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Sneak peek into something a little different — the wedding that’s NOT supposed to happen!

Mar31

This month I’m proud to announce that the story I was invited to send for anthology consideration has come out, in a books SIDEKICKS_COVERcalled SIDEKICKS!

Here’s the description from publisher Alliteration Ink:

The most important characters don’t always get top billing.

Sidekicks: We know them, and we ignore them. They sit courtside, they wait in the shadows, they ride on the coattails. They have nothing to offer.

Or do they?

Heroes and heroines perform world shaking deeds, but sidekicks? Sidekicks are the unseen glue holding those powerhouses together. They are the backbones. They are the voices of reason.

It’s long past time for them to shine.

Here, the fangirls, the trusted associates, the loyal assistants, and the imperiled wards have their moment in the spotlight. Join them as they shake up the world in unexpected and understated ways.

Let the heroes sit this one out. Celebrate the Sidekick!

My story in the collection is called “A Recipe For Success”, and it tells the story of Jeremy Lincoln, a young man who plays second fiddle to a chef known as L’Oscula, or The Dark One. A descendant of the Borgias, she’s come up with a thousand different ways to poison someone, for the right price. Lucky Jeremy is the one digging the poison sacs out of bottlefish, distilling poisons from tree bark and generally doing all the scut work.

The catering company gets hired by a woman who wants to do away with the young lady about to marry her son. Chaos ensues:

***

“So…how are you going to do it?” The woman steel-eyed her. “If I’m paying twenty thousand, I want to know what you’re going to do with it.”

Nodding, Gina leaned back in her chair and glanced at the mirror. I could read that expression clear as day. All right, wiseass, how do you think we can do this?

            I’d been doing some fast thinking as they talked, and I thought I had a pretty foolproof idea. I purred it into her ear.   “No woman can resist that one little bit of sweet that will refresh her breath right before she marches up the aisle to meet her beloved. Bonbons on her dressing table. So simple. So elegant. So  untraceable.”Dish-of-Candy

Stephen’s mother seized on it like it was the last piece of Gina’s famous caramel cheesecake. “Yes, exactly!”

Gina smiled, sucking up all the credit for the idea. “I’m so glad you like it. But that’s not the best part.” She hesitated, as if searching for the right word. Which of course, she was. I was half tempted not to give it. But then I wouldn’t be the #1 minion to the greatest poison assassin of my acquaintance. Le sigh.

            I murmured, “The bonbons will have a delayed reaction. Not until the exertion of dancing at the reception will it take effect—so then the other catering companies will be the suspect candidates.”   She shared that, too, each word dropping like a gold nugget onto a silver tray.

***

Poor Mallory! Will she survive to make her mother-in-law miserable the rest of her days? Or will Jeremy’s ‘special’ candies keep her from Happily Ever After?

Edited by Sarah Hans, the anthology runs the gamut from humor to horror, from science to silliness, a little something different for your weekend read. Do pick up a copy today!

Don’t forget to stop at Sneak Peek Sunday and check out all the different snippets this week and every week!

A great week ends with Sneak Peek Sunday!

Mar24

What a week! My first post for Authors by Moonlight, and a great cover for upcoming books! Encounter_ebook_Final I mean this one for ENCOUNTER is pretty awesome, though it’s more of a suspense story, not a romance. But it’s still gorgeous, and will be out later this summer from Hydra Publications.

I’m really finding some time to write and expand what I’m doing, teaching at conferences, and that’s very fulfilling. Balancing that with a busy family life and time to write too? Well, let’s all agree that the first person who can find six more hours in a day would really rank way up there in my book!

Today’s snip is from CONVICTION OF THE HEART, which came out last year from The Wild Rose Press. It’s the first book in the Pittsburgh Lady Lawyers series (see tab above), and tells the story of Suzanne Taylor, a single mom and family law attorney who gets mixed up in a dangerous case involving domestic violence. It’s good timing that a police lieutenant named ConvictionoftheHeart_w5381_750Nick Sansone takes an interest in her–but she’s not so sure she wants to be interested in him:

She had raised the girls alone for thirteen years. She’d met John Taylor in law school, and finished her last year pregnant with Hope. They married only when they’d both passed the bar. He lived with her until it became clear, to him anyway, that he was not cut out for living with a small child. When she told him she was pregnant again, he left. He moved from Pittsburgh to Nevada, lived there long enough to file for divorce and proceeded without even sending notice to her. She received a copy of the final decree. He probably thought she should be grateful. He then moved from his legal Nevada address, and the Taylor family had never had contact again.

