Authorpreneur Dashboard – Natalie Vice
Crossing Yesterday
Literature & Fiction
How do you bridge the distance of almost four decades of separation? What does it take to find a treasure you lost so long ago? When is it possible to recapture your youth? There’s nothing like adventure and adrenaline to speed the answers to the most philosophical of life's questions while you try really hard to explain the most obvious question: Why are you even trying?
Book Bubbles from Crossing Yesterday
Reuniting and Reflecting...
Each week I try to put together material that accomplishes two things: first, I try to put together a blog and a book bubble that go hand-in-hand; and second, I generally write something that reflects the thoughts and moods I'm experiencing for the week. This week is no exception. I've spent the week packing, moving and reflecting. This week's book bubble finds Jo and Gina in the same frame of mind. I hope you enjoy this week's material, and if you get a chance, hope on over to www.natalievice.com and check out the weekly blog. Happy reading! Natalie
Then There Are The Awkward Moments..
After 55 trips around the sun, I've discovered I have a special gift: I have the ability to open my mouth and insert my foot without giving it one single moment of conscious thought. And, I use this gift on a regular basis; almost daily. Apparently, Jorja has this same gift. In this passage from Crossing Yesterday, Jorja's absent-minded comment is just a little upsetting for Gina, and brings her old friend to a flash of hot anger. Ahhh.. and just as they were beginning to make some progress toward restoring some of those childhood ties. Anyone else out there that can identify with this situation? I'm almost positive there are quite a few of you blessed with mine and Jorga's same gift..so this bubble is for you! Please enjoy, and be safe until next week. Natalie
Mini Vaca's and Making Memories...
As I wrote this section of Crossing Yesterday, it brought to mind the family vacation we took in the Ozarks, and all the beauty we witnessed during the trip. Of course, there was also lots of opportunity for making wonderful memories: canoeing, ziplining, hiking, the list could go on. The point is, vacations, even weekend mini vacations, give us a chance to take a breather from our normal routine. To step back and look at our day to day life, versus the one we get to live on vacation. So many times we're so caught up in the routine and responsibilities of everyday life, we forget to stop and smell the roses, or contemplate the possibilities. We forget that it's good to sometimes step outside our comfort zone and take a look around at this great big world, and what we might be missing from the cubicle view. When Jo & Gina take a weekend trip to the mountains, they're both forced to step outside their comfort zone and look at the world through another's eyes. And the view is more than a little disconcerting for them both!
Spending Our Time Wisely..
I chose this passage of Crossing Yesterday for a reason this week. For many of us, the current "stay-at-home" orders have us squirreled away in our homes with more than a little time on our hands; seems like the perfect opportunity to take a trip down memory lane. Call your mom. Call your dad. Clean out the attic and look for those hidden treasures of yesteryear. Chances are there's a box of letters, cards, or pictures that have a way of transporting us back in time...back to a place of happiness, smiles and a feeling of peace. Something I think we could all use right now. Happy reading!
Differences makes the best teachers...
Throughout this book, I've tried to walk a tight rope - trying to point out the differences between two once great friends, without completely shredding any hope for finding that great friendship again. This passage is just one example of how little differences can become moments of huge discord, or they can become an opportunity to revisit the ties that bind....exactly how does this one end?
Memory Lane....
When I decided to include this section of the chapter I was thinking of my relationship with my mom. How often are we simply too busy to accommodate a parent's wish? The irony here, is that once the opportunity is gone, we so long for a "do over". Moms and dads and memory lane are our chance at making new memories. Something for us to hold onto as life continues to roll on by, and then suddenly all we have are those memories.
Complications, complications!
If you're reading this, have a life filled with responsibilities, and are no longer 25, chances are you've asked yourself this same question: When does it slow down? When do the demands cease to outweigh the down time? I know I certainly have... I'm just glad I don't have to trade places with Jorja!
Ever had this kind of relationship?
As I wrote this passage, I felt that there were a lot of readers that could identify with this type of relationship. I mean, haven't we all experienced a one-sided relationship at one time or another? One where you feel like you're always the giver, and never the taker? What do you do with a situation like that? Maybe Regina will find her answer...
Ahhh...yes, the conspiracy begins...
As I wrote this chapter of the book, it seemed fitting that Max and Maxine should be quite the conspiracy theorists. I mean, after all, they're already the rebellious left-over hippies of the 60's. Why not be conspiracy theorists too? What a clash of beliefs between characters! This should turn out to be quite the interesting situation!
Max and Maxine....
