Traci L. Slatton's Blog, page 7
January 11, 2016
Three Recent Beautiful Reviews of BROKEN
Here are two three recent beautiful reviews of BROKEN, my historical novel set in occupied Paris.
This morning the lively Underground Book Reviews site posted Katie Rose Guest Pryal‘s review of BROKEN. The review snippet on the front page of the site said, “This book is beautifully written. The history is magnificent….”
What really thrilled me was Ms. Guest Pryal’s comment within the review: “Throughout it all, the author manages some truly gorgeous turns of phrase. In explaining why she can speak any language with perfect precision and accent, Alia refers in this fashion to her former ethereal status: “I am exempt from Babel.”
As a storyteller, I prioritize Story. Story must come first in a novel (or screenplay). As a writer, however, I am warmed in the deepest cockles of my soul when I hear my prose praised. These good words are especially appreciated because Katie Rose Guest Pryal is herself an author; she even writes books about writing. ! She is an educated consumer. So her statement about “truly gorgeous turns of phrase” simply ravishes me.
OneBookTwo Review Blog also recently posted a lovely review of BROKEN, starting off by saying “This is a fantastic book of love and light.”
Fickle Fiona went on to say,
Traci Slatton does a fantastic job of recreating Paris 1939 – 1942 with the fear and torture of occupied France…
To be honest there was nothing about this book that I didn’t like. It flows beautifully and it is one of those books that stays with you even after you are done reading it. For this reason I give this book five stars! I will reread this book more than once and recommend it to all my friends and, readers; I highly recommend it to you too.
To hear that my book will be recommended and re-read is a special joy and pride for an author.
Read OneBookTwo’s full review here.
These two reviews exemplify the kind of review that delights, thrills, humbles, and inspires me!
I had to edit this post after publishing it because another wonderful review of BROKEN came in today from HighlightingtheMind Blog. Sarah Oliverson wrote,
This book did exactly what it was supposed to and it left me breathless. I say this because this was one historical fiction that sucked me in throughout the book. As she spun this historical fiction in Paris, starting in 1939, she made it possible to walk side by side with the main character Alia A. K. Mercier. These are the type of books that grab my attention, she nailed it.
When reading I find it rare that a writer holds my attention through the book. When I have a book that my nose is glued to and my eyes don’t stop moving until the pages run out, I keep that author in my favorites stash. Because of how well this book was written and the historical significance this book holds, I give this book a 5 out of 5.
How cool is that???!!! Maybe I should go buy a Powerball ticket?
Pick up a copy of BROKEN on Amazon.
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January 7, 2016
Sabin Howard presenting to the WW1 Memorial Committee
A Youtube video of Sabin Howard presenting to the WW1 Memorial Committee.
I’m so proud of my husband and his partner, architect Joe Weishaar, for their proposal to the WW1 Memorial Committee. Sabin and Joe put together a beautiful proposal for a memorial to the Great War in Pershing Park in Washington DC. Joe Weishaar did the wonderful design and Sabin created the sculpture, the beautiful reliefs and sculpture in the round. Their proposal is called WEIGHT OF REMEMBRANCE.
Some enterprising member of the audience streamed about 8 minutes of Sabin’s speech on Periscope. I was able to get the video from Periscope and upload it into Youtube.
Sabin said, in part, “”Ambition in balance, coupled with humbleness is an open heart. This is where energy flows. This is where we create as human beings.”
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January 6, 2016
Big Sale on eBook: 3 Volume set, FALLEN, COLD LIGHT, FAR SHORE
Big Sale on The After Series by Traci L. Slatton!
For a limited time, the an eBook containing the first 3 books of The After Series is on sale. Instead of $6.99, the eBook is $1.99.
Here’s the set-up:
Books 1-3 in the award-winning dystopian romance After Series: FALLEN, COLD LIGHT, FAR SHORE.
