https://audreydriscoll.com/2018/06/15/free-on-kindle-hunting-the-phoenix-book-4-of-the-herbert-west-series/Journalist Alma Halsey chases the story of a lifetime to Providence, Rhode Island and finds more than she expected – an old lover, Charles Milburn, and an old adversary, renegade physician Herbert West, living under the name Francis Dexter. Fire throws her into proximity with them both, rekindling romance and completing a great transformation.
http://thewarriormuse.blogspot.com/2018/06/horror-list-book-review-bubba-ho-tep.html This is actually a novella, not a novel. And it was a lot of fun. I’m sure I could find issues with it if I sat down to analyze plot, etc., but I’d rather not. This was a quick read with an opening line that will tell you whether this is something you want to keep reading or not.
Told from six narrative strands, this cleverly woven and utterly compulsive novel challenges preconceptions; makes you second, third and fourth guess yourself; and holds an uncomfortable mirror up to the way societies and systems treat those they perceive to be on the outside.”
https://mariacatalinaegan.com/2018/06/16/the-unholy-by-author-paul-deblassie-iii/ ”The Unholy, an excellent novel by Paul DeBlassie III, keeps the reader engaged throughout in mystery, suspense, and church politics. In addition to vividly depicting the beautiful landscape and culture of New Mexico, it exposes and strengthens the traditional work of the medicine women of the Southwest. I am looking forward to Dr. DeBlassie’s next book.” –Eliseo ”Cheo” Torres, author ofCurandero: A Life In Mexican Folk Healing, professor, and university administrator.
https://tinafrisco.com/2018/06/15/author-interview-billy-ray-chitwood/ “The storyline? Meet a mother from hell! I ran across the California newspaper clippings from years ago about a Northern California mother who tortured her six kids – the three girls most specifically – with beatings, dark-closet punishments that could last for days, eating lard and their own retch, standing erect or on their knees for hours at a time. She kills two of the girls by fire, leaving one girl to fear for her life…an amazing story, fictionalized with lots of true elements!”
https://mythcreants.com/blog/lessons-from-the-rambling-writing-of-handbook-for-mortals/ “Last year, Handbook for Mortals by Lani Sarem cheated its way to the top of the New York Times YA bestseller list. It wasn’t #1 for long, though. Observers quickly noticed how strange it was that a book no one had heard of by a brand new publisher had soared to the top. The book wasn’t in stock at most retailers, and the website Fakespot rated the book’s Amazon reviews as suspicious. Also, everyone thought Handbook for Mortals was really bad for a bestseller. After investigating, The New York Times removed the book from their list. You can get all the juicy details on Pajiba.”
http://storitorigrace.blogspot.com/2018/06/5-ways-classic-pc-adventure-games.html “It’s no secret that I freaking love PC Adventure Games. I’ve been playing them since I was seven-years-old. My mom had a lot of them on floppy disc. Yes, floppy disc. If you don’t know what those are, look them up (It’s also what your save icon is in Microsoft Word). XD Then later on with CD-ROM (Now we have snazzy disc-less download stuff. I’m so grateful for that.). So I have many fond memories get on our dinosaur of a computer in the office after finishing my schoolwork for the day and spending time with some of my pixel best friends. I wouldn’t be the same writer I am today without the many skills I learned by playing these games.”
https://stevelaube.com/author-says-agent-hears/ “Many aspiring authors communicate things they think are positive, or at least in the spirit of honesty and transparency, but end up being understood entirely different than the intended message.”
https://stevelaube.com/the_wild_pitch/ “It is the third month of the Major League baseball season, so I thought it would be fun to explore the concept of having a quality pitch. As with baseball, the author needs to pitch their ideas in an effective manner. But it doesn’t always work out that way.”
Historical:
https://mythcreants.com/blog/why-historical-accuracy-isnt-a-reason-to-exclude-diversity/ “As someone who critiques media for a living, I run into this argument all the time. I see it from the darkest depths of YouTube to the comments section of this very blog. Some people use the argument as a smoke screen to hide the fact that they simply don’t want diverse stories, whereas others genuinely think that history requires stories to be full of bigotry. Either way, the argument is wrong, and here’s why.” I have to agree. All types of people should be in our stories. There’s room for everyone!
http://mybipolarmind.com/2018/06/16/my-2018-vacation-is-in-12-hours/ “I am looking forward to taking lots of pictures and walking on the beach. I would bring my laptop on the sand and stare at the ocean view and write or blog because that is actually on my bucketlist — to write by the ocean — but I am too worried that I would get sand on it or that it will get wet, broken, or stolen. I need my laptop because, well, I am a writer. Or at least, I try to be.” I am going on vacation, too, just not away for one. Well, at least I don’t think so. Instead, I’m taking a writing vacation.
MG/YA:
http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/2018/06/amy-mcnamara-author-of-flicker-in.html “Many years ago my daughter struggled with a needy, domineering and self-destructive friend. It made me think of my own attraction to a glamorous mess when I was her age. It took me far longer than it took my daughter to realise there is a vast difference between caretaking and genuine friendship and that real friendship is an ongoing balance between give and take.”
https://killzoneblog.com/2018/06/for-the-repose-of-the-soul.html “Fair warning: this is going to be a very dark and sad post. You might want to go elsewhere, to a place where quiet is disturbed only by laughter and where there is no fear or bad endings instead of reading what follows.”
https://dsm-publications.com/2018/06/15/author-inspiration-and-this-weeks-writing-links-4/ “I’ve been blessed with many wonderful examples of fatherhood. My grandfather and my father were everything a girl could have asked for: strong, fun, loving, caring, encouraging. I have uncles and inlaws galore who fit the bill, too. I can’t tell you how full of love my heart is for each and every one of them.”
https://www.thebookdesigner.com/2018/06/how-to-update-your-book-without-losing-your-reviews/ “One of the benefits of being an indie publisher is the ability to update your books whenever you choose. Have a cover you did yourself before you knew better? Change the cover! Wrote a book about social media and included Vine? Update it! Have a new book coming out? Add a sample chapter in your past book! And so on.”
https://www.thebookdesigner.com/2018/06/book-promotion-do-this-not-that-june-2018/ “More and more authors are seeing that the ADD TO CART button does not place an order with the author/publisher like it used to. This is not a new phenomenon, but for the last year, Amazon has been awarding the button to the lowest-priced seller and that is often not the author. This has, in some cases, resulted in a dramatic drop in their CreateSpace sales.”
https://selfpublishingadvice.org/indie-authors-ebook-pricing-seeley-james/ “One of the many advantages of being an indie author is that with access to your own dashboard on the book distribution sites (KDP, Kobo, iBooks, etc), you can set your own pricesfor your books, in whatever format you’re self-publishing them, and change them until you hit a sweet spot for profitability.”
https://www.indiesunlimited.com/2018/06/04/writing-and-publishing-what-scares-you/ “I’ve published more than twenty works of fiction over the past seven or eight years, but none of them has given me so much pause – so much stick your fingers in your ears and go LALALALA– as publishing the book I’ve been working on for at least ten years: a memoir of my relationship with my mother and my brother.”
Craft:
https://jamigold.com/2018/06/are-sneaky-plot-holes-lurking-in-your-story/ “Despite the term plot hole, illogical and/or inconsistent events and details in our story can exist in more places than just our story’s plot. And no matter the source, those breaks in logic affect our readers the same way, so we need to watch out for them the same way we keep an eye open for logic holes within our story’s plot.”
https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/how-to-create-character-chemistry/ “To one degree or another, chemistry exists in all relationships, whether they’re romantic, familial, friendly, or just casual. Some chemistry is positive; some negative. Either way, chemistry is basically just an energetic exchange between people.”
https://www.janefriedman.com/the-power-of-silence-in-a-pitch-situation/ “When writers ask me for advice about pitching their work in-person, my favorite tip is: Get the other person talking and asking questions. Rather than dominating the conversation with everything youwant to say, figure out what’s going on inside the head of your target. That’s where the valuable information is. The nature of their response will help you learn the publishing business and how to position your work.”
https://www.janefriedman.com/what-does-it-mean-to-write-a-scene-that-works/ “Change through conflict. On the whole, stories are about change. And scenes are a boiled down, less intense, mini-story. They should do the same thing your global story does: upset the life value of the character and put them on a path to try and restore it.”
https://writershelpingwriters.net/2018/06/occupation-thesaurus-entry-business-tycoon/ “Overview: A business tycoon is someone who is extremely successful in their industry. Tycoons tend to be entrepreneurial, coming up with innovative ideas or solutions that help them rise to the top in their fields. Some (Henry Ford, J.P. Morgan, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffet, etc.) are so famous as to become household names to the general public, while others are simply well-known by those in their fields. A person can become a mogul in any industry—automobiles, banking, social media, finance, media, real estate, etc. Because of their success, these leaders tend to be very wealthy.”
http://www.thepassivevoice.com/morality-clauses-are-publishers-right-to-police-writers/ “As the pressure has mounted, London-based authors’ agent Lizzy Kremer has taken pre-emptive action – drawing up a new, industry-wide code of conduct on behalf of a coalition of authors, booksellers, agents and publishers. The voluntary code was partly inspired by London’s Royal Court theatre, which constructed one in reaction to its own sexual misconduct scandal involving a former artistic director. Among the theatre’s first responses was a call out for testimony about sexual harassment to help it to identify “patterns and scenarios”. In a detail that chimes strongly with the publishing industry, the report drew attention to the dangers of a “blurred social context”: “13.3% of reported incidents happened at work parties … with alcohol.”
http://booksbywomen.org/waiting-for-inspiration-by-penny-kline/ “Sitting agonising never works, at least it doesn’t for me. Obviously, if and when I have a wonderful moment of “inspiration” and the two themes combine into a story, there are still many gaps to be filled and, most importantly of all, characters to create, but where the story came from I couldn’t say. Somewhere in my unconscious, I suppose.” I often have to do something else as well.
https://seths.blog/2018/06/the-danger-of-not-good-enough/ “It’s true that you’re not good enough yet. None of us are. But if you commit to trying hard enough and long enough, you’ll get better.” This is something I’m struggling with right now.
https://teagansbooks.com/2018/06/09/its-about-time-with-don/ That’s where the idea of using some form of time travel emerged. It was a difficult decision because I’ve spent the past several books identifying with readers as a crime fiction author. I did publish a collection of short stories in my anthology, Random Tales,that had some science fiction/paranormal entries, but this would be my first novel to explore that part of my writing.
https://phsolomon.com/2018/06/09/characters-from-the-bow-of-destiny-hastra/ For those who have read my free short story, What Is Needed, you’ve met the Withling Hastra. What are Withlings? They were a mystic order devoted to the deity Eloch. If you’re interested in the Withlings, the e-book is still available on all major book retail sites. But here’s a little more about Hastra. She’s been alive for several centuries serving Eloch through many adventures while working against Magdronu’s efforts. Her mystic powers come from Eloch and can come in many forms and at timely moments.
https://mythsofthemirror.com/2018/06/07/covers-revealed/ Some souls gift insights, wisdom, a path to understanding. Others unleash power, proficiency with a sword, and indifference to death. One soul assimilates with ease. Swallow a host of the dead and risk a descent into madness.
https://tinafrisco.com/2018/06/07/author-interview-jacqui-murray/ Born in the harsh world of East Africa 1.8 million years ago, where hunger, death, and predation are a normal part of daily life, Lucy and her band of early humans struggle to survive. It is a time in history when man was relentlessly annihilated by predators, nature, his own people, and the next iteration of the species. To make it worse, Lucy’s band hates her. She may be their leader’s new mate but they don’t understand her odd actions, don’t like her strange looks, and don’t trust her past. To survive, she cobbles together an unusual alliance with an orphaned child, a beleaguered protodog who’s lost his pack, and a man who was supposed to be dead.
https://teripolen.com/2018/06/06/www-wednesday-what-am-i-reading-amreading-8/Sabrina Sebastian’s goal in life is to be an investigative reporter. For her first big story, she researches a popular website called Scream Site, where people post scary videos and compete for the most “screams.” While Sabrina’s friends and her sister, Faith, talk nonstop about the creepy viral videos, Sabrina just hopes that covering this trend will get her the internship she’s wishing for. But as she digs into the truth behind the website, she begins to suspect that these aren’t only aspiring actors and videographers at work. Some clips seem a little too real. And when Faith goes missing, Sabrina must race against time to save her sister from becoming the next video “star.”
