I was told when I first found this community of book blogging that “book bloggers were the nicest bloggers there are” and I have never forgotten those words. And over the past year, I have truly met the nicest people. I also believe, even though we live behind a screen, a bit of our personality shines through. That is one of the reasons I am having so much fun with this weekly event, and hoping you are too, because we are getting to know those “nicest bloggers” around and about bloggyland a little bit better.

OK..now I know I’m not imagining it.  Jeff and Steve are being too accommodating…getting the dessert here on time and making sure we have enough to drink on these warm days and then rushing out to play golf.  I think they really enjoy our “Sunday Shining Star “gab sessions” lol.

And now to our Star, not only is our guest a blogger but an author, so we have a lot to talk about.  We met through the Friday Blog Hop and I for one, am really excited to get to know her.  I hope you are too.  Today’s Shining Star is BRENDA from FICTION WITH A PURPOSE

*When and why did you start blogging?
I actually started blogging in 2008 as one of the pages on my website – www.brendayoungerman.com – and I did it because my publisher told me it was a good idea to blog. But I felt like I was writing my journal on line and I had absolutely NO followers. So in March 2010 my blogspot blog was born. And again it was out of necessity and I really had NO idea what I was doing.

*How and what made you decide on the name of your blog?
The name of my blog “Fiction with a Purpose” is what I write – I write novels that tell stories of everyday life – sometimes the subject matter is not all that pleasant but in a fictional setting it makes it easier to digest. I want my readers to go along on the ride – or journey- and when the book is over I want the story to stay with them for a day or two (or more) and have them look at things around them a little differently than when they picked up my book.

*What would you say is the main content of your blog?
Wow! That is tough. It depends on the day – I post book reviews and I have a weekly hop called Pondering with a Purpose – where I give a prompt and hope people will grab it and hop along (Thursdays) – I just started a new feature on Tuesdays called Spotlight on Tuesdays where I introduce another blogger that I have found interesting. I try to write a Musings on Mondays, and I hop with the Friday book blogger hop, and Wednesdays I hop with a really good friend of mine for a Weekly WOW 100 words to discuss what I am currently reading and on Saturdays I do a Saturday Shop Hop to discuss my various business ventures and then of course I blog any other time I want to during the week to discuss my books or other books.

*If books, what genres do you mostly read?
Right now I read mostly the books that are sent to me to review – my preferred reading is thriller, mystery, crime, romance, etc

*How often do you post?
I try to post at least 5 times a week on my blog…I am an active author and try to devote at least an hour a day to writing….and I have a full time job. If I could I would spend the entire day on the blog and visiting other sites…BUT there are only so many hours in a day!

*What are some of the things that you love about blogging?
I love meeting new people and seeing how creative they can be on their sites. And it is so much fun to realize that we can be communicating with people all over the world and not even know it. We are chatting and blogging and not even know where someone is from. That, to me, is amazing! I love writing everyday when it isn’t in one of my books.

I don’t really like getting 0 comments and it is frustrating when I follow other hops and the owners of those hops don’t follow mine. Sometimes it is frustrating on blogger itself, I feel like a dinosaur when I see other sites and they are SO creative and then I look at mine and seems so ordinary.

*Name 1-3 favorite items/postings that you have/do on your blog?
My Thursday – Pondering with a Purpose has to be my favorite post. I set up a prompt and then write to it, and hope that others will join along and write to the prompt as well. I have a linky at the bottom and hope someday that there will be a long list of followers and we can all see what the prompt brings in.


Mondays Musings – I started that a while ago when I wanted to journal my experiences from the weekends. Now I do it as a regular post and I know I have a lot people that have come to expect it.


Tuesday’s Spotlight – this is actually a new post for me. I just started it a couple of weeks ago. I decided I wanted to turn the spot light on all of the really nice people I have met on the blogger circuit. Who knows, maybe one of these days the spotlight will be turned on you!

*Any advice you would give to new bloggers?
Stay true to yourself and write what you want to write. Make sure when you set up your site that the writing is visible. Don’t make the background so dark that the letters are impossible to read. Be gracious and thank people for their comments.

*What draws you to follow someone’s blog?
First I have to ‘feel comfortable’ on their site, easy to read and comment on.

Second, I look around at their postings and have to like their writings and what they have said, and third I normally listen to my gut.

