Medicare Wars Pamphlet 1 is FREE July 4-8

Whew, I hardly get one project under control and another pops up!  Sort of like whack-a-mole, but in a good way.

Medicare Wars, Pamphlet 1, A Radical New Approach – learn, Fight, Win! Is FREE on Amazon July 4 – 8!  Grab it for yourself, pass on the info to family and friends. You’re never too young or too old to learn about Medicare and there's lots younger people should know before advocating for “Medicare for Everyone” Single Payer is much more desirable.

But, while we have it, learn what makes it tick. How it’s funded. How you pay for it all your working life, how it is, in truth, an Earned Benefit -- and those are not dirty words.  Learn a bit about the history of how it came into being, how it’s been twisted with the arrival of insurance companies in the middle of its administration, how the recipient can get the most out of what is available and how few of those oft-touted “choices” people really have.

That’s the biggie for now – the first Pamphlet is the series is FREE now. Don’t wait.  Grab it. 

Meanwhile, Pamphlet 2, Stuff You Wish You Knew is also available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback editions and Pamphlet 3 will be available shortly.

On other fronts, work continues on the sixth Comic adventure in the Planet Of The Eggs series, a double-edition which will cap off the first volume of the Eggs’ adventures.

 

Beyond that, I continue to work with producers on the production of a fun horror script. We’ll see how that unfolds.  

And, on the back-burner lingers my newest Romance Novel, tentatively titled “Serpent’s Tail”, which is calling to me. 

Have a wonderful 4^th and don’t forget to get that free copy of Medicare Wars and tell your friends. 

A Writer's Update

It’s been a busy few months here in my office, and the result is I haven’t had time to add much to the blog.

So it’s time for an update.

Work continues on the Medicare Wars series of books to focus folks’ understand of Medicare. Two have published, the third is on the way and three more after that. The idea is to create pamphlets to provide bite-sized information to everyone interested in Medicare as it is, it’s history, it’s future and the concept of ‘Medicare for Everyone.”  With my partner, we provide solid information and direction on how to apply, what people should expect and the pitfalls all around us.   Good news is the first in the series, Medicare Wars: A Radical New Approach, Lear, Fight Win, will be FREE July 4 through 8.  

Grab your copy, spread the word http://amzn.to/2tp5fNF Don’t forget to visit our Facebook page at http://bit.ly/MedicareWars Tell your friends about that site as well. We love visitors and welcome questions. We also get very excited about honest reviews so please do post one at Amazon, Goodreads, wherever you talk about books.

In addition to the Medicare Wars series, we’re just about to publish the sixth Comic in the Chronical of the Eggs series, Planet of The Eggs: Worlds Collide. Do check out the series starting with the first comic, Planet Of The Eggs – Cracked Open at http://bitly.com/POECrackedOpen and don’t forget the Facebook Fanpage  as well at  http://bit.ly/EGGPLANET and the great review of another in the series “Eruption” at Readers’ Favorites 

http://bitly.com/EruptionReview. The sixth adventure completes the first volume, but there will be more! Visit, like the page and watch for what’s coming next

And don’t forget the first installment of our kid’s Read To Me books, Look At Me, Look At You! http://amzn.to/2ccMqoi.

Have a great summer and we’ll just keep on writing and illustrating!

Best Childrens books in years - Egg Chronicles - Planet Of The Eggs

Happy autumn – another year is racing by.  The holidays will soon be screaming down upon us – and a new year in the offing.

As seems to be usual lately, as the time spins by, the children’s comic book series, Planet Of The Eggs, part of The Egg Chronicles family, is taking up a good deal of my time along with that of my writing/creative partner Charlene Brash Sorensen.

We’ve completed five books in the Planet Of The Eggs comic series for Children and are working on the sixth Children’s comic in the series, Worlds Collide. The script is written and we’re about six pages into creating the illustrations to tell the tale! We hope for a release date somewhere in late Nov. or early Dec. Add it to your Christmas list!

Our most recent interview on the Planet Of The Eggs series is with Lisa Haselton and you can see it here   Do stop by today and leave a comment with your thoughts. Share it with your friends. Explore Eggland.

In other news, my latest short story, Skykicker, has just been published by CowboyJamboree magazine. The PDF of the magazine is free to download and contains the short story.  Enjoy!  And I’d love it if you could leave a comment there or here on this blog on what you think.

