Jolene's Writings Around the Web

There is so much happening around the world right now. My own personal area is quite booked up. Most of it is all my own doing. I volunteered to help with the social medial for the Sunshine State Book Festival in Gainesville, Florida which I will also have an author table on February 1st. And I am doing another year of conducting a monthly online writer's marketing seminar for the Writers Alliance of Gainesville. I am still a semi-volunteer with the First Coast Romance Writers in Jacksonville, Florida and their 2025 schedule is packed with workshops, romance awards, book cover contests and three anthologies. I recently volunteer to help take care of the website and social media for the Northeast Florida Sisters in Crime group out of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. They have monthly writer workshops that need to be posted on social media and I just realized I volunteered to hold a monthly Writer's Business Workshop for their members. Finally, I volunteered to do the website up...

 Welcome to 2025 and WTF are We Going to Do Now Over the last few days I have been unindated with video ad requests from the participating authors of the Sunshine State Book Festival on February 1, 2025 in Gainesville, Florida. Yes, silly me volunteered to do the videos again this year thinking that may be 10 or 15 of the 200 would show up on Zoom. But so far, there are 32 authors who have scheduled and on 3 haven't shown up. I am using my Zoom scheduler program because I already had it in place with my availability. I had to quickly adjust it though because I have new classes starting on January 6th and I want to attend some of the writing workshops that are scheduled over the next two weeks. Plus, I have my own workshop that I have to give on the Third Monday.  I am thinking About Doing Another One of these this year. Any Takers? The good thing (and, of course, the bad as well) is that, so far, each of the writers have agreed to participate in the Jolene's Book and Writer...

Coming in June 2025 is the 2nd Annual Literary Indulgence - Bookish Delight Book Festival with authors, crafts and local venders as well as featured speakers on a variety of subjects. The founder and organizer of the event Marie Morton asked me to help out with the website and social media. She and her festival committee, local authors and volunteers, are working hard to get sponsors for the event, provide real value for the vendors (Authors, crafts people and food) inside and outside of the terrific, historical venue. Check out the website for more: https://literaryindulgence.com  MORE LATER! - HAPPY HOLIDAYS - RELAX AND READ A BOOK OR TWO!

 Writer's Workshop being offered day before SSBF 2025 Attention all authors living in Southern Georgia and Northern to Central Florida! The Sunshine State Book Festival is sponsoring the Writers’ Workshop Intensive - January 31, 2025, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Cross Creek Room at Best Western Gateway Grand, Gainesville, Florida. They will be providing a light breakfast bar and lunch for the participants. Seating is Limited so please sign-up early. Visit the website for more information: https://sunshinestatebookfestival.com/writers-workshop/

Here is a quick video I created for Author Jo Ann Lordahl with a quote from one of her books called "Age Into Beauty - A Checklist" - you should give it a try. Age Into Beauty - A Checklist by JoAnn Lordahl CHAPTER FOUR - Longevity: Age 100 in Your Future? Day Forty-four — Experience — This quote comes at the end of crime writer P.D. James’ Autobiography published in 2000. A writer observing herself and her life: "Tomorrow I shall be seventy-eight and, by the time this fragment of autobiography is published, I shall be within sight of my eightieth birthday. If seventy-seven is a time to be in earnest, eighty is a time to recognize old age, accepting with such fortitude as one can muster its inevitable pains, inconvenience and indignities and rejoicing in its few compensations.... I go into old age with the companionship of loving friends even though we all know that we can’t expect to travel the whole way together. And I have my work. I shall continue to write detective...

Happy National Indie Author Day! The Indie author Project Website has some great information for authors who self-publish and wants a better relationship with their local libraries. The project provides an opportunity for both authors and all libraries to take advantage of their program and resources. They have announce next years days and on November 4, 2024 you can get a jump start on next year's offerings. IAD 2025 Date Announced! Mark your calendars! The 9th annual Indie Author Day has been announced for Friday, November 14, 2025! Registration for the 2025 event opens Monday, November 4, 2024. We look forward to celebrating another year with this incredible community! https://indieauthorday.com/

The First RVing Fiction Story was Written by Dorothy Gilman Butters. Traveling around the countryside in converted vehicles with your family has been done since the dawn of man. Wagon Trains moving the the west, the Great Depression saw families moving around trying to find work and there were always the circus and carnival people as well as traveling road shows during the summer and early fall months bringing culture to the small towns. Mrs. Gilman was not a Road Warrior but she imagined her characters were. We have some copies available on my online bookstore: https://bookstore.jolenesbooksandmore.com/product/enchanted-caravan-by-dorothy-gilman-butters/ Or you can get a copy from all the major retailers - worldwide. https://books2read.com/EnchantedCaravan

With all the really strange things that have been happening lately it is a good idea to go online with your local county Election Supervisors website and check your status. We truly need every single adult over the age of 18 to vote in this upcoming election! We have all heard the rumors - voter registration rolls being cleaned out and people being moved over into the non-party category - all those voter district lines being reformed to give the "Correct" party an advantage. Know your rights! Get your government ID updated if need be and check on your local county's Election Supervisors office on your status.  If for some reason your county does not have that service check your state's elections website or even the national one. -  https://vote.gov/ Every state is legally required to be connected to the Federal website so that voters can get registered online. If you are mobile you can go into your local library for assistance and even the Department of Motor Vehicles...