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Trials and joys of writing guest post by Rhonda Walker

Hello readers! It’s great you could join us today. Today’s feature is a guest post by children’s and inspirational author Rhonda Walker. She’ll be talking about her upcoming release Wesley Out West and her reading and writing journey.

So pour a cuppa and prop up your feet to enjoy the read. Make sure to enter the Rafflecopter contest at the bottom of the post for your chance to win a personalized autographed copy of Wesley Out West and a cute Wesley plushie!

Trials and joys of writing by Rhonda Walker

Willie Out West (2013, WestBow Press) was my first published children’s story. It was so well received that I am re-launching an updated version, Wesley Out West (2015, JLB Creatives Publishing) is in a smaller size and contains an educational supplement for parents and teachers. If you read Willie I know you will enjoy Wesley even more. The “Fun Facts” and photos of the real sea mammals are educational and enjoyable for children and adults alike. The book size is more comfortable for young children to hold and carry, and the response thus far is widely encouraging. Enjoy.

I always loved books. In seventh grade I walked every day to my little New Mexico town’s library, checking out the maximum number of books. I returned within a day, replacing those books with more. I also used my allowance to purchase every juvenile book of interest: the Hardy Boys and other popular series. I found Nancy Drew boring. During my eighth grade summer, Mother took me on a weekly trek (30-miles one way) from our mobile home in a New Mexico desert mining community into the town of Grants. There, I devoured all of the town library’s westerns (Kit Carson, etc.), mysteries (Ellery Queen, Perry Mason), and stories about Geronimo and other Native Americans.

I carried my love for reading to college and majored in English and elementary education. These classes opened a door to children’s literature that will never close.  I read almost 300 children’s books in one semester. I thank God for blessing me with a passion for children’s literature, the desire to write children’s stories (there were so many bad books, I just knew I could write better), and the desire to develop whatever ability I possessed.

In 1976, I wrote two grammar stories which, amazingly, found their way into a textbook for first graders. However, I had little faith in my ability and gave up after one failed attempt to publish. I published two women’s inspirational articles and edited several women’s church newsletters during the succeeding years, but nothing else. 

Years later I set out to discover why certain women of faith remained strong in spite of unbearable and continual trials in their lives. For two years, I interviewed women; thus was born my first book, “Beyond the Shadow is Tomorrow: Stories of Women of Faith,” published by WestBow Press in 2013. I encourage all Christian women looking for strength and encouragement to read this book. The book still brings great reviews from those seeking answers and encouragement while going through rough times, and it is still for sale through my web site or e-mail.

“Icing, Locusts & Life” is about to be released by JLB Creatives Publishing, and I am so excited. The reviews are already coming in on this inspirational book for men and women.  I encourage readers to reach out and embrace the world and its wonders. Every day is icing on the cake of our lives, no matter how bad our circumstances or how hard it is raining. Every day I have a choice to make when I get out of bed (or even if I cannot get out of bed). It is how we choose the icing of our days, light or dark, which determines how we meet the locusts that visit the beautiful fields and gardens of life.

My life is challenging, fantastic, miracle filled, and troubled—sometimes all at once. There are memories of the blessings of family and friends mixed with my own success and failure. In spite of everything a long life can deliver, I find reason every day to be grateful that God provides abundant blessings. Even with the traumas of illness, embarrassing personal failures, and sadness beyond words, there is one thing that is good: I am still alive to see it dawn a better day.

I have more children’s stories on my desk, and my first novel is begun. No one knows tomorrow’s outcome, but today has been good. Tomorrow will be white icing, no matter what the day brings.

Be blessed. What color is your icing?

About Rhonda Walker

EVERY DAY IS ICING ON THE CAKE OF MY LIFE. It is challenging, fantastic, miracle filled, and troubled—sometimes all at once. There are memories of the blessings of family and friends, successes, and failure. I live daily in grateful awareness for a God who provides abundant blessings, especially during times of embarrassing failures.

