Great Read For Parents of Teens

Beth Wiseman is mostly known as a best selling author of Amish Fiction. In her new book, Need You Now, she tackles life in a small Texas town located a little over an hour away from Houston. The family dynamic is believable to the reader. Darlene and Brad are parents of three children ranging in age from twelve to seventeen.

I appreciate that the author brings out difficult situations like raising and caring for a special needs child and balancing that care with looking out for teens and their issues. The family is not portrayed as a perfect Christian family although they call out to God in prayer for their daily trials as well as heart breaking events.

Many things that parents are concerned about are also dealt with such as: teen friendships and dating, drinking, drugs, and 'cutting'. The 'cutting' issue hits home with many teens and parents who do not understand the thought process behind the actions. Mrs. Wiseman offers up a storyline that is helpful to readers who are currently dealing with this.

Darlene and Brad are so busy providing for the family and being parents, that they forget to be a couple. The story brings to light how couples must guard their hearts and spend time together. This is a great read.

The Daily Devotional-Gospel of John

Review for The Daily Devotional-Gospel of John by Kristi Burchfeil

This devotional on the Gospel of John focuses on the nuggets of truth found in this book of the Bible. The reader will appreciate the fact that in mining the nuggets, the passion of the book was left intact. This is not a book that disects every word of each chapter and because of this the reader does not get bogged down. The purpose of this devotional is to give the reader a thought each day to mull over and perhaps apply to his life. Each chapter has a Scripture verse from the Gospel of John, a truth from that verse, and a response. The response is the part that makes the verses come alive in the reader's life. It becomes clear that the reader is not to just read, but to put the truth learned into practice. The Daily Devotional-Gospel of John is a devotional that will be useful to both seasoned Bible scholars as well as those who have never attempted a study in the Word.

Interview with Felecia S. Killings

Interview with Felecia S. Killings
Fear, Faith Patienceby Felecia Killings

About the Book

We often wonder what it is like to be a teacher in today’s time. With so much happening in the public schools, it seems any wonder how it is able to function given all the atrocities that go on in the system. But this is the story about a young, beautiful teacher named Felecia Killings.

As a child, she dreamt of the opportunity to be what many call one of the most admirable professions in society: an educator. And when her father witnessed this aspiration in her, he did everything in his power to protect it and to ensure that she fulfilled her mission.

Yet, like so many countless individuals who enter the public school system, Ms. Killings was met with tragedies and struggles. But through it all, she allowed her faith to keep her strong, even in the midst of hell.

This book is one to be commended, for it takes what we think we know about the public school system and brings to light another side that is never talked about. Through this text, you will learn about the power of unconditional love and personal sacrifice.

For every teacher who chooses to stand up for what’s right, even when everyone is against you, this book will minister to you in ways that even you could not imagine. You WILL be inspired.

Purchase book at: Amazon.comhttp://tinyurl.com/7dbrtcv
Author website: http://fearfaithpatience.weebly.com

Fear, Faith and Patience

About the Author

Felecia S. Killings is a quintessential educator and promoter of change, transformation, and innovation within the educational field. Her years of dedicated service to education, and ascribing to the motto that “Learning is a Lifestyle,” has resulted in extensive years of training and preparation in the educational spectrum.

She received her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California, Davis in 2005 with double majors in English and African and African American Studies. She also obtained her Master’s Degree from UC Davis’s School of Education in 2007. She has received preliminary Doctoral of Education course work at Argosy University from 2008-2010; and will complete her Doctorate of Philosophy in Education with emphasis in Organizational Leadership at Northcentral University in Arizona.

Felecia has provided her community with five years of service as a public-school English instructor. She has also created educational programs that help minority youth reach their full potential through excellence in education, job training, and college and career preparations.

