Writing - the ups and downs

My three books are free from December 12-16. Click the links below to check them out. Hope your holidays are the very best ever. I have my tree up and the wreaths on the door.  Let the holiday festivities begin! I was pleased to see that VADA FAITH was one of the books featured in the Pixel of Ink newsletter. Thanks POI. Hope you decide to invest in a book as a gift for that special one on your list. If not then read the kindle versions free for the next few days. Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year. Here's to a great 2015. Click to open expanded view Enjoy the romance, suspense, and humor in this collection of short stories. In award winning “Mabel and the Garage Sale,” Mabel’s house rests in the path of a proposed highway. As Mabel sorts her things to move, she recalls the colorful characters who’ve passed through her life.  The story, “Delphine and Rainelle,” poses the question, is a marriage worth saving at all costs? In “Joy Ruth and Minnie H

My friend Liz Vollstadt is offering three copies of her middle-grade novel, PAIRS ON ICE, as a Goodreads “Giveaway.”  Just go to  www.goodreads.com , and type PAIRS ON ICE in the search box. When the book comes up, scroll down to “Get this book for free” and click to enter.  To find more Giveaways–and there are lots of them––you can click on the arrow next to Explore on the Home page, and then select Giveaways in the drop-down menu.  You just might win a book!   You can also find PAIRS this way by clicking through  and  choosing one of the following tags: children, middle-grade, coming-of-age, or friends   As an added note, Liz’s book just won a Royal Palm Literary Award from the Florida Writers Association.  PAIRS ON ICE placed  second in   the the middle-grade category. Congratutions, Liz THIS BOOK WOULD MAKE A GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR THE YOUNG GIRLS ON YOUR LIST!!!!! Book Description Competition is getting tougher for Jamie Bartlett, 12, as she advan

It's hard to believe today is Sept. 30th. It's been a whirlwind month with me buying a condo and planning a move back to the city. My house sold without me even advertising or putting a sign out front. How much of this experience was fate and how much divine intervention? I'm not sure. But it feels so right. Not only that, the entire endeaor has taken not quite a month. A friend told me when I make decisions I should ask myself if the decision felt light or heavy. From the very beginning thinking about buying a condo and moving closer to town just felt right. The house and two acres here in the country has been a huge responsibility this summer with grass growing at breakneck speed. Thankfully my daughter Susan and her family have pitched in and cut grass and weeded. Whew. I not only do not like to cut grass but this summer I was unable to cut it. It kept them busy cutting their five acres and my two. Now, problem solved. I move October 13th. I'm excited and scared. E

Finally, the Verizon rebate arrived in the form of a $50 Visa card, much appreciated by me. As I wrote in my last post I'd been battling to get this rebate for several weeks, sending in a variety of requested forms with receipt and all being the wrong ones. The last ones I sent were simply a repeat of the ones before and VOILA. They were the exact ones they wanted. Enough said. I'm going back to my life now that that issue has been put to rest. Speaking of going back to my life, it appears a move for me may be on the horizon. This summer has been an uphill battle to get the lawn work done. Services in this area have not returned my calls. I've been depending on family to cut my two acres all summer and battle the weeds that grow in abundance here in the country. It's been an uphill struggle for all of us. I'm throwing in the towel. I simply can't do it anymore. Mostly I worry and someone else does the actual work! And I don't much like either. Tomorro

I have spent much time since the beginning of July trying to get through the process of getting a rebate from Verizon, you know, the company that sells communication supplies and services. Mostly they sell supplies for which they offer very little service. And the service is sketchy at best. I guess I sound miffed. Ummm, yep, I am. First, I called Verizon about my slow wifi service. We live in the country and don't get great reception. I've limped along with the box (modem)  I had for a couple of years. When I called the first time, the tech told me I needed a new box and an upgrade and to agree to a new two year contract. Okay. Yep I was in. For just $30 she would ship a new box that would provide me with faster service. I got the upgraded box in two days and was singing the praises of Mr. Verizon. Yay. I was going to be up and going and could google everything and anything I wanted. I could shop, ebay, go to Snopes to my heart's content, facebook, twitter, pinterest

I'd like to offer a book free - free book + free shipping- for a review left on Amazon. I'm not asking for five star reviews. Instead I'm asking for an honest review, honest opinion. No strings attached. It can be as little as a few sentences to a paragraph or two. I'm only interested in your opinion of the story/or stories. Not all readers leave reviews and reviews are important to the sales of a book. While selling my books is not the most important element of my work, I want people to read my books and if I don't sell them, they are not read. Thanks to anyone who wants to email his or her address to me for a book to review. I'll be giving away a total of six books, deadline for getting me your name and address is  July 4th. Email me at barbwhitti@aol.com I'll need your name and mailing address in full. Thanks a bunch. Here is a summary of each book offered. Vada Faith - novel Lee Smith said of Vada Faith, “...the combination of the tight

I've decided to simplify my life.  Recently, I realized I've lived most of my life in a state of panic. As a result I'm looking at things I can realistically change. I found the list below of 12 zen things on facebook. It seems a good place to start.  Zen Defined. noun:  a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism emphasizing the value of meditation and intuition. SOUND GOOD? I agree! I dug out my old yoga tape, the basics of yoga with Rodney Yee, and I intend to start that program again. The peaceful music alone makes me feel better. Then when I do the stretches and easy yoga poses I know I'm on the right track to better health.  Is anyone willing to make a few changes with me? Maybe slow our lives down just a bit. Rather than going through life on a zip line without taking time to even breathe - correctly - that's right. When I pause to check my breathing, it's even rapid as if I'm running a race and with nowhere to

I'll be at the Tamarack, Beckley, WV on June 14 from 11 to 4 signing my books: Vada Faith and Ezra and Other Stories. Would love to see you there!!! My latest story is an ebook only on Kindle at Amazon.com. Dear Anne: Love Letters from Nam. Hope you'll stop by Amazon and take a look. It's story length - not novel length - a quicker read for those of you who have little time to devote to reading and is dedicated to those who served in the Vietnam War. Leave your comments about any of my books here. Would love to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by.

