A Success

To be able to say Christmas was a success feels good. We had two wonderful meals at our house with presents and excellent people to share our holiday with. 


First, our brunch on Christmas eve. Our grandkids were so excited about opening presents they hardly ate. We served a huge breakfast and afterward had cheesecake and cookies with coffee. The day was perfect for traveling, (no snow) and everyone seemed to leave with full bellies and new goodies.



Christmas night we had Mom, Cousin Tom, two of my mother's friends - Kathy and Joanne - And my son, Travis. The flank steak was delicious, along with mashed potatoes and homemade hunters gravy, fresh green beans with sliced almonds and rolls. Followed by cheesecake and fresh strawberries or cherry pie and ice cream. 

Dinner Christmas night was much more relaxed, (except for the snowy roads) and the house decorations added to the lovely atmosphere. I really enjoyed the company and the food was a bonus.

Chalk up another successful holiday! Now we have a new year upon us with big plans. Two books will be launched, conferences to sell books, classes to teach, and more fans to join us in Djenrye. I sure hope you continue to come along on Stevie's journey and my companion stories of my fantasy world.

Don't forget to sign up on the new website. I will be adding more questions to Djen Talk, the blog, and soon I will have a new cover to show off for Lore. Lots of fun stuff! djenworld.com

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season, whether it was Christmas or Hanukkah. I love the time with family and friends and the excellent food, decorations and love.

Have a happy New Year everyone and be safe!

Love, Lisa

Happy Holidays

Wow, today totally snunk up on me. I didn't realize it was posting day until fifteen minutes ago. I hope those of you who read my last blog with guest David Chuka enjoyed it and checked out his new book. Looked like a fun read for the kids in your life.


Now onto the holidays, and so far, a very busy one. Since I will be giving two dinners this time I've been busy cleaning and getting ready for a wonderful time with family and friends. I'm feeling it though. 

Scrubbing walls, pulling out furniture, and getting rid of unwanted stuff can take it's toll, but is well worth it. My house is beginning to look great! Still have to clean the carpet this weekend. Ah...the fun never ends.

I'm almost finished Christmas shopping and tomorrow is cookie baking time with my daughter and grandkids - I love making them with the kids.

This time of year can be stressful and overbearing, but I try to remind myself that it's only once a year and well worth it to see the look on the kids faces. I feel so grateful to be able to have this time with my grandkids and family. There is nothing more precious to me than time with loved ones.

I know there are those who don't get that time during the holiday season and my thoughts and prayers go out to all who are alone or hurting. There are plenty of them out there and Rick and I try to give as much as we can to help those in need.

You can always do at least a little something for the downtrodden. Give to Salvation Army, buy a toy for "Toys For Tots", donate to food banks, and give coats to keep others warm. 

I'm sure most of you have a big heart and give during the holidays. The people in need do appreciate the gifts. I think about all the family and friends in my life and my wish for them a happy, healthy holiday. 

It doesn't matter to me whether people say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or any other greeting, it's still time with family and all the joy and love that comes with it. 

Until next week, have a wonderful celebration and may all your dreams come true this season and into the new year that approaches!

Happy Holidays!

Love, Lisa

Please Welcome David Chuka

Please welcome David Chuka as my guest today. He writes wonderful children’s books and has just launched his newest one in his series – Billy and Monster’s Golden Christmas. I’m sure his books would be right up my grandson Carson’s alley with titles such as Billy and the Monster who loved to fart. They look like lots of fun!

Welcome to my blog David, I’m so glad you could take time out from your busy writing schedule to answer some questions for us and maybe get some parents and grandparents out there purchasing your books for their little ones.

So, tell me about yourself; married with kids? Grandkids? – Hi Lisa. Thanks a bunch for having me on your blog today. I’m happily married with two children. Ruth is eight and Richard is five. I live in London, England. My best season of the year is Autumn as it’s not too cold and it’s not too hot.

What got you started writing children’s books? – I think the main catalyst was Ruth when she was just starting out to read. There was this one book I downloaded to my Kindle app that she read with such pride every time we went to see her grandparents. I knew I could write something similar to engage her and to cut a long story short, it culminated with me writing my first children’s book – If You See a Doctor. I’ve gone on to write 10 more since then.

