Kim's Musings

About the Author In an old country village called Chaddleworth in Berkshire, J. M. (Jean) Shorney grew up listening to her father's tales around the fireside on cold winter evenings. Her father was a born storyteller. Her mother recited poetry she'd learned, and would rattle off without a book. Jean has written many novels, poetry and some hymns set to traditional tunes. Her favourite writers are Elliott O'Donnell, Dennis Wheatley and Jack Higgins, while her love affair with Ireland dominates most of my writing. Jean's inspiration is listening to old country music, both American and Irish, as it has been since herwriting career began. She currently reside in Thatcham, which is near Newbury in Berkshire. Fine Jean Shorney on  Twitter . About the Book Sometimes the past throws up more than you can handle... When Aidan McRaney is sent into infiltrate the lair of a man obsessed with seeking revenge on the British for the murder of his IRA father, he is forced t...

About the Author F.P. Spirit has always loved fantasy. From the moment he received his very first copy of Lord of the Rings back in high school, he was hooked. Today, somewhere between work, raising two teen boys, and trying to be a devoted husband, F. P. manages to write sword and sorcery fantasy fiction. His novels, The Ruins on Stone Hill, The Serpent Cult and The Dark Monolith, are the first three books in the series Heroes of Ravenford. The series chronicles the adventures of a band of young heroes in the dangerous world of Thac. F.P. is currently working on the fourth book in the Heroes of Ravenford series, The Princess of Lanfor, to be released in late 2015. To learn more you can go to his website http://fpspirit.com/ or follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/FP_Spiritout About The Book Magic is Easy or so Glolindir thought, until he came face to face with his first live monster. Casting spells was not so simple with death breathing down his neck. His sto...

About The Author Indie Author Harmony Kent has written a number of books. The Battle for Brisingamen, her first novel, is a work of fantasy fiction and was approved by Awesome Indies within weeks of its release. Her second book, The Glade shows her equally at home in the realms of mystery, suspense and thriller - with a dash of magical realism. This book has also been approved for the Awesome Indies List. The Glade was awarded the IndieBRAG Medallion in July 2014. Harmony's third book (Elemental Earth) is Young Adult Fantasy Fiction, and was published 31st July 2014. With more books already in progress, she is well on her way to being a firmly established multi genre author. As well as being an avid reader and writer, Harmony also offers editing, proof reading, manuscript appraisal and beta reading services. As well as reviewing and supporting her fellow indie authors, Harmony works hard to promote and protect high standards within the indie publishing arena. She is always ...

About Christa Nardi Christa Nardi is a new author of cozy mysteries. Murder at Cold Creek College is the first in what she hopes will be a series set in a small town in Virginia. She has a background in higher education and psychology, similar to the main character in the series, Sheridan Hendley. Please visit Christa's blog at http://christanardi.blogspot.com / You can find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/christa.nardi.5 Follow Christa on twitter: @ChristaN7777 About the Book Sheridan Hendley is a professor and psychologist, not a sleuth. When her colleague is murdered and her good friend becomes the prime suspect, her curiosity and logical mind have her putting pieces together. In small town Cold Creek it’s hard to have secrets. As Sheridan tries to connect all the people in Adam’s life, she finds that many women have a motive for Adam’s murder. When Sheridan's tires are slashed and then she is assaulted, it's clear someone is afraid she’s ...

As the new year begins, I have been contemplating what's coming for me in 2015. I have again made a few resolutions. Among them are to lose more weight, have a positive attitude, read more, write more, no more pack ratting, and quit smoking. Those are the goals, now to make a plan which I will do below. Lose more weight - While I have stuck to my diet pretty well and lost 30 pounds in 2014, I would like to lose 10 to 20 more pounds this year. I've come to somewhat of a standstill with my weight loss. In my last blood test, my total cholesterol was higher, but the good news is that I had raised my HDL (good cholesterol), but my LDL (bad cholesterol) was also higher. So I need to change some things. I had started eating more ice cream which I need to limit to maybe once per week. I gained a few pounds too over the holidays, about 3 or 4. Anyway, the plan is to eat better by eating more fruit and vegetables and less carbohydrates and sweets. I've already started adding bro...

Reflections are based mainly on the 2014 resolutions I made earlier this year: 2014 Resolutions Weight loss - Lose 30 to 40 pounds. I did lose 30 pounds, but that last 10 pounds (making it 40 pounds lost) has been a bear to lose. I went from 191 to 161. I did make it to 159 a few months ago but it didn't last long. I probably lost a total of 100 pounds if I could count the same pounds I lost multiple times. Update and Create Web Sites - Updated my author's page and my husband's art Web site. Created my Web designer's site. Actively look for new clients - I didn't really look for new clients but I still found 3 new sites to create this year. One was recently and I'm still working on it. Write more by writing at least two books in work in process list and finish 3rd novella in the Lana Malloy Paranormal Mystery Series - Somewhat done. I mentioned the book I had three quarters completed, and I'm happy to say I did finish that book and plan to release in...

