Along Came Mary

I remember the first time I met Mary Wendt. Sara and I had managed, although she was a year ahead of me at Alma, to land ourselves in the same Sociology 101 class. I say managed like it wasn't purposeful, but it was; our making friends with Mary, however, was purely by accident. She sat next to us the first day of class, and after that first day, we returned to the same seats, delighted to find Mary had returned to the same seat as well. Although Mary was a non-traditional student whose life experience was far greater than our own, we thought of her as no different than us, and we soon fell in love with her pleasant smile and witty charm, quick to call her friend.

Throughout my time at Alma College, Mary and I had a number of English and Composition classes together—my favorite, perhaps, being our shared poetry class with Ms. Catherine Swender, which gave us the opportunity to work with distinguished poets such as Lucille Clifton and Sonia Sanchez. Our love of literature and our shared views on life soon sealed our fates as life-long friends.

Interview with Alainna Sarver

Bonjour Beardies,

I am excited to bring you the first of two interview posts to introduce our two new Guest Scribes.  The first, Alainna Sarver, is a fellow Alma College alumnus and bibliophile.  The second, Hannah Lesniak, is Elizabeth's colleague and friend; her interview and introduction post, presented by Elizabeth, will follow soon.

Alainna has been a Beardie for several months now, but it was her Goodreads updates that prompted me to invite her to the blog.  With every post, it seemed, was a new book she was currently reading, and so, with a quick message via Facebook, the invitation was submitted.  She was hesitant at first, doubting her writing talents, but I convinced her that I would help every step of the way.  Also, upon reading her bio, I have no doubt in my mind that she was downplaying her writing ability.

Book Spotlight: Kiss of Pride by Sandra Hill

Hello Beardies!

This is Sara and I’m excited to write a book review for The Bearded Scribe. Joshua was correct in my introduction post—I am usually not far from a book. The fact that my Nook is about 85% full and I’m still surrounded by paper books is proof. My reading specialty is romance—specifically paranormal. There are so many series I want to write about, but I figured I’d start small.

Vikings. (Not very small, are they?) The word conjures images of giant blonde warriors traversing the European waterways to plunder, pillage and explore. This was a race that scared their time period with just their name, so how could they simply be absorbed into other cultures? Sandra Hill offers and explanation for this in her series, The Deadly Angels.

Introducing Sara Cleveland: The Bearded Scribe's Newest Guest Scribe.

Ev'ning Beardies, 

Many apologies for my latest gap without a post--or at least a productive one :)

I will forewarn, however, that my posts will not be every day as they were for a good stretch, but will be spaced out to maybe every two or three days.  I am currently in the process of splitting my once "finished" manuscript of The Son of Drynntorm, hoping to reduce the word count as well as strengthen the plot in the process.

With that out of the way, on with the show...

I casually mentioned our newest Guest Scribe during a birthday shout-out, but--as y'all know--a casual introduction is not my style :)

Sara Cleveland and I go back many years, and like Elizabeth, she and I met my freshman year at Alma.  Actually, the three of us are quite the trio, if I do say so myself.  For as long as I've known Sara, I've known one thing above all else.  She's a bibliophile, and just as I spent my youth with my nose in a book, she has spent most of her life with hers in one as well.  As a matter of fact, whenever I would go visit her (which was daily, as her dorm room was in the adjacent "sister quad" of the unforgettable 3rd North Bruske), she would either be at her desk typing on her computer, or on her bed anxiously flipping the crisp pages of her latest literary endeavor.

Sara is not only an avid reader, but she is well-read, too.  A History major with English and Secondary Education minors, Sara spent just as much time reading for class as she did for pleasure--though I am almost positive some of the class readings were just as pleasurable :)

Please stay tuned for Sara's guest posts on The Bearded Scribe, especially her Book Spotlights in the genre of--but not limited to--Paranormal Romance.

To read more about Sara, please visit her Bio page.

Happy Scribing,