Thanksgiving, Christmas, family, and friends.

             Well, we have 4 days until Thanksgiving, 31 days until Christmas, and 37 days until the new year! Time is flying by. Right now though, I want to concentrate on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is the time for remembering all of the blessings we have in our life. What we are thankful for. I am thankful for a lot of things. I am thankful for my house, my jobs, my co-author convincing me to write books with her, my publisher taking a chance on an unknown, my church, my health, and many, many more things. The two most important things in my life though, besides my faith and music, are my family and friends. I have the best family in the world, both regular and in-laws.

People that know me know I am always calling people to meet me for dinner, or lunch. The ones that understand me know that, to me, these outings are all about the camaraderie. I could care less about the food; I just like the time spend with them. In that retrospect, people ask “Why don’t you just get together then and not meet to eat?” I have found that dinner/lunch is an easy excuse to get together in our busy lives. A visit at someone’s house can expand into hours, which is not a bad thing unless you are busy. A meeting at a restaurant is a controlled time. You can take as long as you want eating and socializing, or you can make it brief by eating faster. It is a good excuse for the initial meeting, and if you both find yourself with more time, then it can turn into an all day outing. An invitation to one’s house, to the mall, a park, a movie, or anything else.

 

 One of my favorite movie quotes comes from a movie I love, Tequila Sunrise. "Friendship is the only choice in life you can make that's yours! You can't choose your family! Goddamn it, I've had to face that! No man should be judged for whatever direction his dick goes! That's like blaming a compass for pointing north, for Chrissake! Friendship is all we have. We chose each other." 

 

I honestly believe that is true. You choose your friends. I have some of the best friends, some of whom I have known since 6th grade. I still try to make time to get together with them at least once every two weeks, if not every week. Also, I take the time to call them often. It takes work, but it is completely worth it.

 

With all this being said, I want everyone to have a safe and happy Thanksgiving. I hope you spend every minute possible with loved ones; family and friends. After Thanksgiving, Christmas will be a few short weeks away. In that time, I am hoping to get a lot of work done, including some on the second book in the Love Lost and Found series.(Jean, don't pull out the whip just yet! ;) )

 

Blog Hop

Hey everybody, this is my first blog hop, so I hope it is a good one. I am pledging $30, plus $1 for each comment on my blog. Let me know what you think of our military men, and women. We are raising money for the Wounded Warrior Project, which is an organization I fully support because of the work they do.

Please remember, the other authors have pledged to donate also, so please visit their blogs, look around, and comment. :D

 

Click here to go back to the blog and visit my fellow authors' pages

 

http://secretcravingspublishing.blogspot.com/

 

As an added bonus I will give away a copy of my book to my favorite comment. :D

 

If you want to find out about the Wounded Warrrior Project, you can visit them to learn, or donate yourself at http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

 

 

After the plane landed, the stewardess came down the aisle asking all the women if they were Tara Mason.

 

“I’m Tara Mason.” Her hand trembled.

“Come with me, please.”

Tara de-planed before all the other passengers. Did the official manner of the

stewardess mean bad news? Tara’s brows knitted and her stomach became queasy as she followed the attractive woman down the stairs, through the gangway to a man in uniform.

 

One look at him made her feel faint with her heart beating out of her chest, her breath coming quickly.

“Miss Tara Mason?” She nodded, unable to speak.

“Come with me, please.”

In silence, she followed the young man to a waiting car. He opened the back door for her.

“Where are we going?” she choked out.

“To see Sergeant Peterson, I believe.”

“Mick? Where?”

“At LRMC.” He started the car.

“What’s that?”

“Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.” He shifted from park to drive.

At this news, Tara fainted in the back seat. The young man pulled over. He gently pulled her out of the car.

"Mick’s dead?”

 

“Wounded, ma’am.” The young man slung her arm over his shoulder as he walked

her around, trying to revive her.

***IF YOU LIKE THE PREVIEW OF OUR BOOK, IT IS AVAILABLE AT THE FOLLOWING SITES:

Secret Cravings Store: http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=book_info&cPath=15&products_id=424

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Love-Lost-Found-Ben-Tanner/dp/1618854941/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384010617&sr=1-1&keywords=love+lost+and+found

 

 

Veteran's Day Blog Hop for the Wounded Warrior Project

13 days until the blog hop starts! I am pledging $30 plus $1 for each person that comments on my blog. Many of my fellow authors have committed to pledging to the organization also. I am really hoping to get a good amount of participation on this, as it is an organization I really believe in and support, being a disabled veteran myself. Please invite family and friends to particiate, and comment too. :D

Halloween

Halloween.

