October 28, 2015

October 26, 2015

Georgia Friends

Left to right: Sue Brown, Jane Marie, Sally Whitten
Last year I attended the annual King of Peace Bazaar in Kingsland, Georgia, not quite an hour from my Amelia Island, Florida home. I met tons of folks as you do when working a craft show. (Besides my novels, I have many handmade crafts, most of which are only available when I do a big show.  I will put some of them online for sale, when I can find the time.) I attended the bazaar this year, too. An hour into the show, two lovely ladies came up to me and told me how much they enjoyed my Goodbye Lie series. So much so, they drove from Georgia down to Fernandina to get their copy of my latest novel, Amelia Island's Mark of a Man. I told them they could have ordered it online or from their local book store, but because Amelia Island is so wonderful to visit, they preferred to come to our little town where the stories take place, and get it here, locally.

They went on to tell me how they saw an ad saying the bazaar would take place in a month's time and they made a point of attending, in the hope I would be there, with my 4th novel, Amelia Island's Sand and Sin.  I had to tell them it is written and I will begin editing it in 2016.  I was very flattered, of course, because their love of the stories was apparent.  They "get" the whole Goodbye Lie world. So, please say hi to Sue Brown and Sally Whitten.  They are faithful Goodbye Lie-rs, like the rest of us! 

Oh, please be sure and share this blog with your friends.  We do have some fun and, once in a while, informative times, don't we?

October 19, 2015

Chimney Pictorial + Velvet Undertow Excerpt

     Because I love Victorian era history, I took a course at our Amelia Island Museum of History to learn about the area.  That was many moons ago.  I never imagined I would complete three period novels set on this island and be working on a fourth in The Goodbye Lie series, as I am now. 

      I learned many things at the museum, one of which is to look up.  To that end, I discovered the beauty of chimneys!  Not such an odd thing, to my mind, anyway.  Statuesque and unbending, oh, what family secrets has the wafting smoke witnessed over time, only to share with the waiting stars by way of those chimneys ... 

Excerpt from Amelia Island's Velvet Undertow:

       Friends and volunteer firemen, townsfolk, and strangers stood about, not speaking. Their faces and bodies were dark with soot, like the dog. They were one with the surroundings. Only glowing wood and smoldering ash were left, save for five tall brick chimneys. Those towers rose like markers in an ebony graveyard designating the place where every ... possession lay burned or charred. 
A damaged chimney crowns a building Centre St. in downtown Fernandina on Amelia Island, Florida. Note the bird nests on the left side roof line or was a seed blown high into the air to land and grow between the bricks?






 















INFO & TO PURCHASE Amelia Island's Velvet Undertow CLICK HERE

October 12, 2015

Puppy Paw Strangeness



Our Abby - less than enthusiastically showing her paw.
So, when was the last time you smelled your dog’s feet?  Personally, I have never made a habit of it.  In fact, I don’t think I have ever done it or thought to do it.  However, I will tell you that my husband, Bruce, and my granddaughter, Ava, have.  How do I know this?  Curiously, Bruce admitted it and Ava named her Chihuahua Nasty Nina Nacho.  A silly name, but with much meaning behind it, as I’ve discovered, since I recently heard something that shocked me.  The fact I had no knowledge of this particular canine peculiarity, of which I am about to tell you, is flabbergasting to me, a dog owner of many years. How had I missed out on this semi-common tidbit of info in my life?  And here I thought I knew everything, at least, that's what Bruce says when he's mad at me. I digress. (I digress a lot.)

Here it is.  A dog's feet smell like Fritos.  Huh?  HUH?  In particular, I'm talking about their pads, if they're healthy.  I can see it now.  All around the world, where this blog travels, readers will be seen sniffing dog feet. Word of advice: Keep it  in the family and sniff only your own dog's tootsies.  Also, it would be best to do such a thing behind closed doors. If you're reading this blog, and who isn't, your neighbors probably think you're a little peculiar anyway.  No need having them call the white coats on you.  I smelled one of Abby’s front paws and it smells like a dirty sweeper, with a touch of corn chip, so it must be true!  Google it.  I did. 

October 5, 2015

Another Peeperism

Grandmother Peeper
"If'n ya season the chicken
 too much, 
your shoes will be tight." - Peeper

Peeper is a featured player in The Goodbye Lie trilogy. Everybody's favorite Amelia Island, Florida grandmother from the 1880s, she never fails to impart her brand of wisdom to her family, friends and enemies, like next-door Aunt Noreen. Sometimes funny, sometimes serious, rest assured, the better you get to know Peep, the more she'll teach you. - Jane Marie