I discovered my passion for reading early in life (right after the ark anchored on a mountain top.) In 1979, when my daughters were young, I returned to college. There, English and education professors taught me some needed writing basics and opened the door to children’s thinking. In truth, though, I began writing for myself in 1975, and my style was already developed. God blessed me with a passion for reading, the love of writing, and whatever ability I possess.

With training, skills, and God’s help, I fulfilled a long-held dream of writing stories for young readers. Several years ago, two of my grammar stories were published in a Scott Foresman textbook for first graders, and plans are under way to put those stories and others into a grammar-series book. I write stories to encourage enjoyment and learning through reading.

Follow Rhonda around the web

Website: http://AuthorRhondaWalker.com

Blog: The Word Asylum http://www.thewordasylum.com/

Facebook: http://facebook.com/authorhondawalker

Blogger: http://thewordasylum.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rhondaauthors

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/rhonda-walker/91/516/b04

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Stop by http://JLBCreatives.com for more about Wesley Out West and great reads for ages 1 to 100!

A Life Renewed Not just a story, it's her story, Lisa Andrews Guests on Gladiator's Pen

Author Lisa Andrews guests today to tell us a bit about her inspiring true life story A Life Renewed. 

An Introduction of "A Life Renewed" 

by Lisa Andrews

Lisa Andrews and her husband

A highly-achieving student and athlete, Lisa was in sixth grade when she was diagnosed with AML leukemia. The news shocked her and her family, along with her entire small-town community. Over the next six months, Lisa and her mom basically lived at the hospital. When she wasn’t receiving chemotherapy, Lisa was hospitalized for transfusions or for antibiotics to fight serious infections. She went through a lot of changes. On the outside, most noticeably was her bald head! On the inside, her faith was being challenged as she tried to make sense of her experiences.

Once Lisa completed chemotherapy, she re-entered junior high school. One month into seventh grade, Lisa’s leukemia returned, and after a few more months of chemo she received a bone marrow transplant. After the transplant, Lisa was in remission but continued to face other health challenges, most of them side-effects from chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Almost a year after her bone marrow transplant, a man at Lisa’s hometown church said to her, “You should write a book so that other people can read about all that you have been through.” At the time, Lisa had a very negative reaction to this advice, wanting nothing to do with her story. She wanted to forget about everything and continue on with her life. She had a lot of anger and bitterness that she didn’t want to tell others about. And though her small-town community had offered much support and love, she wanted everyone to forget that she was “the girl that had leukemia.”  

It wasn’t until her freshman year of college in 2002, almost six years later, that Lisa was ready to accept

her illness as an important part of her past and to deal with the bitterness and anger head-on. The process involved a lot of journaling and some counseling with a friend. Those journaled thoughts compose much of this book. After receiving healing, she felt comfortable talking about being a cancer survivor and answering people’s questions about what she had been through. Lisa also felt it was time to do as that man had suggested years before: write a book so that others can read about it.

A Life Renewed is suitable for ages 12+ and has three purposes. The first is to give a raw, firsthand perspective from a preteen dealing with cancer. Lisa’s hope that family members and friends might know how to better understand and relate to their sick loved one. Secondly, this book asks hard questions about faith, and it documents Lisa’s own personal journey with God and her attempts to make sense of her experiences. And thirdly, A Life Renewed is meant to inspire readers to realize the value and importance of their own stories and to encourage them to share their journey with others.

Whether stories of greatness, of failure, of love or disappointment, your story is one of the most important and powerful things that you own. There is no story like yours, and no one can take it from you. We must share our stories with one another! 

Get your print or ebook copy of  A Life Renewed on 

JLB Creatives Book Store

 Amazon.com 

Book Hooks: Tingle, a bite of The Rosary

Book Hooks is a new weekly meme hosted by the MFRW Authors Blog. It's a chance each week for authors to hook readers with a few sentences  from their current WIP or any preveiously published book.  

