Margaret Chatwin's Blog

I just read the book Some Boys by Patty Blount, (excellent book, by the way) and it reminded me of a short story I’d written years ago. After finding and reading it, I decided to publish it on Wattpad. Here’s a link if you want to check it out.
http://www.wattpad.com/67400630-worth...

There are still a few copies of my book Erased available on the Read it and Reap page, if you're willing to read it and leave a review. (see their rules for more details)


https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Support the indie authors.

It's READ AN EBOOK WEEK at Smashwords. Lots of free or discounted books are listed under the Read An Ebook Week tab on their home page.
Three of my books are listed for free. Enter code RW100 at check out.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...

I like to read. I should do it more, and if I were able to finish every book I pick up I’d be an avid reader. But the truth is, it takes a pretty amazing book to hold my attention long enough for me to finish. It’s not that I’m being picky, because I really, really do want to read and like the book, and being a writer myself I know how hard it is to create a story, so I’m not critical either. It’s just that that something that connects me to the characters the way I want to connect seems to be missing.
I am lucky enough to say that 2013 was the best read year for me yet. I found a nice stack of books that had that WOW factor for me, and I think they are well worth the mention.

Dare You To, by Katie McGarry. (Because Beth was so bad ass.)

Killing Sarai, by J.A. Redmerski. (Because Victor was so tough, yet vulnerable.)

Variant, by Robison Wells. (Because it kept me guessing.)

Lance Sidesaddle, by Lee Baldwin. (Because it was so darn funny.)

The Haven series, starting with The Consequences of Forever, by Kaitlyn Oruska. (Because all three books has a lot of heart.)

The Go-Go Girl by Kevin James Moore. (Because the writing was simply amazing.)

Send, by Patty Blount. (Because it’s a book I wish I would have written. *This one was my favorite of the year.)



Books I’m most looking forward to reading in 2014.
The next book in the Haven series, *Before You Say Goodbye, by Kaitlyn Oruska.
*Some Boys, by Patty Blount.

My all time favorite type of book is a realistic, YA, from a guys POV, but I have a hard time finding that type. So if you know of any, or if judging by my mentioned list, you can think of a book I might enjoy, please let me know.

I’d also love to hear your thoughts on any of these books that you’ve read.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, Everyone!
As a gift I am giving out free digital copies of my latest book Erased. You can download it from smashwards using this link:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
*Enter code PX58M at check out.
Code is good Dec. 24th through Dec. 26th. Feel free to share the code with all your friends.

Enjoy!
Margaret

I have the bestest readers ever!!

I'm not sure there's anything more complimentary to a writer than when their reader says they didn't sleep because they couldn't stop reading.

I'll never get tired of hearing that.

http://www.tiffanylovesbooks.com/2013...

I'm glad to finally be able to say my new book, Erased, can now be bought on Kindle. (Nook, soon to come.)A reasonable price too, at least I think. :)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DWLK0MM

Hi, Everyone.
Yes, I know it seems like I’ve dropped right off the face of the planet, but I haven’t. I’ve just been busy writing a novel. A bran new one, I might add! The three I have published are books I wrote way back in the old days. Then I went and had a major writers block for the last ten years. I wrote but never finished anything. But now I have! I’ve broken the block. Yay me!

I Just posted the first chapter of this book on wattpad if anyone is interest in giving it a read. And since I’m rather rusty at writing, I’d love to hear what you think. Do I need to fix or change things? Add more detail? Can you connect to the characters ? You know – all that good stuff.

http://www.wattpad.com/14500729

Several months ago my book 101 came up for review on the Read It and Reap program. I was fortunate enough to get some wonderful, open-minded readers and I can honestly say I enjoyed every single review that came to me on Goodreads. I really learned a lot from what my readers had to say about my book – things which I intend to incorporate in anything new I write. So thank you, Dear Readers, for the time it took you to read and write about my book.
While the reviews have been amazing, I’ve found that the friendships I’ve formed because of the Read It and Reap program have been even better.
One particular woman has gone so far out of her way to promote me in my books that it honestly blows my mind. Her name is Tiffany and she has been so incredibly helpful and encouraging that I just wanted to give her a little special recognition.
Tiffany is a great support to the indie author, and being that I am one I greatly appreciate her efforts. (I don’t know any indie author that wouldn’t.)
So, besides a big public “THANK YOU!!” to Tiffany, I would like to share the link to her blog, tiffanylovesbooks. http://tiffanylovesbooks.wordpress.com/
Go check it out; she has worked incredibly hard to put it together and it looks fantastic.
I encourage everyone to show your support to her and all the other bloggers who help us indie authors get the word out about our books. We need them like we need air. :)

