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| Your Assistant EiC, Quozimodo photo: Alonzo Riley |
The gravities of micro and macrobiology, color, mental illness, language, haiku, belly button lore, plant collecting, skepticism, justice, and glitter all tug at me.
We seek after these things.
Showing posts with label authors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label authors. Show all posts
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Prelude: Meet Quozimodo
The gravities of micro and macrobiology, color, mental illness, language, haiku, belly button lore, plant collecting, skepticism, justice, and glitter all tug at me.
We seek after these things.
Monday, September 23, 2013
It's Been a While
Hello all! Erika B here. Just giving you an update as to the recent goings on here at Chapter One and Book-it!.
Our first issue of Book-it! magazine is coming out soon, but how soon is dependent on when we fill our advertising space. On that note, we're looking for sales people! If you're looking for a little extra money, shoot Sean an email at chapteronebookit@outlook.com
As for the rest of the store? We're planning a series of fundraising events and competitions. These include (but are not limited to):
a Dance Off (October 19th - location to be announced)
Battles of the Bands (dates and locations to be announced)
Film Competitions (middle of January)
(art) Character/Creature Competitions (every other month starting in October)
and Writing Competitions (every other month starting in November)
Keep an eye out for these and many more on our Facebook site.
"Why fundraisers?" You may ask. We could go the usual route and go get a couple small loans and a million government grants, it's logical, responsible, and makes sense. Right? Well, here at Chapter One, we believe in being self-made. If we owe anyone, we want to owe you. Yeah, we're probably crazy for not wanting to take out some massive business loans or seeking out investors, so I'm going to make a confession... we are crazy. If you don't like doing business with crazy people, now's the time to bail! But if you believe in what we've got going on, we want you on our team.
On our website is a list of positions we're looking to fill. We're looking for volunteers that want to see this succeed. I know, another crazy thing, right? Looking for volunteers instead of hiring people. But let me put it this way. The more people we have on our team the faster we make money. The faster we make money, the sooner our volunteers get paid. To put it in perspective, we're not planning on letting this thing fall through the cracks. Come hell and high water, we're getting this baby off the ground and flying. So, if you're on our team, if you make this thing a success, you'll have a career with us, long term, and with more than a few opportunities to move up. If you're with us as a volunteer, you're with us for the long haul and we intend to take care of you.
For our awesome followers and supporters, right now, we owe you a magazine, a store, and some awesome content. Hold us to it. Send us emails demanding updates, pester us. We know you're watching and we like it that way. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates, and please keep us in your prayers. We're doing this for you.
Sincerely,
Erika B.
CEO Chapter One
http://www.chapteronebookit.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ChapterOneBookIt
Our first issue of Book-it! magazine is coming out soon, but how soon is dependent on when we fill our advertising space. On that note, we're looking for sales people! If you're looking for a little extra money, shoot Sean an email at chapteronebookit@outlook.com
As for the rest of the store? We're planning a series of fundraising events and competitions. These include (but are not limited to):
a Dance Off (October 19th - location to be announced)
Battles of the Bands (dates and locations to be announced)
Film Competitions (middle of January)
(art) Character/Creature Competitions (every other month starting in October)
and Writing Competitions (every other month starting in November)
Keep an eye out for these and many more on our Facebook site.
"Why fundraisers?" You may ask. We could go the usual route and go get a couple small loans and a million government grants, it's logical, responsible, and makes sense. Right? Well, here at Chapter One, we believe in being self-made. If we owe anyone, we want to owe you. Yeah, we're probably crazy for not wanting to take out some massive business loans or seeking out investors, so I'm going to make a confession... we are crazy. If you don't like doing business with crazy people, now's the time to bail! But if you believe in what we've got going on, we want you on our team.