  John Taylor’s exit, and the subsequent men’s behavior she’d seen in many of her divorce cases had convinced her she was doing the right thing by remaining single. One betrayal had been enough; she didn’t intend to let herself fall in love again.

            Particularly with a cop.

            She chopped zucchini and snow peas, thinking about her dinner with Nick Sansone. She’d truly enjoyed the chance to kick back and talk about something that wasn’t business. Just pleasure. She’d almost decided he was that rare beast, a nice guy, when he’d pulled the switch on her with that kiss. “Just dinner,” he’d promised.

            Yeah, so much for that.

            Sure, she’d kissed him, too, but that was something under her control. Her will. Because she’d wanted to, by then. And she’d even said she’d see him again. What had she been thinking?

***

Is it true that lawyers and cops mix like oil and water? Can a single mother let herself go enough to love again after thirteen years on her own?

Here’s a link to the book trailer for CONVICTION OF THE HEART: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a84IZoH-JKw

It’s filmed in the courtroom where I practice regularly, with local actors I’ve performed with on stage. What? Oh yes, I was a single mom of two girls who also is a lawyer–and I fell in love with a cop. Who says truth is stranger than fiction?

CONVICTION OF THE HEART is available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com and other online retailers as well as at The Wild Rose Press site.

But don’t stop reading here– stop by Sneak Peek Sunday to check out all the week’s snippets!

It might be true that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but how about a free book?

Mar3

ConvictionoftheHeart_w5381_750And not just any book–the first book in the Pittsburgh Lady Lawyers series, CONVICTION OF THE HEART!

Here’s the blurb:

Family law attorney Suzanne Taylor understands her clients’ problems—her own husband left her with two babies to raise alone. Now that they’re teenagers, her life is full. The last thing she wants is the romantic attentions of a police lieutenant, no matter how good-looking.

Lt. Nick Sansone is juggling the demands of a new promotion and doesn’t need complications either. But when he sends a councilman’s battered wife to Suzanne for help, he realizes he wants to connect with the lovely, prickly lawyer on more than a professional level.

They are soon confronted with a different battle when the abused woman’s husband threatens retribution. The powerful, well-connected councilman can damage both their careers—not to mention hurt those they love. Can they bend enough to admit they need each other in a time of crisis? Or will a husband’s revenge take them down before they ever get a chance?

Here’s the VERY dramatic book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a84IZoH-JKw

An excerpt from the hero, Nick Sansone’s point of view. He likes her so much, but she’s already got too many balls in the air to juggle much more:

    He couldn’t believe she’d actually agreed to a date. Well, not a date. Dinner.IMGP0494

            But he wanted to consider it a date.

            He’d watched her for some time. Setting aside his natural attraction to redheads, he found something more compelling in her behavior, her demeanor. He found her different from the rest of the ambulance chasers he encountered in his work.

            During their midwinter case, he witnessed her inner fire and passion for what was right, whether or not it fell squarely within the law. She never let opposing counsel walk over her. She even used humor as a tool to pry open judges’ hearts to let her pleas inside.

            When the case concluded, he wanted to see her—unprofessionally—but she created a distinct distance between them that dissuaded him. He tried to put her out of his mind. She kept re-appearing. Every so often, he caught a glimpse of her in the court buildings, or in her favorite lunch spot in the inner courtyard of the old castle, and those feelings would bubble up again. He couldn’t forget her.

            Not that he hadn’t tried. Brother officers used his fascination with the standoffish attorney to rib him without mercy. A lawyer and a cop? Might as well be oil and water, one working to get bad people locked up, and the other working just as hard to set them free again. It could never work. Just asking for trouble. Who needed trouble?

***

So check it out while it’s free– leave a review, or a comment here at the website, and pass it on to your friends!  Thanks and have a great day!

Alana

Buy the book free at The Wild Rose Press here.  BUT TODAY ONLY!

Catch us on Facebook and become a fan!

It’s true–I’m the Next Big Thing!