Felecia is also an author and publisher, and founder and CEO of Power, Faith, and Love Ministries, which oversees seven organizations. Commitment, dedication to service, and a desire to help others become successful and prosperous are her driving force. Furthermore, her unconditional love for the things of God, and expanding His Kingdom in the earth serve as the foundation for the ministry that God has placed in her spirit.
Visit Felecia at: http://fearfaithpatience.weebly.com

Author Interview

What inspired you to write your first book?
My desire is to ignite a fire within God’s people to become active in earthly affairs inspired me to write this book.

I’m not the type of person who can idly sit back and let injustices go on without speaking up, because I realize that my silence, and that of others, gives license to ungodly, destructive behavior.

I have learned over the last few years that my words, when enveloped in God’s anointing, have the power to bring forth the change that is necessary in public schools. Thus, publishing a book that accomplishes this very task is my driving force.
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
The message that I want readers to grasp is that we all have an obligation to get active in earthly affairs for the sake of the next generation. If we remain silent about issues that plague our schools—issues such as racism, sexism, discrimination, and sexual abuse (especially from students to teachers)—then we cannot expect any change for our youths.







Do you have any advice for other writers?



My advice for other writers is to simply share whatever God places on your heart, and trust that the words He gives you is exactly what the people need to hear in order to bring them out of a terrible situation.

What marketing techniques have you used to sell your books and which ones have been most successful?
As a novice publisher, I knew that in order to get my book out there, I would need the help and expertise of one who has gone before me. My mother, Paulette Harper-Johnson, was just the person because she had already established herself as a prominent Christian author.

After discussing with her my vision of this book ministry, she gracefully accepted the role as my publicist and marketing supervisor. I cannot emphasize enough how much of a help and support she has been to me; and I would highly recommend her services to anyone, especially new authors.

Why should we buy your book?
Purchasing this book is especially important for parents and families that have an investment in the public school system. Anyone who sends their children to these schools needs to understand what is going on in it, and to learn that they have rights that entitle them and their children to receive better and equal education.

This book is also important for educators who feel trapped in a system that commits serious offenses against them. It is an eye-opening text, one that many will find difficult to believe because it is so atrocious. In spite of what goes on there, the book (and the subsequent books to follow) provides hope and encouragement for all those who are facing tough challenges.

Is there a special place that you prefer when you write?
For me, I love writing in the comfort of my home.

What projects are you currently working on?
This book is one of a three-part series; so I am currently finishing the other two books that will provide a conclusion to the stories presented in the first book.

In addition to working on my book ministry, I am in the process of licensing my first non-profit organization that works with adolescent females who are caught up in prostitution within the Bay Area, including Fairfield, CA.

Readers wishing to purchase this book can find it on Amazon.com and other online book stores. They can also visit my website at http://fearfaithpatience.weebly.com to receive a copy.
Purchase book at Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/7dbrtcv

Family & Interview with Diane Head

This year so far has been challenging for a lot of my family. My sweet niece and her husband have spent many hours in hospital waiting rooms. My heart is with them even when I cannot be.

It has been a comfort for this family to have so many people praying for them and giving them support through this terrible time. I am reminded that when it comes to the end of life, relationships are the thing.

We must realize that those around us are what makes up our life. It isn't the toys and trappings of life. It is the conversations, laughter, concern, tears, and love that matters. Somehow, at a death bed, we don't feel the need to send meaningless texts or play yet another game.

When we know this person will not be with us any longer, we call to mind the last words spoken, the last smile, the last hug. These are the important things.

I love my family and it hurts to lose one of those near to my heart, but I know that my great-niece, Tonya, is walking into the arms of God.

All of us are on borrowed time. Each of us will meet our Maker. The questions are: What kind of relationship do I have with Jesus? Do we talk often? Do I know what is on His mind? Do I tell him my concerns? Am I ready to meet my God? All you have to do is reach out to Him and tell Him you want Him. He will do the rest.

I would like to introduce you to an author friend of mine, Diane Head.

Juvenile Non-Fiction – emotions & feelings, social issues.

