3/13/16 WEWRIWA

Daylight saving Time. Don’t you love it?

Another ten from Reconstructing Charlie and maybe I’ll move on since my latest book, Together, Again was just released and I’m ecstatic. The last piece of the series is finished and will soon be translated in Spanish and French. Folks, I’m thrilled, to say the least.

Charlie and Aunt Eleanor go shopping:

Excerpt:A knock at the door and she entered dressed to shop; pretty in a white sweater set with pearls, a print silk skirt and white pumps, the picture of a summer garden. By comparison, I looked like a lumberjack next to my aunt.

We sat in the big limousine driven by Robert and drove to a place called the Magnificent Mile, Michigan Boulevard.”What are the latest fall fashions for my niece entering high school?” Corrine, the salesperson rattled off a list: “form fitting tee shirts short in length showing a hint of bare midriff with wide blue jeans;leggings with slouch socks and white Keds and long loose sweaters.”

I didn’t have a clue about leggings and slouch socks but when she said bare midriffs, I thought-get me out of here.

I needed something to cover my butt and androgynous was my style.

Over lunch, Aunt Eleanor confided in me,”Stuart and I were never blessed with children and now you’re here with us. Somehow, fate in the name of Elizabeth,brought you to our door and I want you to know you may trust me although I’m not your mother.”

The waiter came and I ate my first shrimp salad thinking of what she just said.

for more snippets from talented writers:

http://www.wewriwa.com./

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Reconstructing-Charlie- Charmaine-Gordon/dp/0615909175
http://www.amazon.com/Reconstructing-Charlie- Charmaine-Gordon-ebook/dp/B004KKZ6WS
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product- reconstructingcharlie-511663-152.html
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/38890

 

 

 

 

3/6/16 WEWRIWA

Hi Gang. The lying weatherman claimed we’d have seventy degrees by the middle of the week. Snow two days ago and now the sweet smell of spring. The beach calls to me. I finished one book today and another will be released 3/11 Here’s the amazing news. Vanilla Heart, my publisher is having several books translated into foreign languages and Reconstructing Charlie is one of them. I’d jump in the air with joy but I’m afraid I’d break bones on the way down.

Last week Charlie had a welcome arms greeting from the aunt she didn’t know existed. Today I’ll fill you in a bit further. After a delicious breakfast with her aunt where she learned an inside story of her mother as a child and more than she needed to know about her new aunt and uncle, aunt Eleanor showed Charlie upstairs to a guest room on the second floor.

Excerpt: She left, footsteps muffled by the thick carpet; her scent lingered, something light and sweet. The room was breathtaking with everything so perfect, matched, luxurious and a four poster bed I tried out to bounce on a few times. The past twenty four hours hit me; did the cops believe Mom or were they searching for me, the piece of shit who ran away like a coward leaving my family.

I ran to the bathroom, unbuttoned my dress to hang it up but too late my aunt was in the doorway with me in my shabby bra and panties. She had her hand over her mouth as she saw my bruises__on my back and arms.

“Oh Charlie.”

“I heal fast, Aunt Eleanor; in two weeks they’ll be gone and no one will ever hurt me again, I promise,” and a flood of tears released from me.

She held me in her arms the way I’d held Mom a million times. My aunt was older and felt kind of fragile but I bet she had a core of steel. Backing away with tears in her eyes, my aunt left, her silk dress spotted with my guilt and shame.

for more snippets from talented writers:

http://www.wewriwa.com/

 

http://www.amazon.com/Reconstructing-Charlie- Charmaine-Gordon/dp/0615909175
http://www.amazon.com/Reconstructing-Charlie- Charmaine-Gordon-ebook/dp/B004KKZ6WS
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product- reconstructingcharlie-511663-152.html
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/38890

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2/28/6 WEWRIWA

How ’bout this, dear friends. We are almost into Spring. On with the shorts. . .almost Welcome to WEWRIWA and one more snitch of Reconstructing Charlie, a story that had me crying for six months until the end. I didn’t want to raise another kid. Mine were grown up and then I had a dream. Oh well. She turned out fine so here goes. Last week she killed her father to save her mother. Mom packed a bag with Charlie’s clothes and told her to run for the bus. She also gave her a note to deliver to relatives in Chicago, an aunt and uncle she didn’t know existed. She arrives, at age fifteen, in this wondrous city, hitches a ride with a cop to Lake Shore Drive. The name sounds so pretty.

excerpt: I watched the cop named Patrick Donnelly drive away and stood before the front door of a tall building that looked like a picture come to life. Mom’s letter in hand, I rang to hear chimes echo somewhere in the house; a man in black opened the door.

