Birthday Giveaway, Meet Mr. Tweeble's Dog Jingles #MFRWHooks

Hello and welcome to the Focused on Story Blog! 

Today we're celebrating my birthday week by giving away prizes! Nothing makes me happier than to give gifts, so add some joy to my life by signing up to grab a gift from the Birthday Grab Bag!

Let's Celebrate My Birthday Giveaway
May 23-31

Let's rock it today and enjoy the time together. 

YOUTUBE VIDEO-Kool and the Gang Celebrate Good Times--Come On!

Here's the Birthday Grab Bag loaded with gifts for you.

WHAT'S IN THE GRAB BAG?
📘COUPONS for mystery suspense eBook, Terror on Sunshine Boulevard
📙PAPERBACK COPY of Romantic suspense, Dangerous Sanctuary
📗FOR WRITERS--PDF COPY of Romance and Mystery Authors on Writing:
Helpful Tips on the Writing Process, Publishing and Marketing
📚PDF COPY-Quick Tips on Vegetable Gardening
🍬🍫CHOCOLATE and CANDY
DEADLINE FOR ENTRY-11:59 PM MAY 31

3 WAYS TO ENTER to win one of these prizes: 

1. Leave your name below in the comments box

2. Like my Facebook page and FB message me or leave a comment

Click here for my FB J.Q. Rose author page.

3. Email me--jqrose02 at gmail dot com  

On June 1,  I'll grab a gift to send you via FB Messenger or email. 

Print books will be sent via snail mail US only.

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Book Hooks Blog Hop #MFRWHooks

Today we're also joining in on the Book Hooks Blog Hop sponsored by the MFRW Authors Blog. Each participating blogger shares an excerpt from their book. I'm sharing from my latest mystery/horror book, Terror on Sunshine Boulevard. (One of the eBooks stashed in the Birthday Grab Bag.)

Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q. Rose

Rescuing a naked woman lying in a geranium bed? Investigating mysterious murders? These are not the usual calls in a Florida retirement community for volunteer first responder Jim Hart.

EXCERPT: Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q. Rose

Mr. Tweeble woke up with a start when his dog Jingles began barking loud enough to wake him even if he wasn’t wearing his hearing aids.

“Jingles! Jingles! Hush up, will you? It’s three o’clock in the morning. You’re going to wake the neighborhood with your barking.”

He remembered Jingles barking and whining like that when he drove his electric scooter near George McConnell’s house that afternoon. He had finally picked up the feisty terrier and put him on his lap to join the other curiosity seekers near the house. The dog jumped off and raced the other way until he was brought up short on his leash and howled until his master turned the cart around and left the area.

Jingles’ pitiful yowling broke into Mr. Tweeble’s memory.

Fearing his dog was sick, Mr. Tweeble rolled himself out of bed, fumbled putting on his glasses, and shuffled into the kitchen. Using the night light in the hood vent over the old stove to see the dog, he discovered the animal scampering back and forth near the back door.

“Jingles, come ‘ere, boy. Are you sick?” Mr. Tweeble picked him up and gently held the dog close to his chest. He switched on the ceiling light and studied the precious face he dearly loved. He checked Jingles’ brown ears and his brown and white furry body for any injuries and then cradled him to his rotund belly.

“It’s all right, little guy. Come on. Come on to bed with me. You must want to go out to chase a rabbit, eh?” As he slowly shuffled his way back to his bedroom with the dog, he wondered what was wrong. Mr. Tweeble made a mental note to check behind the couch for an “accident” in the morning.

He lay down on the rumpled bed and enfolded the trembling dog in his arms. Suddenly Jingles wriggled free and sprang up barking non-stop. He leaped from the bed and raced out of the room. A flash of searing yellow light filled the room blinding Mr. Tweeble, and the smell of his own scorched flesh burned his nostrils.

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BACK OF THE BOOK:  Rescuing a naked woman lying in a geranium bed? Investigating mysterious murders Not the usual calls for first responder Jim Hart. He expects slip and fall accidents or low blood pressure emergencies in his retirement community of Citrus Ridge Senior Community and Golf Resort. The ghastly crime scenes turn the winter time fun into a terrifying season of death and mystery when the authorities cannot track down the predator responsible.

Jim and his wife Gloria could escape the horror and grief by returning to their northern home, but concern for their friends and residents keep them in Florida. With the entire community in a dither over the deaths, the Harts participate in the normal winter activities of golfing, dancing, and pool parties with their friends to distract them from the sadness and loss.

Can Jim and Gloria work with the authorities to discover who or what is killing the seniors on Sunshine Boulevard and stop the increasing body count?

CLICK THE BUY LINK to purchase Terror on Sunshine Boulevard at major online booksellers.

REMINDER--You can win this book in my Birthday Giveaway, so leave a comment below, FB message me or send an email to enter!! Thank you.

Click below to participate in the Book Hooks Blog Hop. Enjoy meeting authors and reading excerpts from their books!