My 'hook' for this week is a short excerpt from one story, The Rosary, in my flash fiction anthology, Tingle. The story involves a priest who is having trouble sleeping on one hot summer night. what he discovers in the garden during a midnight prayer isn't holy at all. Will a soul be lost or saved in the rectory garden?  Here is a bite of The Rosary. 

Excerpt

McKenna turned his head to look at her, but his eyes focused on her lips not her eyes. “He has love for you.”

She cackled again, the sound dug painfully inside his ears. “Love for me, an unclean beast? You think I still have a soul to save? Perhaps I don’t want your salvation.”

The edge of her fingernail trailed down his neck. “You have to wait for your rewards in Heaven. I get my rewards when I take them.” The nail turned and sliced into his flesh.

He froze caught by fear and her gaze. Her lip curled into a grin that would haunt his dreams for the rest of his days on earth. She pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “My reward tonight shall be you.”

McKenna tried to push her away again but he was powerless held in her gaze, one hand at his throat a razor like nail dug at his skin as the other hand fisted in his hair. His mouth opened to scream, protest, cry for help, but nothing uttered forth. Only a groan of pain as she drew back his head and struck the line of soft flesh she exposed.

What to read the whole story of Father McKenna and other flash to send a tingle though your emotions? To grab your copy of Tingle just click one of the links below:

Tingle on Amazon

Tingle on Smashwords 

Don't forget to check out the other Book Hooks blogs on the linky below. If you would like to particpate in next weeks Book Hooks just click on the Book Hooks button at the top of this blog and visit the MFRW Authors Blog. What are you waiting for grab a copy of Tingle then get hooked on another great book! :)

How does your story grow? Guest Post by J.Drew Brumbaugh

Gladiator's Pen welcomes guest author J. Drew Brumbaugh to the Ludis. He is the author of  the thrillers War Party and Shepherds and here to talk about his writing process. So pour a cuppa and enjoy the post. Don't forget to leave some comment love!

How Does Your Story Grow? 

by J. Drew Brumbaugh

As a guest here, I suppose I should introduce myself.  I am J Drew Brumbaugh.  The J being for James and so most people call me Jim.  I write suspense novels of various types.  I have two novels available in both print and ebook formats, a third one on the way, and a collection of three short stories that is available only as an ebook.  More info is available at my website at www.jdrewbrumbaugh.com.

For me, novels take a long time to write.  I envy those who can sit down and churn out a finished novel almost from the first draft.  I don’t know how they do it.  My novels grow and change as they are written.  I start with a basic plot in mind and at least an idea for a few of the main characters.  But it’s sketchy at best, more like an overriding theme.  Still, I have to start somewhere so I write some and then write some more and somehow the story keeps going, though not necessarily exactly as I’d planned.  Characters try to change things.  They’ll say I’m not that kind of person, I’m smarter than that.  Or I just wouldn’t do that.  And of course I listen because who knows more about a character than the character them self? 

And that isn’t all.  Plot changes and additions crop up at the oddest times and places.  Often as the novel writing proceeds a new idea pops into my head, something I hadn’t thought of before that adds to the story, or complicates things, or changes the level of challenges for the main characters.  Again, the only thing to do is fix it, add it or change it so that the idea is incorporated into the story.

I’m not sure how these things happen.  I wish I could see everything down to the last detail up front and then maybe I could finish a novel in one or two drafts instead of ten.  I am convinced that somewhere in the deep recesses of the unconscious mind, the creative ideas keep percolating even as the book is unfolding.  I’ve started novels without being able to see the ending.  I begin with an idea for the initial challenge, the original conflict that starts the story in motion, but I don’t know how it will be resolved, or whether the main character(s) will even succeed.  I trust that somehow, some way, the conclusion will materialize as I go along.  I don’t know how to tell you what happens along the way it just happens.   

