A huge thank you to BJ at My Book-a-logue for such a wonderful, thoughtful review! Please visit and follow My Book-a-logue for excellent reviews and book discussions.
Category Archives: Published Fiction
Kindle Countdown Deal to Celebrate Ocean Echoes Finalist Award
Just when I thought I’d give up on writing to become a goat herder, Ocean Echoes received finalist awards from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards in the general fiction and e-book categories!
I might still become a goat herder, but I’ll never consider giving up on writing again.
Thank you to everyone for cheering me on through years of revising and thank you for reading, reviewing, and supporting Ocean Echoes once it was finally published.
A huge thank you to these wonderful authors for taking the time to read and review it: Carrie Rubin, Britt Skrabanek, Kourtney Heintz, Jill Weatherholt, Charissa Stastny. And thank you so much to book reviewer Mary Jo Malo for such a kind and thoughtful review. If you don’t follow them through the blog, Twitter, or Goodreads, you’re missing out on a lot of humor, advice, and inspiration. I highly recommend their books.
A Kindle Countdown Deal starts today: Ocean Echoes will be 99 cents for a few days, then the price will go up a bit depending on the day. The Kindle Countdown Deal will end on May 18 when the price goes back up to $3.99. For Amazon UK, the Kindle Countdown Deal will go from tomorrow, May 12 – May 17. Ocean Echoes is also free to Kindle Unlimited members.
Remember – never give up!
(Photo courtesy of Top Design Magazine)
What Do Bozo the Clown, the Ocean, and My Crazy Dog Have in Common?
Strangely enough, Bozo the Clown, the ocean, and my crazy dog all influenced me while writing a short story called “Wandering Universes.” I’m excited to announce that the story was recently published in Halfway Down the Stairs.
For any writers out there, this is a great publication to submit to. Each issue has a theme like “we all fall down,” “time” or “persuasion” and it’s fun coming up with a story or poem to fit each theme. This issue’s theme was “chaos,” which went along well with my crazy dog.
Bozo can also be pretty chaotic. I know this because I once appeared on the show and had to run around and catch as many balloons as possible. When the neighborhood kids saw me on television, they brought presents to the house and asked for my autograph. It was my one brush with fame. A lot of people think clowns are creepy these days, but the thought of Bozo still makes me smile.
The ocean, whether chaotic or calm, is always influencing me. In this short story, a couple continually walks a certain coastline, possibly too often, but doing so lets their minds wander. Until chaos arrives, that is.
In case you’d like to read it, here’s a link to my short story Wandering Universes.
“View from Paradise” Short Story Published
I’m excited to announce that Independent Ink’s online journal just published my short story “View from Paradise.” This story was a Glimmer Train finalist and was rejected about 20 times (and revised many more times) before finding a home at Independent Ink. I’m grateful for the rejections because I think the story is better now, but I’m also very thankful that Independent Ink’s editors selected it for publication before the apocalypse.
Here’s the link to the story: View from Paradise
To celebrate, here are some pictures of the place that inspired the story, the Riviera Maya:
Sheila Hurst 