Elizabeth Seckman, Author: Rachel Schieffelbien

Showing posts with label Rachel Schieffelbien. Show all posts

My niece, Tabitha posted this on Facebook. She's a new mommy, and this was her first run-in with a busy-body stranger.

Being the good aunt that I am, I thought I'd share a bit of observation and advice.

First, the observation...

Arrogant people who judge a stranger's parenting usually think their own offspring are perfect.

And we all know that there is no such thing as perfection. Anyone who thinks they have somehow achieved absolute perfection from their own child rearing efforts, either have kids they never spend any time with and don't know what rotten things they get into or they are delusional.

Now for the advice...

As a new mom, I was insecure and worried about everything. I was afraid that any and every parental misstep would cause my children to grow up to be ax murderers.

Fortunately, I had smart people to guide me.

Wisdom from my grandmother:

As a mom, no one knows your child better than you. You love them most and have more emotion invested in their upbringing and development than anyone else.

You will know better than anyone what your child needs.

Whether it's discipline, a hug, or some cute painted toes...as a mom, you know better than anyone else.

Let your heart lead you. Love your child and do what you think is best.

Wisdom from my big brother (Tabitha's father):

F' em if they can't take a joke.

Now, let's take a moment for a break down with pics!

What a cutie-pie!
What sort of curmudgeon could call this sweetness a whore?

I know, Paislee...I find it hilarious, too!
It's okay, baby, some people are just stupid.

And about your mommy being too young?
Mommy's old enough-
we just have good genes.

And Pailslee knows better than anyone-
her daddy is crazy about her.

And contrary to the foolish observation...
they're happily together.

And finally...
The comment about your Aunt Taylor, whom the crazy lady said had wrinkles.
Well, obviously the woman is blind.

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

It was homecoming week for my son's school. During this week, we get the football players treats. On Wednesday, the restaurant we hired to cook the wings had a fire in their kitchen. Quick regrouping...a restaurant worker brought the wings to our concession stand and the Wing Wednesday tradition was a go!

Rachel grew up in a tiny town in Minnesota. She still lives there with her husband, their four kids, three cats, and a perfectly overweight black lab. She coaches high school speech and theater, rides Arabian horses, reads as much as she can, and writes stories.

Connect with the Author here:

~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~
~ Goodreads ~ Instagram ~
~ Pinterest ~

In this modern day retelling of Rapunzel, Anya has her books, her photography, and her daydreams. She doesn’t think she needs anything else.

She lives in a house on the edge of town with her adopted mother, who goes to extreme measures to keep her daughter safe. Anya doesn’t even go to school, but instead has a private tutor. Anya tries not to acknowledge her loneliness; she puts her efforts into pleasing her mom, and gives her heart to her stories, secretly wishing for a story of her own.

Then one day at the library, the only place she's allowed to go, she takes a picture of a beautiful boy.

Before long she's lying to her mom, and sneaking out late at night to meet Zander. But Zander wants more than a secret romance. If Anya wants to be with the boy of her dreams, she will have to risk her relationship with the only other person she's ever cared about.

~ Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ Amazon UK ~

~ Amazon Canada ~ Amazon Australia ~

Oooh...do I have a treat for you guys!!!

Want some great holiday photos of the kiddos?

Ever wish you knew how to trick the camera into making you look thinner?

I asked writer/photographer Rachel Schieffellbein to stop by and give us some tips.

Take it away Rachel!

First off, I want to thank Elizabeth for having me on her blog today! I’m super excited to be here.

I know a lot of writers have other artistic endeavors they enjoy. For me it’s photography, because, unlike writing, it’s basically instant gratification. And when I’m writing, or revising, or waiting forever for emails, I need a little instant gratification!

Elizabeth wanted me to share some photography tips for the upcoming holiday season.

First question! Photographing kiddos....

One: Get down to their level. Kneel, sit, lay down on the floor, whatever you have to do to get the angle you want.

Two: Get up close and personal. They have such perfect little faces, make them the center of attention.

Three: Get them in action. When they’re ripping open those presents, or dancing around in their pjs, take lots of photos! That’s one nice thing about digital, you can just delete the ones that don’t work out anyway.

Second question! How to appear thinner in photos....

One thing that I think helps is to push your hair back. I know that sounds weird, but often times women with long hair have it hanging in front of them and it hides their neck, making them look rounder.

Also, stretch out that neck, and pull your shoulders back! Posture helps.

Bonus Tip!!!

PicMonkey. It’s a free photo editing site online. It’s easy and fun to use. Just don’t go crazy with all the different effects! Keep it simple. :)

Have a great holiday everyone!

Thanks Rachel!

Rachel is a writer, photographer, cover designer, and all-round sweetheart.

