Beta Readers Needed

January 14, 2015 / Marcia Meara / 2 Comments

If you would like to be part of a Book In Progress, I’m looking for you. I need a few new Beta readers for Hunter, the sequel to Swamp Ghosts. I’ve already written the draft for the first 6 chapters, and will be getting back to the story before long. I like having Beta readers as I go, giving me feedback on the draft, and keeping me on track. Of course, when the project is finished and edited, my Betas all receive either a free download for Kindle, or a signed copy of the print book, their choice. If you think you’d be interested, contact me via the link in the menu above, and I’ll give you more specific information.

Be the first to know what happens next in the sleepy little town of Riverbend, Florida, where not all is as tranquil as it seems on the surface. After all, you never know what might be swimming beneath you.

Contact me today, and I’ll even throw in a free download of Swamp Ghosts, Book 1 of the series, in case you haven’t read it yet. Hope to hear from some of you soon! Thanks!

Is your manuscript in its eighth trimester? It may be time to induce

January 13, 2015January 13, 2015 / Ned's Blog / 4 Comments

By Ned Hickson

Let’s face it, editing the second draft of your story or manuscript is like a visit to the proctologist: You want it to go quickly; you want to avoid too much grimacing; and you know before you get started there’s going to be too much crammed in. Yet statistics show that early detection of grammatical “polyps” is the most effective way to prevent the spread of bad writing.

But apparently not horrible analogies like this one.

However, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that if you remove the “p” and “l” from the word “polyp,” then add a “t,” you can spell the word “typos.” Or if you prefer, drop the “y” and you can spell “stop,” which I plan to do right now because, judging from the look on your faces, I’ve made my point.

Or possibly made you queasy.

Either way, I believe the second draft is the most important draft in the “three-draft process” I suggest every writer practice. And when I say “three-draft” process, I’m not talking about how many beers it takes to loosen up those typing fingers. I’m talking about the minimum number of drafts you should make of your story or manuscript before you push the “publish” or email button. That said, I’m not suggesting you can’t do more than three if that’s what it takes to make your manuscript the best it can be. But if you’re on the 20th draft of a five-paged short story you’ve been revising for the last three years, it’s time to ask yourself if 1) There’s alcohol involved, or 2) You’re purposely stalling.

I recently had a conversation with a blogger who is an aspiring writer. She confessed to having a 100-paged “work in progress” she’s been revising on a weekly basis for six years. Her plan is to make it available online as a self-published novella. When asked when she thought it would be done, she wasn’t sure.

“I think it’s time to consider forced labor,” I told her. “This baby is so overdue that, if it were a child, it would come out eating solid foods.”

[Official Disclaimer: I am not an actual doctor, although I have played one. Just not on TV.]

Inevitably, she realized she was stalling out of fear of failure; as long as her novella remained unpublished — and unread — the hope it would be a “big success” remained. As I mentioned last week, “success” is a relative term. What I mean by that is, if your family won’t even read it, then Yes: it probably stinks.

Ha! Ha! Just kidding! Who cares what your family thinks! Or if your own mom thinks your writing is “just a phase” that will pass like “that Star Wars thing” once you turn 50 in couple of years!

By the way, have you seen my shoes?

Yeah, Star Wars and being a writer are just phases…

In all seriousness, the only failed writing project is the one that is never started. If you’ve completed one or more drafts of your manuscript then you’re already a success because you’ve beaten the odds by doing something many people talk about but never attempt — let alone finish. Think of it as making the world’s best submarine sandwich; whether or not anyone takes a bite, it’s still a great sandwich. Having others walk around with mustard stains on their shirts is just a bonus.

So if you’re carrying around a 9-pound, fully-developed manuscript, ask yourself what you’re truly waiting for and why. Be honest with your answer. Don’t let fear of failure keep your literary baby from entering the world. It may be time to start pushing for a delivery.

And be thankful I didn’t end this with another proctology comparison.

_______________________________________________________________

Ned Hickson is a syndicated columnist with News Media Corporation. His first book, Humor at the Speed of Life, is available from Port Hole Publications, Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. His next book, Ned’s Nickel’s Worth on Writing: Pearls of Writing Wisdom from 16 Years as a Shucking Columnist is due out in late February.

I’m Still Standin’!!

