I was born in the elevator going up to the third floor at Auburn Memorial Hospital in NYS. Well, truthfully, my head entered the cold air, but my body waited until we reached the delivery room. I like to joke with people when I tell them this and say that I've been having my ups and downs ever since. Well, that part is true, just as it is for most of us, but the key thing to remember is that the elevator was going up. A sweet and wise gentleman pointed that out to me a couple of years ago and I am grateful.

So, last week, when I received an awful shock that my hours at work had been cut in half, I didn't handle it well--at first. I asked our GM if he'd like me to lay down on the floor so he could kick me. He wasn't pleased. I wasn't either. I didn't deserve this to happen. I'm a good employee and I work consistently if not super fast, but I'm dependable and trustworthy and I do my best for the company. I was, in a word, heartbroken. I was also scared. Trying to survive on half my income isn't possible without some serious help. So, I dutifully applied for unemployment and this week I will be talking to SS. My CEO informed me this week that he will try to bring me back to full time as soon as he can. Wish someone had told me that last week when I desperately needed to hear it!

Once the shock wore off, I can't say I was any less scared, but I realized it could have been so much worse. I'm still employed albeit part-time and no benefits, I have a little more time now to accomplish some things that I've been putting off for a while, AND I can still work on my books. The books come first; the lovely thing about housework is that it will still be there when I'm ready to do it. I do try to keep up on the basics--dishes, laundry, sweeping the floors and dusting, but since I'm allergic to dust--both to breathe and to touch--I generally vacuum the dust.

I will survive. I am a very determined woman, feisty to the core, and nothing gets me down for very long. I'm back up and ready to try again in no time. I've always been that way as a dear friend once pointed out to me long ago. I don't think I could have survived my childhood if I hadn't been that way.

However, now, I have an added benefit--the most important one of all: my testimony and faith in Jesus Christ and God, their love for me, and my belief that when a window closes, God will open a door for me. I don't know what is going to happen. I don't have any real answers at the moment. All I can do, I will do--and ask God to help and guide me. I believe He will. He has guided me before for which I am very grateful...

Daring, Gratitude, and Dreaming BIG!

I'm getting more daring in my young age. As you can see, I've made some changes. Most of them were after watching videos that didn't tell me what I wanted to know. I just clumsily trip over what I need and sometimes, I get lucky enough to recognize it for what it is. These are my "Aha" moments. The really frustrating part is that even though I've changed the main picture before, I couldn't for the life of me remember how to do it tonight! Kathy, where are you when I need you?!! :)

So, I have been terribly derelict in blogging as of late. I'm going through some changes in my life and trying to steer my course through them. As we all know, life can throw you some really hard curves to navigate. My income has changed, my hours have changed--at least temporarily--all because I took a bad spill three years ago. I had started writing my books before that for which I'm grateful--it gave me something to focus on as well as something to do for the long months when I couldn't do much of anything. Still, three years later, I'm still paying for falling backward off my front steps. For whatever reason, I can't physically handle filing and I'm way behind. I did it last year, the year before, and even the year before that even though I had injured myself only a couple of months before. Management decided to bring in a temp to do the filing for which I am grateful, but as a result I'm working half-time for the time being. It could be worse! I could have lost my job completely, so I'm grateful to still have it with the hope that I will be full-time again very soon. I should, at this point, say that my back is getting better, but my doctor thinks I need strengthening exercises now. I've been favoring it for a long time and so she is most likely right.

I consider myself lucky in spite of the injuries and in spite of the job situation. I'm not happy about either, to be sure, but I have a friend who fell the same week I did--she fractured two vertebrae and her fractures were far worse than my little hairline fracture. She required surgery and pins or fusing--can't remember, but it was a lot worse than mine. A friend's mother fell and literally broke her own neck. Her top two vertebrae were seriously fractured. This happened last March and she's been going through a terrible time since then. She's doing better now, but she hasn't seen her own home in all this time, and maybe she won't again. How sad.

Four friends or relatives of friends have been diagnosed with cancer. They are in various stages from just being diagnosed to deep in treatment to recovering and praying it doesn't come back on them. Another friend is going through the testing to see if some abnormal cells are cancerous. I'm praying for all of them.

