I am a product of the “Disney” generation and grew up on stories about Davey Crockett, Wild Bill Hickock, and Pecos Bill. One of my favorite poems, “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” is by Robert W. Service. This is a poem about one ordinary man’s herculean attempt to fulfill a promise to his dying friend. It’s a little bit creepy but very funny. I have always hoped to write a series of books about legendary characters. Some believe that legendary means ‘larger than life.’ I am not in that group. For me, a legendary character is an ordinary person achieving extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances. Daniel Boone, for all his fame and legends, was really an ordinary man for his time who did extraordinary things.
Here’s the blurb for the first book in my Legends Series…
The Legend of Skinner Robelard: Pampered and privileged then betrayed and disowned, Elise Van Demer hides in plain sight and plots her revenge on the men who destroyed her life. With her goal in sight, she encounters a lawman from her past. Boyd Alvarez could ruin everything, and the last thing she needs is wanting some man who only wants to protect her.
His family dead and without a home, Boyd Alvarez rides the range and hunts bounties for a living. When he stumbles on Elise Van Demer his only thought is to keep her safe. He can outgun just about every man, but can he protect her from her own plans of revenge? Can he teach her that loving a man is a better dream than destroying her enemies?
And a little bit about Rue Allyn (that’s me): Award-winning author, Rue Allyn, learned storytelling at her grandfather’s knee. (Well it was really more like on his knee—I was two.) She’s been weaving her own tales ever since. She has worked as an instructor, mother, sailor, clerk, sales associate, and painter, along with a variety of other types of employment. She has lived and traveled in places all over the globe from Keflavik Iceland (I did not care much for the long nights of winter.) and Fairbanks Alaska to Panama City and the streets of London England to a large number of places in between. Now that her two sons have left the nest, Rue and her husband of more than four decades (Try living with the same person for more than forty years—that’s a true adventure.) have retired and moved south. When not writing, enjoying the nearby beach, or working jigsaw puzzles, Rue travels the world and surfs the internet in search of background material and inspiration for her next heart melting romance. She loves to hear from readers, and you may contact her at Rue@RueAllyn.com. She can’t wait to hear from you.
Did that title work? I’m not very good at creating catchy blog titles. I know folks like list posts, like “10 Ways to blah-blah-blah”. But thinking of ten ways to do something sounds like I’d have to use more brainpower than I’m willing to expend for a daily blog. Of course, maybe that’s the problem. Should I be blogging every day? Of course, I’m not doing it by myself—the posting, yes, but the content is often provided by author friends. So why am I bitching today? Because I’m dragging my feet. I don’t want to start the real work. I have a set number of pages to edit today then a set number of pages to write. I’m a little behind in NaNoWriMo, but I know I can catch up, so no fire is lighting under my considerable ass—which by the way is getting “lesser.” Meaning, I’m on a diet. I know, I know. Thanksgiving’s coming, so why now? BECAUSE THANKSGIVING IS COMING! If I don’t save some calories now, I’ll be out of my fat clothes.
I’m rambling, aren’t I? Maybe I should just spellcheck this thing and send it out into the world. Thank goodness, I have authors lined up to handle this for the rest of the week! 🙂
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Solve the puzzle and tell me what’s going on here for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!
My blogpost title “Who’s On Second” was inspired by the “Who’s on First” routine of the comedy team Abbott and Costello. In their comedic fight, Lou Costello is trying to find out the names of the baseball players on first, second and third base. His partner Bud Abbott tells him Who’s on first, What’s on second, and I Don’t Know is on third. You can watch it here to see why Lou Costello goes crazy in the conversation…
Now, why would an old comedy routine inspire my musings for November on Delilah’s blog? Honestly, it didn’t, but it came to my mind because I was celebrating a historic first: Senator Kamala Harris, vice-president-elect, the first woman of African-American and South Asian descent to become vice-president of the United States.
