tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925536058589739832024-02-20T12:08:23.224-08:00The Aspiring Romance Writers BlogUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-37802614680412716852018-10-13T00:00:00.000-07:002018-10-13T00:00:22.519-07:00Yep<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-605025764101280372018-10-06T21:44:00.000-07:002018-10-06T21:45:46.890-07:00Truth and only the truth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-54133037325714303372018-10-05T11:49:00.000-07:002018-10-05T11:49:17.368-07:00The Power of Read Local by Leigh GoffThe Power of Read Local
by <b>Leigh Goff</b><br />
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There is a social trend of ‘local first’ movements spreading around our nation that focuses on improving local economies and supporting communities from within. Supporting local, whether it be farms, shops, authors, or restaurants is a great way for groups of committed people to affect change in their neighborhoods. One of these ‘local first’ movements is called Read Local.<br />
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Read Local benefits the community and makes communities unique. An example of this is Maryland author Nora Roberts who has her own foundation that supports literacy, and she also donates to programs with local organizations being a priority.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy of deltatoast Pixabay</td></tr>
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When I wrote my second YA novel, <b>Bewitching Hannah</b>, historic downtown Annapolis inspired me. With my published novel, I wanted to highlight what makes my town unique with the hope of making it more of a destination than it already is. I included popular sights and historic houses as the settings where much of the action takes place.<br />
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The feedback I received from local readers was that they wanted to visit or revisit the places they’d read about in my book so I created a literary tour for them that included all the sights I used in my novel.<br />
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Here’s the <a href="https://leighgoff.com/2017/08/31/a-bewitching-tour-around-historic-annapolis/"><b>link</b></a> to the self-guided tour.
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There are many libraries that recognize the significance of this movement. Cascades Library in Potomac Falls, Virginia is one of them and they are hosting their third annual <a href="http://loudouncountypubliclibrary.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=40405&df=list&lib=1000&nd=180&backTo=List&startDate=2018/08/21&endDate=2019/02/17"><b>Eat Local/Read Local</b></a> event this September 29th from 10am to 1pm. I’ll be there selling, signing, and donating books.
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The Maryland/Delaware/West Virginia chapter of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators) created a Read Local Challenge that I participate in, as well. This particular local challenge begins every September and lasts through the school year. It gives local authors a chance to do book signings, Q & A, and presentations at participating schools, libraries, homeschool groups, book clubs, and scout troops. Participants that read the most books on the list become eligible to win prizes including a prize pack of signed books. If you’re a teacher, librarian, or a book club leader click <a href="https://mddewv.scbwi.org/files/2016/09/Read-Local-2018-19-Book-List.pdf"><b>here</b></a> for more information<br />
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Literary artists need their
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community and the community needs its artists. As Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Let’s READ LOCAL!
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Here's a little from my latest novel for your reading pleasure.
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Hannah, the thirteenth great-granddaughter of the Wizard Earl Fitzgerald, has always known she was descended from a troubled legacy of alchemy and dark magic. Although a stranger to her coven in Annapolis, she is no stranger to grief and denial; however, when an ancient prophecy reveals the rise of a young, powerful witch and the impending death of another, she realizes she can no longer afford to suppress the magic that has taken away so much. She seeks out the frighteningly scarred, yet mysterious W who is destined to change her life, but even he cannot prepare her for the secrets she must unlock – including one that reveals the location of an unimaginably powerful elixir.
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Enemies will hurt her. Loved ones will make her vulnerable. And the impending prophecy that drives her to unleash her magic will cause her to unearth the sins of the past and doubt any promise of a future. Without knowing whom her true rival is, Hannah isn’t certain she’ll survive the game Fate is playing, and if she loses, she may lose everything, including the ones she loves.<br />
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The imposing entrance segued into the main part of the old family chapel. Shadows flickered across the white walls as candlelight streamed down from an ornate iron chandelier cradling clear-colored hurricanes. Angelic sculptures hung between the arched windows and beneath the cloud-painted ceiling that Michelangelo himself would have envied, four wooden pews graced each side of the aisle.
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I tiptoed farther in and spotted another black-lined white envelope on the altar. I was definitely in the right place.
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My fingers trembled as I traced the letters that formed my name. This was way beyond ordinary, but why and—more importantly—who?
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“W?”
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A hint of the Shadow’s amber and woods scent mixed with the faint candle smoke of the chapel. “No. Way.” I spun around ready to stomp right out of there.
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In that moment, a heavy gaze fell on me and the air felt charged with electricity. I searched right and left, seeing no one. “W? Whoever you are, show yourself.”
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“This will be the hardest thing you’ve ever done.” His potent voice reverberated off the walls and seemed to come from everywhere, including the inside of my head.
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I locked my wandering gaze on the loft above the entrance where I spotted his silhouette. “Was leaving me in a burning wreck the hardest thing you ever had to do? Was it?” I raised my volume. “Who are you? Why did you leave me for dead?”
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His intake of breath was audible. “I would never. I mean. I didn’t want to do that. I don’t.”
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“Oh, lucky me.” I stuck my hands on my hips and tapped an impatient foot on the floor. “If you don’t want to finish me off, then you lured me here to do what, exactly?”
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“To help you. I want to help you.”
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“Ha!” The sarcastic laugh burst out before I could stop it. “You’ve done a bang up job inspiring my confidence and trust in that department.”
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He simmered in silence for a moment. “What do I have to do to inspire you to follow my directions?”
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Following someone else’s directions was definitely not my strength. I grimaced, but curiosity got the better of me. “What do you want?”
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“You read the note.”
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His desire to remain in the shadows was increasingly irritating. “I consider myself a very smart girl, so when a guy who left me in a burning car tells me he wants to help me take on a different deadly problem, I have to wonder if he’s not setting me up to fend for myself again. What’s your motive?”
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I dropped my eyes to the envelope, turning it to and fro.
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“Emme Blackstone is a mutual enemy and means us both harm.” A tinge of anger laced his tone.
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The anger, I understood. After all, we were talking about Emme, but there was also a hint of sadness that intrigued me further. “Why do you think Emme means you harm?”
“It’s inevitable—because of what I am.”
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What was he besides completely contemptible?
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“It’s in her blood and I believe it’s in her destiny to wreak havoc, especially against someone who can challenge her in talent like you can.”
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I dropped my hands to my sides, still clasping the enveloping. “Whoa. Like me? You don’t know me. You don’t know anything about me. How could you? I’ve been gone for the last year.”
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A chortle caught in his throat. “What’s a year when you come from a bloodline with hundreds of years of history? A history that’s written down and available to certain people with the right—pedigree.”
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Confused, I creased my brow as I continued to stare at his silhouette. “Have you been cyber-stalking me on Ancestry.com or something?”
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“Hardly.” There was disdain in his voice as if he considered cyber-stalking to be worse than leaving a girl to die.
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“Look, whatever you think you know about my family, I’m not like them. I’m not talented, and I don’t want to challenge Emme. I just want to live a normal life. Normal.” My voice escalated. “Do you hear me all the way up there?”
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He huffed. “Normal? You don’t get to pretend to be normal when you’re not. It doesn’t work like that. Not in Annapolis. Someone always knows. Someone always unravels your secrets.”
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I thought of the Witch’s Grave. I pictured the women’s slender figures dangling from sturdy, gnarled branches. Their tragic endings proved what I already knew. Magic only brought suffering and death.<br />
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“You make it sound like I don’t have a choice. I’m telling you I do, and I won’t be a part of this.” I stomped my foot hard on the floor.
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He shifted from the shadows into a dim ray of light, seething. “You read the note and you know Emme won’t stop. You need my help.”
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I glared, trying desperately to make out the details of his face. “I don’t need anything from you.”
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“You don’t have to like it, but that doesn’t change the fact that you are a part of this. You know you are or you wouldn’t have come here. However, if that’s how you feel then you should leave.” The cold in his voice crystallized.
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My pulse escalated. “Yup. That’s how I feel. And I’m only leaving because that’s what I want to do, not because you suggested it. Bye.” I marched to the door and wrapped my hand around the knob. I yanked it open. From the moment I’d first laid eyes on him, he’d been nothing but trouble. Horrible, awful trouble. However, as much as I hated to think it, he knew about me and the other witches in town. He was full of answers—answers I needed. I shut the door and turned back around. “How do you know all this about Emme and me?”
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">BUY LINKS</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073X5KF13/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=sloanetaylor7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B073X5KF13&linkId=a00abefdaed8d671a2fc34c796020cbd"><b>Amazon Kindle</b></a> - <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1987976312/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=sloanetaylor7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1987976312&linkId=443f235fe209dc4e15d23378274ed7a9"><b>Amazon Paperback</b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://mirror-world-publishing.myshopify.com/collections/young-adult-fiction/products/bewitching-hannah-paperback"><b>Mirror World Publishing</b></a> - <b><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bewitching-hannah-leigh-goff/1126756568?ean=9781987976311">Barnes & Noble</a></b></span><br />
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<b>Leigh Goff</b> loves writing young adult fiction with elements of magic and romance because it's also what she liked to read. Born and raised on the East Coast, she now lives in Maryland where she enjoys the area's great history and culture.
Leigh is a graduate of the University of Maryland, University College and a member of the Maryland Writers' Association and Romance Writers of America. She is also an approved artist with the Maryland State Arts Council. Her debut novel, Disenchanted, was inspired by the Wethersfield witches of Connecticut and was released by <b>Mirror World Publishing</b>.<br />
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Leigh is currently working on her next novel, <b>The Witch's Ring</b> which is set in Annapolis.