The point in this dismal treatise is that no matter how bad things get, someone else always has it worse. I had a difficult childhood, but one day I watched a movie where a child sat on a hill and watched while his parents were murdered by enemy soldiers. I was grateful I didn't have to go through something like that in my childhood.

A few years ago, I watched "The Secret" and liked it so much that I purchased the DVD. If you're interested, check out thesecret.tv. It talks about attracting good things into your life, but it works best when you want good things for yourself as well as for others. It's not easy to do--we are programmed to lament everything in our lives that isn't the way we'd like it to be. For me, the trick is to think of one good thing in my life and to be grateful for that, and then build from there. It's not always easy--we all get our down moods. Or life hands us a hard curve to navigate. Sometimes, you feel like flying off the edge. I know I was there last Friday when I learned my hours were being cut. Yesterday, our CEO told me that he hoped to bring me back full-time as soon as possible, but that if I wanted to take another position, he would give me a glowing recommendation. Glad I didn't fly off that curve now! I love my job, the people I work with and for, and I am eagerly hoping to be full-time again soon. In the meantime, I'll do the best I can, picture myself selling a lot more books, and I'm really looking forward to the movie deal! It doesn't hurt to dream BIG!

Ramblings...

I have been up to my eyebrows in proofing my third book, TSUNAMI, and so have not been making entries to my blog. Shame on me! I was up until 3:30 this morning putting the finishing touches on a chapter. My characters have picnics, shop, struggle with out-of-the-ordinary family issues, and I haven't been on a picnic in years--yet, I don't really miss it. This past week, I went to a friend's home to celebrate her birthday. She has a beautiful home in a clearing in the woods--not much lawn to mow! I have close to an acre-and-a-half to mow, but I don't really mind it. I listen to audiobooks while I'm mowing (super, heavy-duty sound-proof ear muffs over the audio buds). I also hunted down a salvage yard for a windshield-wiper arm for my 1999 Saturn, Sadie. Yes, I name all my cars.

The man at the salvage yard was only three weeks into his recovery from knee surgery. He was telling me how his shop had been broken into just a few nights before and the thieves made off with the computer and some other office equipment and a ton of tools from the work area in the back of the building. I can't imagine someone having the nerve to break into someone else's property and stealing. Oh, I know it happens all the time, but I just can't imagine having the audacity to do something like that. I felt sorry for him--he really needed something like this while he was trying to recuperate. I've never understood man's inhumanity to man.

Unfortunately, I was in a bit of a hurry--I had six gallons of milk in insulated bags in Sadie's trunk. I wasn't at liberty to buy them last thing on my errand-filled trip home and I drive as few miles as possible in an effort to keep Sadie going for as long as possible. When I first arrived at the salvage yard, the man simply yelled to someone in the back. To my regret, when I told him I had milk in the trunk, he got up, walked outside, and around to the side of the building to tell his employee that I was in a hurry. I tried to get him to go back inside and sit down, but he ignored me. I was very uncomfortable that he was walking on a sore knee--although maybe that's what he needed to do. I'm not sure. I did tell him about a friend of mine who needed knee surgery. She had put on a lot of weight because it hurt her to walk, but after her knee surgery, she dropped off the excess weight and had the same figure she had in high school. I reassured him that once he healed, he was going to love his "new knees."

One of my co-workers told us this past week that her pap test came back with a high grade something or other--I can't remember the term now. It meant that there was some abnormality in her cells. She is very worried about this and, of course, she has to wait two weeks for further tests and then another two weeks for some other tests and somewhere in there a biopsy. I asked my chiropractor about this high grade thing (I remembered the other word when I asked her) and she told me the term applied to any kind of abnormality in the cells and that it didn't mean my friend has cancer. It could be a lot of things, most of them benign. I'm praying for my friend that it's nothing and that she'll be fine.

The fragility of human life is scary at times. In the last few weeks, two people in my church have passed away. Deaths come in threes and I'm dreading who the third person will be. I have family and friends in the 80-92 year range and I dread that I could lose one of them. I know it's going to happen at some point unless I die first. It's inevitable. Even though I know they'll be in a better place, loss is still loss and very painful to those of us left behind. I still miss pets that I had when I was a child. I miss both my maternal grandparents that I knew as a child. (I don't remember my paternal grandparents.) I miss my brother who died in 2008--him perhaps most of all. I'm depressing myself! Quit that!

