Hello Redwood’s Fans?

How was everyone’s Thanksgiving? Mine– don’t know yet as I’ll be celebrating today since I had to work on the holiday.  Who braved Black Friday? Me? You will never see me wake up before the sunrise to join hordes of crazy people to buy a cheap TV. But that’s just me.

What’s the status of your Christmas shopping? I am hoping to get done early this year and just sit back and enjoy the season. This is the first year in about three that I don’t have a crushing writing deadline to worry about and I’m taking it as a blessing in disguise.

For you this week I’m continuing my medical analysis of the TV show Hostages. Either they will blackball me from ever working in Hollywood or they’ll eventually hire me as a medical consultant because they need one people.

Happy Shopping!

Hello Redwood’s Fans!

This week is Thanksgiving week– so it’s time to reflect and think about all those things we are grateful for. It’s hard for me to do right now (now that I’m not thankful) but I have to work Thanksgiving Day and, to be honest, am a little (okay, a lot) grumpy about it. So, I thought I’d write a few things I’d be thankful for if YOU did them so I could actually not see patients that day.

1. Drink responsibly. No drinking or driving. Don’t even try it. It’s just not worth it. Think about KILLING someone else on Thanksgiving. If you’re going to get hosed– lock yourself up in your own house and give someone else the keys.

2. Watch those knives. It’s JUST dinner. Don’t let stress, family arguments, and poor time management cause the silver to flash and fly. If you’re using the ER as a break from your family then perhaps you should not be spending the day with these peeps. Just cut out the negative energy.

3. Your kids are going to get a belly ache. It’s probably not their appendix– it’s constipation related to ALL the carbs they stuffed in their gut in a short time frame. Make sure they’re drinking water and some stuff with fiber. They actually WILL eat the good stuff (raw fruit and veggies) if they are TRULY hungry and that’s what you offer. Don’t let them eat out of boredom. Have them play outside.

4. You are sharing germs. No double dipping, please. Stay six feet away if someone is coughing and don’t be afraid to look stupid for wearing a surgical mask.

5. New babies (under 60 days old)– should be sheltered and protected. Don’t let everyone in the world come around and kiss their cute little faces. Tell the uncle who hasn’t shaved, showered or brushed his teeth in the last ten years that next year you’ll offer up the newest member of the family for a slobbery smoocher.

Okay– that’s my top five. I really do just want to sit around and drink cocoa all day.

For you this week!

Tuesday: SWAT officer S. Tarr drops in to answer some writerly police operational questions. I thought his answers were so helpful that they could help writers everywhere.

Thursday: I’ve been beating up quite a bit on the CBS drama Hostages lately so I’m giving them kudos for one episode and then it will be back to the medical critique because I cannot help myself. So– just what did they actually do right?

Have a safe and overly joyful Thanksgiving!

Jordyn

Hello Redwood’s Fans!

How’s it going? It’s been a few short weeks since I wrote the Sunday post. Just what have I been up to?

Traveling . . .

And I went to Disney!

I  saw the BIGGEST bats of my entire life. If these things come after me there will be some (okay a lot) of screaming involved. I’m just sayin’.

 It’s always nice to see the Super Heroes out and about. Couldn’t quite figure out what Spidey was doing but he did look quite fashionable on the motorized tricycle.

What adventures have you been up to?

This week I’m back to medical mayhem and analyzing the CBS drama Hostages.

A lot of good stuff to talk about.

Have a GREAT week!!

How is everyone doing? Are you starting to gear up for the holidays? I am sad to see the autumn colors leaving us already. It seems like we just got out of snowy season (because our last storm was in May) and we are soon to see the snow again. The weather peeps are predicting lots of shoveling for hubby this winter.

For you this week:

It’s author question week. As you know– these are some of my favorite posts to write.

Tuesday: Holly poses a question about insurance and pre-existing conditions.

Thursday: John asks how we break the sad news of a patient’s death to the family.

Hope you guys have a great week!

Jordyn

Well, I survived the Zombie Apocalypse– oh, I mean traveling across country to OK with my two daughters and my father. A generational tour you could call it. Overall, the trip was good until about the last two hours of our 11 hour drive (which was turning into 13 hours after road trip stops) when we stopped in Limon, CO for a potty break.

It was dark, cold and rainy. My youngest had complained for the past hour about the need to pee but then couldn’t find her flip-flops in the car to walk into the gas station. There was some encouragement (all right– yelling) about putting anything on her feet she could find and hence we entered the gas station with her in her Sponge Bob slippers to a non-functioning toilet.

One of my childhood homes.

The joy of road trips.

It is fun to look back. For a brief time, my family lived in small Kansas town. The house was pretty close to some major streets. I was about 4-5 during those years. One day, I remember a man beckoning me to follow him. And so what did I do? Tell my mom?

Oh no– I followed.

A neighbor found me walking along the highway and picked me up and brought me back home. Who knows what would have happened if that man got a hold of me. I think back to the situation as a good beginning for a suspense novel.

When I was returned safely home my mother didn’t know whether to beat me to death or hug me to death. It was a little of both and I remember crying into my Snoopy sheets until my father got home. I’m sure my mother felt like if I was locked in my room I wasn’t wandering down lonely Kansas highways.

My father took me by that house– as seen in the picture– and it’s fun to try and remember what it was like living there.

I’m amazed it still stands.

For you this week–

Author Christy Barritt stops by with a few author questions for me to tackle. One regarding medically induced comas and the other about medical power of attorney.