*Do you have any “pet peeves” that other bloggers do?
I have a really hard time with blogs that are written by 2 people. I feel like blogging should be one person behind a computer – not two. Also, I will immediately close a blog if it opens with music.

*Would you please share 5-7 things about the person behind the screen so that we get to know the “real” you!!
I believe all things happen for a reason

I don’t believe in coincidences

I think we should all treat another person better than we wish to be treated

I sleep with my dog

My characters speak to me and write their own stories

I truly believe one day one of my books will make it to the best sellers lists

I believe you get back more than you give – and giving is twice as good as receiving

*Any other info you would like to share.
Thank you for introducing my to your followers! This is a really great thing you are doing….if anyone is interested in finding out more about Fiction with a Purpose – you can check out my website: http://brendayoungerman.com — and you are always welcome on my blog: http://brendayoungerman.blogspot.com

Brenda, thank you for being my guest today and sharing a little bit of you with us.  As I said I found Brenda’s blog through the Friday Book Blog Hop and instantly became a follower.  I sent off a Shining Star questionnaire because I wanted to get to know her, I put her info on my spread sheet and she accepted….YES!!!!   She returns the questionnaire and I put it into my folder.  I revisit her site on another Friday but Senior Moment Kicks In!!!!!,  I check my spreadsheet, don’t see her blog (because I had only put in her name, not her blog the first time I entered her ino) and send off another questionnaire.  She graciously emails me and tells me that she has already sent it back.  I guess my senior moments are now turning into senior days lol.

I really enjoyed getting to know Brenda.  I think she has given some great advice for blogging and bloggers alike, and find her thoughts on life inspirational.  I hope she doesn’t mind, but, she does have another site that I would like to share with you.  Her official Author site:  http://sbpra.com/brendayoungerman/.  I have read the synopsis of her book, Disrupted Lives, and have put it on my personal tbr list.  It sounds like a great read and I can’t wait to pick it up.  She is also doing a Book Blog Tour, check out the details HERE, to see if you are interested and can participate.

Between her blog and her writing, I think Brenda is a Shining Star!!  And, I think I can speak for all of us, we hope that your book Disrupted Lives and all your future books, will be Best Sellers!!!!!



We have had quite the week here at CMash with visitors requesting to stop by and sharing their latest work with us, so I figured there was no better way to end the week than by introducing you to another Guest Author.  And once again, I ask, as only you can do, give Mr. Iain Edward Henn a very warm welcome!!!

If I do that now I get strange looks. So I try not to do it.

Born and raised in Sydney, in Australia, I have a working background in newspaper and magazine publishing.

Writing fiction in the mystery/suspense genres has been a passion from a young age.

My short suspense stories have been published by magazines in England, North America, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Australia and New Zealand, and one of these has also appeared with the Scandinavian University Press.

My novel, ‘The Delta Chain,’ was an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Quarter finalist, described by Publisher’s Weekly as a “…fast-paced thriller…hooks readers into caring about the chase…”

When I’m not writing, researching or commuting, my wife and I indulge in movies, exploring the coast, and the search for the perfect cappuccino.

     A storyteller’s best friend might not be an idea or a character or a whopping advance or a shiny new laptop.
     It might just be a question – a question that can be written down or asked out loud or privately within your own mind. A question to which there is no right or wrong answers. A question to which there is no limit to the number or types of answers that can be given.
     The question …What if?
     A question where the answers come from your own imagination. Or maybe from some mysterious other place. Who knows?
     Like any good friend, “What if?” can help you when you’re in dire need. Perhaps you’re suffering the infamous ‘writer’s block,’ (some say this exists, some say it doesn’t, so it’s a debate a little like the one on climate change), and by asking the “What if?’ question you just might break through that mental barrier. (Maybe you’ll even solve global warming, but that’s a long shot.)
     An author might ask the question in response to an item seen on the nightly TV news, or to a observation made while walking down the street or catching a train.
     You wonder what might happen next in some given situation. What if?
     A famous example can be seen in the movie, ‘Sliding Doors,’ which simultaneously unfolds two story lines – one in which Gwyneth Paltrow’s character catches a train; and an alternative storyline in which she misses the train, causing her life to head in a whole different direction.
     I sometimes wonder if prolific writers like Stephen King are asking that question all day every day, at breakfast, while talking on their cell phone, while driving to the gas station (come to think of it, just two of King’s novels in the past 10 years have been “Cell,” about a signal sent out globally to cellphone users that turns them in to vicious killers; and ‘From A Buick 8,’ about an abandoned, seemingly ‘possessed’ car found at a gas station), so maybe he is asking that question, over and over again.
     A storyteller might have lots of “besties,’ but that question we ask of the imagination might just be the oldest and dearest of them all.

