Tag Archives: Book

Birthday Feast

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

 

Birthday Feast

By Nandy Ekle

 

At my age a birthday is really more dreaded than anticipated. Women my age tend to symbolically stop having birthdays and do what they can to keep any shred of youth they are able to keep. But most women my age don’t have the experience I had theis week.

Like a lot of women my age, dieting is a daily battle. I have recently been successful on a great plan, but in the past few months, my will power has melted. One thing that has not ben much help in this area is the wonderful, wacky and insanely fantastic group I work with. There are twelve of us, if you count the manager (and let me emphasize, she most definitely does count). So that’s an average of one birthday every month. The custom is that the person whose birthday was last orchestrates the celebration for the next person’s birthday. And the rule of thumb has always been a themed food spread, birthday honoree’s choice.

So a very unique and special feast took place this week. They al know about my struggles with The Diet, and they all know my love for stories. So the feast we had this week was a feast of words. Each and every person on our “team” chose a passage from their favorite book, and then took turns coming to my desk to read these jewels.

That evening I came home and started reading the new book my husband gave me.

When your appetite for words is low, plan a pot luck word spread.

Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.

Filet Mignon

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

Filet Mignon 

By Nandy Ekle

In the bible Jesus tells a story about a rich man who fares sumptuously every day.

Several years ago my husband and I bought a side of beef to feed our children and any visitors who happened to grace our home. Our beef came in the form of roasts, hamburger meat and steaks. We ate steak and ate steak and ate steak until I finally thought if I ate one more bite of steak I would be sick. That’s when I thought about the story from the bible about the rich man who fared sumptuously.

The thought of the bible story has come back to me recently because of my reading list. My favorite author has numerous books published, a lot of which I have read, some of which I have not. The ones I’ve read instantly become my some of my favorite stories of all time. Suddenly it seems that every book I have, audio, virtual or paper, is by him, and I love them all. In fact he has two new books coming out this year that make me feel like a starving person with a blank check walking into a restaurant.

But the other day I looked at my stack of books waiting to be read and thought, “I’m tired of steak. I need different flavor.” So I’ve been shopping for new authors. This is sometimes a difficult thing to do, but can turn up some surprising finds.

Once I discovered a book written by a British author. It was her first novel and was so amazing that it pole-vaulted to the top of my favorites list. To this day, I don’t think she has another book out, but if she did, I would be first in line for it.

Writers write, but writers also read. And sometimes what we read inspires what we write. Add some variety to your reading diet and new ideas and styles will pop up all around you.

Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.

Reasons to Write

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Reasons to Write

Rory C. Keel 

Why do I write? Is it because throngs of fans demand it anticipating every word of my next masterpiece? Is it because I honestly expect to make millions of dollars on a bestseller, or desire to be famous? No.

Over the next few weeks I will share with you a few of the reasons I write.

Reason #1

I write to tell a story. Everyone loves a good story. Children drift off to sleep with their heads cradled gently in downy pillows, and their minds full of colorful images from fairytales. Young adults turn the pages of books filled with adventure, loyalty, and sometimes tragedy. They experience a spectrum of emotions as they learn the meaning of dedication, true love, and even loss. Adults feel alive with the thrill of a great suspense novel. As we grow older, we can gain a sense of who we are, and where we came from by reading of our youthful yesterdays.

For a few brief moments in time, a story affords the reader the opportunity to escape reality. Traveling through time into other dimensions, we can explore the far reaches of the future, or a place in history. A story allows the reader to become someone else, able to triumph over evil, or transform into the bad guy. The words of a story can inspire us to overcome the odds stacked against us, and we can experience the exhilaration of victory.

Everyone has a story–write yours.

Rory C. Keel        

Thank you

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Outtakes

Thank you

It’s almost done. Sixty pages, three chapters and the second draft of my fourth novel HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW will be ready for final editing. I don’t have a publisher, agent or editor. Yet. The point is that I will have finished the book.