Speaking of family, my cousin Jeff has been trying to research our surname for over thirty years and he's come up against an immovable brick wall. I've joined the search in the last several years and am equally frustrated at our lack of results. Then, last week, I was talking to a man who had the same surname. I had talked to him before and I'm sure I had asked him where his family came from and he'd said Georgia. For whatever reason, I asked him again and he told me that his daughter had traced their family to the first two brothers who came here from Ireland. Their ship crashed on the rocks and they decided to swim for shore. Only one of them made it--to Boston. That's the same story my Great Uncle Edgar had told me!!!! The family tree that my great uncle had has been lost since his death and I'm ecstatic that I've found someone who is related to us and has done the research. They were able to track it from Georgia, but we weren't able to track it from New York. I realize it may not give us the exact information that we need, but I'm hopeful that it will give us enough to finally crack that frustrating brick wall!

I haven't stuck my nose outside yet, but the thermometer says 70-degrees and it's quite windy. I'm guessing we'll have rain later today, but for now, it's beautiful outside even with an overcast sky. The weather has been wonderful and I'm reveling that I haven't had to turn my furnace on much at all so far this autumn (just twice so I could shower in the morning before work).

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

The publishing world is changing and, of course, Amazon.com has been a major factor in the way people decide what they want to read, how they purchase books, and what formats they choose i.e. whether they read an actual book, an e-reader book, or an audio book.

My good friend and editor, Jim, sent me an interesting article written by Marie Force, https://marieforce.com/component/content/article/2-uncategorised/149-the-readers-sound-off, who is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Contemporary Romance Author. I found it an interesting read, but was surprised that audio books aren't more popular. I love to read, but seldom have time to sit down and read a book. On the other hand, I can listen to a book while I'm washing dishes, sweeping the floor, doing laundry, and with my portable CD player, I can listen to a book while I'm vacuuming the furniture or mowing the lawn. I often watch movies or Star Trek episodes while I'm walking on my treadmill, but occasionally, I'll listen to a book instead. I find listening to books to be very satisfying if the presentation is done well. Only once did I return an audio book after listening for only a few minutes. That was because the reader had a very clipped delivery and a pompous presentation that was totally contrary to Jane Eyre--to the story as well as to the character of Jane herself. She would not have spoken in a clipped manner, nor was she a pompous character. The "fit" was just uncomfortable for me.

As I type this, I'm getting help from Ezri, my Shepherd-mix companion. My right hand is gently rubbing her ears while I try to type with just my left hand. She wouldn't have it any other way!

Pictures...

My nieces apparently think I need a new image. According to my sister, they think that the picture on the back of my books makes me look like an old school marm and not someone capable of writing a passionate romance in a fantasy/adventure novel. It's the same picture I use for this blog.

The problem is that I am not photogenic at all. The picture I use as my blog photo is a fluke in that it is the best picture that has ever been taken of me since I was nineteen except for one photo when I was pregnant with my son.

This is the picture that was taken when I was nineteen. The thing about this picture is that my hair was done professionally, my makeup was done by Charles of the Ritz and I'm wearing false eyelashes. It's a nice picture, but it's not me!

I'm thinking that since you really can't tell a book by its cover, maybe I should just leave well enough alone and stick with the picture I have. If I look like an old school marm, then the book will be a pleasant surprise. What do you think?

Every month, I write a note to two women I don't know and have never met. It's part of the Visiting Teaching program at our church. Writing to someone you don't know who never responds regardless of what you write is difficult. I usually pray about it. Today I wrote about a woman I knew several years ago who wrote a novel. She loved writing and she was a good writer and I expected that she would have some success with her manuscript. She belonged to a writer's group in a distant city and made the long drive once a month for their meetings. Finally, she asked the group's coordinator to read her manuscript and give her an honest opinion.

The coordinator told her it was a good book, but that her characters were too two-dimensional. My friend didn't know what that meant, but she didn't ask either. She put the book in a drawer and, to my knowledge, never did anything more with it.

Some years later, I looked up "two dimensional characters" in a Google search. It means that a character has no history, no back story. Main characters and recurring characters need to have a back story--everyone comes from somewhere.

