What's been going on?

What’s been going on?


I know; I look studious,

I also appear organized, don’t I. However, I can assure you that I am not...  I am teetering on the edge of a cliff and hanging on for dear life! I am the worst procrastinator in the world when it comes to telling people what has been going on in my life. Mainly because my mind is as busy as a beehive in the springtime and about as unorganized as those bees are when the hive is disturbed. Here-lately,  have been going in so many different directions that I don’t know which end is up most of the time. I wanted to touch base and let everyone know what's been going on with me. 
First off, I have published another book. This one is another Thriller set here in Mobile and I called it Dumping Grounds - it is sorta a sequel to A Murder in Moffettville. So far, it is getting rave reviews by readers, now I hope some pros will pick it up and review it too! It is published through Amazon & its company Create Space. I also used a pen name (Lila Beckham)on this one and plan to use her on more. I've submitted one of my stories to Virginia Quarterly Review hoping to get it published (Y'all keep your fingers crossed) I am anxious for everyone to read it. I just published an eight page flash fiction mini-book (The Empty Room) under the Lila Beckham persona too. It is also available through Amazon (only as e-book.)
Right now, I am trying to finish editing the sequel to She Walks the Night Winds so that I can publish it. I know I have several people who are looking forward to reading it and getting it in book form. My latest endeavor is trying to learn how to market myself and my books (LOL) not so easy for me. I have sponsored a Giveaway on Good Reads for a Signed Copy of Dumping Grounds, due to be given away on Aug 10, 2013. Good Luck if you are one of the ones hoping to win it!  Until Next Time Adieus Amigo's :) 

The Makings of a Husband

22 years ago, I was a young widow (age 35) with two young children. Working my butt off 10 hrs a day, four days a week trying to support my children and pay the bills.

It was a normal day at work; I was on the floor monitoring my plasmapheresis patients, when Paige, one of the LPN’s, stuck her head in the door and said “Hey, Action Jackson,” which was what they called me, “You have to come see this guy. He has the most gorgeous blue eyes I've even seen! You and he could make beautiful babies” she grinned, motioning for me to follow her to the front. They were always trying to “hook me up” with someone. “You can do his work-up,” she said.

Curious to see these “Gorgeous eyes” she was making so much ado over; I asked Kidd, another nurse, to cover for me for a few minutes and followed Paige to the front.

This is what greeted me.

at first, I doubted he had the makings of a good husband, and at the time, I really wasn't looking for a "husband." 

 After a few weeks of twice a week visits, we started dating.

Nine months later, on 7 Dec, 2001, we married.

11 Nov, 1993 we shared this little bundle of joy!

Look at Those EYES! Aren't they Gorgeous!!

My husband, Ronnie Wayne Beck was heaven sent, a gift from God, because without him, I don’t know how I would have managed these last 21 years.

His love, kindness, and support allowed me to quit work and stay at home with my children. It allowed me to move my ailing mother, mentally ill sister, and two of her children to our home and care for them, which I did for 15 years.

Bless her heart, she hung in there for 10 yrs after she first was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. She came close to death more than once those first couple of years and then did real well for about seven years.
Mama passed away in 2005 and my sister entered a group home in 2008

His continued kindness allows me to take my sister to lunch every other week and take her to visit her children. It has allowed me the opportunity to care for my ailing older brother since Jun of 2005. Without him, I never would have been able to do those things on my own.

I want to say Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband, Ronnie. I love you and appreciate you more than you will ever realize…   Susan

Guest Blogging on Suite T

I am so excited today to be a guest blogger on Southern Writers Magazines blog - Suite T! Please take a look http://southernwritersmagazine.blogspot.com/2012/11/mining-your-life-for-inspiration.html

Snowflakes

Snowflakes

Born of the coldest air, drifting, down from the highest sky, loosened from the pregnant masses above the fields brown and bare, over the forest stunned, tumbles the snow; soft, silent, and slow.
Drifting, making their way into protective bosoms, accepted by the leaves of heavily burdened trees. Snowflakes, each different, formed from the imaginations of those who watch them fall, suddenly shaped by our opaque desires into divine manifestations.
Birds flitter amid the leaves of dying trees striving to warm their beaks beneath tattered wings and creatures large and small take shelter wherever they may to await a brighter and warmer day.
Yet the anxious spirit doth take reprieve in the troubled pale manifestation the heavens reveal.
The sorrow the earth feels.
This is the mystery of despair, a fortnight in its pale birth gathered, murmured and exposed to forest and field.
T’was I who stood arms stretched wide, tongue extended, catching individual snowflakes; enjoying the pleasures of the flesh, humanly aware in every nuance of the word.
　
28th Dec, 2010 © Susan Cobb Beck
No republication of this material, in any form or medium, is permitted without express permission of the author.

A Murder in Moffettville has been released and can now be ordered! Just follow this link to get your own copy or order two and give one as a Christmas present :)

http://www.publishamerica.net/product37405.html

Just dropping a note to let everyone know whats up :)

Taking a deep breath and getting ready for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the release of my next novel somewhere mixed in there. I don't know which way to turn, but things usually fall in place before I fall out LOL.
I hope to do more campaigning and promotions for my newest novel, maybe even have a Book Release party! Doesn't that sound like fun :) maybe for readers, but people don't read as much as they use to, do they and it's a crying shame too.
Reading for me was always an escape from everyday life, and I would read anything and everything I could get my hands on and still do when I can find the time between taking care of my family and writing; I am always writing. This is a poem I wrote that will be featured in my newest novel, which I will tell y'all about next time. The poem is called Perfect Perfection. Until next time, Y'all have a save and happy holiday season :)


Perfect Perfection
Pray do not mourn for me when the cruelty of the morning sun beams down upon my face exposing my imperfections, for I am but a pawn in these games that life play.
For although we stroll amongst the shadows of her noonday sun, then frolic the night away, our world is quickly ending; changing to as it was before we came…
Envision the leafs surprise as the weighted droplet suddenly alights, bends it earthward then slowly slides to the tip, departing to land gently upon the elongated blade of grass which valiantly sought upward, seeking the sun-drenched persuasions of mother earth.
Man is but a blemish, on her otherwise perfect perfection…
Imagine the dimming hue of her emerald forests, which shone into the universe, a divine tone, known to none but her.
I lay upon your sandy shores relishing the salty mists, cooling the fiery passions that arose at the panoramic vista thou placed before me, a seascape of her perfection…
She will long be a heavenly place even after we have returned to dust, once again simply particles of ash that arose and formed humankind.
Yea though I tread gently, captivated, succumbed to her beauty, lifted and placed her within the valley of the gods, I have taken her offerings in vain, leaving her voided and empty.
Who among us will rise up to replace that which we have stolen?
　
26th April 2010 © Susan Cobb Beck
No republication of this material, in any form or medium, is permitted without express permission of the author.

Still Struggling

Well here it is, almost another year gone and I am still struggling. The search for an agent and publisher has been disappointing, but the search continues. Agents and publishers are not my only problems, but everyone has problems and many of them are a lot worse than mine.
I have started a third book in the series and also another one that is closer to home. I have a feeling that this one will take more out of me than I might be willing to share with the world; only time will tell. I hope to finish it, for I feel it will be one that many will relate to.
I have several others that I am writing and have put aside because of family needs.
I wish there were two of me. One that could spend time writing and one that would take care of everyone else's needs.
I will try to blog again soon. This is something that I use to do regularly over on MySpace, but writing takes precedence and so does life it seems. Hopefully next time I will have better news. Love & {{Hugs}}