust you both upside the head, I will do it."

(For the record, I did not ever have to use the ball bat.)

But still, there goes my award for sweet, peaceful mom of the year.

Maybe it's because our house runs so smoothly...

Dear God, I almost couldn't type that line without laughing.

Truth is, we have too many animals, too much clutter, and we can never find what we need without it being some sort of treasure hunt. I've sent my kids to school with lunches that I forgot to add the food to. I've forgotten plenty of deadlines, promises, and dates to remember. And they know pick-up times are flexible.

Once, I totally missed the school reading award ceremony. My little boy left for school so proud of himself for winning. He reminded me before he left that I was supposed to come to the school and watch it.

I totally forgot. Then, to really make by-the-book-parents cringe, once I realized my screw up, I took my little guy to Wal Mart to bribe him with a toy. I even had the presence of mind to get him to sign a waiver that he was content and happy with the bribe and would not hold my absence against me in the future.

I still have that somewhere in case I need to defend myself to his therapist.

Speaking of therapy...

All the crap my kids caught me doing wrong...I'd tell them I did that intentionally so they had something to tell their therapist in later life. I am as smooth as the best political spin-doctor.

It goes like this:

Kid: That's not fair.

Mom: Be sure to log that for your therapist; you'll need something to blame me for later.

See? Far from perfect mom material.

The more I think about it, the only thing I can say for certain we did right is that we never had anything more important on our agenda than our kids.

Thanks to our hosts Lexa, L.G, and Tonja Drecker for this weekly good things check in!

Looking for something good?
Check this out!
The Thing that Turned me has a release date!
Kudos to Randi Lee. She is working so hard on this anthology. I'm so lucky to be part of this wonderful effort.

58 comments:

Dear Teen Me

11:23 AM Elizabeth Seckman 44 Comments

That's me on the left, my HS principal, my bestie since the 3rd grade, Kelli, and our yearbook adviser.

Get your copy of Into the Fire here!

Here's my letter to young me.

I'll just slip it in whatever book she's reading. She'll find it.

We're talking about regrets, right?

Things we did as teens that we'd go back and tell ourselves to do differently?

Well, I've thought a lot about this.

Obviously, there was my poor husband, who I was pretty mean to. I could go back in time and go out with him my Freshman year. Then I wouldn't hear about how brutal I was for the next fifty years.

I suppose...but let's be honest...if I'd dated him then, he either would have screwed it up (I still contend he never respected me, and never would have, unless I forced him to) or we'd have hit it off smashingly and have been teen parents.

Procreation has not been a difficulty for us.

So, let's leave that alone.

There are my screw-ups. Should I warn young me to duck some of the really humiliating ones?

Maybe if you'd asked me while the embarrassment was fresh, I might have been eager for an edit. Looking back on it...I learned a lot from those mistakes. And they are some of my best party stories.

What about telling myself to study harder?

I mean, my grades were good. Could they have been better if I hadn't sold my textbooks for ~~beer~~ clothes money? Probably.

Thing is...I like to have fun. I could start working harder any time I want to. The problem is when the grasshopper throws a party, this ant is happy to put on a hat and go.

Wait, I could tell me about the friends...

I could tell her how blessed she is to have a lifetime of good friends. Friends who pulled her through everything. Friends who went to hell and back collecting escaped skeletons.

They're the best part of youth and the part you will miss the most.

Yeah, that's what I'll tell her...

Thanks to our hosts Lexa, L.G, and Tonja Drecker for this weekly good things check in!

The book is done. I just need to proof it. And maybe change the beginning the little...beginnings are important.

Now, there is the blurb, the cover, the marketing...

Oh heck, let's just be happy I made it to The End.

Available Now!

Detective Steven Quaid is ready for the new challenges as Anchorage’s top detective, but not until he marries the woman of his dreams on New Year’s Eve. Determined to give Sarah the wilderness honeymoon she desires, he turns his grandfather’s cabin into the perfect honeymoon retreat.
After the final details are complete, Steven treks into the mountains to hunt.

On his return to the cottage, instead of Sarah, he is greeted by several police officers and a bloody crime scene. Accusations fly, and Stephen flees into the wilderness, his heart racing and thoughts etching into his soul.

The wilderness is unforgiving, but Steven faces it head on: Caught between a massive grizzly and a black bear in a deadly tug of war, he is barely saved from death’s door by the fortuitous appearance of his uncle. Despite surviving multiple injuries, Steven continues his investigation as he recovers, but answers don’t come quick or easy.