Romance/Women’s Fiction:
https://mariacatalinaegan.com/2018/06/09/enchanted-romances-magical-passion/ Come into our world, where guardian angels protect you, Fountain of Youth water revives you, and supernatural beings comfort you. Eight paranormal stories with romance and happy ever after endings by eight award winning and bestselling authors. Enjoy the ride into our mystical fantasies filled with superb entertainment!
https://mariacatalinaegan.com/2018/06/08/this-weeks-best-selling-author-alyssa-day/ Alyssa Day is the pen name (and dark and tortured alter ego) of author Alesia Holliday. As Alyssa, she is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author, and she writes the Warriors of Poseidon and Cardinal Witches paranormal romance series and the Tiger’s Eye Mysteries, a paranormal mystery series. As Alesia, she writes comedies that make readers snort things out of their noses, and is the author of the award-winning memoir about military families during war-time deployments: Email to the Front. She has won many awards for her writing, including Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award for outstanding romance fiction and the RT Book Reviews Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Paranormal Romance novel of 2012.
https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2018/06/07/rosies-bookreview-team-rbrt-womensfiction-the-women-of-heachley-hall-by-racheljwalkley-2/ Twenty-eight-year old Miriam Marsters, a freelance illustrator, is shocked to discover she is the sole surviving heir to her Great Aunt Felicity’s fortune. Depending on referrals for paying jobs, she sees selling the Victorian mansion bequeathed to her, Heachley Hall, as a way of being able to sell her cramped old city flat and buy a house with a studio. There is only one catch – in order to get the house, she has to earn it, by living in it for one year and one day. It’s hardly habitable, having been empty for five years and decaying even before her great aunt left it, far from the memories of a color-filled home with splendid gardens she has from her youth.
http://www.thisishorror.co.uk/streaming-screams-lost-soul/G. Wells’ classic novel Island of Doctor Moreauis one the best examples of how horror and science-fiction can blend seamlessly together to challenge our concepts of life and death, identity, and morality. A cautionary tale about the evils of playing God with nature, the novel has been adapted to film several times, most notably as Island of Lost Souls (1932), again in 1977 with The Island of Dr Moreau with Burt Lancaster and Michael York (a personal favorite), and most recently with an adaptation with Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer (1996). The later adaptation, originally conceived by film auteur Richard Stanley (Hardwire, Dust Devils) and ultimately directed by John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate, Ronin) was considered a box-office bomb and ranks high in that polarizing category of worst-best films. That version, especially considering Stanley’s involvement and subsequent removal, is the subject of David Gregory’s documentary Lost Soul:The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau.
https://teripolen.com/2018/06/08/the-writers-reading-corner-david-radman-amreading-childrensbooks-indieauthor/ My second published children’s book, “When Grandpa Gets Going”, was just released this February. It’s a story that celebrates the special relationship that exists between a grandpa and his grandchildren. Experience the non-stop excitement of having to keep up with your grandpa while he’s in town visiting you on vacation. It’s a fast-paced, high-energy story, written in rhyme, that questions who is really keeping up with whom?
http://middlegrademafia.com/2018/06/07/mg-book-review-hello-universe-by-erin-entrada-kelly/ There’s shy and then there’s Virgil Salinas. He’s so quiet, he usually only talks to his family and then mostly only to his grandmother Lola. So, how will he ever get up the nerve to talk Valencia Somerset, a girl in his resource class at middle school? His only hope is Kaori Tanaka, a girl in his neighborhood with a gift for the spiritual world. At least that’s what Kaori claims.
http://www.fantasybookcafe.com/2018/06/review-of-children-of-blood-and-bone-by-tomi-adeyemi/Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi’s #1 New York Timesbestselling debut novel, is the first installment in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy. This West African-inspired young adult fantasy book is a heart-wrenching story with characters facing memorable struggles in both their literal and figurative journeys, and I can definitely understand why it’s been making such big waves this year. However, despite being hooked throughout the first and last 100 pages, I did find the pacing between these two sections to be rather uneven—and, frankly, I found much of the middle difficult to slog through even though I appreciated the author’s vision overall.
https://annetterochelleaben.wordpress.com/2018/06/09/the-contract-between-heaven-and-earth/ Brad Channing, a Navy SEAL, and Sarah O’Brien, a teacher, become heaven’s representatives on earth. The story follows them as they individually and then together face overwhelming obstacles and eventually end up on a strategic Air Force base in California. It is there that they discover a conspiracy to assassinate the President of the United States. The terrorists have a plan for global dominance, and they are determined to complete their mission. Although military leadership appears to have the President’s best interests at heart, it is not clear who can be trusted and who should be feared. The action is rough and tumble as Brad and Sarah try to figure out the culprits for the plot that will turn into a worldwide conflagration unless stopped.
https://maeclair.net/2018/06/08/cusp-of-night-new-release-from-mae-clair/ I’m visiting the lovely Jan Sikes today with an excerpt from my upcoming release, Cusp of Night. If you have a moment, please pop over and check it out. While you’re there, take a look around Jan’s blog. She is wonderful supportive, musically gifted, and a fabulous writer. I HIGHLY recommend her Flowers & Stone series of books. They are guaranteed to touch your heart!
https://coldhandboyack.wordpress.com/2018/06/07/going-home-on-lisaburtonradio/ Michelle DePalma expects to jet home for a routine visit to Two Wells, Texas, to check on her elderly mother, Lola Hanson, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. She walks in to find her mother hovering over the dead body of her caregiver, unable to offer a straight answer about what happened. Lola is quickly labeled a suspect, and Michelle must stay in her hometown much longer than planned to help unravel the mystery and clear her mother’s name. Going Homewas inspired by the author’s own mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s, which prompted her to wonder what it would be like to interview a witness who could not rely on her memory.
http://lizlovesbooks.com/lizlovesbooks/the-captives-debra-jo-immergut-blog-tour-review/ Convicted of murder, destined for life in prison, Miranda is desperate for an escape. She signs up for sessions with the prison psychologist, Frank Lundquist, so that she can access the drugs to end it all. But unknown to her, Frank remembers her from high school, where, forgettable and unseen, he had a crush on Miranda Greene. Now, captivated again, his feelings deepen to obsession. What led the daughter of a former Congressman to commit such a terrible crime? And how can he make her remember him?
http://lizlovesbooks.com/lizlovesbooks/getting-to-know-you-with-g-d-abson-motherland-blog-tour/ Motherland is a gritty crime thriller set in modern Russia. My heroine, Senior Investigator Natalya Ivanova, has been side-lined, working domestic violence cases, until she’s given the opportunity to look into the disappearance of a Swedish student. What appears at first to be a kidnapping then turns into a darker, more complex tale.
https://colleenchesebro.com/2018/06/06/colleens-2018-book-reviews-title-by-author-name/ G. Kaye is back, and as she reflects on some of her more memorable vacations and travel snags, she finds herself constantly struggling to keep one step ahead of the ever-changing guidelines of the airlines–with her overweight luggage in tow. Her stories alert us to some of the pitfalls of being an obsessive shopper, especially when it comes time for D.G. to bring her treasures home, and remind us of the simpler days when traveling was a breeze.
http://storitorigrace.blogspot.com/2018/06/questions-for-cohen-silhouette.html “Since Beautiful People has ended for the time being I thought I’d try reviving character interviews on the blog so I can talk about my books a little bit. This is Cohen Makovsky and he’s the main character of my Adult Science-Fiction novel Silhouette. He had his own Beautiful People, but I need to get to know him even more. XD Let me tell you a bit about him.”
https://legendsofwindemere.com/2018/06/09/there-is-a-sliver-of-light-in-the-future/ “Speaking of anxiety, this week has been a rough one. Sunday was fun with ‘Deadpool 2’ and Cheesecake Factory, but the weekdays were emotionally brutal. Aside from some personal stuff, two reviews vanished on me. One from Warlord of the Forgotten Ageand another from War of Nytefall: Loyalty. Those are two books that can’t afford to lose any reviews and I don’t have any explanation for it. It’s frustrating when you’re trying to figure out how to fairly get reviews while the ones you do have are disappearing. I don’t know if the person who wrote them had their account deleted, someone reported these strangers as friends/family, or some other explanation. With everything else going on this week, this incident became a catalyst for me to have an almost constant anxiety attack. I used what little energy I could muster for writing. That created an odd ‘stockpile’ of anxiety that would hit me once I was done, but I got through it.”
https://phsolomon.com/2018/06/06/abracadabra-transforming-your-book/ “Today, due to popular demand, I’d like to outline an easy way to format your books for ebook publishing. In the past, you had to know HTML to do any serious editing on your converted book, and using Word meant deleting lots of extra coding that did you no favours. More recently, however, we’ve seen new programs that can do so much for us. One such writer’s program that makes the conversion process so much easier and stress free (once you know the software) is Scrivener, on which PH Solomon has so kindly written lots of posts on the ins and outs here on Story Empire. If you haven’t seen them yet, please do look through our archives.”
