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Monday, March 3, 2014

All The Books Around The World.. ..A journey In Writing...Part One

      

     Many people have asked about my books and writing of the books and stories. I promised to do a blog with all of them and it has taken some time to do what I really wanted to do. I wanted to share not only the books, but the links where they can be found. There are many other places to find the books and they can even be ordered from your favorite books stores. When I began writing and first got online with the internet I felt it was my way to reach out beyond where I am. I wanted to be able to not just fade away but to feel alive. When I published the first book I did not know if there would be a chance for any future when they told me how critical the cancer was. Every heart beat brought me close to being inoperable. I was not strong enough or have enough lung capacity to survive the surgery. I worked with treatments until they could do the surgery. I had two novels I had written but had to decide what one I would choose to publish knowing it may be the only chance I would have.

I loved Journey Home. It is a novel and a story I think you will not soon forget. I also love Life Goes On. When I first got the idea to write this story I wanted to share something others could relate to. I wanted to write it to feel so real you would know the people, share their pain, and gain an insight to some of the problems and issues others might have with economics, home, family, children, teenagers, and the dangers of the choices we make in life with consequences that may be far reaching. I wanted it to be a story that would take the reader with them all into the story and life.

There is a new reality television show here sharing the life in a rural area of Hard, Arkansas. Life Goes On takes you into the life this family works to build as the relocate from north to south and city to country with children who do not want to go. None of them dreamed they would go from a life of stability with a good job, beautiful home, safe schools, friends and neighbors to unemployed and life cascading out of control. The loss of job results in a loss of home and moving to a rough neighborhood and a life they had never really understood. You can read the story and feel the people. You can experience the life as they learn to adapt. Many people love the reality shows. This is a work of fiction but has the feel of real life and real people in a place many call home.

Children are survivors and adapt to environment. The environment was not one that any parent would choose, but also not one they could avoid. When they could not pay rent there they were facing a future of being homeless or taking the offer of help from a relative and relocation.

We may pass people who are homeless and often look away. We never really see them or think of who they are or were, and where they came from to arrive in such circumstances. People who have worked for years at the jobs and building their lives suddenly find themselves in situations loosing their homes and struggling to survive. What if there was no place to go? What if there was no one to help? This family had few choices left and a long way to go in miles and transitions.
Each person would have changes, challenges and problems with choices that could affect not only them but their whole family and those they love. They would have to live with the consequences and find a way to go on ….. as Life Goes On.

When I was looking for the links to my book, I wanted to share the links to all of the countries it may be found. I have compiled a list of the Amazon sites.

Before that I want to also explain that every one of my book covers is one of my pieces of art. Many are my paintings and some a from my photos worked to be special for the book or art from pastels. Life Goes On is one of my photos we took many years ago as we traveled from St. Louis, Missouri to Arkansas. The sky was ablaze with color and it took my breath away. It was that special time of evening just before darkness. When I saw the headlights of the cars, the thought occurred to me wondering about those who traveled that evening. They each had their own stories, places to go and pasts they left behind. I knew that was right for this story. Life Goes On.

This is a list of the countries I will provide links for through Amazon.....

US United States            UK United Kingdom            IN India
DE Germany                  FR France                         ES Spain
IT Italy                           JP Japan                           BR Brazil
CA Canada                    CN China                          MX Mexico
AU Austrailia


I have author pages in the US at http://www.amazon.com/Linda-Nance/e/B004PVDVR4/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1 and the UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Linda-Nance/e/B004PVDVR4/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1393520462&sr=1-2-ent
There are many other place I often go and have sites such a linkedin, goodreads, twitter and many others. For today I will share the Amazon links to all of the books and all of the countries I could find.

This is the original picture I use for the cover of Journey Home and the final cover for the book.




When I wanted to reach around the world I truly felt as if I was seeing my books in all of these places


LIFE GOES ON

256 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1453780138 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1453780130
BISAC: Fiction / General

LIFE GOES ON The Family of five found themselves in crisis as they were evicted from their apartment after the father lost his job. With great trepidation they accepted help from a relative that offered them a place to live and new start in life. They had no choices except seeing their family homeless in a rough part of the city. It was not an easy adjustment for any of them as they experienced moments that would test their sense of humor and times that would test their strength of character. There were some difficult issues they would have to face and how they responded could have life altering consequences. Learning what family can mean was a lesson each person learned in their own way. This is a story of people and a place they would work to make their home. It is struggle, heart, moments of triumph and times of despair. It is a story that speaks to many of us in different ways as the characters struggle with life. They had weathered the difficult transition of the relocation and would face new challenges as life goes on for them all. Life Goes On is a dramatic story worth reading and remembering.