Feb19

Well, at least for this ongoing blog hop.  :)

Tapped by Jude Urbanski, my sister Desert Breeze Publishing author,  I get to answer ten questions about my soon-to be-released novel, BY ANY OTHER NAME.

 by any other name
What is the working title of your book?
BY ANY OTHER NAME
Where did the idea come from for the book? 
           When I first started blogging, I read a lot of different blogs and came across the concept of the “Mommyblogger”– a woman who’s writing and sharing her experience and expertise as a mom with others in the same situation. Marisol Slade, my book’s heroine, has been building her audience for some time, and hopes someday to be as popular as her hero Heather Armstrong, who writes an extremely popular blog under the name Dooce. Her blog alter ego is a hip, funny narrator with attitude named Jerrika Jones.
But of course there are downsides to using a pseudonym, as Marisol finds out when she returns to her Pennsylvania high school for her twentieth reunion.
What genre does your book fall under? 
            The book’s genre is contemporary romance, and it’s definitely what we’d call a “sweet” romance.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
            Rosario Dawson would be an AWESOME Marisol.  The hero, Russell Asher, is a product of the Age of Aquarius–his mother is black, his father white– so maybe someone like Boris Kodjoe from Madea’s Family Reunion.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? 
           Money, community standing and snobby wealth doesn’t make someone a good parent, or a good moral person; in the same vein, someone who is working class who works hard and consistently does what is right may be “richer” than any millionaire.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
            The book will be released by Desert Breeze Publishing in mid-March.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
            Approximately four weeks.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
            Many other contemporary authors, writing shorter stories, are comparable.
Who or What inspired you to write this book? 
I’d originally worked on the concept for another publisher, but the more I edited, the more I realized it wasn’t going to be a story that needed sex to work. It’s a story about two people rediscovering each other and hoping to rekindle an old flame.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
            There is more to this story than just the romance–a good deal of drama takes place involving both the hero and heroine’s children in a life or death situation.
255headshotAs Alana Lorens, I’m the author of the Pittsburgh Lady Lawyer series and several other romance novels/novellas. Find out more at the tabs above.
*****
And now, here are three authors who might be the NEXT big thing–you’ll hear from them next week on February 27th:

Vonnie Davis sweeps us away to Paris on a romantic adventure in MONA LISA’S ROOM

Nov16
Today’s guest is sister Wild Rose Press author Vonnie Davis.
Thanks, Vonnie, for being with us today. First, would you tell us a bit about yourself? What area of the country do you live in, do you have a family, pets, etc. Are you a coffee fiend, or do you have another “addiction” you must have on your desk at all times? What’s your education, if it’s relevant to your writing, and how does that education help you/or do you find that you can write well even without the diploma others might think they must have?
 
I’m thrilled to be here, talking and sharing, so let me thank you for having me as one of your guests. I’m retired and live in south-central Virginia with my husband, who is also an author. We met on match dot com about eleven years ago. Two old fogies looking for love online. Can you dig it?

Thanks to him, I am a coffee addict. My Calvin makes a fabulous cup of coffee, grinding his special blend of beans just so.

 
I have a bachelor’s degree in English and worked as a technical writer. So, while I knew how to craft a sentence, what I didn’t know was the craft of writing—point of view, character development, pacing and GMC (isn’t that a truck?). Needless to say, the last four years have been a huge learning curve.
Tell us about your most recent publication.
MONA LISA’S ROOM was released last Friday from The Wild Rose Press. It is book one of The Red Hand Conspiracy, a romantic suspense series featuring a different romantic couple in each book, yet with the same band of terrorists doing horrible acts in all three.
Here’s the link to the book trailer: http://bit.ly/MonaTrailer
What inspired you to write this story? What interesting thing did you learn or research to write it that you didn’t know before?
Calvin took me to Paris five years ago for a couple weeks. We had a grand time walking the streets and seeing the sights. Many years ago, long before we met, Calvin took a sabbatical from teaching and lived in the City of Light for a year, absorbing French culture and writing at sidewalk cafés. He wanted to show me all of his old haunts on the Left Bank.
We walked narrow, cobblestoned streets, or rues, late at night. I was a little nervous. Calvin, on the other hand, was right at home. There were narrow, dimly-lit cafés, doors hanging open with sweet smelling smoke wafting out onto the sidewalks. Jazz clubs were in basements, once catacombs under the city. All the women, it seemed, wore high heels, their feet tattooing a staccato beat on the sidewalk as they hurried by. All these sights, smells and sounds I catalogued, never thinking I’d write about them eventually.
 As we made our nightly treks through the narrow streets, some still bearing grooves from chariot wheels, we listened to ghosts whisper off ancient buildings of times and peoples gone by. Yet, even my romantic mind sometimes snagged on the dangers of the present—terrorists. What if…
 What if an American came to Paris and somehow became entangled in a terrorist attack of some kind? Slowly my mind started churning and Mona Lisa’s Room took shape. As I’ve mentioned, this is book one of a trilogy. Mona takes place in Paris and a seaside community along the Normandy coast. Book two, Rain is a Love Song, is set in Paris and Budapest. The final book, the one I’m still writing, takes place in Paris, Syria and Berlin and is titled Jazzbeat of Surrender.
How would you best describe your books?
The slogan on my blog and website says “Adventurous…Humorous…Amorous.”
 