On our website is a list of positions we're looking to fill. We're looking for volunteers that want to see this succeed. I know, another crazy thing, right? Looking for volunteers instead of hiring people. But let me put it this way. The more people we have on our team the faster we make money. The faster we make money, the sooner our volunteers get paid. To put it in perspective, we're not planning on letting this thing fall through the cracks. Come hell and high water, we're getting this baby off the ground and flying. So, if you're on our team, if you make this thing a success, you'll have a career with us, long term, and with more than a few opportunities to move up. If you're with us as a volunteer, you're with us for the long haul and we intend to take care of you.
For our awesome followers and supporters, right now, we owe you a magazine, a store, and some awesome content. Hold us to it. Send us emails demanding updates, pester us. We know you're watching and we like it that way. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates, and please keep us in your prayers. We're doing this for you.
Sincerely,
Erika B.
CEO Chapter One
http://www.chapteronebookit.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ChapterOneBookIt
Monday, August 26, 2013
Where Themes Come from
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| Image Courtesy: Google |
Thursday, July 18, 2013
23 Tips from Famous Authors for New and Emerging Writers
I.
“I have advice for people who want to write. I don’t care whether they’re 5 or 500. There are three things that are important: First, if you want to write, you need to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you. Where you just put down what you think about life, what you think about things, what you think is fair and what you think is unfair. And second, you need to read. You can’t be a writer if you’re not a reader. It’s the great writers who teach us how to write. The third thing is to write. Just write a little bit every day. Even if it’s for only half an hour — write, write, write.” ― Madeleine L’Engle
II.
“Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him.” ― William Faulkner
III.
“Read Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande. Then do what it says, including the tasks you think are impossible. You will particularly hate the advice to write first thing in the morning, but if you can manage it, it might well be the best thing you ever do for yourself. This book is about becoming a writer from the inside out. Many later advice manuals derive from it. You don’t really need any others, though if you want to boost your confidence, “how to” books seldom do any harm. You can kick-start a whole book with some little writing exercise.” ― Hilary Mantel
IV.
“Start telling the stories that only you can tell, because there’ll always be better writers than you and there’ll always be smarter writers than you. There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing that – but you are the only you.” ― Neil Gaiman
V.
“Becoming a writer is about becoming conscious. When you’re conscious and writing from a place of insight and simplicity and real caring about the truth, you have the ability to throw the lights on for your reader. He or she will recognize his or her life and truth in what you say, in the pictures you have painted, and this decreases the terrible sense of isolation that we have all had too much of.” ― Anne Lamott
“I have advice for people who want to write. I don’t care whether they’re 5 or 500. There are three things that are important: First, if you want to write, you need to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you. Where you just put down what you think about life, what you think about things, what you think is fair and what you think is unfair. And second, you need to read. You can’t be a writer if you’re not a reader. It’s the great writers who teach us how to write. The third thing is to write. Just write a little bit every day. Even if it’s for only half an hour — write, write, write.” ― Madeleine L’Engle
II.
“Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him.” ― William Faulkner
III.
“Read Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande. Then do what it says, including the tasks you think are impossible. You will particularly hate the advice to write first thing in the morning, but if you can manage it, it might well be the best thing you ever do for yourself. This book is about becoming a writer from the inside out. Many later advice manuals derive from it. You don’t really need any others, though if you want to boost your confidence, “how to” books seldom do any harm. You can kick-start a whole book with some little writing exercise.” ― Hilary Mantel
IV.
“Start telling the stories that only you can tell, because there’ll always be better writers than you and there’ll always be smarter writers than you. There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing that – but you are the only you.” ― Neil Gaiman
V.
“Becoming a writer is about becoming conscious. When you’re conscious and writing from a place of insight and simplicity and real caring about the truth, you have the ability to throw the lights on for your reader. He or she will recognize his or her life and truth in what you say, in the pictures you have painted, and this decreases the terrible sense of isolation that we have all had too much of.” ― Anne Lamott
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
A review of Conversations with a Dead Man by Doug Lucas
Doug Lucas is a retired marine who has worked as both a combat photographer and forensic photographer. He is part of Pipe Dreams Publishing - and if you're thinking of submitting work to his publishing house - visit his website first - cos he's got something to say to you: http://tinyurl.com/co9h8r6 In fact, just visit is website anyway - it's really funny!