Learn more about <b>Leigh Goff</b> on her <a href="http://leighgoff.com/"><b>website</b></a> and <a href="http://leighgoff.com/blog/"><b>blog</b></a>. Stay connected on <a href="http://facebook.com/leighgoffauthor"><b>Facebook</b></a>, <a href="http://instagram.com/authorleighgoff"><b>Instagram</b></a>, <a href="http://pinterest.com/authorleighgoff/"><b>Pinterest</b></a>, and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9819621.Leigh_Goff"><b>Goodreads</b></a>.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-49357272563186931662018-10-02T00:30:00.000-07:002018-10-02T00:30:03.567-07:00IN PROPER PROPORTION by HL Carpenter<div style="text-align: center;">
IN PROPER PROPORTION
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by <b>HL Carpenter</b><br />
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So there we were, with a packet of strawberries threatening to go soft and the need for a recipe to make good use of them. None of the sauce recipes we found called for as many berries as we had.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKN3UzJuAXalZnybss7NUmmrNju_C97K9V9rzYSx2ziMAqA9ZwiSt76H8bRrTwVkzKqaOrPPE0HMRSxAFVhiH2L32L8UX8Iaq1_UJ750-J5-ZwWnKp34gJz19GPMVMt6dkRLEegZKU05kR/s1600/61+a+HL+Carpenter+Strawberry+sauce+pitcher.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; clear: left; color: #0066cc; float: left; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKN3UzJuAXalZnybss7NUmmrNju_C97K9V9rzYSx2ziMAqA9ZwiSt76H8bRrTwVkzKqaOrPPE0HMRSxAFVhiH2L32L8UX8Iaq1_UJ750-J5-ZwWnKp34gJz19GPMVMt6dkRLEegZKU05kR/s320/61+a+HL+Carpenter+Strawberry+sauce+pitcher.jpeg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a>And then we realized all the recipes could be reduced to proportions. In this case, the proportions were 1:1:2, meaning that as long as we used 1 part water, 1 part sugar, and 2 parts strawberries, we could adjust the quantities to achieve the result we wanted.
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Once the sauce was made and we were eating vanilla ice cream with strawberry sauce topping, we began to think of all the ways we use proportions in our writing.
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Here are two examples.
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<b>Book covers </b>
The Golden Ratio or Golden Mean is a mathematical concept that creates a symmetrical, eye-pleasing composition. Yes, we know—math! EEK! Thanks to web-based calculators, you don't actually have to do the calculations.
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But understanding the idea that proper proportions are an important design element will make your book covers naturally attractive. As a bonus, you can use the Golden Ratio to design your logo and website, and to choose the right text size and spacing for your printed marketing materials, such as bookmarks.
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Time management</b>
Much as we'd like to write ALL THE TIME, we schedule our days to include other tasks that go along with the business of being indie authors. For example, we allot 20-25% of our workday to marketing. We want to keep the results we achieve in proportion to the effort we expend.
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We also need a lot of time to refill the creative well—or, as some would say, loaf around doing nothing. Here, the trick is to keep the proportion of time off to work time in harmony so we don't end up procrastinating instead of starting new projects.
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Whether or not you like math—or strawberry sauce—we're sure you can figure out other ways to apply proportions to your writing. Tell us your tips in the comments!
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And now a little from our fun Space Opera. W hope you enjoy it.
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Flying frizzles! The year is 2176, a rebellion is brewing, and the boss wants a recon report. Ichann Count is all wet as a spy, but she plunges into the fray. Will she emerge with her memory banks intact?
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Ichann Count is an expert at accounting warfare. She spends her days crunching numbers at the Etherworld Tax Bureau and crushing on her really cute co-worker.
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When the Water Tax Rebellion of 2176 geysers to the surface, Ike finds herself—and her really cute co-worker— drowning in trouble.
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Can Ike save them both? Or will events continue to burble downhill?
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The biggest surprise about the Shewawa Water Tax Rebellion of 2176 was that no one on Xerios read the signs correctly.
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Oh, the Celestial Council knew cosmic numbers of Shewawans were swelling the ranks of the opposition. Who could miss that? Long before the proposed Water Tax had taken effect, news reports overflowed with stories of protestors and frivolous arguments—well, arguments the Council called frivolous. The protestors were deadly serious. When civilized avenues of protest failed, they turned to more forceful ways of expressing displeasure.
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Tax accountants who'd been posted to Shewawa on standard duty tour understood the brewing danger. We encountered antagonism every day, first hand. We sent urgent red-alert notices to Xerios. We nearly melted the tax hotline advising the Council's Senior Tax Commissioner of the agitation boiling in the colony.
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The STC and the rest of the Council dismissed our warnings. They refused to believe a ragtag group of upstarts would challenge their authority to impose the Water Tax. So events continued to burble downhill, the way they do when no one has the courage to face the truth or the vision to chart a new course.
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I never expected to get caught up in the rebellion. I was not a Shewawantologist. I was a Certified Etherworld Accountant, an expert at numbers warfare. Maybe I should have been less casual about the impact of the Water Tax, since I was part of what the protestors had begun to call the "oppressors." But in some ways, I was as blind as the Council.
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As surely as my name was Ichann Count, I knew what was going to happen. I just didn't want to acknowledge my intuition or admit the protestors had a valid complaint.
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Why would I? I was an ordinary Xerian, doing an ordinary job. Like a gazillion others across the Tri-Galaxies, I got up every morning, ate breakfast, brushed my ivories, and went to work. I spent my days crunching numbers at the Etherworld Tax Bureau with a hundred other CEAs. I also spent a considerable amount of time crushing on my hunky cubicle-sharer, Fifo Ventry.
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The Monday the Water Tax went into effect, I sat behind my light-beam privacy curtain, working on an audit report and stealing glances at Fifo. Outside my little bubble, the office was in turmoil. My co-workers had abandoned their desks. They gathered in uneasy clusters by the main conference room, sipping hot fragrant Starshine coffee and muttering to each other.
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We were all waiting for our boss to brief us on his morning's skull sessions. He was confabbing with the political factions on Xerios who wanted us to enforce the legislation as well as the Shewawan revolutionaries urging its repeal.
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None of us expected the news to be good. We'd hoped to be back home in Xerios by now, but redeployment was doubtful. The Water Tax meant fathoms more work and the Tax Bureau was already short-staffed.
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I wrapped up the audit report on the local branch of the AquaDrip Water Company and touched the moon-metal brooch I always wore. Dad had given it to me a few months after Mom died, when I was a skinny ten-year-old. I opened the ornate clasp and studied the hologram inside. I always studied the hologram of my parents on their wedding day when I needed strength or courage. That happened a lot.
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In the picture, Mom wore a lacy bridal skinsuit. She was slender and tall, like a long drink of water, though she seemed tiny beside her imposing new husband. A cascade of dark blond hair flowed back from her intelligent face as she looked up at Dad. Her smile was insouciant and beguiling.
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As always when I touched the brooch, Dad's words echoed in my mind. "Mom wanted you to have this picture so you can carry her close to your heart, Ike. When you're grown, you'll be exactly like her."
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Though he too had long since passed and would never know, at least part of his prediction had come true. I missed out on Mom's beauty, but I inherited her mental acuity. Fortunately. I needed the advantage of Brainbox genes to figure out the problem at AquaDrip. The company was in serious financial difficulty.
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I stared across the office at Fifo as I balanced the audit disk in my hand. Neither of the higher-ups I reported to would be happy to read my recommendation for fixing AquaDrip. Still, someone had to face the truth. I just hoped that truth wouldn't circle back and drown me.
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At the same time, I knew it would.
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The only question was how quickly the water would run downhill.
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FB7FNWC/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=sloanetaylor7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B07FB7FNWC&linkId=b01795eac68127bbdf0a5506a410d996"><b><span style="font-size: large;">BUY LINK</span></b></a></div>
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Mother/daughter author duo <b>HL Carpenter</b> write family-friendly fiction from their studios in Carpenter Country, a magical place that, like their stories, is unreal but not untrue. When they’re not writing, they enjoy exploring the Land of What-If and practicing the fine art of Curiosity.<br />
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Visit their <a href="http://www.hlcarpenter.com/"><b>website</b></a> to enjoy gift reads and excerpts and to find out what’s happeni<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilSWjl4-9AybWBa0f9iHyLMpjwtETtU-va-zYC3rU1x42ZZrGG514YUAcpSZgLaZxWqSuEeuzP8d0EKC4o8iz7FE3-RieXdHcPV-w7t9moqp8hxRXeqk6l4Ngj0UG4cSWd0D-kaPnZ8hEN/s1600/61+c+HLCarpenter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; clear: right; color: #0066cc; float: right; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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and their <a href="http://www.amazon.com/HL-Carpenter/e/B007SHS9LA"><b>Amazon Author Page</b></a>.
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-61868588056670093862018-09-29T00:00:00.000-07:002018-09-30T19:15:40.351-07:00Six Tips to Revise Your Writing from C.D. HershSix Tips to Revise Your Writing
from <b>C.D. Hersh</b>
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While we have been working in our (my wife’s) garden, between rainy days, cleaning up weeds, volunteer trees and leaves, we have been talking about cleaning up the two years’ worth of bird droppings and green mold from the railings and edges of our Trek decking. Our deck is a three-level beauty, designed by Catherine. The deck is a joy to sit on and a great place to entertain, but it’s a bear to clean. We have noticed the birds’ ‘gifts’ deposited on the railings and the mold creeping across the banisters, and meant to get out and take care of them, but other things got in the way. We got too busy, worked too hard, it got too hot to work on the deck, and we were just too lazy.<br />
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In retrospect, we should have paid more attention to what was happening, because we have let a minor job turn into a major one, once again. Oh, yes, we’ve faced this challenge before.
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Last time we cleaned, we spent about five hours cleaning the railings and about two feet around the lower two decks, scrubbing, rubbing, and rinsing. We even cleaned some spots with a toothbrush! Then we cleaned the center of the two lower decks, the steps, and the balcony.
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This cleaning exercise, that we have to do again, is a lot like revising a book—you have to take the time to get rid of all the crap you let accumulate. That’s every time you write.
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We’re not saying our books, or even your books, are crap. We all write well, right? But it’s so easy to get lazy and let a lot of stuff slip in like passive voice, adjectives, groaning dialogue tags, purple prose, slow pacing, and way too much back story, until, like the railings of our deck covered in bird droppings, you can no longer see the beauty of your original creation. We don’t know about you, but we hate revisions and would rather do everything we can to get our books as clean as possible the first go around.
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So, here are six tips we use to get the bird droppings out of our writing.
