Poetry Guest Post by Sharon Skinner: In Case You Didn’t Hear Me the First Time

I have previously had poetry and short stories published in a number of magazines and a couple of anthologies, including The Wisdom of Our Mothers and, most recently, The Stories of Haven: I, as well as several other periodicals. However, I am very excited that Brick Cave Media, a local small press, recently published my new book, In Case You Didn’t Hear Me the First Time, a collection of poetry, essays and short stories written over a period of a dozen years.

The works in this collection reflect life’s journey through sadness, joy, love, loss, humor and hope. When asked what the book is about, I generally reply that it’s my personal take on our oh-so-human dance through “life, the universe and everything.”

I’ve intentionally included works that crack open the exterior shell and lay bare the tender interior where we truly live and love. The places where we curl up inside ourselves to cower, dream, recover, grow, and from where we can reach out and take a resolute stance against hardship. The places where we endure and from where we can celebrate our achievements and ourselves.

The poetry cuts deep, but cycles through to a place of self-affirmation. The essays about my time in the Navy are written with as much honesty as I could possibly muster (pun intended), exploring the dichotomies of the beauty and danger of the sea, the nobility and childishness of young service men and women, and the irony of military bureaucracy.

The inclusion of specific "Blog" entries as points in time, reflect specific moments in my life. Pointing openly to who I am and how I react to adversity, they act as a ribbon of truth, a sort of "Real life" or "Reality Writing" look behind the poetry, beneath the polish.

The reason I write is not just to express my personal emotions, but also to connect with others. I truly believe in the importance of transmitting a signal that does not simply radiate out into the atmosphere, but finds an appropriate receiver. And based on the reviews of my book posted on Amazon, my signal is currently being well received. This is not only gratifying and encouraging, but reaches deep into my interior, giving me yet another reason to celebrate.

In Case You Didn’t Hear Me the First Time is available on Amazon:

Paperback version

Kindle Edition

Sharon Skinner is an award-winning poet who received her B.A. in English from Ottawa University and her M.A. in Creative Writing from Prescott College.  She is a grant developer by day, currently serving as the National Board Secretary of the Grant Professionals Association. At heart she is a poet and fiction writer, having completed two Middle-Grade novels and one Young Adult Fantasy novel, The Healer’s Legacy, which is slated for release in Fall 2011. Sharon is currently hard at work on her current work-in-progress, a Young Adult Urban Fantasy about a teenage girl, who truly doesn’t fit inside her own skin.


Follow Sharon on Twitter @SharonSkinner56 
or at http://www.sharonskinner.com/

Dreaming in Darkness by Jessica Kristie

“Poetry is my heart, anchors my soul and documents my journey.” – Jessica Kristie 

Dreaming in Darkness
is

Darkness and light

Inspiringly different

Powerful and disturbing

A place you will return to.

Dreaming in Darkness on Amazon

JessicaKristie.com 
Twitter: @jesskristie 
Facebook: facebook.com/jesskristie

eBook Self publishing

Self publishing is a great way for new authors to start building a following and (we hope) to come to the attention of mainstream publishers.  Although I have been writing for years I am still working on my first novel, so have enjoyed the legitimate distraction of understanding how to publish online.

If you are interested in going on a journey of exploration for yourself, a good place to start is Mark Coker's Smashwords Style Guide.  Mark (@markcoker) is the founder of Smashwords and has set out simple step-by-step instructions to create and format an ebook to the demanding standards required for any author who wants to distribute their book via Smashwords to major eBook retailers such as the Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo and Diesel.  Mark regularly updates it - and it is a free download.

If you want to become an Amazon Kindle publisher there is a wealth of guidance on the Amazon site but I recommend a great little eBook by Nadia Lee (@NadiaLee)  How to Format Your Manuscript for Kindle and Nook: 3rd Edition  as it can save you a lot of time.

Cracking the code

It is very important to understand the formatting requirements - and all too easy to unintentionally leave 'invisible' rogue code in your work.  The good news is that the tools which generate eBooks have good error trapping, so read any warnings or alerts carefully and learn from them.