What is your favorite genre to write? To read?
If it’s a romantic story, I’ll read it…or write it, if the characters are talking to me.
What would you write if you could write anything you wanted to write?
 A best-seller??? Hey, you have to have a dream. Right?
What do you love most about writing and what do you not like?
I love writing and creating until I know the characters well enough that they take over, leaving me to take dictation. What don’t I like? Going over my manuscript after my agent does her deep editing of it. **slaps forehead** She can find more holes. Why does she act this way? I’m surprised he didn’t do such-and-so. Rephrase so this paragraph makes more sense. She’s pointed out my tendency to use the same words or phrases over and over. And she allows me six said tags per book, making my dialogue more vital. I love her, don’t get me wrong, but doing edits with her is a painful process.
 Is there any special music you like to listen to while writing? How does it inspire you?
 No, I prefer silence.
 Tell us a little about your path to publication. How many books have you published? How many books did you write before selling one?
Like most writers, the first book I wrote will never see the light of day. Sadly, the second one won’t either. It was my third book that caught the attention of an agent. After she edited the said tags, over-used words, and plot holes out of Storm’s Interlude, she started shopping it out. We’d collaborated on a list of publishers to query, including The Wild Rose Press. At the end of two weeks, I had two contract offers. One was the publisher I wanted. I have four stories published and two more under contract.
 
What’s your favorite thing about the book featured here today? Any special memories you have in the creation of it?
 
MONA LISA’S ROOM was my chance to mentally go back to a city I’d come to love. Paris changes something in you. It caresses your soul with her essence of history, of beauty, of granting you the freedom of being yourself.What are you writing now?
I’m writing the final book of The Red Hand Conspiracy—Jazzbeat of Surrender.In this book, I’ll have to reveal who the head of the terrorist group is. I hope I do an entertaining and effective job.What would you like to tell readers?

 

All of us have secret dreams. Mine was to become a published author. A series of short stories I wrote between fifth and sixth grades, sparked the dream. Self-doubt snuffed it out. I just didn’t think I was good enough. It took me fifty years, ladies. Fifty years to work up the courage to go after that dream. Don’t keep yours hidden. Drag that dream out to the light of day so it can grow and bloom. Whatever that dream is, go for it. Don’t deny yourself the benefit of your dreams.

BLURB:

 Gwen,

 You won’t believe this email. I’m sitting in a French safe house, eating caviar and drinking champagne with a handsome government agent, Niko Reynard. He’s wearing nothing but silk pajama bottoms and mega doses of sex appeal. I’m in big trouble, little sister. He’s kissed me several times and given me a foot massage that nearly caused spontaneous combustion. I’m feeling strangely virginal compared to the sexual prowess this thirty-year-old man exudes.

 When I came to Paris for a bit of adventure, I never imagined I’d foil a bombing attempt, karate-kick two men, and run from terrorists while wearing a new pair of stilettos. I’ve met a German musician, a gay poet from Australia, and the most delightful older French woman.

 Don’t worry. I’m safe–the jury’s still out on yummy Niko, though. The more champagne I drink, the less reserved I feel. What an unforgettable fortieth birthday!

 Alyson

 

EXCERPT:

“What is it?” Alyson peered up and down the street.

“Don’t look. Smile at me. Talk and act normal.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and nudged her up the street.

“But…” Did he see someone? Did he see Dembri?

“I’m going to kiss you so I have an excuse to look behind us.”

