Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Holiday Wishes

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!


My heart still aches for those in Newtown, and for the past week, I’ve been wondering if I would feel anything akin to the excitement I’ve felt in the past at this time of year. However, as the numbness relents, I can feel the joy of the season seeping in. The celebration of my son’s thirteenth birthday helped immensely, especially with having two young ones in the house for the night.

Now, looking at the tree in our living room doesn’t leave me as sad as I have been since the 14th. Instead, I’m starting to get that childish excitement again and instead of focusing on those that are left with empty hearts, I’m thinking of how excited my niece and nephew are for Christmas.

My husband, the sweet man that he is, has had the urge to hug every child he has come across and yesterday, he had the chance to act on that urge with our niece and nephew. A little healing came into our home and I wish the families a piece of that healing spirit, although I know for them, it will be years before the sadness doesn’t overwhelm them.

The outpouring of love across the nation is inspiring. Although it is sad that a national tragedy has to happen to bring us together as one. I’d love to see that spirit personified in everyday life. The 26 acts of kindness that is going around in memory of those lost in Newtown reminds me of Pay it Forward.

It’s a fantastic concept and one we should follow always in everything we do. Maybe it’s not the end of the world that the Mayan’s forecasted, but the end of an era.

Perhaps it’s time we all put aside the building animosities and embrace kindness and love and respect as a way of life.

Perhaps then, we will all find peace.

I wish you all a happy and healthy 2013!

Until next time,

Ciao

JET

Coming in 2013:
                        

Thursday, December 22, 2011

My Christmas letter...

Hi folks!  Can you believe the holidays are already upon us?  My gosh this year went by in a blink. 
 
2011 has been crazy for weather here on the east coast!
Record-breaking snow in January.
A tornado in May.
Record heat in July.
A hurricane in September that knocked out power and closed schools. 
And a historic blizzard that knocked out power lines all over Connecticut just in time for Halloween.
And no sign of a white Christmas.  :-(


Not your average year by any means and along with these memorable weather events came some of our own family memories.

My daughter turned sixteen this year and had a hell of a birthday bash. She got a job at the local Friendly’s soon after her birthday in March and continues to work and dance and have a generally crazy schedule this school year. She hasn’t gotten her license yet because of her crazy schedule but we’re hoping she can fit the required classes in between now and the end of January and have her license before she turns seventeen.

My son has been just as busy as my daughter. Between basketball, baseball Jukido and guitar lessons, he's one busy boy. He earned a blue belt this year in Jukido this year and is looking forward to getting to the next level. He also asked me to write a book with him this year and what a blast to be able to get into my son's twelve-year-old mind!  He has some very intriguing ideas and I've had the joy of teaching him how to flush them out and create something fascinating.  We're hoping to get the first installment of The Death Chronicles out in 2012.
My husband has been having fun with his pool league and playing paint ball with the neighbors in the spring and fall when we aren’t making the trek to our summer place. During the summer we live for the weekends on the beach and it was a challenge this year with my daughter's work schedule, but we still had time to enjoy Maine. Now that the season is over, we’re focused on the holidays and trying not to get hung up with the mental countdown to opening day in May.  Our day jobs have kept us on our toes too and my husband got some well deserved accolades at work - he was honored with a service excellence award this year.  

As for me, it's been a busy year on the writing front. Beyond releasing three novels and two short story anthologies, I took the plunge into the publishing realm this year with a writing colleague of mine. Jason Halstead and I opened the doors to Novel Concept Publishing, LLC in May and we’ve been blessed with some stellar submissions. As of December 23, 2011, we have three published authors under our label with two more queued up for early in 2012. I can’t begin to tell you how fulfilling it is to help another author hone their book into a sharp captivating story and see it published. The only thing that has outshines that experience was hitting the number one spot on Amazon’s Horror/Occult list in November. Now we just need to get our authors to that acclaimed milestone…

On that note, I bid farewell to 2011 and want to wish you all a happy and healthy 2012!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Ho ho ho - it's December!

December is here.

Woohoo!

Christmas time.

I love the holidays but the time flies by so quick that I don’t have time to really sit back and enjoy as much as I’d like to. But hey – that’s life – right?


Anyhow – it’s the first Friday of the month, so it’s time to highlight a few new releases from my Backspace brethren that would be great stocking stuffers!


Boyd Morrison – Rouge Wave – November 30 -In this thrilling novel from THE ARK's Boyd Morrison, a massive explosion rocks the uninhabited central Pacific and launches a series of mega-tsunamis toward Hawaii. In one hour, Honolulu will cease to exist. In that same instant, Kai Tanaka, the director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, begins a desperate race to save the lives of a million people, including his wife and daughter.





Lesley Livingston – Tempestuous – December 21 - "I don't love Sonny Flannery."

That's the lie Kelley Winslow told to protect the boy she loves from a power he doesn't know he possesses. Devastated, Sonny retreats—to a haven for Lost Fae that's hidden deep underneath New York City.

But Kelley's not about to let things end in heartbreak. To get Sonny back, she's got to find out who's after his magick—and how to use her own. She's got to uncover who's recruiting Janus Guards to murderously hunt innocent Faerie. She's got to help rebuild the shattered theater company she called family. And she's got to do it all without getting dangerously distracted by the Fennrys Wolf, whose legendary heart of stone seems to melt whenever he's around Kelley.

The intrigue and romance that began with Wondrous strange and Darklight come to a stormy head in Tempestuous, the breathtaking conclusion to Lesley Livingston's ravishing urban Faerie trilogy.



