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Please Mother Nature...

3/18/2019

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Where did you put spring?

I was looking for a good topic to put on my blog this week and in picking my brain, I couldn’t come up with a darn thing. So, I figured I’d take this opportunity to discuss the absence of spring.

Yes, I know Spring doesn’t officially come until March 20, 2019 at 5:58 pm EDT according to the great newsworthy Almanac. But come on, does Mother Nature have to keep tossing snowballs and frigid winds at us before she allows Spring to come out of her hiding place? I’ve seen the telltale arrival of the robins, but why are they being tortured along with us? I mean, the poor little creatures are tucked up under the eaves on my back porch or hiding in the hay storage barn because heaven know it’s too cold and windy most days for them to even stick one of their beaks out.

I saw the first green shoots of some of the crocus flowers outside the chapel the other day, but even they don’t look like they are too anxious to expose their bright purple and yellow blooms to us. In fact, I’ll bet if they could they would shrink back into the ground until Mother Nature gets it together and lets spring out of her closet. Or prison. Whichever place she had the audacity to hide her.

We managed to get one day in the garden. Just ONE. Usually, you should be able to plant your peas by St. Patrick’s Day according to the wise words of my dearly departed father who had the biggest green thumb ever. We were able to rake up the old plants but after one attempt at passing the tiller through the soil it became apparent the garden was still too full of the remnants of the snow (translated to being too muddy) to even try. So, there it sits beckoning at me every time I look outside from the warmth of my kitchen window.

Of course, the goats must have spring fever because they have found the one hole in the fence between our pasture and the neighbor’s pasture and managed to get out. I have now dubbed them E-scape goats. One happens to be too fat for me to lift across the fence by myself and after several tries in the middle of the raging wind and rain the other night, managed to catch my crotch on the barbed wire at least twice, caught my foot in the mesh trying to get my crotch disconnected from the barbed wire, and ended up hind-side down in the swamp my neighbors refer to as their cow pasture. Thankfully, another neighbor came to the rescue and managed to slip the very plump Wesson back over the fence for me.

I did attempt to do some spring cleaning over the weekend, but after cleaning up the trail of mud from my adventure in goat catching and watching the snow come down, I figured it would be futile to do the deep cleaning I like to do in the springtime because surely one of the E-scape goats will manage to find themselves on the wrong side of the fence and I’ll have another trail of mud. I’ll save the spring cleaning for when I know Spring has really arrived.

I wish I had a direct line to Mother Nature because my guess is she and Father Time got their wires crossed while they were wrapped up together over the cold winter months. I picture the two of them with their arms and legs tangled up watching PornHub on the internet or wherever you can find that particular channel. Not that I would know. I guess for as long as they’ve both been around, they deserve a little boost to their love life. But not at the expense of forgetting to let Spring out of jail.

Speaking of jail. Has anyone seen that little lying prick of a groundhog? I’ve heard he is wanted in cities and towns across the nation for fraud. I hope someone catches the little liar and throws the book at him. Giving us his spiel about predicting the weather based upon his seeing or not seeing his shadow. Either way, the little jerk said spring was in 6 weeks from Ground Hog Day and by my calculation that would have been March 9th. Does anyone want to go ground hog hunting with me? They need to strip him of his holiday…and his fur. It’s probably worth more than his word at the local fur trader. (PS-Don’t tell PETA on me for saying that…SMH)

Okay, I guess I’ll stop complaining. It’s not doing anything to warm the weather but I’m getting a little hot under the collar because I’m frustrated with Mother Nature right now…not to mention wondering what she and Father Time are watching on the internet.

Happy Spring to all…whenever she arrives!


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And Here's Lynda!!