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• Reread the previous days’ work. This not only gives a fresh look at your writing but also helps get back in the groove. If you’ve been away from a WIP more than few days you might even go back to the previous chapter. By revisiting each chapter, you get a head start on the small revision stuff.<br />
• Write with grammar check turned on. You can set grammar check to highlight a lot of things, but the most important use we have found is to highlight passive writing. Having attuned yourself to those squiggle grammar check lines, the passive verbs are very clear to see. A glance tells where you need improvement in this area. Not every passive sentence can be revised into an active one, but many can and doing so will make your writing stronger.<br />
• Do a search for “LY” on each chapter as you complete it. It’s amazing how many of those sneaky adjectives creep in.<br />
• Look for long paragraphs. Too little white space on a page can often be a warning sign of heavy narrative, back story, or too much description.<br />
• Check every page for tension. Donald Maas says we should have tension on every page. It doesn’t have to be bang ‘em up, slam ‘em up tension, but there needs to be something that keeps the story humming along.<br />
• Do a check of dialogue. Are there too many “he saids” or “she saids.” Or are there too many lines with no dialogue or action tags? Have you gritted or laughed the dialogue? Teeth are gritted not words, and how in the world do you laugh words? We know we can’t.
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These six items may seem like little steps toward revision, but sweating the small stuff now can make your major revisions easier. And who doesn’t want that?
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What do you do as you write to help your revisions go faster?
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Now here is a little about our paranormal series, <b><i>The Turning Stone Chronicles</i></b>.
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Now here is a little about our paranormal series, <b><i>The Turning Stone Chronicles</i></b>.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Three ancient Celtic families. A magical Bloodstone that enables the wearers to shape shift. A charge to use the stone’s power to benefit mankind, and a battle, that is going on even today, to control the world. Can the Secret Society of shape shifters called the Turning Stone Society heal itself and bring peace to our world? Find out in the series <b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M74HDVX/">The Turning Stone Chronicles</a></i></b>.
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<b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DUMODKI/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=sloanetaylor7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B00DUMODKI&linkId=c131b52ef3f6a8b43c74d36f72c2aa78">The Promised One</a></b>, book one:
When homicide detective Alexi Jordan is forced to use her shape shifting powers to catch a paranormal killer, she risks the two most important things in her life—her badge and the man she loves.
<br />
<br />
<b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OVNFC8W/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=sloanetaylor7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B00OVNFC8W&linkId=590b71c1d2be771feaa6868e3c1b3cd8">Blood Brothers</a></b>, book two:
Shape shifter Delaney Ramsey’s daughter is missing, and she is bound by honor to protect the man she suspects of the deed. To bring him to justice, she must go against her code, the leader of the secret shifter society, and the police captain she is falling for.
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<br />
<b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XK3E172/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=sloanetaylor7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B00XK3E172&linkId=6f6c613b6b4c2dcee84617549139d9a9">Son of the Moonless Night</a></b>, book three:
Thrust back into the world of paranormal huntress, Deputy Coroner Katrina Romanovski must unravel a string of murders she believes are vampire attacks. When she discovers the shape shifter she’s in love with is the murderer, she must reconcile her feelings for him, examine her life of violence against paranormals, and justify deceiving him in order to bring him to justice.
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<b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01I01W2JC/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=sloanetaylor7-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B01I01W2JC&linkId=f88abf4e74cb02b81ac4579454ff2bb7">The Mercenary and the Shifters</a></b>, book four:
A desperate call from an ex-military buddy lands a mercenary soldier in the middle of a double kidnapping, caught in an ancient shape shifter war, and ensnared between two female shape shifters after the same thing ... him.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgu1oXm3S8k5r5qJV_BsaDkaDAF5jpEeCFD3L762fQPHgNgoVa0Bvsk17FOmFFRn3crj-pKuQ_tilpChR10HrFGyp7-hOomP0RIKiupok88oNp4Yzsx_gMNFyofHYsAYyKK9v9Dni5I8nh/s1600/hersh_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgu1oXm3S8k5r5qJV_BsaDkaDAF5jpEeCFD3L762fQPHgNgoVa0Bvsk17FOmFFRn3crj-pKuQ_tilpChR10HrFGyp7-hOomP0RIKiupok88oNp4Yzsx_gMNFyofHYsAYyKK9v9Dni5I8nh/s320/hersh_small.jpg" width="320" /></a>
<i>C.D. Hersh–Two hearts creating everlasting love stories.</i>
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Putting words and stories on paper is second nature to co-authors <b>C.D. Hersh</b>. They’ve written separately since they were teenagers and discovered their unique, collaborative abilities in the mid-90s. As high school sweethearts and husband and wife, Catherine and Donald believe in true love and happily ever after.
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The books of their paranormal romance series entitled <i>The Turning Stone Chronicles</i> are available on Amazon. They also have a short Christmas story, <b>Kissing Santa</b>, in a Christmas anthology titled Sizzle in the Snow: Soul Mate Christmas Collection, with seven other authors. Also a standalone novella, <b>Can’t Stop The Music</b>, in a collection with thirteen other authors.
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They look forward to many years of co-authoring and book sales, and a lifetime of happily-ever-after endings on the page and in real life.
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Learn more about <b>C.D. Hersh</b> on their <a href="http://cdhersh.wordpress.com/"><b>website</b></a> and their <a href="http://www.amazon.com/C.-D.-Hersh/e/B00DV5L7ZI">Amazon Author Page</a>.
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Stay connected on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/cdhershauthor">Facebook</a></b>, <a href="https://twitter.com/AuthorCDHersh"><b>Twitter</b></a>, and <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/CDHersh"><b>Goodreads</b></a>.
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<br />
<br />
Now here is a little about our paranormal series, The Turning Stone Chronicles.
<br />
Three ancient Celtic families. A magical Bloodstone that enables the wearers to shape shift. A charge to use the stone’s power to benefit mankind, and a battle, that is going on even today, to control the world. Can the Secret Society of shape shifters called the Turning Stone Society heal itself and bring peace to our world? Find out in The Series The Turning Stone Chronicles.
<br />
The Promised One, book one:
When homicide detective Alexi Jordan is forced to use her shape shifting powers to catch a paranormal killer, she risks the two most important things in her life—her badge and the man she loves.
<br />
<br />
Blood Brothers, book two:
Shape shifter Delaney Ramsey’s daughter is missing, and she is bound by honor to protect the man she suspects of the deed. To bring him to justice, she must go against her code, the leader of the secret shifter society, and the police captain she is falling for.
<br />
Son of the Moonless Night, book three:
Thrust back into the world of paranormal huntress, Deputy Coroner Katrina Romanovski must unravel a string of murders she believes are vampire attacks. When she discovers the shape shifter she’s in love with is the murderer, she must reconcile her feelings for him, examine her life of violence against paranormals, and justify deceiving him in order to bring him to justice.
<br />
<br />
The Mercenary and the Shifters, book four:
A desperate call from an ex-military buddy lands a mercenary soldier in the middle of a double kidnapping, caught in an ancient shape shifter war, and ensnared between two female shape shifters after the same thing ... him.
<br />
<br />
C.D. Hersh–Two hearts creating everlasting love stories.
Putting words and stories on paper is second nature to co-authors C.D. Hersh. They’ve written separately since they were teenagers and discovered their unique, collaborative abilities in the mid-90s. As high school sweethearts and husband and wife, Catherine and Donald believe in true love and happily ever after.
<br />
<br />
The first four books of their paranormal romance series entitled The Turning Stone Chronicles are available on Amazon. They have a short Christmas story, Kissing Santa, in a Christmas anthology titled Sizzle in the Snow: Soul Mate Christmas Collection, with seven authors. Also a standalone novella, Can’t Stop The Music, in a collection with thirteen other authors.
<br />
<br />
They are looking forward to many years of co-authoring and book sales, and a lifetime of happily-ever-after endings on the page and in real life.
<br />
<br />
You can connect with and follow C.D. Hersh at their website, or on Facebook: and Twitter.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-84621422348127381152018-09-18T19:15:00.000-07:002018-09-30T19:18:04.258-07:00On Writing <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSJQOx2zaQOoNLy7HY2soDtcw4x76fjXEbWjqmVFylxCya86dkb1rOlYXMBL6fMHh2hq72QgIuVszMwzSDc4LjoQmdpzAdOOXcXDoWgkP7M9E6gDdZ0Jpjcm656XXqO80c5Qg4zVg8bdE/s1600/40381365_1696119773830651_3765281550753595392_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="625" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSJQOx2zaQOoNLy7HY2soDtcw4x76fjXEbWjqmVFylxCya86dkb1rOlYXMBL6fMHh2hq72QgIuVszMwzSDc4LjoQmdpzAdOOXcXDoWgkP7M9E6gDdZ0Jpjcm656XXqO80c5Qg4zVg8bdE/s320/40381365_1696119773830651_3765281550753595392_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-3103778682753470382018-09-04T20:52:00.002-07:002018-09-04T20:52:53.398-07:00Are Your Characters’ Names Easy to Pronounce? from Carol Browne <i>Are Your Characters’ Names Easy to Pronounce?
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from <b>Carol Browne</b><br />
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Here is a bit of good advice for fiction authors I wish someone had given to me when I first started writing: <i>make it obvious how your characters’ names are pronounced</i>.
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There’s nothing more frustrating to a reader than having to follow a character throughout a book without knowing how to pronounce their name. These days, the popularity of audio books makes this an even more contentious issue—as I recently discovered.
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Yes, I’m one of those writers guilty as charged. When I chose the name ‘Elgiva’ for the protagonist of my book <b><i>The Exile of Elindel</i></b>, I didn’t foresee the problems I would encounter down the line. I was an inexperienced young wordsmith who thought the meaning of the name—elf gift—sufficient justification for using it. I pronounced it in my mind precisely as it was written. Such a simple name, I thought. What could go wrong?
Many years later, I realise there are more ways to pronounce ‘Elgiva’ than I could have imagined; at least six! Which syllable should be stressed? Is it a hard ‘g’? It’s an Anglo-Saxon name and so it should be a soft ‘g’, although even that is open to question by some Anglo-Saxon scholars.
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The issue of pronunciation might never have been addressed had it not been for the fact that I recently had to audition voice-over actors for the audio version of the book. The actors spoke the name in a completely different way from my own version so that it rhymed with ‘Godiva’. I consulted my fan base and ended up with two more ways to say the name, neither of which resembled mine or that of the voice-over actors.
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It was decision time! I was forced to settle on the pronunciation I thought was the most accurate. Although it wasn’t the one I originally intended, it was closer to the Anglo-Saxon pronunciation with a soft ‘g’ and the stress on the first syllable.
