Kim McMahill

April 28th is National Arbor Day, an occassion celebrated since 1872. It began in Nebraska as a day to plant a tree to help nature and the environment, and Nebraska is still home to Arbor Day. The Arbor Day Farm is located in Nebraska City, Nebraska, it encompasses 260 acres, and has been designated a National Historic Landmark. So, if you’re looking for an Arbor Day pilgrimage, visit the place where it all started. For more information go to http://www.arbordayfarm.org

Psst …Want to know a secret? Does it come as a surprise to know authors put things from their lives into their work? It isn’t done to be silly or self-centered. I do this because it fits my story. Here’s my secret: my fictional town of Sommerville is patterned on the neighborhood I live in. In many ways, it’s almost like living in a small town. For example: my heroine from “Raving Beauty,” Kelly, is struggling home in the pouring rain with a cast on her leg. If she takes the short cut through the flowers, she’ll be out of her misery quicker. It’s easy to say “she cut through the flower bed.” Rounding the corner, I took the shortcut and struggled through the flower bed of Indian hawthorn and Knock Out rose bushes into my apartment's parking lot. And an apartment complex I once lived in had flower beds filled with Indian Hawthorne shrubs and Knock-out red roses. Made sense to put these plants in the story, and for the reader, these things paint a picture which mak...

Grand Teton National Park During 2017 ten days have been set aside as free admission days into all National Park Service sites that charge an entrance fee. Two have already past, Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 16) and Presidents' Day (February 20), but there are still plenty of opportunities to enjoy our National Parks for free. National Park week is April 15 to 23, 2017 and to celebrate, the weekends are free, so get out to a Park April 22-23 and explore. Other free days to watch for include: August 25:   National Park Service Birthday September 30:   National Public Lands Day November 11-12:   Veterans Day   Weekend For more information visit https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/fee-free-parks.htm Big Bend National Park

Experience epic adventures in the great outdoors with Marked In Mexico , Big Horn Storm , and Deadly Exodus , all for one low price with a Kindle Boxed Set. Whether Mayan ruins and jungle adventures, daring horseback escapes in the stunning and rugged mountains of Wyoming, or a run for the border through the desert southwest to leave a dystopian America behind peek your interest, you’ll find what you’re looking for in these romantic adventure novels. Oh, and did I mention hunky heroes? Meet ex-Army Ranger Jack, the future’s male perfection, Ethan, and one smoking- hot cowboy named Deuce. The Kindle boxed set is only $3.99 and can be found on Amazon at http://amzn.to/1cX2bho

I just finished an adventure novel from one of my favorite best-selling authors. It had a cavern cave-in scene that kind of reminded me of one I wrote in Shrouded in Secrets . There’s nothing more terrifying than being trapped underground, unless as in Cash’s case, being drug out of the crumbling cavern by a terrified mule. Here’s a scene from Shrouded in Secrets . Cash yanked the closest timber and caught the bundle as it fell. The ceiling groaned and rocks dislodged in a hail storm as he ran toward the first pit. He cleared the hole with room to spare, landed on his feet and kept running, hunched over. The sound of gunfire grew louder as he neared the sharp turn in the tunnel. As soon as he rounded the corner, he was forced to lie down and shimmy forward. He pulled himself along the ground with one arm while holding his prize tight to his side with the other. He scooted past the second pit and slowed as he reached the exit. He set the bundle down, planning to retrieve it once h...

With all the commercial hype surrounding the Easter Bunny, chocolates galore, and hunting brightly colored eggs it’s easy to forget the true origins of Easter. Easter is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to Christians it is the most revered day of the year. Though the birth of Christ is extremely important, to Christians, the resurrection offers the hope of everlasting life. Most people will celebrate this spring holiday with a combination of religious and commercial traditions. However you choose to celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful and meaningful Easter surrounded by family and friends

“A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints.” - Wildred Peterson- 

Maybe I have a thing for wooden boats. A couple posts back I posted a photograph of a ladja (local wooden boat) that I saw while exploring the wetlands of the Neretva River delta about an hour from Dubrovnik, Croatia. So, keeping with the wooden boat theme, here’s a picture I took in Bamberg, Germany.

Do April showers really bring May flowers? We’ll have to wait and see. So far this spring has been pretty darned dry. But, what we can count on are a few recognized dates including: April 9 – Palm Sunday April 10 - Passover (begins and sundown and lasts eight days) April 14 - Good Friday April 15 – Income Taxes are due April 16 – Easter April 17 – Patriot’s Day April 22 – Earth Day in the U.S. April 28 – Arbor Day

The Merriam Webster definition of fiction is, “ something invented by the imagination or feigned;   specifically :  an invented story .” To me this means that fiction is limited only by the author’s imagination. As long as the story conveys its intended message or in the case of my romantic suspense and adventure novels, entertains the reader, almost anything goes. One of my favorite movies is, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty . This story is riddled with implausible and unrealistic scenes, but to me it doesn’t matter—it makes me laugh, it makes me smile, it reminds me to live life, just don’t sit around and dream about. This is why I love fiction. So the next time you pick up a novel go all in. Don’t worry about if something can really happen, just relax your mind and let yourself be entertained.