AMAZON PAPERBACK http://www.amazon.in/Life-Goes-Linda-Nance/dp/1453780130/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393523882&sr=8-1&keywords=LINDA+NANCE

DE KINDLE https://www.amazon.de/dp/B004XJ6U26








JP KINDLE https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B004XJ6U26


AMAZON PAPERBACK



AMAZON PAPERBACK

AMAZON PAPERBACK



The more I get into this, the more I feel the excitement. With every book and story I wrote, I wanted it to be more than just a story to entertain. I wanted it to feel real and let you get to know the people and be able to see the places. As I worked to find all of the links for the books I really did get the feeling or reaching out beyond these walls as I sit here typing.
I love this book. It is the first novel I ever wrote but one that will always have a special place in my heart. Many people have asked me how long it took me to write it. I have no real answer except that life got in the way. I did not give up on it and worked for many years before it became what it is today.



How would you feel if you believed and knew someone was watching, following, even stalking you and no one took it seriously? Lara relocated thinking she would leave her problems behind. She met new people, made new friends and saw some from her past when she went back to what she thought of as her childhood home. She had to stay for nine months but found those nine months could be a life time or and end to life depending on finding the truth and realizing who she could trust.

What it you looked out your window as darkness approached and instead of enjoying the view, you wondered who and what might be looking in? These were just some of the problems this young woman would face. Her new friends seemed too good to be true but she could not stop the feelings she began to experience for the man who might have the most to gain if she failed to stay or anything happened to her.

Knowing who to trust could be an impossible thing but being alone could be disastrous. The problems she was having were more than an infatuation that developed into stalking. Life and death could be the result for her and anyone close to her. Were the feelings she could not control for Alan real, or would they be what destroyed her? Were her new friends too good to be true or a blessing and her only hope?

Home is more than a place you live or an address where you receive mail. Home is a place in the heart. For this woman to find her way on her Journey Home to find a Home of heart she would have to survive. She would have to survive the Journey Home and find a way to live life.

I had the story, but I needed a cover. I thought of so many things I could try to use. I still hardly knew how to use a computer and the frustration trying to learn so many new things was almost more than I could survive.
Many years ago I did a painting for my father-in-law. I did not have fancy art supplies. I had used a simple piece of typing paper and a 99 cent tray of children's watercolor paints. I got a piece of paper towel and some brushes and tried to capture the sky and the place. All of these years later he is gone from us now but the painting and memories are still alive in our hearts. I knew that was what I wanted for the cover of Journey Home. We each have paths in life we travel and this painting was a path in a place so like the book describes. It may be a path Lara would have walked. I may be a path I would love to walk. It was the path that would take the story Journey Home forward to becoming a book I could hold in my hands.

This is the original painting.



Here are some of the places Journey Home has traveled....

JOURNEY HOME

480 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1456507213 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1456507214
BISAC: Fiction / General

Contemporary family-oriented story with suspense.
Journey Home Lara Stanley’s life is about to drastically change as she embarks on her journey home after the death of her uncle. Join in the journey with mystery, romance, drama and a story to remember. Have you ever wondered as darkness falls and you look out the window, if there is someone or something looking in? A story that takes you with a woman on a journey to find her way in life. Home is more than a place, but it can also be filled with questions and even danger. Finding the truth might be all that saves her.
Journey Home

Even from the grave, love comes to make sure the Journey Home is safe and fulfilling—excellent suspense keeps pages turning ‘til the end- GABixlerReviews

Linda Nance awakens the reader’s understanding of what greed, hate, revenge and deceit really mean. –Fran Lewis




















AMAZON PAPERBACK



AMAZON PAPERBACK

AMAZON PAPERBACK




That brings me to The Pumpkin Field. This is one book that will always be dear to our hearts with a long history even before it became a book. When our boys were young they came home from school telling how much they hated poetry. I explained that a poem is many things. A poem could actually tell a story. They laughed and made young boy faces saying “Yuck, it would be a love story.”

I decided to write a poem about a haunted pumpkin field. Most children and many adults love a ghost or haunted story. I wanted it to be more than a poem and more than a story. I wanted it to be something we could use to explore thoughts, dreams, fears, hopes, and more. I wanted it to be something that could generate enough interest they might begin to explore their own thoughts and creativity.