A woman who looked familiar , an older version of Mom, walked down a curved staircase to move as if she floated toward me and  cried out,”Elizabeth,”  with arms outstretched, she embraced me.

Mistaken identity I thought because she looked like my mom and she believed I was her sister; for a moment we both cried but just for a moment.

With hands so soft, she’d never washed a dish, she held me at arms length to declare, “You are Elizabeth’s daughter.”

She lifted  a silver bell, shook it , and the man in black appeared. “Edgar, this is my niece and she’s hungry.” His expression didn’t change as if nieces showed up every day.

“The dress you’re wearing is one I purchased for her long ago.” My elegant aunt spoke in a voice like a movie star so different from back home.

for more snippets from talented writers:

http://www.wewriwa.com/

 

http://www.amazon.com/Reconstructing-Charlie- Charmaine-Gordon/dp/0615909175
http://www.amazon.com/Reconstructing-Charlie- Charmaine-Gordon-ebook/dp/B004KKZ6WS
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product- reconstructingcharlie-511663-152.html
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/38890

If you’d like me to continue with this story, raise your right hand and yell YES! Otherwise, I can move on. I don’t want to bore my pals here. Just speak to me. I listen, hearing aids and all.

 

 

 

 

And Then She Said. . .

Joy fills my heart when: the school bus comes close-door opens and here comes my grandest to run into my arms. Yesterday a neighbor stopped by ;her daughter came off the bus and the girls had a wild and crazy time on the front swings. Wonderful to watch although a bit of nostalgia comes . Oh yes. I did a lot of things and had some great times growing up, the middle child-the only girl at a time when boys were way more valuable.

Did I mope about it? No way. I danced, sang, acted my way into people’s hearts eventually becoming a small fish in the big pond in New York. Now at age 85, I’m having an epiphany. Carefully I walk without the cane. Yippee! More to come for this aged person and why? It’s Grandest who leads the way. Here she is in all her sweetness helping her precious mom walk the dogs. She has Gracie on the lead, Mom has Tommy.

I love this family. Just wanted to share a moment today.

2/14/16 WEWRIWA

February 13th is my 85th birthday, folks. One day I’m tap dancing, the next I’m married to my first love with six children.

Last week I introduced Reconstructing Charlie to you. She’s the one with the father who had a belt. Remember him? A belt of whiskey and more.

Moving on with this weeks excerpt:

The front door banged open hard enough to rattle the dishes in the cabinet. Mom’s one treasure–a porcelain egg–rolled to the edge,teetered for a second and fell end over end to the hardwood floor. The small egg cracked with the force of a bomb. Mom stared at broken pieces from a life she had long ago. Her face turned white, every freckle showing and my fists clenched.

He staggered around waving a tire iron in the air, muscled from working a jackhammer for the city all his sorry life and ugly drunk. This time I was ready.

I wrestled it out of his filthy hands, hit him good and he lay torn up with blood everywhere on Mom’s clean floor. We were safe now because I’d done this terrible thing and I didn’t know how I could live with it.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Reconstructing-Charlie- Charmaine-Gordon/dp/0615909175
http://www.amazon.com/Reconstructing-Charlie- Charmaine-Gordon-ebook/dp/B004KKZ6WS
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product- reconstructingcharlie-511663-152.html
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/38890

for more snippets from talented writers:

http://www.wewriwa.com/

9/21/14 WEWRIWA

Welcome, dear readers, writers and friends to another Sunday with Weekend writer warriors; we who hole up with computers in our snug nest typing away with fictional characters hovering over our shoulders. We laugh and cry and write The End only to begin again. Join the love fest. We’re a community of writers who welcome constructive critique.

Continuing with Housebroken. After Sally and Steve have fallen in love with this unusual town, River’s Edge in upstate NY where the credo is Kindness to Strangers, they’ve found the perfect house. This snippet takes place the next morning. It’s one of those -Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water moments. . .

Sally arrived home after the best workout in months to find Steve’s car in the driveway and stopped, frightened.

Fear flooded through her as she raced in the house calling, “Steve, Steve,” and up the stairs to the bedroom she ran to find him lying there on the bed face ashen, tie askew.

He struggled to sit up; “I got to work to find  a note from Hiro San the top boss left on my desk that said  he wanted to see me early in the day so I hurried over to his closed door.