Most of the online publishers have a quality review process before your eBook goes online - but your aim is of course to have met all their requirements before you upload.

Disabling Word "features"

I have experimented with tools such as Scrivener but am happy using Word for my WIP. The main lesson I have learnt is to make sure that Word is properly set up to make it easy to format your writing once it is finished.  This means understanding how to disable 'smart quotes' and NOT putting tabs or spaces at paragraph indents.

I started coding in HTML (when the Internet was first invented) and once taught Microsoft Word to advanced level but still found it took few attempts to get it right.  If you are having problems, just search online (and specify which version of Word you are using.)  It can take a while but is time well spent.

Judge a book by its cover?

Don’t underestimate how tricky it can be to design a great cover for your eBook. As you feed the formatted work into the 'grinder' you will be prompted to link to your cover, so you need to have it ready.  Although I'd like to say that I'm more interested in what's inside, there is no question that the cover makes a huge difference when browsing possible downloads. (See Joel Friedlander's great post about Joanna Penn's approach to developing her book cover)

Novel Publicity

Of course there is no point in self publishing if readers don't know about your book.  I have really enjoyed my recent experience of the Novel Publicity Blog Tour of The King Whisperers and recommend you follow writer an book publicist Emlyn Chand (@emlynchand) for some great advice and tips on how to get it right.


I am very interested in your thoughts, experiences and top tips on self publishing and happy to help, so please comment and feel free to get in touch by email on tonyriches@live.com

Book Review: The Story Book by David Baboulene

Anyone who wants to develop their story writing skills will want to read this book. That’s not the what author David Baboulene calls the ‘log line’ that hooks you in - it is my own view after reading The Story Book.

An interesting exploration of the roots of story making is developed through clever and detailed analysis of some unexpected works, such as character development in Toy Story and plot structure in Back to the Future.

David enjoys challenging the reader (yes I fell for most of the set ups), making you want to return to earlier sections and re-read them. If you want to be provoked into really thinking about your approach to writing stories, this is definitely the book for you.

One thing I can promise is that you will never think about subtext in quite the same way again. David’s key point is that many writers think they must write the subtext to deliver the underlying story – but they should focus on ‘knowledge gaps’. These are the different perceptions of participants in any story. Knowledge gaps are the key to delivering the subtext – without which, he suggests, ‘your story has no soul.’

David’s experience as a writer and author shines through when he goes on to consider how to present your work to agents and publishers. I was amused by the irony of the fact that he makes no mention of ebooks or social networking – yet I was only reading The Story Book because I found it through Twitter and it was a single click download from Amazon - and this is one book that will stay on my Kindle reader for a long time.

Author David Baboulene is based in Brighton and works as a story consultant with aspiring and established writers and producers. He is providing seminars on story principles throughout the UK and in Los Angeles in 2011 and has a monthly column in Writing Magazine and Writers' News.

Useful links:

Subtext – The Most Critical Tool in the Story-Teller’s Box (from David's blog)

http://www.baboulene.com/  'Mastering the Art of Story'

Celtic Prayer

Deep peace of the running wave to you

As like the cool blue sea

Your true power and beauty

Is ever more revealed to me

Deep peace of the flowing air to you

As like the refreshing breeze

Your love renews my spirit

And makes me glad to be alive

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you

As like the reassuring earth

Your honesty and truth

Help me grow stronger

Deep peace of the shining stars to you

As like the brightest in the sky

You bring a sparkle to my life

And I will love you for eternity

Note:  This was inspired by composer John Rutter's (@johnmrutter who composed music for the wedding of William and Kate) choral work 'Deep Peace' (A Gaelic Blessing). I have requested consent to use it and his work is hereby fully acknowledged.  I have simply expanded each line of the first verse to create the Celtic Prayer.

You may like to listen to the original here:   

Book Launch Guest Post: Raven by Suzy Turner

After a year of writing, re-writing, editing, blogging, marketing and getting my name out there, this week I am finally launching my first YA fantasy novel, Raven.

