Food for Thought

Good Morning. Welcome back. Maggi Sherwin won the prize for best comment last week. ...claps very loudly......



The topic today is, Remember When.
As usual, the best comment wins a fabbo prise from me and all the good comments get placed on my writers blog. So please make sure your website is besdie your comment so i don't have to hunt for it.






When I wrote my first chapter I was working on a switchboard. Not just any switch board, I might add. Some of you might remember the cord board. Where plugs were on the end of a coloured cord and you thrust them into the buzzing light on the switch board main frame. I lost count with the amount of calls I cut off because I had pulled out the wrong coloured cord lol



We had a telex machine for sending messages to other places. No computers then. I thought that machine was amazing. You could contact people without using the telephone lol I always felt very important whenever I used it.












The most exciting thing was the electric typewriter. When I first got mine I thought it was the best thing ever. Even though I got through a ton of the ‘white stuff’ LOL You know, the dreaded tippex! I bashed out my first chapter in about three weeks, in between answering the switchboard. God I loved that typewriter. It was like having a personal friend.










Then came the first home computers. Extortionately priced but I had to have one. Remember the huge monitor? OMG, it was like having a portable tv. There was no internet for us ‘lower’ mortals then. It was far too expensive. But doing away with the tippex was such a relief.

I still have that ms I wrote today. It went from typewriter, to computer (all retyped) there were no scanners we could afford then LOL then it went onto a floppy disc and from there onto my hard drive. The chapters are appalling of course. Back then I had no idea ‘how’ to write. I just wrote as I felt. But I still read it occasionally, just to remind myself where I started off and where I am today. I’ve come far with my writing and it’s been worth the sweat and tears. Even if I didn’t think so at the time.



So who remembers using any of the above. What did you write your first book on. As a reader, how much do you think the genres have changed over the last 10 years or so?

Sunday's Stillpoint

Hello out there!  It has been a few weeks since I've posted; life has been very busy lately!  Teenagers can put a big dent in your free time, but it's all good!  Prom with a first formal date, a dance recital and an eight year trophy, car shopping, concerts - all celebrations of various types of life's stages and accomplishments.  So many new beginnings in her young life and I marvel in watching my daughter morph into a young woman.  My first born, and only child is growing up.

As she develops and leaves home more and more independently, I have to gracefully embrace her strengths and encourage flight.  Fortunately, this is not so difficult, because my daughter is very smart and socially mature for her age.  Still, as a parent, there is worry and stress with this process.  I try to contain this and let her go uncontaminated by my fears.  I now know the "animal" courage of the mother bird.

Simultaneously, I am  letting go of my second born "child" - my Psyche's Journey publication.  This is probably as hard, if not harder than letting go of my biological child.  My first child will always be able to come home to visit, speak to me, she will live on - my second will no longer be part of my life as a growing, developing entity.  As I write this, I realize, Psyche's Journey will live on inside me, and there are memories visible all around me as well. But perhaps, she did not develop and mature in the way I had hoped for her, and there is grief, and even a sense of failure in that realization.

I have been more consciously processing this for 6 months or so now, recognizing all the stages of grief that Kubler-Ross identified decades ago.  First there was the denial for the last 18 months trying to keep this project alive when it was clear there was little hope in this economy.  Anger at the crooks on Wall Street, the Bernie Madoff types, and the CEO's, bank execs and even a few individuals that I looked to for help, that did not come forward.  Bargaining began when I began thinking I could shift to an online format and continue on.  Then depression set in, realizing I didn't even have the energy to continue this project - feeling dismal and wanting to just disappear.  Finally, acceptance is beginning to take hold and there is huge relief in beginning to go public with my decision to conclude Psyche's Journey.  I don't know what the future will hold, and that's okay.  I trust my decision, and also trust that something new will arise from these ashes!

Have you ever had to decide to discontinue a beloved project?  Please let me know your process!

Authors Promoting Authors with Aija M. Butler, My Nemesis, The Mind's Eye, Volume 1

Staggering to her feet and straightening her disheveled blouse. Joy confronted Darrin as if she had just walked onto the scene.
“The police were here, what did they say?” An obviously discombobulated Joy questioned.
“They are gone Joy. Your husband and children perished…,” Darrin’s voice trailed off to a solemn whisper as he was on the verge of an emotional breakdown.

The wake of a horrific storm sends the Anderson Family into turmoil. When a series of catastrophic events unlock the secrets of Pandora’s Box, Joy Anderson falls prey to the seduction of psychotherapy drugs. The grief sends Joy’s shattered soul into a whirlwind of emotional distress.