I decided my post would be titled “Who Else Is On First” and began compiling a list of historic female African-American firsts. However, I stopped when I heard Vice-president-elect Harris say, “I may be the first, but I won’t be the last.” Exactly. What good is it to be the first if you’re also the only? If no one else comes through the door you’ve opened, then what was it all for? So I shifted gears and decided instead to lift up the names of ten African-American female seconds:
Rebecca J. Cole – 1867, the second African-American woman to earn a medical degree in the United States Mary Ann Shadd Cary – 1883, the second African-American woman to earn a law degree in the United States Delta Sigma Theta – 1913 – the second Black sorority founded at Howard University Bessie Delany – 1923 – the second African American woman to be licensed as a dentist in New York (graduate Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery) Yvette Fay Francis-McBarnette – 1946 – the second African American woman admitted to the Yale School of Medicine, (graduate class of 1950) Mary Alice – 1987 – the second African American actress to win the Tony for an actress in a straight play Toni Morrison – 1988 – the second African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction Whoopi Goldberg – 1990 – second African American actress to win an Oscar for best-supporting actress Natasha Tretheway – 2007 – the second African American woman to win a Pulitzer prize for poetry Kamala Harris – 2017 – the second African-American woman elected to the US Senate
If Vice-president-elect Harris follows in the footsteps of fourteen other US vice-presidents, she will become another historic second: the second Black president of the United States (as well as the first woman president of any race).
So for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card, name one of the historic firsts these historic seconds followed.
A Little In Love With Death
by Anna M. Taylor
Ten years ago no one — not even the man who said he loved her — believed Sankofa Lawford’s claim she had been brutally attacked by a ghost. Ten years later an assault on a new victim brings her back to Harlem to a mother going mad, a brother at his wits’ end, and a former love who wants a second chance. Sankofa longs for her family to be whole again, for love to be hers again, but not if she must relive the emotional pain created by memories of that night.
Mitchell Emerson is convinced science and reason can account for the ghostly happenings at Umoja House. He resolves to find an explanation that will not only satisfy him but earn back Sankofa’s trust and love. Instead, his own beliefs are shaken when he sees the ghost for himself.
Now reluctant allies, Mitchell and Sankofa learn her family was more than a little in love with death. Their search for the ghost draws them together but discovering sixty years of lies and secrets pulls them apart. As their hopes for happily ever after and dispersing the evil stalking Umoja House slip beyond their grasp, Mitchell and Sankofa find an unexpected source of help: the ghost itself.
For the last hour, Sankofa Lawford blinked through a haze of tears at her mother’s stricken face. She held the glassy-eyed woman’s hand and tried repeatedly to get her attention. No gesture stilled the older woman’s incessant rocking. No words penetrated her intonation of the same awful phrase.
“Them that tell don’t know and them that know don’t tell.
“Them that tell don’t know and them that know don’t tell.”
Wanda Lawford suddenly stopped rocking and stared in Sankofa’s direction. A bright glint of glee shone in her gaze.
Hope struggled for a foothold in Sankofa’s heart then slipped as a death head’s grin contorted her mother’s once beautiful features.
“Sankofa?”
Sankofa forced the lump of sorrow down her throat. “Yes, Mama?”
With a grip made strong from madness, Wanda pulled her daughter’s hand to her chest and leaned in so her lips pressed against Sankofa’s ears.
“A word to the wise is sufficient. Have you been wise?”
Her hissed warning parodied whispered confidences mother and daughter had shared in the past. Sankofa kissed away a tear from her mother’s cheek.
“Yes, Mama.” She swallowed the lie with a smile. “I’ve been wise.”
Wanda Lawford cupped her daughter’s face and smiled, too.
“Good. I’m so sorry, so sorry. It shouldn’t have happened to you. It should never have happened to you”
Sankofa took a deep breath and controlled her sadness despite the wobble of her lips.
“Rest now, Mama. Rest. Okay?”
Wanda released Sankofa’s hand only to grip her own, rocking again, repeating again.
“Them that tell don’t know and them that know don’t tell.
