Tag Archives: Albert Lea Tribune

New Series? Take A Chance on Jezabelle.

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CoverI was nervous while writing the first book in my new Brilliant Minnesota series, The Penderghast Puzzle Protectors. After finishing the mystery and falling in love with my new characters I felt it was perhaps the best book of both series. The plot had twists and turns which I hoped kept readers interested.

I introduced a main character, Jezabelle Jingle, who has ties to Fuchsia Minnesota. Her niece Delight Delure runs the Pink Percolator in Fuchsia. Jezabelle is younger that Granny in my Fuchsia Series. She is somewhere in her sixties and has a snappy style with not only her life, but also her quick wit. While a little calmer then Granny she gets herself into as much trouble when she and her neighbors find puzzles and mystery where they live in the Penderghast neighborhood.

Jezabelle doesn’t snoop on her neighbors, but she keeps her eye on them, as well she should, as they are a strange lot of many ages.

There is Mr. Warbler who feeds the birds and makes strange sojourns at night into neighboring yards.

We have Rock Stone who comes home at exactly 10:00 p.m., revs the engine of his car, has a smoke and disappears inside his house. And…he never puts his car in his garage.

Miranda Covington never comes out during the day, but Jezabelle has seen her sprint down the street in the middle of the night. Of course there is a mysterious reason Jezabelle is up at 2:00 a.m. too.

And then there is Phoebe Harkins, who insists she is rich and beautiful. The neighbors are never sure exactly what is going to come out of Phoebe’s mouth.

Jezabelle leads her gang and her best friend Lizzy, through twists and turns as you’ve never seen, sputtering direction and giving somewhat addled advice.

However even though I think this is the best book I have written, and my reviews have been excellent sales have been slow. I had a reader I didn’t know, find my phone number and tell me how much she loved the book and wanted to know when the next one would be out. She stayed up all night reading it.

When I ask why the hesitation for the Brilliant series the answer always is: We want Granny. So I am here to tell you that you will love Jezabelle and her crew in the Penderghast Puzzle Protectors as much as Granny. As the series progresses you will follow the quest to find all the puzzles the founders of Brilliant left for their ancestors. I promise you won’t be disappointed. And Granny is still living and alive in the next series book coming out soon, Granny Pins A Pilferer.

Because my next Fuchsia Minnesota book is due out soon I am making The Penderghast Puzzle Protectors e-book for sale on Amazon $.99 for the next week,August 3 – 10. Take a chance to get to know Jezabelle and don’t forget she is also on Audiobook. Spread the word. Jingle with Jezabelle and the Penderghast Puzzle Protectors.

Thoughts Of An Insomniac

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By Julie Seedorf
Published 9:35 am Monday, July 25, 2016

Julie Seedorf’s column appears in the Tribune every Monday.

julie 2015 profile picWhen you follow one weaving van and there is no cell phone in sight, you suspect they may have been dabbling in something. When a second weaving van immediately takes up where the first one left off, you wonder if you are being led astray. But then you remember the saying, three strikes and you’re out, and you decide to call the police before that happens. Those three strikes could mean a life.

Spending time with kids and teenagers keeps your joints limber, your mind open, your face from cracking because it exercised with smiles, and…it gives you a good excuse to take a nap in the middle of the afternoon.

Women my age dye their hair to keep the gray from peeking out. Little did we know, the gray we are trying to hide, is the new it color. Thank you, Kelly Osbourne, and all the young women who are dying their hair gray, because they admire our undyed look. Who knew at our age we would have the it look naturally. Think of the confusion for those supermarket and restaurant workers when it is senior citizens day. The gray hair usually gives it away. Maybe that is it; those young people are trying to get our discount.

Pink hair and orange hair and green hair are stylish these days too. I love my granddaughter’s green hair. She wasn’t impressed when I told her I was going pink. I decided if the younger generation can dye their hair gray, I can steal their hair color and dye mine pink.

I haven’t had my hair cut since last October. It is my old age, try growing it long, attempt. The last haircut must have been a good one because it hasn’t made me want to take a scissors to my hair on the spur of the moment. I am finding long hair much easier to take care of than short hair. The last time I had long hair, in the dark ages, it had to be rolled up on rollers. Remember sleeping on rollers and scaring your husband? My goal is to grow it out so I can get it cut. Yes, one length, so I can plop it on top of my head and go. I am a plop and go girl in my old age. Although I already am a plop girl, just ask my couch.

Grandchildren don’t know that Spam can almost taste like ham. There are times little white lies are called for, such as telling your grandchildren the sandwich they are eating is ham, and then when they are finished eating and liked the sandwich, you announce it is really Spam — the same sandwich they wouldn’t eat last time because they were sure they wouldn’t like it. We Grandma’s are tricky.

It is amazing, you think you know the people who have been lifelong friends, and after all these years you find there is part of them that hates and are intolerant of others, and you never knew. As another friend said, quoting Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy, when discovering this, “Who are those guys?”

We can take a lesson from our dogs and cats. The first thing they do when they wake up is the yoga move the downward dog, to stretch their body. A routine stretch takes seconds, yet we wait to do that which is good for us, only when we are frozen in place. Why is it self-care is last on our list of to-dos? Perhaps that is why experts say pets reduce our stress. They already know the secret to self-care.

