Taylor Dean Books: November 2016

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY WITH WINNER

Congratulations to the last WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

winner: Rita!

I liked her answer entitled:

Image courtesy of [Ventrilock] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I'M LOST WITHOUT YOUR LOVE

To view, go here.

Wordless Wednesday is actually filled with words--the words, thoughts, and feelings that pictures or images evoke within each of us without uttering a single word!

Image courtesy of [saphatthachat] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What WORD/WORDS does this picture evoke within you?

Or, in other words, "TITLE THIS IMAGE."

I'll start: "Make time for love."
This image came with a clever caption. I'm excited to see what clever caption all of you come up with!

Don't forget to leave your email or I will be unable to name you as winner!

You may leave multiple answers to increase your chances of winning.

Contest is closed by Thursday at midnight and the winner will be contacted. Winner will be announced the following Wordless Wednesday.

Open only to those who can legally enter. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be emailed. If email is incorrect, a new winner will be chosen. Giveaway is sponsored by Taylor Dean Books. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

Monday, November 28, 2016

MONDAY MUSINGS--HOW THE WORLD READS

How The World Reads

Thank you Eric Roberts for contributing this guest post and for writing the introduction to the below infographic.

Despite the emergence of audio books and podcasts as alternatives to the normal printed books, reading proves to be an important facet of learning and conveying messages among humans.

In fact, UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) revealed that the global youth literacy rate rose to 90% in 2011 (census decades 2005-2015) from 87% in 2000 (census decades 1995-2004) and 83% in 1990 (census decades 1985-1994).

Apart from this, there’s so much more to discover when it comes to reading such as how people from different parts of the world read, as well as the reasons they do such activity.

How We Read

There are three types of vision ranges namely fovea (the area at the center of the retina), parafovea (expands up to 5 degrees on either side of fixation), and periphery (which is basically everything else).

The main differences of the vision ranges are in its functions. The fovea is critical for reading and can pick up details well. The periphery, though unclear and not that detailed, can pick up color and movement. Lastly, the parafovea is the vision range that helps people understand everything they read clearly.

Why We Love to Read

Bookworms are the perfect people to ask about reading, as not everyone loves it or even does it during their free time. Whether for meeting requirements for school or work, entertainment, enlightenment, or just to kill time, reading is something that every person has done in his or her life.

To have a better understanding of how the world reads, here’s a comprehensive infographic containing relevant facts and statistics.

Special thanks to https://www.feelgoodcontacts.com

for this interesting graphic. If you are a reader, I think you will find this information fascinating!

See the original article here: https://www.feelgoodcontacts.com/blog/how-the-world-reads

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY WITH WINNER

Congratulations to the last WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

winner: Jana!

I liked her answer entitled:

Image courtesy of [samuiblue] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

LOVE IS THE SECRET INGREDIENT

To view, go here.

Wordless Wednesday is actually filled with words--the words, thoughts, and feelings that pictures or images evoke within each of us without uttering a single word!

Image courtesy of [Ventrilock] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What WORD/WORDS does this picture evoke within you?

Or, in other words, "TITLE THIS IMAGE."

I'll start: "Help me find love."

My favorite answer wins a $5.00 dollar Amazon gift card.

Don't forget to leave your email or I will be unable to name you as winner!

Monday, November 21, 2016

MONDAY MUSINGS

Music is a huge inspiration to me. I don't listen to music while I'm writing. I prefer silence because I'm easily distracted.

But I love to listen to music while I'm cleaning house, exercising, and driving. During those times, I receive my best inspiration for writing.

Image courtesy of [Stuart Miles] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As a matter of fact, when I'm not writing, I'm constantly thinking about my current book plot and mentally making decisions about the direction certain scenes will take.

Just the other day I heard this song and it really set my imagination soaring. (Not sure how I've never heard it before.)

I'm kind of obsessed with this song now. One of my pet peeves is people who roll their eyes at romance novels. Why is it considered fluff? What makes a horror novel smarter than a romance novel? I don't get it. Guess I never will. I love romance!!