For many years that is what it was. It was a little poem with a big reach. If a child was afraid of the dark the first part was something I could use to help them understand that night is not bad.....it is a different kind of light. With teenagers and older people they could find and see more. They could and did relate it to life as we find darkness and shadows in life and we have to find a way to find our way. What lies in the darkness and shadows?



My witch does not eat people or hurt people. She is old, ugly and dresses strange. She is different and scary. That does not always mean that different is bad. What we see on the outside is not always what is on the inside or real of the person we see. There are many forms of prejudice and most come from what is different or we do not understand. If we could overcome our fears and look beyond appearances we could come to a much deeper understanding and also discover some amazing people we might have feared or disregarded. I tired to write the entire story in a way that people of all ages could relate to and children would love.



The local schools began to use the poem in their classes at Halloween time of the year and I even did posters with the characters. The State Park near here used it as a focal point and special thing for the children with me reading the story, poem at their Halloween event. The newspapers took pictures of the posters and told all about it.

My husband told me I just had to make it into a book. He believed in me. To do it justice I would want the illustrations to follow the story. That is a lot of art work. How and what to do? Day by day and page by page I decided to work with Pastels to do the pictures. I did full page pictures so the children could really enjoy the book with full color. My little poem became a book.


I thought back to the many time through the years we gathered around a bonfire and I told the little story. Our children, neighborhood children, friends and relatives loved the little poem, story and asked for it over and over. Now they bring their children to hear it and have the book to read. I had to laugh when one many told me it was Christmas time and his two daughters had to have him read them the Pumpkin Field as a bedtime story.


I was overjoyed when I heard from one reader in England who had shared the book with her daughter's class at their grade school. She said her daughter never tired of the book and they read it together over and over. When I found out classes and schools in another country were enjoying my little book there are no words to describe the emoticon I felt.

I may be sick, old, crippled and have problems but as I sat here at home typing, drawing and working on the books that I love I really did feel as if I had escaped these walls and a part of me reached around the world sharing something special to me. I kept the original sketches before I did the pastels for the book. Since my grandson was a baby I used them for coloring pages. He love it. He could make decorations for Halloween and also use them to make his own little book. I would staple them together and he would add to the pictures making his own little stories.

I have had more than one person tell me how stupid I was to not make a coloring book and sell it. I may one day but I wanted to have pages others could copy for free and the children to be able to do as many as they wanted. Each child seems to pick one character that is their favorite. In a coloring book that is one page. For free they can copy as many as they want. Some choose a pumpkin and some choose the scarecrow or even the witch.

That little boy that colored the pictures and stapled the pages together making his little books never gave up on the idea. He has told me that is not the end of the story. There is more to it. I smiled and encouraged him to tell me more of his ideas.

We have worked and he loves his stories. I wrote a book called An Adventure In Writing. It is a journal type thing of what we learned and worked on for an 8 year old to write a book with a story and characters I believe not only children but adults might find interesting. It shares part of his first book called Down The Path http://www.amazon.com/Down-Path-Linda-Nance-ebook/dp/B00GW51ED4/ref=la_B004PVDVR4_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393874832&sr=1-1 and the next one he is still working on he said he will call Beyond The Pumpkin Field.

I have heard it said, to write what we know and he does that naturally. I have to smile at parts knowing what is behind the words and stories. We live in a very rural area with miles of forest behind the house. He knows to never go into the woods alone. He knows there are animals there. He knows he is supposed to listen to us and his mom but in his story the children thought just this once it would be alright to go into the woods. I would tell you more but will save it for when I do that book. I tell it now because the little story of The Pumpkin Field was the beginning. It was the beginning of him wanting to write his own stories and books and the beginning of many conversations with young and old alike.


We still love to get out back around a fire and tell stories with family and friends. This is one picture of my little coauthor and his grandpa.



The Pumpkin Field is a little book with a big reach. It reached through the years and around the world. Here are some of the places it can be found.

THE PUMPKIN FIELD

40 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1461044819 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1461044812
BISAC: Juvenile Fiction / Holidays & Celebrations / Halloween

Through the years as I have told or read this story the children sat listening to every word. When the story is over it is only beginning as the questions flood forth about all different things from the different children. I see emotions relating to excitement, curiosity and a desire to share their thoughts, feelings, experiences and questions. 
 
