All about Harry Gilleland

Harry E. Gilleland, Jr. is a 64-year-old southerner. Born and raised in Macon, Georgia, he earned a B.S. (1966) and a M.S. (1968) in Microbiology from the University of Georgia in Athens. Following three years of service in the U.S. Army as a captain, including a tour of duty in Vietnam, he returned to earn a Ph.D. in Microbiology from UGA in 1973. He then headed north to complete a two-year fellowship at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada. In July of 1975 he joined the faculty of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. After twenty-nine years of teaching microbiology to medical and graduate students and performing vaccine research, Harry retired in July of 2004. Today Harry lives in Shreveport with his wonderful wife Linda. Harry enjoys being able to engage in his passion for writing full-time.


Harry has previously published three books of his personal poetry: Poetry For The Common Man: Storoems and Poems (2003, ISBN 1411600649), Gilleland Poetry: Storoems and Poems (2005, ISBN 1411629272), and Poetic Musings of an Old, Fat Man (2008, ISBN 978-1-4357-1242-3). In addition, Harry has published two books of prose, a tale of fantasy entitled Bob the Dragon Slayer (2005, ISBN 1411633156) and a contemporary romance story entitled White Lightning Road (2006, ISBN 978-1-4116-8693-9).

Harry Gilleland’s poetry recently won two cash awards in the 2008 Tom Howard Poetry Contest associated with Winning Writers.com. Harry’s rhyming storoem The Old Salty Poems won 2nd Place with a $1,000 prize, while his free-verse poem The Assembled Waiters earned $200 for a High Distinction award. Harry was the only poet to win two cash awards in the contest.

Harry Gilleland’s poetry has been included in four multi-author print anthologies of poems and short stories, in several poetry e-zines, and on numerous Internet poetry forums, in addition to his own three published collections. His storoems (story-poems) and poems are readily accessible to all readers, including those who do not regularly read poetry. Harry views the world with a poet’s eye.


To see Harry's books: http://www.lulu.com/harry
To see Harry's book covers and samples of his poetry: http://www.gillelands.com/poetry/
Harry's books are available for purchase at: LuLu.com, Amazon.com, and Barnes and Noble.com

NaNoWriMo 2009

Today is my last day of sanity. NaNoWriMo begins in just about 12 hours! It is the one month of the year I both love and despise. Despite my excitement yesterday, today I feel anxious and doomed. I've realized just how many of my writing friends have actually completed this seemingly impossible task. Some even twice! And here I am, a third time participant, still looking to take home the gold.

I have a couple of things on my side this time. I don't have school or a job to get in the way. I could theroetically sit in front of my laptop all day and just write. I don't have super fantastic Thanksgiving plans like usual. I have completed a complex, month-long NaNoPrep program on Writing.com. I am more prepared than ever. But, I do have the task of strengthening my YA novel up enough to subit it to a contest, judging some contests on Writing.com, putting together a newsletter, job searching, and taking the pesky Praxis test. So, despite my boy scout-like preparedness and the fact that I'm best friends with my characters, I'm under more pressure than every. Not to mention trying to keep up with my two online writing group friends who have both finished NaNo twice!

Good luck to everyone who is declaring their insanity tomorrow. See you December 1st in the looney bin!

VBT-Writer's on the Move Celebrates Its First Anniversary!

Well, it's a YEAR! That's right, we have been cross-promoting and helping one another for a year now.
To celebrate this accomplishment, we will have a SUPER-DUPER Anniversary Tour!
The number before the host's name is the day in November that he/she will post in the tour.