Upcoming are more books for the Egg Chronicles family- including more children’s comics in the Planet of The Eggs line and more early reader books for the Read To Me series.

Meanwhile I’m settling back and watching the change of the seasons while I contemplate how in the world I’m going to get my romance novel finished – Serpent’s Tail. Not even a tentative date set for that one, but it’s definitely in the hopper at about 2/3 done. 

Enjoy the lovely crisp weather and awesome colors of fall!

Update on A Writer's Journey

Autumn is coming to where I live and the flowers are bursting forth in a purple and yellow display that’s breathtaking. I can see them from my office window which makes my office an exceptionally nice place to work this time of year as the temperatures begin to cool.

It’s also a great time to take stock and figure out what’s coming next for this writer.  After all, we’re heading into winter – the traditional time for hibernation, and for writers the perfect time to curl up with a computer and really put out some great stories and more while the fire crackles on the hearth and the hot chocolate steams in the mug.

First and, these days, in the forefront is the Planet of the Eggs Comic series brought to you by The Egg Chronicles, that I co-create with creative partner Charlene Brash Sorensen. Yep, we’re working on #6 – the final story in this first volume of the comic series, titled Worlds Collide. Its great fun and our readers are going to love it. Don’t forget you can visit the Facebook page where we keep folks up to date on what’s happening and where you can sign up for our monthly newsletter – or you can just sign up for it HERE. You get the first Planet Of The Eggs Adventure, Cracked Open FREE when you join enthusiastic readers on the newsletter list.

That’ll wrap up this first series of adventures, but there are more to come. Got any ideas for these brave an intrepid warrior, scholarly and medic eggs? Go ahead, post ‘em in the comments section below, we’d love to hear your thoughts.

In that same vein,  also under The Egg Chronicles banner, we’ve begun

creating our new line of Children’s Read-to-Me Picture Books! The first one is Look At Me! Look At You! Now available as digital release for your Kindle and in paperback as well on Amazon. Share them with your kids and grandkids. We’re thinking of creating coloring books as well – what do you think?

On another note I’m working on converting my vampire western (titled

artwork by Gabriel Hardman

Bloodlines) screen script to novel format. That’s going to take me into early spring since we’re doing so much work with our Eggs. It’s back to novels on that front and it’s also great fun to do even if I do have to keep my nose to the keyboard to keep up.  The two styles of writing (novel and script) are pretty far apart, so there’s a lot of detail to fill in and small errors to catch as the writing continues. 

Come on over and visit me at my facebook page and webpage as well. I’m delighted to welcome new followers and read comments my readers share.

Directions in a Writer’s Life

Namely – mine!

Some writers pretty much stick with what they began with whether it’s novel writing or scriptwriting or journalism for an entire career. That’s great for them, or, if you’re a writer and that’s the way you go, for you.

For me, things keep on a’changin’. It’s not that I move away from one type of writing to another and leave the ‘old’ behind, it’s more like I add to what I’m doing. That can get a bit crazy, but it’s the way I Iike it. Spices things up for me, keeps the fresh and the new ideas rolling.

I began with novels, published with Doubleday, Harlequin and others. 

Then I added script writing and I loved it. Had a wonderful mentor in Larry Brody of TVWriter.com (for whom I'm a Contributing Editor), sold a script, optioned some others and am still working with scriptwriting having completed one a short time ago. All I had to do was know how to type and be creative...and learn the formatting.

But that’s not where it stops for me. I’m also creating a novel from a previously written script. Its great fun and I intend to publish.  I have a romance novel I’m working on finishing up as well. Still typing, still milking the creative juices.

What’s the newest? Comic books. Kid’s books. Yep, an unusual undertaking for me. I’ve partnered up with a great friend and we, together, write and illustrate the comic series Planet Of The Eggs with five adventures published so far and more in the works.  As an off-shot we’re now creating our first ‘read-to-me’/’young readers’ picture book based on the fun characters of Planet Of The Eggs. The first is celebrating the differences in us all, as well as what brings us together, and is as yet untitled, but that’s coming!

The learning curve was pretty steep on comic creation. We’re still using a combination of photoshop, powerpoint and comic life software. Now we’ve also thrown in the free photo manipulator from Paint.net and got a couple of special effects packs so we can create cool pen sketches and other kind of amazing effects.