Conversations with a Dead Man
A young man idles away his time in a rural church yard and finds himself deep in conversation with John Wesley Elder. Nothing unusual in that you might think, but John Wesley Elder is dead. The young man soon finds out that being dead doesn't mean you have nothing to say, or that what you did in life should be forgotten, and the story of John Wesley Elder's life unfolds. The Elder family escape from the feudal hardships of life in eighteenth century Ireland and come to the New World. Here they build a new life and John learns the importance of hard work and self-sufficiency. His life is full of hard knocks but he is nobodies fool and he tell his tale with wry humor. He describes the hard work and community spirit involved in building the Elk River settlement, the growing unhappiness with the Crown and taxation and the hardships and struggle of the American War of Independence. And threaded throughout the story is the tale of his relationship with the Native American Ester, the love of his life.Friday, June 7, 2013
Interview with Jane McBride
Welcome to the Wonderful Jane McBride!
Hi Jane, tell us a little bit about you.
Well, I live with my husband Don, my two little boys and my Mom in Taylorsville, Utah. I’m from a small town called Medina in Western New York. I went back there to live a couple of years ago and the area turned out to be the perfect inspiration for A Little Hair of the Dog.Is writing your full time career?
I suppose you could say it’s my career. It’s the only thing I do that pays me anything! But really I’m at home full time with my two sons. Both are on the autism spectrum and are definitely full time jobs.Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Awakening the return of wisdom by the Awakening Poets: A review
The awakening poets, aka Sheena Zenz, Nicole North and Darren Garmer, describe themselves as "an artists collective dedicated to sharing metamorphosical language codes with a growing, awakening audience"
When we were first asked to review awakening the return of wisdom, I admit I was a little unsure as to what I was going to discover, however as soon as I started reading I realised that the collection does indeed have an otherworldly feel about it, and to me it seems as if it has been streamed from a higher spiritual plane.
This stunning collection of over seventy poems is both enchanting and lyrical, and stimulates the senses in such a way as to leave the reader full, yet craving more. I can honestly say that I have never had the pleasure of reading a collection of poetry of this calibre, and constantly felt as if the poets were guiding me on my very own magical mystery tour into the unknown. The language used is at times unusual, however it is completely accessible and I never felt out of my depth, or left behind. The artwork in the collection is also exceptional, and whilst I have purchased the collection on kindle I think it would be better appreciated in book format as the collection totally lends itself to being read by candle light. I also think that if at all possible the poets should consider having this made into an audio book as it would be a wonderful collection to meditate to.
My only real concern initially with this was the price; the kindle version in particular seemed very steep, however now that I have read it I don't begrudge a single penny. If you only ever purchase one collection of poetry in your life, then make sure it is this one!
Awakening the Return of Wisdom is available on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Awakening-Return-Wisdom-Sheena-Zenz/dp/1482373408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367263257&sr=8-1&keywords=awakening+the+return+of+wisdom
Find out more about the Awakening Poets:
Ingrid Hall is the author of Granny Irene's Guide to the Afterlife - Revenge. She also offers free interviews, book reviews and spotlights to indie authors. Find out more at http://www.ingridhall.com
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Interview with Dennis Higgins
This is the first installment of our interview series, headed up by author Ingrid Hall. Support up and coming writers by checking out her page as well the interviewee's information at the end of the article!
WELCOME TO THE HOT SEAT DENNIS Hey Dennis, it's great finally getting the chance to talk to you today, let's grab the bull by the horns and kick things off by telling us a little bit about yourself..