January 13, 2015 / Marcia Meara / Leave a comment

Just an Update For Ya! 🙂

Bookin' It

(Just Because This Picture Makes Me Smile)

Okay, some of the time, I’m not quite vertical, but by golly, I have survived this latest mutant spawn of the Swine Flu, and I’m here to tell the tale. My first advice…DON’T GET IT!! This is wicked, wicked stuff, and can be fatal for the very young, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems. So, avoiding is a good thing! And if you DO get it, for the love of everyone you know, stay home. HOME! Sleeping alone. Washing your hands about a million times a day, and trying not to cough on anyone. AND…if you go from well to sick in about sixty seconds, head straight to your doctor for Tamiflu to try to knock this stuff out. (It only works within the first 48 hours or so). Then pray.

Today is the first day in well over two weeks…

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Books for the troops

January 12, 2015 / Aimee Easterling / 11 Comments

My husband spent a few years in the military right after high school, and he tells me that books were a very important part of his life at that time. Civilians take for granted the nearly limitless entertainment available on our smart phones, computers, and ereaders, but many American soldiers are stationed in parts of the world where they have very little access to even something as simple as reading matter. A good book can make all the difference.

Enter Authors Supporting Our Troops, a project spearheaded by Armand Rosamilia. Armand collects signed books from authors and publishers, packages them up in big boxes, and mails the texts out to soldiers in remote locations, who then spread the books around to their friends. All you have to do to be involved is to email armandrosamilia@gmail.com and ask for his mailing address, sign your books, and ship them out. (Be sure to click the link above if you’d like a slightly less simple way to be involved, such as donating cash to cover postage costs or tracking down soldiers in need of books.)

We all want to support our troops and we all want our books to be read. So why not kill two birds with one stone and shell out a few bucks to feed paperbacks into the hands of our military units abroad?

Quick Question?

January 9, 2015January 9, 2015 / Marcia Meara / 2 Comments

Quick question while I’m vertical. Does anyone know if there is a template available for those Boxed Set style graphics on Kindle? My designer says she can draw one for me, so I can offer Books 1 & 2 of my Wake-Robin Ridge series at a discount price, but I thought if there was one already out there, I’d send it to her. Thanks for any help you can give me. Off to lie down again, now…

Still Alive & Kicking…Feebly!

January 8, 2015 / Marcia Meara / 12 Comments

Just wanted to let you guys know I haven’t abandoned you. Went to the doctor yesterday to see if my bout with what was probably the flu had left me with a sinus infection. It had. But it also HADN’T left!! Turns out, after ten days of misery, the flu virus…yes that very strain that’s in the news…is alive and well in my system, STILL. 😦 But I am now armed with serious medication. And I will take the dang stuff. I have a presentation to give in ten days, and I must be well!

I did learn something I want to share with you guys. If you get to the doctor immediately upon coming down with the flu, there IS something they can do, besides give you antibiotics, which don’t work on viral infections. Tamiflu can help you kick the flu, if you get to the doctor within the first 48 hours. After that, it’s pretty much a treat the symptoms and let it run its miserable course.

One way to know you have come down with the flu, as opposed to a bad cold, say, is by the rapid onset. I did know that, so I thought I had the flu from the start. I got sick in about 30 seconds. Seriously. I was sitting at my computer, working away, and I started to cough like crazy. Five days later, I hadn’t stopped, but had rapidly gone from the initial coughing spell to fever, in less than an hour. A cold usually builds more gradually over several days, starting with some sneezing, or a runny nose, perhaps, then gradually a scratchy throat or cough. Remember, the various symptoms build over a few days, instead of body-slamming you to the ground, instantly. Had I gone to the doctor within 48 hours of this train hitting me, I could be well now, instead of still running a fever and feeling terrible.

So. Lessons learned and shared with you. Take care of yourselves, folks. This is no fun! And remember…the best prevention is to wash your hands…at LEAST 167 times a day!! Go do it now! It might keep you well. 🙂

Now carry on, good folk! I’ll check in when I can.

One of the biggest mistakes in my life? The time I quit writing

January 6, 2015 / Ned's Blog / 7 Comments

By Ned Hickson
As I mentioned in the title to this post, there was a time I quit writing. Back in 2006. For almost a year.

It had nothing to do with the typical kind of frustrations every writer faces, such as not having a readership or being told it’s time to “get serious” with your life by family, friends or every publisher on the West coast. It wasn’t the result of drug addiction or alcohol abuse, although I did find myself addicted to watching Grey’s Anatomy, which made me WANT to drink.

Things were going well with my writing. My readership was growing and I had an agent working to get me signed with a large publishing house.

