One April After the War

by G.S. Boarman

GENRE: Historical Fiction

Blurb

When Mary Warner is requested to attend a meeting with her estranged godfather, President Ulysses S. Grant, she quickly finds that an invitation from the office of the President is an offer she can’t refuse.

 

Fresh from concluding a counterfeiting sting in Cincinnati, Secret Service agents Merritt and Argent are tasked by the President to convince Miss Warner to return with them to Washington, D. C. For the two Treasury agents, this simple assignment to escort the socially awkward and willful young woman on an 800-mile railroad journey from Louisville, Kentucky to the White House proves far more interesting and difficult than the men could have ever thought possible. And, in the face of danger, it may just turn out that Mary is more of an asset than a problem for the two agents.

 

For Mary Warner, the trip begins to take on a sinister meaning as she finds herself virtual prisoner to Merritt and Argent. Madness, morality, and murder all swirl in a strange April storm at midnight turning this odd odyssey into something so much more than a mere trip between cities.

Read an Excerpt

The jailer languidly unlocked the cell door, calling to Miss Warner, “Your custodians have come to claim you. Up with you.” Miss Warner remained unmoved. The jailer turned to Merritt and Argent. “This is how she has been all afternoon. What she needs is a good thrashing to bring her to a proper sense of respect.” Miss Warner’s plain dress, a work dress with none of the frills and fineness of a woman of any means, was not the only barometer by which the jailer measured her: she did not even carry with her a handbag, nor did she wear a hat or cloak or gloves. She gave all the appearance of a woman of the lower classes, and therefore not worthy of any special consideration.

The sheriff had accompanied the jailer to Miss Warner’s cell, mildly curious as to all this fuss over such a woman as she. He had, in fact, delayed sending the message that Miss Warner had asked him to send; he simply did not believe a woman of her apparent stature and committing such a crime could claim patronage at such high levels of Cincinnati’s judicial system or of the federal government.

G.S. Boarman will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click here to enter the giveaway.

Meet G.S. Boarman

After the death of G. S. Boarman, a great niece cleaned out the old Kentucky family farmhouse and in the attic, amid the rusting coffee mill, the rickety outdated furniture that was still awaiting repairs, and the stacks of vermin-eaten Harper’s Weekly’s and Police Gazette’s, she found a curious box marked simply “M”.

On the kitchen floor, the metal hasps were flipped back and the top pried off. Lying on the top of a very neat and orderly collection of things was a scrapbook and lying loose inside the scrap book was a note that said simply, “Please finish the story.” The scrapbook itself contained a rough outline of a narrative with sometimes undecipherable glosses and cryptic references to mysterious sources.

From letters and notebooks, ledgers and calendars, train schedules and stockholders’ reports, the story was slowly extracted and pieced together, and the small treasures, carefully wrapped and preserved in the box, took their place in the narrative.

Boarman’s will had already been read, probated, and executed, but the niece, as executrix, felt obligated to fulfill Boarman’s last wish — to breathe life into the long-ago story of a woman who held some importance to Boarman.

Website: https://www.gsboarman.com/

Today I’m happy to host author Virginia’dele Smith as she shares some of her tips for writing a small-town romance. Be sure to read on for info about her new book, GROCERY GIRL, and a giveaway.

Tips for Writing a Small Town Romance

Consistency and detail are both critical to developing the setting when a story takes place in a small town. I like to think of the community I am designing as a character with attributes that my readers want to see and hear and feel and smell and sense and touch.

To keep up with how the town is created, I recommend building a world guide from the very beginning of your book or series. The world guide is a document that lists everything you know — both stated in the book and still living in your mind — about the small town. Include geographical region/state/country/roads/lakes/rivers/mountains, the names of businesses/parks/neighborhoods/schools/medical services, and be sure to write about the feeling, ambiance, and personality of the town through community events/festivals/ceremonies/decorations/teams.

Write down every single detail…the high school’s mascot and team colors, the name of the Christmas festival, the color of the reading benches that surround the courthouse on the grounds of the town square…every single detail. These seemingly petty, minute details foster a feeling of belonging within your readers. They know things that only the honored residents of the town know which makes them special, unique, and part of an elite and exclusive group. But when you include them in the text of the book, you must remember every tiny thing you’ve shared with the readers.

As authors, we juggle settings, characters, tropes, mysteries, deaths, births, loves, weddings, tragedies, victories, and many story elements that get edited out of a roughdraft and elements that we don’t even write into a story. It is so easy to forget what we thought and what actually made it into the final manuscript. This is why a world guide is essential to using wonderful details and maintaining consistency when writing a small-town romance.

Your world guide can be a tool that you keep behind the scenes just for your reference, or you can use your world guide as a lead magnet or share it to connect with your audience. If you’re writing a series that takes place in one small-town, refer to the elements of the community that you shared in earlier installments while adding new locales and interesting tidbits to keep your readers engaged, both in the small town and in its residents.