Hi Ingrid, well I am a person that has always had a love of things from the past, you know things that are gone but not forgotten. This is why I live vicariously through my writing. My characters can go where I can't. I have written three books so far: My Indie book Parallel Roads (Lost on Route 66) My traditionally published book: Katya and Cyrus Time Pilgrims, and my upcoming release Almost Yesterday.
I am fond of all things time travel too - My character Irene goes off on several jaunts of her own... So, tell me is writing your full time career?
I wish it were. I have a day job as well but must admit I do a lot of technical writing for them as well.
So our own writing is kind of a busman's holiday then... What is the worst job that you have ever done, and why?
Hot, sweaty manual labor in a factory with a tin roof and no air conditioning. This was when I was a young man.
Well, I guess everyone has to start somewhere!!!! If you could have written any other book by any other author what would it have been and why?
Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson. It was originally called Time, Bid ye, but when the movie was made they changed the name. It is the perfect blend of romance and time travel. A love that is so powerful that it transcends time itself is the stuff that dreams are made of.
How do you think your parents would describe your book, and does this differ from how you would describe it?
My mom is an avid reader and my worst critic. She read it but I never actually heard her describe it.
What genre is your work, and do you have any plans to work outside of it?
My genre is YA, Romance, Fantasy. Is that an actual genre? I keep going back to a book I started years ago which is more of a ghost/paranormal story. I may finish it one day.
What inspired you to write your first book?
I have always wanted to write. I had all of these ideas in my head but never thought I could actually be an author. When I met my wife online, we started writing a never ending story of one of my time travel ideas. The story was full of love, and would only be enjoyed by us, so years later she encouraged me to start writing my first book, which was a time travel adventure based along the famous American road Route 66. This is my indie book called Parallel Roads (Lost on Route 66) This one is loved by people, even if they don't like traditional time travel. It's more of a murder mystery. I get great reviews on it.
I have downloaded a copy on kindle, and I am looking forward to reading and reviewing it for you!!! Do you ever get ideas at random moments, and if so how do you hang onto them?
Good question Ingrid, I do get random ideas and if they are good enough I retain them. If I am watching t.v and get an idea, I write it down in a notebook.
Okay, do you have a structure when writing and if so, what?
I don't really have a structure that I am conscious of. I do use an excel spreadsheet to keep track of my characters. The structure just seems to fall into place as I write.
An excel spreadsheet? That sounds very organised to me!!! Okay, which was your favourite character to write and why?
Ha! I love your British spelling, but my spell check has underlined the word favourite with the extra u. My favored is Katya from Katya and Cyrus Time Pilgrims. She is a unique character because she is lost in time and has temporal amnesia. She remembers her past, but not when she actually lived. She had jumped around living in many timelines until she sort of ended up in Cyrus's. As a result of this she speaks strangely because of the different periods she has experienced. But in many ways she is just an ordinary girl with extraordinary powers. She's plain but pretty. Dyes her hair. She likes to have fun and shows Cyrus who is all business that they have fun just time travelling because they are together.
She sounds amazing, and I just love the way you Americans have taken our wonderful language and mashed it up lol... Do you read for pleasure or out of habit?
I read for pleasure and knowledge. It's funny, I am so influential that I try not to read while I am writing an actual book. I afraid that it might change my own voice. My fans like my simple writing style.
What are you reading at the moment and why?
I am reading the Awaking (The Judas Curse) by Angella Graff. The premise intrigued me because it is about immortals and ancient Gods. I liked the Percy Jackson, Lightning Thief series. This is a subject not written about much. There can be reasons for immortality other than vampires.
I LOVE the ancient Gods, you should check out my novel, it's all about the Norse Gods.
Meat eater or vegetarian?
Carnivore. I love my steak.
No-one's perfect I suppose!! Sex or cuddles?
First one, then the other, then back to the first one, then sleep.
WOW!! Moving on swiftly,what is our favourite movie and why?