Karen Dionne – Boiling Point – December 28 Chaiten, a long-dormant volcano in Chile, fuses the destinies of two microbiologists, a celebrity scientist, and a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who waits for the one sign that his diabolical plan is about to be put into motion. For the Earth has become a pawn in the biggest gamble ever played with humanity's future-and Chaiten is about to blow.



Karen Abbott – American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee - December 28 America in the Roaring Twenties. Vaudeville was king. Talking pictures were only a distant flicker. Speakeasies beckoned beyond dimly lit doorways; money flowed fast and free. But then, almost overnight, the Great Depression leveled everything. When the dust settled, Americans were primed for a star who could distract them from grim reality and excite them in new, unexpected ways. Enter Gypsy Rose Lee, a strutting, bawdy, erudite stripper who possessed a preternatural gift for delivering exactly what America needed.

American Rose chronicles her story, as well as the story of the four scrappy and savvy showbiz brothers from New York City who would pave the way for Gypsy Rose Lee’s brand of burlesque. Modeling their shows after the glitzy, daring reviews staged in the theaters of Paris, the Minsky brothers relied on grit, determination, and a few tricks that fell just outside the law—and they would shape, and ultimately transform, the landscape of American entertainment.

With a supporting cast of such Jazz- and Depression-era heavyweights as Lucky Luciano, Harry Houdini, FDR, and Fanny Brice, Karen Abbott weaves a rich narrative of a woman who defied all odds to become a legend—and whose sensational tale of tragedy and triumph embodies the American Dream.



Allison Brennan – Love Me to Death – December 28 - Six years ago, Lucy Kincaid was attacked and nearly killed by an online predator. She survived. Her attacker did not. Now Lucy’s goal is to join the FBI and fight cyber-crime, but in the meantime, she’s volunteering with a victim’s rights group, surfing the Web undercover to lure sex offenders into the hands of the law. But when the predators she hunts start turning up as murder victims, the FBI takes a whole new interest in Lucy.

With her future and possibly even her freedom suddenly in jeopardy, Lucy discovers she’s a pawn in someone’s twisted plot to mete out vigilante justice. She joins forces with security expert and daredevil Sean Rogan, and together they track their elusive quarry from anonymous online chat rooms onto the mean streets of Washington, D.C. But someone else is shadowing them: A merciless stalker has his savage eye on Lucy. The only way for her to escape his brutality may be another fight to the death.



Darlene Franklin-Campbell – I Listened, Momma - A poignant and enduring story of a young woman’s struggle to maintain hope amidst desolation.

With characters so real they seem to be made of breath and bone, Campbell draws us into the nucleus of this Appalachian family as if we are relatives. We feel their heartaches and yearn for their healing as though our own happiness depends on theirs. This is Southern fiction at its finest.

— Sandra Kring, author The Book of Bright Ideas



Don’t forget to grab a couple of my releases this December as well. Survival Games and Mind Games – the first two in my Games Trilogy and in my FBI series , you’ ve got a choice of Dark Reckoning or Vengeance.

Happy Shopping!

Next week I’ve got another FIDO /Excessica author on board to dish it up with - Jason Halstead. Swing in and say hi if you get the chance!

Until next time.

Ciao

JET.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas my fine followers. . .

Christmas Eve morning and I'm all done with the shopping and wrapping, and have cookie mix ready to go for when my sister and her family arrive. Now I'm just relaxing and alternating between editing and watching television with the kids.

As I sit here and reflect on 2009, I figured I'd do one last blog to recap our year. I still can't believe 2009 is almost over!

Let’s see, this year was a very busy year starting with celebrating New Years in New Hampshire, a trip to the Carolina’s in February, a business conference in Orlando in March, a writer’s conference in New York City in May, a wedding in Nashville on July 4th, and summer vacations in Maine. Beyond the traveling, we also had school dances, spring sports, recitals, and rondoris, your basic mayhem with the kid’s schedule.

My son won an award in his Jukido Rondori, taking the first place trophy in his division. He also jumped up to a yellow 2 belt and continues to do well. He also pitched his first game in little league this past spring. The boy is a natural and the next sport he wants to tackle is football. So in 2010 it looks like he’ll get that wish.

My daughter graduated from middle school and chose to attend a high school for the arts. She is now dancing 4-6 hours a day along with her academics and has limited her extra curricular dancing schedule to only one class, but it’s a competing Hip Hop class and I’m told they may be competing in New York City in February.

This summer we had the pleasure of housing two college girls from Missouri who were working for the Southwestern Company doing the most hideous job I can think of - door to door sales. They fast became members of the family and when they left, it was like a blanket of solemn silence descended on our home. We truly miss them.

Both my husband and I continue to enjoy our day jobs. He is still playing in the APA (American Pool Association) at his brother's bar every Tuesday and whooping my butt every time we play at home. Maine was relaxing as always, unfortunately this year the fish weren’t biting and he came home empty handed most of the time, but he did reel in a couple striper and we got some stellar fish chowder courtesy of our neighbors at the campground. He was able to get a few golf excursions in between the rain storms and we got a rare treat at the end of the season, a clear warm day and we joined our neighbors on a kayak venture up the York River.

As for me, I’ve had a busy year between work, writing and a new assistant editorship for Allegory e-zine as well as the general taxi service on the home front. But by far the biggest news of the season is the publishing contract I landed for Survival Games.

Survival Games - an erotic thriller - will be released in both e-book and paperback on July 19, 2010 and can be picked up through my publisher eXcessica.com or from Amazon.com. You can now pre-order the Kindle version on Amazon!

Well that about wraps up the recap. I hope this finds you safe and warm during this holiday season.

Here’s to a Merry Christmas and a safe, joyous and prosperous 2010!