Grocery Girl

by Virginia’dele Smith

GENRE: Wholesome small-town romance

Blurb

She inhales life with every breath. He’s suffered a world of pain. Can they rise above tragedy to find their happily ever after?

Maree Davenport refuses to let a tearful past rule her future. After losing her parents at the age of five, the big-hearted fabric designer is determined to embrace her feelings and find happiness no matter what. So when she literally runs over a handsome new firefighter in the produce section, the hopeless romantic is certain she’s just collided with destiny.

Everyone Rhys Larsen ever loved has died. And though he may have hit it off with the pretty girl at the store, the haunted EMT knows better than to let her into his heart. But when an accident leaves her wounded and in need of care, he vows to nurse her back to health.

As Maree struggles to break through the grieving man’s walls, she fears his deep-seated superhero complex will make him unreachable. And as Rhys grapples with trying to protect the beautiful woman from his curse, he worries he’ll have to choose between doing the right thing and true love. 

Can this conflicted couple reconcile their opposite takes on adversity and find purpose in each other’s arms? 

Grocery Girl is the touching first book in the Green Hills wholesome small-town romance series. If you like strong but vulnerable characters, emotional growth, and quaint backdrops, then you’ll adore Virginia’dele Smith’s celebration of joy.

Read an Excerpt

And then her gaze locked with a set of uniquely gray eyes.

Maree had never seen this firefighter before. Their stare held for a smidge longer than a split second. Then he nodded a brief acknowledgment and kept walking. It took her a blink or two — or maybe ten — to get her wits about her.

He was definitely new in town, because there was no way she would have forgotten having seen him before. Taking a deep, intentional breath and with a little shake of her head, she broke out of the mini-trance she’d found herself in, forced herself to refocus, and finished her shopping.

She giggled at herself when she recounted the whole second-and-a-half time lapse of the not-quite interaction to Miss Sadie when she delivered her fruit a half hour later. When Sadie asked what the rest of him looked like, Maree honestly had no idea.

“Miss Sadie,” she confessed, “I didn’t make it past those eyes.”

“Well, that’s surely a shame,” Miss Sadie crooned. “Now you’ll never know if it’s the same fellow when you meet him in town or simply walking down the street.”

She was giving Maree a hard time, teasing in good fun, but Maree wasn’t worried.

“Oh, I’ll know him,” she replied with dreamy confidence. “I’m certain I’d know him anywhere.”

Virginia’dele Smith will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click here to enter the giveaway.

Meet Virginia’dele Smith

Ashli Montgomery is a wife, a momma, and an author whose passion is sharing love stories, books, quilts, yoga, recipes, and all of her favorite things in life. She is quilting to mend the mind by spearheading and educating a community of friends who love quilts and quilting but hate Alzheimer’s disease through Quilt 2 End ALZ, Inc. (https://quilt2endalz.org/) , a 501(c)(3) nonprofit she launched to use her quilting hobby as a platform to advocate for an end to Alzheimer’s disease.

Ashli writes under the pen name Virginia’dele Smith to honor Syble Virginia Tidwell, Adele Gertrude Baylin, and Etta Jean Smith. These three cherished grandmothers were beautiful role models, teaching Ashli to love without judgment and to always put family first. Through Grandma Syble’s journals and appetite for books, through Momadele’s priceless cards and handwritten letters, and through many, many hours of visiting over fabric at Mema’s kitchen island, Ashli also learned to treasure words.

You are invited to join Ashli in Green Hills (https://www.facebook.com/groups/welcometogreenhills) and learn more about Virginia’dele Smith by subscribing to Ashli’s newsletter, The Gazette (http://eepurl.com/gJIDcv), at AshliMontgomery.com.

Website: www.AshliMontgomery.com

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09KQDK8D8

Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/author/virginiadelesmith

FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/AshliMontgomery.VirginiadeleSmith/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashlim.virginiadelesmith/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeAndCoach

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ashlimontgomery/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/dy4m35uz51h4vasexqwy30e8g?si=0d9ba9c8948d49a4

Today I’m excited to host author Mariëlle S. Smith as part of her blog tour for her author journal and planner, 52 WEEKS OF WRITING. Read on to get some good advice for goal setting and author planning as we move toward the start of 2022, along with info on how to enter her giveaway.

It may seem obvious, but I start every year filling in my own author journal and planner. Each volume of 52 Weeks of Writing is undated, so you can start whenever you want, but even before I published it, I was used to planning out the year ahead somewhere during December. That’s why I crack open a copy for personal use at the end of each year.

I’m not saying everyone should buy a copy of 52 Weeks of Writing, that that’s the best way to start your writing year on the right foot. I do want to talk about a planning habit of mine that made it into the journal/planner because I’d been doing it for years already, and with great success.