“Oh no. No, I don’t think so. Look, I’ve put up with your constant touching, but I’ll not be kissed on a public street.”

“Don’t be self-conscious. In Paris, we kiss in public. It’s the Parisian way.”

“For heaven’s sake! Make it quick then.” She shook her arms to relax them because she was anything but relaxed. She was about to be kissed for the first time in years. Did she remember how? Stop being silly. Kissing is simple. Two pair of lips touch. Kiss done. With her head tilted back, she whispered, “Okay, I’m ready.”

A smile tugged at the corners of Niko’s lips. He encircled her in his arms and stepped in so their thighs touched. Her stomach fluttered. Her breathing hitched. He lowered his head. “Hang on, Aly.” With his dark brown eyes open, he placed his lips on hers and pulled her body against his. She kept her eyes open, too, figuring it would lessen the kiss’ effects.

Niko kissed her, gentle sips at first, soft and sensual. Someone made a moaning noise, and she feared it might have been her. My God what a pair of lips! Her toes curled in her new Pradas. Her hands curled around the lapels of his jacket.She wrapped her hands around the lapels of his jacket. Then his lips locked on hers and with his tongue invading her mouth, he turned her to look over her shoulder, all the while wreaking havoc on her system.

This was the first time she’d been in a man’s arms in years. The first time she had tongue from a guy since college and said guy was more interested in looking behind her for some hoodlum than in the kiss. Just her damn luck.

When Niko ended the mind-blowing kiss, he pulled her closer, if that were possible, and whispered in her ear. “We’re being followed. Hold my hand and run.”

Run? Melting came to mind, but running? How could she run when he kissed her until the bones in her legs turned to jelly? Plus, she was wearing new high heels, for heaven’s sake. His arms squeezed her for an instant. “Now.”

He grabbed her hand, and they took off. They dodged throngs of pedestrians and at one point, Niko hurtled over a poodle, its protective owner shouting in French outrage, calling him a fool. “Fou! Fou! Mon chien, mon chien!”

Alyson had done her fair share of running, especially after her break up with Chaz, the stranger she was married to all those years. Running was a stress reliever; so were the StairMaster and martial arts. Still, those activities were done in sneakers or barefooted, not high heels. Stilettos, no less. Oh, and the thong. Let’s not forget the damn thong chafing her in places she didn’t want to think about. She’d kill Gwen when she got home.

“Faster, Aly!”

“You put me in three-inch heels and expect me to run fast? You bossy Frenchman with a foot fetish.” She stumbled, and he caught her.

“Typical woman. Kiss her once and she figures she has the right to bitch at you.” Niko’s head turned, evidently scanning the area as they ran.

She tried jerking her arm free of his ironclad grasp. “So help me, God, if that terrorist doesn’t kill you, I will.”

He pulled her around two uniformed nannies pushing toddlers in strollers. “Promises. Promises.”

“Yeah, well look how nice my hips sway now, nutso, running in these damned heels.”

Niko quickly glanced up and down the wide tree-lined street and evidently seeing a slight break in traffic, ordered, “To the other side. Now.” They bolted across the four-lane boulevard and its well-manicured median. Two motorbikes rumbled past, nearly hitting them. Horns blared as several Renaults and Smart Cars barreled down the street. Niko shoved her out of the way and she fell, her hands and knees scraping on the asphalt. Brakes screeched and there was a dull thud behind her. She glanced back over her shoulder just as Niko rolled across the hood of a silver car. He never broke stride. “Run, dammit!”

She struggled to get up, her heel caught in the hem of her skirt. Niko set her on her feet again. A delivery truck swerved toward them as if to run them down. In a blur of movement, Niko drew his weapon. He dove and rolled clear of the truck’s path, shooting the driver between the eyes. Glass shattered. Passersby screamed. The truck jumped the curb, striking a tree. Sounds of metal crunching and a tree branch cracking obliterated, for a few horrible seconds, the pedestrians’ reactions.

Still on the move, Niko barked orders at the observers. A man nodded and reached for his cell phone. “Quick. In here. While we’re hidden by the truck.” Niko wrapped his hand around her arm and tugged.

Alyson trembled, the back of her hand covering her mouth and her eyes glued to the man slumped over the steering wheel of the truck not five feet away. Blood flowed from his forehead. Her stomach twisted. She was going to be sick. Niko’s grip on her arm tightened. “Move it, Aly. We’re still being followed.”