“Them that tell don’t know and them that know don’t tell.”
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Sometimes a story just comes to you. And you immediately know how it’s going to happen and how it’s going to end.
Well, that didn’t happen with this one.
Flashback to 2015 when I began to steadily publish books — I was writing nonstop, and the ideas seemed to be constantly flowing. I had this sudden inspiration for a story. The ever-sacred love triangle. At the time I’d never really touched the subject, but I had an idea that came to me during a college class and I immediately began jotting down every detail I could think of. Cute Florida boy? Check. Shy and sweet girl visiting a friend from out of town? Check. Florida boy’s sarcastic and snarky lesbian best friend who has better game than he does with the ladies? Check. I had a notebook that I used to write down the entire outline of the book and it was one of the most detailed outlines I’d ever written. I had notes for every chapter from start to finish, and I was super excited about this one.
Florida boy Kade is sick of his best friend Taylor making the moves on all the girls he likes. After forcing her to promise to leave the next girl he likes alone, she agrees, deciding that maybe now is the time to start taking life more seriously. But of course, free-spirited bohemian chick Diem walks into both their lives, and they both fall for her; only this time, Taylor falls for real.
Now, in my very detailed outline, Taylor merely offers what I thought was a unique twist on the beloved love triangle but in the end, Diem would ultimately end up with Kade.
Well, guess what? I sat down and wrote the first chapter to Because of Summer. Then I stared at my computer screen and realized I had everything wrong. The entire book. I was so wrong. This book wasn’t about Diem and Kade’s romance — it was about Diem and Taylor’s love. And yes, it turned into the tangled, uncomfortable, hot, messy love triangle exactly just as I’d envisioned. Yes, the story centered around how the very foundation of Taylor and Kade’s friendship was completely rocked. How both of their worlds had been turned not only upside down but inside out. All of those things that I had expected to happen happened, just as I’d planned out. But the actual heart of this story turned into something completely different. Something I’d never anticipated. It took me to a place that I’d never even thought to go. I wasn’t a lesfic writer. I’d never written anything in the realm of it. Ever. And yet that’s exactly where these characters took me. To this day, Because of Summer still feels so special to me.
Now, let’s fast forward to after I gave birth to our second child in 2017 and my mother-loving brain fell out of my head and I couldn’t seem to write another damned word to save my life. Nope. Nothing. I kept trying and yet…nothing. NOTHING WAS HAPPENING. I went years without writing a single thing. It was heartbreaking.
Until one day, out of nowhere, that feeling came back. The random people came back to my brain again, and a story began to unfold and wouldn’t you know it, I wrote out a dang outline again. From start to finish. About a jerk named Elliot Faulkner who tries to sweep a snarky and unimpressed Penny Reynold’s off her feet. But that story didn’t go as planned either. Elliot hires Penny to pretend to be his girlfriend to hide the affair he’s having with a married woman to spare his career. And just like in Because of Summer, these freaking characters didn’t do anything I’d asked them to do. But I am so excited to finally be writing again. It feels so good to have these stories unfold and come together again.
If you’re in the mood for a complicated and messy story about friendship and love when you least expect it, I hope you check out Because of Summer, available on Amazon now. And if you’re ready for hot enemies to lovers romance, about a man who’s just too good looking for his own good being thrown for a loop by a girl who would rather jump out of a window than spend any amount of time with him, The Breakup Plan is available for preorder on Amazon now and is releasing December 15, 2020.
My FB feed has been inundated by cute pet pictures. My sister, Elle James, has two adorable little Yorkshire puppies, and now, my good friend, Cynthia D’Alba, has one too. And they constantly post very cute pictures of their new furbabies. Well, I was feeling a little left out. However, with nine dogs and five cats on the Devlin farm already, a puppy isn’t our future for a good ten years. So, how can I possibly compete?
Well, we have Kimmie, Lil, and Phil! Meet Kimmie, who looks likes she’s posing for goat porn.
