Friday, October 28, 2016

Gail Pallotta and I are having coffee at my house.










Today I'm visiting with my interesting friend, Gail Pallotta, and we are sharing coffee and stories at my kitchen table. I wish you were here to giggle and have fun with us. Since you aren't, I'll let you eavesdrop on our conversation. 

Oh! And by the way. Gail and I are both published by Prism Book Group. You'll find our books at this link.




Now to introduce you to my friend Gail, the award-winning author. She's a former regional writer of the year for American Christian Writers Association, and she won the Clash of the Titles in 2010. Her teen book, Stopped Cold, was a best-seller on All Romance eBooks. It also finished fourth in the Preditors and Editors readers’ poll and was a finalist for the 2013 Grace Awards. She’s published five books, poems, short stories and two-hundred articles. Some of her articles appear in anthologies while two are in museums.

Whew! Gail, you've been a busy lady. What is your personal life like? 

I’m a wife, mom, swimmer and bargain shopper who loves God, beach sunsets and getting together with friends and family. When I’m not writing I enjoy making flower arrangements. I love to take trips with my husband, especially to the beach. 

I love trips too. My hubby and I just returned from a 3000 mile road trip. I'll tell all about it on another day. When did you start writing? Have you always written novels?

I’ve enjoyed storytelling for as long as I can remember. My first published piece came out in a newspaper a friend and I put out in grammar school. However, I didn’t consider writing seriously until I enrolled in my college’s first creative writing class. That makes me sound ancient. LOL. I realized then I could possibly become a newspaper reporter, copywriter, magazine editor or PR person.

I landed a job as an editor and later as a copywriter and worked in the field until I married. Then I helped my husband with his business and sent out freelance articles. My writing time was very limited. I can remember stirring gravy and interviewing someone for a feature at the same time. During those years, I published several hundred articles, but I’d always wanted to write novels. Now that my husband’s semi-retired and my daughter’s grown, I have time to write books.

I love gravy and it's one of the few things I know how to make. I can see myself multi-tasking by stirring the sauce and interviewing at the same time. Does your faith play a part in your writing? If so, how?

Yes, most definitely.

People are motivated by what they believe, so at least one, sometimes more, of my characters are driven by or rely heavily on their faith. As in real life someone in the book might have doubts, or not have faith. However, to me faith is such an important, integral part of life, leaving it out would be like omitting something that sustains us, such as water or food.  

Tell us about one of your latest books.


Breaking Barriers



Breaking Barriers, Love Is Not Easily Angered,  is Book #8 in Prism Book Group’s Love Is...Series, which is taken from I Corinthians 13: 4 - 8,

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves. Love never fails...”

When I first heard about the series, I wanted to be part of it, but didn’t know which Love Is...statement to explore. Years ago when my daughter was reprimanded for wearing a cross to school and told school isn’t a place for God, my heart broke into a million pieces. I wrote a manuscript about people who are against Christianity and then stuffed it in a drawer. After reading “it is not easily angered” several times, I pulled out that book. It became the premise for Breaking Barriers.
In the book, the heroine, the victim of those who seek to destroy Christianity, loves her faith so much she’s willing to defend it against the unsavory people attempting to wipe out Christianity—and her.
The hero not only brings romance to the story, but he shows the heroine the difference in a consistent loving guy and an explosive, angry person like her father who says he loves her, but acts as though he doesn’t.

Oh my! Isn't it amazing how God uses our experiences for His good? Here's a book cover blurb to Breaking Barriers.

In this action-packed thriller gunshots ring out as Ann Jones enters church. She hides in the bathroom until they stop then stumbles into the sanctuary. The congregation lies dead in pools of blood. To rebuild the church she starts True Light Guardians. At the first meeting she’s attacked by a terrorist but rescued by James Crawford. He melts her heart, cold from her father’s abuse, and they fall for each other. She’s afraid to commit to love that might grow angry later like the type she knew as a child. James yearns to stop other attempts on Ann’s life, but can’t. Tormented by her constant risks, he breaks up with her. When an assault sends her to the hospital, an unlikely ally shares Ann’s plight with James, but he reveals a lead that puts all three of them in even more danger.