As chaos descends on a crippled Earth, survivors are tormented by strange psychic gifts. In this time of apocalyptic despair, love is put to the test. One woman with healing power journeys to save a vanishing world. She meets an unforgettable man who holds the deepest secret to her heart, but can she trust him? A mystical odyssey, a haunting love.
A fantastic 3-in-1 deal on an outstanding
award-winning series…
“An intoxicating and innovative
dystopian romance!”
The After series by international bestselling author Traci L. Slatton is a sophisticated, witty and compelling narrative about love, loss and the possibility of second chances in a post-apocalyptic world.
“…This series is not to be missed. I am completely enthralled…”
Discover this beautifully written three-book set while it’s 72% off the regular price!
Check out Kindlenationdaily!
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November 27, 2015
Independent Artists & Thinkers Thanksgiving Show by host Traci L. Slatton
I aired a short show on my BlogTalkRadio show Independent Artists & Thinkers in honor of Thanksgiving. I made a few announcements and offered words of gratitude. The show can be found here on BlogTalkRadio and here on Youtube.
Here’s part of my script:
I’d like to mention some of the wonderful guests who’ve been on the show, especially those who are affiliated with worthy projects.
Lori Belilove, the founder and Artistic Director of the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation, was my very first guest. The Isadora Duncan Foundation is doing splendid work in, and I quote:
The mission of the Isadora Duncan Foundation is to extend the dream, dance, and indomitable spirit of the mother of modern dance, Isadora Duncan. IDDF’s mission is to:
Maintain the legacy of American modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan through performances and residencies and archive her works as priceless jewels of American modern dance.
Create new choreography through resident performing troupe Lori Belilove & The Isadora Duncan Dance Company.
Reach future generations of dancers via educational outreach programs, designed for implementation in diverse underserved communities, that develop cultural appreciation, confidence, and encourage self-expression.So please go online to Isadoraduncan.org to contribute to this worthy organization.
Educational Entrepreneur Tracy Gray was a guest on the show with some absolutely fascinating things to say. She heads up the Sankofa Global Project, which supports underrepresented students by introducing and supporting them as they venture into the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. In this season of giving, please think seriously about donating to this worthy and important organization. You can find out more about them at sankofaglobalproject.com
Dr. Bill Bernet is a psychiatrist leading the way in educating the general public, mental health clinicians, forensic practitioners, attorneys, and judges regarding parental alienation. This is a very sad, devastating phenomenon and it’s a cause close to my heart. Dr. Bernet has founded the Parental Alienation Study Group for educational purposes and to develop and promote research on the causes, evaluation, and treatment of parental alienation. That can be found at pasg.info and it is also a not for profit corporation. I urge listeners to support the PASG, especially if you have been a targeted parent of if you know someone who has experienced this heart-breaking phenomenon.
Dr. Craig Childress is a licensed clinical psychologist in Pasadena, CA who has done some good work in this field, and his website can be found at drcraigchildressblog.com
Both of those websites, pasg.info and drcraigchildressblog.com contain a lot of information about parental alienation. Recently I came across a short blog post that explains it very well, also. The website is therecoveryexpert.com and the post was Narcissism and Parental Alienation Syndrome, and that post really does a good job of lucidly explaining the inauthentic attachment system that happens when one parent targets the other parent for alienation. That’s at http://therecoveryexpert.com/2015/11/narcissism-and-parental-alienation-syndrome/
I’d like to mention some of the terrific books written by guests of the show. Dr. Jane Ely is a master healer and counselor who’s written a most beautiful book, Coming into Balance; A Guide for Activating Your True Potential. I am going to say straightaway that my indie press Parvati Press published this book, and I published it because I believe in it whole-heartedly. Dr. Ely is also co-founder and Dean of the Peacemaker School, an international school dedicated to teaching Peacemaking, Energy Medicine, and Conflict Partnership. You can find out more about Dr. Ely at drjaneely.net .