No story would be complete without the inclusion of that one "crazy" couple...you know the ones...you've either got parents, or aunts and uncles that fit this description. They're the notorious rebels, the extreme "fashionistas", the only ones in the room that look as though they should be on a movie set somewhere..not a family reunion. Meet Max and Maxine. Hippies leftover from the earliest days of the movement; their views on freedom, regulation and government intervention should amuse even the most cynical observer. They do manage to give Jorja Felsenthal a moment of pause....
Frenemies?
Have you experienced this moment? A moment where you seriously considered "why" you are even trying to be a friend? I have, and after some soul searching, discovered the answer was more complicated than simply, "we've known each other forever". There are as many answers to this question as there are friendships. What's yours?
Ever compared yourself to a friend?
Ever spent time with a friend, had a blast, and then suddenly realized you were comparing your life to their's? Jorja and Regina are no different. As they reflect and look at the other's life, it all seems so much more fulfilling. You know, the old adage, "the grass is always greener on the other side". But is it really?
Just one wrong word....
Ever notice how we all manage, at times to say just the thing we shouldn't? And we never see what's coming next, until it's about to slap us in the face? Jorja and Regina have just such a moment, as they hike their first trail together, after so many years apart. Maybe they have more to overcome than distance and years apart?
Have a friend, be a friend...
As the author, I want to tell a story that is engaging, somewhat mysterious at times, yet is something that the readers can identify with and say "Oh, yes, I've been there, experienced that". This is one of those moments. One of those moments when we realize that in order to have a friend, we must be a friend, and sometimes that means accepting our friend as they are: faults and all. Jorja and Regina have tentatively moved forward in trying to reclaim their old friendship; but can personality and personal convictions be overcome, in the name of friendship?
And so begins....
This begins a new chapter, in a new book, "Crossing Yesterday"; Book 2 of The Scrapbook Series. As Jorja and Regina begin their heartfelt journey to renewed friendship, nothing goes as planned. Nothing about the Ozark's is as Jorja remembers; Not much about Jorja is as Regina remembers... How do they find their lost and treasured friendship? Will passionate convictions continue to lead them down different paths? The adventure is only beginning...
Memories of Tomorrow
Literature & Fiction
Can friendship last a lifetime?
Everyone says that hindsight is 20/20. If that’s true, how much of that image in the rear view affects who we are today, or who we will become tomorrow?
Jo Felsenthal and Gina Ingram were the closest of childhood friends back in Polk Ridge, Arkansas. Growing up in this beautiful, close-knit Ozark community, they were surrounded by love and laughter.
But as these girls grew into women, choices were made, and life took them in very different directions.
Now, they’re just hours away from a reunion several decades in the making. An out-of-the-blue Facebook “friend” request has snowballed into a face-to-face meeting. Both women are dealing with mixed emotions—excitement, nostalgia, and more than a little apprehension.
In Memories of Tomorrow, Jo and Gina weave their way through childhood memories and difficult life choices. They ponder how to cross over all their yesterdays to the girls they once were. Can they find anything in common after so many years spent living such different lives?
If you like The Sometimes Sister and Hurricane Season, you’ll love the Women of the Ozarks Scrapbook Series.
Book Bubbles from Memories of Tomorrow
It's the Journey, not the Destination
If you read my blogs each week, you know I try to relate my book bubble and blog to each other. It's my hope that by relating the two, I give my readers greater insight into myself, as an author, and the books as a series. This week is no different. Even though so many things in my personal life have experienced change these last few weeks, my bubbles and blogs remain a constant. Jo and Gina are searching for something they once shared as young, teen girls. Many miles, many years, and many journeys have produced women with different views, and completely different lives. Please join me in the pages of Memories of Tomorrow as Jo and Gina look back on their young memories as women of today. Can the next step in their individual journey's reunite the young girls of yesteryear?
There's Always That One Friend...
As I put this book bubble together, I was reminded that we all need a friend like Maggie in our lives. We all need that one person to shoot us straight - never dancing around the truth - no matter how painful the truth might be. Maggie has been that friend to Jo. Jo and Maggie met during the very early days of Jo's military career, and somehow fate kept them in each other's path...at least long enough for a friendship to form. Now, some 30 years later, their work keeps them in touch; their past and the secret they share, however, is the most important tie that binds. And although Jo is fully aware Maggie will never be best friend material, she has been a true friend when she needed the truth most.
When Your Path Hits a Cross-road...