Each and every page is an art work done to bring the story to life. I am so pleased to be able to share something so special in so many ways. The characters are ones that will remain in memory not to haunt but to be happy memories almost like friends on an adventure. The first of the book allows you to write to and from, making it a gift that is special just as you would a greeting card. This is a greeting of happy memories and good times shared. 
 
In a short and magically poetic story many doors open allowing communication on various topics and of as many thoughts as are possible in the young minds of those who share the tale. It is not just a story to tell but one that can be special in many ways. 
 
On this journey through the pumpkin field there are strange, ominous, mysterious, and even magical things that occur. Was it real or was it a dream? Could that be why it is requested even now into a new generation? I hope that my illustrations will bring this tale to life and just as my children and grandchildren and so many others have loved this tale, it will bring a special smile and create memories shared by all who read or receive it. This book is my gift to be passed on and shared, that can live on and reach out beyond the pages leaving delighted smiles. The Pumpkin Field is a little book with a big reach.




US KINDLE  










AMAZON PAPERBACK






AMAZON PAPERBACK

CA KINDLE https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00DIQUBIE

AMAZON PAPERBACK http://www.amazon.ca/Pumpkin-Field-Linda-Nance/dp/1461044812/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393527484&sr=1-5

MX KINDLE https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00DIQUBIE
AMAZON PAPERBACK

AU KINDLE https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00DIQUBIE
AMAZON PAPERBACK

Before I go I want to share a few of the pages and pictures. 




At the beginning of each book I did a page where you can write to and from. I wanted each child to feel as if the book was special for them. It is sort of like a greeting card giving them a gift. I hope it will be a gift that will inspire communication, creativity, imagination and a wonderful time.







I would stay and tell you all about all of the books but I have to do things a little at a time and this is actually something I have worked on for some time. I will be back soon and share more about the books and my journey writing them. I hope you can help me share about them to others everywhere. I have to do things a little at a time and can not promote them as I would love to do. For me this is more than sharing books for sale..... it is sharing a passion, stories and something created from the heart.
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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