In 52 Weeks of Writing, during Week 1, I ask you to write down your long-term goals. Where do you see yourself in ten years? Five years? Three years? Two? Where do you see yourself in a year from now? In nine months? Six? Three?

Over the past two years, I’ve often been asked why I ask after long-term goals backwards. Wouldn’t it make more sense to start small and then expand? Well. No. Not in my experience. And that’s because I don’t just believe in setting goals. I believe in setting realistic goals.

I’m very much in favor of dreaming big dreams, but the more unrealistic your goals, the more you’re setting yourself up for failure. And consistent failure is not a great motivator. Consistently achieving your goals, that’s a great motivator. That’s what causes those dopamine hits that’ll keep you moving forwards.

So plan for success, that’s how you start your writing year on the right foot. Planning backwards is helpful here because it makes you ask over and over, “So iIf I want to be there in ten years, where do I need to be in five years’ time? If I want to be there in five years, where do I need to be in three years’ time? And if I want to have achieved that in the next three years, what does that mean for my two-year goals, my one-year goals, etc.?”

Backtracking like this gives you a great sense of whether you’re expecting too much, too little, or exactly the right amount of yourself. Perhaps you see yourself having published ten novels in ten years. As you figure out what your other goals have to be in order to achieve that big ten-year goal by then, you might realise there’s no way you can possibly pull that off, not while, let’s say, working fulltime and are thinking of having another baby.

Maybe you set out to have been published in ten literary magazines over the next ten years. But, as you spell out for yourself what that means for your five-year, three-year, and so on goals, you might come to the conclusion that you could be doing much more with the time you have for writing.

Of course, having ten novels published or having been published in ten literary magazines in the next ten years might be utterly realistic for you. We’re all different, we all want different things from our writing, and we all find ourselves in different circumstances. That’s why this exercise is so useful, because it will demonstrate quickly what can and cannot be realistically done within your specific situation.

As you do the exercise, don’t forget that goals aren’t set in stone. I use goals as guidelines, as something to keep me focused, but I revisit them at least annually to see if anything needs to go or needs to be added.

And whatever goals you set for yourself, don’t forget to celebrate each and every milestone. In 52 Weeks of Writing, I explicitly ask you to write down how you’re going to celebrate each of your goals as you achieve them, because it’s all too easy to ignore the small steps and just keep going. But we wouldn’t reach our big goals without those small steps, and they should be honoured as such.

 

52 Weeks of Writing Author Journal and Planner

by Mariëlle S. Smith

GENRE:   Non-fiction / self-help creativity

Blurb

“A brilliant, supportive, challenging workbook, highly recommend.” Jamie Sands

You, too, can become the writer you’ve always wanted to be!

The 52 Weeks of Writing Author Journal and Planner:

• makes you plan, track, reflect on, and improve your progress and goals for an entire year long;
• invites you to dig deep through thought-provoking prompts and exercises; and
• helps you unravel the truth about why you aren’t where you want to be.

Two years after publishing the first volume of 52 Weeks of Writing, writing coach and writer Mariëlle S. Smith brings you the updated third volume. Similar in style but reflecting the tweaks made to her coaching practice during the pandemic, 52 Weeks of Writing Vol. III is even better equipped to help you get out of your own way and on to the path towards success.  

Ready to start living your writing dream? Order your copy now.

Read an Excerpt

Mariëlle S. Smith will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click here to enter the giveaway.

Meet Mariëlle S. Smith

Mariëlle S. Smith is a writer, writing coach, and editor. She lives in Cyprus, where she organizes private writer’s retreats, is inspired 24/7, and feeds more stray cats than she can count.

Contact Links

Website: https://mswordsmith.nl

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mswordsmith

Blog: https://mswordsmith.nl/blog/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18455235.Mari_lle_S_Smith

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariellessmith/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtnYOpjmj83mvMM2L348F1w

Purchase Links

All purchase links can be found on https://mswordsmith.nl/journal

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Weeks-Writing-Author-Journal-Planner-ebook/dp/B081Y6ZMPY/

As we come to the start of the summer after more than a year of not being able to do, well, much of anything, I’ve noticed a lot of people discussing potential trips they plan to make in the near future. Many seem to be focusing on visiting family (that’s our big plan for the summer). But I know some people who itching to once again journey to far-flung locales.

Which makes today’s Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge from Long and Short Reviews rather timely.

My Fantasy Vacation

I’m kind of between far-flung vacations right now, as my kiddos are still so little. And I’ll admit that I’ve already taken a couple of fantasy vacations. Hubs and I went to Rome when we were still just dating (hence all the awesome on-location references I was able to make in WHEN IN ROME), and our honeymoon in St. Lucia was heavenly (though longer than the jaunt made by Marissa and Josh in THE ONE I’M WITH). And I’ll happily go to Disney World any time.