It's taken me a year because a) I've been lazy and b) I've been spending so much time socialising on all these networking sites that I almost lost sight of why I was there in the first place. My novel. So here I am, a humble indie author with her first book about to go live on Amazon, Smashwords and wherever else I can find to sell it. I am, naturally, delighted and a bit scared. Okay, maybe terrified of what will happen. I hope people will buy my book by the bucketload. But more importantly, I hope they like it.

From the response so far, Raven is a real page-turner, hard to put down, and engaging. But can I really trust these wonderfully amazing people that have said such kind words? I mean, they are my friends. Would they tell me if it was bad? I hope so. Also, judging from my book trailer that I released a couple of weeks ago, the general consensus is that it's great stuff. Many people are intending to buy the book on the back of the trailer. Like I said, I'm terrified. I just hope the trailer isn't better than the book!

Regardless of my concerns, the book is out there. It's the culmination of a dream. No, it's the beginning of a dream. Raven is the first of a series about a group of not-so-normal folk in western Canada. It's aimed at young adults and anybody else that reads that kind of stuff (I do and I'm far from a 'young' adult). Raven begins with the tale of Lilly, a youngster whose parents mysteriously disappear from their home in London. She has no choice but to move to Canada to a grandfather she didn't even know existed, and once there, she learns that her family has secrets. Secrets that changes Lilly's entire view of the world around her.

Raven is now on Amazon at  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004ZZJ462

Suzy Turner

Although Suzy is a Yorkshire lass at heart, she left her home town of Rotherham, UK, to move to Portugal with her family when she was ten. The Algarve continues to be her home, where she lives with her childhood sweetheart and husband Michael. 

Suzy's career began soon after completing her A levels when she was offered the position of trainee journalist for a local English newspaper. Her love of writing developed and a few years later she moved on to become assistant editor for the region's largest English language publisher. Since then she has also worked as the editor of one of the Algarve's most loved monthly lifestyle magazines. 

Early in 2010 however, Suzy began working as a freelance writer and author. She has since completed her first novel for teens, Raven, which will be the first in a series of urban fantasy. Suzy also writes within the chick lit genre and is working on a novel called Forever Fredless about a woman who continues to search for the soulmate she 'lost' when she was a child. 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004ZZJ462

http://suzyturner.com

http://suzyturner.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/#!/suzy_turner

Poetry Guest Post: Liz Currie

Salango beach, Manabí

Revelations on a Tropical Night

Latin nights, with warm and lazy rhythms
dusky after sundown
and palms that waved in breezes
by darkening seas;
the soft throbbing beat
of salsa on the beach
calls me back to that time
and those moments sublime
where the air - scented and sweet
borne of tropical climes
and days of long heat
whispers cocktails and wine
and the sound of the sea
lullabies endlessly...

Stars in the sky mirror the sea
as sparks in the sea of phosphorous light
burst in the night as a ripple of fire
on the crests of the waves
and the deep deep sigh
as the waves retire
leave a moment’s peace.

There I lay in your arms as you breathed in sleep
and watched the celestial drama sweep
in vast dimensions overhead.
A miracle of being came clear to me
as I joined in one with Infinity
one moment, and knew with certainty
who we are and how our base humanity
had fallen so far from divinity.
I felt my spirits soar -
but the moment passed and we at last,
returned back again along the shore
whence we had come,
to the distant sounds
of Latin dance in the shanty town.

Tropical nights in a distant land,
making love on the midnight sand,
casting loose in the naked sea -
those were moments in eternity!
I will always remember the mood of love
as we lay enlaced with the rest of the universe above us;
but most of all, when the dark rain falls
and the northern wind brings an icy squall,
how the warmth and scent of the tropic night
yielded vision inward of a different sight
and Love of a higher nature beckoned me,
Oh moments, sweet moments in Eternity...



Author Liz Currie (@elizajcurrie) is based in York (UK) and has a passion for travel that has inspired her writing. Her poetry blog is ‘Poetry in Motion'  and her travel  writing blog is ‘Wayward Lady’