Authors, Kai Strand & LA Dragoni

Don't forget I've got a fun/easy giveaway running through Sunday. See this post for details and then hop on over to my Facebook and Twitter to share all the messages to enter to win.  The Next Best Thing  Blurb: Four years ago, Emma Fraser’s first love took his own life. Now, twenty years old and in college, Emma and her best friend, Andy, are still mourning the loss of a friend and brother. Nothing is the same as it once was…and things are about to change even more. Too heartbroken to even consider falling in love again, Emma stays distracted by school and work. Until she meets Landon and, for the first time ever, finds herself believing she might actually have a future with someone. But when Deegan Burke—the man responsible for all of Emma’s heartache—gets out of prison early, Emma is suddenly confronted by her worst fears. And when faced with choices she never thought she’d have to make, Emma discovers that the only person she really wants by her side is the la...

Let’s have some fun! Help introduce me and my work to fellow readers and you might win one of two fun big mouth key chains. Bright and early each morning during the week of October 10 – 16, I’ll put a post on my Facebook page and Twitter that you can share. You’ll know which post because it will include the hashtag #BigMouth. Each time you share them, you’ll be entered for a chance to win one of two fun key chains. The winners will be chosen randomly (week of October 17 th ) from a pool of all the shares. Just to be crazy, I’m gonna make this open internationally, so share and share and don’t worry about who’s watching, because everybody can get in on this one. To qualify to win not only must you share my message on Facebook and/or Twitter, you must follow me on the social media outlet where you shared my message.  On Facebook and Twitter, enter "Kai Strand #BigMouth" in the search field and share and/or retweet each result! Thanks for your participation! ...

Have I ever told you how much I love spreadsheets? Yeah. *Sighs* I’ve got a spreadsheet for everything. Henceforth, I know the last three things I submitted were novels to my current publishers – two years ago. They were all accepted – so yippee for that! There are points in your career when you stop and re-evaluate the direction you want to go, the opportunities you have, and if your goals have changed. I’m sitting smack dab in the middle of that point right now. It’s like a huge, deserted crossroads. It’s dark. There are tumbleweeds and maybe a scarecrow – or an ax murderer. Like I said, it’s a dark and vast point. I can’t really see where any of the roads lead. They all seem to have similar terrain; things to trip over, rises and valleys, occasional smooth, groomed patches. I’ve traveled along a couple of the paths already and had a mixture of good experiences, mediocre experiences, and lackluster experiences. In other words no path is perfect and sometimes knowing the path m...

I love Andrew Lloyd Weber’s, Phantom of the Opera , and this is one of my favorite moments of the production. Beside the epic choreography, the scene—the lyrics—are so relatable. ♫Look around. There’s another mask behind you♫ We’ve all known people who wear a mask whenever they are in public. Most people aren’t as obvious as the Mayor from Halloween Town, but if we look really, really close, we might be more aware of when their head spins between a frowny face and a smiling face. We also know people like the queen bee at school who compliments your skirt – to your face. But you know what? We all have to wear a mask at one point or another. When you run into an ex co-worker at the pizza shop one night and she asks how it’s going. Are you really going to tell her your husband’s business failed, your oldest kid got busted for shoplifting, and you can’t find a job for more than $13/hour? No. You’re going to paste on the Mayor’s smile and say, “Fine! Everything is fi...

I'm SO excited to share the cover reveal for S.A. Larsen's upcoming middle grade book Motley Education . I read an early version of this book and you're gonna want to put this bad boy...er girl...on your reading list!  First let's hear about the book: Forget having a lively after school social life, Ebony Charmed is fighting to keep the entire Afterlife alive. Ebony’s less-than-average spirit tracking abilities are ruining more than sixth grade at Motley Junior High: School for the Psychically & Celestially gifted. Her parents argue so much her dad moved out. And, even though he’s scared of his own shadow and insists on bringing his slimy, legless lizard everywhere they go, Ebony wouldn’t survive without her best friend, Fleishman. When Ebony’s Deadly Creatures & Relics’ project goes missing, she learns her missing project is one of the keys to saving the spirit world. Now Ebony and Fleishman must battle beasts from Norse Mythology to retri...

Welcome to Three Times A Charm. I love to introduce readers to the people involved in children’s publishing. Today we welcome children’s non-fiction author and photographer, Kathy Coatney. Kathy, we’d love for you to tell us a little about you. California native Kathy Coatney has spent long hours behind the lens of a camera, wading through rice paddies, dairies and orchards over her twenty-year career as a photojournalist specializing in agriculture. With her roots in agriculture running four generations deep, she felt a deep concern that children didn’t know how their food was produced. Envisioning a new direction for her writing, she launched From the Farm to the Table series of nonfiction children’s books about agriculture.  Happily married for over thirty-five years, she and her husband have two grown sons, a grandbaby on the way and a menagerie of animals—a black lab who thinks she’s human, a house cat that looks part bobcat, and half a dozen cottontails that roam fr...

TIMELESS (#3 Maiden of Time) by Crystal Collier #CoverReveal You know how it is to walk around with a secret? Well, yeah...I've been holding this info aside for -what seems like - FOREVER! But today I finally get to share it with you too. Crystal Collier is revealing the beautiful cover for the final book in her Maiden of Time series. It's as eye-catching as the first two covers and knowing what an awesome author Crystal is...well, I'm sure the book is just as spectacular. Giveaway below, free 1st chapter available...but first...drum roll... Book Title: TIMELESS (Maiden of Time #3) Author: Crystal Collier Genre: YA Paranormal Historical Release Date: November 1, 2016 TIME IS THE ENEMY In 1771, Alexia had everything: the man of her dreams, reconciliation with her father, even a child on the way. But she was never meant to stay. It broke her heart, but Alexia heeded destiny and traveled five hundred years back to stop the Soulle...