Guest Post and Giveaway: Halfway Dead by Terry Maggert

Today I have a great post for you! I have so much fun featuring authors and their books, I mean that's part of what this blog is about.  So anyway, today is one of these types of posts.  Below is a Guest post from Terry Maggert and a giveaway of either the Ebook of Halfway Dead or the audio book winners choice. 

But before we get to that, I would like to thank Terry Maggert for writing up this post for the blog and for taking the time out of his busy day to write this post.

Ahem.

5:20 AM Alarm. Within thirty seconds, I stand up, dislodging cats. The dogs greet me and I let them out. I must check for destruction, as one of our hounds is a Newfoundland *puppy* who most recently ate my deceased mother's Bible. 

5:21 AM Coffee in process. 8-10 cups, which is adorable because I don't know anyone who thinks that six ounces of coffee constitutes a "cup" of coffee. Please. Pipe down and hand me the bucket.

5:30 AM Dogs are in. Various animal feedings and such well underway. Cats resume glaring at me for reasons known only to them, but their ability to judge me is second only to an ex-girlfriend who lives next door.

6:00AM Stand in shower. Begin to shave. Wonder if my life is really going the way it should. Argue with my body about whether or not I'm old. 

6:15 AM Coffee kicks in. SUCK IT WORLD, I WON.

7:05 AM Drop son off at school, and remark that only sadists could think it reasonable for little kids to be in school before the sun is well up. Resolve to change rules when I become emperor.

7:06 AM Make note that I should become emperor.

7;07AM- 1:45PM Teach college history. Eat. Write furious, sporadic notes about plot points in upcoming novels. Wonder if angels would drink beer, or would that be weird, then decide that yes, my angels would certainly drink beer-- and especially if they're related to my family.

2:00 PM Enter pickup line at son's school. Exultation as I secure the prime spot. Open laptop, begin writing, and take a long, meaningful look at the unlucky minions behind me. High-five self for getting in line early. Begin fighting sleep because car is quiet and restful.

2:43 PM Son is pounding on car window in a panic, I appear to be dead but am merely sleeping. Teacher walks by, gives me mild sneer. I wipe drool, apologize to son, and drive away, somewhat sheepishly.

3:45PM Starting to get hungry again, but go for run. Every ten steps, have most brilliant novel idea EVER.

4:45PM Finish run. Close to death. Cannot recall novel ideas. Feel crushed, but remember that there's pie to eat.

7:30 PM Son is in bed, creativity engaged. Consider new characters, books, and art. 

9:55 PM Actually begin writing due to arguing about Star Wars for two hours.

1:15AM To bed. Move animals, who glare at me in the dark. Try to steal covers back from bride. Remember all the great ideas form earlier, but can't move because of cats. Resolve to write it all down . . . .tomorrow.

Title: Halfway Dead
Author: Terry Maggert
Pages: 264 pages

Come for the waffles. Stay for the magic.

Carlie McEwan loves many things.
She loves being a witch. She loves her town of Halfway, NY—a tourist destination nestled on the shores of an Adirondack lake. Carlie loves her enormous familiar, Gus, who is twenty-five pounds of judgmental Maine Coon cat, and she positively worships her Grandmother, a witch of incredible power and wisdom. Carlie spends her days cooking at the finest—and only—real diner in town, and her life is a balance between magic and the mundane, just as she likes it.
When a blonde stranger sits at the diner counter and calls her by name, that balance is gone. Major Pickford asks Carlie to lead him into the deepest shadows of the forest to find a mythical circle of chestnut trees, thought lost to forever to mankind. There are ghosts in the forest, and one of them cries out to Carlie across the years--Come find me.
Like the forest shadows, danger can run deep. The threat is real, but Carlie’s magic is born of a pure spirit. With the help of Gus, and Gran, and a rugged cop who really does want to save the world, she’ll fight to bring a ghost home, and deliver justice to a murderer who hides in the cool, mysterious green of a forest gone mad with magic.

Left-handed. Father of an apparent nudist. Husband to a half-Norwegian. Herder of cats and dogs. Lover of pie. I write books.

This giveaway is for either an ebook copy or an audiobook copy of Halfway Dead by Terry Maggert.  

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Ready To Love Again Blog Tour: Day in The Life of Chase

So today I have the Ready To Love Again blog tour stopping here.  The Author Annalyse Knight has written a beautiful book and I can't wait to share my thoughts of it with all of you, but first we have a great guest post.  Day in the life of Chase, one of the great characters from this book.  Let's get to know more about Chase and his life. 

Chase waved one last time as his mother drove away with Liz, Tony and Shawn for the day. He loved his kids, but he’d been looking forward to this day for a week. He finally had a few hours of uninterrupted time with Katie before he had to go to work, and she had requested a beach date. When she showed up with her little bikini and a sarong tied around her waist, it took every ounce of willpower Chase had not to turn into a Neanderthal, sling her over his shoulder, and carry her to his room. Instead, he led her to the living room and pulled her into his lap.

“I thought we were going to the beach?” she said with a raised eyebrow. Chase buried his face in her neck and nipped at the tender flesh below her ear.

