INSTANT SONGWRITING by Nancy Walker

Were any of your New Year's Resolutions about learning something new?

Well then... have I got the book for you!

INSTANT SONGWRITING is a book about the ins and outs of Musical Improv Comedy, so yeah, if you're a comedian or an improvisor of any kind you really need to buy a copy of this book. Especially if no one was thoughtful enough to gift you one for the holidays.

But what about the rest of us?

This book is good for you and me, too. Because it's fun. And who doesn't need a little more fun?

The book's online description reads:

Instant Songwriting is the ultimate how-to book for musical improvisers and an excellent resource for songwriters. With over two decades of musical improv experience, Nancy Howland Walker guides you with clear, logical and fun step-by-step exercises, from the very basics of putting a song together, to highly advanced song techniques.

Whether you are new to the art form or experienced, your songs are improvised or written, or you do this for fun or profit, Instant Songwriting helps you take your song skills to the next level. Musical tracks are included for each exercise – to accompany you as you practice and master each step along the way. Now go and become the Songwriting Diva you were meant to be!

See? And wasn't that really your New Year's Resolution anyway? To become the Diva you were meant to be? No? Not so much? Hmmm. Maybe I have you confused with someone else.

Anyway, I already have my copy. You can get yours at Amazon.

You can also find INSTANT SONGWRITING on Facebook and Twitter, and on the web at http://instantsongwriting.com/

THE BOOK, by Jessica Bell

My friend Jessica Bell has a new novella out and I thought I'd give her a shout out, as well as a chance to talk about here on my blog with all you nice readers!

Take it away, Jessica!

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Ever wondered how a five-year-old girl perceives the world? Then you definitely need to get your hands on THE BOOK, a novella by Jessica Bell.

Check out these awesome reviews:

"Jessica Bell’s surprising risks with language capture a child’s clear vision in a world of adult heartbreak. Indelible. Courageous." ~Thaisa Frank, author of Heidegger's Glasses and Enchantment

"THE BOOK is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. It's going to rip your blood pump out of your chest, kick it around like a football, and then shove it back inside you, leaving you with a potently reinvigorated faith in humanity. A curiously captivating read that somehow manages to encapsulate the length and breadth of love and family in one slim volume." ~Josh Donellan, author of Zeb and the Great Ruckus

Here's the blurb:

This book is not The Book. The Book is in this book. And The Book in this book is both the goodie and the baddie.

Bonnie is five. She wants to bury The Book because it is a demon that should go to hell. Penny, Bonnie’s mother, does bury The Book, but every day she digs it up and writes in it. John, Bonnie’s father, doesn’t live with them anymore. But he still likes to write in it from time to time. Ted, Bonnie’s stepfather, would like to write in The Book, but Penny won’t allow it.

To Bonnie, The Book is sadness.
To Penny, The Book is liberation.
To John, The Book is forgiveness.
To Ted, The Book is envy.
But The Book in this book isn’t what it seems at all.

If there was one thing in this world you wished you could hold in your hand, what would it be? The world bets it would be The Book.

Intrigued?

Available at all major retailers in e-book and paperback, including Amazon US and Amazon UK.

Puppy Tales: In Which Puppy Professes Her Love of Vegetables

I know that I go on and on about Puppy's sweet tooth - and yes, I did actually make her a stack of pancakes for her birthday last weekend and slather them with maple syrup. (The photos are on my Facebook page if you don't believe me! Check them out!)

She blew out her candles (with a little help) and proceeded to eat the entire pile one by one.

As in, she sucked them up into her mouth one at a time, giving each an obligatory chew before swallowing it practically whole and continuing on to the next pancake in the stack while Big Dog watched from the sidelines with jealous drool hanging from her mouth.

But - aside from maple syrup - one of Puppy's favorite treats is a carrot. Seriously. I mean, look at the smile.

That is the face of a dog who LOVES her veggies. Carrots are at the top of her list, and she comes running at the sound of the vegetable peeler (in much the same way my cats used to come running for the sound of the can opener, in the days before pull-top cans.) (Am I showing my age here?)

In the summertime, her favorite things are the cherry tomotoes my husband grows in the yard (her favs are the orange Sun Gold variety.) (Is there an orange thing going in her head?)

But in the winter, she enjoys her root veggies - she also likes baked potatoes and brussel sprouts. Not so much for the cauliflour or broccoli, but she'll eat them in a pinch.

Carrots are definitely the pick of the bunch.

How about you? Do your dogs eat their veggies?

Cover Reveal: SPEAK OF THE DEVIL by Shawna Romkey

What happens when falling in love and falling from grace collide?

After dying in a car accident with her two best friends, Lily miraculously awakens to grief and guilt. She escapes to her dad’s to come to terms with the event and meets some people at her new school who seem all too eager to help her heal. Sliding deeper into sorrow and trying to fight her feelings for two of them, she finds out who…what they really are and that they are falling too.

Can she find the strength to move on from the past, reconcile her feelings for Luc, find a way to stop a divine war with fallen angels, and still pass the eleventh grade?

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Wow, Shawna! I mean, WHAT a gorgeous cover. I can't wait to read this book! But... the waiting won't be long, as the book releases in March!! Shawna promised to come back and visit on her blog tour in March - and hopefully there will be Prizes! *Yea* Until then, I'm adding this to my Goodreads list right now....

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If you came here looking for my Friday Puppy Tales,  I'll be posting that later this afternoon and it will be up all weekend... I needed to post this cover first and help my friend celebrate her BEAUTIFUL new book! *yea*