I have so many folks to thank. Without their support, guidance and encouragement, I might have been tempted to drop the project and try something else. So here goes. I’ll start with my good friend Cynthia Hunt who read the novella, liked it but wanted more story. The agent who listened to my pitch and told me it would not sell as a novella. However, I had enough plot twists and ideas to develop a novel, so write it. I have a wonderful family who allows me bounce ideas off them. They support my dream of selling my novel and will celebrate with me when that happens. I have great friends who follow the progress of the story and can’t wait for me to complete the book. I support myself with my writing as I work toward the sale of my novel. I have a great manager and team who support my creative writing.

Last, but definitely not least, I owe so much to Natalie, Sharon, Nancy, Craig, and Joe. Meeting after meeting they critique the pages I read. They offer sound advice, point out the errors without demoralizing, and they give me tons of smiley faces. I treasure their input and friendship. And I wish every writer had such a support group.

Writing is a solitary profession. A writer spends so much time alone in an office, or on the couch, staring at the computer screen or legal pad, and painstakingly give life to a story, poem, song, non-fiction book, memoir, or article. Sometimes you can feel so alone in the process. I compare the writer’s journey to the road a woman travels when pregnant. Can you imagine going through morning sickness, weight gain, runs to the bathroom every ten minutes, hours of labor without family and friends behind you cheering you on? How sad would that be? The truth is we need each other to share the good and the bad. I’m blessed and freely acknowledge it. I wish every writer, every person, would be as fortunate.

So to all of you who have been with me in this journey, I say thanks from the bottom of my heart. I could not have done it without you.

Cait Collins

GONE NEVER FORGOTTEN

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By Natalie Bright

I have the perfect home office, which I blogged about previously at WordSmith Six.

Sometimes, the ideal situation might stifle your creative muse, as I found out when I tried to write a story that has been on my heart and mind for the past fifteen years. The story is about the loss of our firstborn son, and to write it I had to be in the middle of the chaos, with television and two perfectly healthy sons asking, “what’s for dinner”. The result is a book for grieving parents and families who’ve suffered the loss of a baby.

GONE NEVER FORGOTTEN offers healing words through verse and text for grieving parents. I didn’t begin where most books do on this topic; instead, I started at what happens when you get home. With empty arms, parents have to return to their life without the much anticipated new addition to their family. The daily struggle seems endless and the loss is something you may never get over, but we made it through and you can too.

In addition to several of my favorite Bible verses, two very special ladies have contributed poetry on grief and hope.

Marianne McNeil Logan is an award winning rhyming poet. I’ve admired Marianne’s work for many years, and I enjoy rereading her chapbooks as inspiration for words and the writing craft. She continues to be a strong voice of encouragement for our local writing community.

Nell Lindenmeyer is a long-time friend through a our day jobs and through our work in an organization which educates its members about the energy industry. When I discovered she wrote poetry, I asked if she might have some pieces on grief and the free-verse samples she sent absolutely blew me away. I hope you find inspiration and peace through them as much as I did.

From my heart to yours, GONE NEVER FORGOTTEN, is a book of hope and healing after the loss of a baby, and is available on amazon.com for your Kindle. Click on the title now to download to your Kindle, and please let me know if any of the content touches your heart. Email me natalie@nataliebright.com.

Read an excerpt below:

1. LIVING WITH GRIEF

This past year our oldest son would have turned fifteen. As I write, tears fill my eyes, and I swallow the lump in my throat. How could I have forgotten his birthday again? I had planned to purchase a wreath, fasten a well-used toy from a younger brother’s room, and visit the cemetery to honor the special day. In the swirl of daily life, the date had slipped past, and I had done nothing.

Through the years, the pain over losing a baby will resurface out of nowhere. Special dates and events will pass without a second thought, and at other times, the overwhelming sense of loss will smack you out of nowhere. You must learn to live with your grief.

Playgrounds are difficult for me. Watching children yell and swing and slide reminds me of the missing link in our family. Certain times of the year are more painful than others. When I buy new clothes and school supplies for our two sons, I always feel a certain sense of loss and emptiness. I should be buying three sets of erasers, glue, and colored notebooks, instead of two.

