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New Beginnings

As 2012 evolves into 2013, my mom and I wear broad smiles of satisfaction. It took two years, but mom’s idea to create a way to bring Danny to life and introduce him to a heroine (Casey) he could fall in love with, came to fruition in the wonderful year of 2012. But the most heartwarming aspect of this process is that it’s just begun. Mom, despite her faltering eyesight, has already written four books centered on the detective in Twist of Fate and by her admittance, each book is better than the last.

With that in mind, I want to start 2013 by giving our blog followers something readers are already requesting (a positive sign the first book is well received!): a peak at book two.

Both Casey and Danny return but in diminished roles. Sam has hired Casey as his personal assistant, and she’s turning out to be a top-notch investigator. Both the detective and his assistant are helped by the fact that Danny went into law enforcement and is now on the Lancaster police force.

The central figures, however, are two new characters:

Jacob is a rich, reclusive author who writes juicy romances despite the fact he’s been holed up in his mansion for many years, safe from the outside pressures of the world and free to dream up his heroes and heroines. He is the product of an overbearing father and a completely submissive mother and has fully compartmentalized his current life. He needs routine and the safety of his own walls to be able to write and he draws his inspiration from a set of beautiful, but austere oriental statues.

Rosalie is an overweight, but voluptuous single woman who has never been able to settle on a career, whose sharp tongue and strong opinions have gotten her into trouble many times and who lives for the pleasure of consuming the written word. She lives with her mother, has only a few friends, and is about to be out of a job (again.)

Jacob is pressured by his own agent into hiring a typist to speed up production of his manuscripts. Rosalie pushes her way into the job and what happens between them is a gradual awakening of desire.

Meanwhile, our four-book hero detective Sam Osborne is hired by Jacob to find out who is stealing Jacob’s oriental statues despite the fact the mansion is locked up tight as a fortress.

The book is entitled: Wretched Fate. But who and what “Wretched” represents is the real meat and mystery of this story.
We’re almost through with the writing and polishing, though the book will go through a long editing/finishing stage. But we’re confident you’ll love Jacob and Rosalie as much as you love Danny and Casey. Stay tuned to this blog to find out more …

Genilee Swope Parente

 
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Posted by on December 28, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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Great Beginnings!!

best mom meMom and I want to personally thank Victoria Park and its residents for the support shown at our first book signing. We had many viaitors and buyers for our book and the first book by published children’s author Allyn Stotz. Many of the residents then sat in the recreation room with us and kept us company and read our book while they shared the homemade cookies my brother Mark and my daughter Christina made for the event.other action resident

We appreciate not only your financial support but the time you took to encourage us, tell us how proud you are of your fellow resident and the effort to keep these first-time authors entertained! It was well worth a few cookies!!good action residents

F. Sharon Swope and Genilee Swope Parente

And mom adds:

Our first book signing is over, and we deem it a great success – we sold 18 books of “Twist of Fate” and 5 books written by the youngest Swope daughter (Allyn Stotz – The Pea in Peanut Butter). We learned a few things while doing this first book signing. First, don’t get in a stew if the books haven’t arrived as soon as you expected them. Because of the holidays, ours finally arrived the Friday before our book signing on Monday morning. Our thanks go to Spectacle, our publisher for pushing to get them here in time. We had decided to go ahead with the signing even if the books didn’t arrive – just take orders. But the books came, and our worry was all for naught.
Second, put a piece of cardboard between receipt slips. This we didn’t do, and the receipts are almost impossible to read as the pen went through to the next row of receipts. It’s a mess, to say the least. Still, two minor hiccups in a major success don’t mean much!
We want to thank all who came and shared our big day with us, as well as our wonderful publisher and the marketing team, and Victoria Park for hosting the signing. We’re ready to go at it again!

 
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Posted by on December 19, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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Christmas Miracles

This Christmas, God tied my present up with a big silvery bow and presented it to me early. It was the gift of wonder.
We feel wonder frequently when we’re little ones: discovering a four leaf clover in our own front yard, feeling the fragile softness of a baby kitten in our hand, seeing the lights of the Christmas tree we just decorated go on for the first time of the season.O
Most of us experience that balance of awe and warm happiness less and less the older we get. It still comes in giant stages—I remember exactly how I felt when I realized I was in love with someone I could spend the rest of my life with and when I saw my first sonogram of my daughter. But our adult daily lives are too often busy surviving the stresses of reality.
However, this Christmas, I became an author. And as I saw my book in print on ebook and then held it in my hands for the first time, I was filled with amazement and joy. What’s more, like many Christmas presents, I was able to share this one with my family, not just the sister who got both my mother and I writing, but the rest of the group of people I love, who have given mom and I so much support as we struggled through the phases of getting a book published.
Not very many people get to experience such pure satisfaction in their lifetimes. I have wanted to be an author since I was very little and have never been more fulfilled than seeing my own words come together the right way. But like most people, I allowed my adult realities to block out even the possibility.
And that, dear readers, is the source of the wonder. To believe again, as I did when I was small, that I can do anything if I look for the right path. To believe again, that good things do happen on their own—the world is not meant to be a cruel place. I know I was lucky to have found the right publisher; to have a sister that believed in herself enough to become a children’s book author; to have been born to a woman of creativity and a man who would support me even if I’d decided gutting fish was my calling in life. I also know I am blessed with a happy marriage and a happy teenager (yes, it can happen!).
But I also know that what I feel when I see my book is a gift.
I wish I could pass it along to every person who reads these words. But that’s now how it works. Instead, I just want to say: find your own path to wonder. It can be a rocky road, but none of those rocks is big enough to prevent you from moving forward if you’re driven by passion.–Genilee Swpe Parente