But, before I explain more about it, here's the schedule:


1 Dianne Sagan is hosting Heidi Thomas

2 Harry Gilleland is hosting Karen Cioffi

3 Karen Cioffi is hosting Martha Swirzinki

4 Kathy Stemke is hosting Brigitte Thompson

5 Nancy Famolari is hosting Deborah Weed

6 Margaret Fieland is hosting Elysabeth Eldering

7 Crystalee Calderwood is hosting Harry Gilleland

8 Katie Hines is hosting Heather Paye

9 Helena Harper is hosting Steve Tremp

10 Liana Metal is hosting Crystalee Calderwood

11 Carolyn Howard-Johnson is hosting Marvin Wilson

12 Gayle Trent is hosting Dianne Sagan

13 Mayra Calvani is hosting Carolyn Howard-Johnson

14 Marvin Wilson is hosting Gayle Trent

15 Linda Asato is hosting Mayra Calvani

16 Heather Paye is hosting Katie Hines

17 Steve Tremp is hosting Helena Harper

18 Elysabeth Eldering is hosting Linda Asato

19 Darcia Helle is hosting Liana Metal

20 Deborah Weed is hosting Nancy Famolari

21 Brigitte Thompson is hosting Margaret Fieland

22 Martha Swirzinki is hosting Darcia Helle

23 Heidi Thomas is hosting Kathy Stemke

Each day there will be prizes offered. All you have to do is leave a comment on the host's site on the day he/she is posting for their guest and you may be a WINNER!

The Winner will have a choice of ONE of 2 or 3 books of our members or other related gifts, OR a one day guest spot on THIS site!

Prizes being given away EVERY Day from November 1st through November 23rd!

OH! Wait a minute! That's not all! We are still having our Mystery Site Giveaway and the SUPER-DUPER PRIZE is a $25 (US) GIFT CARD to either Amazon, Target, or an American Express Gift Card. I'll know for sure by the end of this month.

Winners will be notified the day after each posting. The Mystery Site Winner will be notified Sunday, November 29th.

Come celebrate with us and have the chance of being one of the WINNERS of a great gift in the process.

Angeline is Excited for Halloween!

Guess what she wants?

 State of Reservations by Elysabeth Eldering

What is the state of reservations? That's what young readers must figure out in the latest book in the Junior Geography Detective Squad Series by Elysabeth Eldering.

Quotes. (Hit refresh for a new one!)

Crystalee's favorite quotes

" Try, reach, want, and you may fall. But even if you do, you might be okay anyway.
If you don't try, you save nothing, because you might as well be dead.
-Tibby Tomko-Rollins"— Ann Brashares

Goodreads Quotes

Meet Author Elysabeth Eldering

Today, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Elysabeth Eldering, author of the Junior Geography Detectieve Squad series, and fellow 4RV author.

With a childhood spent traveling the globe, writer Elysabeth Eldering developed a passion for geography. Growing up in a military family, Elysabeth lived in Japan, Germany, New York, Kentucky, and Texas before her family finally settled in a small town in South Carolina. Elysabeth, who lives in Honea Path, put her globetrotting skills to work in the Junior Geography Detective Squad's 50-state mystery trivia series.

Published by 4RV Publishing, the series made its debut in summer 2008 with State of Wilderness. The Junior Geography Detective Squad will continue to put their mystery-solving talents to work in each state, challenging young readers on their knowledge of the nation's geography and interesting facts about each state. State of Quarries is next in the line-up.

The mother of three - an adult son and a teen-aged son and daughter - juggles a schedule that includes volunteering with her children's school activities, such as marching band and band competitions. An avid pet lover, Elysabeth is caretaker for the family's three dogs and a rabbit named Easter. She's active in the Greenville chapters of Sisters in Crime and the SC Writers Workshop and has judged entries for the Derringers Awards competition.

Elysabeth entered her first writing contest on a dare from a friend. Since then, the prize-winning writer has received awards from Armchair Interviews and Echelon Press. Her most recent story, “Bride and Seek,” was published in the SC Writers Workshop anthology The Petigru Review and is available on www.amazon.com. She has an article on editing and self publishing, also with Armchair Interviews.

To learn more about the Junior Geography Detective Squad, visit http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com/  . Contact the author at eeldering@gmail.com  .

Books may ordered from http://www.4rvpublishingllc.com/  or Vivian at president@4rvpublishingllc.com  (for special orders)

On Saturday, we will take a look at the latest book in the series, State of Reservations.