Undertaker Tales

Finished my last radiation treatment and have been reading books like crazy the last few weeks.
Wayne Bethard, a pharmacist, has a book of funny, thought provoking, stirring short stories with the startling and sometimes off-putting title, Undertaker Tales. I once asked a friend why anyone would choose to be a mortician. I still don't know the answer, but the Undertaker Tales sheds a whole new light on this group of men and women. Far from being the doleful, gloomy, stiff necked men and women living at the local funeral home ss sometimes pictured, Bethard portrays them and their families as people of unusual empathy for those hurting members of our communities. Undertaker Tales include stories submitted by morticians from around the world. One section includes tales of dogs and cats involved in the mortician's life and in the deceased's life.
Undertaker Tales can be purchased at Amazon in book form or downloaded to your kindle.

Fantastic Texas

We went to our monthly NETWO meeting Thursday night and heard an interesting speaker, Lou Antonelli. Lou is editor of our local paper, the Daily Tribune. In addition to his writing for the paper, Lou has begun writing short stories. He shared his source of ideas for various stories and his adventures in getting them published.
Naturally, Mr. Antonelli had copies of his books with him. Two found a home with us. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, he was out of his latest book. Fantastic Texas, a science fiction anthology, is a collection Texas tall tales made up of a mix of pure fantasy and 'it might happen' science fiction. The stories are short, making the novel ideal for those times we find ourselves waiting in a doctor's office, for children to come out of school, or for someone to return to the line after assuring you, "Your call is important to us."
Fantastic Texas can be purchased at most book stores or from Amazon. Mr. Antonelli, like most authors, usually has several with him and is willing to autograph those you buy from him.

Fall activities

Fall is always exciting with the return to school in September, and family get-together near Hot Springs, plus author fest in Tahlequah, Ok in October. I'm looking forward to visiting Winfield ISD September 14 with my mini writing workshop for 4th through 7th grade students. I hope they will enjoy the program as much as I enjoy sharing my writing experiences with them.

NETWO, the writing organization I belong to, is planning a free workshop October 22, 2011. It will be at the Pizza Inn in Pittsburg, Texas. There will be several interesting speakers and information dealing with publishing and promoting our work through internet. Check out details www.netwo.org Everyone is invited.

I'm busy rewriting parts of sequel to Second Chance. Not sure what the title will be, but it takes place in Kilgore 1931 when the big oil boom filled the town to overflowing with all sorts of characters. Some were honest, some were anything but honest. Hope to have it published by 4RV Publishing in Spring of 2012 if I can just get this rewrite up to par. This will be the best book I've written so far. I'm so excited.

Until next time. Take care of each other.

July - A Busy Month

July was a busy Fun Month

Had a fun time with Mary Robertson and her class July 14th. I read and she and the kids acted out the squirrel scene in Dragons for Kris. The students enjoyed Charlie, my pet dragon.
Habitat for Humanity had a huge Garage Sale in Mt. Vernon, Texas. We cleared over a $1000. Lots of work but it will help build a house for a family willing to work with us.
The following weekend Mt. Pleasant Habitat For Humanity held their annual Mayor's Cup Golf Tournament. I got to watch the hole-in-one green where everyone was trying to win a pickup truck
Our Habitat group is fortunate to have so many
supporters from the community.
A real delight was our First Saturday NETWO gathering of writers at Pizza Inn in Pittsburg, Texas. This last Saturday Fredna Stuckey, an English teacher at Le Tourneau University, talked about revising and editing, two different things. She titled it Editing, Revising, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. She was very informative and an entertaining speaker. We all had a great time.
While watching for the hole-in-one shot, I had a furry companion to keep me company.

Voices From The Heart

Voices From the Heart by Jonikay Pace is a riveting story after the reader gets past the nasty backgrounds of the main players. Ms. Pace has excelled at setting the scene for a young girl to be hoodwinked by a manipulative, self centered man bent on using her to reach his own goals. In spite of human guardian angles attempting to guide and help Clara, she allows herself to be deceived and heads down a long road of believeing lies and experiencing physical and emotional abuse.

Ms Pace ties up all the loose ends in a neat package that caused this reader to smile and murmer, "That'll teach you, you scumbag."

Voices From The Heart was published by Comfort Publishing, LLC

Copyright 2008

ISBN 978 0 9802051 6 9

When I'm Feeling Angry

Workshops are almost always interesting. Jory Sherman's workshop June25th on ebooks was informative and challenging. As an author I'm interested in promoting my books, obviously. I usually do this offering my mini writing workshop for fourth through sixth grade students in schools. According to Mr. Sherman and other speakers I've heard, the future in book sales will be through Kindle, Ipods and that sort of technology. It's a new world folks.

The workshop was in Winnsboro, Texas, at a book and gift shop called, Winnsboro Emporium. They have a little bit of everything: collector books, new books, paintings, pottery, jewelry, etc. I found two books I had to have for our grand daughter. When I'm Feeling Angry by Trace Moroney is a paper back picture book suitable for children two and older. The author points out that we all get angry sometimes and that it is okay to be angry. It is how we handle our anger that is important.

When I'm feeling Angry is one of a series of books on feelings published by The Five Mile Press. Some of the other titles deal with being scared, or lonely, hurt, etc. Trace Moroney's web site is http://www.tracemoroney.com/ This series of books is very good.

Smackover, Arkansas

Smackover, what a name! I would love to have been born in

Smackover. Just think of the fun Smackover citizens have when they are out of state. "And where are you from?" an elderly lady might ask a twelve year old girl. "Why, I'm from Smackover, Arkansas, ma'am."

A couple weeks ago my sister and I, plus our indulgent husbands, visited the oil museum in Smackover. I got some good pictures and information for my new novel, the sequal to Second Chance. The ladies at the museum were so helpful and willing to share information.

To give you an idea of how tall that derrick is, take a close look at the lady standing at the end of the walk. That's me. The horizonal beam just above the shed behind me is called a walking beam. It has something to do with pumping the oil, I believe.
Visitors will find a wonderful collection of figures, artifacts,

diagrams, and pictures explaining the oil boom in Smackover

during the late 1930s.

There is a lovely wooded area for picnics and lots to see. It is well worth scheduling at least a half day visiting the museum and surrounding area if you are anywhere near Magnolia or Smackover, Arkansas.
More later. Stay cool.