just-a-thought

Calling All Angels!! 4 Year-Old REALLY Needs Your Help

Tue, 26 May 2009 20:04:09 +0100

I just read a news story about Mike Tyson’s 4 year-old daughter, Exodus. I’m not a big fan of the sport of boxing and I don’t really know much about Mike Tyson…but I am a big fan of kids and this one needs your prayers right now.

In a tragic accident this 4 year-old child got tangled up in a cord on a treadmill and nearly hung herself. She was found by her 7 year-old brother who promptly went to find his mother. She took Exodus off the cord, called 911 and tried to revive her.

The child is currently in “extremely critical condition” on life support.

Please take a moment to think kind thoughts and say a prayer to the powers that be for this little girl. She’s only 4 and really needs you. Just a thought...

Color Me Surprised!

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 07:53:42 +0100

What a wonderful Holiday weekend surprise to find out The Destineers’ Journal of Fantasy Nations has arrived on Barnes and Nobel a couple of weeks earlier than originally anticipated – how cool is that?!

Well, just a quick reminder that this is the final weekend of our “get your own piece of dragon treasure FREE”. Order The Destineers’ Journal at Amazon…or Barnes and Nobel and email a copy of the sales confirmation to NetherscapeRealm@aol.com to get your choice of FREE silver tone dragon charm pendant OR a FREE silver tone dragon bookmark. Hurry – through this Sunday, April 12, 2009 only.

Have a great Easter weekend, everyone! May the bunny bring you all loads and loads of wonderful, delicious chocolate! Just a thought...

Fantasy Creatures Arrive at Amazon!!

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:01:58 +0100

It’s here!

“The Destineers Journal of Fantasy Nations” is now available on Amazon.com

We are excited and celebrating with a special sale. This weekend only (Friday, April 3 – Sunday, April 5) buy your copy of “The Destineers Journal” on Destineers.com, Cybrarie.com, NASharpe.com or Amazon.com and forward a copy of your sales confirmation to NetherscapeRealm@aol.com and claim your FREE piece of dragon treasure. That’s right! You get your choice of a FREE silvertone dragon charm pendant OR a FREE silvertone dragon bookmark. This is a $5.00 value, but this weekend only, it is FREE with purchase. Have you got your copy yet? Hurry - the FREE dragon treasure is a limited time offer! Just a Thought....

Oh....if you want to read what others are saying about "The Destineers Journal of Fantasy Nations" follow this link to the review on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/dhg8pz

Rebel in Blue Jeans BOOK REVIEW

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:28:26 +0100

REBEL IN BLUE JEANS

By Beverly Stowe McClure

Publisher: Twilight Times Books

www.twilighttimesbooks.com

Genre: YA Fiction
ISBN: Paper: 978-1-933353-49-4

1-933353-49-X

1^st edition October 2008

In the blink of an eye, Rebel Ferguson’s world turned upside down and shattered. Her mother’s announcement that she was leaving the family behind…to be with the drummer of a rock band came as quite a shock. This simply couldn’t be happening - after all, parents don’t run away….do they?

What an attention grabbing opening scene!

I thoroughly enjoyed Rebel and would most definitely recommend it. Ms. McClure has an amazing sense of the relationships between her characters. The characters in this novel are very realistic and easy to identify with. The story is told from the sixteen-year-old protagonist’s point of view and you are immediately pulled into her world. Having to cope with the imminent divorce of her parents, a budding romance with a childhood friend, and all the attention she is getting from a very cute college guy (who just happens to have a really bad reputation), Rebel Ferguson finds many challenges being thrust upon her and faces them with courage and humor. She is lucky to have the help of some compassionate friends that are determined to help in her time of need by providing the support and voice of reason she needs to get her past the feelings of betrayal and anger.

I think the author definitely knows her audience and young adult readers will relate to the contemporary theme of dealing with the parents’ pending divorce, the support system of friends and family teens rely on, dealing with new relationships and established relationships that take an unexpected turn into something completely new. Suddenly, it seems like everything Rebel depended on in her world has changed. She feels as though there isn’t anything she can count on – people are not what they seem and nothing is turning out the way she always thought it would. The author shows some tender moments where the teen identifies very strongly with her love for animals and all the pets she keeps in the country home.

Ms. McClure has done an excellent job of capturing the range of emotions the young protagonist is going through, the roller coaster of feelings from the cornucopia of life events she is experiencing. In the midst of all the serious and intense story threads woven into this tale, Ms. McClure has built in many humorous antics from some of the characters in this book to lighten some of the scenes and make this a very enjoyable read. I definitely give this book a five star rating and a place on my bookshelf with my other favorite books.

Rebel in Blue Jeans can be found at retailers where books are sold, online at Amazon, and through the publisher.

Behold, I Tell You a Mystery

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:00:24 +0100

Last night I went to a memorial service for a friend. It was a wonderful celebration for an amazing life. Claire Carter Malone Short valiantly fought her battle against the monster called breast cancer -conquered the demon - and lived the past several years in a more tranquil (yet tentative) realm called remission. But, as demons have a tendency to do, the beast reared its ugly head and began attacking again with a renewed vengeance.

