1) I was a finalist in the Washington Post’s Peeps Diorama contest a few years ago.
2) I’m a guitar-playing fool and laced my novel The Silent Count with original song lyrics. I’m in the process posting most of the songs, written and performed by me on guitars and vocals, on my YouTube channel. Here’s a sample: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JRu5MHs9LSs
3) I was a diplomat for two weeks, serving as a member of the U.S. delegation to the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management. (No, I did not take advantage of my temporary diplomatic immunity).
4) My family is from Sicily, and I speak both Italian and Sicilian dialect. They are from a town a stone’s throw away from where The Godfather was filmed! I had an apartment there until 2019 but sold it. I’m thinking of buying a derelict villa for 1 Euro and restoring it because I am crazy.
5) I won a Rubik’s cube tournament as a teenager, against college students no less! I love puzzles—evil Sudokus, crosswords, Wordles…bring ‘em on!
She’s determined to stop climate change before it’s too late…
Nuclear engineer Dara Bouldin’s life is a mess. She’s paying off her dad’s gambling debts, reeling from a broken engagement, and practically invisible at the energy research agency where she works. Meanwhile, her ex Jericho’s latest single is racing up the charts and her handsome new colleague Dmitri is friendly with everyone but her.
All around them, wildfires, floods, and other natural disasters have become the norm. But Dara has an audacious plan to reverse climate change, if only someone would listen.
Little does she know, someone at the CIA has been paying attention. And when the public demands action, Dara gets the chance to turn her dream into reality, with the blessings of Congress and the President. Things are looking up.
That is until she discovers a secret that thrusts her into the center of a global conflict that could rewrite history, in dire ways she never intended. Things are going to change, big time. And the countdown has already begun.
Be careful what you wish for, Dara.
About:
E. A. Smiroldo is a nuclear engineer specializing in weapons nonproliferation. She’s also a Washington Area Music Association Award-nominated singer-songwriter and has won prizes in writing competitions sponsored by the Bethesda Literary Festival and the International Screenwriters' Dig. After placing in the latter, she optioned the treatment for her screenplay, Blood Like Water, with X-ray Media. Premised on real science, The Silent Count is her debut novel.
Walk To Beautiful: The Power of Love and a Homeless Kid Who Found the Way
Imagine yourself a 13-year-old hundreds of miles away from home, in a strange city, and your mom leaves you at a bus station parking lot and drives off into the night with her lover.
That’s the real life story of country music star Jimmy Wayne. It’s a miracle that Jimmy survived being hungry and homeless, bouncing in and out of the foster care system, and sleeping in the streets. But he didn’t just overcome great adversity in his life; he now uses his country music platform to help children everywhere, especially teenagers in foster care who are about to age out of the system.
Walk to Beautiful is the powerfully emotive account of Jimmy’s horrendous childhood and the love shown him by Russell and Bea Costner, the elderly couple who gave him a stable home and provided the chance to complete his education. Jimmy says of Bea, “She changed every cell in my body.”
It also chronicles Jimmy’s rise to fame in the music industry and his Meet Me Halfway campaign: his walk halfway across America, 1,700 miles from Nashville to Phoenix, to raise awareness for foster kids.
Reviews:
“It reads like a movie to me, and if so, I’ll be the first one in a seat to see it.”
— Dolly Parton
“If your story could use a better chapter, take inspiration from Jimmy’s.”
— Max Lucado, New York Times Best-Selling Author Buy on Amazon hereBuy on Barnes and Noble hereCheck out other books by Jimmy Wayne here Check out music by Jimmy Wayne here "I Will"
About Jimmy:
Jimmy Wayne is a former foster kid turned award-winning country recording-artist whose songs and story highlight his mission to raise awareness for children in foster care. Jimmy’s hits include “Stay Gone,” “Paper Angels,” “I Love You This Much” and “Do You Believe Me Now,” which earned BMI’s prestigious Million-Air Award for receiving more than one million radio spins in America. In 2009, Jimmy toured with Brad Paisley and recorded “Sara Smile” with rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Fame duo Daryl Hall and John Oates.
In 2010, Jimmy walked halfway across America (from Nashville to Phoenix) to raise awareness for kids aging out of the foster care system. While walking, he wrote the Christmas novel Paper Angels (2011, Simon & Schuster). In 2012, Jimmy lobbied to pass legislative bills extending the age of foster care from 18 to 21 in California and Tennessee.
In 2013, Jimmy’s first film, Paper Angels (UPtv) became an instant holiday classic and in 2014 he released Walk to Beautiful: The Power of Love and a Homeless Kid Who Found the Way(2014, Thomas Nelson/Harper Collins) which became a three-time New York Times bestseller, crossing the 170,000 sales milestone in early 2019, and became a #1 Bestseller at Amazon.