“Grammy Dee Solves the Case of the Red-Hot Screamies”

Dianehead.tateauthor.com



1. When did you get the urge to write?

I’ve been a published author since my teens when the New Haven Register printed a couple of my poems. I’ve had some success freelancing articles over the years, but this is my first book in print.



2. How did you choose the genre you write in?

I’ve taught classes and counseled adults on anger management, but as a parent & former teacher, I saw the need to bring this teaching to kids while they are learning how to deal with their emotions.



3. Please tell a little about your books.

Grammy Dee is planned as the first in a series of books to help kids ages 4-9 develop a strategy for dealing positively with their emotions. The young reader is reassured that feeling anger is okay; it’s a warning signal that something needs to change.



Grammy Dee cares about kids and encourages them to be detectives and follow clues to decide what needs to change. Then she shares her super tips for setting behavior and expectation boundaries, talking out problems and making plans for change.



Readers get to solve problems, practice communicating their feelings and learn how to react when others are angry around them. This upbeat, practical guide is both instructive and entertaining.



Included is Grammy Dee’s Marvelous Mad Meter – an illustrated chart of the spectrum of angry feelings that an facilitate a helpful dialogue with a caring adult.



4. Do you speak to groups?

I enjoy speaking to church and school groups about how adults can help children not only cope with the complex feelings of anger, but use anger to fuel change.


5. Would you share something about your experiences of being an author?
My most rewarding experience as an author thus far, (aside from my Grandchildren being proud of me), has been my interaction with a local 5 Grade class. They were studying authors and I was asked to answer their questions about the writing process. This grew into an on-going correspondence with several students that has been very rewarding. Nothing like being told “You Rock” by very savvy kids.

6. What is the best response you have received with your books?
Just last week I heard from a woman who had bought Grammy Dee for a grandchild. She reported that her granddaughter loved the book and had learned many lessons from it. The highlight for me was when this child overheard her Grandpa sounding angry with someone on the phone, she ran to give him the book and told him he needed to read it. Now they wanted to buy more books for other grandchildren.

7. Where can your books be purchased?
My soft-cover book is widely available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. Anyone wanting a signed, hardbound copy can purchase one directly from me at the “author’s specials” button on my website: dianehead.tateauthor.com

8. How do you battle the times when you are down in the dumps as a writer?
I have friends who know how to make me laugh. Truly the best medicine – along with great hugs and kisses from 3 darling grandchildren. They are my joy and delight.

9. What was your favorite toy as a child?
I really didn’t have a favorite toy as a child. I loved books. I loved the escape – especially into pioneer days.

Interview with McKendree R Long III

I want to introduce you to another author that writes about the Panhandle of Texas!!!



1. I need you to tell me your name as seen on your books, your genre, and your title(s), and your website address.


I'm McKendree R. Long III, AKA Mike. Genre of the 1st book is Civil War/Western, and its title is "No Good Like It Is". The sequel was released Late December entitled, "Dog Soldier Moon". My website is www.mckendreelong.com

2. How long have you been an author and when did the desire to write (the writing bug) bite?
I finished the 1st book two years ago, and completed the sequel in August 2011. I took a Creative Writing course in 1978; as part of that, I wrote the 1st two chapters of fiction about my first tour in Vietnam. Got and A+ in the course, so I sent the piece to a friend I respected. He called it 'pedestrian', so I pouted for 30 years.

3. Why did you choose the genre you write in? Are there plans to write in another genre?
This all started as a nonfiction work on the rapid development of firearms technology in the Western Era (1850-1890), when we went from muzzle-loading flintlocks to smokeless powder and machine guns in just forty years. In my research I discovered the Eighth Texas Cavalry, got excited about their accomplishments, and decided to put a couple of fictional characters into that regiment to tell their story. The story took a life of its own, and the Eighth Texas and their guns quickly became secondary to the trials of my two protagonists. I've started on the third piece of the trilogy; I suppose when I finish that, I may go back and finish that Vietnam War story.


