Girl Power?! You Betcha!! by Margo Hoornstra

FEELING FIERCE – The words were emblazoned in pink and silver block letters on the little girl’s size tee shirt at the store. No question. That shirt was just made for my five year old granddaughter. Ooops! I mean five and a half year old. Excuse me. She’s a kindergartner, you know.

This was one purchase I was not going to pass up. Especially when, frugal shopper that I am, I noticed the Buy One Get One Half Off sign across the top of the display.

Perfect.

Several bright pink tee shirts on a nearby rack in more silver block letters declared AWESOME STARTS HERE.

Perfect times two.

Both messages brought to mind an incident of a few years ago when I was raising this grandbaby’s momma. Her middle school class was going to create a bank so the students could learn the ins and outs of corporate finance. Various positions were open for applications and she was so excited to be a part.

As the project took shape, she brought home a printed list of the duties associated with such job titles as president, vice-president, teller, auditor and the like.

After studying the sheet for a while, she shared her intentions. “I think  I’ll apply for the vice-president job.”

“What does the vice-president have to know?”

“Everything the president does.” She didn’t bother to look up. “In case they ever have to take over the job.”

I’ll admit I had a little trouble holding in a ‘is this all the farther we’ve come in smashing the glass ceiling’ rant.

At the risk of providing an inappropriate information dump – an absolute no no in my oh so competent CP’s world – a touch of back story here is necessary.

My long time paycheck job was a management position at a non-profit. One of those professional organizations with a typical men only need to apply mind set. I must have done something right since I survived there for a quite a while. Yet, year after year, I’d have to prove myself again to the incoming, usually male dominated and skeptical, volunteer Board of Directors.

In fact, my brother had an interesting exchange with one of the members shortly after I got the job.

“I heard for that new CEO position they hired a girl.”

Bless his heart, my brother’s response was quick and to the point. “Yes they did. And she’s my sister.”

As I understand, the conversation ended there.

But, back to the dialogue between my daughter and me regarding her immediate career aspirations.

I cleared my throat and swallowed the rant. “The vice-president needs to know everything the president does, so why not apply for the president position?”

My question was met with wide eyes and a dropped open mouth. Then the eyes blinked and the mouth spoke. “Yeah. Why not? I think I will.”

She did and she got it!

FEELING FIERCE and AWESOME STARTS HERE are tucked away for my granddaughter’s upcoming birthday. May she wear them proudly, and stand tall when she does so.

You know what? I wish they made those tee shirts in my size.

My days to blog here are the 11th and 23rd. For more about me and my stories, please visit my WEBSITE

Keeping up with the Roses...

Hi readers! I’m excited about The Roses of Prose’s new direction and new members. My name is Amber Leigh Williams and I’ve been blogging with The Roses of Prose since it began. For those who don’t know me, I’m a multi-published romance author, a member of Romance Writers of America, and former Secretary of GCCRWA. I’m a passionate writer, reader, and blogger here at The Roses of Prose, western romance site Sweethearts of the West, and my personal blog The Cozy Page!

When I was a child, I had difficulty learning to read so in third grade I was enrolled in a reading program designed to accelerate my reading skills. I owe that program both my love of reading and writing. Not only did reading become easier, I developed a keen interest in storytelling itself. The next year, my teacher gave a book-writing assignment. I chose to retell Cinderella. The resulting story was created on construction paper with Crayola markers and it was then laminated. The finished product gave me a tingly, champagne-bottle feeling and I spent the rest of my childhood chasing that sensation with several short, young adult manuscripts that I hope never see the light of day. In high school, my mother gave me a romance novel by Nora Roberts to read. From that point on, I wanted to write and publish my own romance novel.

I’m happy to say that my first romance manuscript, after being revised several times, has been published in the last several years. The historical romance, Forever Amore, based in World-War-II Italy was nominated by Long & Short Reviews for Best Book of 2009! It is published with Black Lyon Publishing.

In the last five years, I've discovered a new passion: western romance! I published a contemporary western romance trilogy called the Ridges of Wayback, TX. The trilogy follows the ranching family, the Ridges - primarily siblings, Stella, Casey, and Keefe Ridge. The first book, Blackest Heart, was the 1st Place Novella in the 2009 More Than Magic Contest. Silent cowboy, Judd Black, also happens to be my favorite hero! Last year, a follow-up entitled Bluest Heart and the final book in the trilogy, Bet it on my Heart were published back-to-back. The ebooks are available at The Wild Rose Press.

In addition to ebooks, the trilogy was chosen by The Wild Rose Press to be published as an audio book collection with newly redesigned covers. All three audio books are available now at AudioLark.

Blackest Heart was also chosen to be published in a paperback anthology, The Way Back Home, with two other western romances by Marguerite Arotin and Abbey MacInnis. The Wild Rose Press has published my romantic suspense novel, Denied Origin. I’m represented by D4EO Literary Agency. In progress are my paranormal romance series, a Regency romance, and a contemporary romance revision.

This year I redesigned my official author website, www.amberleighwilliams.com. There you can sign up for my exclusive reader newsletter. Subscribers get a treat every month in the form of an interview with a hero or heroine from my backlist. My EXTRAS page was updated this month to include bonus material from a few of my books: read a sexy, short story called “Wayback Valentine” and a fun deleted scene from Bet it on my Heart here: http://www.amberleighwilliams.com/extras.

Readers, I’d love to connect with you on Twitter! I’m also on Facebook and Goodreads. Visit my blog, The Cozy Page, this month for the 30 Days of Promo Goodness event where readers can learn about new books, guest authors' takes on the promotional process, and win tons of book-related prizes!

Currently, I live on the Gulf Coast of Alabama with my husband, Jacob, and our three labs! I'm looking forward to getting to know our new Roses and getting settled in again here at The Roses of Prose! My question for readers today is where in the world is this post finding you today?