Romance/Women’s Fiction:
http://romanceuniversity.org/2018/06/08/organic-marketing-by-kristan-higgins-2/ “Don’t worry, my lambs. Organic marketing is different and in some respects, easier, because all it requires is authenticity, an eye for why your readers reach for your books and a little time.” I hope to have Nora Robert’s grace in the future when I do signings. It’s all about appreciating your readers!
https://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2018/06/a-tale-of-two-boxes.html “Once upon a time, a young woman sat down to write a book. Her delight overflowed when her best friend, a well-known and loved author, offered to help her start her story. On arriving, he gave her a beautifully wrapped gift. He said all the tools she needed resided within the large package. Smiling, he then kissed her on the cheek, wished her success, and left.
https://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com/2018/06/6th-century-britain-questions-without.html “In the age of Google, at a time when physicists are unlocking the secrets of the universe, when there are answers to almost every question, it seems churlish of history to present us with what used to be called “The Dark Ages.” Yet, in respect to Britain at least, that description would still appear to be appropriate for the period between the departure of the Romans, in AD 410, and the 7th century.”
http://nicholasrossis.me/2018/06/05/history-of-the-great-library-of-alexandria/ “World history is full of terrible losses. No, I’m not talking about people who fell in numerous wars and battles. This post is devoted to another sort of loss: a cultural one. Unfortunately, humanity has lost too many antiquities, and cultural heritage can be irreplaceable. One such tragedy is the burning of the library of Alexandria.”
http://annieneugebauer.com/2018/06/05/worth-the-excitement/ “My life is brimming with excitement lately. For one thing, I’ve finally finished the WIPbeast—for now, at least; no such thing as The End for writers—and I couldn’t be happier. It was a thrilling, trying, fun, exhausting project, and I am soproud of it. I hope to be able to tell you all about it soon, but for now I’m just looking forward to a big check mark, a fresh slate, and…”
Bonus: http://thewarriormuse.blogspot.com/2018/06/iwsg-spend-little-time-with-your.html “For my insecurity this month, I want to address something I talked about on Facebook briefly. In the last few months I’ve been to memorials for two local writing friends. I regret not having had better conversations with them while they were alive, and the fact that I learned things at their memorials I feel like I should have learned while they were alive. So I’m going to quote myself here:”
https://scvincent.com/2018/06/06/bird-watching/ “My son’s garden is surrounded by trees and they are full of birds of every variety. It is a joy to watch them and listen to their constant song every day, but, at this time of year, we are always on tenterhooks, waiting to see what will happen. With nests in every tree and a nest in the bird box under the eaves, we can watch the first tentative sorties of the fledglings and see them grow and mature from scruffy juveniles to their full beauty… if they survive.”
http://mybipolarmind.com/2018/06/08/tell-me-you-love-me/ “Sometimes when we are feeling down, all we need is one person to tell us that they love us. It doesn’t matter who, as long as we hear those words. It’s like; tell me you love me… Sometimes we also just need someone to tell us that it is going to be okay, that we are not alone, or that we are worthy of being alive.” It’s very important to tell others you care about them, you never know where they’re at in life, how they’re feeling. Don’t not say something that can save a life.
https://www.fromthemixedupfiles.com/2018/06/meet-jess-butterworth-author-running-roof-world/ “As a young child, my grandmothers and parents would read to me often, which I adored. Apparently I refused to go to bed without having several stories read to me beforehand. My absolute favorite books were The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Dear Zoo and Where the Wild Things Are.”
http://scbwimithemitten.blogspot.com/2018/06/is-your-art-ready-by-kirbi-fagan.html “A few of you who are considering joining SCBWI’s 4 Out the Door program have asked me, “How do I know if my art is ready?” I’m here today to share what I have learned. Conferences bring all sort of professionals and amateurs together, it can be inspiring. Many times artists can walk away feeling motivated to get their work out in the world. If their work isn’t ready, they could be wasting valuable time and money on promotions that could be better spent at their easel.”
http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/2018/06/av-geiger-author-of-tell-me-no-lies-on.html “TELL ME NO LIES is the second installment of a duology, and it was not a book I initially planned to write. When I first signed with my agent, Follow Me Back(Book 1) was intended as a standalone novel. However, when Follow Me Back went out on sub to publishers, I needed something to take my mind off of the grinding uncertainty of the submission process. I began spinning out a messy, somewhat ridiculous first draft of a sequel, purely as a distraction for myself. Little did I know that my editor at Sourcebooks would eventually suggest changing the end of Follow Me Back into a cliffhanger, with my weird little sequel serving as the basis for a published second book!”
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense:
http://annerallen.com/2018/06/new-writing-scams/ “A couple of months ago I wrote about some of the weird writing scams that have been showing up in my email inbox. A number of my online author friends have since told me they’ve been getting them too. So there seems to be some new master list of potentially gullible authors put out by the writer-scamming community.”
https://margotkinberg.wordpress.com/2018/06/08/i-had-to-let-it-happen-i-had-to-change/ “Don’t tell anyone, will you, but one of the writing projects I’m working on is a standalone (well, thus far a standalone) that features a character from one of my Joel Williams novels. By the time the book is ready for human consumption, it will have been a few years since we ‘met’ this character. And that means that (hopefully), the character’s done some growing and maturing. After all, as we get older, have experiences, and so on, we hopefully learn and become more mature
Short Stories/Anthologies/Novella:
https://kriswrites.com/2018/06/04/cat-nap/ “Triwell doesn’t adopt strays. He feels like a stray himself, a man who has lost everything even though he has a house and an antiquarian bookstore in Seavy Village on the Oregon Coast.”
https://coldhandboyack.wordpress.com/2018/06/08/a-great-day-for-piracy/ “Lisa met me at the top of the stairs. She had those knee-high boots that turn over at the top, and her Captain Barbosa hat on. “What are we working on today, mate?” I need to get my Pirate Companion out one of these days! It’s a book, by the way. All the details about pirating. I got it back in the days when I was thinking along the lines of a pirate story. It still may happen.
https://journeytoambeth.com/2018/06/08/writephoto-all-that-remains/ He came to me after dark, as night lay like soft velvet in the hollows of the hills. The fire burned low, his feathered cape laid over the chair shimmering iridescent blue as the birds stirred and gave their first sleepy chirps, my breath coming fast as he touched me and held me close. He told me his name, and I spoke it as I emerged from the dream.
https://storyempire.com/2018/06/08/friday-book-share-boneshare/ “Boneshaker involves the backstory of an inventor who was hired to create a digging machine, with the ultimate goal of sending it to the Klondike gold rush. He tested it out in Seattle, but something went horribly wrong. This has to do with the active volcanics of the area and such.”
https://selfpublishingadvice.org/self-publishing-3-0-indie-authors-selling-direct/ “In the final part of her series on Self-Publishing 3.0, ALLi director Orna Ross, named by The Bookseller magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in publishing, encourages authors to set up for a new phase in self-publishing: attract direct buyers and patrons, without any intermediary but a payment cart process.”
https://marciamearawrites.com/2018/06/01/listening-to-your-wip-writingtip-amwriting/ “We’ve talked about this in the past, but as I avail myself of the process more and more, I now wonder how I wrote anything without stopping to hear my words now and then. At the very least, how did I dare submit my revised document to an editor, never having done so? And yet it’s SO easy.” This will be valuable. I read my work aloud during some of my last revisions. This may help me to concentrate on what needs fixed more.
https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/write-a-better-antagonist/ “We might even go so far as to argue that the antagonist isthe story. After all, without the antagonist, what is the protagonist? Just a happy dude in a happy world doing happy stuff. Makes for a good retirement-center commercial maybe. But it ain’t a story.”
https://www.janefriedman.com/what-to-look-for-book-publicist/ “A successful book publicity campaign can bring in a level of media coverage that lands more clients, more brand cachet, more book sales, and additional media opportunities. That makes hiring an outside publicity firm a big decision, and knowing what to expect on the front end can help you make the right selection and get more out of the experience. If you’re considering hiring a publicist, here are a few things you should keep in mind.”
https://www.janefriedman.com/lessen-your-chances-of-an-online-crisis/ “It can happen to you. Your carefully built author business and your reputation can come under attack and threaten to disrupt your livelihood and your personal life. But you can help prevent a crisis in the first place by using some simple engagement strategies.”
https://blog.nathanbransford.com/2018/06/art-is-an-imperfect-catharsis “My heart is incredibly heavy this week with the suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, and the ongoing poisoning of our shared culture by people who see more to gain in distracting us with hate than in inspiring love.”
https://writershelpingwriters.net/2018/06/occupation-thesaurus-entry-model/ “Overview: The career of a model can look very different depending on the type of modeling they do and the level of their success. Most modeling falls into two categories: editorial (magazine spreads in higher-end magazines, fashion catwalks, high-end makeup ads, etc.) and commercial (catalogs, print ads for non-fashion products, commercials, and even showroom work where they work with the fashion designers as a form for the clothing being made). Models who are editorial often have a very distinctive look (something different or striking) and are often quite tall and adhere to very specific weight and age ranges. They also will clearly display their personality to prospective agents and clients in their look but are expected to be flexible and unopinionated—to do as they are told. Those in commercial modeling may have a variety of sizes and heights, be of different ages, and would have more of a “girl (or boy) next door” appeal because commercial modeling is more about the product than the model.”
http://blog.janicehardy.com/2011/01/tall-dark-handsome-how-much-do-you-need.html “At some point in your story, you’ll have to decide how much to include about the physical description of a character. You don’t want to describe your characters to death, but you also want to use enough details so readers can get an idea of what they look like. How much is too much and how little is too little?”
http://writersinthestormblog.com/2018/06/why-co-writing-may-be-my-new-favorite-thing/ “Not that writing isn’t still work — it certainly is — but Christina and I recently hatched an idea to co-write a novella, and so far this experience has buoyed my spirits and refreshed my soul. I didn’t think co-writing would be a good idea for me, but as it turns out, this endeavor has hit on so many aspects I enjoy about writing.” I’ve thought about co-writing before.
Donadio & Olson has existed for 49 years. Started by legendary agent Candida Donadio, the agency has represented some of the biggest names in fiction for decades.
The curated-to-impress client list on Donadio & Olson’s website includes Chuck Palahnuik, and McKay Jenkins, as well as dozens of estates from Mario Puzo’s to Peter Matthiessen’s. (As well as the estate of an old colleague of mine. Pout.)