The problem came on my 40th birthday, when I was given the ultimate surprise gift: divorce papers and single parenthood. Though I can look back on it now and see it for the gift it was, at the time it was like George Clooney showing up on Grey’s Anatomy again: Unexpected and surreal, yet with the underlying knowledge that it was always a possibility, depending on how his other opportunities panned out.

In the span of 24 hours I had gone from celebrating 40 years of life, to life as a single father with two young children. And let me just say right now, Thank God for them. Nothing funny here, just fact: They saved me and were my daily inspiration. But to make ends meet, I left the editorial department at our newspaper and went into sales for almost a year. I also put my column on hiatus by being honest with readers, letting them know what was going on in my life and, for the time being, that I was having a hard time finding my “funny.” I also needed to focus on this transition in my life and the lives of my children. Most newspapers and their readers were understanding. Even supportive. But not all of them were, and I lost about 20 spots — which I understood; I’ve never fostered any hard feelings about that, EVER! I SWEAR!

Sorry…

My book deal also fell through. Probably because of the new intro I wrote, which began: I’m actually pretty funny, but let me tell you what I don’t like about my ex-wife…

Ok, not really. But the book deal was put on the back burner, where it eventually evaporated, much like my desire to write during that period. On the surface, it seemed like the perfect inspiration for a columnist — at least until I sat down to write about it. I didn’t want to become “the guy who writes about being divorced,” but my life completely evolved around that subject at that point in my life. At the same time, writing about superheated pickles and glow-in-the-dark mice seemed… trivial.

Silly, I know — but I wasn’t myself then.

Because of the importance of that last statement, I’m going to repeat it: I wasn’t myself then.

Even as I moved forward with my life, meeting and marrying the amazing woman I’ve been fortunate enough to call my wife for five years now, something was still missing (and no, it has nothing to do with male pattern baldness):

It was me.

Not until the following summer did I find that piece of myself, when I returned to the newsroom and began writing my weekly column for the first time in nearly a year. A few weeks later, on my 41st birthday, I started this blog as part of a gradual return to what I love:

Writing about my editor behind her back.

Ha Ha! Just kidding! I do that on Twitter.

What I discovered between those two summers was how giving up my writing meant giving up that part of myself that makes me whole. For writers, the written word is how we process the world around us and, perhaps more importantly, how we define ourselves within it. While most people are content experiencing life with their five senses, writers have a sixth sense that has nothing to do with ghosts or M. Night ~~Shamalon~~ ~~Shamellon~~ ~~Shahma~~ The Sixth Sense guy. It’s about taking those other five senses and interpreting them for ourselves and, if we’re fortunate enough, sharing that with others in a meaningful way — either through serious reflection, humor, fiction or poetry.

In the same way that sharing this life with my wife makes it real and complete, writing makes me real and complete. It’s not that I couldn’t survive without either one, I just don’t ever want to.

Nor will I again.

Unless my editor finds me on Twitter…

(Ned Hickson is a syndicated columnist with News Media Corporation. His first book, Humor at the Speed of Life, is available from Port Hole Publications, Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.)

Come Weather the Storm With Me!

January 3, 2015 / Jenny / Leave a comment

I’m ridiculously excited. In just two days my new book, Siren will be out in the world. I know it’s all I’ve talked about for the last eight weeks. I’m like a mother with a new baby, whipping out my wallet to show you all the pictures. You’ve all been so patient and sweet about all the gushing, so thank you for that!

To celebrate I’m hosting an all day Giveaway Storm on Facebook, and I wanted to take a moment to invite you all. The event launches Monday, January 5, at 10 a.m. EDT on Facebook. There will be all kinds of giveaways, from ebooks, paperbacks and audiobooks to artwork, hand-crafted pretties, book swag, and more!

Bring your favorite umbrella and a friend!

Follow me to the Siren Release Day Giveaway Storms

Love is Pain

January 1, 2015January 1, 2015 / Callum McLaughlin / 6 Comments

In the hush of babbling brooks
She whispers.
In the call of graceful gulls
She whispers.
In the song of whistling winds
She whispers.

Her slight and humble voice
It falls on deafened ears.
And yet she dwells in sorrow –
Generous stupor.
A Mother’s selfless blindness
To faults of sons and daughters.

—

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year and wish you success and happiness for 2015. Apologies for the apparent randomness of this poem – I’d been enjoying the beauty of the scenery at this time of year recently and this emerged as a response. Given Marcia’s earlier call for us to share what we’ve been working on, I thought I’d post it all the same.

Thanks for reading,
Callum