Unable to cope with the loss of her family, Mrs. Anderson awakes to find herself strapped to a bed, afraid of her own reflection.  Joy’s delusional sightings of her children and husband, pave way for Joys hidden persona to arise.

Joy’s fragile subconscious has a frightful opposing personality. She is less than pragmatic, but rather that of an inventive spirit. Her seductive foe is born and dominates the state of affairs that she looks to suppress. Joy’s alter ego takes action against the hoarding mongrels that claim to have her best interest at heart. Joy battles her conscious ability to understand the circumstance of life and death. However her instincts tell her that her family is alive and are in need of help. Joy and Lillian come to a head as they battle one another in their beliefs of right and wrong, the truths the mind hides in order to maintain a sense of integrity and human social acceptance. Joy is not only in search for her family but now in search of the truths in her heart in order to shed light to the secrets of the mind’s eye.

Samantha, Joy’s younger sister, is faced with a chance to live beyond her sister’s shadow she must either choose to save Joy from her behavioral dysfunctions or her already troublesome marriage.

This novel is filled with secret alliances, furtive relationships, and clock-and-dagger affiliates. Witness the drama, deception, and seduction, hidden within the pages of this mystery suspense tale, as we discover just who Joy’s nemesis is.
 

To Learn More About Author Aija M. Butler, please visit her here and here 

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About this Feature:

Authors Promoting Authors with.....

 Authors Promoting Authors, posts your book cover, book blurb and links.

Then you would post the book that appeared before yours.

If you want to participate in this, please realize it is completely random. We do not match up like genres or titles. That means, if you are a romance author, you could end up posting a suspense novel on your site. This feature appears on Fridays and the next round will start Friday July 8th.

To participate in this: In the subject line, please put "Fridays" apasuggestions@gmail.com

Include your book cover, book blurb, links and video and the link to where you will be posting the book that appeared before yours.

Food for thought

The Pitfalls of book Titles

My god, has it been a week already since my last post? I feel like the bear in the picture sometimes. Far too much to do and no time to do it all in.
So, todays topic is book titles. You either love them or hate them. How many of you have written a book and then sat wracking your brain for days for a title that fits it? Firstly, it needs to fit the story, and in an ideal world, be catchy and easy to remember. I’m envious when I see a good, eye catching title. Last year I read a book by Debbie Macomber called The trouble with angels. It grabbed my attention straight away because you never see the word ‘trouble’ before the word angel. I got it soley on that title and thoroughly enjoyed it.




You thought it was hard writing that book, didn't you? Well let me tell you, that was the easy part. I've had so many sleepless night when I need a good title to fit my book, and do you know when it pops in to my head? When I’m not particularly thinking about anything special. A random thought will suddenly just meander across my mind and the title is usually somewhere in it.
Typical!






I have two new books out at the moment. Abigail Cottage, which was an easy title to find as the story revolves around a cottage and Spirit Intervention The second one had me crying into my chicken soup whillst eating a fruit and nut chocolate bar. Which was quite apt considering!


So to the authors out there, do titles draw you to buy a book, or is it just the covers? Have you got any tips as to how you come up with your titles? Help us out here. I'm one of the authors who struggle to find a title that the world will enjoy.


Here'sa bonus, for the best idea/comment I am offering a bonus pressie from me and it WON’T be book related!



Your comment will then be added to my writers blog 'Authors helpful tips' page. Julie Belfield won last week prize for the best comment. Who will be next?



Before I go, here is a shameless plug for my new spiritual website. Enjoy!

See you all next week .

Book Feature: Night Corridor, Joan Hall Hovey

                                                         Buy From Amazon.com

At 17, Caroline Hill was torn from the boy she loved by her tyrannical father. 

Then they took her child. 

Finally, her grasp on reality.
Now, after nine years in Bayshore mental institution, once called The Lunatic Asylum, Caroline is being released.
There will be no one to meet her. Her parents who brought her here are dead.

They have found her a room in a rooming house, a job washing dishes in a restaurant. She will do fine, they said. But no one told her that women in St. Simeon are already dying at the hands of a vicious predator. 

One, an actress who lived previously in her building.

Others.

And now, as Caroline struggles to survive on the outside, she realizes someone is stalking her.

But who will believe her? She's a crazy woman after all.

Then, one cold winter's night on her way home from her job, a man follows and is about to assault her when a stranger intercedes.