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Oddly enough, this makes the name sound even more elvish. But I have to keep reminding myself how to say it, after four decades of saying it my own way. The way I remember it is that the first syllable is the only stressed one and the ‘gi’ is pronounced as it is in ‘magical’. So Elgiva is magical. And, of course, she is!
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How about curling up with my epic fantasy while you contemplate the possibility of elves and all the ways to say their names?
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiDhIcJX7eSQ5ncRDkWx3rsWjFfdyYAGdV1GBVFAKncxpAd1G3KXXpRABI4RG1ibVzanrnAw9EBzoKOfE8MAUe7tiOPSfczUzDalxQ0Di8rWw2HQy5gu-2FWJ9TKqPHpZCGObzD-6976Ml/s1600/Oct+Exile+2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="201" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiDhIcJX7eSQ5ncRDkWx3rsWjFfdyYAGdV1GBVFAKncxpAd1G3KXXpRABI4RG1ibVzanrnAw9EBzoKOfE8MAUe7tiOPSfczUzDalxQ0Di8rWw2HQy5gu-2FWJ9TKqPHpZCGObzD-6976Ml/s320/Oct+Exile+2017.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>
Elgiva, a young elf banished from Elvendom, must seek shelter among the Saxons as her only hope of surviving the coming winter.
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Godwin, a Briton enslaved by the Saxons, is a man ignorant of his own inheritance and the secret of power he possesses.
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A mysterious enemy, who will stop at nothing to wield absolute power over Elvendom, is about to make his move.
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When destiny throws Elgiva and Godwin together, they embark upon the quest for the legendary Lorestone, the only thing that can save Elvendom from the evil that threatens to destroy it.
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There is help to be found along the way from a petulant pony and a timid elf boy but, as the strength of their adversary grows, can Elgiva’s friends help her to find the Lorestone before it falls into the wrong hands?<b><b><b> </b></b></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>EXCERPT</b></span> </b></b></b><br />
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The night was waning when Elgiva woke, wondering where she was. The dark ceiling of Joskin’s cave hung above her, and everything had a reddish glow, cast by the embers of the fire. She slid from under the fur coverlet, her skin tightening at the loss of its warmth, and searched for her leather sandals.
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Something had woken her, something that waited outside the cave. A runnel of dread ran down her spine.
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She had an inexplicable sense of impending danger, but it was too insistent to ignore. An unnamed instinct stopped her from alerting her companions. She must face this menace alone.
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She left the cave as quietly as she could. Her heart pounded in her throat as she peered between the rowan trees and searched the night. Whatever had awakened her, it beckoned. She held her breath and listened, but her ears detected nothing, save for a silence as dark and empty as an abandoned crypt.
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It would soon be daybreak, but the sun had yet to rise, and the dark beyond the cave swarmed with potential horrors. She stepped out from among the rowans, relying on her acute senses to make out her surroundings. An unnatural calm gripped the night and as her sandals whispered against the cold grass, they sounded abnormally loud. She feared they would betray her presence.
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After a while, she came to a stop and searched the trees. Thin strands of mist curled along the ground, cold and clammy, like an exhalation of sickness.
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She hugged her shoulders, knotted her fingers in the cascade of her hair, and shivered in her ragged robe. All around her, the silence seemed to be drawing into focus.
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“Who is it?” Her throat was too dry for her purpose. She swallowed and licked her lips. “Who’s there? I know you’re there. I can . . . I can feel you!”<b><b><b>
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</b></b></b><i>Feel you.</i>
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A flash of silver sliced through the dark, and Elgiva gasped in fear. Her arms came up to shield her face as the beam struck a rock several yards ahead. It exploded with a whoosh and sent up thousands of splinters of light, which fell to the ground and sizzled in the mist.
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</b></b></b>A shape now stood upon the rock, its form concealed in a black, hooded cloak.
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Elgiva clutched the amulet to her breast. Her hands were white with terror. “In the name of Faine, who are you? What sort of trick is this?”
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A soft, sly voice spoke back to her. “Why should you fear magic?”
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“What do you want?” she pleaded, her voice a croak of fear.
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“To see for myself.”
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“To see what?”
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The dark shape sniggered, but made no answer. Instead, it swept its cloak aside, and a cloud of sparks flew out and covered the ground with beads of light.
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Elgiva stepped back unsteadily, resolved to flee.
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“Stay!” commanded the creature.
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It raised a skeletal hand, and the forefinger swung towards Elgiva and pinned her against the darkness, holding her like a rivet of bone. No elf, no wilthkin, ever owned such a hand. Her legs threatened to buckle beneath her. This had to be a nightmare; she was still asleep in the cave. But no, it was all too real.
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“Who are you? What do you want?” she cried. “I have . . . I have an amulet!”
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The creature laughed derisively. “I am Death, and I have come for you.”
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It began to radiate a sickly green light, enveloping itself in a caul of brilliance that pulsated with force. The light grew in size until the trees behind it were bathed in its angry glare. It reached for Elgiva, like a foul stench creeping along a breeze, and she was helpless. The creature’s power throbbed in the darkness.
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Within the taut coils of her fear, her instincts screamed at her to run, but her limbs had turned to stone.
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<i>Siriol, Siriol, help me . . . help . . .</i>
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With a shriek of glee, the creature increased the throb of its power. Elgiva’s mind was suddenly invaded by an inexplicable force. She became divorced from herself and watched from a great distance, waiting for the horror to unfold.
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3PbAAXfzzVG8McNY2GG6I-uyu6wPazCRkeb2DACN9Yc4Ale7orpYV0JaYFpljaY9HVlhGwxFRFxJ18TLm0FFDlZQE3iCkvynZBa8U-OBoPtUrBdVqMqbzacq9ovsifJFgxl_wgA3Xekhb/s1600/Carol+Browne+Head+Shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><b><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3PbAAXfzzVG8McNY2GG6I-uyu6wPazCRkeb2DACN9Yc4Ale7orpYV0JaYFpljaY9HVlhGwxFRFxJ18TLm0FFDlZQE3iCkvynZBa8U-OBoPtUrBdVqMqbzacq9ovsifJFgxl_wgA3Xekhb/s320/Carol+Browne+Head+Shot.jpg" width="229" /></b></a>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b></b> Born in Stafford in the UK, Carol Browne was raised in Crewe, Cheshire, which she thinks of as her home town. Interested in reading and writing at an early age, Carol pursued her passions at Nottingham University and was awarded an honours degree in English Language and Literature. Now living and working in the Cambridgeshire countryside, Carol usually writes fiction and is a contracted author at Burning Willow Press. Her non-fiction book is available at Dilliebooks.</span></div>
Stay connected with Carol on her <a href="https://authorcarolbrowne.wordpress.com/">website and blog</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCarolBrowne?ref=stream&hc_location=timeline">Facebook</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/@CarolABrowne">Twitter</a>.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-21052596819156686392018-08-04T19:14:00.000-07:002018-09-30T19:14:28.460-07:00On Writing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-20678400384500760672018-07-09T20:23:00.002-07:002018-07-09T20:23:49.651-07:00Truth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNMsoj08QcB-q382fpsLGL9gQBSjBS-Gt4rCLiyi0908kHMA8Oyf7OhPDVSqe-NZyQ_GfotSyON8yEJYCWlJGhfrW9-6D-na26LQYylyr92L7MT7csMHbMkIXRJqgONWp2rbBJSphaY1A/s1600/94d50d6b039d6eb14f30774bc35ff7d4--writer-meme-eye-exam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="417" data-original-width="480" height="347" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNMsoj08QcB-q382fpsLGL9gQBSjBS-Gt4rCLiyi0908kHMA8Oyf7OhPDVSqe-NZyQ_GfotSyON8yEJYCWlJGhfrW9-6D-na26LQYylyr92L7MT7csMHbMkIXRJqgONWp2rbBJSphaY1A/s400/94d50d6b039d6eb14f30774bc35ff7d4--writer-meme-eye-exam.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-65095964033522295532018-02-24T00:30:00.000-08:002018-02-24T00:30:38.671-08:00Saturday Writing Meme<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn1rmDbPZVC-mgRyzzDxuwhxp_lFLZ1uO5bPsX1p2SpnqP2NLL_5rB1-FvMhORZi0lVMtkM5lPwwDkL7AluZpQNN_i7MUkB9Hqgu0v6tOoXFMSkZ0DA5neLESwB_iCzMhN3e6r_l4Jn9k/s1600/writing-a-novel-is-like-putting-together-a-puzzle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="336" data-original-width="365" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn1rmDbPZVC-mgRyzzDxuwhxp_lFLZ1uO5bPsX1p2SpnqP2NLL_5rB1-FvMhORZi0lVMtkM5lPwwDkL7AluZpQNN_i7MUkB9Hqgu0v6tOoXFMSkZ0DA5neLESwB_iCzMhN3e6r_l4Jn9k/s320/writing-a-novel-is-like-putting-together-a-puzzle.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Credit to https://writeontheworld.wordpress.com/tag/writing-memes/</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-59449435539487787882018-02-17T00:30:00.000-08:002018-02-17T00:30:14.879-08:00Saturday Writing Memes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" data-original-height="963" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIOqTGnVcAJ8vC9CxjH-3DpJLjb1WoxiZwgrsvJA7Zp9Cq_I4NF5cqRckeQS93zIubtLXovWLZeKjPUyr7ZAbNfjAw798uoCDHfxaQ85qxKZamw-gQ9_TO4EMst4Wh7KnSUsn7cALE5vQ/s400/writermeme.jpg" width="331" /><a href="http://pamelacavesblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/writing-meme.html" target="_blank">http://pamelacavesblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/writing-meme.html</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/writedesigns/" target="_blank">Credit to The Write Designs</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-27005035222362975462018-02-11T11:24:00.000-08:002018-02-11T11:26:42.008-08:00Author's Musing on Creating a new Series<div style="text-align: center;">
A SERIES IN THE MAKING</div>
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by <b>Marci Boudreaux</b>
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Never before have I felt the need to make a series bible. Maybe because I’ve only written one series before and had no idea what the hell I was doing!
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On to series two…the title is still a work in progress, but I have some ideas that I’m just waiting for my editor to tell me are crap so I can start over. (She’d say it very nicely, though.)