Twist of Fate is now available in both print and ebook at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. The first author signing event occurs Monday, December 17 at Victoria Apartments, Woodbridge, Virginia. AND CHECK OUT THE INTERVIEW ON ALLYN STOTZ’s BLOG: http://allynstotz.blogspot.com/2012/12/author-interview-f-sharon-swope-and.html.

Thanks, Allyn!

 
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Posted by on December 14, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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Print version is here

Well, the world of publishing continues to be confusing, but wonderul. But we’ve good news: Twist of Fate is available in print. It’s on Barnes & Noble and can be found by searching “Twist of Fate” and “Swope”. It appeared on amazon for about 12 hours with a note that it was “out of stock.” Hmmm, interesting considering it hadn’t been OUT yet. But after 12 hours, it disappeared.

The exciting news, however, is that we’re not only ebook authors, there are now books we can hold in our hand!

Thanks to all who gave us the encouragement we needed!

Genilee and Sharon Swope Parente

 
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Posted by on December 7, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

Round and Round We Go

Lately I’ve realized that writing a book is actually the easiest part of producing one. Making additions, improvements and corrections goes fairly quickly also. Even finding a publisher was not the most difficult part for us … though I think we were lucky.

The hard part is waiting. I know I’ve complained about this waiting to family and friends and in this blog spot. And I attribute a bit of the impatience to age. When you get to be 85, you are inclined to think differently about time passing. It hits you that your time on earth is getting short, and you may not live long enough to accomplish what you want. My children hate for me to talk this way, but it’s a reality most people my age live with daily.

But if you’re lucky enough to get published, the wait is over suddenly. This can be a glorious feeling, especially as you hit milestones such as seeing your book’s print version posted on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Here is it before you – your dreams turning into reality. Soon, you’ll be able to hold your own book in your hands, and you know that makes everything and all the waiting worthwhile. You have become an “author,” and your book is no longer a secret place within you where your stories reside, but rather a place for those stories to live and grow. The book is published, and you find yourself in a whirlwind of things to do to promote your endeavor. Your thoughts go round and round, trying to come up with creative new ways to get the word out, and suddenly it seems there isn’t enough time to get everything done.

I welcome this round and round whirlwind feeling, so I thought I’d celebrate it by giving out one of my favorite holiday recipes: Rye Rounds. I said I wouldn’t be using this blog as a place to post recipes, but readers, you’ve responded that you like them! And recipes like this one become part of your life when your family so adores them. On Christmas Eve, my family spends the holiday by having hors d’euvres for our meal.  I love this recipe because you can make it two or three weeks in advance and keep it in the freezer until you are ready to pop it in the oven. Men are especially fond of these tidbits.

Rye Rounds

1 loaf rye rounds

1 lb. hamburger

1 lb. sage-seasoned sausage

1 lb. Velvetta cheese, cut into small squares

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

l/2 teaspoon oregano

Brown meats in skillet until no longer pink; drain excess fat, add cheese and cover.  Lower heat on burner.  Stir often until cheese is completely melted; add spices and stir again.

Put rye rounds on two cookie sheets lined with wax paper. Spoon meat mixture onto the rounds.  Put in freezer.  When frozen, take out and put in a bag until ready to use.

 
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Posted by on December 6, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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Now on Barnes & Noble

As promised, Twist of Fate has hit the Barnes and Noble purchase page. Click here to order or get a preview.

Check back in a week or so and print versions will be available. Or better yet, show your support and sign up to received this blog. We only post once a week (except during these exciting times of course), and we try to keep it short and sweet!

Genilee Swope Parente

 

 

 
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Posted by on December 2, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

Miracles do Happen

Mom and I just want to announce that we became published authors today, December 1, the beginning of this wonderful month of miracles. Our thanks to every person who encouraged us and kept us going during the long process of creation and publication. And our thanks to Spectacle, our publisher, who made it happen for us.

The book is now available for ebooks on amazon. It will be available on Barnes & Noble by tomorrow and within days as a print book on both sites. You can link to Amazon HERE. Stay tuned to this site for links to Barnes & Noble and to the print versions.

Genilee Swope Parente

 
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Posted by on December 1, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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The chick is at the gate

The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.

