Welcome to a new segment I like to call “Great Things From Great People,” where you’ll get to meet great people doing great things!

Without further ado, here’s #1:

The very friendly Briana Vedstead at http://whenibecameanauthor.wordpress.com just released her latest book:

Here’s the book summary: Cord had to work hard to earn her living as a cow puncher, and she was getting along just fine until a wealthy rancher moves into the county and threatens the lives of her and her friends. Cord rises up to meet every challenge, but the death of friends, both old and new, plague her at every turn. And just when everything seems like it is going to go back to being peacefully normal, a secret comes to light, putting Cord and her future family in danger. Will Cord let go of her sorrow filled past and revengeful wishes long enough to save her loved ones and pull her life back out of the bottomless pit it seems to be stuck in?

“But let me tell you this: peace in the heart is much more comforting than blood in the sand.”

Besides blogging, Briana Vedstead is a modern day cowgirl, living out in the west and helping raise her family’s herd of cattle. Around her blog you’ll find a friendly and supportive group of writers, many of whom are experimenting in the world of self-publishing.

Here’s the link to Amazon and here’s the link to Smashwords.

Now, if you like your westerns to have more of a supernatural flavor, here’s #2:

Brought straight to you from Comic Con, here’s Pariah, Missouri.

My friend Andres Salazar set up a Kickstarter campaign for this comic back in December.  After raising 280% of his original goal, he built the comic book and pushed forward with getting it out to the public.  He’s a smooth gentleman, and an entrepreneur and always have several projects going at once, whether its a comic, a card game, or a movie script.  (Also his wife and kids are pretty awesome too).

Go on and check out his site here and the comic’s Facebook page here.

Contact him if you’d like a copy of the comic.  It’s some cool, creative stuff.

If westerns aren’t your thing, and you just want to sing, here’s #3:

Heart Song Studios

My very good friend Tammy Kumpfmiller, besides being the awesome mother of 2, a fan of every fantasy movie ever, and an all around nice lady, is also a professionally trained singing coach.  She has coached people ranging from children singing for fun to professionals trying to improve their craft and break into the music business.

She offers lessons via Skype, as well as in the Prescott, Arizona area.

She is an encouraging and warm fuzzy coach, while also giving the professional level feedback needed to help improve anyone’s singing ability.

Go on and check out her site

(Also, my sister Katherine designed the website.)

And on to personal excitement, here’s #4:

My sister Natalie leaves next week for a mission for our church.

She will be living in Mexico City for six weeks before heading down to Panama, where she will live for about 18 months.

While I’ll miss her, we’ll be writing each other, and she’ll be off doing service to try to make the world just a little bit better.  So, good luck Natalie.  I’ll try to fill the large void you will leave in the dogs’ lives.

Speaking of leaving, here’s #5:

My family (excluding Natalie and Katherine), is leaving this week to trek across the West, sample ice cream, and head out to Yellowstone National Park.

That means I’ll be gone for the next two weeks, and won’t be interacting much in the blogosphere.  To take care of that, I’ve pulled some great posts from my previous blog and you’ll see those over the next few weeks.

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How about you?  Are you doing anything great – a new book, project, charity event, world record?  Do you know of anyone doing anything great?  I’d love to feature either.

Also, do you have any favorite riding-in-the-car games or things to do while camping?  I’m looking for adding more awesome to my trip.