Tag: Hometown

  • Prickle Forrest Chronickles Special Edition – Author Interview with Hailey Dickert

    PRICKLE FORREST CHRONICLES

    SPECIAL Edition

    Author Interview

    Welcome to the Prickle Forrest Chronicles, Hailey Dickert!

    It’s wonderful you could take the time to share with the Pricklers a bit about you and your writing.

    First, where are you from? How long have you been writing? What book is this for you? First? Second? Or too many it’s hard to remember?

    I’m from Fort Pierce, Florida but I currently live near Frankfurt, Germany. I have been writing my entire life. Previously I wrote songs and even had a blog at one point but The Sister Between Us is my very first novel.

    What type of romance do you write? What romances do you love to read? Do you have a favorite romance author that inspires you?

    I write contemporary sports romance. I also love to read any contemporary romance but I have a soft spot for hockey romance even though I know nothing about the sport. My favorite author is C.W. Farnsworth who inspires me through her work ethic and beautiful stories.

    In brief, tell us about your book, The Sister Between Us.

    The Sister Between Us is a childhood friends to lovers story about Leah (FMC) falling in love with her best friend’s brother, Jake (MMC). We get to see their journey through being friends, admitting their feelings, being in love, and how they will over come tragedy. Will they find their way back to one another even as everything is falling apart?

    When you received your first copy of your newly published book, The Sister Between Us how did you feel? Did you flood social media with a book selfie? Celebrate with Champagne? Chocolate? Or pass out?

    The first time I received a proof copy of my book I danced around the room like a crazy person—then I started marketing it up in red.

    When you’re stuck with a scene, how do you resolve the trouble? Take a shower? Call your writing pals? Reenact the scene with your significant other?

    It depends on the scene. If it’s a spicy one, I drink a glass of wine. If it’s a normal one I usually chat about it with a close friend of mine and we always come up with a solution.

    Besides your computer, what can be found on your writing desk? Pictures of a hunky guy? Gorgeous woman? Coffee? Popcorn? Craft books? Empty wine glass? Chocolate? The latest issue of Vogue? The Writer’s Magazine? Or maybe a fluffy fur ball? In other words, what helps you write?

    I always have a candle lit, something to drink, and music playing in the background.

    What type of character populates the majority of your pages? What’s your favorite trope to read and write? After you’ve written your novel, ever get stunned by the fact that you wrote it?

    My favorite trope to read and write would be he falls first and harder. I often flip through my copy of The Sister Between Us and can’t believe that I’ve written and will publish it.

    If you write the hotter romances, when’s the best time for you to write those scenes? Does the writing come natural or do you make yourself blush? Have your parents stopped answering your calls? Buy you a gold-plated keyboard? Or have they signed you up for sex counseling classes?

    I like to write the hotter scenes when I’m alone and drinking a glass of wine. This way I don’t feel like anyone is around judging me and also so that I can really get into the mindset of the scene without distractions. In the beginning I used to blush writing the spicy scenes but now they are coming easier and more naturally. My Dad will (hopefully) never read those parts and my Mom wasn’t weird about it at all!

    So, say you want to do a box set with two other romance authors, who would you choose? What romance trope would you write?

    I would probably chose Hannah Grace and CW Farnsworth because they both write excellent sports romance. Regarding the trope? I have no idea besides that it would be sports romance.

    If you had the opportunity to promote one of your books from your backlist, which would you choose? Why?

    I don’t have a back list, but I do have my second novel ‘Return Policy’ coming out June 23! It is the first in my university series ‘Crystal Bay University’ and the female main character is a side character from The Sister Between Us.

    If someone were to make a movie based on your book, which actors would play the leading roles?

    Leah would be played by Abigail Cowen and Jake would be played by Danny Griffin. (Which is funny because they are currently dating in real life!)

    Do you have any blog tours, signings, or other upcoming events that you would like to promote?

    I will be doing a book signing on May 11 at 6pm at Sweet Haven Books in Miami, FL.

    Finally, we know you’re a romantic, right? So what is the most romantic thing you’ve ever had your MCs do to win the love of their life?

    Without giving away any spoilers, even during time apart, Jake was always supportive of Leah’s dreams and she see’s just how much once they reunite.

