Category Archives: novels

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Do You Hold The Copyright to Your Works?

propic11_1This post by L.Leander, Author of Fearless Fiction

What do you know about copyright?  Do you copyright your books?  Are you afraid someone may take credit for something you’ve done?

As a singer/songwriter I learned years ago to protect my work.  Although it seems a bit daunting for the beginner, it’s really a very easy process to copyright your work and it’s very affordable.  I hold the copyright to over a thousand songs (all held under collection copyright).  That means I was able to send twenty songs collectively under one umbrella, receive a copyright, and pull one or two songs out and do them individually later if I needed to.  Easy and cheap.

When I finished my first book I found the process equally as painless.  With a book I copyright don’t need to send music files.  And, the Office of Copyright has made it even easier now by allowing an electronic submission of your book and payment.  At this time the fee is $35 for a work of fiction.  Little enough to protect your work, right?

You’ll hear many things about why to copyright or not to copyright.  Yes, I know the old adage that you should send the document to yourself and leave it unopened, thus proving that you were the creator.  And I do know that your work is protected from the moment of creation.  A document of copyright is just added proof that you and you alone hold all rights to your work.

I choose to copyright my work.  I’ve spent the better part of my years creating songs, poems and books.  Although they are a labor of love, I would hate to see others reap the benefits of my long hours of hard work and sleepless nights.  Those benefits are mine and will pass to my family upon my demise.  A copyright gives the writer peace of mind.  (Of course, I’m talking a best seller here – but who knows?  It could be my book just as well as someone else’s!).court

To gain further information on copyrights and how to apply, visit this link http://www.copyright.gov/.  I assure you, there are step-by-step instructions on the site.  All you need to have is a valid debit/credit card, a finished manuscript and a little time to fill out the form.  Once the application is complete you are covered, and you’ll get a case number.  The official document takes a couple of months to arrive, so don’t worry.  When it does, keep it in a safe place with other important papers.

I’ve never needed to use my proof of copyright, but if ever happens I’ll have it.  Shouldn’t you be ready too?gavel

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject.  As you can see, I’m very passionate about protecting all of my work.  You may be protected if you don’t apply, but it’s good to know that you have an official document from the Office of Copyright that lists you as the sole owner with full rights to your book.

***NOTE*** You don’t have to wait until your manuscript is fully polished and edited before you send it.  It’s the idea and the bulk of the work that will be protected.  And remember, a title can never be copyrighted, just the content.

Books by L.Leander:

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The Writer and Social Media

Alethea Williamsby Alethea Williams

The release of an author’s new book means it’s promotion time. Since most new authors can’t afford much paid advertising, we are always looking for free ways to bring our work to the public’s attention. In these days of proliferating social media, there are some outlets that are crucial. Before the book is released a writer should have a Twitter account and start following and gathering followers. I started by using the search box and looking for writers, tweeting general writing items, and slowly gained a following.

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...

A writer should have a Facebook account, another place to gather friends and join groups where one can promote. In addition to a writer’s personal account, an author page and/or book page is mandatory. I’ve found Facebook useful for connecting with other writers, keeping up with what others are publishing and how they are promoting, and even as a place to learn how to use Web-based tools that I wouldn’t have discovered on my own.

WordPress Logo

A writer these days must have a blog. A writer must have a Web presence, a place to expound and expand, a place to showplace publications and link to one’s Facebook page as well as to places to buy the book.

G is for Good Reads

Amazon, Shelfari, and Amazon’s newest acquisition, Goodreads, are all places the writer can build an author page, list published works, describe characters and settings, and link to Twitter, as well as one’s blog and one’s Facebook page.

English: Google+ wordmark

There’s Google+, which kind of resembles Facebook as a place to connect and see what other writers are doing. I’ve been unable to fine tune the settings on Google+, though, and a very few writers have hijacked my notifications to tell me every single thing they’ve seen, read, or thought about during the day, all day, every day. Google+ overwhelms me with useless information although I do like the new design of showing three columns at a time and the fact that a writer can now post a separate page for each work.

English: Red Pinterest logo

English: Red Pinterest logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There’s Pinterest, to show in pictures what one is interested in, to pin pictures from one’s blog or the Web, or to tell a story in pictures which is mainly how I use it.

Image representing LibraryThing as depicted in...