During the past years, the only way I have found best to deal with this grief is to block the five days of our firstborn son’s life from my mind. That’s the way it’s been since we lost our sweet Clayton. My husband finds comfort in stopping by his grave and honoring our son on birthdays and holidays. For me, when I visit the cemetery, I sink into a deep depression that lasts for weeks. The memory of the overwhelming sense of hopelessness I felt as we left the hospital with empty arms consumes me. Every emotion and memory vividly haunts me, even now fifteen years later. I have learned to block the delivery experience from my thoughts without guilt, all the while remembering his presence in this world.

To read more, GONE NEVER FORGOTTEN is available on Kindle for only $4.99.

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 37 KB
  • Publisher: Apollo Publishing LLC; 1 edition (August 25, 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B005K9POP2

MAKING RETAIL CONNECTIONS

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Making Retail Connections

By Natalie Bright

If you’ve self-published a book, it’s up to you to establish retail connections.

An author once told me that he’d only intended to write the book, and never wanted to be a book salesman. Now he’s traveling around with a car full of books. Welcome to the reality of today’s publishing world.  How are people going to read your book, if they don’t know it exists?

As the CEO of YOU, guess who is in charge of book promotion?

Make the Connection

While the internet offers a multitude of book promotion opportunities, for this particular post, I want to talk specifically about working with retail outlets and how to approach owners or managers.

On cold calls, approach them in a friendly, cooperative manner, introduce yourself and ask if they’d like to see your book. Most bookstore owners are always interested in talking to authors. Ask them if it’s a subject their customers might like. Information flyers and postcards work as well. When I receive inquiries in regards to my middle grade book, OIL PEOPLE, I offer to leave the store manager a preview copy. If it’s an inquiry by phone or email, I always offer to mail a preview copy. Be sure to include promo copies in your budget.

Store Owners Rule

Retail stores have to realize at least a 50% to 60% markup in the items they sell. They have a store front to operate which includes payroll, building utilities, and inventory expense.

DO NOT tell the storeowner the retail price. It’s their store, they set the price. Business owners are independent and territorial. If you tell them how to run their business, you’ll be out the door in a flash. Quote them the price you need, and you can suggest a retail price but ultimately the cost to customers is the store owners decision.

Setting the Price

If you self-publish, you have to leave a little wiggle room when setting your price. I hear this complaint all of the time and it is confusing to self-published writers. Authors quote the price printed on their book or the over-inflated price they paid for printing, expecting that’s the price they are due. Shop around and find the best possible printing deal in order to keep your price per book as low as possible. Hopefully, you’ll have room to make a few bucks, and the store comes out ahead as well.

Retail owners are in business to make a profit. If business owners’ efforts aren’t going to generate dollars to pay for the cost of staying open, it’s not worth having your book take up valuable shelf space.

The key, I think, is being able to offer a low price to retail outlets and being able to negotiate a price without being too pushy.

Consider ALL Possibilities

Major chain bookstores may not be an option to self-published authors for many reasons which are beyond your control. Are there specialty shops in your area? What about possible connections through family and friends?

Think about cross-selling. If you have a book of poetry, why not approach a lingerie shop? If you have a children’s book about horses, drop by a saddle and tack store or the local feed store. Stop stressing over things you can’t control and consider all of the possibilities, and keep writing!

Natalie Bright

HONOR TO THE MASTERS

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POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

Honor To the Masters

“I love that story!  It’s my all time favorite!”  You have the story almost word for word, almost every dot of punctuation embedded in your heart, and you still can’t get enough of it.  You’ve probably read the book and seen the movie a thousand times a piece, and it still thrills you to the core.

There are a ton of reasons that particular story calls to you over and over. It could be the high concept, or a perfect plot with no loopholes. Maybe the voice is comfortable and striking at the same time. Maybe the world and the atmosphere bring you exactly the feel you are looking for, or any number of other traits of a great story.  But actually, it all boils down to plain good writing.

A master of words can take any theme, any plot (no matter how weak) and make it fascinating.  He can make you hear the words as if they fall out of his mouth.  She can set the tone in the first sentence, with the first couple of words on the page.  A master can weave a spell around you with very little effort, and you are helpless to break free until you see the words, “The End.”  And then you are left feeling lonely and know that it won’t be long before you must open that book and read it again.

