We hope you enjoyed the July 2024 issue of This Awful Awesome Life. Many thanks to Orlando Bartro for his contributions to the magazine.
Our August theme is travel. Four outstanding women have agreed to share their vacations with us.
Wendy Tyson is the author of the Amazon best-selling Greenhouse Mystery Series, standalone novels, and other mystery series. She also writes using the pen names Liv Andersson and Ayla Rose. Wendy is sharing her unique family trip through Norway and Slovenia. Part of her trip to Norway was research for an upcoming novel. I hope that peaks your curiosity as much as it does mine. We’re adding Wendy, Liv, and Ayla to our Author Page this month.
Alaskan wilderness mystery writer and true crime podcaster, Robin Barefield answers the question, “Where do you vacation when you own and operate a wilderness lodge in Kodiak, Alaska?” Robin recently released her 8th novel, The Ultimate Hunt, so I’m sure she was ready for a little rest and relaxation.
Priscilla Goodwin-Serra is a teacher. She’s been featured several times in This Awful Awesome Life. Most recently, she shared details of one of her trips to Spain. This time, she and her husband, Carlos, are touring Italy with a group of middle school students and their parents.
Ann Howley, the best-selling author of Confessions of a Do-Gooder Gone Bad and The Memory of Cotton is letting us inside the “Paddy Wagon.” It’s the travel van she and her husband Pat customized for their trips with their two dogs, and “The Paddy Wagon” is also the name of Ann’s travel blog. This year, Ann and Pat planned to go to Alaska, but life got in the way. Instead, when things settled down, they hit the road without a plan and ended up in some spectacular places in the lower 48 states.
I reviewed, Salmon Survivor by Pittsburgh author, teacher, and fly fisherman, Christian A. Shane. It’s a touching story about a healing trip taken by a boy who recently lost his father. The age level for this book is 12 and up, so it’s a great one for families to share.
This year, I’m writing a short story for each issue related to the theme in some way. This month, my short story is about a trip.
For our new column, “Happy Birthday,” our author this month is Isabel Allende.
Instead of our “What’s in a Word?” and “Dare to Believe,” columns, we’re featuring the Playing for Change Musical Project – Songs Around the World. It’s a wonderful movement that unites people through music.
We’re streaming movies about vacations or places around the world.
For August 2024 in “The Twelve Months of Salsa,” I made Cherry Salsa. It’s the perfect salsa to serve with tortilla chips, crackers and even pancakes.
This month, Orlando Bartro explains word squares - acrostics in which the same words can be read horizontally and vertically. Play along if you dare.
We found some great choices for our summer reading recommendations for kids and adults. Also, check out August in Pictures, and our preview of our September issue, “The Power of Words.”
We’re constantly updating our Author Page to include the latest published works of your new favorite authors, and we’re adding authors. Being able to give authors a free place to display their work is a dream come true for me, so please check every month to see who’s new and what’s new.
Everything in Between will be released in audiobook soon. I met the narrator of my book, Louise Porter, on social media and she’s amazing! Louise has finished her work, but there’s a glitch with my publishers I’m patiently (not so patiently) trying to work out. She’s done a wonderful job bringing Sabrina and her story to life, and I can’t wait for you to have a listen.
USA Today best-selling novelist, Annette Dashofy has a new book in the Zoe Chambers Mystery series. You can order What Comes Around on Amazon or find it at your local bookstore. It’s also now available in audiobook. Congratulations Annette!
Alaska Wilderness Mystery Author Robin Barefield has a new book out. The Ultimate Hunt is about the disappearance of a U.S. senator’s daughter in Kodiak Alaska. When FBI special agents investigate, they soon discover other young people are disappearing. It’ll take every available investigator including amateur sleuth Jane Marcus to find and stop the people responsible. You can order The Ultimate Hunt on Amazon. Congratulations Robin!
The first cozy mystery by Ayla Rose, Murder on Devil’s Pond, A Hummingbird B&B Mystery Book 1 is now available. Set in Vermont, this mystery series revolves around the adventures of two sisters Hannah and Reggie who are renovating an old Victorian hotel. The sisters seldom agree on how to complete the restoration, but they can agree that a murder can’t be good for business.
I don’t usually talk about next month’s issue on this page, but I’m so excited to announce that we will be featuring singer/songwriter Lisa Reagan in our next issue.
Lisa will be discussing her latest project - lending her vocal talents and composing skills to setting classic poems to music.
Here is Lisa’s new video and single which is to W.B. Yeats’ “He Wishes for The Cloths of Heaven.”
I hope you are carefully vetting the candidates who have formally announced their intent to run for office in the 2024 elections. Senatorial and presidential hopefuls are campaigning for the 2024 elections, but you still have time to start the vetting process. Presidential candidates will be announcing their choices for VP soon. Don’t forget to vet them carefully as well. These people could be next in line to the presidency. Make sure they are qualified and listen to what they have said and will say. They will show you and tell you who they really are – listen carefully, and don’t be fooled by the spin doctors out there. Please keep showing up and voting. We will never tell you who to vote for, but we will keep telling you to vote and do your homework!
Vet all candidates and insist that all political parties do the same. Which incumbent legislators have actually authored and submitted legislation to benefit Americans? Who’s all talk and soundbites? Who refuses to bring legislation to the floor of the House of Representatives or Senate, so our Representatives/Senators can vote on it? We pay them to conduct the government’s business, not to sit and do nothing. We don’t pay them to do the bidding of political parties, billionaires, or presidential candidates.
Follow the money. Who is the new darling of the billionaires? What will they do, and who will they sell out to keep those dollars rolling in? Vote for the candidates who are the most qualified and who will safeguard our democracy.
Samantha Sayers has been missing for six years since she disappeared on August 1, 2018, after a day of solo hiking at Vesper Peak near Seattle, Washington. Sam grew up in the Erie, Pennsylvania area where her parents Ron and Lisa still live. Her family is exploring all avenues of inquiry to find and bring her home. In the face of such an enormous challenge, they have chosen hope. Please keep sending positive thoughts to Sam and her family. As promised, we will be displaying a yellow ribbon for Sam on the opening page of each issue of This Awful Awesome Life until she is home.
If you are a person of faith, please pray for her safe return to her family. Because we are an online publication, we can update this article with any news. We will also post information on our Facebook page, but only after it is verified. Thank you!
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Happy Reading,
Fran