Introducing Mary Andrews

My name is Mary Andrews. I was born and raised in the Military. As I grew up, we were stationed in Kansas, England, Texas, Hawaii, Texas, Texas, and Texas. So I hail from…Texas. The eldest of seven kids, I learned to duck, dodge, and wrangle babies at an early age. Upon my escape from two cart grocery shopping and a never ending line to the bathroom, I attended college at Texas Tech University for a couple of ill spent years before setting out to conquer the world--one mistake at a time.

With a vengeance, I sought out nontraditional lines of work for a woman. I went from electronic assembly to machine operator to warehouse worker to helicopter repair to a ten year stay at home mom to custodial/taxi driver/data acquisitions operator/inventory specialist/CAT grater assembly/Licensed Air Frame mechanic/bicycle assembly/merchandiser/answering service Operator/Relay Operator for the Deaf/Cell phone customer service rep and quite a few more.

So I decided I wanted to become a writer.

During last October’s free Muse Online Writers Conference, I submitted the first ten pages of a sci fi novel that I’d been writing to Dindy Robinson for a critique as part of class. To my absolute amazement, she asked for my manuscript and I am now under contract with Swimming Kangaroo Press to have it published. It will be the first book of: THE FIREBORN CHRONICLES, and is expected out in October, hopefully before the next Muse Online Writers Conference. I still can’t stop saying WHOOOHOOO!

I’m currently working on my home page/blog/Gypsy research/art outlet/writer & artist featuring/buy-my-book website. I’ll post the address here when it’s done.

I’m very excited about being a part of this project, and since this is my very first attempt at blogging, I can't wait to see what happens next. So let the adventure begin.

Introducing myself...Barbara M. Hodges

I’m happy to be taking part in The Branches of Life Blogzine. I’m new to blogging, so this is a learning experience for me.

I write mostly fantasy fiction, although I have been known to venture into Science Fiction, paranormal and even main stream fiction.

I have five published novels out right now, three in my fantasy Daradawn series, The Blue Flame, The Emerald Dagger and The Silver Angel, and two that I have co-written with other authors…Stargazer’s Children and Shadow Worlds.

I also have a story in Aleatory Junction, an anthology.

Next month, knock on wood, Stones Enchanted will be released. It is the first book in a new young adult fantasy series I co-wrote with JR Musick.

In July, Shadow Worlds, which is available as an ebook now, will be out in print.

My husband Jeff and I live in Nipomo, CA. It’s a small town on the central coast. We share our lives with two basset hounds, Ophelia and Hamlet, and a sassy ginger-striped cat, Wallace.

Jeff and I both love NASCAR and RVing. We like to tie them both together and go to nearby races. Of course we take the hounds with us.

When I’m not writing and being a wife, I like to decorative paint.

We’ve been married for 35 years. No children, but I’m a great aunt. Jeff and I are baby boomers. I have seen a lot of history in my fifty-five years. In December Jeff’s mom passed away. She was a wonderful lady and had a full life. Jeff’s dad is 89 years old. He’s having a hard time without his wife of over 60 years. He is in Oregon and we are working on getting him moved closer to us.
It’s hard to see your parents grow older.

Intro: Karina Fabian

I'm Karina Fabian, one of the bloggers for Branches of Life. Lately, I find myself increasingly "styled" as a writer of religious genre fiction, but that's not all I write or do.

Branches of Life is an appropriate blog for me, since I seem to branch out into a great many things: science fiction, religion, humor, homeschooling, pregnancy and parenting, health, simplifying your life... (Go ahead, laugh at that one. I do.) I'm like the bushes in our front yard: no sooner do I trim them back than they're already overgrowing the sidewalk again. (I get the feeling Lea is the same way.)

Last year, I did a major pruning of my writing, cutting out most of my non-fiction work in order to concentrate on my fiction. Ironically, that did nothing to trim my workload. Instead, I've merely branched out into book marketing and promoting, faith in fiction, critiquing, virtual book touring, ancient legends and modern investigative procedures, airship construction, the art of mummifying chickens... I'm busy promoting Infinite Space, Infinite God, an anthology of Catholic science fiction; publishing Faith-Filled Fiction, a newsletter about writing religious fiction; hosting a Thursday night author chat (FabChat) and writing five--now six--blogs. I own three websites, am President of the Catholic Writers' Guild and moderator of Catholic Writers Online, am active in two blog rolls, plus I have regular writing "gigs" with Montana Catholic and Hereditas Magazine. In addition, I write cross genre fiction, humor, slice-of-life, and still a little nonfiction/how-to. Oh, and I'm working on a game for the Little Flowers Girls' Club. (On the non-writing side, I'm a military wife and homeschooling mother of four.)

Writing it out this way probably makes me look like a good candidate for Ritalin, but I don't think I'm so unusual. I'm a writer, and writers live to learn about our world, dream about the possibilities, then synthesize that information and dreams into something new and hopefully entertaining. It also means--despite the stereotypes--that we're busy, involved people, especially thanks to the Internet.

I know we're going to have fun with Branches of Life. Come join us as we climb a tree, go out on a limb, maybe even get nutty.

(Did I mention I like puns? Now there's a story... Later. Maybe even here, on Branches of Life.)

Blessings!

Karina

More about Karina? Check out:
www.fabianspace.com: Karina's author page with her blog, bio, writings and more.
http://isigsf.tripod.com: The official website of Infinite Space, Infinite God with stories, author bios, interviews and media information.
www.freewebs.com/dragoneyepi: The website of Karina's character, Vern a dragon detective. When magic and technology unite to cause trouble, it's time to hire the services of Dragon Eye, PI. Wisdom of the ages, knowledge of eternity. Virginity verified. Flights, extra.
www.myspace.com/karinafabian: 'Cause ya gotta be on MySpace.
www.shoutlife.com/karinafabian: MySpace for Christians. I blog religion in fiction there/
FabChat: A moderated live chat with authors. Every Thursday night at 8 PM Eastern Time (US). Go to www.fabianspace.com and click on FabChat for a list of guests.
Faith-filled Fiction: A writing tool for those who write religious fiction or want to add religion (real or imaginary) in their stories. writing tips, markets, educational articles. Contact Karina at karina(at)fabianspace(dot) com

Grand Opening of Branches of Life BlogZine Coming Soon!

Hello everyone and welcome to Branches of Life BlogZine.

Now what on earth is Branches of Life BlogZine?

You name it, we're going to have it. We are several writers from The Muse Promotions website, http://musepromotions.tripod.com/ who have banned together to offer you various interesting articles on different snippets of life; anywhere from taking care of our parents to dating.

Our first topic in March will be TEENS, covering a wide area in this subject. Several of us will offer you articles each month on our chosen theme and invite you to leave us your comments with your own life experiences.

Over the coming days, many of us will be introducing ourselves so you can get to know us. So make sure to bookmark us and come back often to find out what other 'branch of life' we have to offer you.

Lea Schizas