About B.D.
A lifetime resident of Kansas, B.D. Tharp is the author of Feisty Family Values, published by Five Star Publishing in February 2010.B.D. began a freelance copy writing and editing company in 2004, now called Scribble LLC. She has been published in Sheridan Edwards Review, Women’s Focus magazine, Active Aging Magazine, Wichita Register magazine, and A Waist is a Terrible Thing to Mind: An Anthology.
B.D. just completed Patchwork Family, the sequel to Feisty Family Values. More...
Category Archives: Blog
Local Libraries
Local Libraries ROCK! The smell of all those books and the quiet shuffle of people looking for just the right book to read…awesome stuff. Does your library have a copy of Feisty Family Values? Please find out and if they don’t, then ask them to add it to their inventory. With this challenging economy borrowing books from libraries is more valuable than ever before. If you enjoyed Feisty Family Values, recommend it to your friends. Write a review on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble’s web sites. You can even leave me a review in the comment field. Help me get … Continue reading
It’s Women’s Fiction Month…
Book Tours & More is featuring Feisty Family Values on the blog today. I hope you’ll stop by and comment. Thank you, Cheryl for your interest in FFV and women’s fiction. You Rock!
KWA Writing Contest
For writers out there (new and experienced) you should check out the Kansas Writers Association prose & poetry contest. It’s very inexpensive to enter and you’ll get an informative critique on work submitted. Entries are being accepted now through December 31st, so polish up something and ENTER IT! You learn a lot from contests. How to follow guidelines. How to take criticism. What you do well. What you need to improve. A little competition is healthy. I’ve entered things almost every year for the past ten years, and while I haven’t always won, I’ve always learned something new to improve … Continue reading
Life lessons learned from traveling…
I’m told there are four main life lessons that you learn from traveling: Planning Adaptability Communications Experience I’m thinking that these four items are good lessons for writers. But it can also apply to workers, mothers, politicians – you name it! So, what do we get when we PLAN? An outline, a direction for the story, deeper character development, more intricate plot and subplot. (I’m planning my new novel right now and it’s helping. I’m not sure an outline is in my future, but we’ll see.) We have to ADAPT as writers. Following where the story leads us and not … Continue reading
Families come in all sizes…
Family is a very important part of living a full and enjoyable life. We aren’t always born in large families, so often times we “adopt” friends who become like family. You just never know who will come into your life or how long they will stay. I spent the weekend with my Aunt Eileen and had a blast just hanging out, looking at photo albums, recalling fond memories and those we’ve loved and lost. It was a blast. I’m afraid I allowed a lot of time to pass between visits, while I was busy with my immediate family and work. … Continue reading
What if…?
This is the key to a writer’s story, the “what if’s”. In life, however, we Mom’s can sometimes let the imagination go wild and worry ourselves to a frazzle. It doesn’t seem to matter what – it could be a crabby boss at work - what if the boss won a trip to Norway? Or gets transferred there? It could be a broken heel on your favorite shoe while you’re arms are full of shopping bags – what if a great pair of walking shoes are in one of those bags? It could be you burned dinner – what if … Continue reading
One Day at a Time.
Do you remember the sitcom by that name? It was one of my favorites with a very young Valerie Bertinelli, Bonnie Franklin, and Mackenzie Phillips. I never missed it. It was all about a single mom with two teenage daughters coping on their own. I thoroughly enjoyed the interplay between the characters and the infusion of humor in daily situations. It was a great story. What I’m struggling to remember is that I need to live that way, too. Take things “one day at a time,” and enjoy a bit of laughter along the way. We all know that sometimes … Continue reading
And the winner is…
Carol Martin. Congratulations! Your name was picked by my husband who is very impartial, and maybe a little indifferent to the whole process. He’s a good sport though. Once I get your address in email I will send the prize, a black tee shirt with the Feisty Family Values house cover on the front. I had it made by Carefree Press. Thank you all for participating. Have a great week!
TGIF & CONTEST TIME!
Anyone interested in a FEISTY FAMILY VALUES tee shirt? It’s black, v-neck women’s XL, with the cover on the front (the house). It’s not that long until Christmas so if it’s not something you would wear think about the ladies in the house. Wouldn’t it make a great companion gift with a copy of the book? All you have to do is comment on my blog, or Like BD Tharp Books on Facebook, or follow bdtharp on Twitter and your name goes in the magic box. (Don’t worry, I get an email every time one of these thing happen, so … Continue reading
Rooting for the Underdog
My grandson and I went to see the movie Real Steel this weekend, partly because I love Hugh Jackman and partly because I love a story about an underdog who makes a difference. You know what I’m talking about: The Replacements? Rudy? David & Goliath? Rocky? 300? Forrest Gump (run Forrest, run). There are millions of stories that have you rooting for the underdog. There are lots of reasons, underdogs usually try harder against tough odds. They appeal to our sense of fairness and justice. I loved the fact that the guy who didn’t want children arranged to have his … Continue reading