“Steven San,”my superior  said with a smile, “We must close your division of the company therefore you are now retired.

Hiro San, the snake, I never liked him, pushed a paper across the desk and said, “Sign here, keep pen.”
“What did you do?” Sally’s hands clenched to hold back tears of the indignity he’d suffered after years of service.
“I had no choice; I signed, accepted a folder with pages of information and with much bowing on his part, I left—out of work for the first time in my life.”

Shocked by the sudden turn of events, Sally said, “Steve, we’ll find a way to survive. Let’s look at the damn folder and figure out how we’ll manage before you get a job and I can work. This is no time to move.” Her dreams of River’s Edge faded.

for more snippets by talented writers:

http://www.wewriwa.com

BUY LINKS
SMASHWORDS for All EReader Devices
including PC and Mac

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/464048

ALLROMANCE

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-housebroken-1587634-149.html

KINDLE
http://www.amazon.com/Housebroken-Rivers-Edge-Romantic-Suspense-ebook/dp/B00MDYI08U                             

Does Sleepover always mean Sleep?

“Mom, Please sleepover.”

“Why?”

“I need you. Purple Heart is coming tomorrow morning and our little one only goes to bed if you’re here to calm her down.”

“Okay.” I packed a minimal batch of stuff and hurried out into the darkening sky with rain beginning to fall. Peering through the wind shield, how I dislike driving at night!, I drove carefully the twenty minutes. Daughter opened the garage door beckoning me to park next to her car in the driveway. She grabbed my cane, bag and trusty pillow and we ran in. She said our little girl was in tears worried about me driving in the dark, in the rain. Sure enough, Grandest wrapped herself around me sobbing. and up the stairs wee went to the tune of dogs barking in the yard.

All too soon we laughed. Then suddenly she held her sweet hands over her ears. Thunder boomed. I said, “Do you know what makes that sound?” A shake of her blonde hair. “It’s God moving his couch.” “Yes and when the noise is really loud, God is trying to move a big television set and the couch at the same time.” Laughter cures fears. It’s like that all through life.

In ten minutes we were in our jams , teeth brushed, no fuss and off to sleep.  Here’s the proof.

When I wrote Instant Grandpa, I thought about “Write what you know and go from there.” As Granny to my my youngest of them all and a writer to boot, it’s a pleasure to incorporate the relationship that grows through the years. Grandest is six and a half. The love of my life and a pain in the butt very often but with humor, we overcome the sass and enjoy each others’ company.

If you believe “it isn’t over ’til it’s over,” do check out my series of long/short stories of mature romance. where grandparents ,small children and pets love life.

The Beginning…Not the End, Volume 1
Retail Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 45,890.
The first three stories in the series of Mature Romance combined in one volume. Instant Grandpa, Book 1; Young at Heart, Book 2; and Before the Final Curtain, Book 3. These Charmaine Gordon stories of love, passion, and suspense starring sexy seniors are also available as singles in ebook.

http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Not-End-Collections/dp/0615996086
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-beginning-not-the-end-charmaine-gordon/1119046084

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thebeginningnottheendvolume2-1466471-149.html

http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Not-End-2-ebook/dp/B00JFJXIME

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-beginning-not-the-end-charmaine-gordon/1119046084
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424672

A Very Happy Birthday Interview with Neva Squires-Rodriguez

Please join me in wishing Vanilla Heart Publishing’s newest addition, Neva Squires-Rodriguez a very Happy Birthday as we all celebrate the release of her debut contemporary romantic suspense, Liliana!

 

Neva and I both hail from Chicago, where she resides with her family, and that makes for some fun chat between us. Find out a little bit more about this enchanting author in her interview, and if you would like a chance to win an ebook copy of Liliana, just comment or ask Neva a question below. Two random winners will be selected; please check back on this page for winners’ names on Saturday, the 23rd of August.

 

Neva Squires-Rodrigues

Tell us one thing about yourself that no one else knows… please! I won’t tell.

I wore a nice pair of sandals to my Master’s degree graduation ceremony. When my aisle was called to walk up to the stage, the strap on one of my sandals broke. I didn’t know what to do. I managed to scuffle up to the stage and while I was waiting to be called, I literally almost cried. The woman who was ushering us to the stage asked if I wanted to borrow hers, but at the last minute I leaned over and took them both off and walked across the stage barefoot, sandals in hand. I think this is just a minor example of how we manage to get through difficult things in our life, no matter how devastating they may be at the time.

