Happy Father's day to all the amazing dad's out there. You will never know how important you are to your children. But you teach them the cornerstone of how they live and  love. Especially your daughters.

If your like me, alone this father's day, just thinking about the amazing men in your life, remember to give thanks you've known them. Extraordinary men are hard to find. I've been fortunate to know two and have them in my life: My father and my husband. If you want to know how I write such amazing fathers, it's because I've been lucky enough to have these two ,men in my life.

Well, my husband is traveling this month and called me from Bejjing this morning while I had my coffee on the patio. Arrived in China safely for Sammy's graduation. A very special father's day for him. 3 years cancer free and now in China a proud Papa. An amazing man for his children. Hard working, strong, thoughtful, protective and always level headed and rich with loving advice.

But first, there was my father. The kindest man I ever knew. It's been 18 years but I still hear him laughing on occasion. A brilliant scientist and mathematician. Educator, Naval Officer, author, father, husband and patriot. He dreamed and invented things our country still uses to protect itself. He held malice toward none ever in his heart. A quiet, gentle person who would sneak off at a restaurant and come back with homeless people to have dinner with us. I never heard him speak a bad word about anyone. A man of peace. I miss him still. He taught me everything worth knowing in life. Live, love, laugh, nothing is impossible, do what you want and let everything else go.

I try to honor both of these men by how I love and when I write. A lot of the things Jack Parker says come from them. And in One Forever Kiss the being in IV during the protests and the bank burning is there in memory of a night of falafels gone wrong with my father. Went out to eat and ended up in a riot. And he just took my hand, and talked calmly to people as we walked to our car. He didn't believe in the war, he didn't believe in anger, the peace and love movement were his life tenets before it was a cause, and even what could have been a scary night is a memory I smile over whenever I think of it.

So remember the remarkable you've known, take a moment to tell them they are that(And yes, men need that) and thank whoever you pray to that you have been blessed first by the love of a good father, and say a prayer that all children will only ever know that.

As ever I wish you Peace.

Well it's June and time for a Goodreads Print Book Giveaway. Now this one doesn't open for entry until June 20th, but I'm putting up the links today because it's only staying open for 2 weeks. So, make sure you enter before it closes.

I wish you all peace.

The worst of times, Susan?

Yep, it was, moving on and that's about the limit of time I can give the worst.

The good times were too  fantastic to focus on anything else. If you are not an author, this won't sound exciting to you. It's like making a touchdown in nerd girl world, and in our little superbowl we call Indie publishing.

When I released my first book, I put 6 bottles of Champagne into the wine drawer. One for each goal I wanted to reach:

1. Making top 100 list in a genre--drank that bottle on my second book 3 months after I published my first.
2. A random number of sales, a number that seemed extreme because I never expected anyone to buy my books--drank that bottle 12 months as an Indie.
3. The first time I made list as an author, not for a book--drank that bottle on Friday.
4. The first time I win an award for a book--still working that one.
5. The first time I make USA Today Bestsellers list--never going to happen
6. The first time I make NYT Bestsellers list--hold on, let me grab that bottle and drink it now, since that one isn't going to happen. Ever.

I like goals. They keep you focused and working in the right direction, even goals you know you probably won't ever achieve. They definitely help you to tune out the nonsense of the insignificant. And there is a lot of that in book world. Someone always wanking about something. Someone always cyber bullying something. Every day. People focused on anger instead of work.

Nope, better use of time, working my business so I can drink those great bottles of champagne. I'd forgotten how good they were until I got to open one on Friday :-) After two years, I've accepted a few things: I won't ever be a great writer, I'm sure many would argue I'm not a good writer, but hell it kept me off the streets and not  knocking over bingo parlors with the rest of retirees. I got to meet some great people, a few I'd rather never known, in author world but my book world family is pretty wonderful.

The important thing is focus on your own dream, do what you love, the way you love, and pretty much smile instead of saying fuck you to everything else. Hell, this week I got be on a list with Stephen King, Hemingway(I was actually above him) Paula Hawkins, The Girl on The Train(I haven't read it, but I admit I like a title that starts "the girl") and Harper Lee.

I was a little concerned for a while that I was making list up close to dead authors. Yikes, was it an omen? You know, women after a certain age, we get afraid of stuff like that.   Just kidding. But yeah, in the worst of times moments--and yes sometimes even the best--I think shit like that to remind me the clock is running out each day on all of us, so make the most of every moment until you can't make anything of any  moment.

Your dream is your dream whether you ever drink the bottles in the wine drawer. I won't ever be Madonna but I still like to dance in the living room in my granny panties. Your dream is yours. Definitely, don't let anyone steal it or your sparkle. Dreams give you sparkle.

So as I sit there on a list surrounded by dead authors, what was the name of that Hemingway book? For Whom the Bell Tolls?

It tolls for thee.

Live, laugh, love, and don't sweat the petty stuff. That bell tolls too soon for all of us.

As ever, I wish you peace.

PS, thank you everyone who downloaded The Girl on the Half Shell during my 5 day Kindle Free Promo. That is still the best part of my dream. Sharing Chrissie and Alan, and having some of you fall in love with my perfectly imperfect rock star duo, and my fiction family in the Parker Universe.