
Sunday, 24 January 2021
Get Ready for Mardi Gras with YA Author Leigh Goff's Shrimp and Grits and her latest Southern Gothic Read...

Sunday, 17 January 2021
Guest Post: MAMMA MIA! by Anne Montgomery...
I was so out of my league!
Sometimes
we do things that, as Forrest Gump would say, "Just don't make no
sense."
Those
hoping for a spot in the cast filled the stage facing a thin, twenty-something
with a high, tawny pony tail and black leggings. She announced that we would be
learning a series of dance steps.
My head popped up. Drop to my knees? Did she mean the ones that have functioned for the last 15 years thanks to the miracle of modern science, infusions injected with big-ass needles that always make me wince? Those knees?
Not wanting to stand out, I dropped to the floor. I almost bellowed like a moose giving birth, but managed to stop myself.
“Now roll over on your butt and jump up.”
In my case, said roll did not occur. I just stared at the choreographer.
“Now … leap!” She took to the air.
Leap? The thing about leaping is there always tend to be landings involved.
The choreographer encouraged us to leap in this fashion. Don't you agree it hurts just to look at this picture?
“Those of you who want to can bend your leg while leaping. Like this.” She launched herself skyward again. “Point your toes,” she said, alighting gracefully. “Second line, move up to the front.”
Hoping no one would notice, I melted into the back, which would be my primary strategy throughout the ordeal.
After an hour, we took a break. To my horror, five minutes later we were at it again.
“Let’s do
another one,” she said. “This one will be easy. Even I can do it.” She smiled
prettily.
What I wanted most was to go all Tonya Harding on her kneecaps. “See what you feel like when you’re over 60,” I muttered under my breath, as I mounted the stage.
Another hour passed. I longed for my chiropractor.
I know what your thinking. Why didn’t I just go sit down? Pride, I suppose. Or maybe just plain stubbornness. A few other older women had taken seats. I say “older” here with a caveat. If I had to guess, with the exception of my friend Scott, there was probably no one over 50 auditioning. Clearly, I was pretty much alone as a mid-sexagenarian.
Mercifully, the dancing finally ended. But my humiliation was not over.
Scott appeared. “Hey! You need to go in the back.”
I heard women’s voices singing Dancing Queen from backstage. “Why?”
“The mothers are auditioning,” he explained, using the term applied to the older adult women trying out for a part.
Not knowing how I could have missed the others being called away, I leapt – OK, in my mind, I leapt – onto the stage and bolted through a curtain and down a ramp toward the piano, where about eight women were lined up single file.
“I am so sorry I’m late!” I shouted.
All heads turned toward me. A woman looked up, paper and pencil in hand. “Your name?”
“Anne.”
She scrutinized the document.
The director rose from his seat.
“You’re not on the list,” he said. “You were called back only for a dancing part.”
I suddenly realized that if getting a part hinged on my dancing skills, I would need other plans for the summer. “I am … so sorry!”
I fled.
I found Scott in the seats and chastised him. It wasn’t his fault, though. He simply assumed I should be back there with the others, which in retrospect was sweet.
The director soon dismissed those of us who wouldn’t be invited to participate in any further auditions. Totally dejected, I sneaked out the back door.
When I got home, my sweetie pie stared at me. “I’m sorry,” he said without asking what happened.
I wondered if he’d had a premonition, since he already had a glass of wine poured and waiting for me.
“Maybe they did you a favor,” he said a short time later, as I sat in my jammies feeling sorry for myself, rubbing my aching knees.
I sipped my wine and pouted. “Maybe.”
Later that night, wrapped in two cold packs and a heating pad, I licked my wounds and considered whether I would ever try out for another play.
I'm thinking about it. I'll let you know.
Here's a little from my suspense novel based on a true incident. I hope it intrigues you.
When the Amtrak Sunset Limited, a passenger train en route to Los Angeles, is derailed in their midst in a deadly act of sabotage, their lives are thrown into turmoil. As the search for the saboteurs heats up, the authorities uncover more questions than answers.
And then the girl vanishes.
While the sniper struggles to maintain his sanity, a child is about to be born deep in the wilderness.