Yes, my adventure started long before that night in the living room when Ren sealed our fate by pulling the trigger. I actually think it started the day I was born, but who wants to be dragged that far back? Not me. Bad enough I had to live it once.
So – my dad. You probably figured we’d start with him, huh? Everything always starts with him. Not sure how that’s even possible, but it seems to be true.
His name is Kent Hale and I don’t know what he was like as a kid or teen. Never had one of those father/son get-to-know-you talks. You know the kind where, for a second, you can close your eyes and pretend your parent is really your friend? Where the two of you can find yourselves in each other? Where something they did as a kid is so similar to what you did just five minutes ago that you feel a connecting bond? Yeah – just never happened with him. When he wasn’t screaming, he was silent. That weird, vacant kind of silent. A stupor that, I’m sure was induced by the liquor.
His parents were no help in getting to know him. His dad died before my sixth birthday in some work related accident. Or so they say. Rumor has it the guy had an enemy on every corner.
Shocking how my dad turned out to be the stalwart individual that he is.
Dad’s mom – well she remarried a few years later and moved to some place I can’t even pronounce. Ren and I never saw her again.
I wasn’t heartbroken over it. Not like we were all that close, anyhow. We seldom got together, but when we did – I mostly just remember all the bickering. I hated the feeling that type of behavior always left in the back of my throat so I’d go outside to find something to do. Ren though, man, she had more of a stomach for it. She’d sit there and take it all in. Eyes darting back and forth from Shouter to Screamer.
I think she was learning how to load that gun way back then. She must get her spirit of fight from that side of the family.
So how did my mom end up with a guy like my dad?
He back handed me across the mouth one day when I was about ten and while I was still fuming over it, I confronted her about that. She’d smiled sadly, handed me a bag of frozen peas from the freezer to put on my face and said, “He wasn’t always like this.”
I beg to differ, though. I mean, my dad even admitted, the night Ren shot him, that when he was half my age he was fist fighting his ol’ man out on the front lawn.
Bet that was quite a spectacle for the neighbors to see.
Anyway, I have a hard time believing my dad was ever anything other than mean. But, I guess I do have to admit that I saw times when he stepped up his game. Like when he got fired and went several years without even looking for a new job. Years when it was just my mom that worked. He started drinking more then, and you saw how he is when he’s drunk.
Trust me, when he’s loaded, his actions and motives make absolutely no sense, at all, to me either. All I know is to look out because he gets mad at the drop of a hat. Yells when there’s nothing to yell at. And hits anything within reach. I tried to make sure that was never Ren.
My mom use to ask me not to go home after school. She’d tell me to keep Ren with me and go to the park or a friend’s house until she got off work. I did, and I’m glad. Not only did it keep Ren safe, but I had good friends with good families, and we got to have somewhat of a normal childhood because of them.
The next time my dad raised the bar on his temper and drinking was after my mom died.
Don’t really even want to talk about this part, but I guess I must.
My mom – she was perfect in my eyes. A lot like me, a peacemaker. She had a way of soothing the savage beast in my dad. She could never completely destroy it, but like I said in 101, ‘living with my dad had been tolerable when my mother was alive.’
She was coming home from work when the semi-truck hit her head on. The guy who witnessed the accident said she was gone by the time he climbed out of his car and raced to her’s.
I’m glad. Wouldn’t want to think of her hurting.
Speaking of hurting. Wow did that ever hurt me. I missed my mom like crazy. So did Ren, which drew us even closer than we already were. She was the only one who knew how I truly felt.
I guess my dad missed my mom too. Even though he kept his pain well hidden by the bottle.
He had a job when she died, but maybe that welfare check was just to tempting to pass up, because he quit a few months later and never has gone back.
In the years that followed, Dad got meaner and meaner, drunker an drunker, and Ren and I tried to avoid him as much as was humanly possible. Not a terribly difficult task given the fact that he spent a lot of time at the bar.
Okay, now down to those two burning questions. Why didn’t I report his abuse to the authorities? And why didn’t I fight back? They might both have the same answer. Fear. And not necessarily fear of being hurt physically, though that did play a roll. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize I don’t back down just because someone’s fist finds a nice place to create a lump on the side of my head.
This was fear of losing Ren.
Fear that she’d be taken into foster care and we’d be separated if I reported it.
Fear that if I retaliated and fought my father back that he’d call the police on me and I’d end up where I ended up anyway, but without Ren. And she’d be left in the one place I never wanted her to be left alone. Home.
Being humble in a situation like that – just standing there taking it – well, that isn’t as easy as it seems. True, I didn’t know how to fight with my fists, but believe me, it took all the strength I had to keep the peace by doing nothing.