The New York Post article, which is what I saw initially, called the perpetrator the accountant for the agency. The actual legal complaint calls him the bookkeeper. The actual criminal charges against the bookkeeper, Darin Webb, were filed on May 15 in federal court. Webb was charged with wire fraud for embezzling $3.4 million. A forensic audit is now occurring at Donadio & Olson, and there is speculation that the amount of money Webb stole will go much, much, much higher.” This is one of the articles I read that I was discussing on Writerly Things last week. It’s what changed my mind about having an agent. I’m going to still publish traditional-wise just submit directly to publishers.
https://kriswrites.com/2018/06/06/business-musings-what-it-feels-like-to-have-an-agent/ “Unfortunately, as I have been telling you all for years now, embezzlement and financial negligence is rampant at big name agencies. Almost none have systems set up to prevent it. Of the four agencies I worked with over the decades, two actively embezzled from me. I was anal with the latter two by constantly monitoring money, so I know they didn’t embezzle. They didn’t have the chance.” The second article that changed my mind!
https://seths.blog/2018/06/on-paying-for-software/ “The business of software is a bit of a miracle. Properly designed, software isn’t more expensive to create when more people use it. In fact, when network effects are involved, it’s actually more efficient when more people use it.”
http://booksbywomen.org/the-truth-as-i-know-it-by-caitlin-hamilton-summie/ “One of the pitfalls of writing fiction is that people think you are writing about yourself. To some degree, we all are, of course. We weave facts and experiences from our own lives into our stories, and we write about issues and situations we care about. But we are still creating stories, not writing memoir.”
http://www.thepassivevoice.com/row-over-junot-diaz-sexual-harassment-claims-divides-us-books-world/ “The US literary community is split, after the Boston Review’s poetry editors resigned over the magazine’s decision to retain the novelist Junot Díaz as fiction editor, despite allegations of sexual misconduct, with authors including Jennifer Weiner and Monica Byrne lining up to condemn the journal’s stance.”
https://charlesfrenchonwordsreadingandwriting.wordpress.com/2018/06/09/tips-for-writers-subconscious-mannerisms/ “My high school drama teacher had a quirky habit: first he’d pull on his nose, and then he’d push on it. One day, in the midst of a discussion about mannerisms, he told us where this habit came from: As a child he’d grown anxious that when adults said he had a “cute little pug nose” they really meant “he looks like a pig.” So, he’d begun pulling on it to make it longer. Then one day, his grandmother told him that if he didn’t stop tugging it his nose would end up looking like a sausage. That was even worse! But he couldn’t break the habit of pulling on it, so he adopted a second mannerism of “putting it back.” This two-part nose-fix had long since become a subconscious mannerism.Which is to say that he was (normally) unaware he was doing it.”
https://dsm-publications.com/2018/06/08/sharpening-your-focus-why-its-important-to-outline-from-a-reformed-pantser/ “I am a reformed pantser. In other words, for most of my writing life, I wrote by the seat of my pants letting characters dictate the story and without a plan in place have a number of stories half finished. I’ve been working on a story for three years. It’s just a romance set against the backdrop of magical realism. But, I’m stalled. And so it sits gathering proverbial dust.”
https://jessicanorrie.wordpress.com/2018/06/08/begin-as-you-mean-to-go-on/ “In keeping with my new snappy style, I’m allowing myself 999 words max for this post. Most bloggers manage with much less; my problem is, I like wordy writers (Dickens, Balzac, Woolf) and my models have made me wordy myself. I’ve learnt that to write well in a spare elegant style, much as I admire it (Stoner, My name is Lucy Barton), you have to write better than I can. I bury infelicities in my forest of verbiage, but would be rumbled if every word stood out clear from the page. A writer with six hundred plus pages to fill can explore their own meaning aloud. It must be nailed first time in a novella.”
https://kimwrtr.wordpress.com/2018/06/08/author-inspiration-and-this-weeks-writing-links-4/ “I used to be a professor, and I currently write for two industry websites. Basically, I’m used to operating in teacher-mode. But this week, I started taking a mastermind class on backlist strategies for authors. I’m a student again! It’s a refreshing change. I feel my horizons expanding and my synapses firing. On top of all the work on my calendar, it makes for busy days. But I love the challenge.”
https://thepbsblog.com/2018/06/08/youre-invited/ “The inaugural Atlanta African American Book Festival is FREE and OPEN to the PUBLIC and will take place on Saturday, July 14, 2018, at Georgia State University. Over 70 authors will convene in Atlanta to present their work to the Atlanta community. Author categories include fiction, non-fiction, romance, YA fiction, middle-grade fiction, and children’s picture books. Journalists, editors, publishers, literary critics, and scholars from various fields will be present. Panel discussions and workshops will engage festival attendees in topics concerning literary industry tips, civil disobedience, activism, emotional and spiritual well-being, restorative justice, and health and wealth. Children’s activities include a story corner and festival dance floor.”
https://scvincent.com/2018/06/09/unusual-people/ “Delicate blue flowers caught my eye in the flower bed. I wondered where they had come from as they were nothing that we had planted … they had just grown. It only took a moment to realise that they were flax flowers and that, in fact, we wereresponsible for their presence after all, albeit inadvertently. They had appeared around the base of the bird feeder, where the constant stream of overwintering avian diners must have scattered stray seeds. The seeds had lain there quietly, and now, with the advent of summer, were filling all the barren spaces in the flower bed. Feeding the birds through the winter was paying an unexpected dividend.”
To make the perfect Facebook ad creative, you need to diligently implement best practices that make your creative amazing every time. There are five ways, in particular, you can make an ad creative that reaches your desired goals.”
https://donmassenzio.wordpress.com/2018/06/02/cover-reveal-for-my-latest-release/Joe McLean hated his life. He was middle-aged, divorce and living in a small apartment. The only bright spot in his life was cheering on his hometown baseball team. Now, the stadium that was the place of so many childhood and adult baseball memories was being replaced.
https://vivdrewa.me/2018/06/01/the-long-road-home-by-carolyn-m-bowen-romance-thriller-suspense-internationalmystery-3/ After a lifetime of being protected and sheltered by her parents, Kate is thrown into a state of turmoil after their sudden death. With nowhere else to turn, she finds herself living with her fiancé, a conniving businessman who is well on his way to becoming a corrupt super-lawyer. At the same time, Kate’s father’s law firm houses more secrets than a politician’s hard drive. Later, she receives a shocking surprise when a long-lost half-brother enters her life. Can Kate rise to these challenges, discover the truth and re-emerge as a stronger, smarter version of herself?
https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2018/05/27/rosies-bookreview-team-rbrt-histfic-mystery-bad-blood-will-out-by-penandpension/ This is the fourth in the Ashmole Foxe series of 18th century murder mysteries. Foxe is a dapper entrepreneur living in the centre of Norwich. Officially, he is a bookseller and purveyor of rare volumes, but in reality he has little interest in his shop, leaving it to be run by the reliable Mrs Crombie. Aside from this, Foxe dabbles his fingers in many pies, not least of all the solving of murders to which he is often referred by the Alderman and other leading lights in the city.
Scary:
https://authorsteveboseley.wordpress.com/2018/05/26/dbb9/ Time for Part 9 of the continuing saga of Ted Harris. Last time, we learned more about the start of the problems in Ted’s life, after his wife was diagnosed with a brain tumour. This week, he is forced to face to truth about what he did…
http://johnwhowell.com/2018/05/31/meet-john-howell/ John W, Howell began his writing as a full-time occupation after an extensive business career. His specialty is thriller fiction novels, but John also writes poetry and short stories. His first book, My GRL, introduces the exciting adventures of the book’s central character, John J. Cannon. The second Cannon novel, His Revenge, continues the adventure, while the final book in the trilogy, Our Justice, launched in September 2016. Circumstances of Childhood in October 1st, The latest, The Contractbetween heaven and earth, his fifth book, is written in collaboration with award winning author Gwen Plano and will be launched the week of June 4th, 2018. All books are available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.
https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/2018/04/10/bookreview-a-haiku-perspective-2018-by-annette-rochelle-aben/ This is a magical journey through a year in the life of a poet, presented in the format of haiku. Be entertained,and enlightened as you enjoy the worlds of reality and imagination are combined artfully. Dreamers will love this book. Writers will enjoy this book. Readers will enjoy this book. Even those who think they could never appreciate poetry, will enjoy this book. Come and be enchanted by the verbal imagery of A Haiku Perspective 2018.
Indie:
Craft:
Other:
https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/2018/05/26/bookreview-ludwika-by-christoph-fischer/ It’s World War II and Ludwika Gierz, a young Polish woman, is forced to leave her family and go to Nazi Germany to work for an SS officer. There, she must walk a tightrope, learning to live as a second-class citizen in a world where one wrong word could spell disaster and every day could be her last. Based on real events, this is a story of hope amid despair, of love amid loss . . . ultimately, it’s one woman’s story of survival.
http://booksbywomen.org/in-search-of-home-by-margarita-montimore/ When I was four years old, my parents and I immigrated to the United States as Soviet Jewish refugees. I grew up speaking Russian and English, holding onto some traditions and values of the old world, while learning the customs the new. While my current married name might belie my roots, being an immigrant is a core part of who I am. It has influenced my writing in unexpected ways.
https://colleenchesebro.com/2018/05/27/rain/ “Today, it rained. I saw thunder and lightning dance in the heavens as earth became soft and yielding with the showers. I begged Smaerd to tell me of rain. He looked at me and said “tell me what you know.”
http://romanceuniversity.org/2018/06/01/lets-party-down-and-launch-a-book-by-ann-everett/ “The difference between a release blog tour and launch party is simple. The blog tour is virtual, and a launch party is physical. A “birth” day party for your book. So, you’ll treat it like a party with invitations, decorations, refreshments, etc.” She has a lot of great tips.
https://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2018/05/killer-companions.html “We’ve spent the month discussing the many ways that animals, both domesticated and wild, can add wonderful color and layers of emotionally satisfying richness to a short story or novel. We’ve talked about how animal companions may become even more popular than the human protagonist who was supposed to be the star of any given series. But we have not explored how animals—that readers expect to always be warm and fuzzy—may in fact, be killer companions instead.”
Christian:
https://stevelaube.com/5-ways-getting-an-agent-is-like-dating/ “These were “speed dating for writers” sessions, in which writers sat down for rapid-fire five-minute appointments with editors, agents, and authors (many conferences provide writers with the opportunity to sign up for fifteen-minute appointments, which pass quickly enough, but five minutes?). I was assigned a table where I met with writers to hear a pitch or answer a question as completely as possible before a whistle (yes, an actual whistle) signaled the end of the encounter. In three fifty-minute sessions, I met about thirty fellow writers.”
https://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com/2018/06/giving-it-and-taking-it-back.html “In 1264, William de Whelton faced something of a conundrum. He wasn’t alone. England was at war, on the one side Simon de Montfort seemed to be carrying the day, on the other King Henry III and his son, the future Edward I, claimed hereditary right to rule. In between were all those men who were fast approaching a point at which they had to choose sides. Sitting on the fence was not an option, not when the rattling of swords and lances clearly proclaimed the conflict was about to turn bloody. Very bloody.”
http://awriterofhistory.com/2018/05/31/transported-in-time-and-place-by-harald-johnson/ “The final motivation for writing and publishing NEW YORK 1609came in the mail from my mother. It was an old family photo album; the kind with the black pages, white ink captions, and those little black-and-white photos with the scalloped edges. For some reason, I had placed it next to a binder of my old swimming accolades, and it now struck me: When I had swum around the island of Manhattan in 1983 as part of a swim race, I was swimming over the exact spot where my family had arrived (with me as a child) on a ship from Germany in 1953 to start a new life. And this was also the very same location Henry Hudson encountered in 1609 when he arrived with his Dutch-Anglo crew seeking a new water passage to the Orient. The parallels were just too hard to ignore.”
http://scvincent.com/2018/06/02/the-small-dogs-revenge/ “I must do the floor, I thought, in some despair,
The small dog is moulting,and shedding her hair.
