Monthly Archives: March 2014

In this guest post, Kristy shares tells us about her YA thriller, Jaded. Welcome, Kristy!

Jade has spent her entire life within the confines of the eye-color- obsessed Nirvana commune. She dreams of experiencing freedom but travel to the Outside is forbidden. Besides, she’s a dutiful daughter who never breaks the rules. As her seventeenth birthday approaches, however, she realizes just how little she wants to follow the commune rules. She doesn’t want to undergo another eye color surgery, or immediately choose a life partner, or follow her parents’ life paths of teaching or wine making. In fact, her green eyes suit her just fine, she’s never even been on a date, and she’s passionate about photography. And yet she’s resigned to do as she’s told because it’s easier for her to close her eyes and follow orders.

Her grandmother Ruby’s murder is the catalyst that causes Jade to open her eyes wide for the first time in her life. She’s devastated yet determined to find the killer and their motive. With help from her mysterious friend Tyrian, and Peaches, the commune leader’s sweet daughter, Jade unearths dark secrets which include her mother’s illicit affair, her maternal grandparents’ escape from Nirvana, and a plethora of murders. To make matters worse, someone is hell bent on ending Jade’s mission for the truth, and that someone is most likely the killer.

Jade can’t continue conforming to an evil society and yet she fears the Outside is just as corrupt. If she resolves to flee and is caught, the punishment is banishment to the slave cabins…and blinding.

Although Jaded is considered a young adult dystopian novel, adults will be able to relate to Jade’s plight.

Read more about Kristy and her work on these sites:

 Amazon- http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00II0UUSQ

 My blog, Keep Calm and Write On-http://kristyfgillespie.com/

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/kristy.feltenbergergillespie?filter=3

Twitter- https://twitter.com/KFGillespie

Goodreads- https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4997591-kristy-feltenberger-gillespie

So, why do I have three iPhone 5’s? Let me explain.

iPhone 5 #1 (in the middle) was my first iPhone 5. I dropped it one day and cracked the screen, but I was told that young people prize such damage, so I didn’t have it fixed. I thought it was my best chance at being hip and cool. That didn’t work out well either. Then we went to Dallas in January, and I lost the phone. The nice people at the rental car place called a month later to say that it had been found under the seat of our rental car. We had searched diligently for it, but discovered an important truth: black phones are hard to find under car seats. Maybe they should come in bright colors, like

iPhone 5 #2 (to the right with the robin’s egg blue finish). So, I replaced iPhone 5 #1 and, two weeks later, couldn’t find it. I should add here that I have lost all kinds of things, much like an-eight-year-old (insert your own maturity joke here). I have lost phones, books, e-readers, tools, checks, shoes, shirts, socks, legal documents, cash, cars, girlfriends, my way and credit cards. Most of these are misplaced and generally turn up in good condition unless they have gone through the wash. (I once washed a non-iPhone. Oops. It didn’t work after that although I covered it with rice.) So it was no surprise to me that I misplaced this phone so quickly. We conducted searches of both my cars (I have two in case I lose one), the house, the church, places I’d been and anywhere I might have imagined being. No luck. The blue iPhone 5 had vanished from the face of the earth. So I acquired

iPhone 5 #3. The third time’s the charm, right? Anyhow, today at lunch, Becky came in and pulled iPhone 5 #2 from her purse. It had been under the seat of her car. (Refer to my warning about iPhone 5’s in dark places.) I don’t drive her car that much, but I think I had taken it to have a hard-to-replace bulb done professionally by ace mechanics Logan Hysmith and Bob Hannum of Logan’s Service Imporium (they really are phenomenal. And funny? Oh, yes they are). It slipped quietly from my pocket and went to a better place for a while.

Anyhow, as talented as I am, I can’t use three phones at once although I tried. I saw a movie once about stockbrokers who consistently used two phones at once, but their phones weren’t  iPhone 5’s and the stockbrokers  were crazy. I’m not yet, but if I keep on losing iPhone 5’s, I might be. I’m just glad my boys are all safely home now. We’ll pop some popcorn this evening and watch Party Line. Now, that’s a good time.

Recently I’ve been noticing what people say when I tell them “Thank you.” Some say, “You’re welcome,” while others use a variety of phrases. I have to confess that I don’t always say “you’re welcome,” but say “no problem” or “certainly” or something of that ilk.

Back in the Pleistocene Era when I was in elementary school, part of the teachers’ purpose was to civilize the urchins in their charge. So, part of the curriculum was devoted to etiquette: how to make proper introductions, correct forms of address, how to answer an adult (I still say “Yes, m’am” and “Yes, sir” to people younger than I am), how to answer the telephone and respond to the caller, and, of course, what to say when someone does something for you. The necessity of saying “Thank you” was drilled into our brains, but I cannot for the life of me remember as similar emphasis on “You’re welcome.” Maybe that’s why I say what I do and don’t use “You’re welcome” consistently.

And so, I ask you, does it matter as long as a polite response is made? I feel deficient every time I don’t say “YOu’re welcome,” but no one seems to notice. But then some people don’t say anything in response to “Thank you,” so I suppose what I do is not so bad after all.