 BUY LINKS:

THE WILD ROSE PRESS (digital) — http://bit.ly/MonaLisaDigital

THE WILD ROSE PRESS (paperback) — http://bit.ly/MonaLisasRoom

AMAZON (paperback) — http://amzn.to/QQZGyD

AMAZON (eBook) — http://bit.ly/MonaLisasRoomeBook

 

 

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Veterans need OUR support

Nov11

And now a message about veterans of the Iraq war from fellow veteran Kurt Lowdon:

 Hello there. I’m Kurt Lowdon, former sergeant, HUMINT, assigned once upon a time to service in what many call the ‘sandbox’—a veteran of the first war in Iraq. Many men and women have followed me across the sea and come home different from when they left. For me, it was a cancer I developed after being exposed to some chemicals in Kuwait. I’m still doing my best to fight that, with some help from my new friend and love, Inessa Regan.

But there are thousands who still struggle with the lingering effects of their devoted service to our country.

Many of the injured have wounds you can’t even see. According to a report from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), “Traumatic Brain Injury…has become the signature wound of the Iraq War.”  These injuries can happen even if the soldier doesn’t get hit by gunfire. Being in the proximity of a bomb going off or other blast can cause the brain to get rattled about; many soldiers have been exposed multiple times. Then on top of that we have the mental health issues such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which leads to so many long-term problems, like depression, nightmares, changes in our ability to concentrate and cope with daily life. These two aren’t mutually exclusive, and in fact, many of our returning veterans have both. Each has a distinct impact on the way we relate to our friends, neighbors, employers and loved ones back home, and lead to strained or broken marriages and other relationships.

Others have more visible impairments—they’ve lost limbs, sight, hearing. They’re finding it hard to obtain and keep jobs. They’re not finding good support and ready access to medical and mental health treatment that they need, both while they’re still in the field and after they come back. http://issuu.com/iava/docs/redtape_2010/3?mode=a_p

Women who’ve served have some of the hardest roads. Their divorce rate is higher, their access to medical care is less in an environment that is geared to serve male soldiers, and it’s estimated that hundreds of women who’ve been in Iraq or Afghanistan have been sexually assaulted—by their own troops.  Most don’t even bother to report it. They know no one will take action against their companions. One of the women who worked with me, Susan Johnston, was raped by the company lieutenant. Now that she’s home in Pittsburgh, she’s having a real hard time coping. She’s even been violent. I worry about her a lot, especially now that she’s unemployed and homeless, like so many other veterans.

Susan and her husband Rafe are two of the reasons I’ve put together a coalition of resources in town specifically designed to help veterans of this war, whether regular Army/Navy or our ‘hometown heroes,” the National Guard units who have been pressed into service overseas, to re-integrate back into our community. It’s wonderful for a veteran to hear someone say ‘thanks’ for their service, but we need more than that. Remember theVietnamveterans and the way they felt not supported, but rejected, when they came home? Let’s not make that same mistake this time. Our fathers, brothers, sisters , mothers and loved ones have sacrificed their time, their health, and their bodies in the service of our country.

You don’t have to be in Pittsburgh to help, either. Here’s a list of resources for you to be able to assist the returning veterans in your community and welcome them back, by volunteering, by providing jobs, or free mental health or legal services:

Read more about the situation at IAVA:  http://iava.org/iava-in-washington/issue-reports

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/11/5-facts-about-veterans-an_n_351065.html

Set up a service project in your community with the help of http://www.serve.gov/vets.asp or find one you can pitch in on.

http://chicago.about.com/od/familyhealthlifestyles/tp/5-Ways-to-Help-Chicago-Vets.htm

Can your church help? http://www.cru.org/ministries-and-locations/ministries/military-ministry/veterans-day-ptsd.htm

http://www.realwarriors.net/veterans/treatment/veteransday.php

http://www.usacares.org/

And don’t forget ways you can help military families still waiting at home for their servicemen and women to come home: http://www.operationhomefront.net/volunteer.aspx?id=1203&FolderId=1015&Sf=VolunteerOpportunity

To find out more about me and my story, see http://alanalorens.com/the-pittsburgh-lady-lawyers-series/ or Second Chances at Zumaya Publications. http://www.zumayapublications.com/title.php?id=292