A stranger who hides his face and whispers her name.

To Learn More About Author Joan Hall Hovey, please visit her website.

Six of A Story: Monique James and The Keepers

Welcome to Six of A Story, where I have the wonderful opportunity to interview authors with six (more or less) questions about their books. The questions are all with a strong focus on the story which will hopefully tell the reader and audience about the tale author has created.
 My first guest is Monique James. Her book, THE KEEPERS has been published by Astraea Press, and released this June. Monique and I both have a quark in common-both of us cannot stand open cabinets and drawers. Monique said, "If I see one I automatically yell "WHO LEFT THE DRAWER OPEN!!!"  Then I can't concentrate, until it's closed." I know the feeling. Monique's other quirky fact is, "When I write I have to have a Coke and Laffy Taffy to be totally in the zone." 

Please Visit Monique at: http://www.moniqueoconnorjames.com/

How can we as readers, relate to your main character? What makes her stand out from all the other main characters found in other pages?  

My main character, Jess Hunter, is easy to relate to, because she's flawed.  I think most people are are quirky and flawed, and I find it's hard to relate to a character who has no crazy idiosyncrasies.  She is also in the midst of the grieving process and threw the novel she deals with the stages of grief.  It's important for people to realize, grief will make you do crazy things, and yet everything you feel is okay, it's just a part of moving on.

If one of your secondary characters was to take us out to dinner, where would we dine? 

Vi would probably want you to shove down your meal, while watching a rock concert, or dancing at a club.  If you were lucky she might stop at Taco Bell on the way home.

What's the worst trait of your main character? Is there anything that may rub readers the wrong way? 

Jess is angry at God.  Of course, this may rub readers the wrong way.  She's quite loveable so I think they will get over it, but I also think they will be able to understand her resentment.  She feels he's taken everything from her, and Justin, the hero, is trying to make her see, God isn't responsible for the tragedies in our lives.

If your main character was to give a speech on a topic of their choosing, what would it be on?  

Well it goes back to grief, and the different emotions you suffer after you lose the person you love the most.  I think she'd be very adept at conveying the process and the guilt which comes with it.

What do you think will make a reader want to read this book? 

The book has something for everyone; a human who resents God; an angel, who resents humans; and a love story which ties the two together.  It's a blend of reality and fantasy which will have the reader thinking about it for days after they put it down.  Those are the best kinds of stories.

Is there a strong message to this story? Or is it just for pleasure and a fun read? 

  I think you learn a lot.  One of the major messages is, just because we're different, doesn't mean we can't find redeeming qualities in each other.  We have to put aside the imperfections of others, and love them for who they are.  Perhaps then, we can learn to love ourselves, too.

Jess hates God.  In his infinite wisdom, he’s taken everyone she’s ever loved. Moving to the French Quarter was a ploy to erase the guilt she felt for rebuking her faith.  Perhaps, if she hadn’t met Justin, an angel preoccupied with getting back into God’s good graces, and drowning in his hatred for humanity, her plan would have worked.

Justin’s general disdain for the human race makes him difficult to like, but some higher power has appointed him her keeper.  Justin’s convinced he can mend her broken relationship with her maker, but in the process he learns a thing or two about his own humanity.

Never mind, falling in love, that’s not supposed to happen.  In fact, it may even be forbidden. Jess just wants Justin to understand her plight, and he wants to protect her from a world she doesn’t know.
If neither are equipped to save the other, then whose soul lives and whose will perish?

ABOUT MONIQUE JAMES

Monique is the mother of two beautiful children and lives in a small community outside of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  She currently works full time as an insurance agent, but her favorite jobs are mother, wife, and author.

On her ninth birthday, her mother bought her a journal and said "write whatever you want, just write". And so, a love affair with words was born.  She wrote poetry and short stories in high school and college, until 1993 when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.

After her mother's death in 1998, deep in depression, she found herself unable to write.  Nine years passed, and only on rare occasion did she attempt to write.

Finally, in 2007, under the urging of friends, she sat down and pecked out her first novel.  It was raw and unpolished, but the process had been unquestionably cathartic. The next three years were spent filling her hard drive with seven complete manuscripts.

At the beginning of 2011, Monique decided it was time to edit the work and share it  with the world.  She hopes you enjoy the ramblings of a truly southern girl raised in a state rich with heritage and love.

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Would you like to be interviewed for Six of A Story? Please send all requests to apasuggestions@gmail.com with "Six of a Story" in the subject line. 

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