Welcome! I am pleased to send this newsletter/blog  to you.  I intend to send out monthly letters with news and updates. Watch the emails for contests and freebies. Everyone loves something free. I do!
I was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. I wrote a novel called Emmie of Indianapolis, about a very sensitive, emotional, smart, opinionated, friendly, strong fighting young girl in a small Midwestern city. Who does that sound like? My husband and I have been married forty-two years and we recently retired to Mexico. We live with our son Richard and our two dogs, Buddy and Whitey. https://www.amazon.com/Emmie-Indianapolis-Kay-Castaneda-ebook/dp/B07G2S9MTP/

Emmie O’Brien is the main character in my first novel. One reviewer says “Emmie, the main character, is a brave, caring and hard working young lady destined to rise about her circumstances due to her simple faith and hope in her heart.” Another reviewer says “Emmie is speaking directly to us, simply, succinctly, sometimes without understanding, and other times with deep understanding; but more often than not a sense of wonder.” Read more about Emmie. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13851635.Kay_Castaneda

Emmie watches her sisters at night while Mom’s at work. Windows shut, hot, dark, no air, door locked, evil all around.

“I just kept sweeping and sweeping the bad things out the back door. Took a hot steaming mop and pushed it back and forth till there were no more black shiny pills on our kitchen floor.”

Emmie O’Brien

New Project

I hope you’ll find Emmie’s story interesting because she is going to be featured in my next project-a series of novels starring Emmie as a teenage amateur sleuth. Emmie’s dream of being a detective AND a newspaper reporter becomes true when she…..Oh, I can’t tell you just now.

The next book which I plan to complete by September 2023 will be named Go Find Iris Rose: An Emmie O’Brien Mystery Novel. I know you’ll like the story. The outline, plot, characters and chapter mapping is finished, ready to fill in the blanks. It’s not easy, as you know.

My Blog BOOKPLACES

I also invite you to take a peek at my blog, BOOKPLACES, where I post my creative writing such as essays, memoir pieces, poetry and writing-related articles.

https://bookplaces.blog

My FACEBOOK AUTHOR PAGE

I’d say I love Facebook, especially for the various groups I’m in. Some are pages of my favorite authors.https://www.facebook.com/kaycastaneda90

REVIEWS

I used to read 1-2 books a week, but since I started devoting more time to my author marketing, that number is way smaller! I’m on a thriller/mystery addiction now, but I love memoirs, historical fiction, literary fiction and some Young Adult fiction. If you’d like to check out some of the reviews, please go there. You might find a new book to read. And if you are an author who wants a review of your book, let me know. You can find my review guidelines on my blog.

Request

I love the stories of authors. If you know of any memoirs of authors, let me know. Can you also do me a favor and ask your friends or fellow authors if they’d be interested in getting my letters? Have them read this, forward it or lead them to my blog. You can contact me at kay@whiteriverwriters.com at my email address.

Contest!

I collect pictures, paintings, posters, memes etc. of women of all ages reading a book. I have hundreds on my Pinterest site. You can send them to me at any of the links. The person who sends me the best, the most fantastic image will win an ecopy of my novel, Emmie of Indianapolis. It has to be a photo I don’t already have, so try very hard.

Last Thoughts

Not those kind of last thoughts! Just some things I want to say before I close. I will never sell your email information or name and if you don’t want to receive any more newsletters from me, just click the unsubscribe button below.

Thanks for reading to the end of this newsletter. As a reward, here is a freebie. It’s a small memoir piece that I hope you’ll enjoy.

https://bookplaces.blog/best-cook-in-the-world-2/

I hope you will sign up for this newsletter if you haven’t done so already!

https://mailchi.mp/2ca4d4d34805/newsletter-sign-up