Local Authors Abound

Hi, People! I wasn't able to post last weekend, but I did attend the monthly meeting of the Southwest Florida Romance Writers (www.swfrw.org). The speaker was a local Naples author who has, as they say, "made good." Her name is Kristy Kiernan, and the title of her well-recieved novel is Catching Genius. She was an interesting and funny speaker. Her instights and revelatons about her path to success as a writer were inspiring. As she worked her way up the hill to publication, she displayed determmation and drive, as well as talent. She said her online critique partner was Sarah Gruen, who wrote the bestselling novel Water for Elephants. FYI, an article about Sarah Gruen appears in this month's issue of Writer's Digest magazine (www.writersdigest.com). Although I haven't read Catching Genius yet, I added her book to my Shelfari bookshelf, which is located next to this column. You can view the info about her book by clicking on the book jacket. It's the last book on the "shelf," so you have to click the ?Next" button three times to reach it. Cheers to Kristy! She has a website, of course, but I will have to post that address later I'm sure you can Google it. Speaking of female authors from Naples, Florida, I do know a handful of them who are published by ArcheBooks, as I will be when my book A Chance to Say Yes is released (soon). At the Naples Barnes and Noble today, I noticed, happily, that three AurcheBooks novels were stacked on the display table under the sign reading "Our Staff Recommends.." or words to this effect. Thanks to the staff at BN for recommending M.B. Weston's A Prophecy Forgotten, Penny Lauer's Bottled Butterfly, and Linda Bilodeau's Stepping Through Seagrass, all of which are located on the adjacent Shelfari shelf. Go ArcheBooks! What's more, local author and SWFRW-member Karna Small Bodman's books were also on that table. Her latest book Gambit is on my shelf, too. On a personal note, I would like to say congrats to my young friend, Zoe, who recently graduated from kindergarten. Zoe was given a special award for being "Sweet and Kind." It just doesn't get better than that! See you next week. Tina