Having enlisted the aid of his number one suspect, Steven faces a struggle that has become more than personal…This one just may cost him his heart.

http://www.linkytools.com/get_bloghop_code.aspx?id=267314&type=basic

44 comments:

Go Ahead, Make My Meme

6:00 AM Elizabeth Seckman 62 Comments

I'm a meme junkie. I love them. I will spend hours reading one after another, saving the ones I like to my hard drive...then I'll share them on social media.

I enjoy my meme hunts so much, it may qualify as an addiction.

And as you know, any good addiction comes with a lot of rationalization.

Here's mine:

Memes are an art form. They're entertainment snippets that can inspire, bring laughter, or move a person to make a personal change. They've worked their way into our culture and one day, historians will be studying our memes as closely as they did political cartoons (so says me).

Memes are easy and cheap to make. They allow anyone to express an opinion and their creativity.

And when used correctly, memes can also be a marketing tool. We all know any content we put on the net becomes fodder for public shares and consumption...or at least we hope it does after we add our name or website to one of our awesome works of art!!

So, here they are, my contribution to C. Lee McKenzie, Christine Rains, and Tara Tyler meme's blog hop!

To amuse...

To inspire...

To encourage...

Thanks to our hosts Lexa, L.G, and Tonja Drecker for this weekly good things check in!

1. Boy #3 was awarded the Presidential Scholarship from WVU. I'm so proud of him. He needed to score a 30 on his ACT to get this. He kept missing it by a point, but on his third try, he got a 31.

2. Boy #4 has agreed to a haircut. I try not to sweat the small stuff, but I was beginning to wonder if I'd have to buy this guy a head band to be able to see with the mop of bangs he was sporting.

3. Boy #2 has a birthday this weekend! He'll be (how much is 1996-2016?) twenty years old!! Oh my.

62 comments:

Choke on Coffee: An ISWG Post

6:00 AM Elizabeth Seckman 61 Comments

The secondary definition of fear, right below lack of confidence, is the state of being open to danger or threat; lack of protection.

Okay, so you're not trembling in a cave, worrying about being eaten by a lion (at least I hope not. If you are, for crying out loud, throw the laptop at it and run!), but still...you've chosen to be a writer. A profession in which you pour your soul into words that you plan to share with the world.

And the world may hate them. They may hate you. They may say you're a worthless hack who deserves to be drawn and quartered for wasting their time and their $2.99.

Okay, so that may be an exaggeration.

But the truth is- your words are part of you.

When people kick them, it feels like they're kicking you.

There is no way to eliminate that threat. There is no protection.

So, there is fear.

Fear leads to inactivity.

Inactivity leads to excuses.

Excuses lead to narrow-minded thinking.

Narrow-minded thinking leads to refusal to learn and grow.

For example, Writer Jane is working on a novel. She tells a friend who rolls her eyes and says, "A novel? Well, that and 50 cents will get you a cup of coffee at McDonalds."

Jane cringes, but says nothing and heads home.

She sits at her keyboard and screams, "This book must be amazing. It must sell at auction for a gazillion-billion dollars so I can shove it in McDonald's-coffee bitch's face. I must prove I don't suck."

But what if I do suck? Jane thinks, defeated before she even types, Once upon a time.

Jane walks away from her desk. She can't write today, the toilet has a ring around it that could morph into ebowla and could kill the family. Once that is defeated, she will study some books on writing.

As Jane scrubs the commode, she reminds herself of the odds. Very few people write best-sellers. Hell, the few who do probably have aunts who own the publishing houses. All of them. Every single house in the world is operating on family and friend submissions.

Jane gives the potty the final flush and decides to mop the floor instead of studying because...honestly, what's the point anyway? Writing is just a big waste of time.

Oh, No Jane! This story could use an edit.

Jane tells her friend she's writing a novel...blah, blah, blah...Jane punches her in the face- figuratively, of course...then goes home, reminds herself that she knows she can't fail, she can only quit, and types: Once upon a time a bitch choked on a cup of coffee at McDonalds...

Boom. Best seller.

Jane replaced fear with faith.

Faith is the irrational belief that some way, some how, everything will turn out fine.

Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But one day.

There is no room for logic. No need for statistics and facts.

Writers know better than anyone how endings are made sweeter when the stakes are high and the characters are forced to go through hell.

It's where they grow. Where they learn.

And it truly is the most exciting part of the story...

Join the IWSG here!

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Thanks to our founder, Alex Cavanaugh, and this month's awesome co-hosts for the March 2 posting of the IWSG will be Lauren Hennessy,Lisa Buie-Collard, Lidy, Christine Rains, and Mary Aalgaard!