New Series – Smorgasbord Saturday Meet and Greet – A chance to promote your blog at a friendly watering hole.

Welcome to the new Saturday morning post where bloggers who have recently followed the blog can introduce themselves.  Each week I will share a small selection of bloggers at random from those I follow.

Basically this is a watering hole for bloggers across all the areas of interest. Watering holes are very useful for meeting like-minded people and also a way to grow a supportive and sharing community.

If you are new to Smorgasbord it would be great if you could introduce yourself in the comments.. a brief intro and then a link to the post that you feel best represents your blogging style.

The idea is to encourage more readers to your posts and an opportunity for us to get to know you better.

The community that kindly supports me is always welcoming, and you will find a great deal of support and encouragement especially for new bloggers.

I look forward to finding out more about you.  Sally

Meet Gloria of We are Holistic.

I never hide my age because it’s the experiences of the last 49 years on planet earth that has made me who I am today. And I am happy with who I am, thank you very much!

My passion for natural medicine began in my teens when my father introduced me to the powers of nettle tea. At the first sign of a spot on my chin, he had the nettles out. It was quite disgusting if I’m honest, but I reckoned he knew what he was doing. And I have to say, I had really clear skin all through my teenage years. He still likes advising me when he sees I have a stubborn spot!

And so I began dabbling with herbs and other plants. I even discovered how to make herbal wine. Some of my brews were quite intoxicating and although certain friends enjoyed a glass or two occasionally, I got the blame for some seriously rough hangovers. I quit the winemaking and decided to study complementary medicine in a more serious manner.

In 2002 I enrolled in a six-week Reflexology course. It was the perfect introduction because it showed me exactly what reflexology was all about and what was involved in becoming a qualified therapist. I studied holistic health for two years at O’Fiaich College in Dundalk. I qualified with Fetac awards in complementary medicine and ITEC diplomas in holistic massage, reflexology and aromatherapy. I received levels one, two and three in reiki and later went on to study my Reiki Masters Degree with Majella Fagan in Green Tara College of Holistic Training.

I set up my own therapy practice and also worked part-time in Farnham Estate Spa in Cavan, which was an interesting experience. I was drawn to teaching after running introductory workshops on aromatherapy and reflexology in my local area.

I completed my teaching qualification in NUI Maynooth and I was very lucky to get a job at O’Fiaich College in Dundalk, teaching various complementary therapies. I enjoyed my five years there and gained many new skills and experiences.

I gave birth to my fourth child at the delightful age of 43 and I moved to Mayo to accommodate my husband’s job. While enjoying being a full-time mother again, I made use of my free time doing an article writing course under the guidance of June Colbert, established writer of books for children and young adults, reawakening my passion for writing.

Between trying to juggle all the balls in my life, I’m busy exploring & learning new things in the world of writing. I’m editing my first book – which ain’t easy! Time management is not my strong point but I’m getting better. I enjoy writing articles on aromatherapy for Atlantís Eíre Holistic & Celtic Spirit Magazine.

Here is one of the recent posts from Gloria – Reducing your stress as Christmas: https://weareholistic.wordpress.com/2017/12/05/reduce-stress-christmas/

Meet award winning author Mackenzie Flohr

Mackenzie Flohr grew up in the heartland of America, chasing leprechauns and rainbows and dreaming of angels. Her parents nurtured a love of fantasy and make-believe by introducing her at a very young age to the artistic and cultural opportunities that the city of Cleveland had to offer.

From the time she could hold a pencil, Mackenzie was already creating pictorial interpretations of classic stories, and by the age of nine, she and a childhood friend were authors and reviewers of their own picture books.

While following her love of adventure, Mackenzie found a second home, the Beck Center for the Arts Children’s and Teen Theater School. It was there that a world of wonder was only a script and a performance away.

Yet it wasn’t until she was on a trip to Indiana, viewing a Lord of the Rings exhibit, that the innermost desire of her heart became clear to her. She wanted to write a fantasy of her own, one that could inspire imagination in others and lead them into a magical world of their own making. She hopes The Rite of Wands will do just that.

Wherever we live and wherever we come from is our individual heartland. Anything is possible and everything can happen. Pure imagination is in all of us—we only need to discover it, and sometimes story telling helps.

“BHC Press announced September 21, 2017, they have entered into a five-book publishing agreement with YA author Mackenzie Flohr. The Rite of Abnegation, the second book in The Rite of Wands series, will be released under the agreement with a 2018 publication date and tells the tale of Mierta McKinnon, a young wizard.”

You can find out more about Mackenzie and her book  at her website: http://www.mackenzieflohr.com/index.html

And here is a recent author interview on Mackenzie’s blog: https://mackenzieflohrblog.wordpress.com/2017/12/05/author-interview-mary-r-woldering-tuesdaybookblog/

Meet Sean P. Carlin who is an author and scriptwriter in Hollywood.

A Los Angeles–based scribe of supernatural fiction and “secret histories,” I am the author of the forthcoming novel Escape from Rikers Island, a “Richard Price–meets–Stephen King” thriller about a lone, unarmed police detective forced to team with a group of violent gangbangers—that he put behind bars—when they find themselves under lockdown at New York City’s infamous detention center during a zombie-like outbreak among the inmates. As a screenwriter, I have pitched to production companies all over Hollywood, including Legendary Pictures (of Dark Knight trilogy fame) and Virgin Produced (Limitless), and recently developed an undersea sci-fi thriller in the vein of The Abyss with Grey Matter Productions (producer of the in-development feature Section 6).

The early cinematic delights of Spielberg and Lucas carried me away to worlds that seemed so distant from the streets of the Bronx, conspiring with the four-color fantasies of DC and Marvel (when comic books were still blessedly “cheap entertainment” consigned to the racks of corner candy stores) to instill in me a dreamer’s devotion to the imaginary and otherworldly. At a science-fiction convention I’d attended while still in high school, I came across an unproduced screenplay for a sequel to The Lost Boys—I’d never seen a movie script before, as the Internet was still a few short years away from making them available for free en masse—and spent three long winter months ignoring my schoolwork in favor of rewriting the material to make it suitable for shooting on location in New York with a VHS-C camcorder! The movie never got finished—my first lesson in the pragmatics of filmmaking—but I was hooked: I had inadvertently schooled myself in the rudimentals of screenwriting, igniting a lifelong passion for the discipline.

You will find this post on the pros and cons of writing groups and in particular the scriptwriters group in Hollywood: http://www.seanpcarlin.com/writers-group-pros-cons/

I hope that you have enjoyed meeting these bloggers and look forward to your introduction in the comments and popping over to read the post you have chosen.

If you are a regular visitor please still leave your blog link to your latest post so that everyone can head over and read and share…

Take care and have a good week – Sally