The difference between success and failure isn't necessarily a lack of talent. This woman had a lot of talent, but one bump in the road and she put the manuscript away. Persistence and determination are necessary to accomplish anything in this life. Very few people are gifted with instant success. Success is achieved by studying, hard work, making mistakes and learning from them, and picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, and trying again.

Thomas Alva Edison made 10,000 light bulbs before he actually created one that worked. He was asked once if he didn't feel all those earlier light bulbs were a waste of time. He answered in so many words, "No, because I found 10,000 ways NOT to make a light bulb." His persistence and determination were extraordinary.

Hand in hand with persistence and determination is gratitude for every little success achieved. Little successes lead to bigger successes. Whatever you believe, thanking our Father in Heaven for our many blessings is a good thing to cultivate--not only with Heavenly Father, but also with our family members. An "Attitude of Gratitude" can change lives for the better, improve marriages and other relationships. Persistence, determination, and gratitude are the essential components to success in almost any endeavor. And then sometimes, it's just dumb luck!

PS - Don't forget to write a review on Amazon.com with 'AUG' at the beginning to win a free RIPTIDE book, (the new version) autographed if you want! See below!

Proofing has to be the most difficult part of writing--I don't care what it is! I sent the proof book to Jim and we both re-read RIPTIDE from beginning to end. He made some suggestions and I did some rewrites which I emailed to him for editing and then I made whatever corrections he suggested. So the whole book was edited one last time, the changes were edited and then the corrections were edited. So you would think I could upload the book and it would be perfect, right? Well, not necessarily so.

When I uploaded TIDES, the formatting was exactly the same, page for page. For whatever reason, RIPTIDE shifted the text adding a line or two (or more) at the bottom of each page. This meant I had to go in and change the Table of Contents page numbers because the later chapters were off by as many as four pages! Well, I did that, uploaded again, and proofed through the virtual previewer. Everything looked fine. So, I approved it.

Well, I'm not too old to learn a lesson! I have since read the entire book again, found several examples of words that were hyphenated in the original text because they were at the end of a line and somehow ended up in the middle of a line. I found a few other things I decided to change while I was at it--nothing major. I've uploaded again. I feel badly about this because the people who have already purchased the book didn't get as good a version as this newer version. There's no major differences, but still...

When Jim and I finish editing TSUNAMI, we're both going to read the proof book, but then if there are any changes made, I'm going to order another proof book and reread the whole thing again before putting the book "out there." This is very time consuming and because I wrote the passages and have read these same passages several times, I still get caught up in the story, but I can't 'see' it as if it were the first time--which is the best way to proof anything. However, readers deserve for a book to be the best that it can possibly be, so I promise that next time, I'm not going to rush it and skip a vital step! All I can say now is that I'm sorry! I'll tell you one thing: I have more compassion for the books I read by other authors because I now realize how difficult it is to catch every single error!!!

PS!

If I know you and you want a chance to win a free book of RIPTIDE, please use a name I won't recognize. I want this to be fair to everyone. Thank you!

RIPTIDE is now available as both the book and the Kindle download!

If you have read TIDES - Book One and if you have not written a review on Amazon.com, I would like to tempt you to write a review for TIDES. I will give a free copy of the book RIPTIDE (autographed, if you'd like) to the best review posted in the month of August. Please type "AUG" at the beginning of your review so that I will know you are responding to this particular post. If the "AUG" is not there, I'll pass by that particular review. Then, over Labor Day weekend, I will post the winner right here on my blog. Then you will need to contact me with your mailing address and I will send RIPTIDE to you! My email address is on my profile page.

Please note: I am not looking for the longest review or the most grammatically correct review--I'm more interested in your sincerity and enthusiasm about my book, TIDES - Book One.

I hope you have a great day!

RIPTIDE is uploaded as a Kindle book--it's in the process of being reviewed. If it passes, it should be available tomorrow or Saturday!

Well, Create Space really did say that RIPTIDE wouldn't be available on Amazon.com for 5-7 days--but it's already there! Just go to Amazon.com, type

Deborah Annette Shaw

in the search box, and you'll find both TIDES and RIPTIDE along with a couple of Annette Funicello movies. It's the 'Annette' that causes that! LOL!!! I always liked her!