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This new series is about a detective agency run and operated by some pretty kick ass dames who don’t take crap from nobody—especially the men in their lives. This is also completely out of the norm for me, so we'll see what (if anything) happens to it.
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Meet the ladies of the yet to be named agency that will be doing awesome to be determined kick ass things! Also known as Em's imaginary friends for the next year or so.
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Problem is, unlike my last series, I’m dropping all the characters into book one. Most will be in the background so I don’t boggle anyone’s brain with a huge cast. But, even so, my brain gets boggled so I gotta keep all these people and their nuances straight in my head.
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And, that right there, folks, is what that whole series bible thing is for.
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I get it now.
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Since I’ve never done this before, I’m totally winging it. Pinterst pages. Word docs. Notes in two different notebooks that will eventually all be put in one place. I have pictures. Descriptions. Quotes. All kinds of things that someday, I’ll look at and go “DAMN! I totally forgot she’s got blue eyes not green!”
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I’m working on getting organized enough to have all this in one place. I’ll get there. I’m just a wee bit slow, but I am taking this whole thing very seriously, y’all.
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I’d love to introduce you to the ladies, but book one is still with my editor and I don’t want to jinx this series before it is even out of diapers, but keep an eye out. I think you’ll be hearing about them soon!<br />
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Until then…any suggestions on how to keep all this stuff straight?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7NJx0PGRGJRLPONJ8PMqPOsyQPhxP7pOXzOD8EzjVSnB3_8oLLxjDuukxWnturfz5aeTnutl1T8EFbW6obC9xeEnE1ljXAZismeLmDt-2wuejnDn2wdrUrsha4uc_Ocleh15-H0pEhmE/s1600/about+the+author.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="52" data-original-width="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7NJx0PGRGJRLPONJ8PMqPOsyQPhxP7pOXzOD8EzjVSnB3_8oLLxjDuukxWnturfz5aeTnutl1T8EFbW6obC9xeEnE1ljXAZismeLmDt-2wuejnDn2wdrUrsha4uc_Ocleh15-H0pEhmE/s1600/about+the+author.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwzvoBNXhVA7mSvRvQdzJdNErm4n_0PvfIW5fLiuMjSiu3Td8Pc4TLGeSYgkgRdtX8CVtuyfzb4YwNJ_wSUEZSAX2q7QM1-yTP20XT2D1SlMEav59umdvJYhR9E8aVSiie5C6Qr7j0pXeD/s1600/4-13+Marci+Boudreaux+author.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwzvoBNXhVA7mSvRvQdzJdNErm4n_0PvfIW5fLiuMjSiu3Td8Pc4TLGeSYgkgRdtX8CVtuyfzb4YwNJ_wSUEZSAX2q7QM1-yTP20XT2D1SlMEav59umdvJYhR9E8aVSiie5C6Qr7j0pXeD/s320/4-13+Marci+Boudreaux+author.jpg" width="275" /></a>As a teen, <b>Marci Boudreaux</b> skipped over young adult books and jumped right into the world of romance novels. She's never left. Marci lives with her husband, two kiddos, and their numerous pets. Until recently, she was a freelance writer appearing monthly in a variety of local magazines. She now focuses on writing and her work as a content editor.
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Romance is her preferred reading and writing genre because nothing feels better than falling in love with someone new and her husband doesn't like when she does that in real life.
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Learn more about <b>Marci Boudreaux</b> on her <a href="http://www.marciboudreaux.com/"><b>website</b></a> and <a href="https://marciboudreaux.wordpress.com/"><b>blog</b></a>. Stay connected on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/authorMarciBoudreaux"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/MarciBoudreaux"><b>Twitter</b></a>.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-84112154039067103382018-02-10T12:10:00.000-08:002018-02-11T12:11:50.750-08:00Saturday Writing Meme<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-78627679818900992832018-01-20T12:15:00.000-08:002018-02-11T12:15:59.028-08:00Saturday Writing meme<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK5zNCXFjgIBl959-XQX9RwbeM0R00yI8ygeMh0kO9RhGrf7XOfIIzABWQDoVpyBxH9T2ZmTRDvD-6O5-hGYsZJwpqvi2GhRPoxyjFSeIJ1Qty9E_RgYUGEjun9V9T4L61ghSat5Nj_H8/s1600/692930_orig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK5zNCXFjgIBl959-XQX9RwbeM0R00yI8ygeMh0kO9RhGrf7XOfIIzABWQDoVpyBxH9T2ZmTRDvD-6O5-hGYsZJwpqvi2GhRPoxyjFSeIJ1Qty9E_RgYUGEjun9V9T4L61ghSat5Nj_H8/s1600/692930_orig.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-60751680800736427302018-01-06T12:21:00.000-08:002018-02-11T12:21:46.171-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx81TLP7dfeZW7ADbddIq2HJSsBfA5AwPpf3eWUkq7W2rQczIRQwsJVtrs3smGSiDm9-kjr-kR-bcg2raoHZlasg8m0jnb6OQQcKRQMVsED9D_limYFY-ZiPgYNkqyRbM6b8DCzdC5XDQ/s1600/0a9d7815e53a70afd0227697e9bfbed9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="236" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx81TLP7dfeZW7ADbddIq2HJSsBfA5AwPpf3eWUkq7W2rQczIRQwsJVtrs3smGSiDm9-kjr-kR-bcg2raoHZlasg8m0jnb6OQQcKRQMVsED9D_limYFY-ZiPgYNkqyRbM6b8DCzdC5XDQ/s400/0a9d7815e53a70afd0227697e9bfbed9.jpg" width="376" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-82967842150690396992017-03-20T00:30:00.000-07:002018-10-05T11:48:53.345-07:00Research Information on Spring Equinox<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong>Spring Fertility Chant </strong><br />
by: Jennifer Reif</div>
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Mother and father of all growing things<br />
Unto my being your golden love bring<br />
Bless this seed to fulfill its design<br />
Of leaf and fruit, of blossom and vine</div>
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Today at 5:14 GMT Spring came dancing to our door. At the Wiccan Haus the entrance of spring is always a reason to celebrate. Rebirth and Renewal abound. We also enter the my Season. As an herbalist spring is the beginning of my year. This is the time I most look forward to. After months of snow, cold and hard lifelessness the birds are returning and the goddess has rewarded our patience with green and beauty. Not that winter doesn't hold a beauty of her own. For me spring is where the true beauty lies.<br />
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In celebration beautifully decorated eggs are placed around the resort as a symbol of the rebirth that is taken place. And each guest is given one specifically designed and decorated for them that they may take with them where ever there travels will take them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguir__AbDSGinHmUiQCADLPZZY2_Mo4oUXdw5ujtcHKjkMs_xC4tPBLtqGPWvrevN-mMV70Eve6OP4GzcXaO0chBgN6yI1SIL82LDMTh3uEVVZ68nmzJdM4nLabuclqr3k6rFyqQ0pFzXB/s1600/color-3229756_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="990" data-original-width="1600" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguir__AbDSGinHmUiQCADLPZZY2_Mo4oUXdw5ujtcHKjkMs_xC4tPBLtqGPWvrevN-mMV70Eve6OP4GzcXaO0chBgN6yI1SIL82LDMTh3uEVVZ68nmzJdM4nLabuclqr3k6rFyqQ0pFzXB/s320/color-3229756_1920.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And I rejoice that I can once again return to the place I hold most dear my herb garden. My hands can finally feel the dirt between them and I can watch the herbs, flowers and plants grow.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5voPD4NS6SGuzrOtWIPrQn_TIY-12dBshZBKlDZR1GO1XeSfwoTH1xAfU5aqGYVmmEuaMjytxE8TRSoZVJ447dKnrG0sSQjcOe8sWxB1-AujZLUeG1Ii-bHQKzBtXvOZWRbo5hEzKBY31/s1600/IMG_0014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5voPD4NS6SGuzrOtWIPrQn_TIY-12dBshZBKlDZR1GO1XeSfwoTH1xAfU5aqGYVmmEuaMjytxE8TRSoZVJ447dKnrG0sSQjcOe8sWxB1-AujZLUeG1Ii-bHQKzBtXvOZWRbo5hEzKBY31/s320/IMG_0014.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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You can find more about the Wiccan Haus on their Face book page<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/WiccanHaus/?ref=bookmarks">https://www.facebook.com/WiccanHaus/?ref=bookmarks</a><br />
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</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-23392259426168779152015-07-02T11:33:00.005-07:002015-07-02T11:33:43.290-07:00Do You Have What it Takes to be a Part of a Book Bundle? by Melissa Keir<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Do You Have What it Takes to be a Part of a Book Bundle?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Book bundles or anthologies are one of the hottest
best-selling books right now. It’s a great way to get to know new-to-you
authors and expand your sales base. I’m currently in four book bundles and love
them!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Book bundles are sets of books set among a theme or by the
same author. It’s a wonderful way to group stories. They can be full-length
novels or shorter novellas. Some of the bundles contain brand new stories while
others feature re-releases of an author’s popular work. They range from three
to twelve stories and are usually priced at $0.99. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The hardest part isn’t writing your story. The hardest part
is giving ALL members of the bundle, equal say. They have to agree on the
blurb, the cover, and the promotions. The more members, the more challenging it
is. And then, what happens if there is a disagreement? What happens if someone
doesn’t do their share or is late in submitting their story?<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is why it’s important to plan for these things up
front. Seriously, it’s happened. Even in one group, a person dropped out of the
bundle and we had to reformat without them. In another group, the people
couldn’t agree on the cover. Sometimes a problem can turn into a big deal and
shut down the whole bundle or end a friendship. Many authors are using a book
bundle service which allows for someone else to manage the money and handle the
problems. This is a good idea but it does cost you a percent of your sales. You
have to weigh the value. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As you can see there’s a lot more to a book bundle than just
jumping in and writing your story. It’s best to talk these things through first
and set a plan, then you can enjoy the fruits of your work without the stress
or problems. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOh8r0VQeoCnrbZO8ZTycq_G0T9AZuSJ6pkjtVnWySQndrMtinoLjcv98ZdHZT7b82w6kkI_gWFBm-Vo-CHMvSx5IioJh9YP7tho1XkN7nzg5DpDuXvEcvawUQVGlFEZ4stjo1vLOqGMM/s1600/11715065_775323595915985_878422748_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOh8r0VQeoCnrbZO8ZTycq_G0T9AZuSJ6pkjtVnWySQndrMtinoLjcv98ZdHZT7b82w6kkI_gWFBm-Vo-CHMvSx5IioJh9YP7tho1XkN7nzg5DpDuXvEcvawUQVGlFEZ4stjo1vLOqGMM/s320/11715065_775323595915985_878422748_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Crashing
Into Love:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Lost meets Romancing the Stone--action
adventure, a dash of mystery, and romance to die for.</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Seven
