Author: Marcia Meara

#InspirationBoardSunday

/ Marcia Meara / 12 Comments

03Jul2013_032-170-800-750-80-wm-right_bottom-20-DougLittle-255-255-255-20
Great Egret
Photo by Doug Little – St. Johns River EcoTours

Sunday seems a good day to share things that inspire me, particularly when I write, so I’m hereby declaring it #InspirationBoardSunday on #TheWriteStuff. In the weeks ahead, expect to see some beautiful photos of things I find especially inspiring. (And no, they won’t all be of Chris Hemsworth as either #GunnarWolfe OR #Thor. I promise. No, really . . . I mean it. They won’t . . . hardly ever. )

The truth is, beauty surrounds us, even in times when you think the world has gone mad. I figure it never hurts to remind ourselves of that. Here in central Florida, a land known for the element of make-believe, there are still vast areas of mysterious and incredibly lovely natural habitat, where birds and wildlife still hold sway. When all else fails, I look to them for inspiration, and they haven’t let me down, yet. Hope you’ll enjoy my #InspirationBoardSunday feature, and the places it might take your mind.

florida_panther
Florida Panther

My biggest childhood fear? Being bitten by a radioactive stink bug

/ Marcia Meara / 1 Comment

Thought some of you might enjoy Ned’s latest post. If you don’t follow his blog, you really should. Laughter is good for soul and body!

Ned's Blog's avatarNed's Blog

imageFor most of us, there comes a time in our lives when we must face the truth, and accept the fact we will never actually possess any type of super-human powers. This includes the ability to fly, shoot laser beams out of our eyes, or look good in a skin-tight costume.

As a child, I spent countless hours thumbing through comic books and dreaming of the day I would be bitten by a radioactive insect — and knowing full well that, with my luck, it would probably be something stupid like a moth:

“Curses! It’s Moth Man, here to foil my evil plans! HOW CAN I STOP HIM! Hey… maybe I’ll try this porch light…”

In fact, I was so sure that I would end up as a lame super hero that, with the help of my friends, we came up with a plan to MAKE me into “Spider-man” before…

View original post 426 more words

#ImmerseOrDie Bundle

/ Marcia Meara / 3 Comments

monty-python-t-shirt-something-different-500x500

We’ve had posts about the positive aspects of selling books through bundles with other authors writing in related genres, and we’ve probably all bought a bundle of books now and then, as well. Just thought I’d share this promo bundle put together by author Jefferson Smith. It is a short term deal, though, so if you are interested, you need to act soon.

Smith uses an unusual manner to choose the books he wants to include in his bundles, and I admit, I’ve never read any of the authors before, so I can’t vouch for a thing. Just sharing the deal. Check it out here:

Immerse or Die

You might want to read the paragraph at the top of the page, to see what I mean about Smith’s method of eliminating  contenders from spots in his bundle. Odd, but possibly effective, at least if you are the type of reader who prefers a well-edited and crafted book. (And trust someone else to make that call for you.) If you decide to buy the bundle, I’d love to know what you think of the books.

You may purchase the bundle from this page, and you can even choose to have a portion of your proceeds go to a charity of Smith’s choice. The “Pay  What You Want” option floors me. I confess, I’ve never seen anything done like this, and would be interested in what some of you think of the concept.

Wanna Be A #FabulousFridayGuestBlogger ?

/ Marcia Meara / 1 Comment

The floor at The Write Stuff could be yours for the asking. Just email me for information. (Sorry this probably isn’t in time for tomorrow. I thought I had someone lined up, but I seem to have lost her.) You may write a guest post on any subject that interests you (excluding religion & politics), and chat to your heart’s content. If you are a writer, you may include your bio, cover images, and Buy Links. If you don’t write, you may talk about your blog, or books you love and why, or pretty much anything you think others would enjoy hearing about. And we here at TWS will then reblog, share on Facebook, Tweet, and otherwise pass your guest post along.

Even if you’ve been a guest blogger here before, we’ll welcome you back. Just send me a note: mmeara@cfl.rr.com

#Excerpt from Words We Carry – Essays of Obsessions and Self-Esteem by D. G. Kaye

/ Marcia Meara / 24 Comments

Wordsfrontcover600x900_72dpi

What’s The Attraction?

Do you ever wonder why we gravitate to certain types of partners? Is it because we randomly meet people and connect with them, or are most of us in search of the perfect partners, not willing to settle for anything less than our ideal mates? I dare not say that anyone is perfect. We all have flaws, and sometimes we choose the wrong partners for a number of reasons. Perhaps we’ve spent a long time searching for meaningful relationships and we’re tired of being alone, so we settle.

When we find the opportunity to hook up with someone, we may be willing to forego some of our requirements in a mate, grateful that we’ve finally met someone. Or maybe we only see the qualities we like in that person and tend to overlook the things we don’t? Either way, I think these choices are a recipe for disaster in the long term. I can speak from experience about this because I too once fell into this situation.

I can say with certainty that I was better off being alone than allowing myself to succumb to a partner I abhorred. I allowed myself to settle for a relationship with a charming, nice-looking guy who I continued to go out with while trying to ignore my inner knowledge that there were just some things I didn’t like about him. I thought I was being too picky, and as it had been a few years since I allowed myself to get involved with someone, I thought perhaps I was being too selective and had to give the guy a chance. Well, one thing led to another, and before I knew it, I was trapped in a bad relationship. Continue reading →

My #MidWeekPOV – January 13, 2016

/ Marcia Meara / 33 Comments

POV

I’m looking forward to starting this new feature, and have several topics in mind already that I hope you’ll all enjoy, and will want to pass along. I hope I don’t start off by getting into trouble with my first post. Gleep. But here it is.

Today, my POV is about . . . ready? . . . POV’s! In your books, specifically.

I’m always surprised when I hear people say they hate a book with different Points of View. Why, I wonder? Surely as they read, they wonder what’s going on in the heads of each character? Of course, it would be difficult (and probably annoying) to read a book that featured the thoughts of everybody in the story, but there’s likely plenty of room to include the thoughts of a few of the main characters. So, I’ll say it right now: I love a book that lets me see into the minds of more than one person, especially if it lets me see what the villain of the  piece is thinking, now and then. Multiple points of view can enrich a story on every level for me.

This doesn’t mean a book has to have them. I’ve read entire series where the only brain I’ve been let into is the main character, and I’ve loved them. So that’s all well and good. But if a book does have multiple POV’s, and they’re done well, then that’s a whole ‘nuther kind of fun. However, the writer has to be careful not to confuse the reader, and therein lies the trick. Continue reading →