Then I hear songs like this and think, "This is a short little romance story, turned into a song." As a matter of fact, these short little romance stories are on the radio all the time and people love them!

I also heard this song this week and fell in love with it:

Have you read Me Before You? I read it and saw the movie. I loved them both. However, when I read the book, I HAD NO IDEA HOW IT WAS GOING TO END. I won't give away the ending here, but it is a controversial ending at best. I didn't like how it ended. At all. It didn't keep me from enjoying both the book and the movie though. The journey is great. The ending will leave you sad, and maybe even MAD.

At any rate, those are my thoughts on a Monday morning. Listen to the songs and ENJOY!

What is your favorite romantic song?

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY WITH WINNER

Congratulations to the last WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

winner: Christy!

I liked her answer entitled:

Image courtesy of [Witthaya Phonsawat] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I CAN'T "PICTURE" MY LIFE WITHOUT YOUR LOVE

To view, go here.

Wordless Wednesday is actually filled with words--the words, thoughts, and feelings that pictures or images evoke within each of us without uttering a single word!

Image courtesy of [samuiblue] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What WORD/WORDS does this picture evoke within you?

Or, in other words, "TITLE THIS IMAGE."

I'll start: "Romantic dinner."

My favorite answer wins a $5.00 dollar Amazon gift card.

Don't forget to leave your email or I will be unable to name you as winner!

Monday, November 14, 2016

MONDAY MUSINGS

Image courtesy of [jesadaphorn] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This week I have been busy writing and it feels great. I'm polishing STONE SILENCE and eager to get started on Book Two, JAILBIRD.

However, I'm not moving on to the next book until I'm happy with STONE SILENCE. It still needs some work as there are a few scenes I'm not happy with as of yet.

Managing my time this year has been challenging.

When I first found myself with an empty nest, I decided to finally write the stories in my head. They were constantly running through my mind as if they were screaming for attention. Now that those stories have been written, it's as if they are deleted from my mind and I don't think about them anymore. Truth be told, I miss them.

No worries. New stories are now occupying my attention.

At any rate, when I first started writing, I had time on my hands. All of my children had left the nest. The thing is, not only did they leave the nest, they moved away. And I was sad. I missed my houseful of children and all the hustle and bustle.

But writing filled the gap in my heart.

Image courtesy of [NIXXPHOTOGRAPHY] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This past year, my daughter, her husband, and their son moved in with us for six months while they made an employment change. I watched my grandson as much as possible so my daughter could work. (She works from home.)

They have since moved out and settled only two hours away. One week after they moved out, my son moved back home. Evidently I have revolving doors on my house! Even though he graduated from college a year ago, he is now knocking out the pre-requisites he needs in order to go to nursing school, with his end goal to be a nurse practitioner.

2016 also saw not one, but THREE trips to Oregon as my father fought and lost his battle with pancreatic cancer.

Such a simple statement, and yet this was a traumatic event in my life.

On the lighter side, we also welcomed a brand new granddaughter and spent three weeks on a trip to Idaho to see her--and spoil my daughter as she recovered.

As you can see, my nice quiet writing life went a little haywire this year. But, you know what? All of the family time made me happy. All of the experiences and emotions changed me. Every detail is written on my heart.

And I believe that all of these real life experiences will enhance and improve my writing. However, I hope real life will calm down a bit so I can concentrate on writing fictional stories about life!

But then, how can I write about life without having experienced it?

(Picture courtesy of Google Images)

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY WITH WINNER

Congratulations to the last WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

winner: Natalie!

I liked her "out of the box" answer entitled:

Image courtesy of [Geerati] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

"I dropped a tear in the ocean. The day that I find it is the day that I will stop loving you."

Natalie said, " they remind me of teardrops, and the wood of a boardwalk . . ."

To view, go here.

Wordless Wednesday is actually filled with words--the words, thoughts, and feelings that pictures or images evoke within each of us without uttering a single word!