Blog Swap: Making Time to Write by Sara Jayne Townsend, Giveaways

Dead Cool by Sara Jayne Townsend
Who would resort to murder?
Kindle UK

Blog Swap Time! Do you enjoy getting two-for-one blogs? That's a blog swap. 

Today I'm swapping with mystery and horror author Sara Jayne Townsend. Sara, joining us from London, England, is my guest. She's sharing about making time to write. Now there's something many writers need to figure out! AND  Sara is generously offering a giveaway of a choice of either one of her Shara Summers books, Death Scene or Dead Cool,or the horror novel, The Whispering Death. The spooky book trailer is at the end of the page Take a peek, if you dare.  

Please leave a comment below to enter the drawing. Winner will be chosen after 6 pm EST on Wednesday, November 25. Good luck!

Since it is a blog swap, I'm at Sara's blog revealing my desire to raise awareness about issues in our modern society through my writing. Sounds like a heavy topic. I would like your opinion about authors using their stories to bring attention to their causes with subtle messages in books. You're invited to hop over to Sara Jayne Townsend's blog after you finish here. You can sign up for the Rafflecopter drawing while there or sign up below to win prizes during the Deadly Undertaking Book Blog Tour.  Deadline to enter is midnight November 25. Thank you. 

The Whispering Death by Sara Jayne Townsend
UK Kindle link
Death comes to us all; life is the name of the game and everyone has a role to play. 

MAKING TIME TO WRITE

By Sara Jayne Townsend

There’s a misconception that the writing life is a glamorous one. And that all writers are rich. If you’re JK Rowlings, that’s undoubtedly true. If you’re not – well, the reality is that the vast majority of writers don’t earn enough from writing to do it for a living and have to have a separate source of income.

For me, and many other writers, this means writing around the day job. I have a rather demanding day job that involves three hours a day of travelling to and from London. Finding the time to write around that requires discipline. I can’t afford the luxury of waiting for the muse to strike. I allocate time to writing, I sit down to do it, and if the muse is asleep I poke her with a big stick until she starts being productive.

I don’t use my commuting time to write, since my train is rather crowded and getting out the NetBook on the train would mean elbowing my fellow commuters and, more importantly, having someone read over my shoulder – off putting, to say the least. Nor do I generally write during lunch time. Sometimes I need that time to get away from the office. Sometimes I use it for personal tasks I don’t have time to do at home, or for writing blog posts or Tweets or other promotional material. Neither do I get much writing done in the evenings, since I’m generally too tired when I get home from work to focus.

So my writing routine these days is to get up at 5:30am twice a week and take the early train into London, where I sit in a coffee shop with my NetBook and write for an hour before going into the office. Getting up at such an ungodly hour doesn’t suit everyone, and I wouldn’t say I’m naturally a morning person, but there does seem to be an advantage to writing before my ‘internal editor’ is awake. I am quite productive at that time in the morning, especially with a first draft, as I am able to tap directly into my subconscious for the words, without that internal voice interrupting with, “that sentence is rubbish”. An indulgent breakfast muffin to munch on and a big cup of tea to drink as I wait for the NetBook to boot up gives me added incentive to get out of bed so early, and I can arrive at the day job feeling satisfied that I’ve achieved my word count for the day. And besides, the early train is much quieter, since most of my fellow commuters are still in bed at that time.

The trick to finding time to write is to work out what’s best for you and mark the time in your calendar. If you can’t face the idea of getting up early, maybe you can allocate some time in or lunch hour, or sit at the laptop after the kids are in bed instead of watching that TV show. But once you’ve worked out what’s best for you, put the time in your calendar and treat it with the same commitment as you would any other appointment.

The truth is, the writing life isn’t an easy one. Those of us who feel moved to do it, do it out of a sense of need rather than regard it as a pleasurable hobby. And the only way it happens is to apply backside to writing chair and get words written. If there was an easier way to do it, we’d all be best-selling writers.

About Sara 

 Sara Jayne Townsend is a UK-based writer of crime and horror, and someone tends to die a horrible death in all of her stories.  She was born in Cheshire in 1969, but spent most of the 1980s living in Canada after her family emigrated there.  She now lives in Surrey w

Author Sara Jayne Townsend

ith two cats and her guitarist husband Chris.  She co-founded the T Party Writers’ Group in 1994, and remains Chair Person.

She is the author of the series of mystery novels featuring Canadian actress and contemporary amateur sleuth Shara Summers, but her most recent release is a supernatural horror novel, entitled The Whispering Death, featuring a group of live action role players who unwittingly release an ancient evil during a game.

Connect with Sara and her writing online at

Sara's website   

Sara's blog  

Follow her on Twitter 

Join her Facebook Group, “Imaginary Friends” 

Video

Book Trailer for The Whispering Death by Kensington-Gore Publishing

Enter the Rafflecopter drawing to win prizes after the Deadly Undertaking Book Blog Tour is completed. Hurry. Deadline is Wednesday, 12 pm EST, November  25.

a Rafflecopter giveaway