Check it out!!! TIDES - Book Two: RIPTIDE is available on Create Space! It won't be available on Amazon.com for 5 - 7 days. I hope you all have a terrific day! Debi https://www.createspace.com/4196764

Be sure to check out the status post below the picture!

The cover is done, the map is done, and I was able to upload TIDES - Book Two: RIPTIDE last night! Now I'm just waiting for confirmation that everything is as it should be for printing. That should come by tonight. I will proof the book (hopefully, online so I can approve it tonight for production) and within the next couple of days, RIPTIDE should show up on Amazon.com. If you really can't wait, you can also order it from www.createspace.com as early as tomorrow if all goes well tonight. All this being said, I hope you really enjoy it! One more thing: if you live anywhere near Ashland County, Ohio, I will be at the Ashland Public Library this Tuesday night, July 30th, at 7:00 PM. to have a little discussion and a book signing. I'd love to see you there!

Meredith, Linda and I spent most of this evening working on the cover for TIDES - Book Two: RIPTIDE. Meredith did a great job. Can we change the color of this now? I want to move this up a little and to the right. Now can we shrink the teal so it only goes behind the water? I think I made her fairly frustrated--well, maybe really frustrated! She handled it very well--I'm still breathing! She's going to play with it a little more. I've finished the edits and am currently re-reading RIPTIDE to make sure it reads smoothly and there are no kinks--hopefully. We're making progress!!!!!

I promised updates as we came ever closer to a publishing date. We're still not quite there. There's more work to be done on the cover and Jim and I have a few more minor things to work out in the text. I had hoped to have TIDES - Book Two: RIPTIDE ready and uploaded this weekend, but I'd rather wait a little longer and have it right. TIDES - Book One has received great reviews and I don't want anyone to be disappointed with RIPTIDE. So, please be patient with us just a little longer! Thank you!!!

Happy Independence Day!

Free Download of TIDES - Book One in honor of Independence Day!

For those of you who have Kindles, July 4th at midnight Pacific Standard Time, TIDES - Book One will be available for free download! I hope if you enjoy TIDES, you'll write a review on Amazon.com. For my fellow citizens of the United States, Happy Independence Day!

You all know what a pseudonym is, right? Mark Twain's real name was Samuel L. Clemens, but he wrote under the name of Mark Twain. William Sydney Porter is better known to us as O. Henry. Pseudonyms are commonplace among writers so I never gave it a thought when I started a blog under my pseudonym or pen name. However, I've been reading "Blogging for Dummies 4th Edition" and it talks about blogging ethics and that it's okay to blog under a pen name or pseudonym, but that I should let folks know it and why. So, I'm letting you all know that Deborah Annette Shaw is my pen name. Why didn't I write under my real name, you ask? For several reasons. #1 - I have absolutely no desire for fame for myself, but for my books, yes. #2 - I like people, but if my books become bestsellers, I'm not sure I'd want to go into a restaurant and become the center of attention. Like I said, I have absolutely no desire for fame and I really mean it. #3 - Let's say that my books do become bestsellers (I hope, I hope!). People will assume that that will make me rich--maybe, maybe not. With two mortgages and a very old car (more than ten years), it will take a lot just to get my feet on solid ground again. I do not want solicitations for products or things that I would never in a million years want to buy. I do not want my "long, lost cousins" contacting me--obviously, my real cousins are fine, not the ones who are cons, however. And lastly and most importantly, while my family is very much a part of my life, I am not married anymore. Nor do I want to get married again. Truthfully, after two miserable marriages, I am convinced the problem is my lack of good judgement when it comes to men. If I dream about getting married again, it always ends up as a nightmare--thanks to husband #2. The marriage between Micah and Katie is ideal to me (sans Meloni)--and I am simply not going to find a Micah. Or a vegetarian vampire which might be even more desirable if it heals an old injury! So, confession complete--no intention to mislead anyone--just desperate to keep my quiet life quiet, but still feed my lifelong passion to write. If you enjoy my writing, that's what makes me happiest! (If you write a review for Amazon.com because you like my books, I'll be ecstatic!) I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Speaking of decisions, my sister Bobbi brought up an interesting suggestion. She had just finished reading the manuscript for VORTEX, the fourth book. She thinks I should take part of Vortex and tack it onto the end to TSUNAMI, the third book in the series; keep a certain part of VORTEX as is; and then create a 5th book utilizing the last part of VORTEX and expand on it. Obviously, I can't give you story details, but I wondered if any of you had any thoughts about that...