I know it's a cliche, but I love Titanic. The history mixed with the fictitious story is how I write also. In fact I talk about going to Southampton and finding the exact site where the great ship launched in my blog http://www.timepilgrims.com/blog.html
The theme music from Titanic always brings a tear to my eye, because we played it at my dad's funeral, which brings me onto my next question.. Do you have an opinion on life after death and if so what?
My opinion is mostly from a traditional Christian perspective. I do believe souls can come back and be around us at times though. Call them ghosts or purgatorial spirits or whatever, but I do think they are there sometimes. I don't believe in reincarnation as such, but I do feel that people can channel past lives and feel them.
I am heavily into life after death/reincarnation. It's such a fascinating subject and I could talk the hind leg off a donkey about it, but seeing as we don't have all year, I will move swiftly on!! When you eat out would you choose Chinese, Indian, Italian, or other, and if so what?
I love it all. I am a foodie. I actually learned to love Indian in England. I love Chinese but I think ours is Americanized because I pretty much hated the food in China when I was there. We ate pigeon and ducks feet.
My son has tried pigeon, personally though the thought of it makes me feel sick. London, Paris, New York, and why?
I have been to France but never Paris. London was awesome but hard to drive in. New York is most like my hometown of Chicago. I pick Chicago.
You have been to France but not Paris, Nooooo!!! What do you have in the pipeline?
Oil? Water? This must be a British term but I can extract what you mean. What is coming on my agenda, in my future, down my pike. Well, my third book is being published by my publisher, Whiskey Creek Press, this July. It's called Almost Yesterday and I am very excited about it. In it my young time pilgrims have adventures in San Francisco during the gold rush, the summer of love, and the great earthquake. I also take them to England to investigate the Titanic and they end up in the London Blitz. Mixed with tragedy there is always fun and romance. My books never get too heavy, but they are also NOT children's books. I also introduce a loveable time travelling dog.
You make me laugh so much!!!! In fact my sides are aching, you are so funny lol!! Yes, pipeline is one of our curious little idioms, and I love your thought process; gold rush..titanic..and the blitz, yes I can see how you would have arrived at all of that! Your brain obviously works at the same frenetic speed as mine.
What is your earliest childhood memory?
One of fear. All I could remember was a cone shaped, black device coming towards me when I was laying on a table. My mother told me it was an x ray taken of my ears because of an infection. I was only one year old.
You can remember being one? NO WAY!!! Where would you like to be in 5 years time?
A household name with movies being made of my books.. with time pilgrims being the latest craze.
All Hail Dennis Higgins!!! If you only had 60 seconds remaining on this planet what would you say, and who would you say it to?
I would thank my wife for being the best mate ever. I would tell her that I love her, and then go and pet the dogs.
What advice would you give your 18 year old self?
Stop eating pizza every Friday. Quit smoking ( I did when I was 27) and exercise more. Thank you for interviewing me Ingrid, I enjoyed it.
Dennis you are a SUPER STAR. I have enjoyed our little chat, and my sides are still aching from where you have made me laugh so much.
Find out more about Dennis Higgins at his website and blog http://www.timepilgrims.com/
Ingrid Hall is the author of Granny Irene's Guide to the Afterlife - Revenge. She is offering free interviews and book reviews to indie authors. Find out more at http://www.ingridhall.com
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Book-it: A Bi-Weekly Magazine
If you know anything about books, you probably know that they have something to do with publishing. For decades, authors got their big break with magazines. I could probably list the number of authors that first published their books as a series of episodes in magazines, but then this article would be so long that you might just lose interest in this paragraph and then we'd never get to the good news.
On this note, Bates Books has an announcement to make: in addition to the Book-it! blog, we are starting up a bi-weekly magazine.
For those of you that don't know, Sean and Erika Bates have a crazily fantastic dream of starting a book store that harbors all sorts of creativity. Their motto, "Where creativity has a home", is a testament to that. They want to make it just a little bit more. Well, no, that's an understatement, they want to make it a whole lot more. This is the first step in the overall effort of Bates Books: move forward into a publishing company. Their exact words are, "Well, it's gotta start somewhere."
