Sea of Hope for #99cents!

My first published book was SEA OF HOPE. Awe-Struck Ebooks gave me the contract. The book won the EPIC's Award in 2002 for Best Inspirational Novel. Later, when Awe-Struck folded and the rights were returned to me, I reissued the book.  

Since I grew up along the bayshore in New Jersey, I saw plenty of fishing boats. Not far from my childhood home, there are commercial fishing boats and a co-op where fresh fish right off the boat is available.

I took a photo of what the docks look like just the other day. 

The boats are all lined up. 

    

This one looks like an old tugboat, but I like the color and the name. 

Being a fisherman isn't an easy life and it is dangerous. For a while, my oldest daughter worked as a scientist doing surveys on fishing boats. The hours are long and the seas are rough. 

But I like to eat fish. So, I'm glad there are brave fishermen who go out to catch the fish. 

Here's the blurb for SEA OF HOPE:

After being assaulted in the city, Doria Hanrahan returns to her hometown, jobless, paranoid, and expecting to cash in on her father's fishing trawler. When she discovers the trawler has been willed to Murray Santoro, who cared for her father during his final illness, she is filled with anger and guilt. Desperate for cash she joins the crew of the Merrichase. On the ocean, far from land, she learns Murray is not only a doctor, but suspected of murder and awaiting trial. She cannot comprehend how her father trusted Murray. She suspects Murray coerced her father to change his will. 

Murray finds Doria a true test of his new faith with her stubborn attitude and lack of trust. As challenges mount on their voyage, he struggles with his Christian principles. He can't assume he has a future and his hope falters. Yet, it is Doria's surprising strength and compassion which inspire him to be a better disciple. Then his past returns and threatens to destroy everything.

There are many good reviews for it, too. 

I hope you'll take a look at it. Remember you can ask for it at the library, too. It is available on the Libby  app for those of you who have it. Free books from the library are wonderful, but owning books is even better. 😊

You can find the book on sale at:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble 

Kobo 

Apple

And many other book distributors. 

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Where Did That Idea Come From?

When hubby's parents first retired they left Brooklyn and moved to a home in Greenville, NY--upstate as New Yorkers say. Compared to Brooklyn, it was rather quiet. However, there were things to do. Next to them was a small resort complete with a small lake where we would go boating. Not far away, was the Catskill Game Farm where our daughters enjoyed feeding and petting the animals. (The Catskill Game Farm closed in 2006.)

Most interesting to me was the town of East Durham, an Irish enclave. In the evenings, hubby and I would drive to East Durham and enjoy the entertainment at the Shamrock House. During the daytime, we browsed through the small Irish shops where I found books on Irish legends.

That's where the idea came to me for PRINCE OF THE MIST, which is set in the Catskills of upstate NY. In Ireland, the Sidhe are the human-sized fairies of legend, but there are other countries in the world with similar legends. Why couldn't human-sized fairies live in upstate NY?

The misty Catskill mountains made the perfect setting for my story and Wildon became THE PRINCE OF THE MIST.  I had a great time writing this story. It makes me long to go back to the Catskills! :-)

The World Is Your Oyster

 

Yesterday, when the world outside our door was filled with rain clouds, I cheerfully told hubby, "The world is your oyster."

Hubby had never heard that expression but he grew up in Greenpoint so maybe that's the problem. 😅

However, there are many, many expressions we still use today that came from Shakespeare as you can see in the image above. 

As far as the oyster quote goes, you can find the entire explanation here: https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/famous/the-worlds-your-oyster/

Shakespeare was not only ahead of his time, much of his genius is still with us. 

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I’m a Winner!

 I made it! I typed out 30,000 words during the month of February for the JeRoWriMo Challenge. What I have now is the rough draft of a novella, which I have to edit—a lot. I had an idea of where I was going with this short book as far as naming characters, giving the story a setting, a timeline, and a loose plot. However, most of it was written pantster style, which is definitely a fun way to write for me. Some people have a very detailed outline when they write. I don’t. I have a flexible idea of what I want. So, things can change as I go along. 

While I was writing with such determination during the month, my house got very dusty. Sigh. But having written 30,000 words was so much better than dusting. Now off to editing!

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