Weekly Celebration, Cover Reveals, and The Classics - CLOSING LINES: Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

"Mrs. Hale drew a deep breath, as though her memory were eased of its long burden, and she had no more to say; but suddenly an impulse of complete avowal seized her.

She took off her spectacles again, leaned toward me across the bead-work table-cover, and went on with lowered voice: “There was one day, about a week after the accident, when they all thought Mattie couldn’t live. Well, I say it’s a pity she did. I said it right out to our minister once, and he was shocked at me. Only he wasn’t with me that morning when she first came to... And I say, if she’d ha’ died, Ethan might ha’ lived; and the way they are now, I don’t see’s there’s much difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard; ‘cept that down there they’re all quiet, and the women have got to hold their tongues.” "

(Published 1911)

We biked on Richland's Riverfront Trail early in the week. A tire blew on our friend's bike, which meant finding a bike shop and delaying the bike ride by 2 hours, but we managed to have fun despite the heat. It got up to 92 degrees. Usually too hot for me, but snow cones along the way helped!

A huge Thank you to Senco Cat Herder at http://pempispalace.blogspot.com/ for hosting a Cover Reveal of my novel, The Shells of Mersing last week.


I want to Thank Heather Holden for a super nice job at http://edgyauthor.blogspot.com/ this week for also sharing a Cover Reveal.


July ?? 2017 is still the launch date. Finally have an Author Page I like. I really struggled with the right colors and theme. Click here for a looksee or the page link above.

Vince and I will be attending a wedding next week, happy our nephew has found happiness at last. After losing a girlfriend a few years back, who had died suddenly, we all kind of wondered if he would. All the best this weekend. Set your sails and go for it!

"Come celebrate with us
To join "Celebrate the Small Things, visit Lexa Cain's blog

Co-hosts are: L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge

Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate the Small Things: Photos of Bangkok's Floating Market

Well, it really is true. We write what we know and experience in life, and our stories are richer by far when we do. I'm celebrating a memory and the inspiration behind writing The Shells of Mersing. 

My husband and I spent nine wonderful months living in Malaysia in 1995-96. Our trip to Thailand was one of the highlights. Here are some photos of the Floating Market in Bangkok. It was fun popping my characters into this setting. 
 

Celebrating another Cover Reveal for The Shells of Mersing...... over at Tamara Narayan's blog.  Thanks, Tamara!!

Check it out and ALSO Tamara's new book!

One collection, four stories, 171 pages of suspense...

Heart Stopper: The disappearance of random household items baffles Dallas Radner and his eleven-year-old daughter, Tessa. Ten plastic bags, nine ballpoint pens . . . what's next? This odd countdown should end on November 1, The Day of the Dead. That's also Tessa's birthday and the one-year anniversary of her surgery, the day her heart stopped on the operating table....

Happy Weekend

Everyone!

"Come celebrate with us" 
To join "Celebrate the Small Things, visit Lexa Cain's blog
Co-hosts are: L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge 
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Sharon M. Himsl

Writer/Author. Blogging since 2011. 
Published with Evernight Teen: 
~~The Shells of Mersing

Cover Reveal Shout-Out and a Mid-Week Smile

Check out TWO COVER REVEALS for THE SHELLS OF MERSING

http://www.bookwormforkids.blogspot.com Thank you Tonja Drecker for the shout-out!!!  

And Author Page here

Below, just for fun, saw this cute video honoring the
works of William Shakespeare. Guaranteed to make you smile 😊

Published on Apr 21, 2016

This year, the whole world commemorates 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare and to mark this landmark anniversary, famous scenes from Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream have been immortalized in LEGO® bricks.

Celebrating Stephanie Faris's Cover Reveal: A Book My Granddaughter Would Like

I'm joining others this week in celebrating Stephanie Faris's new Piper Morgan Series and Cover reveal for Book 3 in the series:

Piper Morgan to the Rescue

When I first learned about Stephanie's character Piper, I thought of my spunky eight-year-old granddaughter Liza and her family's menagerie of pets. At one time I counted 3 dogs, 2 cats, 2 birds, one frog, and a beta fish. Oh, and I probably missed a hamster somewhere in the mix.

Their household changes with the seasons, and some of their pets have been adopted too. Their home could easily be an animal shelter, because, like Piper, they love animals. I plan to share the series with Liza. The story is endearing, and isn't the cover a delight to the eye? I just love the bright colors.

Read Book Blurb Here...

Piper Morgan to the Rescue: Piper helps some four-legged friends find the perfect home in the third book of the brand-new Piper Morgan series.