Hope you guys have a GREAT week! Anyone road tripping it for the holidays?

When this posts I’ll actually be driving back from Oklahoma with my two children (age 9 and 11) and my father. Hopefully, my life will feel as carefree as the photo but somehow (in already surviving past trips) it may feel more like the second photo– zombies attacking.

Road Trip Possibility A

As you know I’m also a pediatric nurse. I am more of a strict, I-will-do-as-I-say parent. So if I make a threat (and they can be pretty inventive) it is going to happen. Many years ago, my husband and I were driving from Colorado to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. There is a lot of road between here and there. The girls were maybe 4 and 7 at the time at they were fighting, fighting, fighting.

We kept saying if you can’t be calm in the car then you can’t be in the car!

It didn’t really change much. So finally, I said to my youngest who was the biggest instigator of the fighting. “If you can’t stop fighting and screaming I’m going to pull over and you’ll sit in the field until you can be quiet.”

Fighting ensued.

Road Trip Possibility B

Next exit ramp– car is over and my husband takes her from the car and marches her to the middle of a field and sits her down and stands about two feet away.

I can’t hear the conversation but I can see the body language. Both are with arms crossed just flat out sizing the other one up. It was chilly– with sleet falling.

It took about five minutes before she felt like the car might be warmer and more comfortable than the middle of the field.

There’s something about road trips that bring out the good and bad. Hopefully this one will be ALL good.

This week I’ll be hosting a Facebook Party for Peril’s release and giving away over $500.00 worth of prizes. Hope you’ll join the fun.

For you this week:

Tuesday: I am so excited to be hosting new guest blogger, Amory Cannon, a forensic scientist. She’ll be blogging about exactly what evidence (or lack of) the courts need to declare someone dead.

Thursday: Author Richard Mabry stops by to give some background into his latest and greatest medical thriller, Heart Failure. I know I’m excited to check this book out.

Have a GREAT week.

Jordyn

Hello Redwood’s Fans!

How has your week been?

Mine– planning lots of fun stuff for you! I have a huge Facebook party coming up to celebrate Peril‘s release so stay tuned here for details.

Baby Biffs It

This weekend we had family pictures taken and I’m really hoping that NONE turn out like this. If we do have one close it would definitely generate laughs and make for the most awesome Christmas card. The baby WAS okay. Check the link and some of the comments if you need a laugh.

For you this week:

Tuesday: Author Gillian Marchenko stops by to share a little bit about taking care of her special needs daughter who has Down Syndrome. I hope you’ll check out her memoir Sun Shine Down.

Thursday: Author Question for nurse Jordyn. Which love interest gets antibiotics to save his life and why? 

Over the last couple of months I’ve been preparing for my newsletter launch that happened yesterday!

My goal for the newsletter is to treat subscribers to items that I don’t do anywhere else. Fun prizes. Deleted chapters that will only be published there and a more personal look at my writing life.

Those inaugural subscribers were eligible for a prize worth over $75.00 and I’m happy to announce that Andrea Skaggs is the winner!!

Congratulations, Andrea! I’ll be contacting you for your address.

All others– don’t despair but get signed up! There is more fun to be had.

Jordyn

Hello Redwood’s Fans!

How’s your week been?

Mine . . . a little like the photo. I survived the ACFW conference in Indianapolis a few weeks ago. I didn’t win the Carol Award which is a little sad but I got to meet the other two great women authors in my category: Katie Gansert and Courtney Walsh (the award went to Katie like I thought!) Katie is the gorgeous one in the pink.

If you are an aspiring author I highly recommend these conferences. They are a great way to network and just be amongst other like-minded individuals. I mean really– does your family really understand your characters talking to you?

One of the highlights of the conference was meeting Frank Peretti. I think he could be considered the grandfather of the Christian suspense/paranormal novels with his groundbreaking books This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness. These books remain popular after their debut almost twenty years ago.

He was very kind and generous. I think he probably did take a photo with every conferee– and there were almost 600 of us there. Worse than wedding photo day– I’m sure his cheeks hurt for weeks.

This is also the last week to subscribe to my newsletter to be eligible for my mega-prize worth over $75.00! You can subscribe here.

For you this week I’m doing a little fall/winter health education. What exactly are flu and RSV?

Anyone else excited for autumn?!? Me, yes. Not so much geared up for what we call respiratory season though.

Have a great week!

Hello Redwood’s Fans!

How has your week been?

This coming week is very exciting for me. I’ll be heading out of town for the annual ACFW conference. ACFW is the largest group of Christian Fiction authors and includes all different types of fiction genres.

My debut novel, Proof, was nominated for the Carol Award in the debut novel category. This week, well Sunday, Sept 15th– I get to find out if I actually won at the award’s banquet.

More than that, the conference is a chance to catch up with my author friends who are scattered across the country and learn a lot about the writing craft– which never ends.

So, you’ll have to wait until Monday, Sept 16 to find out what really happened while I was there. But if you happen to be there in Indie– be sure to come up and say “hi”.

Also, I am launching my newsletter October 1 with a great prize give away worth over $75.00 but you have to subscribe (and live in the USA) to be eligible. Don’t miss out. There will be stuff in there not found anywhere else.

For you this week:

Tuesday: Fabulous award-winning author Jocelyn Green stops by with some questions about gunshot wounds.

Thursday: What exactly are high-fidelity code simulations and how did I feel about going through one?

Have a great week!!