Before and After Coronavirus:

Before: Go hug grandma.

After: Careful, stay away from grandma.

Before: Mom, you should go out more often. It’s good for your health.

After: Mom, please stay home. Don’t go out, you may catch it.

Before: No you can’t stay home, just because you don’t like the teacher.

After: No you can’t go to school, just because you want to see your friends.

Before: We are giving a dinner party. Make sure the table looks beautiful.

After: We are having a party. Make sure your Internet is working.

Before: Going out? Wear a nice outfit.

After: Going out? Wear a good mask.

Before: Three centuries ago, women wore fancy lace masks to conceal their identities when meeting a lover. How romantic! A year ago, bank robbers hid their faces behind stockings. Now they find it easier to wear a surgical mask. And banks face a unique Coronavirus problem.

After: Wearing a mask has become part of our daily life.

My masks for various errands.

Add your own Before and After.

The Senator’s Family Book 1, 2, 3 ,and 4 are already published. Books 5, 6, 7 coming soon.

Honeymoon Cruise: The Senator’s Family- Book 1 The perfect fiancé is a cheater and the fabulous Christmas wedding is off. But the would-be honeymoon cruise may fulfill the dreams of Julia and her unexpected companion.

Fake Fiancée: The Senator’s Family- Book 2 Her German shepherd is her only friend until a senator’s son refuses to take advantage of their fake engagement and teams up with her dog to protect her.

For Sarah’s Sake: The Senator’s Family- Book 3 A broken marriage. Second chance at love. And a precious little girl trying to escape danger and hatred to get herself a loving family.

Not Ready Yet: The Senator’s Family- Book 4 High school sweethearts separated by life…They meet years later, successful but different, each with a heavy baggage.

Sunshine Over Snow: The Senator’s Family- Book 5 When his children manage to ruin his second wedding, Brad is caught between a furious fiancée and an offended ex-wife, both determined to keep him and make him pay for his mistakes.

His Son, Her Daughter:The Senator’s Family- Book 6 High school sweethearts reunited after twenty years by their small children. Their conflicting baggage prevents them from fully trusting each other. Yet what wouldn’t Daniel do for his son and her daughter?

Between Babies and Girlfriends: The Senator’s Family- Book 7 Abandoned baby twins, a former girlfriend, an almost fiancée complicate Dr. Brian Dutton’s life to no end.

Surviving on Courage

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” Mark Twain

Every day, every hour, and even every minute we are struggling to show courage, to resist fear, to face the stress in our life or around us. People believe that laugh is a good antidote to fear. I received daily jokes about the Coronavirus. At the beginning I found them highly amusing, but after five months I stopped laughing. The statistics listed on TV are heart-wrenching. In addition my husband and I lost four relatives in one month, and I am constantly worried about very dear people working in hospitals.

I don’t want to depress you with sad stories, and I don’t have the heart to relate any funny anecdotes. So I would like to share something I read.

“We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. We need twelve hugs a day for growth.” Virginia Satir

“Hugging is healthy. It helps the immune system, cures depression, reduces stress, and induces sleep. It’s invigorating, rejuvenating and has no unpleasant side effects” — Except in time of CoronaVirus!

“Hugging is nothing less than a miracle drug.” But in time of pandemic we are advised to distance and wear a mask. How can we hug a person in need of a hug? How about replacing hugs with kind words? Think of the people in your life. We all need a virtual hug and words of encouragement.

“Hugging is the ideal gift.” No, sorry! Instead of a hug, give a kind word–You can’t even smile behind your mask!

“Hugging is practically perfect. When we open our hearts and arms we encourage others to do the same.” ~ Charles Faraone

 



A Bride For Prince Paul A Bodyguard For The Princess Jingle With My Princess
Prince Philip’s Cinderella A Dance for Prince Eric

 

Amore Island…The Start of Something New @Natalieann121 #mgtab

Starting a new series is always daunting for me. I’ve got all these ideas in my head and I have to make sure they come out clear and concise to lead the readers to the next book and then the next. That is always the goal, to get them addicted and wanting more!

I think—I hope—I accomplished that with my Amore Island series. A series based on a fictional island off the East Coast founded by the Bond Family hundreds of years ago.

The series takes place in modern times following brothers, sisters, and cousins all trying to find their mates. Or avoiding them? Maybe even hiding from the lore and legends of ‘love at first sight or fate’.

Venture along with me to the island of love…Amore Island. Starting with Hunter and Kayla.

Using Your Imagination

One of the great blessings of childhood is a vivid imagination. A child can make a blanket into a tent or a robe, a stick into a sword or scepter, a couch into a castle or mountain. Give a child a cardboard box and he will find more uses for it than just a packing container.

The simpler the object, the easier it is to turn it into a versatile plaything. Give a child an object that is too refined, like a toy kitchen set, and it cannot be “imagined” into anything else. When I teach Bible classes, I use blocks and marbles for towns and people.

As we age we sometimes lose that kind of ability to imagine objects as anything but what they are. Instead, we go into our minds and travel or dream from there. With the present stay-in-place requests by the government, many of us understand what solitary confinement entails. It gives us plenty of time to dream. At least we have the Internet, with Netflix and online shopping.

What are you doing that uses your imagination? Cooking new recipes? Playing new games with your children? Becoming a schoolteacher since your children are staying at home? If you want a free way to teach your child to read, go to www.raisingupgiants@wixsite.com/free where I have a free reading program. My seven-year-old brother taught me to read at age four, so learning to read is fun, at least the way I show you.

My last book out was Avalanche Puppy, which is part of a new Authors’ Billboard Amazon 99 cent collection, Unforgettable Joy. I wanted to put some humor in it, so I made my dog, Brat, a Border Collie. Brat wants his own way, which includes building his “herd” of his owner/trainer and the young man who wants to act as his handler.

Border Collies are high-energy dogs with minds of their own, and it was fun to write about him. They will nip at your heels to try to herd you together, and when you protest, will just “smile.”

As usual I’m writing another story and planning more. My second-chance-at-love story takes place at a dude ranch, where the new cook turns out to be the woman the owner had dated in college. He hadn’t recognized her married name when he hired her. Then the woman he is currently interested in shows up as a guest. Her name has also been changed as she is in the witness protection program. This story will be part of “Sweet and Sassy in the Summertime”, which is due out in late June.

So use your imagination and chase away boredom. If you need help, remember to go to our Authors’ Billboard monthly board and join our Easter Egg Hunt contest. I have four books on the board, all of which will be free on different weeks, including this week.