Arnold H. Glasow

I sent this around by twitter and facebook to followers to let them know that the e-book for Twist of Fate is ready for posting and scheduled to come out this weekend. What I’ve found while not smashing my egg, however, is that “scheduled” and reality are too very different birds – I’ll post a link once reality arrives!

Still, I’ve also learned how appropriate this saying is … mom and I are older women and our patience wears thin at times. But we have hatched this egg in stages – dreaming up ideas and finalizing plot pieces, then polishing our egg using our own sweat and skills.

There have been many moments of joy — from the simple pleasure of working together as mother and daughter over many lunches and telephone conversations to the excitement of finding a publisher to seeing the book in its layout stages. But there have been just as many times when it would feel great to smash that egg in frustration as life got in the way and deadlines came and passed, leaving promises in the dust.

One of the most important milestones for me personally is that I have learned and accepted that this IS going to happen. That people at my publishing firm are hard at work behind the scenes making it happen, and that when it does, this chickadee will be their pride and joy as well as ours. I have also learned that there are many friends and fellow writers and new acquaintances waiting to see mom and I succeed.

To all of you, thanks for your patience and support. Stayed tuned for the chicken.

Genilee Swope Parente

 
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Posted by on November 28, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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Thanks from the finely aged writer

The things we give thanks for, at ages 50 and 80 plus, are different than what we were grateful for in our early years. Especially when we’ve been given, as mom and I have, a chance to rediscover and fine-tune a dream that may have existed when we were younger, but only late at night, when exhaustion battled with longing for the energy to do something creative.

The first item on our lists of reasons to give thanks will remain the same regardless of age: love from family and friends. But beyond that, we are grateful for the reality that:

• The hated alarm clock that used to rouse us from our beds in the morning has been replaced by the 5 a.m. “wake-up” brainstorm: “aha … I could have the villain be a tiny person who is accessing the crime scene through a doggie door!”

• High-heeled, pointy-toed shoes that rested beneath our office desks have been replaced by fuzzy pink bedroom slippers.

• Our husbands, who used to listen to our complaints about coworkers and tight deadlines and not getting paid enough, have adjusted to put up with distracted, dreamy gazing. Not getting paid enough remains in the bitching bag, but gets brought up a little less frequently.

• The sometimes unreasonable, but completely fulfilling pride we used to feel when one of our children handed us a new painting for refrigerator posting has transformed into the excitement we feel when we finish a chapter or milestone and are one step closer to publication.

• The conversations with friends we used to savor over steaming cups of coffee still begin with what’s happening with family, but end up seeking advice about plot direction instead of potty training, teenage dating or the psychological makeup of males.

• The aches and pains of young age, which centered around chasing kids and spring cleaning, now derive from forgetting to get up from the computer to take a break from our writing frenzy.

On this 2013 Thanksgiving Day, we feel blessed that our first book, Twist of Fate, is about to be released both as an ebook and a printed book. We live in an age where the process of getting published has completely evolved, and we know we were fortunate to have found Spectacle Publishing Media Group, who is helping our dream happen.

But we are especially thankful that we have our family members and so many friends that are celebrating at our side. — Genilee Swope Parente

Mom and I

 
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Posted by on November 20, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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Fretting over nothing

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My husband and I have been busy packing this past week: Our oldest and our youngest daughters decided it was time we get our families together for Thanksgiving this year. So Bob and I are off to spend a week in Louisiana and a week in Texas.  At ages 85 (for me) and 87 (for Bob), getting ready for such a trip is never easy. It seems the older we get, the more “problems” we can manufacture … we seem to have perfected the art of fretting over the details.  Unfortunately, that means little worries too often become big ones.

Yet, deep in my heart I know that we’re really fretting over nothing. Once we are buckled into our seats, we are on our way to a visit that promises to be heartwarming and fun.

As a result of preparation, I haven’t been able to get much writing done this week, and, of course, won’t be able to for the next two weeks. Since the publication date for our first book—Twist of Fate—draws near, it’s hard for me to leave the excitement behind. I don’t have an exact date, but the book will most likely come out while I’m gone. I wish I could tell all my readers and friends the exact day when our mystery-romance story will come out, bringing to life our hero—homeless, kind-hearted Danny—and our heroine—rich, wheelchair-bound Casey. But in the world of publishing, pinning down exact dates is tough. All I can tell you is that if you have an e-book reader, keep checking Barnes & Noble or Amazon. The printed version will take a little while longer.

As you can see from the background of this blog and the picture here, the cover of Twist of Fate is blue with white lettering representing the big snowstorm that plays such an important role in the book. You’ll see an empty wheelchair with a single red rose on the seat and a drop of blood on the floor. I won’t tell you the symbolism behind our cover, but I hope you’ll keep checking for that image.  Don’t give up, dear supporters, our book is definitely on its way. And I guess it’s time Bob and I were on our way to see our loved ones.

Genilee and I will keep you posted!

F. Sharon Swope

 
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Posted by on November 14, 2012 in Uncategorized

 

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