Image via CrunchBase

The newest writer/book sites that I’ve joined are LibraryThing and AUTHORSdB. Since I’m already friends with hundreds of people on Goodreads and haven’t found a way to import my books to LibraryThing, that new site holds scant information. I haven’t had much time to explore AUTHORSdB beyond uploading my book’s cover and some personal information.

Yahoo! Groups used to be big, but I think more and more writers are migrating to Facebook to disseminate their news.

LinkedIn, again, connects a writer with a lot of people. But I don’t know that a listing there sells any books.

It is getting harder and harder, with all the writers, the books, and the book-related Web activity,  to attract the attention of readers. The ways that I have been trying lately, outside of promoted posts on Facebook which I think is way too expensive for the scanty returns, are guest posting on the blogs of other writers, and blog hops.

Guesting on another writer’s blog is usually a book spotlight consisting of blurb, excerpt, cover and links, or else an author interview or character interview. The hope here is that a writer gets wider exposure by being introduced to another writer’s audience.

I have just begun participating in blog hops, where writers of the same genre get together in big groups of 50-100 to host giveaways and link to each other’s blogs. It is getting extremely difficult to build up an audience and attract comments to one’s own blog, even to give something away. Blog hops offer the chance to contribute to a big grand prize, so I’m hoping for a better response but I’m not holding my breath!

As readers become more jaded and more surfeited with free books and swag giveaways, there will inevitably be more sites that authors are expected to join to advertise and promote. The only question then is when and what to let go of in the time crunch: sacrifice more writing time or just ignore some of the social media sites.

**This will be my last post for Writing Wranglers and Warriors. In addition to Willow Vale, I have a new contemporary romance out plus another newly accepted, and have signed a contract for a second historical. It’s been fun contributing to this blog, but writing under two names means I have two blogs of my own. Thanks for reading! It’s been fun.**

The author of historical novel Willow Vale, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Jargon Media, Alethea Williams blogs on ActuallyAlethea about writing, writers, and Wyoming history.  Follow on Twitter @actuallyalethea, or like Alethea Williams, author on Facebook.  Friend her on Facebook, Goodreads, LibraryThing and Google+.  Connect with her on LinkedIn and AUTHORSdB. Comments and honest feedback always welcome!

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A Rose by Any Other Name

Alethea

by Alethea Williams

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet…

Most writers will recognize Shakespeare’s lines from Romeo and Juliet, where Juliet is lamenting the fact that it is only Romeo’s surname of Montague which bars them from being together. Preceding these most famous lines about a rose, Juliet Capulet proclaims:

 O, be some other name!

When choosing the name under which to publish my historical novels, I can’t say I had Shakespeare in mind.  I’m not sure I would have had the courage to publish under my given name. I did feel like an actress, another, braver version of me with a version of my name could present my work to the viewing public. But there were more reasons than one that I  chose to publish under a pseudonym. I didn’t want to use my first name as when it was combined with my surname the result seemed generic. Not quite as bad as Jane Doe, but close enough. And there were already at least five people on Amazon with published works under that name. So I thought I would use my middle name. There wasn’t anyone on Amazon publishing under “Alethea Williams,”so I was fairly sure it would be unique. I had never met anyone else named Alethea; it had to be uncommon, right?

Alas, I should have done a bit more homework. There might not be anyone else publishing under my chosen name, but on Facebook my sisters-in-nomenclature and I form a virtual throng: Wrong Alethea Williams? Why, here are at least eight more! Do a search of the name and eleven additional Alethea Williamses pop up.

Photo credit: ♥KatB Photography♥ / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

DON’T HIDE YOUR IDENTITY               Photo credit: ♥KatB Photography♥ / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

To make matters worse, I came to discover that using any other name than the one people knew me by for my whole life garnered some rather testy results. I wasn’t deliberately trying to fool them, but that must have been how it appeared. My naive use of a nom de plume in my home town turned out to be something less than a crowd pleaser.

When I asked my editor what worked best to sell books, she said, “Word of mouth.” There is a trick to that, however, and the trick is to try and see that people are saying good things about you. I’ve read advice on other blogs that discourages writers from using any name other than their own.  Apparently, some people will not accept that Rose smells just as sweet when she is called Alethea. I think my experience with a pen name showed me that the people who personally know a writer  feel a sense of ownership in that person and, as a consequence, in that person’s writing.  Your old friends know you, they probably know more than a bit about your subject matter, and they can be one of your advertising advantages, just because they remember you from way back when.

