Julie Flanders, Writer

Friday, January 27, 2017

Friday Celebrations & A Cover Reveal from Cathrina Constantine

Hello and Happy Friday! I didn't mean to disappear from the hop for the past few weeks but life happens and all of the sudden here we are at the end of January. The holidays already seem like forever ago.

And it's time to Celebrate the Small Things once again. The hop is hosted by Lexa Cain and co-hosted by L.G Keltner at Writing Off the Edge and Tonja Drecker at Kidbits. Visit Lexa's blog here to find out how join in the hop yourself and to see the list of participants.

This week I'm celebrating:

Baby Moo, the sequel!

I finished my revisions for Baby Moo Goes to Hollywood and submitted the manuscript! I'm so excited to move forward on getting another Baby Moo story out into the world.

A healthy Nate!

I had to take my cat Nate to the vet because I found a lump under his skin. I immediately freaked when I felt it, but hoped it was just a fatty tumor. Sure enough, it was! That was a huge relief and now I just have to wait for him to forgive me for taking him to the vet in the first place. The poor cat is terrified of his carrier, the car, and, most of all, the vet's office.

And finally, a birthday!

If the weather cooperates my sisters and I are taking my mom out for a birthday brunch on Sunday. She's turning 89 and is still as strong as ever. If I ever start to feel sorry for myself, I think about my mother undergoing chemotherapy and kicking cancer to the curb when she was 87-88! She's my hero.

Today I also want to share the stunning cover for Cathrina Constantine's next release, Incense and Peppermints.

Isn't that gorgeous? Congratulations, Cathrina!!

The book will be released on March 10 and you can add it on Goodreads here.

The blurb:

Peace demonstrations, sit-ins, and burning the U.S. flag following the escalation of the Vietnam War are leading to a catalyst known to the world as the Sixties, and a musical revolution, flower power, hippies, marijuana, and drugs are carrying the generations—young and old—into a new decade. All the while sixteen-year-old Mary Monroe is caught between being an innocent good girl and an autumn of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. When her brother offers a solution to her dilemma in the form of a little pill, Mary ignores the rumba in her brain and takes a walk on the wild side. Plunged into popularity and a life she’s only imagined, she meets Michael Covington, the hot newcomer, and she’s instantly drawn in by his less than flawless exterior and bad boy sex appeal. Caught up in the danger and excitement as they drift from party to party, into underground fight clubs, and through a series of drug and alcohol fueled adventures, Mary follows her new crush into a world where young girls are never truly safe from the predators lurking in the shadows and young men are hiding from the harsh reality of war. Feeling buzzed and as if her life is spinning out of control, Mary is assaulted by an unknown man at a party, and she’s left questioning if the enigmatic Michael is truly her hero or if he is the face behind the terrible attack. With every piece of information Mary learns about Michael, her doubts grow deeper, but with every minute she spends in his presence, so does her love.
With the war and her fear threatening to separate Mary and Michael forever, only the death of a friend, a crushing confession, and her own sensibilities can carry her over the threshold between adolescence and adulthood.

Congratulations again to Cathrina, and Happy Weekend to all. :)

Friday, January 6, 2017

Kicking off the 2017 Friday Celebrations!

It's the first Celebrate the Small Things hop of 2017! Happy Friday, everyone!

Even though this was a short work week because of the New Year's holiday, it somehow felt like the longest week in history. It's so hard to get back to normal after the holidays.

So I'm celebrating that it's the weekend, plus a few other things.

1. I finished writing my sequel to Baby Moo's Great Escape. I still have tons of revising and editing to do but at least I got the story down. I'm excited to be moving closer to getting Baby Moo and his friends back out into the world again for another adventure.

2. I also got my new All In For Animals site up and running and I'm really excited about it! Huge thanks to everyone who stopped by there after reading about it on this blog.

3. We got a little snow yesterday for the first time this winter. It wasn't enough to cause any problems, but it was more than enough to make my dog very happy. Clancy LOVES snow and he is ecstatic every year when the first snow comes around. He gets so excited when we go outside it's adorable. Seeing my dog so happy makes me happy, so I'm celebrating a happy pup!

The only time he wasn't happy was when I pestered him for a picture. :D

The Celebrate the Small Things hop is hosted by Lexa Cain and co-hosted by L.G Keltner at Writing Off the Edge and Tonja Drecker at Kidbits. Visit Lexa's blog here to find out how join in the hop yourself and to see the list of participants.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend ahead. :)

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

IWSG & All In For Animals

Hello and Happy 2017!! It's the first Wednesday of the year, which means it's time for the January meeting of The Insecure Writer's Support Group.

2017 - wow! I started this blog back on December 31, 2010 but really started posting in January of 2011. I can't believe it's been 6 years. What a wonderful ride it's been, with membership in this group being one of the highlights.