Image courtesy of [Witthaya Phonsawat] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What WORD/WORDS does this picture evoke within you?

Or, in other words, "TITLE THIS IMAGE."

I'll start: "Developing our love."

My favorite answer wins a $5.00 dollar Amazon gift card.

Don't forget to leave your email or I will be unable to name you as winner!

Monday, November 7, 2016

MONDAY MUSINGS

I'm back to writing my new series! It feels so good to be writing again after a long break.

Even though writing is work and sometimes quite challenging, I feel so relaxed after a day of writing. I love a silent house as I work and I love getting lost in my story.

The first book in the series is entitled, STONE SILENCE.

I came up with the idea to write this story through personal experience.

One May day in 2015, my hubby and I were driving home from Austin, Texas after a visit with my son. May of 2015 happens to be the month of THE GREAT TEXAS FLOODS.

The road we needed to take was closed due to flooding. We had to take a small highway that felt as though we were in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE in order to get home.

During that drive, my imagination conjured up a story.

We have since driven through the area two more times, just to take pictures and get a better feel for the area so that I can accurately describe it in my book.

The small highway takes you through a VERY small Texas town by the name of Roby.

If you blink, you'll miss it. But, it has some rich heritage and interesting stories attached to it.

It even has a small cafe, where I decided to have my characters dine during the course of the novel.

Now I'm obsessed with this part of Texas. Sweetwater is about thirty minutes away and Abilene is not too much further. Depending on what month it is and the amount of rainfall, it can look drab and barren, or lush and green.

The first time I saw it, it looked like this:

Pretty different from the greener pictures above and below, huh?

Cotton farming is the thing that keeps Roby alive--or the thing that results in its decline.

The covers are almost done and I can't wait to share them with you!

(I know, I keep saying that. They really are almost done. My daughter is my cover designer and she's the one who just had a baby, so I've had to be patient and wait for her to have the time--and the energy--to finish them!)

These covers are especially amazing to me because I am featuring family members on them!!

After searching and searching through Istock and Shutterstock, I just didn't want to use images that have been repeated on several other covers. So, I decided to go the original route. I asked family members if they would be willing to make an appearance on my covers.

They said YES!!

I'll be sharing them soon.

Enough talk. Time to get busy WRITING!

Image courtesy of [Naypong] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Coming in 2017:

Sound of Silence Series

Book One: STONE SILENCE

Book Two: JAILBIRD

Book Three: HOTHOUSE FLOWER

Thursday, November 3, 2016

THE NEXT POWER OF THE MATCHMAKER BOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE!

I can't wait to read this next installment in the Power of the Matchmaker series.

I've read a few Janette Rallison books and she is so funny. Her books always make me laugh.

The best day of his life, the worst day of hers.

Back in college, Marco Dawson never thought of Belle as anything more than a friend. If she had crossed his mind on his wedding day, it was probably only to wonder why she hadn’t shown up to be a bridesmaid. After all, his new wife was her old roommate. Seven years have passed since then, and Belle just found out that Marco is divorced and vacationing with his family in an elegant Cancun resort. She’s not about to let the right man get away twice. She heads to the resort where she plans to casually bump into Marco and ignite some romantic flames.

But Belle hadn’t planned on one thing: Flynn Dawson, Marco’s handsome, charming, and determined twin brother. He thinks Marco and his ex-wife can make amends and he’s not about to let Belle stand in the way.

Part Sabrina, part While You Were Sleeping, romantic comedy readers will eat this book up!

AMAZON

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY WITH WINNER

Welcome back to Wordless Wednesday!

Let's begin!

Congratulations to the last WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

winner: Rita!

I liked her answer entitled:

Image courtesy of [chatchai_stocker] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

QUIT PLAYING GAMES WITH MY HEART

To view, go here.

Wordless Wednesday is actually filled with words--the words, thoughts, and feelings that pictures or images evoke within each of us without uttering a single word!