I chose this excerpt from Memories of Tomorrow, because it reflects not only my mood for the day but in so many ways the point I'm at in life..a crossroads. When we're young, we burst forth into life as if it's a race. Constantly pushing forward, only occasionally glancing left or right to gauge our progress against that of our peers. As the years roll on, we've become so caught up in juggling careers, kids, and life's plans, that although we may often wistfully glance around, we lack the time and energy to pursue any other avenue. Then we reach mid-life, and we do begin to look around, in earnest. But we're still a little short on time and energy for the preponderance to have a foothold in real actions. Tack on a few more years, and we're suddenly having conversations with ourselves to try to plot a course forward for those ever-looming golden years. Now, the crossroad has arrived. Now, we've reached a place where choices must be made. It's in these moments, that a lifelong friend and confidant becomes something to treasure. Jo & Gina (along with myself) have reached that place. Please enjoy this small excerpt of Gina's reflections, and if you like the read, follow this bubble to any one of several purchase options. Til next week, Natalie
Mountains & Memories
This week's bubble follows the same train of thought I had as I wrote this week's blog for my website: www.natalievice.com Memories, mountains, and how at just the right moment, sometimes for a myriad of reasons, a visit to the mountains can throw a bit of magic our way. Gina's memories of her childhood and the moment in time that she arrived in the Ozarks wasn't quite the experience she expected it to be. Quite frankly, some of the most wonderful things in life, never start out as we expect them to. As the months of Gina's youth flew by, and her friendship with Jo grew, the girls also developed a love for the Ozarks that they carry with them even into old age. Join Jo & Gina in Women of the Ozarks, The Scrapbook Series as they take you on a journey of friendship, fate and the long road home.
I Was Looking Back to See..
As I wrote this passage about Jo, I could see myself gazing at that bathroom mirror, and having some of the same thoughts. What is it that drives us to make some of the choices we make? And is it even possible to anticipate all the consequences of those choices as we're making them? I think we all dive into life, sometimes thoughtfully, sometimes recklessly; And I also think we look back and wonder what might have been...
Stuck At Home With A Spouse...
This week's book bubble is supposed to bring a smile to your lips, and maybe just a touch of laughter...especially if you can identify with Gina's predicament. Many of us have been quarantined at home, with a spouse, and maybe children. Anybody see the potential for discord here? Relationship discord can either be a breaking point in your relationship, or you can take it with some humor. Laugh at yourself, or laugh at them.. laughter, after all, is the best medicine. What is it they say? A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down? A spoonful of humor, makes the relationship go better.... Join Gina as she has one of those moments...moments when she doesn't know if she wants to strangle her man, or ignore the obvious, or simply have a little laugh, and move on with her day.
Tomorrow's Promise
Humor & Entertainment
When you were in grade school did you have a best friend? Were you close enough to be twins? Did you fight for toys, attention, and then later for love? Did you flirt with danger, court high adventure, set out together on the path less traveled? Do you remember the games you played, the secrets you shared, the long days of summer that stretched up the rocky cliff of adolescence and into the freefall of adulthood? Is this how you drifted apart? Natalie R. Vice’s debut novel ’76 Bridges charts the double-helix friendship of Jorga and Regina, two girls born on two different corners of the globe, find each other in the Ozark Mountains, survive together the turbulent decade of the 1970’s, only to be separated by their divergent ambitions. This is a novel for anyone who has ever wondered, what happened to that friend I used to love, and then wondered, what happened to that person I used to be? The answer lies waiting on the bridge that brings them back together, the bridge that connects their past with their future-- that short disappearing bridge named –Now.
Book Bubbles from Tomorrow's Promise
The Unforeseen Moments of the Journey
Sometimes my book bubbles relate joyous times of Jo & Gina's journey, but sometimes they must also include the sorrowful moments of their life's journeys. Today is one of those days. This book bubble is one of those instances that relates a totally fictional event that could be related by any one of us in a real life journey. For me, this has been a difficult week. Real life sorrow and sadness have followed a family death, and as I sat down today to compose this book bubble, the reality of my own life has intertwined with those same kinds of moments experienced by Jo & Gina. When I began the Scrapbook Series, my goal was to write fiction that my readers could identify with; situations they could recall and look back on their own experiences and find familiarity in the pages of my books. Just as with each of our life's journeys, sometimes there is sorrow, sadness, and tears. This is one of those moments for me.
Seize The Moment...
This week's bubble is rather long, but sometimes it takes a few paragraphs to paint the entire picture... to set the stage for the importance of a few words of sage advice. Such is the case with this week's bubble. After months and months of dealing with a pandemic, and as a nation, losing some 160k plus people, this section of Tomorrow's Promise just seemed to fit the day. Never let an opportunity to show your true feelings to another. The chance may never come again. I hope you'll take the time to read it through. The final paragraph offers some rather solid advice; advice that's given out quite frequently at our house... and hopefully is something that the majority of my readers already understand. Until next week, happy reading! Natalie
Life Turned Upside Down...