She’s out in the garden, so if I am quick,
And just whip the vac out, that should do the trick.”
http://scvincent.com/2018/06/01/reflecting-light-and-shade/ “I have written a fair bit about my son’s pond and its inhabitants. I find watching the fish to be both calming and enlightening. It does not matter whether I am projecting human values onto the behaviour of the fish or reading too much into their antics. What matters is that watching them, engaging with them, has taught me a lot about how the human mind works. Truth can take any form that is amenable to understanding and sometimes, it looks like a fish.”
Mental Health:
http://beckiesmentalmess.blog/2018/05/26/graveside/ “You know one of the biggest taboos in our world is ‘Death’ people simply don’t like to discuss the end of days equally as much as they dislike ‘mental health’, and yet whether people like it or not, it still happens and equally as much as Death awaits us, we all have mental health.”
http://avajae.blogspot.com/2018/05/cutting-back.html “At this point, I think I have to come to terms with the fact that I’m overwhelmed. I thought things would get better after my school semester ended—and they have!—but I still have so much to do between freelancing, CP stuff, and my own writing that I feel perpetually behind everything which has not been awesome. And I’ve been so overwhelmed with that stuff that unfortunately I’ve been dropping the ball with blog posts.”
http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/2018/05/michelle-falkoff-author-of-questions-i.html “Perseverance is absolutely the most important quality to have as a writer. Talent is useful, as are great ideas for things to write about. But if there’s one thing the writers I know have in common, it’s that they kept working and improving and failing and trying again and learning and trying new things and failing again and persisting and you see where I’m going with this. It’s important to listen to criticism from people who are trying to help you, but you have to remember to use that to fuel your creativity rather than letting it keep you from working. And writing is art, but it’s also work.”
https://killzoneblog.com/2018/05/your-writing-sweet-spot.html “For writers still operating in the world of traditional publishing, that question is more important than ever. Publishing companies are being squeezed and must concentrate on big hits to survive. This makes it harder for a newbie to break in or, if they manage to get ushered through the gates of the Forbidden City, to receive what used to be called a “decent advance” and marketing support.”
https://www.suecoletta.com/writers-have-you-found-your-voice/ “Voice is an elusive creature that creeps in the shadows, mocking us, daring us to find it. Voice is also near-impossible to define. I gave it a shot back in 2016 on the Kill Zone (btw, I stand by that post, but it needed more). Droves of new writers pray to the literary gods each and every day to find their voice, even if they haven’t yet grasped what it is they’re searching for. Many things go into to a writer’s voice. Ready? Here we go for round two …” It is tough to define Voice. As Sue said though, it’s an extension of your truest self.
http://teagansbooks.com/2018/06/01/poor-little-glad-rag-doll/ “Artist, Rob Goldstein illustrates the diesel-punk fantasy series, Hullaba Lulu. He often creates art that runs parallel to the series. Rob is supposed to be taking a break, but he still did this a post and great video as part of the “Lulu-verse.””
https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2018/05/28/get-your-book-into-schools-dave-hendrickson/ “Making a full-time living as a writer is all about multiple streams of income, and bulk sales are a great way of making revenue by doing direct. In today’s show, Dave Hendrickson talks about the joy of selling books to schools – and takes us behind the scenes of the financial side of bulk sales.”
https://selfpublishingadvice.org/self-publishing-news-whats-in-a-name/ “The news this week has been dominated by two stories we’ve seen already this month. From speaking to other authors it’s clear that the so-called Cockygate incident has caused so much consternation is because it feels as though a (small) part of the indie community has turned on another part, and we all feel that wound. The thing most of us at ALLi value most is a community so willing to give and to help, and that is something we see again and again across the indie world, so it hurts us when we feel that is threatened. Fortunately new and strong communities seem to have come out of this as well – the indie spirit is strong enough something like this won’t break it.”
https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/truth-your-character-believes/ “The Truth Your Character Believes is the transcendent theme of the entire story. It offers your protagonist the potential for positive inner growth and, by extension, the understanding and ability to conquer plot goals and end the overarching conflict with the antagonistic force.”
https://nailyournovel.wordpress.com/2018/05/28/thinking-on-your-feet-writing-and-my-love-hate-relationship-with-exercise/ “At school I loathed exercise. I had all the left feet possible. I couldn’t catch a ball and I couldn’t see balls anyway without specs. All creatures know when they are disliked, and I sensed how the games teachers loathed me. By the same token, they surely knew I did not hold their subject in high esteem. This is my school magazine. None of these people are me.” I’ve ordered a yoga tape and mat and I’m going to try going to the gym if I can. I know I need to move more and stay in better health. The battle most of us sure.
https://www.janefriedman.com/retrospective-narrative/ “Several things account for the effectiveness of this opening. For one, it appeals immediately and thoroughly to the senses. First, we have that “mean” wind. I’ve said elsewhere that adjectives aren’t descriptions, but opinions. True. Yet thanks to that “mean” we don’t need to be told that the wind is cold, or harsh, that it lashes cheeks and draws tears.”
https://jamigold.com/2018/05/writer-burnout-how-do-you-deal/ “As writers, we can burn out in many different aspects of our lives.We can experience it personally, day-job professionally, writing-wise, publishing-wise, or all of the above.” Lately, I’ve been doing too much running. I haven’t had time to fit in a lot of things I need to do. I’ve got to get my life back! Lol.
http://writersinthestormblog.com/2018/06/summer-is-coming-lets-pimp-promote/ “Summer is coming up fast, and here at Writers in the Storm we’re marking the occasion with a little “Pimp and Promote.” Of course, this always costs us some money, because we have to go out and buy lots of books. But there will be awesome “beach read” sales in next few weeks, so let’s go for it!”
Esteem and Recognition: A character who is struggling with self-worth because employment is hard to find, they lack the education needed for other jobs that are available, or they wish to break free of any social difficulties or fears they have may find being a server is rewarding work. Being gainfully employed and growing proficient at what they do will boost their social skills and self-confidence.
Love and Belonging: A character who feels adrift in life may turn to serving to feel part of something larger, especially if the establishment is a fun place to work and has a family-like environment among staffers. Here the character could feel accepted for who they are and that they belong.
Physiological Needs: In most cultures, survival depends on employment, so a character who was finding it hard to make ends meet to pay rent, put food on the table, etc. may turn to serving as it is work that often doesn’t require specialized education. A serving job may also have evening hours of employment, which may work perfect for a character who needs to bring in extra cash when they already have a day job.
http://blog.janicehardy.com/2018/05/con-choice-on-picking-events-and.html “Thank you as always to Janice for letting me chat with y’all about the challenges of promo and genre authorship. Today, she suggested we take a look at event selection: how to choose the venues best for your work and how to maximize your conference budget.”
Other:
http://www.thepassivevoice.com/reversing-the-slide-in-voter-support/ “I am most deeply troubled by the declining perception about the core work of libraries and core competencies of librarians. When there is a nine point drop in the perception about libraries offering “Free access to books and technology that some people may not be able to afford,” how do we recapture that narrative? Today, 20% fewer voters agree that “the library is an excellent resource for kids to get help with their homework” than ten years ago (71% then, 51% now). How is that possible when every story we tell is about a kid learning to read in order to succeed later in life? How do we fight a hostile city hall or recalcitrant county commission when the feeling that “having an excellent public library is a source of pride” is only shared by 53% of voters (20% fewer than in the 2008 report)?” Libraries are a tremendous help to me, someone with limited finances, to catch up on books I’ve missed, for research, for community outreach. I like their convenient hold policies. You can order digital or print from them.
http://amdobritt.blog/2018/05/26/reboot-your-book-to-sell-more-books/ “I have a new book out this week called How to Revise and Re-Release Your Bookand I wrote it because rebooting books is kind of a big deal right now – especially if your goal is to sell more books. There are lots of reasons revising and re-releasing your book is a good idea. Maybe you didn’t get it quite right when the book first launched, maybe it needs revision, or maybe the book is old and you want to breathe new life into it by re-releasing it. These are all great reasons to consider a reboot. And it’s certainly a great way to sell more books. Once you’ve made this decision, your next question might be whether or not you need a new book cover.”
“I came across an old post while I was rummaging through the files. It looked at the decades of an ordinary life…my life… and how the things that seem ordinary to you, while you are living them, can look very different to an observer. As I skimmed back through the paragraphs, I was watching the fish in the aquarium out of the corner of my eye. Two of the little loaches had ventured out to feed. They are shy creatures and I seldom see them, so I stopped to watch.” Life does indeed creep up on you. It seems like I just started this writing journey yesterday and here it is, so much later in my life.
http://jolenemottern.com/2018/05/26/socs-grill/ “Down the way, there was a barbecue joint. It was terrible how we had to smell barbecue all day and all night for years. Just terrible. Seven in the mornin, droolin for pulled pork, Lawd. If I wanna eat a mammal, there’s a 100% chance I’d like to eat pulled pork. I’d put it right up there with MIL’s corned beef and sweet gravy. Lower than her corned beef and sweet gravy, but up there. At those kinda places, I never choose chicken or brisket or ribs. I ain’t orderin a hamburger or some fried catfish. Nope. Always, always the pulled pork.” Good thing there’s a cookout tomorrow, I’m hungry reading this.
http://davidgaughran.com/2018/06/02/cockygate-faleena-hopkins-tiffanygate-chance-carter/ “I don’t know about you guys, but recently I’ve found it hard to maintain my membership of Team Hope. Trademark trolls issuing threats, scammers running rampant, clickfarmers hitting #1, innocents getting sanctioned while stuffers receive All Stars, narcissistic boxset promoters throwing lawsuits in every direction, plus Amazon generally acting like an absentee landlord during the Great Famine.”
https://charlesfrenchonwordsreadingandwriting.wordpress.com/2018/06/01/promote-your-writing/ “Hello to everyone! I want once again to offer an opportunity for all writers who follow this blog to share information on their books. It can be very difficult to generate publicity for our writing, so I thought this little effort might help. All books may be mentioned, and there is no restriction on genre. This include poetry and non-fiction.”
https://fromclairespov.com/2018/06/01/may-favourites-5/ “Introducing another one of my new series for 2018: monthly favourites! This is where I describe how my month went, kind of like how I did with my #ClaireNoteslast year, but with more general things that you may know about! I hope you enjoy! Let me know what your favourites from May were!”
