Mama Always ~ L.A. Brown, Author

A dear friend of mine said this morning, "Words hurt." At this very moment, I whole-heartedly agree. As much as I want to say that words don't mean as much as actions, today I have to take that all back. Words can be uplifting or devastating. The Bible itself has many things to say about that little member we call the tongue. James 3:8 says, "But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison," and I will agree. So many times we just don't think about the things that come out of our mouths. Then again, there are times we do think, but it is in a moment of passion, saying things that we regret but cannot take back. When a person is hit by a barrage of words spoken in anger, frustration or fear, even though the recipient's face may reflect hurt, anger, fear or neutrality, the hurt runs deep. It runs to the very quick of the soul, planting a poison that cannot easily be contained. When misunderstanding or assumption is mixed i...

For those of you who have been following me for a bit, you probably are aware that I now have two books out; The Father's Footsteps, which is a political suspense (fiction), and Diary of a Crazy Cat Lady (also fiction), which is pretty much self explanatory...it's a humor book. Well.  Sometime last month I had filled out a survey from one of the book sites that I'm connected with, don't remember which one it is now...I have CRS... "Can't Remember Stuff". Anyway, I get this phone call this morning from a marketing rep and we talked for about an hour about all kinds of things. Now, understand, I have nothing out that qualifies as non-fiction, which is what the survey was for, and if you were picked, then you would get this consult. Imagine my surprise when I call back (I was not fast enough to catch the call initially) and find that I was picked for the consult! So, we're talking about the books, he's asking about my aspirations for my writing, and...

Think again. Can't stand the stuff, way too much sugar or fake sugar for me. Now, for the heart of the matter. I posted a photo about who I am, Christian-wise. It accurately depicts what a Christian is. This is the gist of it: I am not perfect. I never claimed to be perfect and salvation through Christ is a comfort to me. What do I mean? I mean that even when I screw up, when my mouth has engaged light years before my brain is even awake (read: not enough coffee or too much coffee)...when my thoughts are not as clean as they could be or my actions speak louder than my Bible verses, then Christ has me covered. Am I supposed to go "oh, well!" and skip along my merry way? Psh! No. I am to do the proper thing and make whatever I goofed up right. Am I a mess? A dear friend of mine once called me a "hot mess," so, yeah, maybe I am. Do I go to church every time the doors are open? No, I don't. Sometimes its because I can't get out of bed, thank you fib...

There are few things on Earth more satisfying than being a parent, or a grandparent, except being a wife. I am beyond blessed with my two children, my "adopted" girl, my son-in-law and my grandchildren and my wonderful husband. My parents, brother and sister-in-law and Mother-in-Law top that list as well...family and friends...well, you get my point. But that isn't the reason I'm blogging today. I find myself facing my inner Eeyore today. I look at the headlines, the ones about the guillotines and believe with all my heart that should be the standard for the death penalty. Quick and precise, no surprise when the person opens their eyes and talks to you. I would faint if someone did that after being beheaded. I look at our economy here in the US. What once was the  Country to go to have prosperity is now bounced down on the food chain. We could sit here all day and blame the Presidents through the years, but bottom line is the American People let it happen. We'...

Okay, well to be honest, it's afternoon here. But hey! It's morning somewhere! LOL All kidding aside, here's the scoop. The Father's Footsteps and Diary of a Crazy Cat Lady are out and doing not bad, but not awesome, off-the-charts-I'm-going-to-be-on-the-bestseller-list good. In fact, if you got to ratings, Diary of a Crazy Cat Lady is ranked at roughly 1.5 million and The Father's Footsteps is the caboose coming in at 3.9 million. That's the bottom of the sorghum barrel right there. No, that' not how many books have been sold, that's where we rank on the food chain of book sales. So, this begs the question: What do I do to generate sales? Well, I gave away 174 copies of Diary of a Crazy Cat Lady in its first freebie promotion, only a handful, less than a dozen of The Father's Footsteps on it's latest freebie. Most will say its because I'm new, my name isn't out there and that is probably a true statement, but I want to be able t...

Good morning, everyone! Well, for the last month I have been engaged in working with a delightful young woman. She has been working diligently to make a deadline and has endured my quirks and nit-pickity-ness and between the two of us (mostly her).... Well....the audio version of Diary of a Crazy Cat Lady is finished!! Let me just give you a bit of background...if you've ever seen the T-Mobile commercials and heard a woman's voice narrating, that's our girl! Her name is Erin Fossa and I am humbled that she wanted to do my book! It took a lot of editing and listening...sound adjustments, word adjustments and voices and through it all she made each and every adjustment without complaint. If it sounds like I'm gushing, well...I am! Now, if you're wondering how to get the audio version of the book, it will be on audible.com ; itunes.com ; and amazon.com . We don't have a release date yet, but I will let you all know as soon as I know! Have a fantastic we...

It's been a while since I blogged about the fibro. Today it was unavoidable. For the last week, it has been gloomy and cloudy and just...blah. Makes me wonder how on earth folks in Seattle deal with all that rain. I seriously would not know what I would do if I had to deal with that day in and day out for months. Its bad enough I'm not nice after this last week of yuck, put me in that situation and I could not be responsible for my actions. Case in point. Four days ago, I had severe anxiety attacks that kept me awake all night. The next day the fibro pain was nasty. Saturday, I had a video hangout scheduled for questions and answers for Diary of a Crazy Cat Lady and it was a bust. I was pretty bummed. Then my kitchen drain clogged. Yeah...sometimes its not worth getting out of bed. Trust me, if it didn't drive me crazy to not be doing something, I would still be under the covers hiding from the world. Last night, another wonderfully sleepless night <insert severe s...