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Category: My Scribbler’s Heart

#WorthRevisit: When Does Itching Signify Danger?

Worth Revisit WednesdayI’m linking up with Theology is a Verb and Reconciled to You for #WorthRevisit Wednesday Linkup.

June is ICP Awareness Month, the perfect time to re-share about the rare condition I experienced with some of my pregnancies. In hindsight, pregnancy seems like such a short time, a blip on the radar of life, especially as compared to the many years spent nurturing a baby and raising a child. But as you’re experiencing it, pregnancy can seem endless, especially if you’re enduring pain, nausea, discomfort, or severe and relentless itching.

Please take a few minutes to read. Your knowledge of this rare pregnancy condition could help save a baby’s life.


During the third trimester of my first pregnancy, the soles of my feet began to itch. In frustration, I would rub my bare feet over the claw feet of our dining room table during meals. I scrubbed them over bristling carpet. Finally, my husband bought me a foot massage tool that I could rub my feet over, offering some relief from the relentless itch.

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Love a Mystery? Try Dying for Revenge

Dying for Revenge: The Lady Doc Murders Book 1, the latest release from Full Quiver Publishing, is now available in print and ebook from Amazon.com. This complex mystery with a spiritual subplot kept this non-mystery reader’s rapt attention despite its length. I encourage you to follow along on the virtual book tour, which includes giveaways opportunities to win a paperback copy of the book!

Jump ahead for an excerpt, my review, book (blog) tour dates, and a chance to win a paperback copy!

Dying for Revenge cover

Someone is killing the rich and famous residents of Telluride, Colorado, and the medical investigator, Dr. Jane Wallace, is on a collision course with the murderer. Compelled by profound loss and injustice, Jane will risk her own life to protect others from vengeful death, even as she exacts a high price from those who have destroyed her world. Dying for Revenge is a story of love, obsession and forgiveness, seen through the eyes of a passionate, beautiful woman trying to live her life — imperfectly but vibrantly — even if she won’t survive.

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New Christian Teen Fiction: Life-Changing Love

Life Changing Love CoverI wish that Life-Changing Love by Theresa Linden were around when I was a teen. It has all the the tummy-tingling sparks of the does he/doesn’t he blush of teenage crushes along with a hefty dose of drama that delivers the truth. Even girls who slip through adolescence insulated by perpetual wallflower status (like me) will be heartened and encouraged by Caitlyn’s story, empowered to be a better friend, a more obedient daughter, and a more patient young woman.

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Small Success Thursday

Small Success Thursday

Why small success? Because that’s the only kind I know! Even the big ones come in small steps. Here’s my paltry offering for the week:

  1. Visited the township recycling center – Before you roll your eyes at this minuscule task, let me explain why this is an accomplishment of any sort. First, after weeks of tripping over the overflowing box of plastic caps and bag of used batteries along the basement stairs, I have to get said recyclable stuff – along with the old UV bulb encased in bubble wrap – to the car. Without spillage by little hands. Here’s the big challenge: Our township recycling center keeps arcane operating hours, changeable at any moment. It’s open something like the third Wednesday following the full moon and the hours between twilight and dusk on Fridays equidistant from the nearest solstices.
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Tips for Turning Your Novel into an Audiobook Using ACX

Updated 03/04/2021.

What’s it like using ACX in 2020?


In May of 2016, I approved an audiobook adaption of my debut novel. Creating an audiobook edition appealed to me for two reasons.

First, audiobooks allow authors to reach an entirely different audience.

An audiobook is the only way some people consume books. Since my husband spends a lot of time in the car,  he has become an audiobook listener. Same with my sister-in-law. Some people have vision problems that preclude reading ebooks or regular books.

Readers of traditional books and ebooks are listening more, too. The audiobook’s hands-free portability is appealing, and so is the timeless enjoyment of listening to a story.

In her newsletter, author Jody Hedlund wrote:

“No doubt about it. Audio books are growing in popularity. The Wall Street Journal calls the popularity an ‘explosion.’ An article in The Telegraph in 2015 said: “Sales of audio books have doubled in the last five years, thanks to the popularity of digital downloads.” In fact, according to the American Publishers Association, audio books saw a 19.5 percent rise in unit sales over just the past year alone (The National).”

And there’s this:

“What do runners, quilters, dog walkers, cooks and people unwinding at the end of the day all have in common? They are among the 24 percent of Americans who listened to an audiobook in the past year – that’s a 22 percent increase over the previous year. With this increase in listeners, more titles are being published: In 2012, just over 16,000 [audiobook] titles were published; by 2016, that number had surged to more than 50,000.”  (Bookpage, June 2018)

Books with headset

Second, I’ll admit to a selfish satisfaction in hearing my book read aloud.

To be honest, I flitted between being thrilled and cringing, but I’ve done that when reading the paperback as well. (The neuroses of authors is a subject for another post.)

Not convinced? Bookbub enumerates the reasons indie authors should turn their books into audiobooks too.

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#5Faves: Bookends

Five FavouritesWhile many of our books are sadly relegated to boxes at present, I dream of someday having a full wall of shelves on which to display our beloved books. When that happens, our sets of bookends will resume their rightful place holding up said books. These Roman pillars are the plainest of the bunch but they do the job. And what’s not to like about a classic? Following are my five favorites. Special thanks to my book model, The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, which arrived on time, never complained, and was, thankfully, not the least bit temperamental.
Column bookends

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