Anne Montgomery has worked as a television sportscaster, newspaper and magazine writer, teacher, amateur baseball umpire, and high school football referee. She worked at WRBL‐TV in Columbus, Georgia, WROC‐TV in Rochester, New York, KTSP‐TV in Phoenix, Arizona, ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut, where she anchored the Emmy and ACE award‐winning SportsCenter, and ASPN-TV as the studio host for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. Montgomery has been a freelance and staff writer for six publications, writing sports, features, movie reviews, and archeological pieces.
When she can, Anne indulges in her passions: rock collecting, scuba diving, football refereeing, and playing her guitar.
Learn more about Anne Montgomery on her website and Wikipedia. Stay connected on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.
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Sunday, 10 January 2021
Start the New Year off on the Light Side with Sloane Taylor's Easy Baked Chicken Breasts...
Create 45 complete dinners for two and flavor your evenings with a new dish. These 80 recipes use everyday foods already on most kitchen shelves. The recipes are easily increased for those fun times friends or family join your table.
Date Night Dinners, Meals to Make Together for a Romantic Evening, is an ideal gift for engagements, bridal showers, anniversaries, or for anyone who wants to spice things up.

Sunday, 3 January 2021
My Meandering #Authorlife…
Bet y’all are glad to put 2020 to bed, and start 2021 with clean sheets. Actually, we were lucky and blessed in a way as our lives weren’t so disrupted. True, we had to hunker down when everything (except certain stores) closed for a few months due to Covid-19, but our health, safety, and much of our sanity remained intact. Thank God the liquor stores were deemed essential! LOL! Of course plans, celebrations, and milestones went out the window, and my mother had to adjust with no visitors in her nursing home until I was made her essential caregiver in September. Masks became in fashion, and social distancing a requirement. I’ve had so many Covid-19 tests now, I swear my nose wants a divorce!
A shining light in
2020 is that it gave us time to reflect and review our lives and lifestyles.
What we liked, what we didn’t, what we needed to get rid of, and what was
important to us. Board games became popular again amongst families, as did
learning to cook from scratch. We really got back to basics, and slowed down
from the hustle, hustle, hustle of the ‘real’ world. I for one was happy for
the break. I believe, at least in my author life, I was trying too hard to be
like other authors, and not being my authentic author self. Trust me, that’s so
exhausting.
So, I continued to
post my weekly #authorlife images on my social media platforms to show people
how ‘mundane’ an author’s life can really be. It’s not all about meeting
readers at book signings, having extravagant book launches, receiving eye-popping
advances from publishers, and making movie deals with our books (though that
would be nice). The idea is to be present, connect, and engage. That’s all. Writers
know there’s a lot of sweat equity behind showing up to write, whether blog
posts, articles, or full blown novels. Not to mention (but I will) the hours
spent creating marketing plans, posting ads on all your social media accounts,
and constantly promoting your back list of books. An author’s life is also a
fine balance between being there for your family, friends, or pets, as well as doing
important tasks like housework, cooking, laundry, and grocery shopping. Add
dealing with an unexpected pandemic, and you’ve got to juggle a whole lot more!
Or…you can choose to drop those balls and focus on what you really want.
I was blessed to
be quoted on author Colleen Story’s Writing
and Wellness annual quote round-up post, which I’ll share with you here:
“Trust that inner voice of
yours….Write what’s important to you, what you want to say, in whatever genre
you’re compelled to write in….Know that you’ll be in it for the long haul if
you want to make it as a career writer, so don’t give up on your dreams.”
~Sharon Ledwith
I never did give up. Recently I submitted the third installment of The Last Timekeepers young adult time travel adventure series, The Last Timekeepers and the Noble Slave to my publisher, Mirror World Publishing. I got the nod that this book will be published in the late summer or early fall of 2021. This will be my sixth published book to date, and I truly know that I’m in for the long haul. Or as I’ve dubbed it, ‘my meandering #authorlife’.
As I wait to begin edits on the next Last Timekeepers saga, I’ll be working on a side project to help and inspire writers with tips and tricks from my past blog posts. Plus, I’ll be getting back to writing the third installment of Mysterious Tales from Fairy Falls entitled Sticks and Stones. So, bring on 2021! I’ll be ready. I’m betting you are too.
If you’re an author, what does your #authorlife look like? Did 2020 give you a chance to reflect on what kind of writer you want to be? Or were you a writing machine, churning out your best work? Would love to read your comments! Wishing all my followers a very Happy New Year in 2021! Cheers, be well, and thank you for reading my blog.