So now, a year later, I’ve had a second novel accepted for publication. This one is contemporary instead of the previous historical. It’s sensual versus the sweet content of my historicals. I should have an easier time attracting readers to this new work, since I’ve already done the hard work selling Alethea the Writer, right?

Photo credit: ViaMoi / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

MASKED Photo credit: ViaMoi / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Well, no, as it turns out. I’ve learned a different lesson. Many of those who read and told me they loved my first book are not those I think of as the audience who will read the second book without some kind of resistance. I don’t want to sell anyone a book under the false pretense of expecting what they got from the first book. To avoid anyone feeling cheated because they’re not getting what they now expect from the writer of historicals, Alethea, I made up a whole new pen name under which to publish my contemporary romances. And so I must start over building an audience for this persona, the Writer of Sensual Romance.

And I hope this third version of me is the end of branching out as a writer, and that I don’t take it into my head to start writing fantasy and science fiction, or horror, or YA.  The last thing I need is yet another writer in my house. My desk already feels crowded with the three of us sitting here elbowing each other for our turn at the keyboard.

Writers aren’t exactly people…they’re a whole lot of people trying to be one person.
–F. Scott Fitzgerald
US writer (1896-1940)

For another, more courageous take on how to handle publishing in more than one genre, see Nancy Jardine on Writing Wranglers and Warriors blog. http://writingwranglersandwarriors.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/anonymity-is-it-worth-it/

The author of historical novel Willow Vale, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Jargon Media, Alethea Williams blogs on Actually Alethea about writing, writers, and Wyoming history.  Follow on Twitter @actuallyalethea, or like Alethea Williams, author on Facebook.  Friend her on Facebook, Goodreads, LibraryThing and Google+.  Comments and honest feedback always welcome!

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Printing Progress

This post is by Erin Thorne. September 19, 2012 (768x1024)

Many people keep journals for various reasons. They use this medium to inscribe personal thoughts, vent difficult-to-handle emotions, and as a record of special life events. However, a journal is also an ideal place in which to track one’s writing progress.

I recently began to do this as an integrated part of my work. A writers’ group to which I belong has a feature that, once a week, lets us share with other members what we’ve accomplished in the past seven days. At first, my writing journal was strictly utilitarian. There was simply no way I could have remembered what I’d done if I didn’t write it down. By degrees, it became a motivational tool.journal

Some weeks are busier than others. During those that are packed with activities and obligations, I sometimes feel as though I’m not getting any writing done. This, in turn, leads me to feel badly about my lack of effort. To break out of this spiral, I take a peek inside the journal section of my day planner, which is where I enter my daily progress. Often, I’ve found more entries than I expected, and this has given my confidence a boost. On the other hand, I’ve occasionally been stared down by blank pages that I’d meant to fill. This has provided the impetus to do more, and to intentionally make time to write.

Overall, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the results. I have finished projects ahead of schedule, and kept a more positive mindset about the whole writing process. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, I feel encouraged. I don’t dread sharing my week’s work with others, because I know I’ve done my best in spite of all the demands upon my time. I’d recommend this technique to others without hesitation; no matter what line of work you’re in, nothing lifts your sprits like seeing how far you’ve come. It inspires confidence, and gives you hope about how far you’ll go.optimism

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Life is Like a Chimney

105182105411101CDPThis post by Neva Bodin

I have told many life is like a chimney—built brick by brick, or experience by experience. I looked up quotations using the word brick and found many times bricks are compared to life situations.

William J. H. Boetcher (I have no idea who that might be) is quoted as saying, “Better to be a strong man with a weak point, than to be a weak man without a strong point. A diamond with a flaw is more valuable than a brick without a flaw.” I don’t agree with the last part of his statement.

When I worked with people who had early emotionally damaging experiences in life, such as abuse or abandonment, either emotionally or physically, I found the earlier the trauma, the harder to repair. Life changes seemingly unimportant to one, can shape future reactions to certain circumstances in others.

My folks had no idea my moving into a two story home at age two where everyone had their own bedroom would make me forever afraid of the dark, including the big dark basement in this house. We had moved from a two room house with five people in it. I was very secure in my crib in a small bedroom that housed adults, teens and a pot-bellied stove.  I cried to go “home” that first night in “Pete’s house.” Pete was our carpenter.