These masters of the craft feed our desires to be just as good at writing as they are.

Study your favorite book and analyze exactly what it is that stays on the edge of your consciousness when the book is closed.  Then you can give them the ultimate homage by emulating their eloquence.

Congratulations.  You have just received a post card from the muse.

Nandy Ekle

RARE BUT SPECIAL

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RARE BUT SPECIAL

We all are faced with tough decisions concerning our animals. It doesn’t seem appropriate, but sometimes the emotions we have dealing with pets and livestock traumatize us more than our family situations.

Rare But Special ran his best race. He broke from the starting gates in the lead, and easily maintained that position until the straightaway. Down the stretch, a horse challenged him on the outside and took the lead by a half-length. In only a short distance, our horse regained the lead and left that horse behind. At that point, we thought victory was ours.

We wanted that horse to win so bad. He evolved from a starved unbroken five year old, to a serious contender in a sanctioned race. Because of his age, he needed to win first to continue his racing career. Two horses inched passed him in the last fifty yards, and he won third. This was his first long race, 870 yards. The mental and physical conditions are strenuous for that distance, and the race he ran was amazing under the circumstances. My wife and I are so proud of him, yet heartbroken he didn’t win. He may be out of options, and we’re faced with deciding his future. He really isn’t suited for any other purpose.

Donnie Williams witnesses this type of situation in chapter three of TRAILS END. It’s a hard part of owning animals. They can become so close to you, they are part of who you are.

I don’t know the topic of the next blog, but it’s going to be fun and positive, opposite of the last two. I hope to have you back for next Wednesday.

Joe Nichols

Reasons to Write

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Reasons to Write

Why do I write? Is it because throngs of fans demand it anticipating every word of my next masterpiece? Is it because I honestly expect to make millions of dollars on a bestseller, or desire to be famous? No.

Over the next few weeks I will share with you a few of the reasons I write.

Reason #1

 

I write to tell a story. Everyone loves a good story. Children drift off to sleep with their heads cradled gently in downy pillows, and their minds full of colorful images from fairytales. Young adults turn the pages of books filled with adventure, loyalty, and sometimes tragedy. They experience a spectrum of emotions as they learn the meaning of dedication, true love, and even loss. Adults feel alive with the thrill of a great suspense novel. As we grow older, we can gain a sense of who we are, and where we came from by reading of our youthful yesterdays.

For a few brief moments in time, a story affords the reader the opportunity to escape reality. Traveling through time into other dimensions, we can explore the far reaches of the future, or a place in history. A story allows the reader to become someone else, able to triumph over evil, or transform into the bad guy. The words of a story can inspire us to overcome the odds stacked against us, and we can experience the exhilaration of victory.

Everyone has a story–write yours.

Rory C. Keel

Reason # 2 next Tuesday!            

WRITING HORSES

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WRITING HORSES – Joe Nichols

After several days of 100+ degrees in my home in the Texas panhandle, I head south to Fredericksburg where it’s really hot. I do have a good reason to be here for sure. I hauled a horse owned by my wife and I to the Gillespie County Fairgrounds to run him in a Quarter Horse race.

My whole life has been involved with fast horses, rodeo broncs, and cow horses. Cow horse? A cow horse is used to handle and work cattle, such as gathering and driving them to different pastures, or to a corral to be sorted, doctored, branded, or shipped to market. Modern times will never replace this valuable tool still used on today’s ranches, feedlots, and livestock auctions.

A working cow horse provides the nucleus for my current novel and the reason for this blog. I would like people from all walks of life to enjoy my story. If I can help the folks not familiar with the western lifestyle to understand it better, the story of Donnie Williams will relate to anyone.

In chapter one of TRAILS END, the prominent aging rancher, Robert Jarrett, learns that sixteen-year-old Donnie is in jail. When Robert decides to go to the police station, it begins the transformation of Donnie’s life.

Next Wednesday, we’ll talk more about the story and some “cowboy terms”. Also, I’ll give you the results about “Rare but Special” in his race.

Click on the author page above to connect with Joe.