“We are, but we have the house completely to ourselves and I thought . . .” He trailed off, letting her draw her own conclusion. Gooseflesh pimpled on her arms and he smiled to himself as her fingers wound into his hair and she tugged his mouth to hers. She gasped against his mouth as he pulled her closer until she straddled his hips.

“Mmmmmm, Chase.”

Day in the Life of author Schledia Benefield

Day in the Life of author Schledia Benefield

Thanks, Ali, for inviting me to share what a day in my life is all about. My days vary due to my job at the middle school, as well as where I’m at in the writing process, so I will share a typical workday in the midst of writing a novel. FAIR WARNING…my days are kind of boring, but they are busy!

While I’m working on a project, I wake up between four and four-thirty a.m. Most days, my husband makes the coffee and wakes me up to a nice, hot cup, but if he happens to be running behind on getting ready for work, I make the coffee and bring him a cup. I sit down at my laptop with my coffee in hand and quickly re-read the previous chapter I had written and go over the chapter summary for the chapter I intend to start that day. 

Author Feature: Day in the Life of Dianne Gardner

So today I have a great author feature to share with you, Day in the Life of Author Dianne Gardner.  Enjoy

A day in the life

I try to keep my days simple. It’s an odd feeling, this desire to just stay home and write. I seem to be basing my entire day’s activity around those precious moments I can sit at the computer and pound on the keys, pouring my heart into the story I’m writing.

At this time in our life, my husband is home from work due to an accident. It’s a temporary disability and he expects to return back to his job this summer. We’ve had to make some adjustments with his being home. One of them, of course is the amount of time I spend at the computer. But we’re getting used to being around each other constantly. It’s probably been harder on him. As much as I love being social, I love being a hermit more. So my husband having to live with a hermit has to be hard on him!

Author Feature: Day in the Life of D.A. Adams

So today, I am super excited to have the author of The Brotherhood of Dwaves series with us to tell us a little bit about how his day goes.  I love what he's done with this post and can't wait to share it with you all.  So please Enjoy!!!

Day in the Life of author D.A. Adams

Science has long pondered how creativity occurs within the human brain. The persistent question remains whether it is a product of higher level thinking or a form of mental disease. To find answers, author D.A. Adams was observed last summer as he wrote the manuscript for Between Dark and Light, book four of The Brotherhood of Dwarves series. The following is a summary of one anthropologist’s recordings of the daily life of a creative person’s activities:

Day 1, Week 1

Subject appeared enthusiastic and energetic as day began. Breakfast and coffee in morning, followed by full day of outdoor activity. Social activity appeared normal. After shower and supper, subject began writing at 10:05 PM. First thirty minutes appeared to be prolonged period of procrastination. Once actual work began, subject wrote for three hours uninterrupted and seemed pleased by productivity. At 3:30 AM, subject drifted off to sleep.

Day 5, Week 1

Subject remains enthusiastic about project. Morning ritual of breakfast and coffee remained intact, followed by outdoor labor, which seemed to invigorate subject. Procrastination period began at 10:04 PM, within the week’s norm. Subject still seemed pleased with three hour productivity and was asleep by 3:15 AM.

IXEOS Blog Tour: Author Guest Post and Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

So today I have another amazing tour for you and a great guest post.  Also at the bottom of this post there is a great giveaway for you to enter.  It's for an amazon gift card.

The Life of a Writer

I have been an avid reader since childhood. I don’t know that I ever thought I would be “a writer” myself, although I think everyone daydreams about that at some point in their life. But if I thought about it, I assumed that writing was a glamorous profession. My mom was a painter, and I knew that wasn’t as exciting as it seemed, but, not knowing any writers, I figured they traveled all over the world doing research, sat in well appointed offices typing away, had staff (to do what, I don’t know), and were celebrities.

Well, I now know that basically none of this is true… And I love being a writer anyway! I have done a lot of traveling, but none for research for books. I’ve used those travels in my writing, years or even decades after the trip, but traveling for research isn’t a clear cut tax deduction so most of us don’t do it. Thank God for the internet!

Author Feature: Day in the Life of Anita Hughes

I'm so excited about today's guest on the blog.  Today I have Anita Hughes sharing what day in her life is like with us.  I hope you all enjoy this great post. 

 A Day In the Life by Anita Hughes

     My son used to laugh and say I lived my whole without leaving my freeway exit. I like routine and am generally perfectly happy with a day plotted like a geometric shape: drive the children from points A to B, shop for groceries at point C, drive to after school activities at points D and E, and then home to begin the same routine all over again.

BlogTour: The Mirror of the Moon Guest Post and Giveaway

So today I have another great tour post to share with all of you.  The Mirror of The Moon is a great book and I have a guest post from the author.  I also have a great giveaway for you to enter if you would like.  Enjoy!!!

Day in the Life...of Travis Simmons

A day in the life of an author was something I always thought to be magical. When I thought of my favorite authors, I imagined them getting up to adoring servants who waited on them hand and foot. After a luxurious morning they would float to their computer and write brilliant things for their rabid fans (like me). They had complete control of their muse, and inspiration just fell into their minds and through their fingers with ease.