My novel Shepherds is a perfect example.  Over about three years the story grew, had chapters added, new Pacific Ocean, there would be storms.  So, a storm became an important part of the novel.  Then I thought of rustlers, fishermen who would steal the factory tuna since they couldn’t find wild fish.  Another problem found space in the novel.  How about killer whales?  They would eat tuna and dolphins too.  So, killer whales.  Add to that the personal issues that haunt individual characters, like Olga’s angst over possibly meeting her mother, whom she’s never seen having spent her life in an orphanage for mutated “shepherds.” 

conflicts for the characters to deal with, dangers that I hadn’t thought of when I began writing.  The original premise was simple.  As the oceans were depleted of wild fish, the larger seafood companies to avoid bankruptcy would figure out how to “farm” tuna.  I used tuna because they get big and individual fish can be worth a lot of money.  How would they farm these fish?  Floating pens like salmon didn’t seem to be a good approach for tuna who like to swim, all the time.  So, the seafood giants created genetically modified people who could use trained “herd dolphins” to manage the tuna in the open ocean.  This meant that vast tracts of the ocean would be claimed for “ranches” and suddenly there were conflicts between the “shepherds” and independent fisherman who were trying to eek out a living on what wild fish remained.  As the story grew, various conflicts came to mind and were added.  What about a storm?  Certainly in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, there would be storms.  So, a storm became an important part of the novel.  Then I thought of rustlers, fishermen who would steal the factory tuna since they couldn’t find wild fish.  Another problem found space in the novel.  How about killer whales?  They would eat tuna and dolphins too.  So, killer whales.  Add to that the personal issues that haunt individual characters, like Olga’s angst over possibly meeting her mother, whom she’s never seen having spent her life in an orphanage for mutated “shepherds.”

And even with all that I realized I needed a nastier antagonist.  Who?  Ah, some of the fishermen work for drug cartels making and shipping drugs.  Some of the shepherds got in their way and were killed.  Enter Toivo, an independent fisherman who has dolphin friends who help him find wild tuna.  He too gets embroiled in a fight for survival with the drug cartel and ends up meeting Olga, a shepherd.  How could a couple of nearly defenseless people defeat such a powerful group of ruthless killers?  I didn’t know.  It seemed hopeless, which is the point of a good suspense novel.  And yet, as I neared the end of the book the answer was there.  Like magic.  Where did it come from?  I don’t know.  Maybe the writer’s muse?  So I write fervently hoping the muse does not desert me.  How about you?

Find J. Drew Brumbaugh's books on Amazon

Like him on Facebook 

Author Chat with Lisa Day about her Love and Betrayal on the Santa Fe

The lovely Lisa Day is in the ludis today for a chat. We're going to be chatting about her latest release Love & Betrayal on the Santa Fe. So pour a cuppa and get comfy as we get to know more about Lisa and her novel. 

Tell us three little known facts about Lisa Day: 

Lisa would have been the weird ole lady next door with the zillion cats, except her husband turned her into a dog lover as well. She's still weird, but her dog chases the cat away. 

I've had lived in over 100 homes in my life time. 

When adversity struck I decide to became a drunk. When, I realize just how much money that entailed I decide I was too cheap to do that. Leaving me no choice, but to face life straight on. 

We’re celebrating your book Love & Betrayal on the Santa Fe today. Can you tell us about it? 

Calico showed up one day and wanted her adventure told. I started to tell it when she springs it on me she had other women traveling with her. Each had a story of their own. SO six women head west after committing to be a mail-order bride.  

Did you have a part of the story you most enjoyed writing? Why? 

Calico's and Tasa's first love scene. I don't usually do sweet and gentle. This one was that and more. I hoped I was to bring Tasa's tenderness toward her to the full. 

Would you share a bit of it with us?

This woman and the feelings she seemed to evoke in him was healing him. For the first time in years he wanted to see tomorrow. All because she stirred his heart, mind, and body as no one else ever had. 