planes lift off…seven planes crash…seven stories of struggle, passion and love
in the barren Canadian Wilderness, the coast of England, or the steamy heat of
a tropical island. Romance hangs in the balance between survival and death. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Brace for Impact</span></i></b><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> by Daryl Devoré. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">What could be simpler than a routine
plane trip from Toronto, Canada to Caracas, Venezuela for rookie flight
attendant, Lori, and sexy R.C.M.P. officer, Guy Lapierre? But Fate had other
intentions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Crashing
into You</span></i></b><i><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span></i><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">by
Lisa Kumar <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">When Ashlee Trent meets handsome
businessman Kaiden West on a plane to Australia, he eases her fears even as he
sets her heart ablaze. But after their plane crashes into the ocean and they
wash ashore, will the secrets surrounding him send their budding relationship
into a nosedive?</span><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> <span lang="EN-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Crashing
Through Time</span></i></b><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> by Jenna Jaxon
<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The
most dangerous thing about time travel is knowledge of the past: does she save
him and change history, or let the tragic events play out and lose the love of
her life?<br />
More than hearts can be broken when you crash through time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Love Comes
Crashing In</span></i></b><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> by Brenda Dyer
<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Best
friends find love in each other's arms, but can that love survive reality?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Falling Hard</span></i></b><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> by D'Ann Lindun <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">He
craves solitude to forget what a woman did to him. She needs one last chance
before her career ends. Can a plane crash in the Canadian Rockies show them
what really matters? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A Splash of
Romance</span></i></b><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> by Deb
Julienne <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Who
knew a plane crash would lead to romance? Hannah Parks is a trauma nurse on her
way to a symposium at the Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute. She just
started her bucket list and a plane crash definitely isn't on it. Oliver Lawson's divorce is final and he's
looking to start over. A tropical island, a gorgeous woman. Romance is one
thing, getting there as a result of a crash landing...who knew? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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LINKS:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crashing-into-Love-Daryl-Devore-ebook/dp/B00ZSXMZ02/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434581355&sr=1-2&keywords=crashing+into+Love+Keir" target="_blank">Amazon US</a>: / </span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00ZSXMZ02?*Version*=1&*entries*=0" target="_blank">Amazon UK:</a> / </span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.createspace.com/5561133" target="_blank">Createspace: </a></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgewFepwBPKHLpbU7SfVU9r1MiZBJUELMTMeIMNvHUNA4fZG2X6dKutCa9awqU0ssuuJnipb30tlSzDXhDTE5Rh82oNpFJGt1EC6yh_v5rcWEU38eZW-fbLi7iYPJtKmsgOSY-jqFajbyk/s1600/11714495_775322359249442_123391237_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgewFepwBPKHLpbU7SfVU9r1MiZBJUELMTMeIMNvHUNA4fZG2X6dKutCa9awqU0ssuuJnipb30tlSzDXhDTE5Rh82oNpFJGt1EC6yh_v5rcWEU38eZW-fbLi7iYPJtKmsgOSY-jqFajbyk/s1600/11714495_775322359249442_123391237_n.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">About
Melissa Keir:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">For my
wedding in Vegas, my books and computer came with me but there wasn't enough
room for my wedding shoes. It’s all about priorities! As an avid reader, I was
probably born with a book in hand. Luckily my mom was also an avid reader, so
it was easy to "borrow" her books when my books were finished.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">I was
reading from an early age about dashing men on horseback riding to the rescue
of strong willed and capable women who didn't really need rescuing. I came to
expect that women in fairy tales should have fought their own battles. When I
was older, I found Margaret Atwood and realized that women could re-tell
history in their own way and I experimented with changing those basic fairy
tales.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Fortunately
for me, my husband allows me the opportunity to be myself (spend my salary on
books) and still takes care of the really important things for me like killing
spiders and opening jars. As an elementary teacher, teaching children about the
many worlds inside of books is a gift that I’m lucky enough to do for a living.
Teaching the next generation to love reading is a lot of fun! Reading the right
book can make a new world come alive!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Currently
living in the suburbs of Ann Arbor, Michigan with my darling husband,
way-too-grown-up children and spoiled dogs, I enjoy getting away through a book
to escape the harsh winters or summer road construction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">I’d love to hear from you!<u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://%0Dwww.melissakeir.com/"><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></u></span></div>
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<u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://%0Dwww.melissakeir.com/"><span style="color: blue;">www.melissakeir.com</span></a></span></u><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.facebook.com/melissakeir"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">http://www.facebook.com/melissakeir</span></a><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.twitter/melissa_keir"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">www.twitter/melissa_keir</span></a><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-67462826784389666642015-06-20T00:00:00.000-07:002015-06-20T00:00:00.566-07:00Saturday Writing Meme<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH2vodom8KnkZyqnzHWTMK8GPg1ojQ0308HoPy9ms3lGqjUkFkR-wbxd0ebQOgLPxaSOs_Fc7G-eXJ9MMtb2OjZiAxthnrJEOO1w79sLLJOtHWKYxuMqkL9Lbp1Il55ZJ1LlXS0V7EY8c/s1600/1e79dc738cd17cf2dc344e26e75c2b19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH2vodom8KnkZyqnzHWTMK8GPg1ojQ0308HoPy9ms3lGqjUkFkR-wbxd0ebQOgLPxaSOs_Fc7G-eXJ9MMtb2OjZiAxthnrJEOO1w79sLLJOtHWKYxuMqkL9Lbp1Il55ZJ1LlXS0V7EY8c/s640/1e79dc738cd17cf2dc344e26e75c2b19.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-52836772968390677192015-06-06T00:30:00.000-07:002015-06-06T00:30:02.227-07:00Saturday Writing Meme<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJKLoqbRzTvd57h8I4VQZrWb2N4ZTvG7gGklE0Y-b6Rin3zHI3_0D7BKD1ywoQhGwqIdVboLfj2QvUCWFclhg94sC4yatRS6V7ZkcWwl50-hgQSKhyphenhyphena_whmceRFkrOagWKq92iRqcAEI/s1600/bb3ec388083dc1192f1d6ba36d4f1c80.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJKLoqbRzTvd57h8I4VQZrWb2N4ZTvG7gGklE0Y-b6Rin3zHI3_0D7BKD1ywoQhGwqIdVboLfj2QvUCWFclhg94sC4yatRS6V7ZkcWwl50-hgQSKhyphenhyphena_whmceRFkrOagWKq92iRqcAEI/s320/bb3ec388083dc1192f1d6ba36d4f1c80.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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~Frank FafkaUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-6484847668890351122015-06-04T00:00:00.000-07:002015-06-04T00:00:04.212-07:00On Rejection and Keep on Writing by S.G. Rogers <div style="text-align: center;">
<b>“What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhct5OCRRx9CN-yr5g_ZdS4paN4C8qhofMYsyXL4BuyOOuP1jW0OP0bsAtAKLZek2TG-4sOqqfDStqho3bKELH7FfqwotyHpvQA_-hEc-T3zS5KjfPeFCdugmbKRK-I685nxOMQRIi1wrMY/s1600/dreamstime_xs_10795322.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhct5OCRRx9CN-yr5g_ZdS4paN4C8qhofMYsyXL4BuyOOuP1jW0OP0bsAtAKLZek2TG-4sOqqfDStqho3bKELH7FfqwotyHpvQA_-hEc-T3zS5KjfPeFCdugmbKRK-I685nxOMQRIi1wrMY/s320/dreamstime_xs_10795322.jpeg" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsGmSMInHdFDkUIAsnq9ZbVBpZ46dZPC92l1Bn0hdWvfAX2pm-zvpFBmr9ZcT2l-nyqG6h7_dV824eOQsECduy1WzwfQp4lgfIVcu_yb8daksXVXi6YKg3ybsaQ12DeUkN9ia3OGjg6jNY/s1600/dreamstime_xs_22352912.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsGmSMInHdFDkUIAsnq9ZbVBpZ46dZPC92l1Bn0hdWvfAX2pm-zvpFBmr9ZcT2l-nyqG6h7_dV824eOQsECduy1WzwfQp4lgfIVcu_yb8daksXVXi6YKg3ybsaQ12DeUkN9ia3OGjg6jNY/s320/dreamstime_xs_22352912.jpeg" /></a>My sword and sorcery fantasy novel, <b>Tournament of Chance: Dragon Rebel</b> has just been published. I couldn’t be more pleased, especially considering its inauspicious beginnings. You see, I originally wrote <b>Tournament of Chance</b> as a short story (around 8,000 words). I submitted the short to several fantasy magazines, and although the feedback was positive, I couldn’t find a magazine willing to publish it. Battered and bruised, I ordinarily would have chucked the manuscript into a folder marked REJECTS, licked my wounds, and moved on to something else.<br />
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But I just couldn’t let it go.<br />
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I liked the concept of a young woman striving to break through the glass ceiling between commoners and royalty by honing her skills as an archer. In the back of my mind, I knew there was more to the story than the 8,000 words I’d written. So in between revising, editing, and promoting my other titles, I allowed the full-length version of <b>Tournament of Chance</b> to unfold. Unlike other, more disciplined authors, I usually let my stories discover themselves. As the novel moved along, I was actually quite surprised at all the twists, turns, and events in store for me. For example, who knew time travel and shape shifters would find their way into the mix? It took about six months to finish <b>Tournament of Chance: Dragon Rebel</b>, and it incorporates many of my favorite things – peacocks, lava tubes, caves, volcanoes, dragons, wizards, romance, and magic. It also deals with some very human foibles, such as deceit, treachery, false hope, envy, abuse of power, and pride.<br />
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So if it weren’t for the rejections I experienced, <b>Tournament of Chance: Dragon Rebel</b> would never have been published as a full-length novel. Perhaps it’s the fighting Irish in me, but when I get knocked down, I get up again…and then I write some more. I’m not sure I agree with the Nietzsche quote, above, one hundred percent of the time, but it’s better than the alternative.<br />
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Has rejection ever motivated you to succeed?