Guest Post: Day in the Life of author Ally Malinenko

So as you all know, Day in the Life is a Author Feature here on Ali's Bookshelf and today I have author Ally Malinenko to share with you what her day is like.  Enjoy!

The alarm goes off at 5 am. No wait, that’s not right. It’s before 5 am. My husband nudges me and I murmur five more minutes, please, just five more minutes burying my head under the blanket. Then June, the tabby cat, starts crying. And not your usual meows – these are ear splitting, I’m-dying-give-me-food-now-you-puny-humans sort of cries. Really intense End of the World Ragnarok sort of stuff.

            We stumble up and out of bed. Coffee on. Teapot on. Cat fed. Pee. Computer on. Radio on to classical station. Teapot whistles – oh teapot why must you be so loud! Out damned teapot! Out!

            Then I sit in my closet (literally) and write. Sometimes I write poems or stories, provided I managed to think of an idea since yesterday morning. Most times I go back to the current novel. I read through yesterday’s writing. June comes in. She climbs into the empty comic book box on the floor and curls up to sleep. Good. This lasts seventeen seconds. Then she’s trying to climb into my lap. I give in, reading through yesterday’s writing. She stands on my lap and meows at me. I bend my arms around her to rewrite stuff and wonder how one person can switch tenses that quickly. I catch typos. I fix them. 

Author Feature: Day in the Life of Bee Ridgway

So today I have Author Bee Ridgway to share her day with us and showcase what its like being her as an author.  

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF BEE RIDGWAY

I'm going to tell you about a great writing day, because my days are divided into writing days and non-writing days.  Non-writing days involve boring things like keeping body and soul together, and who wants to read about that?  Writing days are the best kind of day in the world.  The decks are clear, the email is turned off, the phone is on silent: there’s only me and my computer and my writing chair.

I wake up, knowing that I have a whole day ahead of me in which to write.  I lie in bed for a little while, luxuriating in the immediate future.  Then I put on my snuggliest pajamas (I have three pairs of flannel pajamas and two pairs of cotton . . . I love pajamas!).  On really good days my breakfast is an avocado sliced up on a piece of toast, with lemon and a bit of red pepper and lots of salt.  I know that sounds un-breakfasty, but try it!  And of course, a big cup of strong coffee.  Coffee . . . I wouldn’t be human without it. 

Author Feature: Day in the Life of author Herika R. Raymer

So today we have another great author feature, author Herika R. Raymer is here to share what her day is like.  Thanks so much Herika for sharing your day with us today!

Day In The Life Post

My days usually start around 5:45am, and not because of an alarm but usually because my little girl wants to crawl in bed beside me that early. It is her ritual to wake me up before my alarm for work. I cherish it, because I know that she and her brother will soon be too old to want Mommy around. Too soon, my alarm goes off and she and I have breakfast together before I leave for my day-job.

Day in The Life of CL Parker

Day in the Life is an author feature here on Ali's Bookshelf, its where I feature an author that shows us what their life is truly like.  So today, we have author CL Parker showcasing her day with us.  

A Day In The Life Of An Author

I thought this was a really important one because readers need to know what goes on behind the scenes to really appreciate the amount of work that goes into writing a book.

The first thing you should know is that I’m not in this for the money. I’m an entertainer by nature with a vivid imagination. Okay, so maybe I’m a little on the insane side. After all, non-existent people talk to me from a non-existent world, and then all these moving pictures flash through my mind. The ability to paint those pictures through words for others to see is apparently a big neon sign screaming for me to call myself an author. That’s what I’ve been told, anyway, so that’s what I do. Hey, I’m just relieved that I’m not actually schizophrenic. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

I work what “they” call a “real” job to bring home the bacon, and I’m now a single mother carrying the load of all the daily functionality of my family, which doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for writing. What it does do, however, is really pile on the stress. Because guess what? I have a contract and deadlines associated with that contract. *gasp* It’s cool, though; the tick I’ve developed is only a teeny tiny one, but I’m working on making it a full-blown spasm because my motto is the bigger, the better. Yeah, baby. *waggles brows* Just check out the descriptions of the men in my stories. But I digress.

Author Feature: Day In The Life of Joanne Kershaw

Alright, I have another great Author feature post for you.  Today I have Author Joanne Kershaw sharing what her day is like.  Enjoy!!!

My name is Joanne Kershaw and I’m addicted to my crazy life.

I am a full time mother of four children (aged 10, 8, 5 and 3), a full time teacher and a soon-to-be published author with Xchyler Publishing. ‘How do you do all that?’ I hear you ask. This is how:

Monday morning.

6:30am           Alarm goes off. Dreadful tinny music on a badly tuned radio. Hit snooze.

6:40am           Alarm goes off. Music is now an advert for double glazing. Hit snooze.

6:50am           Alarm goes off again. This time Only Son—aged five—who has crawled into bed with me, offers to turn it off for me. So this time, he hits snooze.

7:04am           Daughter Number One, aged ten, sticks her head round the bedroom door and says, rather pointedly, “We’re all going to be late, don’t you think you should get up?” I send Only Son to get dressed. I allow myself a few more minutes.