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Sunday, October 25, 2020

Murphy's Law 2020 strikes again

 cj Sez: My gas fire log gave up the ghost last winter, which was not unexpected because it had more than outlived its one-year warranty. (I will confess to using it almost twenty additional years after I purchased the house which listed the fire log as one of its selling points.)

   In August, I thought I should have a new gas fire log installed and ordered one. After weeks of delayed delivery (two units were delivered to the installer with broken logs) and coronavirus deferred installation, the representative spent three-and-a-half hours in my family room on a beautiful, autumn Saturday afternoon…and couldn’t get the remote control to work right.
 
   Murphy’s Law 2020 strikes again.
 
   I think I expected that to happen and am not upset…yet, but I do know a product that will not get my 5-star review.
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Sharing sad news to report
   Ramona DeFelice Long, teacher, writer, editor extraordinaire, and dear friend to many authors has passed away. 

I had the good fortune to be one of her students during a Sisters-in-Crime/Guppy class. She was a respected, knowledgeable, generous, and kind person. 
 
   Her first novel, MURDERESS OF BAYOU ROSA, was released July 2, 2020, to five-star reviews.
 

   Learn more about Ramona’s literary achievements here:  https://ramonadef.com/
 
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Why it’s good to read anthologies
   Question: When you’re reading a story that drags you deep into the plot, do you wonder how the author could have imagined all those twists and turns? I do because I know personally that writing a coherent story is a difficult and exacting task, and I get a ton of inspiration by reading. In fact, a writer has to be a reader, especially in the genre they write.
 
   Because I also like to read the works of different authors in multiple genres, I find reading anthologies filled with short stories appealing for many reasons, but the top three are:
1) they don’t require a singular lengthy commitment;
2) they provide a lot of variety; and
3) they often introduce me to a new favorite author.
 
   I say three cheers for anthologies and their short stories! (Try it, you’ll like it.)
 
   I’ve been fortunate to have short stories published in three different anthologies in 2020—VALENTINE’S DAY PIECES, BIENVENUE TO THE CHATEAU ROUGE, HALLOWEEN PIECES—and there’s a fourth one in the editing process, HOMEROOM HEROES.
 
   All the anthologies offer readers all around good reading in a variety of themes and styles.
 
   In the Mobile Writers Guild latest anthology,
Buy Now 

HALLOWEEN PIECES, there are eighteen pieces from seventeen authors, ranging from ghost and paranormal stories to poems and even a play.
 
   The anthology is available on Amazon (free on Kindle Unlimited), and several of the authors have signed some copies that are now available from The Haunted Bookshop (see where to order below).
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Add the following anthology to your shopping list also:
   I’m in the process of going through edit cycles for my short story, “The Substitute,” in Bienvenue Press’s annual charity anthology, HOMEROOM HEROES. Here’s a teaser:

   When FBI agent Aron Olsen is assigned to work undercover as a substitute adapted physical education teacher, he knew he’d need a lot of help.
 
   When the principal assigned Melanie Andrews the job of helping the new substitute teacher with his charges, she learned how to turn her can’ts into cans and her dreams into plans.

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REMEMBER TO EXERCISE 
YOUR RIGHT/PRIVILEGE/DUTY TO VOTE
(If you haven’t voted absentee, I’ll be a poll worker on November 3 and looking for you.)
 
  That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.
 
   (P.S. Daylight Saving Time ends next Sunday, November 1, and we turn our clocks one hour. I intend to turn my clocks back to a gentler, kinder time, if I can determine what year that was.) 


 
cj

P.S.  TO ORDER my autographed books or any book of your choice on-line from my favorite indie bookstore, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us
 
   The store has re-opened to limited hours, so if you’re in the Mobile area, you can stop and shop, too.
 
➜ Follow me . . .       
➜ on Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page = https://amzn.to/2v6SrAj
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➜ on BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson
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