I uploaded TIDES - Book Two: RIPTIDE last night. Waiting for approval to go ahead with the first proof to be printed. I am sending it to Jim, my wonderful editor, for a final review. Meredith is working on the final cover--we used a mock up just to get the proof book printed. I need to write a blurb for the back cover and I've done a sketch of Dad's Island that we hope to include in the book so everyone will have a better idea of what I'm seeing in my mind. The problem is I'm not sure how to insert the drawing into the digital book. I might have to put it on the back cover, but I'd like to avoid doing that if I can. I think it would work better as a spread over two facing pages so it's not too small. Decisions, decisions!

Several people have contacted me to ask me when the next book is coming out. I hope to have TIDES - Book Two: RIPTIDE available after Independence Day. How soon after will depend very much on my editor's busy schedule. I will keep you posted!

I don't deny that I am thoroughly enjoying being a published author. I eagerly check two or three times a day to see what my stats are, but I mostly enjoy reading the reviews from people who have read my first book. I want to thank them, tell each one how much it means to me that they wrote a review, and most especially that they like TIDES - Book One so much! There is a place to comment on Amazon.com, but I'm not sure that it applies to me. So, I decided to write my thoughts in my blog. I don't know some of the people who wrote reviews, but to all of you, I appreciate the time you took to write down your thoughts about TIDES - Book One. I am grateful beyond measure for the wonderful reception TIDES has received. I am also grateful to the many people who helped to make TIDES a reality. They are listed in the acknowledgements in the back of the book or at the end of the Kindle download. They are all wonderful people and all very talented, and I am extremely grateful to them and to you, the readers!

My book is on Amazon.com and as part of their Kindle promotions, I could offer my book, TIDES - Book One, for free for a 24-hour period. I just had to pick the date. Today was it. As of 11:49 this evening, 329 Kindles have been downloaded with my book! The final count was 363! I am thrilled! I also found out tonight that my accountant ordered my book and began... well, I'll copy and paste her reaction and let her "tell" you. This is what she posted on Facebook: "To all my "reading" friends: I am reading a book that was written by client friend of mine from Loudonville. It is amazing!!! I started reading it Sunday evening & only have a few chapters to go....but I don't want it to end! I would like to loan it to anyone to read also, but then I am not really promoting & helping her sales much. I purchased the book on Amazon. It is a very engrossing story & such a wonderful endeavor by one of our own!! I highly recommend "Tides (book one)" by Deborah Annette Shaw." Did that make my day? Oh, yes, it did! It warmed the cockles of my little heart! I sent my accountant's comments on to my editor--I know he'll be thrilled to read it too!

Writing has been Deborah Annette Shaw's passion since elementary school. Her art teacher in junior high school read something Deborah had written for an English class and told her she should become a writer. Her art teacher encouraged her for many years, and finally, after hitting a rough bump in the road of life, Deborah prayed for some way to turn her misfortune around and the message she received back was, "Write." "Write what?" she asked. "Just write," the voice answered back. A few months later, after purchasing a mini laptop, she began to write a story, but barely a page into it, she received the inspiration for TIDES - Book One. "I began dreaming about the book, plotting and planning in my sleep, which did not make for the most restful sleep, but I was excited and energized by what was taking place in my mind," Deborah comments. "The words took over and I couldn't type fast enough. It was that way through all four books. At one point, when I wasn't sure how to handle one element of the story, I prayed about it and the answer was immediate. I can't tell you what the answer was--I don't want to spoil it for you!" "I was blessed with talented friends who helped proof and edit and one friend who created the exceptional cover art. I hope that you'll enjoy TIDES as much as we enjoyed creating it."

This is the cover of my first book! The graphic artist, Meredith Patalon, is 

17 and just graduated from high school.  She is very talented and I'm 

looking forward to what she comes up with for the rest of the books

in the TIDES series!