3/13/2019

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Tell me what makes Lynda Cox “tick” as an author or a person or both:
A couple of things can really speed my heart rate and keep me keepin’ on—When I’m not writing or researching for writing, I show dogs. Collies, specifically. Looking at a litter of puppies, evaluating them, pinning a few dreams to them, that makes me smile. Showing those dogs makes me happy. In my writing life, research makes me happy. It can be frustrating, but it also makes me happy. And, my readers are the biggest reason I keep doing this. If I can make one person smile with something I’ve written, I’ve accomplished something. Meeting readers at conventions and book signings is the best part of being an author. Even if those readers don’t read in the genre I write in, we can usually find books we’ve both read and share those books. Writing and reading might be solitary pursuits, but the act of talking about favorite books is a shared experience.
Do you have a muse or a person who inspires you to write? Tell us about them:
That fully depends on the hero and that changes from book to book—though I have noticed a trend. Most of my heroes tend to be dark headed and blue-eyed. Henry Cavill has been one of the muses. I think he’s been a muse for a lot of authors. I first took notice of him in The Tudors. I’m showing my age with a few more of the muses—but Clint Walker was another of the muses. Harrison Ford (the Han Solo version) was another muse.
Of all the books you have written, tell us about your favorite one and why it was your favorite:
Smolder on a Slow Burn is my heart book. I know, as an author, I’m not supposed to have favorites (it’s rather like asking which kid of mine is my favorite), but that this question is here says a lot of authors have favorite books. Smolder started life many, many years ago as a contemporary romantic suspense. The hero was based on a Marine officer I met while I was dating a Midshipman at the United States Naval Academy. That officer simply exuded pure, raw animal magnetism and put a fit, confident man in a formal dress uniform—dangerous combination to an impressionable seventeen-year-old. For NaNaWriMo one year, I pulled the original manuscript out and thought about revamping it. It was much too dated. It could almost pass as a historical at that point. So, I started playing the “What if…” game with myself. What if I turned it into an actual historical? What if they both had a past one of them was running from and the other was avoiding? I threw them on a train headed in the right direction—AWAY—and started writing. When I wrote A.J.’s first line of dialogue between him and Allison, as he tells her to go sit down before she knocks him out the door of the moving train, I knew it would work. I love these two so much, I wrote a sequel which is now my fifth book published through the Wild Rose Press.
What book are you working on right now? Do you have a release date you can share with us?
I’m working on three at this moment. One is for a series I’m writing with Kari Trumbo and Christi Corbett. The other two are for the Brokken Road series with Abagail Eldan and P. Creeden (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K2L3VDD ). Of those two, one is a Christmas novella for an anthology and the other is a stand alone within the series. These will all be self-published, and I don’t have a firm release date, other than November 4 for the anthology.
Other than writing, what else are you passionate about?
I’m passionate about my dogs and the push back against the animal rights activists. I’m all for animal welfare. Don’t get me wrong, but there is a HUGE difference between animal welfare and animal rights. Our rights as pet owners, as farmers, as ranchers have been steadily eroded over the last several decades and it frightens me.
What have you found to be the most difficult part of being an author?
Bad reviews. I try not to take them personally but those are my babies someone didn’t like. I have to laugh though about one really bad review I received. It was a one-star review for my first book with the Wild Rose Press. The reviewer admitted she hadn’t read the book, she couldn’t remember ever buying it but there it was on her Kindle, and because it wasn’t even in a genre she would read, she blamed me for that book being on her Kindle. Seriously? For the most part, I don’t look at the bad reviews, but that is one I still look at to remind myself common sense doesn’t grow in everyone’s garden.
If money were no object, what philanthropic contributions would you make and why?
First of all, I’d donate a boatload of money to a scholarship maintained by the English Department at my alma mater, Indiana State University. The Pfenning Scholarship is for declared English majors and when I was the first ever freshman to earn that scholarship, it guaranteed I could afford to continue my program. Secondly, I’d donate to Gary Sinese’s Foundation for members of the armed services. Lastly, I’d donate to Adam Driver’s Foundation which encourages the arts for service members.
 Tell us about your most memorable moment as an author:
Wow. This is a tough question. There are so many. The moment I got the e-mail from the Wild Rose Press offering me a contract on my first published book. The first time someone other than my family and close friends contacted me and wanted to buy my book and asked me to autograph it. (That was a total head-rush!) Getting nominated for the RONE with Smolder on a Slow Burn. Being a finalist for the RONE and ultimately being the runner up for the RONE with West of Forgotten. Self-publishing my first book—so I guess that makes me a hybrid author.
Do you consider yourself an extrovert or an introvert? Why?
I’m an introvert. I’m horribly, horribly shy. Big surprise there, considering I taught college freshman composition for two years and I’ve been showing dogs for almost 40 years, but I really am very shy. Book signings and conferences are very difficult for me because I tend to hang on the edges, prefer to not be noticed, and suffer from extreme anxiety in large groups of people.
The sky is the limit…tell us anything else you would like to tell us…
To aspiring authors, I have some advice. Write, write, and write some more. Read, read, and read even more. Read in your genre to learn the standard tropes, then note how established authors take the standard tropes and twist them and turn them on their heads.  You can take the rules and bend and twist them, but you have to know what the rules are first before you can do that. And, if you do bend and twist the rules, you have to know why you did that.
 
 
Where can readers find you? Please list your social media, website, and other links you’d like to share below:
My webpage: www.lyndajcox.com
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/lynda-j-cox
Author Persona on FB: https://www.facebook.com/LyndaJCox/
My Street Team on FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/273089652815599/
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Lynda-J.-Cox/e/B009LW3JZ6
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Introducing Maurice Vandiver

3/7/2019

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Tell me what makes Maurice Vandiver “tick” as an author or a person or both:
My grandbaby and my daughter and two sons. Trying to leave a foundation for them.

 If you could go anywhere in the world to live, where would you go and why? Describe your residence once you get there:
Maybe Florida. I like the sun and the atmosphere.