Piper is super excited to help out at Bark Street, a local animal shelter in town. Who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by adorable puppies and dogs all day? And when Piper sees Taffy, the cutest dog she has ever seen, Piper is determined to find a way to bring Taffy home. But it won’t be easy—especially when she finds out someone else wants to make Taffy a part of their family, too!

Release Dates

--PIPER MORGAN JOINS THE CIRCUS (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin, August 2016)
(Click on title if interested in an advanced reviewer copy. Stephanie is giving away a free copy through the 28th)
--PIPER MORGAN IN CHARGE (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin, August 2016)
--PIPER MORGAN TO THE RESCUE 

Bio:
Stephanie Faris knew she wanted to be an author from a very young age. In fact, her mother often told her to stop reading so much and go outside and play with the other kids. After graduating from Middle Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Science in broadcast journalism, she somehow found herself working in information technology. But she never stopped writing.

Stephanie is the Simon & Schuster author of 30 Days of No Gossip and 25 Roses, as well as the upcoming Piper Morgan series. When she isn’t crafting fiction, she writes for a variety of online websites on the topics of business, technology, and her favorite subject of all—fashion. She lives in Nashville with her husband, a sales executive.


Links:
Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

I wanted to add that I appreciate Stephanie's professionalism. She made it easy to share her book series and cover reveal on my blog. She emailed me a Press kit, complete with Book jacket, Head shot, Blurb about her book/series, Bio, other Books published, and Links.  

   

Congratulations, Stephanie. Wishing you the best of success!!

On another note, this is Celebrate the Small Things Friday. I haven't been keeping up that much, but I still love the simplicity of this lovely blog hop. As I spent most of this week fighting a nasty cold, today I'm celebrating a clean bill of health. 

I've neglected my writing, but I did manage to finish our taxes (just need to mail) and especially enjoyed the sunshine today. It's in the 50s here and the warm air (when out of wind) feels glorious. 

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Celebrate the Small Things: To join, please visit Lexa's Blog for the rules. We post every Friday about something we are grateful for that week. It can be about writing, family, school, general life or whatever.

Sharon M. Himsl

Writer/Author. Blogging since 2011. 
Published with Evernight Teen: 
~~The Shells of Mersing

Weekly Recap: A-Z Reflection and a Cover Reveal

On the last day of the A-Z, I really needed a break. I noticed a lot of you sighing and groaning a bit online, too. By day Z, we were all weary. So with that thought, I want to thank all of you who visited my blog and left comments, even if it was only once or twice. I know how time-consuming and exhausting that was!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU. Your visits, follows, and comments....they meant the world to me! 

I tried to reciprocate comments and follows in return, which I consider the ultimate in blog courtesy. My apologies if I missed anyone. A special THANK YOU to all who decided to follow my blog, which was a pleasant outcome of the A-Z :) I hope we can maintain some contact over the weeks and months to come. THANK YOU also for sharing your ideas, insights, talents, and experiences. I learned so much from you!! Last but not least, THANK YOU to the A-Z staff...to Arlee and all his elves who popped around the blogs encouraging us and giving sage advice!

I knew I was taking on a lot this year, because unlike last year's experience, I did not write my posts in advance. 

Lesson 1: write those posts in advance! I took on a subject that required a lot of research. This meant late nights, every night, trying to get my posts out on time. My posts were detailed and probably too long, but I wanted something useful in the end. I tried to break it up with fun trivia, so the posts could be skimmed through quickly or read in parts. I learned a lot about fruits. I hope you did too! 



I only have the one lesson learned, but I do have a recommendation....or shall I call it a wish? Is it possible to have the A-Z in March or February (the dullest month of the year), so it doesn't overlap with gardening and other spring activities? I was taking a Master Gardening course all of April, complete with homework, quizzes and a trip out of town. I almost passed on the A-Z for this reason alone. 

So, here we are approaching summer. I am already gardening, as you might have suspected, so if I drop off for awhile, I'll be outdoors in the garden for the rest of spring. 

I'm still getting my novel ready to market. There are all those last minute details that continue to plague me. One of these days, you will see a cover reveal and that will be a day to celebrate, indeed! 

Meanwhile...... Congratulations to Stephanie Faris, who has just released the cover of her second and upcoming book, 25 Roses, coming out in 2015 (for ages 9-13).  

"Valentine's Day means one thing at Stanton Middle School: students will send each other chocolate roses. Each year, Mia Hartley watches while the same group of students gets roses and everyone else is left out. This year, she decides things will be different. As the student assigned to write names on the cards, Mia purchases 25 roses and writes her own cards, designating them to 25 people she's personally chosen. But she soon learns that playing matchmaker is much more complicated than she thought it would be."

Stephanie's first book, 30 Days of No Gossip is also available from Simon & Schuster's Aladdin Mix. I wish you the best of success, Stephanie!