John W Howell – Joan Hall

Menagerie Book Tour: Day Seven with John Howell

Published on February 8, 2023February 1, 2023 by Joan Hall

Hey, Readers. The Menagerie blog tour continues. At each stop, I’ll feature a different story in the collection and tell what inspired the idea.

Today I’m visiting with another friend and fellow Story Empire contributor John Howell. If you’ve never visited John’s blog, you’re missing out. His posts featuring his two fur babies, Twiggy and Lucy are always entertaining. I also enjoy his Monday feature, Top Ten Things Not to Do, his Fri-Yah good news posts, and Sunday tours of the neighborhood. John has also recently released a new book, The Last Drive, a sequel to his novel Eternal Road, The Final Stop. I’ve read this book and highly recommend it. If you haven’t picked up your copy, head over to Amazon. You won’t be disappointed.

Below is a list of the stops. Links will be updated as each post goes live. Comments are closed here, but I do hope you join me today at John’s place where I tell what inspired my family/military fiction story, The Homecoming.

Day One – Mae Clair
Day Two – Staci Troilo
Day Three – Harmony Kent
Day Four – D. L. Finn
Day Five – Gwen Plano
Day Six – Jan Sikes
Day Seven – John Howell
Day Eight – C. S. Boyack
Day Nine – Beem Weeks
Day Ten – Stephen Geez
Day Eleven – Marlena Smith Burris
Day Twelve – Judi Post
Day Thirteen – Teri Polen

This Week at Story Empire

Published on December 2, 2022December 2, 2022 by Joan Hall

Happy Friday, everyone. One four more left this year. Can you believe it?

After taking a break for the Thanksgiving holiday, it’s been a busy week as I’m wrapping up the edits of my short story collection, scheduled for release in January.

Story Empire had another full week.

Harmony Kent began the week with a summation of her series, How to Use Prologues. If you missed any of the posts, she has the link to each one in the post.
On Wednesday, D. L. Finn’s topic was What Every Writer Should Know. She gives some sage advice, so I know you won’t want to miss it.
Interested in bringing humor into your stories? Then make sure to check out John Howell’s post today. Click this link to read.

This fall has been one of the most beautiful ones Texas has had in years. On Sunday, my husband and I took a drive in the country. The colors of the trees were amazing. I snapped a few photos. Most were taken from inside the car, so please overlook the glare from the windows.

The photo on the right is the oak tree in my front yard. Beautiful (until we have to rake the leaves).

That’s it for now. I’ll return next week with a new Mystery Monday post.

This Week at Story Empire

Published on November 11, 2022November 11, 2022 by Joan Hall2 Comments

Hey, everyone. I planned to write a post this week and show some of the photos I took in Oklahoma last week. However, two days after our trip, tornadoes ripped through several towns in northeast Texas and southeastern Oklahoma.

Some of those towns, including Idabel, Oklahoma, and Powderly, Texas, suffered major damage. Hard to believe just two days prior we traveled through both places. Ironically, while driving through Paris, Texas, my husband and I talked about a major tornado that happened there in the early 80s. Powderly is a tiny community just north of Paris.

In Idabel, at least one person died, and a school and one church were destroyed. Somehow, it didn’t seem fitting to write about our adventure (which was wonderful) in the aftermath of such devastation. Never in a million years would I have dreamed that would happen so soon after we were there. It goes to show we should never take life for granted.

Now on to more cheerful things. We had another great week at Story Empire. If you missed any of the posts, here are the topics and links:

John Howell kicked off the week with Humor in Writing: Five Ways to Do It
On Wednesday, my topic was Signs You Might Need a Writing Break
Today, Staci Troilo wrapped up the week with Holidays and The Hemingway Code

Today is Veteran’s Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom and several other countries. Both mark the end of World War I on November 11, 1918. If you see a veteran today, take a moment to thank them for their service.

Veteran’s Memorial in my hometown.

This Week at Story Empire

Published on October 14, 2022October 14, 2022 by Joan Hall

October is marching on and I’m knee-deep in edits for my short story collection. I hadn’t looked at some of the stories in almost a year, so I got a few surprises. One that I thought would need a lot of edits turned out to be easily done.

Of course, I can’t write short in the first place. When I edit, I tend to add words. There is one monster story I know will need a lot of work and many words cut. I’m saving it for last.

Our weather has wavered between cool days and warm ones. Typical for Texas. Next week there is a forecast of much cooler temps and hopefully some much-needed rain.

My husband and I are hoping to take a day trip to the Winding Stair Mountains of Oklahoma. We want to plan it around the peak fall colors, which should be the early part of November.

In the meantime, I write and edit in preparation for a January release date. Speaking of writing, it’s been another great week for Story Empire. Here are the links to this week’s posts:

D. L. Finn began the week with Writing and The Weather.
John Howell talks with Gwen Plano about writing Different from You Character Genders.
Mae Clair ended the week with Goodies in Your Kindle.

That’s it for this week. I didn’t get a photo of this month’s Hunter’s Moon, so here is a photo I took several years ago. (This is actually the Full Beaver Moon of November.)

See you on Monday with a post about an Arizona legend.

Cold Dark Night – Last Stop with Marcia Meara

Published on June 22, 2021 by Joan Hall

Hey, everyone. I’ve had a lot of fun on my promo tour for Cold Dark Night. But as they say, all good things must come to an end, and what better way to wrap up this tour than a visit with Marcia Meara.

Not only is Marcia is a talented author, she also knows about wildlife and gives talks in places near her Florida home. And she’s also very supportive of other authors. While you’re there, be sure to check out her blog and her list of books.

See you at Marcia’s place!