I think our audience would like a bit more. Here's an excerpt from Breaking Barriers.

Ann Jones smoothed the front of her black skirt as she entered the narthex of the church.
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty... The powerful song resounded from behind the sanctuary’s oak doors. Late for the service again, Ann hurried past a flower arrangement of brown-eyed Susans on a mahogany table with a picture of Jesus above it.

A loud rat-a-tat-tat-rat-a-tat-tat ripped the air. Was that a gun? She shook her head. The noise commenced again. Screams echoed from the sanctuary, and another round blasted Ann’s ears.
She ran past the receptionist’s desk to the bathroom, ducked into a stall, and crouched on the cold beige tile floor. Tears trickled down her cheeks, and she shivered. More bullets rang out. She buried her head in her arms to hush the noise of hate and terrifying cries for help. Finally, a siren whirred in the distance, and the shots stopped.

Shaking from head to toe, Ann placed her hands on the wall opposite the sinks and moved them up, one over the other, steadying herself as she stood. She took deep breaths, forced one foot in front of the other, and plodded out. Her knees almost buckled as she headed down the hall, the flowers blurring through her tears. She stepped to a door at the sanctuary and stopped in her tracks, her chest so tight she barely could breathe. She reached out to open it, and her hand trembled. What if she could help someone, and she didn’t? She crept inside.

Shattered stained glass lay at her feet in a pool of blood on the hardwood floor. She yelled, sank down on an oak pew, sobbed, and shook. Dead bodies of close friends and acquaintances littered the room, some still sitting in their seats, their lifeless eyes focused on the altar. Others lay flat on the floor in the aisles or between the pews. The minster was facing down in front of the altar. The choir members slumped in their seats behind him, their heads lowered. A hand touched her shoulder, and she jumped.

“I’m sorry, Miss Jones. I heard the gun as I gathered the trash can in the men’s room. I dropped it and came running. Before the shooter saw me I jumped in the closet and dialed 911.” The misty look in the janitor’s green eyes faded. Then everything went black.

Ann woke with a paramedic holding a damp cloth on the back of her head. He escorted her away from the massacre, but the memory stayed with her, nagging her day and night. A passion to prevent such an atrocity from ever happening again erupted inside her.

Wow! That excerpt will make everyone want the book!

Another of your books intrigues me. Anyone living with illness will appreciate this uplifting story.


Barely Above Water


Blurb

An illness comes out of nowhere and strikes Suzie Morris. Her boyfriend dumps her. She has no living family, and her physician can’t diagnose the malady. 

Suzie relies on her Christian faith as she faces the uncertainty of the disease, and turns to a renowned alternative doctor in Destin, Florida. She takes a job coaching a county-sponsored summer swim team. She’s determined to turn the fun, sometimes comical, rag-tag bunch into winners. 

Her handsome boss renews her belief in love, but learns of her mysterious affliction and abruptly cuts romantic ties. Later he has regrets, but can he overcome his fear of losing a loved one and regain Suzie’s trust? 



Gail, thanks for visiting with me. I know readers will want to find you. Where can they do that? online?

I love to hear from readers. I have several sites. Please visit with me.

My website is http://www.gailpallotta.com
My blog - http://www.gailpallotta.blogspot.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorsandMore
Twitter - https://twitter.com/Hopefulwords?lang=en

Thanks for coming over. We'll go to lunch next time. and eat cheese enchiladas.  If I cook, you'd probably get gravy and bread. Or maybe peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That's about the extent of my culinary talents. Whatever we eat, I know we'll talk about our books!





Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Thanksgiving Tree in my hallway


Good morning from Fulshear, TX.  We have a lovely day here. I walked earlier and the temp was a sweet 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I cut my walk to a mile. I have an insurance webinar to attend. Ugh. I'm not looking forward to it.

I'm getting down the tree from the attic. I took the picture above several years ago. Since then, I've bought a new, fuller, bigger tree. I'll decorate it for the harvest season and then on December 1, I'll change the decor to Christmas.