Bonus: http://jenanita01.com/2018/06/01/editing-tip-common-consistency-errors-you-might-be-making/ “When you check your own manuscript for errors, you are probably looking for misspelled words, dodgy grammar, and the inevitable typos. Those are all things you need to correct—but you should also be aware of pesky consistency errors that are commonplace in poorly edited manuscripts.”
Bonus: https://twodropsofink.com/2018/06/01/final-promo-two-drops-of-ink-2018-writing-contest/ “We are taking submissions now. That said, here are the rules once all the submissions are in (yes…you can end a sentence with a preposition). You pick the genre and submit your piece. We will accept submissions through mid-June, giving writers time to write and submit.”
Bonus: https://scvincent.com/2018/05/31/elusive-realities-robbie-cheadle-the-boy-with-nine-lives/ “On 30 January 2006, my son, Michael, was born. He was a very healthy baby, with a tiny wizen face, just like a little old man. His APGAR score was 10 out of 10 and he didn’t need to go onto a heating pad in the hospital. I had a Caesarean section delivery. My obstetrician told us after the operation that it was just as well he had performed a Caesar as my uterus was very thin at the site of the scar from my previous Caesar and it could have ruptured if I had gone into labour. He said that it was so thin, he could see the baby right through my uterus. The fact that I had no problems with my pregnancy, despite this, was Michael’s first lucky break in life.” Such an incredible story! I had a close call with my daughter when she was just two. Somehow, I knew she was in trouble. I went to search for her but couldn’t find her. She got out in the road at my brother-in-law’s house and I jumped down stairs and off the porch to run faster than I ever have to reach her before she hit the intersection.
https://coldhandboyack.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/the-fireborn-on-lisaburtonradio/ In the shadowy area where myth and history collide, an unlikely hero is forced to save the world from an ancient Celtic curse. Dr. Elliot Everett-Jones knows that shadowy area well, having spent most of his life exploring its dimensions as given by a host of unreliable sources and imaginative speculation. Some would say he daydreams over the improbable plots of second-rate Romantic era authors. These fantasies, however, come to life after the discovery of the Cauldron of the Dead.
https://mightythorjrs.com/2018/05/23/a-quick-book-review-dust-of-dreams-malazan-book-9-by-steven-erikson/ All I have been hearing since I started reading Fantasy again in 2011 is “you have to read Malazan!” So I finally listened and started. I think I have a new obsession. I can now see what everyone has been going on and on about for all this time. I am hooked and I now need more! So yes I will be continuing this series, and I can’t wait! I know more greatness awaits and I am highly anticipating the journey to come.
https://teripolen.com/2018/05/23/www-wednesdays-what-am-i-reading-amreading-2/Each year, the North American Confederation of Mages assesses every sixteen-year-old novice. Some will be chosen. The rest must undergo a procedure to destroy their magical ability unless they prove themselves in the mysterious and brutal Mages’ Exam.
https://teripolen.com/2018/05/25/the-writers-reading-corner-michael-l-wolff-scifi-fantasy-indieauthor/ My latest work is a bit of a tangle to describe. Chased By Flame and Warwere originally two acts in a much bigger book called Smoke & Mirrors. My publisher Reagan Rothe suggested to break the book down into smaller chunks and essentially make each individual act into its very own book. Hence Chased By Flame and Chased By War. There are four other acts left in the original book, and the plan is to treat each act as its own individual book (though I have been toying with the idea to fuse Flame and War together).
https://coldhandboyack.wordpress.com/2018/05/22/a-writing-lesson-from-c-s-boyack/ When you’re rescued by a talking yak, the situation gets exponentially worse. You’ve obviously lost your mind. The immediate needs of a ride off the salt pan and searing heat, along with a drink of water, outweigh the concerns about your mental state.
https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2018/05/20/rosies-bookreview-team-rbrt-urbanfantasy-shrouds-of-darkness-by-brockdeskins/ Leo Malone is a private investigator, a knight in dubiously-rusty armor who is ten times as antisocial and unfriendly as his hardboiled detective models—and a lot more dead, or at least undead. Told mostly in the first person from Leo’s POV, we soon realize his private eye monologue about how detached he is and how little he cares about people doesn’t exactly match up to his actions. When we meet him, in fact, the first two items on his to-do list are to stop an abusive father and a rapist. But just in case we miss that point, Leo muses, “It’s possible, and this is a stretch, the pretense is me not giving a shit. Maybe I am pretending to be a heartless bastard so I can go on doing what I do without becoming a complete basket case.”
https://libraryoferana.wordpress.com/2018/05/16/swift-six-author-interview-simon-williams-sci-fi-fantasy-specfic/The Light From Far Below is the sequel to my YA fantasy / sci-fi adventure Summer’s Dark Waters. It’s set a year and a half after the events in the first book and things have moved on for the two central characters, Joe and Amber. So has the world itself. It’s difficult to go into detail without giving too much away but this sequel is more epic and darker in tone and deals with some of the uncomfortable truths about humanity – all seen from the eyes of two young teens.
https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/rosies-review-team-rbrt-romance-that-summer-at-the-seahorse-hotel-by-adrienneauthor-2/ Mia is a dresser on film sets (I thoroughly enjoyed the attention given to the detail of her work) and is the favourite of an aging film star, Archie Fitz, who has been great friends with Mia’s mother, Fenella, another film star, for many years. Sadly, Archie is dying and as friends and family gather around him at Galty House, once known as The Seahorse Hotel, the dynamics in the relationships come to light along with the truth as secrets from the past are at long last revealed.
https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2018/05/26/romance-the-captain-and-the-cavalry-trooper-by-madamegilflurt-and-e_harkstead/ Trooper Jack Woodvine is sent to Chateau de Desgravier where he will be Captain Thorne’s latest groom. Both the Captain and his horse Apollo share fierce reputations; several previous grooms have been kicked by the horse and yelled at by the Captain. But Jack grew up on a farm and with gypsy blood running through him; he has a talent for calming horses with just a whisper.
Marie must face the world in the aftermath of what her sister has done.
The lies, the betrayals, dance, and everything from her past are about to collide.
Will Marie find a way to survive?
Christian:
http://storitorigrace.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-book-review-of-green-by-ted-dekker.html As foretold by ancient prophets, an apocalypse destroyed Earth during the twenty-first century. But two thousand years later Elyon set upon the earth a new Adam. This time, however, he gave humanity an advantage. What was once unseen became seen. It was good and it was called…Green.
Historical:
https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2018/05/15/histfic-my-bookreview-of-early-aviation-tale-wild-air-by-rebeccamascull-tuesdaybookblog/ Della Dobbes has always enjoyed working with her hands and fixing things. A great aunt returns from Kitty Hawk, the beach in North Carolina where the Wright brothers tested their flying machines. She fills Della’s head with dreams of flight, then supports Della to make them come true. Faced with ridicule, sabotage and refusals to allow women to fly, Della perseveres and makes her way as a pioneering aviatrix.
http://www.thisishorror.co.uk/book-review-corpsepaint-by-david-peak/“Bleak is a word used to describe so many releases within the horror and dark fiction worlds… With Corpsepaint, David Peak seeks to raise the bar in the reader’s understanding of what bleak really means.”
http://thewarriormuse.blogspot.com/2018/05/horror-list-book-review-drive-in.html From what I can tell, the primary reason I didn’t enjoy it all that much was the fact that I didn’t care about the characters. It didn’t matter to me. The narrator lost me because he goes into shock and zones out during a portion of the story, and everyone goes off their rockers. In fact, the friend that takes care of the narrator during his shock is the closest I come to caring about anyone. He’s a good guy, keeps his head, controls the situation where he can, and lets things go if he can’t control them. So I guess I cared about one character.
http://www.thisishorror.co.uk/searchlight-mothman/ If there’s one cryptid throughout American history that can even come close to Sasquatch, Mothman ranks high on the list. Though not as well-known as the Jersey Devil, Mothman has a long and strange history, spanning several years of sightings with a consistent legendary curse attached for an extra creepy factor. Popularized by the Richard Gere film, The Mothman Prophecies, which is loosely based on the book by John A. Keel, that particular story is the over dramatized Hollywood version of the events, weakened by a ghostly love interest, though its moments of horror are quite effective and intensely weird. The film merely scratches the surface of the events that have happened in and around Point Pleasant, West Virginia over the years.
http://horrornovelreviews.com/2018/05/23/terry-m-west-gruesome-a-gathering-of-nightmares-review/ Terry M West’s Gruesome: A Gathering of Nightmaresshould be subtitled The Best of Terry M West! This is a hefty tome containing some of West’s best stories to date! Some of the stories have been re-edited and expanded upon and we find one tale that is exclusive to this book. These tales range from down-right gruesome to comedic horror. There is enough variety in the tellings that I don’t think anyone will walk away disappointed.
https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/2018/05/19/bookreview-tallis-steelyard-and-the-sedan-chair-caper/ Rather than his usual collection of anecdotes, this time Tallis presents us with one gripping adventure. A tale of adventure, duplicity and gentility. Why does an otherwise respectable lady have a pair of sedan chair bearers hidden in her spare bedroom? Why was the middle aged usurer brandishing an axe? Can a gangster’s moll be accepted into polite society? Answer these questions and more as Tallis Steelyard ventures unwillingly into the seedy world of respectable ladies who love of sedan chair.
http://www.fromthemixedupfiles.com/2018/05/interview-character-brightwood-tania-unsworth/ I love my home. It’s filled with treasures and secret passageways and enough supplies to last us just about forever. Sometimes I go down the driveway and look through the gates at the outside world, and wonder what other people’s houses are like. I was born in this house, and I’ve never been out, not even once. As for my rat, he’s called Tar, and he’s not really mine. He appears when he wants food, which is most of the time because he is obsessed with eating. Tar is very chatty. I know he can’t really talk, but he seems to. It’s hard to explain. As for the ‘explorer ghost’, her name is Frank, and she’s not really a ghost at all . . .
http://www.parajunkee.com/blog/2018/05/25/bite-me-blog-tour/ Thank you for interviewing me! I grew up in San Diego which is why all of my books take place in Southern California. In BITE ME, Morgan lives in La Jolla and goes to La Jolla Cove High. I never lived in La Jolla, which is an incredibly wealthy beach community, but I did attend public school there.
http://www.talesoftheravenousreader.com/2018/05/exclusive-coverreveal-even-if-i-fall-by.html A year ago, Brooke Covington lost everything when her beloved older brother, Jason, confessed to the murder of his best friend, Calvin. Brooke and her family became social pariahs, broken and unable to console one another. Brooke’s only solace remains the ice-skating rink, where she works but no longer lets herself dream about a future skating professionally.
http://middlegrademafia.com/2018/05/25/free-books-for-summer-reading/ “Regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic level or previous achievement, children who read four or more books over the summer fare better on reading comprehension tests in the fall than their peers who read one or no books over the summer.”
http://lizlovesbooks.com/lizlovesbooks/bluethroat-morning-jacqui-lofthouse-blog-tour-review/Alison Bliss, celebrity model and critically acclaimed writer, walks into the sea one ‘bluethroat morning’. In death she becomes a greater icon than in life, and the Norfolk village where she lived is soon a place of pilgrimage. Six years later her husband Harry, a schoolteacher, is still haunted by her suicide and faithful to her memory. Until he meets Helen and they fall in love.
http://lizlovesbooks.com/lizlovesbooks/the-old-you-louise-voss-blog-tour-review/ Lynn Naismith gave up the job she loved when she married Ed, the love of her life, but it was worth it for the happy years they enjoyed together. Now, ten years on, Ed has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, and things start to happen; things more sinister than missing keys and lost words. As some memories are forgotten, others, long buried, begin to surface… and Lynn’s perfect world begins to crumble.