When her brother meets a terrifying death in the wilderness, Kate Kovacs is determined to use her IT skills to help track the killers. A baffling link is found between these cases, leading Adam and Kate on a labyrinth trail to a scientific research group, to a Washington power elite, and to a secret reaching back over thirty years to a war-ravaged Vietnam.

Powerful forces are gathering, and Adam and Kate just became their targets…

  When her brother meets a terrifying death in the wilderness, Kate Kovacs is determined to use her IT skills to help track the killers. A baffling link is found between these cases, leading Adam and Kate on a labyrinth trail to a scientific research group, to a Washington power elite, and to a secret reaching back over thirty years to a war-ravaged Vietnam.
  Powerful forces are gathering, and Adam and Kate just became their targets…

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU PUBLICLY FOLLOW THIS
  BLOG (IF NOT, GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT ON RIGHT SIDE).

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT TO LET ME KNOW THAT YOU 
  RETWEETED THIS GIVEAWAY (LEAVE LINK).

*REMEMBER TO INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR ALL ENTRIES.

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,
agent and/or author. This blog hosts the giveaway on behalf of the
above. I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in
exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are
ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped
from agents. I reserve the right to disqualify/delete any entries
if rules of giveaway are not followed

From Danielle’s blog:
We all leave our “footprint” on the world, in one way or another. We each, individually, do something or are someone that makes the world a little better just by being here. I created this weekly meme to get to know the blogging community I love just a bit better. To know what makes them tick, outside of books, that is. Each week I will post a question to be answered in the following week’s “A Bit of Me(Me)”. Check back each Saturday to get the info for next week’s post and link up with your current post right here.
This week’s question:  If you could have 3 wishes granted, what would they be?
Read more: http://www.theresabook.com/category/a-bit-of-meme/#ixzz1OK1F7pu4

We have had quite the week here at CMash with visitors requesting to stop by and sharing their latest work with us, so I figured there was no better way to end the week than by introducing you to another Guest Author.  And once again, I ask, as only you can do, give Mr. Iain Edward Henn a very warm welcome!!!

If I do that now I get strange looks. So I try not to do it.

Born and raised in Sydney, in Australia, I have a working background in newspaper and magazine publishing.

Writing fiction in the mystery/suspense genres has been a passion from a young age.

My short suspense stories have been published by magazines in England, North America, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Australia and New Zealand, and one of these has also appeared with the Scandinavian University Press.

My novel, ‘The Delta Chain,’ was an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Quarter finalist, described by Publisher’s Weekly as a “…fast-paced thriller…hooks readers into caring about the chase…”

When I’m not writing, researching or commuting, my wife and I indulge in movies, exploring the coast, and the search for the perfect cappuccino.

     A storyteller’s best friend might not be an idea or a character or a whopping advance or a shiny new laptop.
     It might just be a question – a question that can be written down or asked out loud or privately within your own mind. A question to which there is no right or wrong answers. A question to which there is no limit to the number or types of answers that can be given.
     The question …What if?
     A question where the answers come from your own imagination. Or maybe from some mysterious other place. Who knows?
     Like any good friend, “What if?” can help you when you’re in dire need. Perhaps you’re suffering the infamous ‘writer’s block,’ (some say this exists, some say it doesn’t, so it’s a debate a little like the one on climate change), and by asking the “What if?’ question you just might break through that mental barrier. (Maybe you’ll even solve global warming, but that’s a long shot.)
     An author might ask the question in response to an item seen on the nightly TV news, or to a observation made while walking down the street or catching a train.
     You wonder what might happen next in some given situation. What if?
     A famous example can be seen in the movie, ‘Sliding Doors,’ which simultaneously unfolds two story lines – one in which Gwyneth Paltrow’s character catches a train; and an alternative storyline in which she misses the train, causing her life to head in a whole different direction.
     I sometimes wonder if prolific writers like Stephen King are asking that question all day every day, at breakfast, while talking on their cell phone, while driving to the gas station (come to think of it, just two of King’s novels in the past 10 years have been “Cell,” about a signal sent out globally to cellphone users that turns them in to vicious killers; and ‘From A Buick 8,’ about an abandoned, seemingly ‘possessed’ car found at a gas station), so maybe he is asking that question, over and over again.
     A storyteller might have lots of “besties,’ but that question we ask of the imagination might just be the oldest and dearest of them all.