As I put together this book bubble, it was with our current circumstances in mind. Life in these United States, has to say the very least, been turned upside down for so many people. Gina's normal day almost always afforded her the opportunity to interact with the people in her community. I thought, as I put this together, how much comfort this brought her and how many people today, are being denied this simple pleasure. I hope, if you're one of those individuals practicing "social distancing" and find yourself with too much alone and free time, you'll take the opportunity to step into Gina and Jo's world, and maybe, for just a few hours, feel a special closeness with these two women. God bless, and may you be safe and well!
Remember that Christmas...
Remember the first Christmas present you got from a boyfriend? Or, in the case that you're a guy reading this book, from a girlfriend? That first Christmas present is kind of like that first kiss...it's something you never forget. The boyfriend may change, and other presents may come and go, but you always remember.... In Regina's case, it would be a present that would stay with her throughout her adult life.
Life can change so quickly...
Just when you think you have everything under control, life is your oyster - fate has different plans. What happens when you're young, bright, and moving forward at the speed of light and it's turned upside down by tragedy? This is about to be one of those situations for Jorja....
Decisions, Decisions....
As I began to write this chapter of their lives, I thought about all the decisions we begin to make as we become adults...at 17 and 18, we rarely are prepared to realize the enormous impact of those decisions....neither where Jorja and Regina.
June 1972
Do you remember one of these moments? A moment when a young mind collides with an unforgettable event? It is just such a summer for Jorja and Regina. I've had summers like this; when I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and fate extended an olive branch. I wanted to remind readers of their own "aha" moments; their moments in their youth, when everything seemed to be perfect with the world, and your best friend was your accomplice, your "band of brothers" confidante and adventure was around every bend!
A Meeting 38 Years in the Making...
As I wrote about their reunion, I thought about what it might be like for two old friends to meet after so many years - how would they overcome their individual differences? How would they share all the different life experiences? What subtle changes would they notice about each other? Regina begins in the excerpt to notice that not everything about Jorja has changed over the years - and that other things most surely have!
The last year together....
As I put together the last year they were together as Seniors, I was reminded of my own last year of High School, and can't really believe that all these years have passed... I thought it would be nice to begin this chapter with reflections on the things that were so important then: music, Saturday Night Live, and the feeling that the world was a blank canvas - waiting for my picture to be painted, my story to be told!
Remembering our past...
I don't think there's one person who hasn't experienced a moment so life-altering, that it's remembered throughout their life. This excerpt is one of those moments for Regina. It is a time of tremendous change for her, not only has a teenager, but as a friend. The future has presented her with obstacles and change that she never anticipated. For the last 4 years, she's faced many of these changes with her best friend. Now, she's bidding goodbye to the closest thing she's ever known as a sibling, Jorja Felsenthal.
Unraveling
Humor & Entertainment
How can life become so crowded and complicated? The journey of life can be compared to that of an oak sapling. When you start, you’ve simply got a short stem and a few roots. Several years later, you look and it’s become a sturdy trunk with several branches; still a manageable situation. You can gaze upon it at or near eye level and still feel as if you have some control in managing the growth. Some thirty or forty years pass, and when you stop to look at the oak sapling, it’s a towering tree with limbs, leaves and roots everywhere. You suddenly realize you have absolutely no control over the giant towering tree. It blows at will in the wind, and in a storm could wreak havoc in any direction. How did that happen? So goes the path of life. Suddenly, you’re a mature towering oak with too many branches to count, and one wrong move…can wreak havoc on friends and family….sometimes it can all begin to unravel…maybe we should’ve stopped to contemplate the consequences when we planted the tree. But then, that would require some sort of psychic ability….
Rough-Cut Book Bubbles from Unraveling
Topsy, Turvy Life We Live...
I wrote this some 9 months ago, but the words seem to fit my mood and my life at the moment, once again. So here for your reading pleasure, is a little insight into me and the books I'm writing. Happy Reading! Natalie
Reflecting On A Decade...
Here's a chance to look back with me over the last decade and get to know me as an author, and creator of "The Scrapbook Series". I hope you all enjoy!
Children, children...what have we here?
As I wrote this passage of Unraveling, I thought about my own experience in parenting, and remembered once again, that I am one among many. Just when you think you have all the answers...you've anticipated every possible "what if", your child/children will lay something at your feet that you never saw coming. Like the accident that blindsides you. WHAM! Suddenly you're caught up in a set of circumstances that you feel so unprepared to deal with. And it's just this kind of situation that Jax is now presenting to his Mom....