Have you always dreamed of writing a book, seeing your name on the cover?

Yes of course. I think that every author dreams of seeing their name on the cover of a book. It makes you feel like you’re on top of the world and no one can ever take that feeling away from you. Your words are written in history and will be read for generations to come.

 

Tell us about your favorite character from your books.

Liliana is definitely my favorite character. I think that readers will be left on edge and surprised with what happens next. Liliana allows readers to see how she struggles to find her strength from within. Readers will witness her growth and will be amazed with the many twists and turns in this book.

 

What is the hardest part of writing your books?

The hardest part of writing my books, is putting my laptop down for the night. I get so involved in the story, that I don’t want to lose my focus. I wish that there was a way to write throughout the night, but alas I need to sleep so that I can get up and go to my other job, the one that is paying the bills for now.

 

What do your significant other and family think of your writing career?

For the most part they are all very supportive of my writing, more so now that I am actually being published. My best advice to anyone wanting to become a writer, you can ask for support, but don’t count on it. Learn to find the drive within yourself because there are going to be many people that try to convince you that you can’t do it. There is an overwhelming possibility that your work will get rejected. Keep that drive going and  take any criticism you get along the way as positive feedback.

 

What was the scariest moment of your life?

My car was once hit by a drunk driver. It was New Years Eve and I was heading home with my family and my car was hit from behind. That year we had a heavy snowfall and my car began to spin and eventually hit a median. I am thankful that because of the snow, everyone was driving that much slower, including a semi-truck that was driving in the lane next to mine and managed to avoid hitting me and to the fact that my car spun away from the car that hit me, otherwise my children may have been crushed. The drunk driver kept going and the police did catch him, but were unable to charge him with a DUI because he abandoned his vehicle and started walking. To kind of give you an idea of how fast he was going and how much snow there was. He made it 2 miles down the road even though he had knocked two wheels off his car.

 

What do you do to unwind and relax?

I go to sleep. I love to sleep. I wish that I could do more of it. I have four children and work full time, so there is no unwinding and relaxing for me.

 

What question do you wish was on the list? Your answer?

 ‘What is your favorite quote?’ Mine is “Set your goals so high that everyone around you thinks you’re crazy.”

-Wilfredo “Pastor Choco” De Jesus

 

 

 

 

Liliana

Book 1, The Liliana Series

by Neva Squires-Rodriguez

Now Available in All Electronic Editions!

Coming Soon in Print and Audiobook!

Boom! That deafening sound changed Liliana’s life forever.

Her mother sits dead besides her, shot to death on the streets of Chicago.

Within weeks, Liliana is sent to live with a father she doesn’t know in Colombia – a foreign land filled with challenges for Liliana. While working to pay off her father’s debt, she meets the love of her life, who frees her from her father’s illusory home, only to bring her into a new world of twisted surprises, dangers, and deceit.

 

Liliana Links

 

Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/Liliana-Book-1-Neva-Squires-Rodriguez-ebook/dp/B00MV4UD5A

 

Apple

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/liliana/id910741453

 

Smashwords Direct for all ereader devices

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/468277

 

AllRomance

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-liliana-1602026-149.html

Liliana Sneak Peek Video

or

http://youtu.be/orYSBQ0eMkg

 

A Taste of… Neva Squires-Rodriguez

free download first four chapters

This Neva Squires-Rodriguez sampler is free for your enjoyment. All of Neva’s novels will be published in both print and ebook editions for every reading device, through all online retailers and in select bookstores around the world. Audiobook editions are being produced by professional audiobook narrators and production houses and will be released as they complete production. Audiobooks available at Amazon, iTunes, and Audible.

Where to find Neva Squires-Rodriguez online

Website: http://NevaSquiresRodriguez.com

Twitter: @NevaRodriguez22

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Neva-Squires-Rodriguez/1497271613835645

Blog: http://NevaSquiresRodriguez.com

Happy Birthday, Madame Author!

Psssst… Her birthday is Friday, August 22nd (wink)

Two Moments with Robin Williams. . .

photo Reed Saxon AP

My agent called with good news; a booking on Saturday Night Live not live this time but on set at a hospital and I’m the nurse in the birthing room. Cast perfectly since I’d given birth to too many darlings. I met the staff in mid-town Manhattan, a serious bunch considering they worked with comedians. Excited not knowing what to say in the quiet van, I wondered who was the featured performer. All was revealed when we entered the waiting room. There sat a tanned Robin Williams in very close contact with his agent, also tan. Adorned in snazzy sweaters and white pants.