Do you do this fulltime or have to suffer a regular job while pumping out all these books? – I have to say I’m still on my way towards making this a full time gig. I work in the financial sector during the day and write on the train on my way to and from work.

I love your titles and I believe most kids would too! How did you come up with that idea? – Thanks Lisa. That compliment is much appreciated. I try and write books that I would have loved to read when I was a wee lad. My most popular series – The Adventures of Billy and Monster – came about on Boxing Day 2012. My family and I were staying over at my Mum’s place for the holiday. On Boxing Day, I woke up early and could hear all the wonderful noises you hear at that time of the day. I tried to get back to sleep but it was an exercise in futility. So I untangle myself from my very cozy duvet and go downstairs to the kitchen. I get a pen and pad and challenged myself to come up with something interesting. I came up with this story about a little boy – Billy – who is an only child and has a Monster as a friend. They do everything together and love each other. There’s only one problem. Monster farts a lot and everyone blames Billy for it. The story shows how children (and adults of course) can behave when they feel rumblings in their tummy that tend to lead to noisy and nose-tingling fumes.

I saw you have also done some animal picture books. My grandkids love those. Can you tell me about them? – My first animal book is titled ‘I Love Baby Animals.’ The idea came about while I was washing plates. It’s a simple book that shows animals and their babies. It was fun doing the research for that book. Like do you know what a baby hedgehog is called? It’s called a hoglet. I’ve followed that up with 2 other non-fiction books and my first fiction Animal book is titled ‘Kojo the Sea Dragon Gets Lost.’ It’s a story about a one-eyed, buck-toothed, multi-tailed sea dragon who gets lost while playing hide and seek and gets rescued by the entire community from the South side of the Zakari River.

What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not busy writing? – I like going to a good restaurant that serves good food and eating something spicy that makes me sweat while I promise myself it’ll be the last time I eat something hot and spicy. Watching movies and eating popcorn is also another fun pastime.

Do you plan to stick with children’s books or venture out to older children or even adults? – I plan to write more children’s books although I have to admit that I have started writing my first Crime/Mystery book. A whole new ball game to writing children’s books but I’m loving the challenge.

One more question: If someone were interested in writing children’s books what would your advice to them be? – I would say to write a book that you would be absolutely proud to share with a young audience. If it’s a fiction book, then it should have a story that incorporates characters and scenarios that children can identify with and/or be intrigued by. Please make sure that you get a good illustrator to create images that children find captivating.

Thanks for being a guest on my blog! It was wonderful having you and I look forward to reading your books to my own grandkids! I hope to have you back soon!

The Link to order David's books:Amazon Link

To reach David on Facebook: FanPage

To reach David on TwitterTwitter - David Chuka

I hope you leave David a comment. He would love to hear from you and don't forget to check out his wonderful books on Amazon!

Until next Friday, have a great weekend!

Love, Lisa

Catching You Up

Happy Friday all! I hope this post finds you well and happy. There's been a lot going on in the world of the Djen lately - such as a new website that's 99% completed, and looking into other types of social media. I've been working hard on getting the book finished too. Still lots to write and do.

I would like to invite you to my new website and hope you take a look around and maybe take part in questions or ideas about the books with the interactive blog - Djen Talk. It's a fun way to be a part of a working series and maybe get your input inserted into the books. Djenworld.com

Today I will be posting a new question and plan to have a discussion if your up for it. I also plan to send out my first newsletter to those who've signed up. I'm very excited to get the site off the ground and running.

With Facebook changing their policy on fanpage posts, those of us who are authors will need to find another way to reach our readers, other than comments on our pages. I believe Facebook has made millions, if not billions off their advertising but I guess it's not enough, now they are expecting small businesses to pay to reach their customers/fans, even new authors.

There's always something interfering with trying to reach your followers so I must branch out and look into other ways. Of course there is Google+ and Twitter. In the mean time, you can always go to the website and we can discuss the books, you can learn about new cover releases, or launches. There will be contests and giveaways and you can be a part of my world of the Djen.  

So I hope to see some of you there!


I will be welcoming on this blog a returning guest next Friday - David Chuka! He had released a new children's book and I look forward to the interview and talking about his work. I hope you join us and welcome David with question and or comments.

Until next Friday, I hope your weekend is filled with fun!

Thanks again for all your support and coming along with me on my journey to becoming an author and writing a series!

Love, Lisa