   Well, Halloween is coming up in 9 days! As a creative person, I love to see what kind of costumes people come up with. I have seen some really cute ones, a young girl dressed as a princes or a young boy dressed as a cowboy(Sheriff Woody from Toy Story). It can be fun to see what the adults come up with. Many of us "adults" like to make our own costumes, especially us guys who don't plan :). So, my question is, if you are going to be home greeting trick-or-treaters, what do you plan on doing for a costume?

Secret Cravings Blog Hop to benefit Wounded Warriors

I have signed up for the Veteran's Day/Wounded Warrior Project Charity Blog Hop. 

 

Here is the info on it....Each author who signs up pledges to donate $30 to The Wounded Warrior Project. The hop will run Saturday - Monday, Veteran's Day. Please use this badge on your blog during the hop. We will be set to go live Saturday morning, 7am, Eastern time. I will be giving away a copy of my book to the best response to a question I will post.

http://secretcravingspublishing.blogspot.com/

Crazy year

This has been a crazy year. Working three jobs is very tiring. I am realizing that I am not as young as I used to be. Of course, then again, who is?  I don't even know where to start. Book 2 is coming along nicely with my coauthor, Jean Joachim. My trainer at the gym is whooping me. I am slowly losing weight, unfortunately, working as much as I do, I can't workout as much as I would like to.

Those who know me, know my friends are very important to me. I try to call them as often as possible; which unfortunately, lately hasn't been as often as I would like. I did talk to a great friend today. I used to talk to him everyday, but with marriage, two kids on his part, and work, I call him about once every two or three weeks. I am trying to get in the habit of calling him at least once a week though. I also hung out with another old friend. We went to REI and looked around at more gear for the AT hike. Luch was at Twin Peaks in Buckhead, which is a really good restaurant.

The AT thru-hike is probably going to become an AT section hike, as my wife says she can't handle me being gone that long. Either way, thru-hike or section-hike, it will be an accomplishment.

Contact me and let me know how you are doing.

Catch up

            I hope everyone has had a great week/month since I posted last. Things have been hectic here. Job 1 is going well, staying busy, albeit slow in this economy. Orders come in every day, although not as many as our bosses would like. Job 2 is likewise picking up. I am averaging 12 hours a week in the two nights I work there.
            My coauthor and I are writing book 2. It is going well, and should be a great book. We are both really proud of our first one, nad everyone who has read it has enjoyed it.
            I have been busy, cleaning, switching services from Comcast to AT&T. It will save us about $70/month! The Appalachian Trail thru-hike with my high-school buddy has been put on hold. Finances are what kept us from being on it now, but my wife has reservations about me boing gone that long. She wants me to section-hike it two weeks at a time every year. We were really hoping to thru-hike, but we will see.
            Star Trek: Into Darkness comes out Tuesday. I really like the revamping of the series J.J Abrams has done. I think the casting is amazing, especially Karl Urban as Bones. If you listen to his voice, he sounds just like DeForest Kelley.
          Anyway, I hope my readers are enjoying their weeks.
     Ben

What a crazy week!!! Last weekend, my lovely wife and I drove, after work, to North Carolina to see her family. We arrived late(about 1130), unpacked and went to bed. We woke up about 530 to get ready and drive to Gatlinburg Tennessee for a book signing. We arrived about 8 or so in the morning. While standing in the lobby, four women walked past us. Familiarity of a couple of them caused me to look. After they had walked upstairs, my memory kicked in and I yelled, "JEAN!" She stopped, turned, saw me, and yelled "BEN!" and proceeded to come back toward me! For the first time, my coauthor and I saw each other in person! After formalities, which included being introduced to my two publishers, Sandy and Rebekka, we went to the book signing area. It was a great time. We laughed, joked, the women all had eye candy, Scott-a cover model. We sold and signed every book we took, and signed a bunch of promo cards to give out. It was a good day. In the end, we drive back to North Carolina to spend the evening, night, and most of the next day with family.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers and the single moms pulling double duty out there.

Love Lost and Found

I am so excited! Our book is available in paperback! Woo-hoo! I am really proud of the book I wrote with Jean Joachim!