But is it Ed s mind playing tricks, or hers…?
https://vivdrewa.me/2018/05/22/in-the-spotlight-abir-mukherjees-a-rising-man/ Welcome to another edition of In The Spotlight. The post-World War I years were a time of great change and transition. One of those changes was the increasing challenge to the British Empire. We see this clearly in the history of India, during the last years of the British Raj. Let’s take a look at that era today, and turn the spotlight on Abir Mukherjee’s A Rising Man.
http://mysterysuspence.blogspot.com/2018/05/review-murder-in-g-major.html As some publishers, like Berkeley, have cut back on their mystery books they are offering, others are picking up the pace. I have become more aware of Henery Press and their line of mysteries. Somewhere in my internet wanderings or on a newsletter somewhere, I came across mention of this series featuring a young woman classical musician. I had to read it, so I purchased it and kept moving it closer to the top of my To-Be-Read pile. I am so glad I discovered this series. See if this might be a new series for you too.
http://lizlovesbooks.com/lizlovesbooks/wrong-way-home-isabelle-grey-blog-tour-review/ Everyone in Southend remembers the night of the fire. Two lives were saved from the burning Marineland resort, while metres down the beach another was lost when a young woman was raped and murdered. The killer was never found. Now, twenty-five years on, DI Grace Fisher is handed new DNA evidence that could blow the cold case wide open. But what are the chances of really getting to the truth after all this time?
Promises only last if you trust each other, but what if one of you is hiding something?
A secret no one could ever guess.
Someone is living a lie.
http://lizlovesbooks.com/lizlovesbooks/fault-lines-doug-johnstone-blog-tour-review/ In a reimagined contemporary Edinburgh, in which a tectonic fault has opened up to produce a new volcano in the Firth of Forth, and where tremors are an everyday occurrence, volcanologist Surtsey makes a shocking discovery. On a clandestine trip to The Inch – the new volcanic island – to meet Tom, her lover and her boss, she finds his lifeless body. Surtsey’s life quickly spirals into a nightmare when someone makes contact – someone who claims to know what she’s done..
https://owlnpussycatbookpromo.blog/2018/05/24/a-man-a-manuscript-and-a-fictional-town-falling-waters-second-edition-gary-d-henry/Preston Rhodes was an extraordinary writer. However his actress wife, Carly, didn’t want him to over-shadow her talents so she set out to squash every opportunity that came his way. His father died and left Preston an extraordinary gift. It was his memoirs and Preston immediately saw that the book was literary genius. He set out to write a script and it was immediately touted as the next Gone With the Wind. He set out to sell the movie around the country until an errant bullet to his head sent him to a magical town where all the old Hollywood actors dwelled long after their starlight had been extinguished. Falling Waters was the town where spirits thrived and he was sure it was real. He was accepted and spent a lifetime amid the old stars of Hollywood. He met and interacted with all the greats. When he came out of…
https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/2018/05/25/interestingliterature-lord-of-the-flies-or-the-coral-island-which-one/ There are a number of thoughts out there about the differences between Lord of the Flies by William Golding and The Coral Island by RM Ballantyne. Some of the analyses even include Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. I personally don’t believe that Robinson Crusoe belongs with the other two books because the differing circumstances. Robinson Crusoe’s is one man’s journey to survive, alone, on a forsaken island. Both Lord of the Flies and The Coral Island involve more than one person and, as a result, include the social interaction that goes with that.
https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2018/05/23/rosies-bookreview-team-rbrt-memoir-living-in-italy-by-stef-smulders-by-italie_verhalen/ I have long harboured a dream to move to France, though Brexit may well scupper that. Italy or Portugal are next on the list, even though my own experience of driving in Italy was utterly terrifying (they literally have no rules – at least not any that anyone follows). So I was very interested to read the story of a couple relocating to Italy, especially as they bought a house that needed renovation and which has now been turned into a holiday rental (I am so tempted to book!).
http://legendsofwindemere.com/2018/05/19/probably-made-more-progress-than-i-realize/ “I had a lot of life stuff to do and the week began on the wrong foot with an anxiety attack that earned itself a post on Thursday. So, I didn’t touch War of Nytefall: Temptationand I’m starting to wonder if that title is right. The story revolves around several of the male characters being kidnapped for a tournament to earn the hand of the ‘Dawn Fang Queen’. It’s going to be a Mab-heavy book. I wonder if War of Nytefall: Rivalswould be a better one. Good thing I didn’t jump into the writing then. All I accomplished was scheduling the M-W-F posts for July and August. I have a list of topics for September too, but I can work on that after I write the next book. This is a lot of progress on the social media front, but I think the weak sales and loss of another review has me wishing I could do more. Feels like indie publishing is becoming a ‘rich man/woman’s’ game these days, which is frustrating.” I find my moods tend to swing more when I don’t get a sentence or more on my projects. I need that forward motivation to keep on.
http://storitorigrace.blogspot.com/2018/05/so-your-character-is-from-brazil.html “Brazil is a continent-sized country, which used to be a colony from Portugal, meaning a lot of the people who lived there, in the beginning, were Portuguese and native Brazilians (more than 200 different tribes!), but as time went on, many different nationalities came seeking a new life or refuge in Brazil – Japanese, Germans, Italians, Lebanese, and so much more! There is also a huge African influence in Brazil, from the slaves that were brought to work in the fields and houses and also from refugees. They have deeply influenced the Brazilian culture. There are small cities where the most-spoken language is a German dialect that doesn’t even exist anymore! I myself have German-Lebanese-Portuguese ancestry, and it’s far more common to find people with mixed ancestry than it is to find someone with 100% Brazilian blood.”
Romance/Women’s Fiction:
http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2018/05/cats-and-cozy-mysteries-go-together.html “When I think of cats and mystery novels, my mind always swings to fond memories of reading Lilian Jackson Braun’s delightful 29-book series, “The Cat Who…,” launched in 1966 by E. P. Dutton with the publication of “The Cat Who Could Read Backwards.” Starring the intrepid feline sleuths, Koko and Yum Yum, the series clearly favors the cats as they use their abilities to solve murders with only a bit of help from their human, a newspaper reporter named Jim Qwilleran. Koko, in particular, seems to have an almost psychic ability to point out overlooked clues and evidence so Qwill can solve the crimes and see justice done. But Qwill always gives credit to his beloved cats for their assistance and shows his gratitude by spoiling them shamelessly.” Are cats the appeal? Maybe.
https://stevelaube.com/why_write-a-synopsis/ “Attention all novelists! Every fiction book proposal must include a synopsis. Everyone who teaches on the book proposal says you need one. But why? Those two to three single-spaced pages of agony will never be seen by anyone else but editors and agents, so why? Why, oh why, must a novelist create a synopsis? I understand how difficult it is to write a synopsis. And yet, you need to do the work.”
http://www.booksandsuch.com/blog/how-to-make-an-agent-squirm/ “Want to know how to make a CBA literary agent squirm? Wait until he or she is on a panel at a popular writing conference and ask, “What’s the best book you’ve read recently?” Surely that can’t be cringeworthy, can it?”
https://awriterofhistory.com/2018/05/24/antique-car-takes-you-unexpected-places/ “A car, I thought. I need some sort of vehicle to suit the era – a French one would be ideal. I searched various websites, clicking here and there on photos that caught my imagination. Suddenly, there it was: a red Tonneau with just the right blend of style and uniqueness. Not only was it quirky but it fit my notion of the woman who originally owned it – a fiercely independent woman who’d never married but had had many relationships, particularly with one or two of the impressionist painters of the time.And here’s how that vehicle made its entrance in Chapter 6.”
https://www.theresahuppauthor.com/blog/2018/05/23/oregon-history-on-cattle-men-and-government/ “Several thousand head of cattle accompanied the wagons and emigrants of the Cow Column. The pioneers had separated into those with four or more cattle and those without animals or with only a milk cow or two. The fear was that the herds would slow the emigrants down. Mr. Applegate was chosen as the leader of those with herds. Whether the emigrants’ fears about speed were baseless, or whether Mr. Applegate simply managed the Cow Column well, the wagons with cattle stayed only about a day behind the cow-less wagons all the way to Oregon City.”
http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/2018/05/fridayreads-fear-on-four-paws.html “n Fear on Four Paws, the seventh entry in author Clea Simon’s Pet Noir Mystery Series, Pru Marlowe proves to be a complicated protagonist. She has a leg up when it comes to solving crimes because she can communicate telepathically with animals. The emotions and images they share with her often send her haring off in the right direction, at least when it comes to solving crimes.”
http://scvincent.com/2018/05/25/a-life-on-the-scales/ “My son has a sick fish in his pond over which we are both worrying. The trouble with pond fish is that they have many places to hide if they are unwell, and you only usually see them from above, so unless there is an obvious and visible problem, they can quickly deteriorate.”
https://mybipolarmind.com/2018/05/23/trying-to-quit-5-days-smoke-free/ “I mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to try to quit smoking, and I have! While it’s still hard, it is not as bad as I imagined it would be. I had this big catastrophic scenario going on in my head. I thought I was going to feel like I want to die and that it was going to be the worst feeling in the world. If you are reading this, you most likely know how us Bipolar women think – like every negative thing is the end of the world!”
https://katiewrites4food.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/how-exercise-yes-exercise-lol-helped-shape-my-writing/ “I’ve definitely experienced this – never underestimate the power of a nice, horrible, boring jog!! – but my experience with exercise is mostly with the mental strength and confidence it gave me that helped kick my butt into gear and pursue my dreams through writing.” I’m going to attempt an exercise program here. I’ve ordered a yoga cd and equip and I’m going to try the gym. Though, in truth, I prefer to exercise alone as others intimidate me.
http://scbwimithemitten.blogspot.com/2018/05/unearthing-your-funny-bone-getting.html “Hiring local comedian, Mike Geeter, to perform at the SCBWI-MI Humor Conference may have seemed a bit unorthodox, but it was a comical ending to an information-packed day. In fact, one of my greatest takeaways came from him. When asked how he handles bombing on stage he responded with a confused look.”
http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/2018/05/wow-lisa-brown-roberts-on-revisions-and.html “Revision’s one of those “ugh” topics, but I hope I can share some things I’ve learned that will help others. I don’t want to freak out new writers or make it sound like I know everything because believe me, I don’t. Revising is difficult, yes, but also transformative. Revision is when you dig in and find the heart of your story, when you make dialog sparkle, when you add layers of nuance, and discover that your subconscious planted hints and foreshadowing you didn’t even know about!” I think revisions is where the magic happens too. I dislike first drafts, second drafts are slightly better and the story starts to shape, and each draft after polishes it into the story it was meant to be.