~ S.G. Rogers<br />
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<br />
Here is a brief intro to S.G,'s latest release.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifZDaigM2GKPkw_wMxQHJYHhNlZtiYO_j24M7Nj3fK1sy6KJfstdvSCVz4HfdYM8qqVZrPIkyGyupG6bBj-E466nvKJu-NHaJQLs9NflNL46L4j0VmlD6fclcs4nVpWXyJwNIWXxoZ5sCM/s1600/5-4+DragonRebel-Cory2+copy.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifZDaigM2GKPkw_wMxQHJYHhNlZtiYO_j24M7Nj3fK1sy6KJfstdvSCVz4HfdYM8qqVZrPIkyGyupG6bBj-E466nvKJu-NHaJQLs9NflNL46L4j0VmlD6fclcs4nVpWXyJwNIWXxoZ5sCM/s320/5-4+DragonRebel-Cory2+copy.jpeg" /></a></div>
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If Heather manages to win the Tournament of Chance, she’ll be the first commoner to earn a place at court. Instead of a glorious victory, however, she’s arrested and marked for execution. After a daring escape, she joins the Dragon Rebels, who seek to overthrow the despotic monarchy and restore the former kingdom of Ormaria. Amongst the rebels are three shape-shifting wizards who claim to be rulers from the past. On a perilous quest to free the wizards’ magic, Heather battles wild dragons, vicious predators, angry trolls, and unexpected traitors. When a horrendous accident sends her back in time to fulfill a mysterious prophecy, she must rely on her warrior skills, wits, and endurance to survive.
To read an excerpt from <b>Tournament of Chance: Dragon Rebel</b>, please click <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tournament-Chance-Dragon-S-G-Rogers-ebook/dp/B00UVUEWNA/ref=sr_1_16?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1429053369&sr=1-16&keywords=s.g+rogers">here</a>.
To read excerpts from other books by <b>S.G. Rogers</b> please click <a href="http://www.amazon.com/S-G-Rogers/e/B003KHD5KC/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1429053369&sr=1-2-ent"><b>here</b></a>.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyiBdjv8bXhyIlr1wHDzjS81TGTHzDhi7BqPRUFag_YLhA5RblaWWebrbFCryjZxaVkUNfJ7MWamfY2_zACFWozoUE66eRxeNUVcmiT46w10tMTn6ABDC1_kAChMQ_kN5KlM1NgeO6FyGh/s1600/S.G.+Rogers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyiBdjv8bXhyIlr1wHDzjS81TGTHzDhi7BqPRUFag_YLhA5RblaWWebrbFCryjZxaVkUNfJ7MWamfY2_zACFWozoUE66eRxeNUVcmiT46w10tMTn6ABDC1_kAChMQ_kN5KlM1NgeO6FyGh/s320/S.G.+Rogers.jpg" /></a></div>
<b>S.G. Rogers</b> lives with her husband and son in romantic Savannah, Georgia, on an island populated by deer, exotic birds, and the occasional gator. She's owned by two Sphynx cats, Houdini and Nikita. Movies, books, and writing are her passions.
Learn more about <b>S.G. Rogers</b> on her <a href="http://childofyden.wordpress.com/"><b>blog</b></a>. Stay connected on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/SuzanneGRogers"><b>Facebook</b></a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/suzannegrogers"><b>Twitter</b></a>. Also, be sure to check out the <a href="https://sgrogers.wordpress.com/"><b>website</b></a> for the Sweet Romance written by <b>S.G. Rogers</b>.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-20145704208779227342015-06-03T00:00:00.000-07:002015-06-03T00:00:06.447-07:00Behind the Scenes: Editing By Vicki Lesage<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Behind the Scenes:
Editing<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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By Vicki Lesage of Velvet Morning Press<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hello, romance readers and writers! I’m here to talk about
editing.... But first, a quick submissions alert: My indie publishing house,
Velvet Morning Press, is seeking submissions of romance novels with strong
female protagonists. If you’re interested please send a short cover letter, a
synopsis, and the first five pages of your book to <a href="mailto:contact@velvetmorningpress.com">contact@velvetmorningpress.com</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And now, some editing tips…<o:p></o:p></div>
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*Clickety-clack-type-type* Done! Isn't it the greatest
feeling when you've finished writing your book/blog post/autograph on a fan's
t-shirt? All that hard work is behind you and now you can bask in the... Oh
wait. Now you have to edit.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The editing process is different for everyone. It depends on
your personal style, how thorough you were on your first draft, and how much
persistence you have to read your work YET AGAIN. Ideally, for important pieces
of work (i.e. an article or guest post), you'll have at least one other pair of
eyeballs on it. For a published book, you'll want a few sets of eyes on it,
preferably at least one professional.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But before you get to that point, take it as far as you can
yourself. That ensures that your work remains as close as possible to your tone
and style, and, particularly in the cases where you're not paying someone else
to review your work (unless hugs or beer count), you minimize the effort they
have to put into it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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"Give me specifics, Vicki!" you're saying. OK,
you've got it! Here's an inside look into my book editing process:<o:p></o:p></div>
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First Pass<o:p></o:p></div>
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I aim to write 3-5 pages per day, then re-read it every
20-30 pages. It's hard to switch back and forth between writing and editing so
I don't like to do it too often, but I don't want to get too far away from what
I've written before re-reading it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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On this pass, I do the following:<o:p></o:p></div>
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1. Fix any typos.<o:p></o:p></div>
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2. Fill in gaps and fix errors. For example, in one chapter
of Confessions of a Paris Potty Trainer, I recount a doctor's appointment and
by the end of the chapter, my husband is there with me, spouting out dialogue.
But when I re-read it, I realized I hadn't specified that he'd gone to the
appointment with me. Since my book is a memoir, he was right there in my memory
so I didn't even notice that he wasn't there on the pages.<o:p></o:p></div>
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3. Check that I have the right level of description. In two
of my books, I write about my life in Paris. Since I've been living here for 9
years, I can picture scenes and locations perfectly. But for my mainly American
readers, they may not know what a Préfecture is or have a visual of a typical
Parisian street. Sometimes just adding one sentence - "The wide tree-lined
boulevard in front of my house was great for long walks, as long as you avoided
the dog poop." - paints a picture of my neighborhood.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4. See if I can turn any narrative into dialogue. In my
first draft, I just want to get my ideas out and since I'm writing about my own
life, it ends up taking on a narrative tone. But converting some narrative to
dialogue helps break up long sections and is easier for the reader to digest.
It also allows my characters to be funny or slip in some description without my
character going on and on herself.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Example:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First draft:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I ran into Chris and Dave, fellow expats, at the ball and we
chatted over champagne. It was crazy just how small the world was!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Second draft:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Hey there, stranger!"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I turned to see Chris and her husband, Dave. "Well,
hello there! Fancy meeting you here," I said, kissing each of them on the
cheek.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"We've actually run into a few other people as well.
Reminds me just how small the English-speaking world in Paris is," Chris
said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"And how much we all like to drink!" Dave added.
We all laughed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Well, we'll let you youngsters get on with it,"
Chris said. "Maybe we'll run into you later?"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The second version is more fun to read, provides a little
characterization of Chris and Dave (they're married, they're older than me,
they like to drink), and moves the scene along.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The easiest way to see if you need to convert narrative to
dialogue is if you're talking about talking. Instead of "the doctor gave
me the worst news possible" have the doctor actually SAY the bad news to
you and show your reaction.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Second Pass<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I run a search on a list of words that I know I overuse.
It's tedious to search for each instance of each word, but it really pays off.
Here are some of my common offenders:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
just<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"If he could just hurry up, we wouldn't be late."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"If he would hurry up, we wouldn't be late."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
See? It reads just fine without "just."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
think, feel<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"I think it has to do with the French administration's
desire to deforest the planet."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Clearly, the French administration's sole goal is to
deforest the planet."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It's your book! We know you think/feel it!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
get, put, pull, take<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"After the doors to the Préfecture open, you get in
line and take your dossier out, naively thinking your turn is coming up
soon."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"After the doors to the Préfecture open, you jump in
line, whipping your dossier out of your bag with an enthusiasm that is totally
uncalled for - your turn is hours from now."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Replace boring verbs with more descriptive ones that show
movement or feelings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
try, start, decide<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"I tried to decide which pastry to order, but there
were too many choices."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"Ogling the display case in the boulangerie, I was
unable to make a decision."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the wise words of Yoda, "There is no try, only
do."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
very<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"The immigration video was very boring and it was all I
could do to stay awake."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"The immigration video was soul-crushingly dull, making
it near impossible to stay awake."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As our beloved professor in "Dead Poets Society"
taught us:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"So avoid using the word 'very' because it's lazy. A
man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don't use very sad, use morose.
Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that
endeavor, laziness will not do. It also won't do in your essays."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I won't bore you with all 40+ words on my checklist but you
get the idea. In looking at my examples, you can see that by running my list
I'm not just replacing "get" with "jump" - I'm forcing
myself to look at the whole sentence in a new light and see which additional changes
could spice it up. In many cases, my edits actually make my sentences longer
and that's fine. Editing isn't just about cutting things out, it's about
improving your content to convey your thoughts in the best way possible. That
may mean shortening, lengthening, describing more, or adding some
"punch."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Third Pass<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I print it out (sorry, forests of the world) and redline
anything that isn't perfect. Thanks to a tip from "Your Novel: Day by
Day" by Mary Anna Evans I edit in the following order:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. Sentence. I scrutinize each sentence and see if there's a
better way to say what I'm trying to say and if there's anything I can remove.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. Paragraph. How does each sentence fit in the paragraph?
