Guest Post: Brenda Youngerman

My guest today is Brenda Youngerman.  Brenda is an author, and I have invited her to tell you about her new book.

Writing… reading… talking… breathing. These are all adverbs when you take them singularly; but to me they are vital parts of my life. I cannot imagine any facet of me without all of these adverbs interacting. Obviously we all breathe and have done so from the moment of birth.  Talking? Well…I have no idea when that started, but reading I distinctly remember doing from a VERY early age. Trips to the library to check out children’s books (which I later checked out with my own children) and then as my reading level progressed, my walks down the aisle of the library to grab a book that looked interesting.

And writing? Well I’ve definitely been writing since I was in high school with a precise memory of a short story I wrote about love and loss. It started with “Her memory hung in the air like the scent of a rose.” I printed out that short story and put in on my bulletin board. I had no idea then (when I was sixteen) that I would end up writing novels, nor that I would enjoy writing so much and it would become an extension of myself.

A Youngerman novel will take you on a journey into a life that you may or may not ever imagine. There are always twists and turns that the reader does not expect, and although life does not necessarily have happy endings, my books try to leave the reader with a bit of hope that things will be better for our star character.

I hope you give it a try…. Check out my latest book: Skewered Halo. You can buy it directly from me and I will autograph it for you! Come on by my blog or my website.

Psst! She’s Got a Secret!

Why would one sister have it in for the other? Sibling rivalry is taken to the extreme in my novel Skewered Halo.  Diane Newsome is the middle child born into a middle-class family. Her older sister, Brittany, has resented her from the moment she was born. Brittany convinces Diane that she was placed on the doorstep as an unwanted child, and she dare not make a wrong move or she will lose her family. Years later, when Diane finally tells her parents what Brittany has claimed, they are aghast, yet her mother still sides with Brittany.

Skewered Halo is a thriller exploring the lies and treachery that can exist in families. Join Diane as she discovers that her entire life has been a lie, resulting in murder and mayhem.

I’ve Been Re-possessed

As regular reader knows, from time to time I vacate The Laughing Housewife premises to let a real writer talk about their new book.  Today it is the turn of…

…Musician, Nemo James:

Born and based in England, Nemo James worked as a professional musician and singer/songwriter for more than 30 years. He now lives in Croatia with his wife Federika and their cat Jutko, who is becoming intolerable following his rise to fame on Youtube.

The book: Just A Few Seconds.

The story of one man’s experience in the music business. It is an amusing and true story of a successful freelance musician whose gigs ranged from private parties, to the rich and famous, to the roughest London pubs, where playing the wrong song at the wrong time meant the difference between life and death. He takes more twists, turns and knocks than a mouse trapped in a pinball machine.  The ending shows how the road to success can lead us down the strangest and most desolate of paths.

If you are looking for the usual rock star memoirs full of sex, drugs and rock and roll, then this book is not for you; if you are interested in a unique insight into the music business that reads like a thriller, then this book won’t disappoint.

Cooking Tips from Nemo James

Since the publication of my book Just A Few Seconds, several people have emailed me to ask whether my cooking has improved since the chapter entitled A Recipe For Shoestrings. In it, I wrote how during a very difficult time in my life, I was living on a budget of £1 a day for food. Some people are able to do wonders with £1 spent wisely on ingredients but I am definitely not one of them. I was not only on a shoestring budget, my meals actually tasted like shoestrings.

Then I met and married Federika who, apart from being amazing and gorgeous, is also a fantastic cook specialising in dishes from all corners of the globe, but particularly from Peru, where she grew up. I am never going to win any awards for my cooking but she has taught me a lot and in particular shared that secret that all you crafty cooks have been keeping to yourselves all these years: The Kitchen Timer. 

Until I discovered the kitchen timer I used to use a smoke alarm to tell me when my food was cooked. In a terraced house in the UK it was not a problem as I would always put the smoke alarm within easy reach so I could turn it off quickly. But one day, while I was living in Los Angeles, I was heating up a lovely chocolate muffin for my breakfast when the phone rang with a call from a prospective agent. I completely forgot about the muffin until the smoke alarm went off but, being accustomed to this event, I continued talking to the agent whilst removing the muffin from the oven and jumping up and down on a chair, trying to blow cold air onto the alarm. As most of the buildings in L.A. are made of wood everyone is paranoid about fire so just as I thought I had everything under control and had the agent interested the building manager started banging on my door and screaming at me to let him in. I never realised cooking could be so difficult.