They are the three goats we acquired this year to keep down the brush around the property. What we didn’t expect was just how funny goats are. So, when I’m feeling any furbaby-jealousy, I’ll be posting about these darlings! Be prepared for CUTENESS!!!!
Comment for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card! You can tell me what Kimmie thinks she’s doing… Or tell me about your cute furbabies!
Download your FREE copy of the latest installment of the Love in Lockdown story, PANDEMIC PARTNER WITH BENEFITS!
Lucy Caldwell may be stuck in quarantine, but she has her priorities straight. Once she’s out of lockdown, she isn’t taking any chances. Dating is fun, but safety comes first, and Lucy has a plan…
The LOVE IN LOCKDOWN authors are back with another short story! This one’s from Payton Harlie, another First Response alumni! Her story tackles the “how to meet a cute guy in quarantine” question! It’s cute, it’s short, and you’ll definitely be left with a happy sigh at the end.
It’s been a rough year, huh? Pandemics, climate disasters including fires, all the hurricanes (like for real, ALL of them), and all sorts of extra drama in the national sphere particularly here in the States, where I live.
So what do we do about it?
Focus on what we can control. We can’t change things at the national level all by ourselves. We can join up with like-minded folx and make calls to our representatives, influence others, even write op-eds. Beyond that, we need to make peace with what we can’t change. Being aware of when we’re “doomscrolling” is a critical life skill. I’ve watched many of my friends, and I’ve done it myself, just scrolling and scrolling and posting the equivalent of, “Can you believe this??” It doesn’t matter what the “this” is. We’re letting it take up space in our heads and disturb our peace of mind.
Learn – and practice – mindfulness. There are several apps available that teach meditation. My favorite is Calm App, and they have free offerings so you can check it out. There are some great meditation courses through The Great Courses Plus, which is a paid subscription. But did you know that you can get access to it through your library’s online offerings? In my county, that’s Kanopy; I’ve seen it in other libraries through other services.
Speaking of, if you haven’t checked out your library’s online offerings, you owe it to yourself to do. You can get ebooks, stream movies and popular television shows, read magazines, and even read newspapers. If you’re not sure how to do it, your local librarian will be happy to help hook you up.
Practice good self care. I keep seeing posts about people saying, “Well, I’m going to eat all the donuts,” or whatever. We know better. Dear Reader, don’t do it. It’s not a good enough excuse. We’re poisoning ourselves with bad food and bad sodas. And we know when we’re doing it. We wouldn’t let our children eat like this, if we have kids at home, so why are we doing it to our own bodies? Eat some veggies, and make yourself good food that will help your brain, build your resilience, and help your immunity – which is a key skill particularly during a pandemic.
Get mental health services. Many states now offer these without charge. Check with your insurance company or, if you’re uninsured, check with your state or county’s health department. Psychology Today has a good therapist finder, if you don’t have someone already. Don’t underestimate the toll that events like what we’re facing have on our mental health. This is a purple squirrel event, and we need to safeguard our mental health. And this includes doomscrolling – don’t feed your brain junk food.
Practice your crafts or art. Don’t do it to “be good.” Do it to have fun. We wouldn’t blame a three-year-old for making a wonky piece of art; let’s extend the same degree of understanding and compassion to ourselves. Studies have shown that practicing a hobby has many benefits, including improved mental health.
Reach out to your friends and family. Even if it’s just a Facebook message, reach out and communicate. Even just saying, “Hey, I’m feeling lonely, wanted to say hi,” works. We’re all in the same storm together, even if we’re not in the same boat. Don’t be precious about it. We owe it to ourselves and our friends to be real.
Any other ideas? I’d love to hear in the comments.
And stay well, Dear Reader. ~hugs~
ACN
About the Author
A. Catherine Noon is a bestselling author, writing instructor, and creative entrepreneur based in Bellevue, WA, in the Pacific Northwest. When she’s not writing, she’s weaving; and when she’s not weaving, she’s knitting. And when none of that happens, she likes to blog.
