PEACE, LOVE AND BABY DUCKS by Lauren Myracle

I’m a little behind in that this is the first Lauren Myracle book I’ve read. I got it as an ARC and thought the cover looked fun. Of course, I’d heard of the author, but none of her books had crossed my path before. I really liked this book. I...

What I do first thing every morning…

Click to enlarge. See more of my husband’s wonderful photographs here. I often link to his daily photo blog, but this link is for his professional online portfolio. Make sure you have some time, as there’s a lot of great stuff to look at. If you’re...

Hard to believe…

I know it’s hard to believe that THREE such cool people could all be born in April. First my agent, then me (if I say I’m cool here it makes it true because this is the web, right?) and now, on the very last day of the month, in the nick of time, my...

Is it magic?

Well, I handed in my edits! Yay! Even did it a few days early. Love that. I have a strange thing to share though. Somewhere along the editing road, my manuscript transformed into a book. I was kind of hoping this would happen. 🙂 What I mean is, that while it seemed...

Things that keep me awake at night…

Actually, since I met my husband, nothing keeps me awake at night. We are so content in our lives that we’ve become champion sleepers. However, if something in my writing did keep me awake at night, this is what it would be. The little mistakes that writers make...

A special treat for you…

I know! Where the heck have I been? My husband and cats are wondering the same thing. Well, I have a deadline on April 30th. Need I say more? I’ve been holed up in my office working on my book and it’s all good! I’m very pleased with my edits! Ask me...

41 Things I’m Grateful For

Last year on my birthday I listed forty things that I was grateful for (because it was my fortieth birthday). I am going to make this a tradition, so without further ado, forty-one things I am grateful for (in no particular order): 1.      Such a great life so far!...

Math Doesn’t Suck!

Hi All, Sorry I haven’t posted in ages. I’m busy, busy, busy listening to the Cubs kick the Cards butts working on my revisions of Restoring Harmony and cutting like crazy! And guess what? It’s going to work! I’m very excited. But that’s...

Break Out the Champagne and Cupcakes!

The next best thing to announcing a book sale of my own is announcing a 3 book deal for my best friend and wonderful writer, Eileen Cook! Do drop by her site and tell her congrats. I can hardly wait to read them, Eileen!

Allergies & Writing

I usually don’t promote anything other than books and writers on this page, but this little device is something I feel so strongly (and happy) about that I have to share in case you need to know about it. As an adult, I’ve been plagued with spring...

Why I Tweet

I am part of a Yahoo group and Twitter has come up for discussion. Like me, before I started to tweet, those who haven’t tried it see it as a huge waste of time. I posted the following message to the group and thought I’d share it here. My name is Joelle...

MIA – I’m still here!

I’m still here, just not blogging much because of the baseball games I am busy revising my book Restoring Harmony. I am on my last day of chopping, dicing, and cutting up the manuscript (had to lose 63 pages!) and tomorrow I get to read it and see what’s...

Baseball, writing, and my grandpa

When I used to fancy myself an actress, I would find myself having to do the occasional audition piece – a one minute monologue. I got tired of digging up new pieces, so one day, I wrote my own. Looking back on it, it’s not great writing, but it actually...

My Grandpa

My grandpa did all the things you’re not supposed to do. Ate bad food, drank more than was good for him, smoked two packs a day. When I was seventeen he paid the price.   No. He didn’t die. He had a stroke.   Sometimes I see it as a blessing. He was a man I could...

April Birthdays are the Best!

Early in April, not so very long ago (certainly not as long ago as I was born), a bouncy baby boy was born and he grew up to be a bouncy literary agent! Please join me in singing wishing my extremely nice, very efficient, smart, handsome, fabulous,caramel-loving,...

You’ve Got Blackmail by Rachel Wright

This British YA is quite funny, light reading. If you like Louise Rennison, you’ll like this too. It made me laugh quite a bit. Also, just because you think you know where it’s going doesn’t mean it actually is going there! And the best part about...

My Character – Live and in Person

Okay, I know that my friend Sarah Tradewell is not really my YA book character Molly come to life. But how we met is a pretty cool story. She and her family came up to the island the other day, and the hubby took this pic. And yes, I do think it would’ve been...

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

That might be the title. Or something like it. Either way, this book is waaaaaay good. What are you waiting for? LOVED IT. I want to write more, but too tired from edits. Just read it. (Adult fiction – a bit of swearing/foul language – still totally...

Has someone hijacked my library card?

I put a lot of books on hold. You’d think with a shelf full of galleys (or ARCs as I usually call them), I wouldn’t even need the library anymore, but the truth is I check out a handful of blogs and people mention books that sound good. Also, authors I...

Favourite Book Covers

Here are my favourite RECENT book covers. Some I’ve just put up, and some I’ve commented on. The top 5 are first and then after that it’s in a random order. Top 5. 1. The Rose Variations I love everything about this cover. I love the photo itself. I...

Fiddle-dee! Lots of links!

If you’ve read about my forthcoming novel, Restoring Harmony, then you know that my main character Molly is a fiddler. My husband is a professional musician (guitar/mandolin/uke/banjo) and so he usually acts as my “expert”, but he’s only...

FORTUNE’S MAGIC FARM by Suzanne Selfors

You can definitely judge this book by its cover. Fantastic cover, fantastic book! Suzanne Selfors is consistently great, so I always consider her books a “sure thing” and of course, I wasn’t disappointed at all. I’ve raved about her YA, Saving...

Let’s all play nice!

The post I just wrote is censored. Deleted. Gone. I spent five minutes ranting about a book I read that I really couldn’t stand for soooo many reasons and then I decided, do I really need to put this negative energy out into the world? Nah…I mean, you know...

Betsy-Tacy and the Chicken

Even if you’re a die-hard fan of Betsy-Tacy, like I am, you’ve probably never heard the story about Betsy-Tacy, The Author, and The Chicken. It goes like this. One day, there was an Author who loved Betsy-Tacy. She got online to buy some of the books...