This Was Hard To Write … But...I Am Still Here








         It has been some time since I have been able to write one of my blogs. I have had dozens of ideas but each day has been a challenge to just continue to live. I promised to be honest in this blog and the things I share as I go along but that is not always easy. When I say that I get tired, very tired, it is something that most people will never fully understand. When I was young I would play until I was so tired I could not keep my eyes open. I was very tired but it was a good tired. I could rest and feel renewed to play another day. As I grew older I could work until I could go no more but it was a tired that found rest at the end of the day and a new day refreshed. When I became ill I got tired and it was not a good tired that rest could refresh. It was a desperate tired feeling that found no ease. When I became more ill, I often feel tired as if being alive is difficult and facing the challenges that life seems to never run short of, could be more than I had or have the strength left to face.
         I have tried so long and so hard to not only be alive but to live life the best that I can.. I have tried to look for hope and believing that each new day is a blessing. I have tried with my art and words and books and involvement with others to share that feeling of hope. As the family circumstances became more dire my hope began to dim. I began to try to survive. When you can no longer find a way to strive in life, looking forward to each day as a blessing, and are reduced to surviving, you are not in a good place. Words of hope and joy no longer came to mind.
           When I looked out my window I could see the sunshine but not feel it in my heart. I could see all of the people around me here at home and by phone and internet but still feel alone..... and tired. I lived in a world of pain that never ended. In the middle of the night if I finally fell asleep the pain would wake me. It was so intense the blood pressure was extremely high. They could not prescribe pain medicine without close medical supervision because it could diminish lung function. If my lung began to fill with fluid, I would be in trouble in an unbelievable short period of time. What could help me, could kill me. I understand all of that but could not afford the doctors that could help me. I have been seeing a lung specialist that is an amazing doctor and helped keep me alive through a clinic that helps those with no insurance or medicaid. They could not manage pain meds.
         I finally got Medicaid and thought it was the beginning of being able to recover enough to have a life and be alive. By the time I finally got it, I had a heart attack, blockages of 80 percent on one side and 70 on the other. They went in and put in 4 stints at one time and I felt so much better.
        The blood pressure was still an issue but I found out that since I had the Medicaid I could not go to the clinic as I had for years and many doctors are now unable to take new Medicaid patients. The primary care physician tried and could find no one closer than a 3 or 4 hour drive and that was a maybe for a lung specialist.
That was when my left side went limp during one of my rehab sessions for cardio function. I have been lucky and blessed to have regained most of the use on that side. It is still a bit slow and numb but better. The blood pressure was out of control. I am on 16 different prescriptions for blood pressure/ heart, breathing and respiratory, thyroid, blood thinners and that sort of thing.
        The new doctor prescribed pain meds that have been such a relief. I am more able to be up and around. I am able to be awake and not feel like I am loosing my mind. My blood pressure began to come down to almost normal. It is amazing until..... it is time to get my medications refilled. I still need the blood pressure meds. I do not want another stroke or heart attack. I have lived through cancer and having most of my left lung removed. The last time in the hospital they explained that I have a degenerative bone disease that has progressed to the point that there is nothing they can do except try to manage the pain. I have known that for some time but it is not easy to live with especially when you add in all of the other things.
        The Medicaid pays for 6 of 16 prescriptions. The blood thinners are all that will keep the stints from blocking up again. I had pressure increase in the heart not long ago they went in and did another heart cath and I am still here. I on prescriptions they feel are necessary to keep me going...... which ones do I need the most? If I get them filled, will I have the money for gas to go to the cardio rehab that has helped so much? If we do those things will we have the money for groceries? Then there is the big fear that seemed so oppressive especially during the extreme cold weather we had and will have again....will we have the money to fill the gas tank to heat our home? These are things that were ever present on my mind.
        We did not live extravagantly heating the house toasty and warm. We heated only as necessary and only two rooms during the extreme cold. At night we are usually under the covers and we were under a lot of covers. It was cold. I saw no way we would survive month to month and eventually the gas will be gone on a little over $500 a month.
        When Albert fell and fractured his skull it shattered more than the bone. It shattered our life. He tries day by day but some of the damage is permanent. He does his best but is surviving constant headaches and many other things that limit his life and ability to work. He applied for disability but was denied saying he might be able to be retrained. He has appealed and we will have to wait and keep trying to survive.
        All of that brings me back to when I looked out the window seeing the sunshine but feeling no sunshine in my heart. I would like to say that things have all worked out and I see a bright and shining future but I can not see the future.
        What I am now finally able to see, is this moment. I am looking at each day. I felt so close to giving up. I felt myself going down hill until I could hardly function at all. I see the smiling face of my little grandson and my daughter smiling but looking a bit helpless and worried. I see my husband as he takes me for each rehab session and patiently waits reminding me how important it is to continue. I see comments here online and from friends I talk to on the phone.... and I am not as alone as I was not that long ago. I took the time to pray for me along with those others I hear about who need help and realized that I am not alone.
        I got a phone call and the doctor that helped me so much in the clinic found a way to accept me as his patient. He did not forget me and I have hope.
        In the new book I wrote with my grandson, the ending is something a bit different. It is a children’s book but the end is one I think we could all relate to. Things in life are not always as they seem and some things we are never really sure of. Some things require faith. One of our neighbors stopped in to visit today and could not say enough about the little book. She and her husband both read it and she smiled as she told how touched they were. She said they loved the whole story but the ending was one they will never forget.
        I went out on the back porch and sat with our little dog this afternoon. 




 Last night I went and sat out for a short time and looked up at the sky. The moon shone through a haze of light clouds. There was no bright shining light from the heavens of the night. There was a dim glow with clouds growing denser and a chill in the night air. Life can be that way. It can be cold with storm clouds brewing. It can seem dark and almost hopeless....almost. With the afternoon sun warming me where I sat and seeing the little dog romp and play, I looked up at the clouds parting and the intense blue of the sky through the trees. The trees are bare making patterns in the sky but Spring will come again. The leaves will bud out in vibrant green. The dogwoods will bloom. The flowers will brighten the world. The darkness of the night before was gone. The clouds were parting instead of building to blot out the sun. All hope is not gone. I have no idea how things will work out but life does go on. I still get very tired. I have had to write this a little at a time but I am writing it to share the idea that as I have said so often. We can not give up. When we give up is when all is lost.
        I have a favor to ask. I need your help. I want each of you who read this, to take the time to tell someone near you how much you love them. We often feel it but do not really say it. A smile can often do wonders. Take a happy thought and pass it on. A simple kindness can mean so much. Reach out to others and try in what ever way that you can. So many here online have reached out to me and they will never know how much they have helped. They have tweeted and shared on twitter and facebook for me and I have not been able to return the favors. I often am too tired to be able to sit at the computer but for very shot times and when my back is acting up am not able to be here at all. When I do come back, there are words of kindness, hope, encouragement and prayers. I believe in those things. You have touched my heart and given me hope.
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