If the first bricks laid at the bottom of the chimney are strong, they will hold up when things that try to beat us down come at us. If the weaker bricks—anything disastrous to our well-being—are put in layers later in the building, they will be more easily dealt with, worked on, and repaired. It’s hard to repair a brick at the bottom of a chimney without shaking the whole structure.

chimneyoneCandace Bergen, sounding bitter, is quoted as saying “Men say they love independence in a woman, but don’t waste a second demolishing it brick by brick.” While not espousing this theory in general, I do recognize her comparison of being made out of bricks as similar to mine.

“If a person offends you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick.”  So says Mark Twain. Would that be like fighting fire with fire?

Mr. Twain also said, “Let us guess that whenever we read a sentence and like it, we unconsciously store it away in our model-chamber; and it goes, with the myriad of its fellows, to the building, brick by brick, of the eventual edifice which we call our style”

Which brings me to my thoughts as a writer—I need to build my character brick by brick, knowing the weak ones and where they lay, and how they will color that person’s choices, reactions, and personality quirks. Can they be changed, or will they have to be accepted by the closest relational person? Will someone or something act as mortar to hold the weak bricks together?

“They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time.” Dorothy Day ( I don’t know who she is either, but I like her comment.)

Amrish Puri (another unknown in my book) says “I am like a brick.” I think he must be like a whole pile of bricks! Let’s hope they are all well made.

Follow me on Twitter:@NevaBodin1, Facebook: facebook.com/neva.bodin

 

chimneytwo

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Spring, Daffodils and Planting Seeds

Kathy - face

Blog by Kate Wyland

Spring has definitely sprung here in Northern California. The tImagerees are blossoming, the days are getting longer and the weather is warming. Even though we have relatively mild Mediterranean winters, one of the most potent signs of Spring for us is when the daffodils start blooming. We see them everywhere—in yards, along streets and highways, and in one very special place.

Daffodil Hill is a family-owned ranch in the gold country of the Sierras that is carpeted with hundreds of thousands of daffodils from mid-March to mid-April. Carrying on a tradition started by their great-grandparents, every year the McLaughlin family plants between 5-6,000 bulbs. They estimate that over 400,000 daffodils of 300 different varieties bloom there each Spring. And during those months, they open the ranch to the public for free so that everyone can enjoy the spectacular sight. Now a popular tourist attraction, the ranch is a labor of love and a wonderful gift to the community. To read more about Daffodil Hill you can go to the following link.  Be sure to click on the Next Page icon to get the full story. http://amadorgold.net/tours/daffodilhill/

ImageEven with a large family of kids, grandkids and great-grandkids, the idea of planting thousands of bulbs each year is mind-boggling to me. You can’t just spread them around like grass seed. Each one has to put into the ground with the roots down and crown up, as well as set at the correct depth. I’m sure the McLaughlin’s have developed an efficient method over the years, but still the task seems unbelievably daunting.

If I stop and look at it for moment, I can see that planting the bulbs can serve as a metaphor for much that goes on in our lives. We plant in the fallow times (winter) and then wait impatiently for the results of our endeavors (daffodils). We do this all our lives. But to be successful, we must plant with care, not throw our seeds into the wind. We go to college and carefully choose our major, in hopes of getting a good job. The results aren’t apparent until four or more years later. We spend untold time learning a craft or skill, then hesitantly show it to the world and hope it is rewarded.

We writers get up early, limit our time with the family, and hide away in our dark, fertile place to write and create tales that reveal our unique take on life. If we’re lucky, our blooImagems break through the soil and see the light of day. An agent or editor likes our story, a publisher agrees to take a chance on it, and  book stores display it. Or, as is happening more and more today, you decide to self-publish the book yourself and it appears on the online book sellers’ pages where you find an appreciative audience.

What bulbs have you planted and are waiting to bloom? A new skill that could be useful in a different job? A painting or sculpture that you haven’t shown to anyone yet? A story ready to be published?

Wyoming Escape
Two dead bodies. One dirty cop. Is she next?

Images – A Love Story
She’s learned to hide from life. Should she hide from him?