4. Please tell about each title here:


In "No Good Like It Is", the protagonists (West Pointer Dobey Walls and veteran non-com Jimmy Melton) meet and bond before the Civil War, barely survive the war, they try to speed 'home' to Texas at the war's end to rescue Dobey's long missing family.


They wind up dragging a small army of strays and misfits to the Panhandle with them. Run-ins with lonely widows, Union deserters, destitute farmers, and Confederate Cherokees slow them down. Southern Cheyenne and renegade lawmen add to the chaos.


In the sequel, our heroes establish a small community in the Texas Panhandle which thrives until a horrible crime decimates it. Dobey and jimmy are then driven to try to find and punish the perpetrators, but aren't completely successful.


Meanwhile, the nearby friendly Cheyenne village of Chief Black Kettle is attacked and destroyed by the U.S. Seventh Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer; the destruction and aftermath are viewed through the eyes of the defeated Cheyenne.



5. Do you do speaking engagements? Tell about your subject matter.
I frequently speak to civic clubs (Rotary, Sertoma, Optimists, etc.) and to Civil War Round Tables. Typically spend half my time on the self-publishing process and the other half on my book. In these engagements I usually put out four or five original Civil War firearms for 'Show and Tell'.


6. What has been your most rewarding experience as an author?
Passing 1000 in sales, and being featured in Five Star Books website (5starsbooks.com) as one of twelve Western with lots of 5-star reviews.


7. Where can your books be purchased?

In addition to Amazon, Kindle, and most Hastings Bookstores, it can be ordered through Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, and my website.


7. How can readers reach you through twitter? through facebook? through your blog?

I'm @ McKendree Long on twitter, Mike Long on FB, and my website is www.mckendreelong.com


8. What was your biggest surprise at being an author?
My biggest surprise was that the book appealed to women and twelve year old boys. I thought of it as a 'guy' book; there's a lot of profanity, but I didn't find it necessary to use the 'f' bomb, and I do have a hooker trying to clean up the men's language. There sex, but it's understated. Anyhow, I got this email from a young boy whose Mom bought it for him. He said it was 'not as rough as the talk' on his school bus, and he thought it should be required reading for 6th grade US History classes. Wow.


9. We all know that writing can be a lonely occupation, what do your family and friends do to lift you up when you are down?
I'm just hardly ever 'down'. My wife listens to my drafts and provides first critiques. And I listen to her. We've been together since 1960, and only two things stop me from talking back to her: fear and common sense.


10. What is your favorite toy as a child?

A scaled-down replica of an 1861 Colt Navy revolver when I was six, and an American Flyer bike when I was twelve, so I could ride out and collect arrowheads/Indian artifacts; i ended up with over 1800 items.



If you found this interview interesting, please contact the author or comment on my website.


http://elainelittau.com

Update on steam machine

I loved the steam machine and used it a lot. Then it quit. I think the next generations of the machine look to be a lot sturdier. I am thinking that the mop would be a good purchase.

The bathtub paint is peeling after 4 years. Not bad if you ask me, but I have to redo it soon.

The Meaning of Love

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! In this season we find ourselves thinking about love. Some of us give it a fleeting thought while others of us contemplate the real meaning. Some thoughts may go along this line:

Am I missing out on 'real love'?

Does the one I love love me as much as I love him?

or her

Do I matter?

What is love, anyway?

In my opinion, to understand love, you have to get out of your own skin. The Bible has a whole passage about love. It talks about what love is and what it isn't. That passage is difficult for us to live up to, but it is the pattern we are to follow.

The pattern came from Jesus and His perfect love for us. He fullfilled all the points of the love chapter of the Bible.

It is a passage that is often read at weddings. While we stand at the altar making out vows to love and honor as long as we both shall live, the feelings are flowing and we don't think it will be difficult.

Then comes day to day life...

It is hard to put someone else first.

It is hard to believe all things...bear all things...think only the best of...

After all, we are just flesh and blood.