Reading signs must be harder these days. The slow-moving vehicles keep to the right– sign needs to be clearer. I feel they should put one of those flashing signs below the hill stating the speed and a large sign in large print with these words added to the flashing vehicle sign, “If it says 50 or slower — move over, this means you or we will push you up the hill.” There must be latent road rage in my heart because I want to yell that every time I have to pass in the slow lane, the slow person that is, in the fast lane.

I am going to turn off the news of the election until it is almost over. I can’t make a decision based on what I am hearing and seeing on television and the news. The only thing happening is I am getting desensitized to hate mongering and name calling. I don’t blink an eye at it anymore. Maybe that is what is supposed to happen. They are trying to make Minnesota Nice go away and make us into Minnesota Slice. Maybe I am already there. I am going to slice that news cable.

I am writing this at 4 a.m. Checking my Facebook feed I see I have good company at 4 a.m., my neighbor is awake too. Maybe we should have coffee. Or I could have virtual coffee with my many other online friends that are sleepless in cyberspace.

I leave you with a few quotes to give you pause for thought throughout the week, taken from my appointment book, “Words To Live By from Primitives by Kathy.”

“If life gives you lemons, a simple operation can give you melons.”

“Some people dance in the rain, others just get wet.”

“Children are great imitators so give them something great to imitate.”

 

It’s All In The Review–Maybe Not!

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Sebastien WiertzPublished in The Albert Lea Tribune week of May 25, 2016. Something About Nothing by Julie Seedorf

Do you leave reviews for your favorite spaces and places? In the olden days we had to rely on newspaper advertisements and radio advertisements to find if the places we wanted to shop or dine were good establishments to visit. Or businesses had to rely on the word-of-mouth of customers who had used their establishment.

Things have changed and now businesses and other venues can be reviewed online by those who loved their services or did not have a good experience. Places such as Yelp.com, Angieslist.com, tripadvisor.com and many others, along with the buzz of Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and the other gazillion sites out there will tell you the ups and downs of places and products. And if you are a business in a small community and think you are safe from these reviews — well think again — you are probably listed somewhere out there.

Most businesses now have their own websites and Facebook pages and customers also leave reviews on these pages. Can you rely on these reviews?
Recently a friend and I were in Shakopee, and we were dining out. We chose a restaurant in downtown Shakopee. We checked out the reviews and most were positive. Many stated fast service.

We arrived and the place was packed and very busy. We were on a tight schedule and thought perhaps we wouldn’t be served and out in time to make our movie. The reviews were right. We had excellent, fast service and our waitress was outstanding. She earned a big tip. In that case the reviews could be trusted.

In the olden days when we wanted to check out a product we possibly would buy the Consumer Reports Magazine. These days, if we want to investigate a product we can go online and find the reviews for the model we want to buy. I always check the reviews before I buy. As an author, book reviews on my books by my readers are very important to me. If I want to advertise my book on a book site or in a magazine, the key to acceptance in many places are the reviews on your books and the number of reviews you have. So for me and other authors, reviews are important.

Bigger companies take reviews seriously. I have a friend who reviews products for companies that are sold on Amazon. The companies send her products; she reviews them on Amazon honestly and reveals she has been given a product to review. I know I can trust her reviews.

When you are reading reviews on anything, please take the time to consider those reviews and the person making the statements. A product, website or even books that have 100 percent five star reviews are not always what they seem. Can all people love the products? A few bad reviews are not necessarily a bad thing. It means the reviews are by real consumers and not a paid review. Yes, there are places where you can pay to buy reviews.

When reading a bad review, take time to investigate who is leaving the review and why; there are people out there who leave bad reviews just to leave bad reviews. There are people out there who don’t like any products. Also a review is one person’s opinion.

For instance, two and three star reviews on movies and books do not always deter me. I look at the reviewer’s history of reviews and see perhaps the items this person gave three star reviews to be because their taste was of different genres than the movie or book being reviewed. They have different tastes.
I myself would not give a five-star review to a bloody, gory movie or to a graphic book. It is not my cup of tea. But my review would be constructive rather than destructive. Always remember there is a person behind the product and they have feelings too especially if you are reviewing a book or a blog.

Reviews are also a way businesses can improve their services if the review is fair and constructive. For instance, I have had some landscape work done and I am not exactly a happy camper. I feel I am not being listened to. When all is said and done I will leave a review online but I won’t trash the people or the business but I will leave constructive comments that may help them improve other people’s experience with this company. The thing to remember is this is my experience; someone else may have had a great experience with the same company.

The same can be said for other businesses that get a bad review — perhaps the business was just having an off day or the customer was having an off day.

If I positively do not like a book and don’t finish it I don’t leave a review at all. It might not have been my cup of tea but someone else will love it.

The best negative review I received on one of my books was this, “The author must have scrambled eggs for brains. She writes like Dr. Seuss.” I loved this person’s negativity.

Review away, make someone’s day. Be positive or constructive but don’t be destructive.

– See more at: http://www.albertleatribune.com/2016/05/be-constructive-not-negative-in-reviews/#sthash.7LF7o4LH.dpuf