You can connect with Kate Wyland on Facebook, Twitter and her website.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKateWyland
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/katewyland
Website : http://katewyland.com

Women reading photo credit:
<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/ionushi/223930304/”>aurelio.asiain</a&gt; via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a&gt; <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>cc</a&gt;

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Are You Always In a Hurry? by L.Leander

propic11_1This Post by L.Leander, Author of Fearless Fiction

I am always in a hurry.  There’s no explanation for it.  It’s part of my make up.  Ever since I was a child I had responsibilities heaped on my head and I’ve learned to multitask.  As a working mom I often juggled a baby on one hip and while holding a toddler by the hand packed lunch for my husband, did dishes and straightened house, checked the freezer for dinner and got myself ready to leave for work and drop the kids off at the sitter – all before 6:00 am!
file1851245125101Now that I’m “old as dirt” or so my grandchildren like to remind me, I like to think maybe I’ve slowed down a little.  Of course, that’s all just the pretty picture my mind paints.  In reality I haven’t done a very good job of it.  My husband constantly puts a gentle hand on my shoulder and whispers “settle down” meaning I’m in danger of teetering off the edge.  He always recognizes it and it’s his calm demeanor that causes me to stop what I’m doing and breathe deep.

However, I had a little incident recently that brought this problem home to me in a big way.  I fell.  Oh, not your usual stumble and “pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again” kind of fall.  No, I took a headfirst tumble right into the pavement.  Here’s the rest of the story.

Hubby and I took the bus to order my new glasses.  Since we have no car we routinely use the bus system in Mexico and don’t budget much for cabs.  We got off the bus, found the lab and the fitting went without a hitch.  We decided to walk across the four-lane busy traffic intersection to reach a grocery store that was close.  There is a median and we crossed the first two lanes just fine.  I was a bit ahead of my husband and I honestly have no idea what happened and don’t remember much of it.  All I know is that I stumbled and fell headfirst onto the concrete.

Two kind Mexican women reached me first and it was apparent to them and to my husband that I needed medical treatment although my first inclination was to refuse.69885_10151522649224345_1965608701_n  Blood gushed from my head, my husband had to extricate my clip-on sunglasses from my forehead, and my eyeglasses were shattered.  We tried to stop the bleeding while one Mexican woman noticed an ambulance in traffic and flagged it down.  Two very nice attendants rushed to my side, loaded me up and sped me off to the Red Cross.

I do remember saying I didn’t want to go to the hospital because there is a new law here now that without insurance you must pay all fees up front (in cash) and my checkbook would not accommodate a huge bill.  I arrived at the Red Cross where two very nice nurses began to clean the wound and a doctor saw me immediately.  (No matter that the doctor looked to be about fifteen years old – I was sure I was hallucinating at that point).  The nurse cleaned and stitched me up; the doctor gave me instructions to go home and rest and told me to take Tylenol for pain.

Immediately I began to turn black and blue and I was so nauseated and dizzy I could hardly stand.  Every time I stood up blood gushed from my nose.  I finally went to sleep but at 4 in the morning we had to call my friend (who is a nurse and the Director of Hospice here in Mazatlan) and she came right over and took my vitals.  After another day of icing the area the swelling went down a bit but the headache and dizziness remained.  I spent a tough weekend resting and hurting (after the fall my knees and arms ached like mad from bracing myself).

roses1_1Yesterday was a special day.  Two of my girlfriends walked over to visit me and helped buoy my spirits up.  Another couple came over and brought me beautiful flowers.  A friend from church brought over two Levon Helm cds and I spent the afternoon enjoying the music.  I had phone calls, Facebook posts and emails – all from my wonderful friends.  Someone from church brought over dinner.  More friends called.  (Boy, am I Iucky to have so many friends!)

A friend took me to my primary doctor on Monday (the accident happened on Friday) and he was aghast at the stitches on my forehead.  He assured me they would leave a scar.  He was not happy that I hadn’t been put on an antibiotic and he did so right away and also added meds for the nausea and dizziness and something for pain.  He explained patiently that I had “shaken” my brain and it would need some time to heal; to go back home and rest totally until the symptoms subside.

I began to think about writing and how this incident correlates.  Are you in a hurry?  Do you allow readers to grasp the situation or do you rush them into the next scene?  Do you take time to slow things down so your reader gets the full impact of the drama?  I think we can all learn a good lesson here about enjoying our journey through life by slowing down and about building a good readership by giving the public enough information to keep them riveted to the story we have written.  Here are two good links on slowing down the pace of your writing.  The Writer’s Magazine  The Learning Spy

My new motto: Take Time to Smell the Roses.  I will be consciously taking slower steps and watching where I walk.  I also intend to dissect my book scenes to be sure I haven’t rushed over important points that leave the reader confused and wondering.  I also intend to remember to thank my friends every day.  Even a share on Facebook or Twitter or a note will make them feel good.