Here are a few more tips that I have discovered that I would like to pass on:

• Using an apron means that cooking doesn’t always require a change of clothes.
• The oil you use for cooking is different to the type you use in your car.
• Oven gloves save a lot of pain.
• Keeping the kitchen floor clean from grease means you don’t have to wear a crash helmet while you cook.
• When breaking an egg it is better to use the edge of a knife than a hammer.
• A baguette is not a small shopping bag.
• You don’t get black eyed beans by punching normal beans.
• You can’t make white sugar go brown by leaving it in the sun all day.
• Crab apple is not a seafood.
• Hitting a halibut with a hammer doesn’t make it a flatfish.
• You can’t scald pasta by telling it off.
• Molasses are not moles’ bottoms.
• Strong currants in Muesli are not dangerous.
• There is no such thing as Semolina poisoning.
• If you are running short of Tofu for that special dinner party, try adding half a litre of water to a roll of toilet paper and blend in with one large packet of wallpaper paste. No one will ever know the difference.

If you have a cooking tip you would like to share with others please leave them in the comments.

For reviews and other information visit Pump Up Your Book.

Nemo James’ website and blog.

Nemo James’  You Tube videos.

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• Working Smoke Alarms Save Lives – Install, Inspect, Protect (kannapolis.wordpress.com)

Please Welcome My Guest, Jessamine Rose

Today’s post is brought to you courtesy of author Jessamine Rose and her book, Don’t Let The Secret Out.

About Don’t Let the Secret Out

Jessamine Rose offers readers a glimpse into her life. She was born in 1937, in a small town in eastern Kentucky. For many, her upbringing will seem foreign but for some it will sound all too familiar. The family’s cabin was cold, the cracks in the floor made it impossible to heat. The bathroom was an outhouse. Her father often beat her mother. Her father shot her mother to scare her. At one point the family lived under a cliff. In the hills of eastern Kentucky “you could shoot a dog and spend a year in jail, shoot a man and nothing.” She faced sexual abuse, beatings, neglect and yet rose above it all. She was a mere 6 years old the first time she was raped. Her mother gave away her young brother and sister. Jessamine made her escape in the back of an ice truck, she was less than 14. She ended up living in a park in Ohio.

Her teen years were spent suffering at the hands of authority. Her life finally changed for the better when she met the love of her life and life began anew.  Jessamine searched for her family and tried to reconcile her past memories with those who had wronged her. Jessamine faced many hardships in her life, yet her memoir is upbeat, despite her childhood beginnings.

An excerpt from Don’t Let The Secret Out:

Spring came and mommy had Edna Cora

She was named after my Daddy’s sister and also was the sibling I nicknamed Flukey. Daddy decided to join the Army and instead of Mommy getting allotment for us kids, he put it in Aunt Cora’s name. She owned a little country store and was supposed to give us food. Almost everyday we’d walk to her grocery store and she’d be kind enough to give us a load of bread with some applesauce. However, she greedily kept most of the money for herself.

After I grew up I came back to Incline, Ky to face Aunt Cora for keeping most of the money and not giving us food in exchange. As we were driving up the dirt road, I could see Aunt Cora in the garden working. She was all bent over hoeing a row of beans. We parked the car, got out and walked toward her. I was so mad and planned to do more than yell at her; I wanted to hit her. As I got closer to her she stood up and she was all crippled from arthritis. Needless to say I felt so sorry for her, so I couldn’t be mad at her. We talked for about an hour and I left. I was so hurt I couldn’t even cry. I never say Aunt Cora again.

8

Four Fun Things about Writing and Publishing My Novel.

1. I have three cats. BJ is 10 years old and thinks she is the meanest 5 lb ball of fur on the planet.  Yes, she rules the family. I was in the middle of finishing up a chapter I had rewritten several times. Just when I had the end in my mind I heard her coming.  She calls me ma. When she wants me to hold her I have no choice. She jumped up on the keyboard, hit delete – and all was gone. She sat on the keyboard for all of one minute for me to pet her.

2. My editor had most of the book edited and she tried out a new program.  When she went back to work on the book, it was gone. After we both stopped crying, I had to round up the story and send it to her again.

3. After I finished the book I didn’t know how to find a cover. I didn’t know the publisher would do my cover for me. I tried drawing a picture. That didn’t work out. Then I remembered a friend had two granddaughters about the age I needed for the cover. George, my husband, asked them if he could take their pictures for the cover. We have an old fence in the back; he asked them to stand in front of the fence. They posed and the picture was taken; it turned out beautiful. Just what I wanted.

4. George had an appointment at the VA for blood work. I had to wait for him in the waiting room. There were several people there. I had no idea how to get my book out to the public. I looked around the room and announced to every one ‘My name is Jessamine Rose and my book, Don’t Let The Secret Out, be for sale.’ I was taking orders now. The price was $10.00. I needed their name, address and $10.00. I mailed them just as soon as I could. I sold several and one of the ladies bought two.  Shortly after, a Doctor came in and asked if Jessamine Rose was there. The lady told them Jessamine Rose the author was in the building.

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Let-Secret-Jessamine-Rose/dp/0982930720/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305952980&sr=1-1

http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2011/05/23/don%E2%80%99t-let-the-secret-out-virtual-book-tour-june-2011/