When her brother meets a terrifying death in the wilderness, Kate Kovacs is determined to use her IT skills to help track the killers. A baffling link is found between these cases, leading Adam and Kate on a labyrinth trail to a scientific research group, to a Washington power elite, and to a secret reaching back over thirty years to a war-ravaged Vietnam.

Powerful forces are gathering, and Adam and Kate just became their targets…

  When her brother meets a terrifying death in the wilderness, Kate Kovacs is determined to use her IT skills to help track the killers. A baffling link is found between these cases, leading Adam and Kate on a labyrinth trail to a scientific research group, to a Washington power elite, and to a secret reaching back over thirty years to a war-ravaged Vietnam.
  Powerful forces are gathering, and Adam and Kate just became their targets…

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU PUBLICLY FOLLOW THIS
  BLOG (IF NOT, GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT ON RIGHT SIDE).

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER.

*LEAVE SEPARATE COMMENT TO LET ME KNOW THAT YOU 
  RETWEETED THIS GIVEAWAY (LEAVE LINK).

*REMEMBER TO INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR ALL ENTRIES.

Giveaway copies are supplied and shipped to winners via publisher,
agent and/or author. This blog hosts the giveaway on behalf of the
above. I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in
exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are
ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
I am not responsible for lost or damaged books that are shipped
from agents. I reserve the right to disqualify/delete any entries
if rules of giveaway are not followed

From Danielle’s blog:
We all leave our “footprint” on the world, in one way or another. We each, individually, do something or are someone that makes the world a little better just by being here. I created this weekly meme to get to know the blogging community I love just a bit better. To know what makes them tick, outside of books, that is. Each week I will post a question to be answered in the following week’s “A Bit of Me(Me)”. Check back each Saturday to get the info for next week’s post and link up with your current post right here.
This week’s question:  If you could have 3 wishes granted, what would they be?
Read more: http://www.theresabook.com/category/a-bit-of-meme/#ixzz1OK1F7pu4

Howdy Partners!!!  Do I have a huge treat for you!!!  And I mean HUGE!!!  Rein in your horses and tie them up to the posts because you are definitely going to want to stay for a while!!!  While on her blog tour, one of her stops is here, HERE today, taking time out of her very busy schedule. We have New York Times Best Selling Author, Linda Lael Miller!!!!!  I told you it was HUGE!!  So please help me give her a very warm western welcome to our blog!!!!

As the daughter of a town marshal, Linda has come home to the western lifestyle that gave birth to one of today’s most successful authors. With more than 80 novels to her credit, the self-confessed barn goddess left Washington years ago and pursued her wanderlust, living in Arizona and London and traveling the world. But now the “First Lady of the West” is glad to be back home, writing contemporary and historical novels that have earned her awards and placements on all the national bestsellers lists.

Linda traces the birth of her writing career to the day when a Northport teacher told her that the stories she was writing were good, that she just might have a future in writing. Later, when she decided to write novels, she endured her share of rejection before she sold Fletcher’s Woman in 1983 to Pocket Books. Since then, Linda has successfully published historicals, contemporaries, paranormals, and thrillers before coming home, in a literal sense, and concentrating on novels with a Western flavor. For her devotion to her craft, the Romance Writers of America awarded her their prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.

Linda has come a long way since leaving Washington to experience the world. “But growing up in that time and place, in a family grounded in Western values, served me well,” she allows. “And I’m happy to be back home.”
To learn more about Linda, visit http://www.lindalaelmiller.com/. For a behind-the-scenes look at the sexy Creed cowboys, visit www.TakeACowboyHome.com.

Conner Creed knows exactly who he is: a hardworking rancher carrying on his uncle’s legacy in Lonesome Bend, Colorado. Maybe a small-town cowboy’s life isn’t his dream, but he owes the man who took him in as a kid. Until the identical twin brother he’s been estranged from for years reenters his life.

Conner struggles with identity issues as he gets to know his wilder brother. And then he meets Tricia McCall, a beautiful woman who knows a thing or two about living someone else’s dreams. Together, they just might find their own dreams right here in Lonesome Bend….