But I’ve always dreamed of taking a vacation someplace tropical, perhaps even by myself.

For this vacation, I would have pack so little that I could just take one carry-on bag on the plane. I would have a small resort cottage on the beach, with a fully stocked kitchen and lots of balcony or patio space. There would be direct beach access, and lots of amenities to enjoy, like a spa, a selection of movies to watch whenever I want, meals offered in a hospitality building if I wanted to partake, and, of course, plenty of time to nap, read, and write.

I don’t know if such a place exists or if I’ll ever be able to take such a vacation. But one can dream.

What’s your fantasy vacation?

Everybody has things they collect, and for various reasons. Maybe there’s some sort of sentimental value attached to the things people collect. Or perhaps a specific interest. Or maybe we just think something is neat.

For me, the things I collect are tied to memories or feelings I want to keep close. So what are my collections?

Books

This should come as a no-brainer. Most authors are also avid readers, and I am no different. At various points in my life, I have had to purge my personal bookcase because I’d either outgrown the stories it held or because I was moving and just didn’t have the space for everything. Most of the books that went by the wayside arrived at the local library (and probably their periodic bargain book sales, as paperbacks tend to fair poorly in circulation). But certain books remained.

I have a healthy collection of books about history, for example, particularly about the American Civil War. For much of my teen and adult life, historical fiction filled my bookcase. I have some Dickens, the entire Harry Potter series in hardcover. I also have quite a bit of Tolkien.

As far as authors go, I really only have two whose books I consciously collected and kept. The first is L.M. Montgomery, author of the Anne of Green Gables series and many more delightful books. I discovered her books in fourth grade, thanks to my then-best friend, and from there my collection was born. I’m pretty sure I have every novel she ever wrote and all of the curated short story collections as well.

The second author is John Jakes. I started off with his North & South trilogy, moved on to the Kent Family Chronicles, and then went about acquiring every historical fiction novel he ever published. I understand he has some science fiction(?) books written under a different pen name, but those I haven’t read.

Cookbooks

I love to cook and bake, so of course it’s no suprise that I have a collection of cookbooks. I think at one point early in my marriage, I had a total of like twenty different cookbooks. Possibly more. I got rid of a lot of them when we moved from New York to North Carolina, and then several more when we finally unpacked at our forever home. I think I’m down to about ten, now, but I’ve also acquired a few more since we moved south. So I might be creeping back up toward twenty.

Christmas Decorations

I love Christmas; it’s my favorite holiday. As with other things, I’ve had to purge a lot of decorations over the past few years as we made our move south. But I love getting new Christmas decorations (teachers get a lot of that sort of thing as gifts from students) and figuring out where to put everything when the time comes.

I have a couple themes when it comes to Christmas decorations. Snowmen, somehow, became a major theme on accident. We have a couple different iterations of the Nativity. The only ornaments I really collect have been the Hallmark Gone With the Wind movie collection (yes, I know), though I haven’t gotten any new ones in several years as they’ve started sort of repeating. My mom started the collection for me back in 1997, and I think I have about 27 of them.

INteresting Scarves

About three years into my teaching career, I got really into scarves as a fashion statement. Mostly because I was cold all the time in the winter. I have scarves of all materials, colors, and designs, though admittedly I haven’t worn many of them since moving to North Carolina. (Winters here are a bit milder.) I probably should clean some of them out, but I like knowing they’re hanging, all organized, in my closet.

Foreign Currency

The most interesting thing I collect may be foreign currency. The collection wasn’t even mine to begin with. My dad started collecting foreign currency when he was in the Air Force and deployed to different countries around the world. He kept them in an old cigar box that, I assume, he acquired during a deployment to Panama in the early 1980s (that’s unverified).

At some point when I was in middle or high school, he passed the collection on to me. I have added to it over the years. Some items came from more of his deployments. Other things came from friends who travelled out of the country. For example, a high school friend brought me a 1000 lira note from her family’s trip to Italy when we were in 10th grade, just prior to Italy adopting the Euro. One of my dad’s coworkers gave him a Polish banknote from the Cold War era, which he passed along to me. My aunt and uncle gave me a banknote from Nepal after one of their missionary trips. I received coins from a Swedish penpal when I was in 6th grade.

Some of the currency is probably valuable, such as the pristine Canadian two-dollar note (which they don’t make anymore as it gave way to the “toonie”). The Polish Cold War-era note, also, is obviously out of circulation, as is the 1000 lira. I also have some examples of American currency, like a $1 silver certificate, the Sacagewea $1 gold coin, and a couple of $2 bills. And some Euros to round it all out.

Right now, the collection is still in the cigar box. I plan to put everything into a currency collector binder to keep everything safe and neat. It just hasn’t happened yet.

What do you like to collect?