Writing - the ups and downs

I often wonder what's in a name. My name from the time I was born until I was 18 was Bobbie Ann (Null). Barbara was shortened to Bobbie by my father, so I'm told. I never knew my dad as he died when I was two years old. A story for another time! After I left West Virginia to move with my husband to Cleveland for a job, my new friends there seemed to think Bobbie was a funny name for a new wife and mother. Bobbie Ann even more so.  Where I was from having two names was common - down in the hills - and more often than not you were called by those two names. Bobbie Ann, Donna Sue, Ella Louise - myself and two of my sisters. Mother often said all of those names at once when referring to us, especially IF she wasn't happy with us! When I started back to college, I gave my name as Barbara and from that time on, it stuck. As I began to be published I kept that name as my byline. The name felt more professional and adult. (What did I know?) I finally learned we are not...

Thanks to Kate Dooley, author and friend, for entering the book review contest I held for my novel Vada Faith.  She won a copy of the paperback of the novel for her lovely review. Here goes! And thanks, Kate. **************** I think one of the things I liked best about Vada Faith was the author's ability to turn a phrase. She took an old saw and sharpened it, time and again. The character wasn't "all thumbs", she was all fingers. That says so much! I also loved that I knew the characters. It was like taking a peek into the lives of hometown folk, but in very unusual circumstances. Vada decides to be a surrogate mother, to the disapproval of nearly everyone she knows. She gets hate mail, is verbally assaulted by kinfolk and town folk alike, even debated about on television. Even though the situation Vada Faith finds herself creating is quite unusual, her reactions, struggles, and soul searching are all things you and I would understand. I would have liked a le...

My collection of short stories, titled Ezra and Other Stories, is almost ready to be put on Kindle thanks to my grandson, Daniel. He wanted to learn how to turn a manuscript into an e book and here was his chance. I told him if he did it for me I would pay him for his endeavors. Perhaps not quite as much as I paid the company that I used for my first book, Vada Faith, but I'd make it worth his time. Thus we entered into a non contract called money changing hands between a grandma and a grandson. Understood but un uttered was the fact that if he failed I would not hold him to it and would pay him anyway for his time. It's a grandma thing. His smile could warm any heart, particularly mine, this first born grandchild! So I edited and read and edited and read and kissed the stories good bye and turned them over into his twenty year old hands. With the stories went half of the payment which we had earlier agreed upon. He needed the money a bit ahead of time because he was trav...

Gave away almost 6000 Kindle copies of Vada Faith yesterday so decided to add TODAY as another free day! If you did not get your Kindle copy yesterday, then go get yours today. www.amazon.com The review and contest is still on. Will run through midnight tonight. Get me those reviews and win a free signed copy of the paperback of Vada Faith. Have a blessed Sunday!

On September 15 my novel - Vada Faith - will be free on Kindle. People have categorized this story as chick lit, general fiction, contemporary fiction, light romance, mainstream, and women's fiction. As for me, I call it a relationship book though there is no such genre. It revolves around the surrogacy that main character, Vada Faith, becomes embroiled in. It pulls in every member of her family and the community. Some of the problems that arise are her own fault due to selfish decisions, others erupt simply from the circumstances she finds herself in - a verbal surrogacy agreement with a couple who end up being small time criminals - not a good idea from the get go. Does this couple want a baby? Yes! Desperately! Do they deserve one? We'll see. You'll travel the road with Vada Faith as she moves from her family to her husband's family to an appearance on a talk show, pleading her case for being a surrogate mother in the small town of Shady Creek, West Virginia. Is her ...

Help, I'm falling was just a title to get you over here. I have a dilemma. I want to revamp my blog and need suggestions. Since I have hardly anyone reading my blog, I realize I must make some changes or I'm never going to make it in the blogger world. Since it's supposed to be a blog about writing and I've often strayed from my purpose for this blog, do you have any ideas? Change the title and change what I'm writing about???  Writing is only half of my life. The other half is filled with family, husband, daughters, three son in laws, eight grand children. All of those are important to me and I can't leave anyone out of my posts. I've spent some time browsing other blogs and see lots of photos. I'm not very tech savvy and need to figure out how to put photos on here. How important are photos to you when checking out a blog post? Another thing I'm seeing is giveaways. I love a good giveaway myself. Is that what draws you to a blog? Are you look...