She is celebrating the upcoming ghoulish holiday with a book sale! I love her stories and I've already grabbed this title for myself! Get yours HERE!!!

Remember:
Some problems are bigger than others.

Absentmindedness can come naturally to me. In my frenzy to do too many things at once, I sometimes drop balls all over (the juggling sort, I assure you). Two weeks ago, I cleaned out my mom's freezer (remember, she got married and ran away to Alaska?) because I promised her I would get her house shut down for the winter.

Anyhow, while separating frozen food into bags (fruits & vegies and meats don't mingle until they are in the pan, right?) I set a package of steaks on the pantry shelf.

Then I left.

A week later, I cam back to mow and there was a funky smell in the house. I checked the freezer and assumed the melted water was going bad. So, I scrubbed it out and left.

This week when I went to mow, the house smelled worse. I searched the pantry, and there I found the culprit. A package of steaks rotting on the shelf. By the time I got that scrubbed up, it was getting dark, but I came to mow, so I mowed.

It was a cloudy evening, so darkness was thick quickly. As I mowed, I couldn't really tell if I was keeping my lines straight, so I imagine there are plenty of missed strips of grass.

With that, I can officially say- I gave my mother's yard its first mowhawk.

Why am I telling you this?

Because I also forgot to give the fabulous Rachel Schieffelbein some cover lovin' on her new book coming out in September. Rachel's stories are always good reads, so I look forward to this one.

So without further ado, here it is!

Erwin is in hell--- Locked in his high school with his ex-girlfriend, her new pain-in-the-ass boyfriend, and a handful of others while zombies claw at the doors trying to fight their way in.

The bright light in the dark is Sylvia, whose strength helps hold Erwin together

when everything is falling apart.

When they realize the school is no longer safe,

Erwin is determined to keep the group together and get them all to safety.

But he can’t save everyone.

Release day is September 17th.

Don't forget to add it to your Goodreads list!

And don't forget this. It's never too late to remember a friend. Join the blogosphere on September 8th in a cyber memorial for Tina.

In memory of Tina Downey, the A to Z Team is hosting a sunflower tribute on September 8, 2014 – Remembering Tina Downey.

Prior to that date, purchase or plant a sunflower in her honor. (If you have to resort to plastic, that’s cool.) Take a photo of your sunflower and post in in her memory on Monday, September 8. Tina loved her sunflowers, and we want to splash the blogging world with sunflowers that day and honor a truly amazing woman who was friend and family to so many.

You can sign up now or add your link when you post your sunflower.

Please help us spread the word! Let’s brighten the Internet with sunflowers the way Tina brightened the lives of so many.

photo credit: JD Hancock via photopin cc

So many good things going on today!!

1) The ever fabulous, ever awesome, exclamation mark wielding Leigh Covington is

back in the blogosphere!!! She's posting again after being gone too long. And Tonja Drecker came back yesterday!

2) Georgia St. Mane (AKA Rachel Schieffelbein) is dropping off a brand new cover to reveal

3) Jamie Ayres and I are swapping...blogs that is! I'm posting at her blog. She's posting at mine. I'm talking truths...she's talking fate. Clever, aren't we?

"Gerogia's" cover:

Blurb:

When Bree meets Logan, and hears his oh-so-sexy British accent, it's lust at first sight.

Bree thinks Logan feels the same way, especially when they're snuggled up on her couch with his tongue down her throat. But when Logan decides that getting into a relationship when he only has a few months left in the States is a bad idea, Bree agrees to be "just friends."

But every time he flashes his swoon-worthy smile, complete with dimples, Bree has a hard time keeping her thoughts in the "friend zone."

About the author: Georgia St. Mane is married with four kids. She's passionate about writing, reading, and theater. She thinks everyone deserves their own love story. Georgia also writes YA as Rachel Schieffelbein.

Find it on Goodreads!!

Now, for a very touching, very personal post from Jamie.

Buy from Curiosity Quills Press!

3 Reasons Why I Believe In Fate

There are many events in our lives over which we have no control. Heaven help me, I want to control everything, but sometimes Fate knows better than I do (I know, hard to believe).

I’ve had so many fateful moments in my life, which would require the suspension of disbelief if I wasn’t a believer in fate. But I’ll pick just three of them from my young adult life to share with you today.

Fateful Day #1

When I was almost twelve, I wanted to commit suicide. I’d already suffered many injustices by that age and was convinced that:

a) God wasn’t real –otherwise He wouldn’t let all those bad things happen to me
b) God was real, but He hated me

c) God was real, and He didn’t hate me, and He had a plan for my life

I really needed to discover the answer to my question before I made my decision.

So I prayed and asked God to show me a supernatural sign.