Simplifying my life is my goal these days. As a former interior designer, I once went to great lengths to create a masterpiece. Not these days. Now I use leaves for fall, and poinsettias for Christmas. They fill the limbs and are easy to attach.  These decoratons are also easy to store.

What's your day going to be? We drove 3000 miles round trip between Houston and Lexington, KY. I'd hoped to see a lot of color, but we were too early.  I plan to share pictures of our trip later, but at the moment, I'm catching up.  Laundry is done. Yay! Car is detailed. Yay!  Mail is in a pile waiting to be attended to, and lots of business to catch up on. Even tho' I had my iPhone, lots of emails need to be answered.

I love to travel, but it's good to be home.

Friday, October 21, 2016

Changing of the Color



We don't get much of this in Houston.
I took the one above as we zipped by in a car. We were in New England, and all the trees should have been turning, but we went a bit too early.  It's hard to plan around Mother Nature. She comes and goes when she wants to.

I'm looking forward to a trip to Kentucky and I hope I see the beautiful change of colors.

What about you?  Do you get them where you are?

This is what we'd hoped for

Image result for fall pictures

http://www.gatehousenewsroom.com/2015/10/09/ap-style-for-fall/

Image result for fall pictures
http://www.travelchannel.com/interests/fall/photos/new-england-fall-foliage-photos


Image result for fall pictures
http://www.travelchannel.com/interests/road-trips/articles/fall-foliage-road-trips

Image result for fall pictures of churches

http://www.fapeabody.com/coverage/churches/

Image result for fall pictures of churches
http://richardweisser.com/photoman96.htm


I hope you're enjoying this panorama where you live.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Anniversary



I love dinner with my hubby. 

Did I tell you I'm not a good cook?

My mom was, but I didn't receive the DNA for it.

Anniversaries are nice. We're having one this month.

If I ever find my wedding pictures again, I'll show you what we looked like all those years ago.

I keep losing them. How can you do that, you ask?

For me, it's easy.

They are in a safe place.

One day I'll remember where.




Tuesday, October 11, 2016

A Few Books



I had this poster made for a book signing.

It doesn't display all my books, merely a portion.

Hop over to my Amazon Author Page and see all of them.


Which one is your favorite?

People ask me about my favorite, and I can never decide. 

It's kind of like, "Which child do you like the most?" 

My Sarah Series are stand alone books, so you don't need to read in order.  I hope you'll add Sarah to your reading list.  Books are available in print, eBook, and some in audio.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Sunday Worship


Isn't this a pretty little church?  I'm about to leave for worship, and I'd love to enter this church to do so. My church is small like this one.


This is my church.
Second Baptist Rosenberg
I love the steeple on our traditional building.


Image result for images of church

This is the First Presbyterian Church of Topeka.  

This one is a much larger and more modern facility. Isn't it beautiful? I'd love to worship here too.

The point is, I love church and I hope you do too.

Find one of your choice and become part of the family.








Friday, October 7, 2016

Today is the day!


Name that Book!


Image result for books


http://www.prismbookgroup.com/


Our Facebook Party begins today. Are you a winner of a prize?

Look for Prism Book Group on FB. The party lasts all day.

I'll be hosting at 1:00 Texas Time. 

Pop over and say hello. 

I'm gonna post a picture of me at my cluttered desk and computer. Many people wonder how authors work, so I'll give you a glimpse of what I do.

Maybe I'll clean up my space a bit before the picture is taken. Or maybe not.


Thursday, October 6, 2016

Getting ready to party




Tomorrow, October 7

NAME THAT BOOK on Facebook




Lots of prizes!
Books on sale!




Here's a clue for the party and scavenger hunt.

How many books on the Prism Book Group Amazon site have preachers in them?

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Another beautiful morning


I took this picture in Smithville, TX. Smithville is between Houston and Austin and the town is filled with beautiful old trees and historic homes.  Hope Floats with Sandra Bullock was filmed there. The officials left this ancient tree in the middle of the road. I like that. Respect for trees.

Our day in Houston will warm back up to the nineties, but I walked this morning when it was cooler. I'm excited to see October come around.  Ninety is so much better than triple digits down here.

I got a lot of Ughs (things I don't want to do) done yesterday but more are on my list today. Interruptions came my way, and that didn't help.