The results so far is the near completion of the first volume (six issues) of the Planet Of The Eggs comic book series. But wait, there’s something afoot!  The series is about to find itself in a reboot as we evolve from the very young adventurous eggs to the more confident, determined Superhero eggs and their friends, companions and arch enemies. We’re on the very cusp as we complete the first picture book and dive into plotting for the sixth adventure to complete our first volume.  

Oh, and the fifth, Planet Of The Eggs-Eruption 2, Saving Dot has just released in Kindle format and paperback will follow in the next couple of weeks.  Want to keep up with it all? 

Go to our facebook page for Planet Of The Eggs, tell us your thoughts, which heroic egg is your favorite, what villains you would like to see, whatever comes to mind. We love to hear from fans. Oh, and there’s a monthly newsletter as well – just click the sign up button near the top of the page and get access to the first adventure in PDF FREE! Or sign up directly here.

So, my personal writing career has become a fantastical juggling act and I love it. Yep, I’ll be finishing that romance novel, probably creating more novels from scripts and the reverse as well as finding new and exciting things to pursue with my writing.  I’ll let you know what I come up with next.  Meanwhile, happy reading and writing.

Writers and Readers Do you do Pinterest & Live on Social Media?

Are you addicted – or not? 

If you visit Pinterest frequently, on a scale of 1 to OMG I’ve gotta stop, where do you fall?

I admit I enjoy Pinterest and I visit, but only on a ‘I have the time’ basis.  And when I do I enjoy sharing other people’s pins as well as adding some of my own such as these:

http://bitly.com/POECrackedOpen   http://bitly.com/BookSpells    http://bitly.com/MummifiedEgg  http://bitly.com/POEEruption

Along with a whole assortment of other pins having to do with trees, dragons, books, authors and other loves. Go ahead, visit my Pinterest page.

Social media of all types can be great fun, but they can also be a time-sucking monster. I’m a great proponent of ‘everything in moderation’. Since I’m a working writer I can’t let myself spend the whole day at the computer checking out interesting/cute/inspiring pictures with equally catchy captions.

So, what do I do? What I do makes my time on social media such as Pinterest, twitter, Facebook and others unpredictable. I have no particular time I can dedicate to those areas. I pretty much pop in whenever the time and spirit allow. Sometimes it’s between projects for a few minutes. Other times it’s in the evening after dinner and chores when I can spend a little longer perusing what’s new and adding some of my own.  It might be a weekend with a bit of spare time not writing or joining friends. Or I might just be taking a break from working. Another great time to enjoy social media is when I’m traveling…providing I can get a good WiFi connection.

And that’s why I have so many books loaded on my Kindle – I never know if that connection will exist and I love the Kindles and tablets for allowing us to have more than one kind of media close at hand. Music, books, magazines, pdf documents, videos and web access all crammed into one convenient package. Seriously, if you commute (and don’t have to do the driving yourself), what a great addition to our lives have been these amazing electronic devices.

Yep, mildly addicted to Pinterest, but addicted to so much more these devices offer.

Tell me, are you addicted to Pinterest? How addicted -- is it your ‘go to’ when looking for distraction and fascinating material? Or some other social media?

Share below your favorites and don’t forget to include links to your twitter, facebook, linkedin, pinterest…. Whatever social media you enjoy. And if you're into Facebook - head on over to our Planet Of The Eggs page at www.facebook.com/PlanetOfTheEggs and join the group & get the newsletter with the Sign Up button at the top. 

Writer Peggy Bechko Discusses What's Coming Next

Seems like a Writer's work is never done!  But that's a good thing!  

Onward. 

This week I'm talking a bit about what's coming next for me -- 

There are a number of irons in the fire as usual. I have a romance novel that needs finishing - I'm about 3/4 of the way there. 

Work continues at a slow pace for the conversion of one of my movie scripts, Bloodlines, into a novel companion. It's a vampire western full of the paranormal. I hope to have that complete by late fall or early winter. No promises though!

Why is progress on Bloodlines script to novel slow? Because Planet Of The Eggs, the comic book series I partner in with Charlene Brash Sorensen, is taking priority - we have four books in the comic series out now with the fifth to be released later this summer.  The fifth is nearly finished in first draft form. Here's the first page from that new adventure - tentatively titled Saving Dot. We'll let you know of any changes in title and the release date. Check it out here or visit our Facebook page. 

And, in addition to the new book, the fifth of six in the first volume, there are big changes coming to our series as our characters evolve and mature. And Volume Two is already an evolving idea. 