The Insecure Writer's Support Group was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh in 2011 and has grown to include upwards of 200 members. If you'd like to join in, visit Alex's site here for a sign-up list and to see this month's co-hosts.

My main insecurity this month is about starting my new project at All In For Animals, which is my new blog dedicated to animal rescue and welfare issues. Getting started with Wordpress.org has been more complicated than I expected, but I think I've finally got it now and I've been able to get the site up and running. Now I just have to write for it! I do have my first post up, but I know I have tons of work to do to get my ducks in a row for future posts and topics.

Still, I'm more excited than I am nervous since I'm devoting time to two of the things I love the most - animals and writing. I hope I can make this venture work. I definitely don't plan on using this blog to advertise my new one, but I thought I'd share a link now since I'm just getting it off the ground. If you're interested in checking out my new space, find me at AllInForAnimals.com.

I hope everyone had a good holiday season and I wish you all a very Happy New Year! Here's to lots more writing adventures for all of us.

Friday, December 16, 2016

Celebrating the Holidays

I'm taking part in one last Celebrate the Small Things hop before wrapping things up for 2016. This week I'm celebrating the upcoming holidays and wishing you all a very happy and healthy holiday season. Thanks for being part of my life for another year, and for allowing me to be part of yours.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a very Happy New Year.

See you in 2017!

Friday, December 9, 2016

Friday Celebrations & Revisiting the 80's with Tara Tyler

Source

Happy Friday! If it's Friday, that means it's time to Celebrate the Small Things. This week I'm celebrating that it was my birthday on Tuesday and I had a great birthday. I actually celebrated last weekend and had a great birthday cake, a birthday brownie, and lots of yummy food, all with wonderful people. Can't really ask for more than that.

And now I'm turning things over to Tara Tyler, an 80's girl like me, who is visiting as part of her Cradle Rock release tour. Welcome, Tara!

Teenagers, the 80s to Now!

That sounds like an adult hits radio station… I’m very proud to be a child of the eighties. They were such a bright, positive change from the harsh, psychedelic seventies. We had big bold hair, big bold colors, big bold music, and big bold dreams!

Here are a couple pictures from my teenage years in the 80s…

I can’t believe it’s been thirty years since I graduated from high school! The last twenty went the fastest and I blame my kids. All three boys in their teens - yes, I would like to tear my hair out some days...

Teens today are overloaded with technology, overloaded with activities, and overloaded with stress. With more information comes more responsibility, unfortunately, no one is holding anyone else accountable! I also think they should have time to be kids, too. Here’s my comparison: Teenagers - the 80s vs Now

TEENAGERS!

THE 80s	TODAY
In General...
Smaller world	The whole wide world!
Pay phones with cords	Cell phones and wireless
Bullies - physically and verbally abusive, seen, heard, known by all	Cyberbullies - mentally abusive, anonymous trolls who hide and lurk on the internet
Fashion...
Jeans - tight w/o stretch, tight-rolled, acid washed, name brands, high-waisted Big belts, leg-warmers, fluorescents, off-the-shoulder, headbands, chunky jewelry, mini skirts Eye shadow! Big hair for all	Casual - jeans, sweatpants, spandex in everything, leggings (ugh) Piercings and tattoos Colorful gym shoes, name brands Long hair, braids, colorful/dyed, top knots Beards
Music...
Pop, punk, hard rock, rock ballads, funk, insinuated	Pop, retro!, alternative, songs with a message, rap, blatant, crossover
Movies & Books & more...
The Outsiders, Pretty in Pink, Back to the Future, War Games, The Breakfast Club	Hunger Games, Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars, Harry Potter, Netflix, Youtube!
Communication...
Passing notes, talking on the telephone with a cord attached and a time limit	Texting, snapchat, facetime, etc... limitless!
TIMELESS UNIVERSAL SIMILARITIES
Dealing with Relationships - friends, parents, figures of authority, young love
Growing up - taking on responsibilities, managing time, setting goals
Getting a job, driving, chores, homework
Figuring out what you want out of life

My take on Today’s Teens - Innocence seems lost more quickly these days, but maybe it’s because there’s less shame and more openness which can be good and bad… The internet has brought instant information, instant feedback, instant gratification, but also anonymous antagonism, and TMI self-expression.

Eventually, the cycle begins again with the next generation of teens coming up with new ways to revolt and test their parents’ and societies’ "prudish" ways… I wonder how they’ll turn out! They have to be better than the millenials, right? Ha!

What do you think? Did you love the 80s? What’s wrong/right with today’s teens? Are you ready for the next wave?

Thanks for having me, Julie. Love coming over, and hope to see you more often!

WELCOME BACK TO THE FOREST!

CRADLE ROCK, Beast World Book Two

by Tara Tyler

Gabe the goblin just saved his town Broken Branch Falls from splitting apart. He also revealed that humans--horrible creatures of myth and legend--may actually be part of their history! But seriously? Nah!