The director and script writer, who stood wringing his hands over the big break for his career, discussed the scene. Robin ‘s part: a father determined to play cinematographer and film the birth of his first child. In the delivery room we went. A camera woman balanced between her legs the camera for the shot . I did my nurse thing bustling around efficiently but not too much while Robin made hash of the script in his own inimitable way. The doll baby came out. “Stop,” yelled the director. “The baby doesn’t look real.” I said, “New born babies have a substance that looks almost like cheesy off white mayonnaise that protects the skin while inside the womb.”

All eyes turned to me. “Really?” “Yes. I know from personal experience.” A short wait while a mixture was concocted and I showed them what’s what. No extra pay for my vast knowledge. I should have complained to the union. And so it was, a fun moment enhanced with me, during a break, telling the great entertainer a joke. Robin listened carefully taking mental notes. I still remember this now once in a lifetime experience.

Moment 2: The movie, Cadillac Man, starring Tim Robbins and Robin Williams was at a car dealership in Brooklyn. At the time, I was a newbie and newly widowed. The background gang were outside in the dealership’s lot when the rain started to fall. After a few minutes, Robin Williams yelled, “It’s raining. Get these people to where it’s dry.” Nice, I thought. Someone important to the movie finally took care of us or the union needed to be called.

I pray the actor has at least found peace and his widow and those who loved him in life will recover from their loss.

Across a crowded world. . .

Once upon a time, my son Paul was a performer with the Second Hand, dancing all over the world. He called me in New York.; “‘I’m in Copenhagen. I’ll be performing in Berlin in two week and I want you to meet me there.” Newly widowed, the idea of traveling to a foreign country alone frightened me. He encouraged me, said he’s pay the fare, the hotel. All I had to do was show up.

“Where in Copenhagen are you, my son?”

“I met a beautiful woman, Mom. her name is Eva. Gotta run. Call this number if you get over your scaredy cat self. ”

He rattled off a long number and hung up. I paced the floor. Should I–shouldn’t I.? My husband whispered from beyond, “Go.” I called Paul. We made a plan. I had two weeks to learn German from a tennis friend. Her husband came to America to open the first Volkswagen showroom way back in time. When Paul greeted me at the airport, I spoke relatively decent German while he, the linguist, was left behind. One of the shows planned was on television and I was on set. Lights, camera, action. There were the three young men performing wonderfully funny acrobatic and funny dances. Applause, applause.

Years later, Paul and Eva found each other across a crowded world on Facebook. Happily ever after, they live in Denmark where Eva is an artist if renown and Paul is re-establishing himself as a teacher of the performing arts. Married last October, they Skype with me often like two happy campers. I miss them and love them. I write my books here in NY; mature romance fifteen stories thus far and more to come where my motto is, “It isn’t over ’til it’s over.”

Here’s to love, good health, and happiness.

Feeling a bit poignant writing this; empty nest syndrome? After so many years, maybe.

Here’s my latest release Housebroken. No, it’s not about a dog. . .yet

 

Housebroken–No it’s not about a dog. . .yet.Empty nest syndrome has overtaken Sally and Steve Atwood. They must find a way to recapture the alone-at-last feeling.

Introducing

Charmaine Gordon’s Newest Series

River’s Edge
River’s Edge, where the town motto is Kindness to Strangers, is a
small town with a big heart, and stories to tell that will warm your
heart, make you smile, and turn a dreary day into a day of hope for
the Kindness of Strangers…
Book 1

Housebroken

by Charmaine Gordon

Sally and Steve Atwood must make a big adjustment – a fair number of them, actually – when after thirty-five years, three grown children, and a lifetime of memories, they are alone, together, at last… And,
then they found River’s Edge.

BUY LINKS

SMASHWORDS for All EReader Devices

including PC and Mac

https://www.smashwords.com/ books/view/464048

ALLROMANCE

https://www.allromanceebooks. com/product-housebroken- 1587634-149.html

KINDLE

http://www.amazon.com/ Housebroken-Rivers-Edge- Romantic-Suspense-ebook/dp/ B00MDYI08U

Housebroken Sneak Peek Video

or

Housebroken by Charmaine Gordon

Thank you for joining in, my friends. If you’ve surred from empty nest syndrome, please stop by and leave a comment.