Does it flow? Should I break out the paragraph? Is one sentence really just a
repetition of another? Cut it out! No need to show off your writing skills by
saying the same thing two different ways - show off your editing skills by
deleting one of them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3. Section. Does the section start and end on the right
tone? Does it convey everything it needs to and nothing more?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4. Chapter. How does the chapter flow? Is it clear why each
section is included? Anything to add/cut/move?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Every word/sentence/paragraph/section/chapter needs to
contribute to the overall story. Does it match the theme? Could it be said
better? If you remove it, do you miss it? Readers don't always notice tight
writing but they definitely notice when it's not done right.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fourth Pass<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is the hardest for me because I've already read the
dang thing so many times. The goal is to read beginning to end as quickly as
possible and as an actual reader would. It's best if you have an ereader so you
don't have to print it out again, and it's really hard to do this sitting in
front of your computer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As you're reading, you're looking for overall readability
and continuity. Does one chapter stick out to you as boring? Unnecessary?
Repetitive? Do you have a bunch of action-packed chapters in a row and then a
few that aren't as exciting? Should you change the order? Make the dull ones
more interesting? Spread out the content? Only you know the answer, but you
won't even know the problem until you can look at the book as a whole.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Try to read your book in a 2-5 day timespan so that you
really get the overall feel. If you're a slow reader like me, that will be
hard. But you can do it!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
##<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjHbGdeJYjPh2YgAAz4as2pP7esmrjbt0m4raVGagz3S1aIXWpImqRhIxhTQ6xZJZJawon2VO4q5RRkRc5LS8P9Z3JWJkfT4pV9yqcHBrwTZIlH9ghaNq3D-HRX4LhBBch6ZsLufV4rGE/s1600/velvet-morning-press-logo-small.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjHbGdeJYjPh2YgAAz4as2pP7esmrjbt0m4raVGagz3S1aIXWpImqRhIxhTQ6xZJZJawon2VO4q5RRkRc5LS8P9Z3JWJkfT4pV9yqcHBrwTZIlH9ghaNq3D-HRX4LhBBch6ZsLufV4rGE/s1600/velvet-morning-press-logo-small.png" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About Velvet Morning Press:<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Velvet Morning Press is a boutique publishing house that
discovers new authors and launches their careers. VMP publishes fiction in a
variety of categories, short story anthologies and special projects. Adria J.
Cimino and Vicki Lesage are the women behind VMP. Both authors themselves,
Vicki and Adria use their experience in writing, editing, publishing and
marketing to bring the work of other writers to bookshelves.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-82153056037857451412015-06-01T12:01:00.005-07:002015-06-01T12:01:53.504-07:00Science Fiction – An Evolving Genre by Tom Olbert<b>Science Fiction – An Evolving Genre
by Tom Olbert</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeHIWYWhfn7_bz3tAEX_9gko7etU3ULGFPj8K3eW6FJakT-3byoYwbi6Es5WstYWXGXDzTpGunc_CVoPuYzeHhBL5Oz4jDAXdEF90B9b7EypwvPCOHWIL2e1m6YKpY8sNfHGO24kFjnMcs/s1600/Tom+Olbert.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeHIWYWhfn7_bz3tAEX_9gko7etU3ULGFPj8K3eW6FJakT-3byoYwbi6Es5WstYWXGXDzTpGunc_CVoPuYzeHhBL5Oz4jDAXdEF90B9b7EypwvPCOHWIL2e1m6YKpY8sNfHGO24kFjnMcs/s320/Tom+Olbert.JPG" width="240" /></a>Speaking as a writer who primarily works in science fiction, I am painfully aware that the genre holds extremely limited appeal for the public. The genre has dropped out of popularity. Most of the general public doesn’t take SF seriously. Kid stuff, they assume.<br />
<br />
Maybe it started out that way, but the genre is evolving. The science fiction that has won current popularity in books and their big screen adaptations is the sub-genre we call post-apocalyptic science fiction (PASF). Stories that offer tortured young heroes and heroines struggling to find their purpose in dark, dystopian future worlds run by cold, duplicitous adults. And, if aimed and written properly, science fiction can be an excellent canvass for expressing such social themes and depicting characters who thrive in them, because it has no set limits or boundaries.<br />
<br />
The writer creates the world that is needed to illustrate the point and to channel the development of the protagonist. The challenge is in making that world seem relevant to an audience that tends to be skeptical of the genre. To be taken seriously, SF has to escape the stigma of glitz and gadgetry and offer stories that are actually character-centered. The setting must frame and present the character, not just use the character to present itself.<br />
<br />
One particularly dark and stinging PASF franchise is the CW’s “100” T.V. series, set in a post-war irradiated wilderness grown over the ruins of Washington D.C. Based on the Alloy books by Kass Morgan. A century after a nuclear war, the last survivors of humanity (or, so they think) live under harsh Draconian rule on an orbiting space colony beset by rapidly dwindling resources. They send a hundred of their incarcerated juvenile delinquents down to the surface to find out if it’s habitable. Turns out it is, but already inhabited, by two other groups of survivors. Warlike, savage tribes who live in the forests, and a technologically advanced but isolated society that’s lived inside a mountain bunker for the past 97 years.<br />
<br />
Character development is strong and intense, weaving through dark themes of society-building, tribalism, leadership dynamic, and such timeless moral themes as justice, capital punishment, and war. It’s a raw, gritty look at human nature in its purest form, and it spares us nothing. Its strength is definitely in its lead characters. Most notably Clarke, the teenaged daughter of the space colony’s chief medical officer (a mother who betrayed Clarke’s father to execution at the hands of the regime, justifying it for the greater good.)<br />
<br />
Thrust into circumstances beyond her control, Clarke reveals natural leadership ability and swiftly rises to power in her group. She soon has to face wrenching moral decisions that seem to echo the dark days of World War II. When the outwardly civilized, seemingly cordial mountain people start performing horrific Mengele-like experiments on the outsiders, draining their bone marrow in hopes of gaining their immunity to the radiation, Clarke must form an uneasy alliance with the savages to save her people. Clarke learns of an impending missile attack from the mountain through a spy she has on the inside, but decides not to warn her people about it, knowing it would tip off the enemy, robbing her side of the critical advantage. She must live with the guilt of her decision as dozens of her friends die a horrible fiery death while she gets herself to safety. A plot-point obviously alluding to Winston Churchill’s alleged similar decision at Coventry. When Clarke’s ally makes her own deal with the enemy, selling Clarke out to save her own people, Clarke must throw away the rule book to save her friends. She takes hostages and personally executes a prisoner just to make a point. When the enemy leader still won’t release her people, she makes the deliberate decision to commit genocide. Her hand pauses dramatically over the switch only a moment before she presses it, releasing deadly radiation into a bunker full of people, including innocent children and conscientious objectors who tried to help her people. The resulting nightmare scene of pleasant, family oriented cafeteria dining dissolving into excruciating death, bodies blistering from the radiation, women and children dying, conjures shades of Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.<br />
<br />
“I tried to be one of the good guys,” Clarke later tells her mother. “Maybe, there are no good guys, Clarke,” mom replies. It’s not that everyone is out for number one, you understand. They’re all just doing their best to save their own people. Which is, of course worse. The story is a dark mirror of the world in which we live, but the characters have more life than that. We care about them, and they bring the dark lessons to life for us because their pain and conflict and love and hate for each other are potent.
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfs_MSYfiKwEg_phaNa0lMo43nj5rAR2ysJF3-9GtwwSU_kbTbHE1l-a1NNm5qwvZY_K8CNzYSdYd6ytsnmJTfLyAaKJZlsKpAUAzBl4zcODQ-e9uvDUG6BfMkANfOjrz4hCg5UiJBZMsV/s1600/46+BlackGoddess_72dpi+(4).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfs_MSYfiKwEg_phaNa0lMo43nj5rAR2ysJF3-9GtwwSU_kbTbHE1l-a1NNm5qwvZY_K8CNzYSdYd6ytsnmJTfLyAaKJZlsKpAUAzBl4zcODQ-e9uvDUG6BfMkANfOjrz4hCg5UiJBZMsV/s320/46+BlackGoddess_72dpi+(4).jpg" /></a></div>
In my SF novella “Black Goddess,” I combined theoretical quantum physics with the dark yearnings of a morally conflicted Gulf War vet who has lost his faith and becomes obsessed with finding the core of darkness at the beginning of time. The story deals with the real-life agony of torture and what it does to the soul, and asks the timeless questions of whether primal evil truly exists, if life is anything but blind chance, and if there is a God. At its core is a simple yearning for love.<br />
<br />
<b>Quote: </b>
“Beneath her black head scarf, her dark eyes stabbed through him with a flaming hatred. Then…nothing. Like a black abyss where a soul had been a micro-second before. A strange kind of peace. More than that, a oneness.
That look in her eyes. In his dad’s. It was the same as he’d seen in Lark’s memory…in the eyes of that kid in Uganda who’d held a knife to her throat. But, he hadn’t harmed her. Something had stopped him. When their eyes had met…something in her had pulled him back from the abyss.”<br />
<br />
To read more on <b>Black Goddess</b> please click a vendor's name
<a href="http://mochamemoirspress.com/black-goddess"><b>Mocha Memoirs Press</b></a> - <b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=Tom+Olbert&search-alias=books&text=Tom+Olbert&sort=relevancerank">Amazon</a></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Tom Olbert</b> lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts; cradle of the American Revolution, and home of University egg heads and kooky liberals. He loves it there. His work has most recently appeared in Musa Publishing. Previously in Mocha Memoirs Press, Eternal Press, and such anthologies as Ruthless, Fading Light: An Anthology of the Monstrous, Something Wicked Vol II, In the Bloodstream, and Torched.
When he’s not working or writing sci-fi or horror, Tom volunteers for causes he cares about. He comes from a most interesting family; his mother, Norma Olbert is currently self-publishing a biography of the life of Tom’s dad Stan Olbert, a retired MIT physicist and veteran of the Polish underground during WWII. Tom’s sister Elizabeth Olbert is an artist, art teacher, and avid lover of horses.<br />
<br />
Learn more about <b>Tom Olbert</b> on his blog <a href="http://tomolbert.blogspot.com/"><b>Other Dimensions</b></a>.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-51338139233407676572015-04-25T07:23:00.000-07:002015-04-25T07:23:04.229-07:00How to avoid Very<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
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This originated from http://www.copywritingcomedian.com/</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-25568998444622860832015-03-07T10:18:00.000-08:002015-03-07T10:18:00.281-08:00Saturday Writing Meme<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-692553605858973983.post-2218409176981850252015-02-28T10:17:00.000-08:002015-02-28T10:17:00.068-08:00Saturday Writing Meme<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0