Do you have a muse or a person who inspires you to write? Tell us about them:
Robert Green and James Allen who wrote From Poverty to Power. After reading that book, I was inspired to write.

 Of all the books you have written, tell us about your favorite one and why it was your favorite:
Let’s Go. It’s a motivational book which I wrote from a dark place where I work through how to reach the next level. I wanted to inspire others to believe in themselves and move on to a higher level.

What book are you working on right now? Do you have a release date you can share with us?
I’m currently working on Part 2 of the Bankroll Boys. I don’t have a release date yet because I want to make sure the 2nd book lives up to the hype.

Other than writing, what else are you passionate about?
Learning how to invest my money. Want to be able to leave something behind for my children. Learning about real-estate and have been detailing cars to add to what I can invest.

What have you found to be the most difficult part of being an author?
Writer’s block.

We want to come visit your library. What books might we find on your shelves that we wouldn’t expect to find?
Poverty to Power, 48 Laws of Power, The Bible
 
If money were no object, what philanthropic contributions would you make and why?
Build houses and schools all over the world.
 
 Tell us about your most memorable moment as an author:
When I sold 25 copies of my first book.

Do you consider yourself an extrovert or an introvert? Why?
About half and half. Sometimes I like to get out and party and other times just stay in the house and write or read.

You’ve got a whole weekend to do whatever you want to do, how are you going to spend it?
Probably sleeping, cooking some nice meals. Loves jazz and smooth music.
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Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give a younger version of yourself?
Don’t fall into the peer pressure. Believe in yourself and who you are. Accept who you are and don’t try to be someone you aren’t.
 
Where can readers find you? Please list your social media, website, and other links you’d like to share below:
https://www.amazon.com/Bank-Roll-Boys-Part-1-ebook/dp/B01AR2O8T4/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=maurice+vandiver&qid=1551911228&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull
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https://www.amazon.com/Lets-Go-Maurice-Vandiver-ebook/dp/B01HP4ILMM/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_2?keywords=maurice+vandiver&qid=1551911295&s=gateway&sr=8-2-fkmrnull

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The Salem Witch Trials

3/3/2019

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I thought I would do something different this week on my blog and remember the innocent lives lost during the Salem Witch Trials.
March 1st was the anniversary of one of the most infamous displays of mass hysteria in our country. These trials began after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts claimed to be possessed by the devil after falling prey to several local women who were accused of being witches. During this wave of hysteria through colonial America, a special court was convened in Salem to hear the cases. Nineteen innocent people were hanged as a result of the witch trials and around 150 more men, women and children were accused over the months to follow.
It has been said the belief in the supernatural and the devil's practice of giving power to humans to harm others in return for their soul and loyalty began in Europe but was widespread in colonial New England. Salem Village being a Puritan community was suffering some harsh realities such as a recent smallpox epidemic and fear of attack by neighboring Native American tribes along with a rivalry between the more affluent residents of Salem Town. These very components are what led to suspicions, resentment and fear of anyone outside the Puritan community.
After two young girls began displaying symptoms which included delusions, vomiting and muscle spasms a local doctor diagnosed them as being victims of bewitchment. However, modern-day analysis of the fungus ergot which is found in rye and wheat could have been the root cause of their symptoms. In Colonial America, there were no means by which to analyze whether the fungus has been the cause; therefore, the first three women were brought before the magistrate while their accusers continued to scream, writhe as if they were afflicted by evil itself. Two of them women denied their guilt while a third--Tituba a slave woman--thought she could save herself by confessing and claiming there were other witches working with her in the service of the devil against the Puritan community. Those who were accused  confessed and named yet other suspected witches of cavorting with the devil. The trials soon consumed the whole community and on June 2, 1692 the first conviction was handed down by the magistrates.
Nineteen innocent people were hanged between June and September on Gallows Hill in Salem Town. Seven innocent people died while in jail. And an elderly man was pressed to death by stones after refusing to enter a plea at his arraignment.
In January 1697, the Massachusetts General Court declared a day of fasting over the tragedy that occurred during the Salem Witch Trials which were later deemed as unlawful. The leading justice apologized for his role in the trials and the Massachusetts colony passed legislation restoring the good names to the condemned and their heirs received financial restitution in 1711.
This tragedy all boils down to an example of mob mentality, mass hysteria and scapegoating which resulted in the execution of 19 innocent people. Their names are listed below:

Bridget Bishop
Rebecca Nurse
Sarah Good
Elizabeth Howe
Susannah Martin
Sarah Wildes
George Burroughs
George Jacobs, Sr.
Martha Carrier
John Proctor
John Willard
Martha Corey
Mary Eastey
Mary Parker
Alice Parker
Ann Pudeator
Wilmot Redd
Margaret Scott
Samuel Wardwell, Sr.
Giles Corey

In memoriam...March 1692-March 2019



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    I love the peace and quiet of living in the country.  It inspires me and refreshes me at the end of a long day.

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