Claire was in Germany for aggressive treatment, an ally enlisted to assist in her brave battle. Sadly, it was not enough, and she succumbed to the inevitable. As her time drew near, was able to have her husband, children and grandchildren by her side to tell them again how precious they all were to her and that her love would always be with them. Later that night she surrendered her pain and now frail mortal body to the promise of eternal life among the angels. While her physical presence will be missed in this mortal realm by her friends, family and (literally) the thousands of lives she touched and influenced, her strength, love, friendship and guidance will forever live among us.

And the Groundhog Says....

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:28:49 +0100

According to Groundhog.org: (I kid you not, this site is great!)

Here are some answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the holiday:

Yes! Punxsutawney Phil is the only true weather forecasting groundhog. The others are just impostors.

How often is Phil's prediction correct? 100% of the time, of course!

How many "Phils" have there been over the years? There has only been one Punxsutawney Phil. He has been making predictions for over 120 years!

Punxsutawney Phil gets his longevity from drinking the "elixir of life," a secret recipe. Phil takes one sip every summer at the Groundhog Picnic and it magically gives him seven more years of life.

On February 2, Phil comes out of his burrow on Gobbler's Knob - in front of thousands of followers from all over the world - to predict the weather for the rest of winter.

According to legend, if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he does not see his shadow, there will be an early spring.

No! Phil's forecasts are not made in advance by the Inner Circle. After Phil emerges from his burrow on February 2, he speaks to the Groundhog Club president in "Groundhogese"(a language only understood by the current president of the Inner Circle). His proclamation is then translated for the world.

The celebration of Groundhog Day began with Pennsylvania's earliest settlers. They brought with them the legend of Candlemas Day, which states, "For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl in May..."

Punxsutawney held its first Groundhog Day in the 1800s. The first official trek to Gobbler's Knob was made on February 2, 1887.

So the story goes, Punxsutawney Phil was named after King Phillip. Prior to being called Phil, he was called Br'er Groundhog.

And the shadow says....

Looks like we've got another 6 weeks of a "fun filled" winter

If You Build it, They Will Come...

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 08:33:15 +0100

     Carrollwood Day School in Tampa, Florida is having an Authors Conference on Thursday (February 5). I am very excited to say Bobby and I have been invited to teach workshops and....wait for it......sign copies of The Destineers Journal of Fantasy Nations! How cool is that?! I'm telling you....it is surreal.

     Someone from the school found the Destineers website (ah, my beloved playground) and that initiated the invite. [If you get a chance, check it out: http://Destineers.com and the interactive Cybrarie forum boards at http://Cybrarie.com]

     "If you build it, they will come." Remember that line from Field of Dreams? Apparently...it's true!

Here's to Magical Beginnings

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 03:43:47 +0100

Like many others, I tend to take time in early January to reflect on the past year and contemplate goals for the New Year.

From a writing standpoint, 2008 was a good year. I hit several writing milestones in completion of projects and publications. You don’t understand. This is a REALLY big step for me. I never have problems meeting deadlines in the workplace or in my personal life where others are counting on me. Yet, somehow, I have a lot of difficulty completing…anything, deadline or not, when it is solely for me. And writing, until recently, has been just that – strictly for me. I enjoy writing. When writing for your own pleasure, you write what you want to write. When writing for business, you do not always get this luxury. I am blessed. I have had the incredible good luck to have writing projects that I have enjoyed immensely, had them published and been paid for it – the trifecta of writing.

Writing is often a very personal thing. It reflects your work, your time and talent. It is not always easy to share what you have written with others. Face it, it’s a critical world out there, and to have someone else read your work and pass judgment on it is not an easy thing to handle. Often as writers we baby step it, first showing a piece we’ve written to our closest circle of friends and family – those people in our lives who know our short comings and stick around anyway. The problem with this is we sometimes get feedback that is slanted towards what we want and need to hear (thank you kind hearted friends and family) but not necessarily what we may hear from someone who is not concerned with sparing our feelings. When we make that giant leap of faith to show our work to professionals in the industry it can be a very big and scary step. I’ve been baby stepping this leap of faith offering certain projects for critique to my writing group, reworking areas and polishing it and sending the piece out into the big world of publishing. So far, I have been fortunate – haven’t found homes for everything of course, but have gotten a start.

To those of you who know me, you know the Destineers stuff is my baby. For anyone who may not know about the Destineers, here are some links. (Click on the underlined and hyperlinked Destineers word to get to the MySpace page) The website hyperlink is here and here is the forum link. Please feel free to join in the fun. We love new friends! These are my playgrounds and you are most certainly invited to come join in and play there with me, Ryan (the leader of the group), his brother Brady (who is fanatical about dragons…especially since he found a dragon egg in the Netherscape), Sean (the self proclaimed comic relief of the group) and Kylie (the writer of the group who keeps the journal of all they have learned and their adventures).

In a few weeks we are releasing the Destineers Journal of Fantasy Nations. This is the Journal as recorded by Kylie, her “field guide” of the various fantasy beings they have learned about in class. It’s filled with tidbits she has learned in class [from Professor Noah Washington who is, by the way, a goblin] about the various Nations of Fantasy as well as her own observations from meeting these folks. It’s sort of a prequel to the novel – a sample of the types of characters from the quests. We hope you will join the fantasy and the fun.

Please take a moment to stop by the website and the forum and join in the fun.

Thanks, and have a magical week!