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense:
http://annerallen.com/2018/05/10-ways-tank-your-author-brand/ “Recently there’s been a bizarre drama going on in the book world. It’s been given the name #cockygate, because it involves a cocky author who managed to trademark the word “cocky” in a deluded attempt to eliminate the “competition” and “protect” her author brand.”
https://killzoneblog.com/2018/05/advanced-scene-technique-the-jump-cut.html “One technique to keep these scenes from bogging down is called the jump cut. This is a screenwriting term referring to a scene that jumps slightly ahead in time while staying in the same location. It’s used to excise irrelevant or otherwise dull material, so only the “good stuff” remains.” This could be useful!
https://margotkinberg.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/i-wasnt-there-but-i-heard-it-all/ “As this is posted, it’s 103 years since Thomas Edison invented the telescribe, a device for recording telephone conversations. Since that time, of course, technology has dramatically changed the way conversations are recorded. But the basic idea – that someone can record and later listen to one’s telephone conversations – hasn’t.”
https://johnwhowell.com/2018/05/23/wednesday-story-day-aka-hump-day-168/ “It is Wednesday Story Day again. Last week we were in a fortune-telling shop run by Micki Lee. Larry Dunfee, a police detective was there as well. It is there we learned from Micki that she believes Larry was brought to her shop by someone close to Larry. Then Larry dropped the bomb that his wife had died a year ago on that very day. We need to get back to see what else we can learn.”
https://coldhandboyack.wordpress.com/2018/05/23/time-to-move-on-to-the-next-project/ “The outline has a lot going for it, but the question remains. Will modern sentimentality kill this book faster than a .450 Jeffries to the head. It has a lot going for it, like magic, awesome setting, a love interest, a bit of war involving multiple factions, and oh yeah… diamonds.”
https://www.indiesunlimited.com/2018/05/21/even-writers-need-self-care/ “Most Indie writers cannot pay their bills by writing alone. We need additional sources of income to make ends meet. There are a lucky few for whom this is not necessary, but I think you may still find that you recognize yourself here.” Some good advice. It’s not good to focus on writing to the exclusion of all else.
http://www.thepassivevoice.com/selling-out-going-wide-or-going-exclusive-to-amazon/ “First of all, it’s a fully voluntary, opt-in program — just because you’re selling on Amazon doesn’t mean that they get exclusive rights to sell your ebook. You have to enroll each title — just because you’ve got one ebook exclusively at the Kindle Store doesn’t mean you can’t sell another on the iBooks Store, the Nook Store, Kobo, Google Play, and hundreds of other retail sites.” Going wide sounds like a good idea to me.
https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2018/05/25/publishing-large-print-edition/ “Indie authors often focus primarily on ebooks because that’s where we can compete in terms of price and readership. But there are still a LOT of readers who prefer print, and an underserved market with Large Print editions.”
Craft:
https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/how-to-grow-as-a-writer-5-logical-steps/ “Writers are students. Sometimes this is the result of nothing more than sheer necessity: we seek answers for our questions because writing is proposes difficult problems. But often, writers are students first and writers second. If this is you, then concentrating on how to grow as a writer isn’t justabout improving your writing; it’s part of a personal manifestation of learning and growth.” I hope to never stop learning. That’s why I read so many books. I want to learn from them. I enjoy reading and want to see how the author did what they did.
https://authorkristenlamb.com/2018/05/truth-fear-success/ “We choose. If we hope to find any success in life we must realize we are ultimately responsible. Everything else is an excuse. Why so many of us feel guilty that we haven’t done X, Y, and Z is we know we could have.”
http://writersinthestormblog.com/2018/05/first-page-critique-3/ “I chose this entry to crit this month because, at its core, it sounds like an interesting story, and it could be a compelling beginning. But it’s buried in adjectives, adverbs and asides. I can tell this author slaved over this. But believe it or not, we can try too ”
https://kriswrites.com/2018/05/23/business-musings-the-books-we-want-to-write/ “Which sounds weird, I know. But what I mean by that is that someone wrote a book that’s tailored just for me. Usually I’m the only one who does that. In fact, that impulse to write a book that I want to read is what gets me to the keyboard most of the time.”
https://writershelpingwriters.net/2018/05/occupation-thesaurus-makeup-artist/ “Overview: A makeup artist uses cosmetics to enhance or change a person’s physical appearance. This type of artist may work as a clerk at a store, in a salon, as a personal makeup artist for a celebrity, at special events (such as a photo shoot, runway show, or wedding), or on staff for a TV production company. They may also work in a mortuary or funeral home, preparing corpses for viewing. At the extreme end of this career spectrum, makeup artists may use their techniques to create special effects in movies. People in this career field can either be freelance or employed in a permanent position.”
https://cagedunn.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/looking-at-creativity-the-write-way/ “I recently had a conversation with a friend who was upset by the snobbery she read about between creatives, specifically literary writers versus romance writers. (If it comes to fisticuffs, I’ll put my money on romance writers any day.) Setting aside personal preference regarding reading or writing a certain genre, this kind of comparison seems as rational as making fun of someone who prefers polo shirts over t-shirts or the color red over blue. I’m still trying to understand where this kind of thinking comes from.” I don’t think one writer is better than another as far as genres or literary works go. We all work equally hard.
https://sistersofthefey.wordpress.com/2018/05/23/what-are-the-four-noble-truths-lions-roar/ “As a Pagan Buddhist, I am rather eclectic in my thoughts. My Buddhist beliefs have always been enhanced by my Pagan beliefs and vise-versa. I do live by the Eightfold Path and I do believe in the four noble truths. Here is a great breakdown of their meanings. Click the link below to read more.”
https://nicholasrossis.wordpress.com/2018/05/23/how-to-write-effectively-while-you-are-traveling/ “Traveling is an excellent way to squeeze out those creative juices and get away from the hustle and bustle of your daily routine, which may hinder creativity. But traveling also presents you with different challenges. From hectic schedules to unfamiliar environments and travel fatigue, a lot of things can prevent you from completing your writing tasks for each day.” I’ve written while traveling but in a notebook. I found peace in getting up before everyone else, having coffee on the porch, and enjoying the beauty of the surroundings.
Bonus: https://twodropsofink.com/2018/05/24/news-two-drops-of-ink-2018-writing-contest/ “Since this is a “reader’s choice” voting process, why not have writers submit in whatever genre they wish? It’s up to each writer to promote their own post, push their piece for votes, and the one with the most “likes” wins the $100 grand prize along with a badge for their website or blog (if they have one).”
http://teagansbooks.com/2018/05/19/getcaughtreading-2018-the-books/ I got this book on my Kindle recently, and I finally found a moment to open it. I can tell you that it did not disappoint. Diana is an amazing talent with “high” fantasy. She’s easily as good as Terry Brooks or Robert Jordan (my long-time favorites). Her world-building and prose are superb in this and everything I’ve read from her. And she’s written so many books! Just pick one and see if you can stop. (As the old potato chip commercial used to say, “You can’t eat (read) just one.”
https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2018/05/19/rosies-bokreview-team-rbrt-womensfiction-the-women-of-heachley-hall-by-racheljwalkley/ When book illustrator, Miriam Chambers, inherits Great Aunt Felicity’s Victorian mansion in the Norfolk countryside, she discovers it is a poisoned chalice. Either she must live in the run-down cold building for a year and a day or it will be auctioned for charity. Since she is able to work at home she decides to accept the challenge and she employs some local tradesmen to improve the facilities a little. But it is a lonely house set in overgrown woodland and Miriam is grateful when a strange-looking young man comes to the door offering to chop wood and do odd jobs. As the creaks and bangs around the house alarm her, she is pleased when Charles, the reticent young man, provides company.
Christian:
http://storitorigrace.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-book-review-of-white-by-ted-dekker.html “Never break the circle.” For two realities, time is running out. In one world, a lethal virus threatens to destroy all life as scientists and governments scramble to find an antidote. In the other, a forbidden love could forever destroy the ragtag resistance known as The Circle. Thomas can bridge both worlds, but he is quickly realizing that he may not be able to save either. In the mind-bending conclusion to the Circle trilogy, Thomas must find a way to rewrite history as he navigates a whirlwind of emotions and events surrounding a pending apocalypse. The fate of two worlds comes down to one man’s choice–and it is a most unlikely choice indeed.
http://www.talesoftheravenousreader.com/2018/05/david-arnold-our-strange-fascinations.html There are various commonalities among Noah’s Strange Fascinations: they’re constant, even when everything else changes; they’re a bit niche, not something everyone knows about; they each have an element of mystery, something Noah senses in or about them that no one else does, but something he can’t quite put his finger on; and, in a way, the more he learns about each Strange Fascination, the more he learns about himself.
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense:
http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2018/05/guest-post-by-rnmorris-plotting-the-perfect-crime-novel.htmlN.Morris is an old writer-friend of mine, and ever since his debut, A Gentle Axe, starring Dostoevsky’s Porfiry Petrovitch, the examining magistrate from Crime and Punishment, I’ve known his work for pulling no punches but also being subtle, complex and thought-provoking. Has a superb sense of setting and period and (which isn’t the case with every good writer) he’s also good at articulating what he does. I’m not a crime-writer, though I love the detective/mystery end of the genre particularly, and am awed by anyone who can fit all the bits together and simultaneously make one care, shiver, and stay up late to find out whodunnit. So when I heard Roger had a new book out, I thought it would be a good moment to ask him to unpick a little of his personal how/what/why in writing fiction, for the Itch.
https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/interestingliterature-she-by-h-rider-haggard/ While the story is very Victorian in its content and writing style and presents some very old fashioned attitudes to racial and gender issues (the views of the author on women leaders becomes more apparent at the end), if you accept this as a characteristic of colonial writing, it is an amazing tale of a woman who learns the secret of immortality and uses her power to gain control of the local people in an African country, whom she treats with great cruelty. The descriptions of an African dawn and the countryside and caverns are detailed and delightful, as are the depictions of the preservation of bodies and the history of She’s realm. The book provides some interesting insights into the thoughts of the Victorians about woman in leadership positions and their overarching inability to control their love lives. She is not portrayed as a weak woman, other than in her love interest.
Where Genres Collide Traci Kenworth YA Author 