Congratulations to Linda Andersen who won a copy of "Call Me Oklahoma!" on last week's blog.
Before I introduce this week's guest blogger, I want to tell you about a writer's service: Grammarly.com is just what the name says it is--an online plagiarism and grammar checker; and proofreader. I tried it out and was amazed to find the number of errors in one sample chapter. I think using Grammarly's Plagiarism check would keep me from hearing an editor say, "Hmmm...this sounds familiar..." My worst nightmare!
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"I am dedicated, determined and desirous to empower, enable, and encourage children." Ann Eisenstein
Ann is a psychologist, consultant and teacher; she has been trained by the FBI Citizen's Academy, is a recent graduate of the Richland County Sheriff's Citizen Academy, and a presenter for NAMI. After retiring, she decided to take a stab at writing. At the time she was mentoring a young fifth grade boy who she calls "G".
Ann says, "G’s class was in
the FBI Junior Special Agent Program. The main focus of this program is to help students improve their
performance and their attendance in school. Through his involvement in this program, I
began to witness a change in G’s behavior. He became more involved in school,
his work, and our relationship. He also became more outgoing with his peers. I
was so proud of him!
"A germ. A
seed. A nugget. Planted. It took root, and inspired, I decided it was time to
start writing. I chose an main character, Jamie, and titled the book Badge
Boy. I stared at the page – it was pretty blank.
"But I had an
idea: I called the Special Agent in charge of G’s JSA program, told him I was
writing a book and asked if I could interview him. Surprisingly, he agreed. I
was on my way to the FBI. Gates, guns and grit."
In this way Ann combined her love for writing and all things detective!
Following Hiding Carly, her first book in the Sean Gray Junior Special Agent series, Ann's second book Fallen Prey was released this fall from Peak City Publishing. Here is the blurb:
Twelve-year-old Junior Special Agent Sean Gray is in a race
against time. Could there be a
connection between his testimony in the trial
of an international child kidnapping ring and his
mysterious accident?
While the sheriff’s
department and the FBI are investigating, his new friend, Gabby, gets caught in
the web of an online predator and disappears. She’s
been missing for more than 48 hours, and the authorities have not been able to
find her.
Sean goes undercover to bait the mysterious hunter. But when he
becomes the prey, how will he rescue her?