In 2016 Jimmy received the prestigious Points of Light award from President George W. Bush (41), while simultaneously contributing to the extension of foster care services from age 18 to 21 in North Carolina and Ohio.
In 2017, Jimmy was honored with the inaugural Community Maker award by Verizon and received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from William Woods University. In 2018 he received an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Cal State University San Marcos and most recently, (May, 2019) he was honored by the National Council For Adoption with the Warren and Mary Alice Babineaux Award in recognition of his continued commitment to creating positive change in the lives of children in foster care who need permanent families.
Jimmy has shared his story — The Power Of One — around the world as a keynote speaker and has performed on the Grand Ole Opry 224 times. He lives in Nashville and continues to work tirelessly on behalf of at-risk foster youth.
For information on his awareness campaign, Project Meet Me Halfway, please visit: www.projectmmh.org
One of the hardest things and likely the worst nightmare of my life is taking pictures of me. I’m a very shy person. You don’t want to know how I feel about personal videos…😳
I love McDonald’s but I don’t like cheeseburgers. I eat all the rest 😉
Winter is perfect but I don’t like rainy days. I love snow.🤗
I hear all kinds of music but there is nothing better than listening to rock ballads and disco of 80s.But I rarely dance.🤫
Ilove the smell of wine but I can’t drink more than one glass because my skin turns red and I look like a tomato! Yes, it’s a kind of allergy, read it again, I am allergic to alcohol! 😀
His nightmare had just started and he could do nothing to stop it. This is a story of survival, the story of a young man’s survival. After his battle against death and fate, his life would change forever.
“A storm is headed our way, little one. I can feel it in my bones.”
1942-1960 ~ Emily lives her first eighteen years on her grandfather’s farm. After her God-fearing grandmother dies when Emily is six, she is left with a burden of misfortune and hardship.
When the school board forces Grandfather’s hand, Emily is allowed to attend school. She experiences her first real friendship, the thrill and pain of an innocent young love, and a secret she bears alone.
Just days after her 18th birthday, her bag is packed, and she’s ready to start a new life. When someone tries to stop her - and ends up dead - Emily escapes the horror and hops a train out west. Her long-awaited plan for an adventure was ruined by an evil man, and for the sake of her sanity, she pushes back guilt of a gruesome death that has her fingerprints all over it.
She arrives in San Francisco wide-eyed and filled with hope. Planning a new life was easy, but her inexperience leaves her vulnerable to those who take advantage of her naivety.
Nightfall is just hours away when a waitress takes her to a madam.
Jerry Sereda is a Canadian Country Musician from Dauphin MB, who has gained popularity performing festivals across Canada with acts such as Johnny Reid, Shane Yellowbird, and Jason Blaine. and is making his mark on the Canadian Country Music scene"
Country Recording Cowboy Jerry Sereda Singer/Songwriter/Educator Follow along on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube. Go to Reverbnation to download my last album free
1. I eat peanut butter and green olive sandwiches.
2. Buttered popcorn and a glass of milk is my idea of a light supper.
3. My office assistant really is our dog, Missy.
4. I take the idea of things being DeGrootified for my stories very seriously.
5. I went to college to be a math teacher.
About Elaine M. DeGroot
Originally from Minnesota, I now live in Upstate South Carolina and enjoy retirement. My husband, Mike, is a retired US Air Force Chief Master Sergeant and is loving life with the year-round golfing! We have a pup, Missy, a Belgian Malinois-German Shepherd mix, who keeps us busy and entertained. They are an inspiration, a distraction, and my life.
I served 12 years active duty in the US Air Force. Ultimately, I worked in the federal civil service, beginning with the Department of Veterans Affairs, on to the US Air Force, a fun stint with the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and ending back at the VA. All told, serving thirty years in federal service and loved every minute of it.
I write romance stories...rather steamy ones. Some with a touch of suspense. I’ve found inspiration in where I’ve lived, what I’ve done/experienced, and hobbies I enjoy. In the midst of writing a story, I love it when my characters take hold of the plot and own it!
Consequential Love, is a series of three books, each with a touch of suspense. The series features the unlikely meeting of two people in search of a new life, who unexpectantly find love. Introducing Air Force veteran, Garrett Dane, who returns to Minnesota for a career with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and Leigh Ramsey, who returns to Minnesota, after a four-year self-isolation in Chicago. Past experiences haunt them. After fate brings them together, their determination to help each other and have a life together demonstrates their resolute love for one another, their fortitude to overcome challenges thrown at them, and their strength as a couple to be victorious in the end.