What they are looking for and how you will be compensated if selected is:
4 Featured Novels (to be published one chapter at a time) - $15 per chapter
6 Short Stories (varied genres) - $50 per story
3 Comic Artists (willing to do a few pages or strips a month) - $50 per publication
4 Tech Journalists - $50 per article
And, of course, Advertisers
As for the fees? $10 per application of short stories, novels, and comics. Meaning if you submit one short story or comic strip/page: $10. If you submit 5 short stories or comic strips/pages: $10. However, if you are submitting a novel, please keep it to one novel per submission. If you are interested in more information or putting in an application, please contact Erika personally at corsetsandcodices@outlook.com
She will get back to you when we announce whose pieces got accepted.
Tech Journalists
Please send your applications to Sean at jordansean18@gmail.com
He will be reviewing them and will get back to you within the month.
Bloggers
We will be voting for and featuring the 3 top blog posts off our Book- it! blog. The top bloggers will be awarded $50 for each of their blog posts that make it into the magazine. Which, of course, means are looking for more bloggers! Blogging for Book-it! is an unpaid internship for the first 5 months after which salary is negotiated. Please send applications to the head of our blog department, Jamey Meteer jamey.meteer@gmail.com
She will be getting back to you within the month.
Advertisements
If you are a small business in Utah or Idaho looking to expand your client base, show off some of your wares, or are get the news of a sale out there, please contact Sean for more information about advertising with Book-it! jordansean18@gmail.com
On this note, Bates Books has an announcement to make: in addition to the Book-it! blog, we are starting up a bi-weekly magazine.
For those of you that don't know, Sean and Erika Bates have a crazily fantastic dream of starting a book store that harbors all sorts of creativity. Their motto, "Where creativity has a home", is a testament to that. They want to make it just a little bit more. Well, no, that's an understatement, they want to make it a whole lot more. This is the first step in the overall effort of Bates Books: move forward into a publishing company. Their exact words are, "Well, it's gotta start somewhere."
What they are looking for and how you will be compensated if selected is:
4 Featured Novels (to be published one chapter at a time) - $15 per chapter
6 Short Stories (varied genres) - $50 per story
3 Comic Artists (willing to do a few pages or strips a month) - $50 per publication
4 Tech Journalists - $50 per article
And, of course, Advertisers
As for the fees? $10 per application of short stories, novels, and comics. Meaning if you submit one short story or comic strip/page: $10. If you submit 5 short stories or comic strips/pages: $10. However, if you are submitting a novel, please keep it to one novel per submission. If you are interested in more information or putting in an application, please contact Erika personally at corsetsandcodices@outlook.com
She will get back to you when we announce whose pieces got accepted.
Tech Journalists
Please send your applications to Sean at jordansean18@gmail.com
He will be reviewing them and will get back to you within the month.
Bloggers
We will be voting for and featuring the 3 top blog posts off our Book- it! blog. The top bloggers will be awarded $50 for each of their blog posts that make it into the magazine. Which, of course, means are looking for more bloggers! Blogging for Book-it! is an unpaid internship for the first 5 months after which salary is negotiated. Please send applications to the head of our blog department, Jamey Meteer jamey.meteer@gmail.com
She will be getting back to you within the month.
Advertisements
If you are a small business in Utah or Idaho looking to expand your client base, show off some of your wares, or are get the news of a sale out there, please contact Sean for more information about advertising with Book-it! jordansean18@gmail.com
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Hand in Hand: Writing Advice
“Hand in Hand,” a photography series by Wofford College invited various authors of speculative fiction to jot down short but important bits of writing advice on their own hands, photograph it, and send it in.
Here is a selection...
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| Jody Lynn |
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| Neil Gaiman |
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| Joe Haldeman |
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| N.K. Jemisin |
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