                              SHORT STORY             ON AMAZON KINDLE COMMENTS WELCOME. THIS STORY IS CLOSE TO MY HEART - READ AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.

My new story (fiction) is available on Amazon as a Kindle ebook for $1.99. Dear Anne will probably never be in book form as it's too short to stand alone. However, the love letters are part of a novel, and I decided to make the letters into a short story. Thus, Dear Anne was born.  The larger work is still on the back burner, waiting to have more scenes written. Dear Anne has had some positive reviews so far and I'm delighted with the reception it's getting. It's a romance and set during the heat of the Vietnam War. I hope if you have time to read the love story about newlyweds Anne in WV and Rob in Vietnam, you'll leave a review on Amazon. Reviews help in so many ways. Not only do they help get a story noticed but it helps the author's other books get recognition as well. My goal is to move up in the ranks and have more and more readers. I don't care if the readers are from free books or Amazon sales. A writer wants his or her work read and apprec

I reviewed THE SHACK here last year and recently discussed it with friends as several of us have been reading books about Heaven. HEAVEN IS FOR REAL; PROOF OF HEAVEN, and a few others. All of which I've loved. Now I plan to see the movies GOD IS NOT DEAD and NOAH. This should evoke even more spirited discussion about Heaven with the group.  That said, here is the review from earlier.  The Shack by William P. Young has been much touted in the last few years. Some people love it. Others hate it. As it was one of the books discussed recently at our writers meeting, and the group was clearly divided in their feelings about the book, I decided to read it. I knew very little about the book when I opened it and I was hooked in the first few pages. It's about the disappearance from a camp ground of a beautiful little six year old girl named Missy. The shack comes into play early on when the little girl's bloody dress is found in the shack in the woods. Okay, we move

Good to be back from Florida vacation! Here are a few highlights from the trip. I came home with more than I went with. Five extra pounds and I can't figure out why. WHO AM I KIDDING??? Here I am at Goodson's Strawberry Farm with an oversized strawberry shortcake with ice cream. Hands down the best strawberries I've ever tasted! We've visited Goodson's Farm for a good many years now. It's grown from a shack along the road to a huge indoor farm market and food court. Sandwiches, drinks and their famous strawberry concoctions. Happy to see them thriving. We had a great time visiting Sarasota and the Lipizon Horse Show. Beautiful horses. Such a great story about them being saved from Austria, in part by our own General Patton.  Sorry no photos of the play we saw at Sun City Center - Rollings Theatre, titled Valentine's on Rt. 66, written by two members of the talented cast. No photos either of our afternoon of music, performed by the F

So ready for Spring I know when one writes a novel and puts it out there for the public to read, the writer is open to criticism, both negative and positive. I expect that. I've been writing and publishing long enough to have developed a tough skin. I've learned with my own books that for every negative review I get - I get ten glowing reviews. I'm not bragging, I'm just mighty proud. I've worked long and hard at my writing career. It's all about ups and downs. An author has to roll with the punches and know the public is not going to like every single project he or she puts out there. That's life. I'm still growing as an author. Each time I start a project, I can tell I'm getting better as a writer, at plotting and characterization, at organizing material, being a better editor. Am I perfect? No way! But am I growing and willing to accept honest criticism? You bet! My suggestion to anyone choosing a book is to take a few minutes before pur

Hard to believe it's been over 90 days since Raymond passed away. Why do they/we call it passed away? Does passing away somehow sound less harsh than Death? It's still a final departure, no matter what we call it and dealing with a loss this profound is devastating. What I am experiencing is certainly different than anything I ever thought I might go through. At times I feel as though a huge ocean wave slams into me. I have to hold onto something to not be taken down. When I least expect it, I burst into tears. No prompting necessary. Other times I am able to function and go about my life in a normal fashion. I'm used to taking care of myself and doing all the things that need doing. Things he did before he became ill a number of years ago. I'm thankful his descent was slow over the last few years and he was able to enjoy the things he loved. Family was his number one love. Myself, the grandchildren, our daughters and their husbands. Then, there was his love of the

The month of January is almost over and I don't remember it ever starting. Not to say I don't remember my two granddaughters, Jillian and Samantha, going to dinner New Year's eve with me and spending a girls night watching movies and eating tons of food! After losing my husband in November, I somehow moved through Thanksgiving (got through his birthday on the same day), and into December in a complete fog. I flew to Rhode Island to spend the holidays with our youngest daughter and her family in Massachusetts. I can only catch glimpses in my memory of what we did while I was there. Jill and I had some special times and shared lots of tears. I went to see two of the boys play basketball and they were good at shooting baskets and dribbling down the court. However it seemed I was someplace beyond myself. In space maybe - or outside my body looking at the world from a distance. Spending Christmas with the four grandchildren (triplets 12 and our youngest grandson 8) was an extr