The longer I live, the more I realize that I can only love other people as the Lord God gives me ability. It is something that ebbs and flows in my own strength. I must depend on him.

The real meaning of love? God. God IS love. God help me love others as You have loved me.


I would like to introduce you to an author friend of mine names Linda Robinson. This is an interview I did with her and your will find it very interesting.

1. What is your name and the title of your book(s)?
Thank you, Elaine, for interviewing me. My name is Linda Robinson. I am the author of a published Christian novel, When Love Abounds.


2. What is one thing you think your readers would like to know about you?

I love God, my life, my family, nature, animals, music, reading, and writing. (Sorry the list is so long. Maybe I should have just said, "I Love!")


3. When did you know that you wanted to become a writer?

About three years ago when I asked the Lord to reveal a talent he had given me that I wasn't using. He led me to write a story that depicts his love, protection, and provisions. By the time I finished the novel, I was completely hooked on writing. Just this month I retired from my outside job, and I plan to "write" out the rest of my life! :)

4 . What are your strong points in your writing style or methods?

I'm a modest person, but I guess I would have to say I can be descriptive (sometimes to a fault), so I love to paint pictures with words.

5. Are you a reader?

A resounding YES! I'm an AVID reader--since the day I began to learn how.

6. What are you reading right now?

I just finished Daddy's Little Girl, one of Mary Higgins Clark's earlier books, and I'm ready to start reading Love on Assignment by Cara Lynn James.

7. Do you have another book that you are working on, which hasn't been submitted for publication? Tell about it.

Yes, I'm writing a manuscript now, but it's only in the embryo stage--without a title.

I do, however, have another novel that just started the production process this month titled, The Longest Road Home, which will be available this summer. It is the second novel in what I refer to as my Love Abounds series.

It is not a sequel, but I took the character, Nathan, from the novel When Love Abounds, and let him lead the reader all over the continent in the historical '50's and '60's via various modes of transportation, as he searched for life's meaning and purpose.

It's filled with the twists and turns of Nathan's life--not just those in the roads.(The protagonist of the "embryo" manuscript I'm writing now is an "offspring" of Nathan's in The Longest Road Home.)

8. What are your biggest obstacles to writing and how do you overcome them?

My biggest obstacle has to be that I work better and more productively alone, with no interruptions. That's hard to accomplish when you have a retired, wonderful, loving husband who loves to talk and eat a few good, home-cooked meals now and then! :)I often keep quite late hours in order to achieve my goals.

9. Please put a description of each of your books here. (back matter is ok)
When Love Abounds - Published 12/2010

When Love Abounds is a fictional novel set deep in the Heart of Dixie. Lou Ellen’s life as a wife, mother, and grandmother is filled with luxuries, comfort, and love. She should be happy.

So why is she left with indefinable feelings that something is left unfinished? In search of the key to her contentment, Lou Ellen sifts through memories of her past to uncover hidden and deeply painful events, as well as humorous and sweet moments. But can she find forgiveness, purpose, and fulfillment?

Her long journey back into her childhood in the historical '40's, '50s and '60's leads her to discover that When Love Abounds, there’s always hope for the future.

Coming soon (Summer 2012)

The Longest Road Home

Seventeen year old Nathan Hudson dreamed of escape. When he managed to do just that, to sneak out and hitch a ride to the next town, he vowed he’d never go home again.

All alone, with no money, no possessions, and barely an elementary level education, he set out on a lengthy journey that would take him back and forth across the continent time after time, as he searched for happiness.

As a runaway teen, hobo, migrant worker, and common laborer, he traveled the scenic miles, enjoying the view and excitement, yet secretly searching for contentment and unconditional love. Finally, irresponsibility, jealousy, and deep-seated, uncontrolled anger led him to lose the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Near destruction, he finally came to the end of himself—only to find that the answer to his purpose and peace had been within his grasp all along.


10. How can readers contact you or purchase your books? Please put your website or blog here.

http://whenloveabounds.tateauthor.com