But as to the next adventure, Saving Dot, what do you think?  Do we save Dot? She's hanging on to a dragon and the flight is bumpy.  Her egg friend, Sala is in the dragon's clutches and the rest of the gang, Cyrus, Nightfist, Twilight, Smudge and Skink along with Dot's human companions, Smith and Dave are laying plans to get them back! The girls are strong, it may not be them who need rescuing!

There's mayhem and tragedy ahead - stay tuned, keep reading, and let us know who's your favorite character and where you might like to see them go next in space and time.

Writers And Readers Websites Wednesday

I admit I haven't had time to keep up with this on a regular basis - but that doesn't mean I've given up on providing cool sites when I find them!  

Today's is KidLit TV (and radio and more). It's at www.KidLit.TV. Don't just sit there - go on over and check it out! Helping parents and educators explore the world of children’s literature.

A Writer's Busy World

It’s a busy time here in my writer’s cave (otherwise known as my office) populated by myself and my three faithful dogs who lay in various beds and spots of sunshine while I write.

I barely have time to add a blog post since not only am I writing and illustrating comic books (the fourth in the first volume will be out in March! – Planet Of The

Eggs - Eruption!) but I’m painting all my kitchen cabinets as well and submitting screen scripts while pondering writing a current screen script into manuscript form as well.

That last one, the screen script to manuscript, is vampires in the old west. What do you think? Want to read about vampires on horseback, trains, heroic rescues, a German stable master and his stash of silver and an amazing shaman?

Illustration by Gabriel Hardman

Yes indeedy I keep moving.  Here are a couple of shots of my evolving kitchen.  I’m very excited. Wish I had a magic wand to wave to make it finish faster. Hey, for a bit over $300 (including the new sander I got and wood filler for holes, etc. in addition to base coat paint, finish coat and new hardware) I get a whole new kitchen!  I love doing things myself. Talk about control!  

Meanwhile Stormrider, my SciFi/Fantasy about a warrior woman, member of a pack of telepathic wolf pack gets retweeted on Twitter (my handle is @PeggyBechko if you want to follow me there) and would love to find even more readers.

And the comic series Planet Of The Eggs continues to evolve.

 

We’ve had fun contests (check out our facebook page at www.facebook.com/PlanetOfTheEggs) and lots of new Tshirts, totes and more on Café Press at www.cafepress.com/PlanetOfTheEggs. Eruption is the fourth in the series and the fifth with the tentative title of “Saving Dot” is the second part of Eruption. And that launches myself and my co-writer Charlene Sorensen (who’s twitter handle is @CharlieBS108 )

It seems like as we’re emerging from winter, the energy is surging along with the sap in the trees outside. Thinking of my readers and hoping your spring is looking as good as mine!

Planet Of The Eggs Work Continues!

It’s a busy time in my Writer’s World. There are a couple of things on the back burner due to time constraints, but along with my creative partner, Charlene Brash Sorensen, work on the Planet Of The Eggs comic book series is moving forward quickly. 

We already have three of the books published at Amazon in Kindle and paperback editions (well the third will be available in paperback very soon now). 

Planet Of The Eggs: Cracked Open

Planet Of The Eggs: Grimoire Book Of Spells

Planet Of The Eggs: Mummified Egg

And the fourth, Planet Of The Eggs: Eruption will release some time in March. Here’s a sneak peek with the first pages (raw & unedited) of Eruption. 

We're further along than that, but we're not going to spoil the storyline.

Hey, keep up folks!  This thing is moving right along. It’s taken on a life of it’s own and we can’t wait to bring out the next adventure starring our six Eggs of Legend, who are fully armed and ready to take on any world. 

And we decided to bring out a line of fab T-shirts to accompany the books over at Café Press.

How does all this happen?  Well, we’re a bit crazy and obsessed with eggs with attitude, personality and superhero abilities and we love what we’re doing. We use a combo of software and some quirky work-arounds to get what we want down on the page.  If you have questions, drop ‘em in the comment below and we’ll do our best to answer. 

So what’s next in our ‘eggciting’ world? Well, there’s a newsletter to keep you up to date, offer exclusives and brighten your day. Visit http://bitly.com/EggsSignUp to sign up or visit http://www.facebook.com/PlanetOfTheEggs for info and click the sign up tab on the banner.

Meanwhile, back to work here. Don’t forget to leave those questions below and visit our facebook page for updates, news and a heckuva lot more.  

Will I be writing more novels and scripts as well – yep, for sure. I’ll keep you posted here.