Now Ona, Gabe’s girlfriend, is headed thousands of miles away to Camp Cradle Rock for Spring Break seeking evidence of humans. Gabe knows better than to tell a stubborn ogress she’s crazy, so he’s letting her go and spending the break at the beach like a normal teenage beast. And he’s determined to have a good time without her, whether he likes it or not.

But when Gabe hears Ona went missing, he and his friends set out for the wilds of the west to find her, no matter what dangerous creatures get in his way. Not even humans.

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Goodreads

Check out the Book Trailer!

Tara Tyler has had a hand in everything from waitressing to rocket engineering. After moving all over, she now writes and teaches math in Ohio with her three active boys and Coach Husband. Currently she has two series, Pop Travel (techno-thriller detective capers) and Broken Branch Falls (fantasy adventures). To squeeze in writing, she economizes her time aka the Lazy Housewife. Make every day an adventure!

Talk to me!
Author Blog ~~ @taratylertalks ~~ Facebook ~~ Housewives Blog

I'm also giving away signed copies of Broken Branch Falls and Cradle Rock, some Beast World swag, and a $20 GC!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

December IWSG & Looking into the Future

Happy IWSG day! The Insecure Writer's Support Group is the brainchild of host Alex J. Cavanaugh and meets the first Wednesday of every month. To join the group, view the list of current members, and learn about Alex's co-hosts for the month, visit the IWSG page here.

For the last several months the IWSG team has been providing us with a monthly question to answer as part of our post if we choose. This month's question is:

"In terms of your writing career, where do you see yourself five years from now, and what’s your plan to get there?"

This question resonated with me because it's something I've been thinking about quite a bit over the past year. And as 2016 ends, I've decided to change my focus and make some big changes in my writing goals and activities in 2017.

As anyone who visits this blog regularly knows, I love animals and advocate for animal causes whenever I can. When I first started blogging six years ago, my plan was to blog about this interest and develop a freelance writing career around it. It's safe to say I got sidetracked, but in a great way because of my novels and stories.

It's been a thrill and a dream to see my stories out in the world and I've loved every second of it. But for now I've decided to focus the majority of my writing time on writing non-fiction pieces about animals and advocacy. I also plan to continue writing children's books that allow me to showcase animal rescues as I did with Baby Moo's Great Escape.

Within the next few weeks I'm going to set up a blog on Wordpress called All In For Animals. It's going to be about animal care, wildlife, environmental issues, and, of course, rescues and sanctuaries. I also plan to do book reviews, share cute animal pics or videos, and post other fun things as they arise. I'm taking a course right now on professional blogging and hope to apply what I'm learning to this new venture.

I'm very excited about these plans and while I know the new site will be hard work, I don't think it will feel too much like it since I'll be doing something I'm passionate about. I'm not shutting this blog down though, and still plan to participate in this group and the weekly Celebrate hop. I'll also always be open to helping spread the word about new book releases from blogger friends.

Since I skipped last month's IWSG due to NaNoWriMo I wanted to add a quick note to this about my NaNo experience. I was a total NaNo dropout! But I don't regret signing up, because doing so proved to me that the story I wanted to write was better suited to a short story or novella than to a novel. Trying to turn it into a novel made that crystal clear!

Even though it didn't turn out the way I wanted, I'm still glad I signed up and gave it a try. I now have an idea for a short story collection and I plan to work on that in the year to come. I'm excited to have lots of varied ideas and projects and it feels great to be excited about writing again.

Hope this month finds all of you well!

Friday, December 2, 2016

Friday Celebrations & Cradle Rock by Tara Tyler

Hello, all!! Happy December!

I took November off from blogging but now I'm ready to jump back in to the fray with the Celebrate the Small Things hop. Although instead of celebrating the week that was, I thought I'd celebrate the month that was and share my celebrations from November.

In addition to a great Thanksgiving, I had two fun book events in November that I'm still celebrating.

One, I got to hang out with Mr. Cutie-Patootie, Baby Moo himself, at Sunrise Sanctuary's Thanksgiving for the Turkeys. As you can see from the picture, it was COLD and windy as can be, but it was still tons of fun. Sunrise is always a great place to spend time, and since I also sold some copies of Baby Moo's Great Escape it was a great day all around.

Two, I participated in the regional SCBWI's Indy and Small Press Book Festival at Cover to Cover Bookstore in Columbus, Ohio. While he wasn't there in the flesh, Baby Moo was still one of the stars of the occasion. It was a thrill to see him hanging out in the window display!

So that's what I'm celebrating this week. How about you?

The Celebrate the Small Things hop is hosted by Lexa Cain and co-hosted by L.G Keltner at Writing Off the Edge and Tonja Drecker at Kidbits. Visit Lexa's blog here to find out how join in the hop yourself and to see the list of participants.

I'm also thrilled to be helping to spread the word about another great release from my friend Tara Tyler. Here is all the info on her latest, Cradle Rock!