Calico’s sigh pulled Tasa from his thoughts He re-situated himself and turned toward her. He stroked her arm. There were tears. 

“Calico, I hurt you?” he asked. 

Looking at him she grinned, “No.” 

“No. Then why do you cry?” He continued to run his fingers up and down her arm. 

She twisted her whole body onto her side. Looking straight at him, she said, “Because you didn’t” 

A very confused man stared speechlessly back at her. Calico slid closer and rested her head against his chest. Before another second passed, his arms wrapped tightly around her. 

Then Tasa understood that she accepted him, and she was pleased with his gentle manner toward her. His heart beat faster and desire within him flared as his craving for her returned in earnest. 

 What drew you to write historic fiction? 

An easy question, I always like the genre but found the Historical Fiction from the American frontier became an all time favorite.. 

If you could spend a day inside one of your novels which one would it be and what would you do

and who would you spend the time with? 

I thought this would be easy to answer than discovered-no, it's not. It's like asking which of your children do you love more. I can only answer this way. It depends which book fills my thoughts for the day. 

Right now I'm working on a new story so Talon Eagle is who I'd be spending my time with, and I 

never will say how we're spending that time. 

Did you learn something about yourself or your writing while penning Love & Betrayal on the Santa Fe? 

Yes, Seeing the remains of the Santa Fe trail and New Mexico is now on my bucket list. I learned they didn't always circle the wagons like in the movies. And I learned many forts were not built with the famous stockade and gates around it.( Again with the movies.) 

Tell us about three things on your writing desk (computer, notebook, pencil doesn’t count :) 

Haha , it's billing paying day. Want to share some? So there is a mountain of papers sitting right next to the monitor. 

The paperback book from 1988 that I  intend to review next for my “Oldies but Goodies Review.” 

A fashion mail order catalog with the dress I want inside. The one I wanted for months and they just won't put on sale. Still deciding “should I.' I usually wait until their out of my size or the color I want, while waiting for them to drop the price. Did I save the full price, or did I save the sale price when I can't get the dress I want? Oh the dilemma. 

Do you have a favorite historic resource? 

I begin on the internet with Wikipedia and expand from there. 

What would you like to say to readers and fellow writers? 

To my fellow writers: 

I was totally blown away be to number of people doing the same things I wanted to do. To those of you who have became my friend. I value that friendship more than you know. 

I encourage my fellow writers to share other author writings. Not only does it help them, 

but you will feel better about the kind of person you are. 

To readers: 

Thank you. For without you we'd have no one to write for. If you liked a book please review it or tell the writer. If you disliked it don't tear it to shreds if you review it. One man's treasure is another mans' trash. 

Where can we find Lisa Day? 

Here's where I hang out: 

 Web site: http://lisaday.weebly.com/ 

 Facebook author page https://www.facebook.com/LisaDayAuthor 

 Facebook- friend me https://www.facebook.com/lisa.day.718 

 Tweeter https://twitter.com/LisaDay12 

 Amazon author page http://www.amazon.com/Lisa-Day/e/B005W6EXGY/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 

  

Thank you! Elise for letting slip in among all the wonderful happenings at the Gladiator's Pen 

  

About Love & Betrayal on the Santa Fe 

In 1859 the opportunities for women are scant unless one wishes to take a chance. Calico Benson, a gently-bred woman who wants the security of marriage and family, answers an ad in the “Matrimonial News,” where men advertise for wives. Along with five other women, Calico sets out on the Santa Fe Trail hoping to find love at the end of the trip. What they all find is nothing short of a hellish nightmare of a journey. 

Follow Calico and the others while they seek safe haven at the end of the Santa Fe Trail. Join them as they meet both the civil and the savage on their passage. 

For your copy: Love & Betrayal on the Santa Fe

Thank you Lisa for stopping by Gladiator's Pen :) You're always welcome :) 

Have you read Love & Betrayal on the Santa Fe or one of Lisa's other books?