Writing As you can tell by my other posts recently, I have been reading and researching the aspects of self-publishing and I've decided to try it, so now I'm switching my focus to my own writing so that I have something to self-publish. I have at least four books to consider: my novella that's half finished with a working title, The Wedding Crasher , The Kidnapped Bride , Honeymooning on Cape Cod , etc. (many of the titles I'm considering) - this is the third novella in the Lana Malloy, paranormal suspense series ; or full novels: All This time - a romantic suspense novel that is three-quarters completed, For the Love of Money - a mystery novel about one-quarter completed, or Shattered Hearts - mainstream women's fiction novel that's about three-quarters completed and it's the first book I started writing that was meant for publication. You can read the short blurbs on these at my Web site kimcoxauthor.com. Right now, I'm leaning toward the Lana M...

Self-Publishing Books 101 : A Step-By-Step Guide to Publishing Your Book in Multiple Formats by Shelley Hitz and Heather Hart Self-Publishing Books 101 is a free Kindle eBook on Amazon.com right now.This book is very informative and helpful and I gave it five stars; although, I don't believe this book should be the first book read on self-publishing. The mere volume of information can be overwhelming for someone just beginning to think about self-publishing. I didn't realize this, since it wasn't the first book I'd read and I'm a bit technologically inclined, until an author friend pointed out her confusion, and I will explain that statement at the latter part of this review.  That said, I think Self-Publishing Books 101 is the best of all the books I've read on self-publishing so far due to all the options and choices introduced. First, lets look at the book's contents. Part One: Foundation for Publishing Success This section starts out with chapte...

Thanks to Elizabeth Delisi , for tagging me in The Writing Process Blog Hop. Read about Elizabeth Delisi’s writing process here . At the end I’ll be tagging a few other authors, so please do follow those links to their blogs and interviews. Click on any of the book covers below to purchase them or go to my website at Kim Cox, Author . What am I currently working on? That’s a loaded question. ;) I’m working on two different books right now and have about eight books in different stages of completion and ideas for about three more series.  However, my main focus is on  The Wedding Crasher . This book will be the third book in the “Lana Malloy Paranormal Mysteries” series. Lana is a Psychic Private Investigator who's paranormal abilities grow with each book. In the first book, Haunted Hearts ,  included in the Enchanted Holidays anthology, Lana could only see, hear, and talk to her great aunt (a ghost), and she could only hear other ghosts. Blurb: Will...

Spring Well Spring appears to come and go each week. Hope everyone is enjoying warm weather for a change. It was pretty warm today, around 60 degrees but warmer would've suited me better. Temperatures this week have been from the 20's to the 70's. What a range! However, the heatwave is on the way, 79 degrees by this time next week. Updates Reading, Movies, and Ideas Since the last time I wrote here in March, I have finished "The Vow on the Heron" by Jean Plaidy, the 10th book of the Plantagenet series, and started "Passage to Pontefract", the 11th book in the series. I have less than 100 pages out of 366 to go. I'm loving this series. I love books and movies with knights, kings, queens, etc., That leads me to one of my favorite shows right now "Reign" about Mary Queen of Scotts and Francis II, Prince and later King of France. My son tells me that the next "House of Night" book will be the last. I've read them all e...

Like most of the country, I'm looking forward to Spring 2014. I've had enough of the cold and the snow and I'm now thinking of sunshine and flowers. But Winter is not letting go. No yet. I'm hearing of more snow around the country but thankful that our forecasters are only calling for rain Monday, March 3, 2014. Now for my goal updates: As for my goal of writing on my blog at least once a quarter: Well here I am writing at the beginning of March, only two months since my previous post. So that is being accomplished right now. On my lose weight goal, I have lost 13 pounds and I'm still watching what I eat. I'm eating more protein and less carbohydrates. For breakfast, I drink an Atkins protein shake and eat an Atkins protein bar for lunch. For supper, I sneak a baked potato or baked fries about once a month, but I mostly eat meat, beans, and green vegetables. But the exercise plan has not come to fruition. I'm not a morning person, so the get up e...

2013 Reflections: I received a much needed raise from my day job at the beginning of 2013. I graduated from college in May, obtaining my second associates degree—this time in Web Technology.  I contracted a with new Web site client in April—a small manufacturing company in Brevard, North Carolina. But with writing there wasn’t much except the occasional blog and school assignments. I did write about five pages on a new Lana Malloy novella. I came up with a couple of new book ideas. One is a paranormal suspense and the other a science fiction—like I needed more ideas to add to my list of to-dos . Way to go, Kim! I made up for the not writing with reading. I haven’t really kept up with how many books I’ve read but I know it was more than one a month averaged out. I also lost a very good friend in January 2013. Ann Burr was like a second mother to me. She had been sick with Alzheimer’s disease and in a nursing home four hours away for the last few years. I wanted to go see her...