3756296405_c10207f5a8_oOh, and there are a couple of other resolutions I’ve made.  I picked up a set of walking sticks and intend to use them faithfully for support while walking in Mexico.  (I don’t want to wear a helmet, but I REALLY don’t want another concussion).  I will not be swayed by fashion but will ALWAYS wear my cross trainers when I’m walking (I was wearing a pair of sloppy sandals when I fell).

How about you?  Have any of you taken a fall like this?  Have you realized you left something important out of your writing?  What are your resolutions?

Books by L.Leander:

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Judging a Book by the Cover

Alethea

by Alethea Williams

I designed the cover of my first book with the help of my editor. I thought it was beautiful. It looked so classy to me. The tree picture was free from a stock photo site. The cover color I chose reminded me of antique, yellowed, handmade paper—perfect, I thought, for a book set in the 1920s. I wanted my grandma’s passport picture in an oval frame at the bottom, because her story was the inspiration for my fictional account of an immigrant’s journey to happiness in America.

51WyJNthFML__SS500_The comments I got on my perfect cover almost broke my heart. My father-in-law thought my grandmother had a mean look on her face in her passport photo. My son wasn’t looking forward to reading the book because he thought the cover indicated it would be a sad story. Everyone who reviewed the book assumed it was a true story because of my grandmother’s picture, even though I tried to be clear it was a work of fiction.

New Picture

Image credit: Jargon Media LLC

One of the editor’s suggestions was that I use a cover picture of an old house with lots of sunny blue sky. When I solicited comments from family, I was told the bright sky blue color indicated cheerfulness and hopefulness. I thought it looked spooky and abandoned, not the first impression I wanted potential buyers to have of the book, and so I discarded the blue.

I thought the book would have more electronic sales than paperback, completely misjudging my audience. I thought the audience for this book would read Westerns, and historicals, and maybe sweet romance. Sales were okay for a first book, but not great.

New Picture (1)

Image credit: Jargon Media LLC

If I had it to do over, maybe I would change several things:

  • Find a picture of a ranch.
  • Make my grandmother’s picture less prominent, or perhaps bite the bullet and leave it off the cover.
  • I think I misjudged my audience. Maybe I would try to sell the book as mainstream literary fiction, lower the price of the paperback, and really push paper sales. I don’t think the people who really liked the book read Westerns, or sweet romance, or even historical. I don’t think they own an e-reader. I don’t know how many times I heard, “My mom (or grandma) really loved this book.” If the reader was familiar with coal mining towns, so much the better. My aunt warned me she doesn’t read fiction, and she read it twice.
  • Maybe I would listen a little more closely to the editor, whose opinion I had paid for and who certainly had more experience in publishing than I did.
  • In thumbnail, which is how the cover is seen on most sales sites, my name is so tiny it almost can’t be read. I would make it bigger.

Perhaps part of getting published is realizing how much of our cherished illusions we’re willing to give up in order to see our name on the cover of a book. All in all, publishing my first novel was a good experience. I learned a lot. I sold the industry average number of books for a self-publisher. But, in the end, maybe I wouldn’t change anything. I still secretly like my cover best…although if I could sneak back in time and change the size of my name, I would make it bigger.

The author of historical novel Willow Vale, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Jargon Media, Alethea Williams blogs on Actually Alethea about writing, writers, and Wyoming history.  Follow on Twitter @actuallyalethea, or visit Alethea Williams, author on Facebook.  Comments and honest feedback always welcome!

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Be Brave and Courageous

 This Blog  by Cher’ley Grogg

Be Brave and Courageous this was the thought that came to me as I was cleaning my cherished items in my curio cabinet. From Droid 2-10-2013 366

Some of my favorite verses in the Bible are about being brave and courageous or strong and courageous. My favorite is: Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

                                                                                                                                                    I’m not a physically strong person, especially compared to the body   builder Lisa Aukland.