The next morning, I opened my bedroom door to a man on his knees, his hands folded in prayer, with a smile on his face and looking up at me. He was wearing blue. But that’s not the most unusual thing about him.

I could see through him!

He was transparent!

My prayer was answered, and that one moment kept me alive through my teen years.

This leads me to Fateful Day #2:

One day, while I had some free time in-between my college classes at UCF, I browsed through Barnes & Noble (yeah, not much has changed . . . I still cannot be trusted with a credit card in a bookstore). I went to their religious section and flipped through a book on the power of angels. Immediately, I was drawn to a chapter on Guardian Angels. In it, the author quoted from the diaries of a German mystic who died in 1919. Her diaries are widely circulated because she described a visual relationship with many angels. From her writings:

“The Guardian Angels of children are exquisitely lovely.

They are dressed in blue and always are seen with their hands folded in prayer.”

Fate knew when it showed me that ‘sign’ seven years earlier, I’d be in B&N and pick up that book. Even though I was a religious person, I never browsed that section. Not once. The experience confirmed what I already knew by then. The universe has a plan for our lives!!

Fateful Day #3:

Backing up a bit to the first day of school when I was 14 years old. I walked into my Word Processing class and spotted a boy sitting in the third row, and I instantly knew I’d marry him one day. I didn’t automatically fall in love with him, or even lust after him. He never even asked me out in high school, but I never shook that feeling. Finally, he asked me out when I came back home for my Christmas break during my first year at college and called Perkins Restaurant to get my work schedule. He was working there as a bus boy and picked up the phone. Eight months later, we got married. This August we’ll celebrate our sixteenth wedding anniversary.

Do you have goose bumps yet? Do you believe in Fate? Do you think Fate decided my course in life or were these just happy coincidences?

Jamie Ayres writes young adult love stories by night and teaches young adults as a middle school English teacher by day.

She lives in southwest Florida with her husband and two daughters. Her books include 18 Things and 18 Truths.

Visit her website at www.jamieayres.com.

What's new with you?

Me? I'm hanging on. Still waiting for a release date for Fate Intended. I keep checking my inbox for that, "Here's the final for your approval" email.

I say I designed this...really Willie White of
Lisa White Embroidery did all the work.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not checking more than twice or thrice a day. Because I have been busy.

My boys' football team made it into the playoffs.

Go Blue!!

Such an exciting (and busy) time. Spent yesterday pricing and designing signs. Then had a booster budget meeting.

Exciting, I know!

Psst...want to know a secret?

I loathe meetings.

I know. I know. You need them.

It's just this: I often find it quicker to just do something myself than have a meeting about how to get it done.

Time is precious and I feel its tick tock as loudly as a peri-menopausal childless chick who hears her ovaries withering on the fallopian vine.

Another secret? The same people will end up doing all the work. Every. Time.

I say skip the meeting and just get to work.

Okay, I'll quit belly aching and tell you about something I do have time for!

A good read!

Buy Run for the Roses Here!

I read Rachel's novella Secondary Characters.

It was such a wonderful read.

So, I am pretty certain this story will be as good, if not better.

And Rachel is giving things away to celebrate, so be sure to check out her blog and see how you can get freebies!

Buy It HERE

When Mabel's best friend, Amber, drags her along on a double date she finds herself falling for Lance, the obnoxious class clown whom she swore she'd have no interest in.

The only problem is, she's not sure if she's really the girl Lance is into, or if, like every other guy she knows, it's really Amber he's after. One thing is clear,
if Mabel wants to be the lead in her own love story, she needs to start acting like it.

This is the blurb for Rachel's novella, "Secondary Characters".

I just finished reading the story...and I really fell for it.

And it's not because it's well written with wonderful characters and a super intriguing premise.

Nope, none of that.

I have a very special reason for loving this story.

Lance (the MC) is a tackle. (for the non-American footballers, a tackle is a lineman...a dude in the trench who takes the hits and abuse and very rarely gets any glory)

And I'm partial to lineman.

Are you shocked?

You've probably seen this before, but I never miss an
an opportunity to show off my works of art!
My babies: Cole, Conner, and Carter...all have done their line time.

Nuff said?

Go buy the book...go read the book...give the man from the trench his moment in the sun while he seeks his HEA!!

Find Rachel

Goodreads

Facebook
*On a personal note~ I'm leaving today for vacation. I know you'll miss me, but I'm leaving you in good hands. The ever lovely and talented Ms. Annalisa Crawford will be here as a guest poster. Until then, I'll be soaking up some salt water and hiding from the sun's rays.

I'll bring back pics, unless I look fat in them...then I'll burn them and make up some story about my memory card going bad or something. Heck with memories when you have vanity to consider, right?