The Market Place called me while I was taking care of my Ughs. Market Place is another name for Obama Care. Have you ever dealt with that entity? I hope you never need to.

I deal with it for our daughter. I spent two hours one day last week trying to straighten out the mess. The first guy couldn't find anything in the computer. I requested a supervisor, and she was a competent lady. She corrected as much as she could. There were too many mistakes in the system regarding my daughter's insurance. For those of you who are new to my blog, my daughter's a new widow, and she also has dementia. She has given me permission to take care of the details. We also faxed a POA to the Market Place.

After figuring out the puzzle, and putting as many pieces in the right place as she could, this nice employee put my name, address, and phone number into the file. If anyone from the entity needed info, they were to call me.

So.................I got a call yesterday. They wanted to talk to my daughter who isn't here. They couldn't talk to me because my name wasn't on their list. I said, "But you have my phone number and address, and you phoned me." The reply, "We can't talk to you." I said, "Get the supervisor that I spoke to last week." She replied, "We can't do that. We're in another department and we are separate."

This went on and on. Around and around. I finally connected my daughter and this woman by two speaker phones and we went through the hassle again.

Long story short. I was given permission to receive the info this lady had called about. She said I'd be receiving the IRS forms in the mail I'd requested. 

I replied, "Thanks, and we've already received it."

All that commotion, time, and angst to tell me I'd receive what had already arrived in the mail.

Grrr.

Don't forget our Scavenger Hunt.  Here's the Details for Name that Book. 

http://www.prismbookgroup.com/

Many books are on sale for the party.  Here's mine.



.99 on Amazon








Tuesday, October 4, 2016

I've missed you!



Good Morning Friends,

I've not been blogging, and I've missed you. Computer problems are a pain, aren't they? I have a new one, it's an all-in-one. That part is nice, but I'm having difficulty getting used to Windows 10. Microsoft updates software, and the new revisions agitate me. Tech stuff doesn't like me. Or is it the other way around?

The bugs aren't worked out of this new system yet, but I keep hoping. It was expensive to replace my old friend, but the guru told me it would cost more to build one. My former computer couldn't be saved. I really miss "her."

Why do people hack into computers anyway?  Don't they have other important things to do? Maybe save the world from poverty, or the whales from extinction--all other activities would be a blessing to mankind. 

 A month has gone by and I couldn't blog, or do much of anything else. I'm still using my iPhone for most of my emails, and that is messed up too. The gurus can't fix it, and my messages are sent from "Gayle" instead of Gay. Sigh.

We woke up to a temp of 68 degrees this morning in Fulshear and 88 should be the high. We've had some glorious days, but heat is returning for the Houston area.

Hurricane Mathew is surging through Haiti. He's a nasty storm. Hurricanes are the Atlantic Ocean's answer to our Texas tornado's, but the Gulf Coast has its share of those storms too. Prayers for those in Mathew's path. 

Today is October 4th. ......

I've made a list of Ughs!  What is an ugh you ask?  An ugh is a reminder of things I don't want to do. My list is lengthy today. I'd rather be writing on my latest Sarah story.

    My publisher, Prism Book Group has a Name that Book game, and it's so much fun. I'll be hosting the games on October 7th at 1:00 Texas Time. Come join me. Mark your calendars.  Here's some info. Please come and play the game with us. 

NAME THAT BOOK!

Join Prism this week for FUN, PRIZES GALORE, and specially priced 99 CENT books through October 7th.
Visit http://www.prismbookgroup.com/name-that-book to grab an entry form and play for the many Amazon gift cards and other special prizes! While you are there, before to check out the books that are specially discounted for this promotion!
...
Deadline to enter is Oct 6th at 8 p.m. Winners will be announced on our Facebook page on October 7th. Additionally, one lucky participating author who enters the contest and comments on Facebook that day will win a $30 gift card to your website of choice!
http://www.prismbookgroup.com/name-that-book
See More



One of my books is on sale for .99 until October 7th. 

See you guys tomorrow! I have more exciting things to share.

PBG Insider: Gay N. Lewis Introduces her "Sarah" series

Sarah at Christmas