    Where can we find your book…

    Amazon: https://a.co/d/0SKtcmd

    Where do you socialize……

    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HaileyDickert/

    Twitter:

    Instagram: @haileydickertauthor

    YouTube: @haileydickert

    Tiktok: @haileydickertauthor and @haileydickert

    Other: http://www.haileydickert.com

    Big –big thanks to Hailey Dickert for taking the time to travel into the Prickle Forrest and share a bit about your writing and The Sister Between Us. And much thanks to our readers who make it all possible.

    “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

    Please don’t hesitate to comment, but better yet, check out Hailey Dickert’s newest release at https://a.co/d/0SKtcmd .

    Enjoy!

    Chrissy Hartmann

    Prickle Forrest LLC

    2021-2023© All Rights Reserved

  • The January 2023 Freeze

    PRICKLE FORREST CHRONICLES

    The freeze is on. Happy New Year! Yes, it’s January 2023 and at the moment even though there is a roaring fire, it’s heading to 23 degrees tonight. The weighted blanket, heating sheet, and wool socks will be on before the pillow gets fluffed. In other words, it’s cold, freezing cold here in northeast Ohio. Not even trying to get a cuddle from my long-haired bobtail kitten is warming me up. Probably doesn’t help either when she’s not in the mood to cuddle.

    Chrissy and Punkin cuddling… Sort of.

    The Past…

    Managed to win a bet with another author friend and her hubby. We had to see who could lose the most weight between us. Didn’t look like we would win, but hubby managed to get the flue the last two weeks of the contest and we pulled it off by losing 20.4 pounds between the two of us. Woohoo! Woohoo! Not the way to do it though. I expect a rematch this spring though. And our prize? Since, chocolate is not tops on the list, it might have been something called a “chocolate stampede” from Longhorn. Our secret? Rowing machine, treadmill, and smaller portions. Well, at least for me. The hubby? Smaller portions and the flue. HaHaHa! But hey, we won.

    The Present…

    Finished edits for Cherishing Whiskey’s Salvation.

    The Cherishing Whiskey’s Salvation book cover

    I think. Manuscript at the editors for one last review of formatting. Hope to have it up on Amazon by the end of the month as long as my copyright gets submitted in time. then will officially start back to work on book 2 of the Whiskey Salvation Series. Yeah baby!

    Started to new craft books. Structure for novel writing by James Scott Bell. He teaches one of those Great Works/Master classes and it’s fabulous. If you can’t take it, which you could just ask your library to see if they can get it. If they can’t then get his book. It’s exactly like the course. Love those kinds of classes.

    Superstructure, The key to unleashing the power of story by James Scott Bell

    The other book is on newsletter marketing. It’s a top seller, but at the moment I’m not fond of it. I just started it, so hopefully once I get deeper into it, it will get better. Right now only would give it 3 stars, the other book on structure gets 5 stars. It’s actually the first craft book that puts plotting all in layman terms that makes it actually understandable. Woohoo! Woohoo! Saved by the Bell!

    The Future…

    February is coming up. Ground hog day and St. Valentine’s day too. Might possibly host the Wayne NOvelist Guilds Christmas party since we had to cancel it due to a few getting sick. If I host it, will make it into a romance one. Sorry, but Christmas is over. No rewinds.Got to keep moving forward.

    Looking forward to a euchre party on the 17th, even got a new deck of cards. And yes, they have Braille marks on them. Should be interesting and a lot of fun unles of course the couples bring the same appetizers and desserts. I plan to take my stuffed mushrooms and possibly frozen raspberry oreo fluff, but only if The Muses can stay out of the Oreos.The rotten thieves pick the lock to the pantry every time they find out Oreos are in the house.

    Also will be planning on the author book signings I’ll do in March, June, August, and possibly October.

    The news…

    Barns and Noble will be opening a number of new stores this year.

    A presumed dead author is alive, at least that’s what she is telling her fans now. Isn’t that fraud? I think Sherlock would agree. AI is making its presence known in the writing community. Lots of writers using it. Maybe will consider it for those sticky Act 2 problems I seem to always have. Rumor has it that the Twitter tweets might be going to 4000 characters a post. Hopefully, it’s true. I know a number of authors that would help out greatly with advertising for their books.

    Other news…

    Politics are heating up. Now that the Republicans have control of the house, it might just get a little more exciting. Maybe even more than the election of the Speaker of the House. I’ll bet even more if the CSpan cameras are reinstalled. Might be more exciting than Monday night football. And don’t get me started on “carlargo.” Wow! That’s a mess, probably as bad as the whole thing with DOT. Don’t look to fly off anywhere in a hurry. That looks like a no go. Sheesh!