I am strong in other ways. I am strong emotionally and I have been brave through the years, especially when it came to rearing youngin’s . My children were raised to be brave and courageous, and most of the time they were. I remember when my daughter was little and she had to go to the doctor to get a shot. She’d start crying before the doctor came into the room. I could not bribe her into bravery and I could not shame her into bravery, no way was she accepting those shots. Usually she cried so loudly that she couldn’t hear my pleas. It always amazed the doctors when they would enter the room and all they could hear was the roar of a child’s cries.

Now she’s all grown with children of her own and she has raised her boys to be brave and courageous. Over the last several months she has been suffering with back pain. I suggested she go in to get a pain shot to help ease her pain until they can figure out what her problem is. She instantly turned pale and said, “Mom, I am not going into the doctor to get a shot for any reason.”

So it was with my son, I raised him to be brave and courageous. And he was, mostly, unless it came to spiders. If a spider got close to him he’d yell, “Kill it, kill it.” The fear in his voice gave me cold chills. Once he married, his wife saw a spider and she said to my son, “Kill it!” He handed her a shoe and yelled, “Kill it, kill it.”

He also raised his children to be brave and courageous. It worked. He had a beautiful little girl who loved bugs. Bugs of all kinds, if there was a spider in their house and she was present she would yell,  “ Don’t kill it, don’t kill it.”

In my novel “Stamp Out Murder” James was not a strong and courageous man.  In fact, he was very passive until the life of the girl he loved was in danger, from somewhere deep within himself he pulled out the  strength to be brave and courageous.

In my tween novel “The Secret in Grandma’s Trunk” Brandon and Jacob had to pull out grown up feelings, in order to save Grandma, they had to be brave and courageous.

In your life, have you ever had to be brave and courageous? Was it a life threatening situation or something more common?

Stamp Out Murder”.

“The Secret in Grandma’s Trunk” This is an especially good book for your Tween Children and Grandchildren.

Fans of Cher'ley Grogg,AuthorAnd please join me on my Facebook Fanpage, that’s managed by one of my most faithful fans: Cindy Ferrell

Photos: Cher’ley Grogg-My children and granddaughter

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Everyday Life punctuated by moments of sheer terror

head shot   This post by Mike Staton

The twisted hunk of metal lay in Interstate 40’s medium. It no longer looked like a car. A man stood beside the wreckage, leaning forward, perhaps speaking words of reassurance to the driver, if the poor soul still lived.

I have my doubts. The wreck looked lethal.

In the southbound lanes, a man carrying a blanket walked from his vehicle toward the crumpled metal. Another man kicked debris away from a demolished trailer. Conspicuously absent were emergency vehicles and Highway Patrol cruisers. The accident must have happened just a short time earlier.

As traffic slowed, motorists were waved off the pavement and into the grass. Once past the wreck, I maneuvered my Saturn back onto one of the southbound lanes and continued down the road. As I pressed the gas pedal, I found myself reflecting on how detached I had been as I drove past the wreck. That really wasn’t surprising … I’m a newspaper reporter and over my career have covered my share of bad accidents. I would have stopped to take photographs of this one, except the accident was outside our circulation area.

The first fire truck, lights flashing, raced up the interstate’s northbound lanes, followed by an emergency squad, another fire truck and a second squad. More thoughts – these ones disturbing – percolated to consciousness. Soon loved ones would get jarring news that would perhaps change their lives forever. Tears wet my cheeks.

It struck me that authors strive to show scenes of drama like the tragic accident. Whether you’re a writer specializing in romance, mystery, westerns or – like me, fantasy – you weave together the elements of plot, characterization, dialogue and description, hiking up tension as you tell a story designed to reveal an aspect of the human condition. On a few occasions tears have wet a page of a novel held in my hands.

Sheer moments of terror

Sometimes that means unexpectedly killing off a main character, springing a gut-wrenching surprise on the reader. Like real life, a plot can’t become predictable. A critter reviewing one of the early drafts of “The Emperor’s Mistress” told me I was killing off too many palace guards. Palace guards are easily disposable and making them the only casualties of action scenes doesn’t prick the reader’s emotions. Readers could care less if a minor, forgettable character lives or dies.

Someone once said the American Civil War was mostly marching and bivouacking punctuated by moments of sheer terror. That describes life as well – and a good plot in a fiction novel.

What things in life give you pause? 

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Credits: Wreck and Fire truck photos from the Morgue Files