    Speaking of football or even sports, whats with these healthy athletes having hart attacks and dying on the field?Heard even some were dying as they walked to class? Holy smokes, not good! This is got to stop. And honestly, it’s not from climate change, but I’ll bet instead it’s from MRNA jabbs. And what’s with the inflation? Has anyone ever done an audit on the Federal Reserve? Are they even managing it correctly? Don’t they know economics there? Sure doesn’t seem like it. Okay, finally on my top five, the border? Wow! I have friends and family down there and they say it’s bad. This is got to stop. Did find a couple of alternative news sources just to see what the other side is saying and I’ll admit, they are quite entertaining. Some say they are On the Fringe and talk with some sort of X22 report factor.then there are those “107” other spots.Definitely, see the truth in them.

    An Finally, Me…

    Author book signing March 11th at the Akron Public Library from 11 am to 3 pm. I’ll be there with Rescuing Whiskey’s Salvation and Cherishing Whiskey’s Salvation books and merchandise.Then the next weekend, on the 18th, I’ll be signing books at Massilon Public Library from 11 am to 2 pm, and tentatively will be attending the Orrville Public Library book signing on the 25th. Later to be announced will be the dates for the Dover Public Library and the Coshockton Write-On Writers Guild book fair. Plus hoping to get our local library to do a book fair for local authors too, but those dates as mentioned before will be posted on a later date. In the meantime, it’s back to the keyboard for novel writing. Woohoo! Woohoo!

    Tootles for now. Got to locate my wool socks and turn on the electric blanket because once I’m done working on book 2, my weighted blanket won’t be enough.

    If you want to subscribe to my newsletter to get it into your in box go to my website and sign up, please. Https://chrissyhartmann.com/blog

    Or use this link if you’re in a hurry https://chrissyhartmann.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=d0f01c8348dea41f224ec4ca7&id=cc4adb5682

    Again happy 2023!

    What could possibly bring a cosmetic heiress and a land developing cowboy together, yet at the same time… destroy them? A “dead”uncle? A closed down shelter? Maybe an unruly troupe of clowns? Or all three? Only one way to find out… 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 Rescuing Whiskey’s Salvation

    The Rescuing Whiskey’s Salvation book cover

    http://www.books2read.com/Rescuing-Whiskeys-Salvation

    http://www.ChrissyHartmann.com/books

    Written by Chrissy Hartmann

    Prickle Forrest Chronicles Blog

    Prickle Forrest LLC

    Copyright January 2023 All rights reserved

    https://chrissyhartmann.com

  • Prickle Forrest ChroniclesJuly 2020 Newsletter

    PRICKLE FORREST CHRONICLES

    July 2020 (Posted 07/29/2020

    By Chrissy Hartmann

     

    No Fourth of July celebration. No community celebration of Independence Day. The city not festive at all. The town sits stagnate in the presence of this pandemic. But is it truly a pandemic? Or is it the figment of fear?

    The hot humid days of summer have arrived. Unfortunately, with this pandemic it makes it difficult to cool down. No fun filled days going to the local pool unless of course you call ahead for a reservation for a quick dip. Needless to say, the air conditioner is getting a workout and will be happy to see the fall come sooner rather than later.

    The flowers look beautiful and the grass is quite green, but unless it doesn’t rain soon the possibility of gazing out onto a brown patchy yard is inevitable.

    Hope runs abundant for the autumn that this turmoil will exit our beautiful lands and the days of peace return. God bless America!

     

     

     

    THE TOP FIVE

    1. Rescuing Whiskey’s Salvation finished and sent to publisher.
    2. Hand-dipped ice cream.
    3. Baseball is back! Go Tribe!
    4. Lemonade.
    5. That Blind Tech Show.

     

     

    WIP IT… WIP IT GOOD…

    Working on book 2 to the Rescuing Whiskey’s Salvation series. As of right now, only going to write it as a 2-book series. Reworked the outline so it better fits the romance beats that Gwen Hayes teaches. Much stronger storyline and character arcs. About six chapters written with a few edits. Loving it!

     

     

    QUERYING…

    Made the changes EP suggested and sent it back to them as of July 13th. Hoping to hear back from them within 60 days with some positive news and maybe an offer. Had lots of help from the Wayne Novelist Guild, RedPen, two literary agents, and a number of others are on the page of acknowledgments of the book.

    Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

     

     

    THE CRAFT

    This month’s writing tip…

    If you are writing a romance, please read Romancing the Beat, Story Structure for Romance Novels. How to write kissing book 1 by Gwen Hayes. It’s a short book — very short, but does a fantastic job of explaining how romance beats are different from other genres. It’s a tremendous help for creating your outline.

     

     

    THE HOLIDAYS:

    Fourth of July or Independence Day arrived and unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 status our stupid state government officials made it very hard to celebrate the holiday. Surreal! And with all the riots, the thought of what country this actually is crossed the brain waves a number of times. Going to a cookout at the end of the month down in the hollar. Should be fun with lots of good food. Hopefully, no one will put the 4-wheeler into the pond this time. Oops! But it will be fabulous to hang out with everyone.

     

     

    MY BOOKSHELF:

    1. Romancing the Beat, Story Structure for Romance Novels. How to write kissing book 1 by Gwen Hayes
    2. Five Secrets of Story Structure; How to write a novel that stands out by K.M. Weiland
    3. The Bachelor; Duke Dynasty #2 by Sabrina Jeffries
    4. The Bromance Book Club #1 by Lyssa K. Adams

     

     

    SEASONAL FAVORITES:

    SEASON: Summer

    SPORTS TEAM: Cleveland Indians. Go Tribe!

    COLOR: Dark Brown

    CAUSE: The Seeing Eye

    SONG: Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden

    FOOD: Crisps Sweet Peas… Yummy!

    HOT DRINK: Iced French vanilla cappuccino.

    FLOWER: Daisies and roses…better yet…both!

     

     

    DID YOU KNOW…

    Dexcom G6 is a fabulous continuous glucose monitor. No more finger pricks. This is almost like having the pancreas working on its own again. Provides much freedom. One quick look at their app to monitor the blood sugars and one is good to go. And if you want to dress your CGM up why not try an overlay patch from Expression Med? Lots of great designs. Puppy paws, black cats, flowers, flags, shamrocks, etc. Check them out with the link below and get $5 off your firsts order. Hopefully you’ll love them as much as I do.

    http://expressionmed.refr.cc/christinabenchoff

     

     

    PRICKLERS OF THE MONTH..

    • Cancellation of 4th of July fireworks.
    • Rioters!
    • Rain storms that cause wind damage to the roof and inexperienced insurance adjusters.
    • The phrase “the new normal.”
    • Fascists, Socialists, Communists, Liberals.
    • COVID-19 mask bullies.

     

     

    THEY SAID…

    “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. ”

    – Thomas Jefferson

     

     

    HOMETOWN UPDATE:

    • Unfortunately, due to this rotten Rona Walmart, Kohl’s, CVS, etc. are now requiring masks to enter their stores.
    • The Wayne Novelist Guild is using Facebook meet to hold their bimonthly meetings until the Wayne County Public Library can open back up to the public.
    • Wooster downtown Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA), which establishes boundaries for patrons to walk around with open containers of alcoholic beverages during specified times or events is now allowed.

     

     

    INQUISITIVE MINDS…

    The Muses want to know…

    Should everyone wear a mask or should just those vulnerable be the ones to wear them?

     

    Please comment below.

     

     

    GOOSING OFF…

    Goosie & Gander

    The geese are trying to do their best to lighten the mood, and celebrate each day with merriment with bright colors, patriotic themes, and traditions of summer. They started the month out rocking the patriotic colors of red, white, and blue. Then they wanted to remind everyone not to forget about their pink friends, the flamingos and another , a delicious, favorite, the plump strawberry season. And let’s not forget the blooms of the summer. Last but not least, they are thrilled to head to the pool with the sunny days. Enjoy!

     

     

     

    FIND ME…

    Twitter: Chrissy Hartmann @USAWriter355

     

    Facebook:

    www.facebook.com/usawriter355

     

     

    http://www.facebook.com/AuthorChrissyHartmann

     

    WEBSITES:

    Expression Med $5 off Coupon for patches

    Dexcom G6 CGM (Continuous glucose monitor)

    https://dexcom.com/g6

     

    Goose Outfits by Terri Fredericks

    https://www.facebook.com/gooseoutfitsbyterri

    Prickle Forrest Creations goose shoes

    Order via E-mail pfcreations@gmail.com

     

    The Seeing Eye

    http://www.theseeingeye.org/

     

     

    Instacart Refer a friend $10 off coupon

    https://inst.cr/t/cTlEVXBRMWN1

     

    Walmart Refer A Friend $10 off Coupon