My friend Komilla Sutton is luminary in the field of Vedic astrology and a former Bollywood actress with an incredible personal story as well as a deep, insightful understanding of the science of light. I recommend her books The Nakshatras: The Stars Beyond the Zodiac, The Essentials of Vedic Astrology, and The Lunar Nodes: Crisis and Redemption. You can find out more about Komilla at komilla.com…
I mentioned some of the books written by guests of IA&T, including Mythological astrologer Lynn Bell’s books as well as psychotherapist Dave Richo’s beautiful books, THE POWER OF GRACE and HOW TO BE AN ADULT.
I also talked about my investigation into the work of Dr. Steven Greer, founder of the disclosure project.
I ended with a quote from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche.
“The most essential thing in life is to establish an unafraid, heartfelt communication with others….”
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October 29, 2015
Recent Independent Artists & Thinkers BTR shows I enjoyed
I enjoy hosting unconventional, out-of-the-box thinkers on my weekly BlogTalkRadio Show, Independent Artists & Thinkers. BTR offers great flexibility for me to invite these fascinating folks on for a thought-provoking discussion. The show usually airs on Thursdays at 1 NY time, but sometimes the day or the hour changes to accommodate the guest.
All of the shows have been great. Here are some from the last few weeks:
Today I hosted musician David Sklar, which was great fun as he is a friend. He had thoughtful things to say about the journey of the musician and the state of music today.
http://www.independentartiststhinkers.com/show_davidsklar.mp3
If the audio player doesn’t show or work for you, access the show here.
Last week racy novelist L.V. Lewis talked about writing steamy multi-cultural romances. She started off as a fan fiction writer. I read her book Fifty Shades of Jungle Fever and found it to be smart and frisky with crisp, well-developed characters and a strong voice.
http://www.independentartiststhinkers.com/show_lvlewis.mp3
Or access the show here.
The week before, Bosnian Serb and Muay Thai Champion Ognjen Topic spoke of his journey of becoming a world champion. He was engaging and unexpectedly wise as he talked about mastering and using fear and devoting oneself completely to one’s goals.
http://www.independentartiststhinkers.com/show_ognjen.mp3 Or access the show here.
Listen in, these shows were kinda cool!
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October 14, 2015
Scrivener: A Fabulous Writing Program
A glowing review of writing software Scrivener, sold by Literature & Latte.
What took me so long? Lo, the years I have wasted, toiling in Microsoft Word…
I’ve been drinking the Microsoft Word Kool Aid. A gazillion years ago, when my pet Brontosaurus would give me a ride across Central Park to the East Side, I used a program called Word Perfect. I preferred it to Word. Word Perfect just worked better, more nimbly. But no, Word was the standard in publishing, so I switched to Word. Reluctantly, yes. But still, citing the demands of my profession, I made the transition. Womanfully, I learned the program and grew adept at it.
Some years later, I made the opposite switch, from absurdly complicated to unbelievably easy: I left behind my Windows PC and bought an iMac. I’ve never looked back. The Mac computer was blissfully, stupefyingly easy to use. It just worked right out of the box. With this experience in my wheelhouse, why didn’t I realize sooner that writing a 60,000+ word novel could be so much easier than the way Word makes the task?
A month ago, I was scrolling through Cult of Mac Deals and spied Scrivener on sale for a little under $20.
The low price piqued my interest, and since I was 15,000 words into a new novel–which is about where the sheer ponderous drudgery of Microsoft Word kicks in–and man oh man was I tired of pushing that rock up the hill–I risked the $20. I bought Scrivener.
That may have been the best $20 I ever spent. There are so many wonderful aspects to writing with Scrivener that I can’t name them all. I’ll just say, if you write long documents, novels, non-fiction texts, or a PhD dissertation, BUY SCRIVENER!! You’ll thank me.
Once I opened Scrivener, I was immediately taken by the binder, which groups all kinds of files together for easy reference. It means I can work horizontally and vertically, which lubricates and enhances my writing life. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been in Chapter 22 and had to remember a detail from Chapter 11, or was it Chapter 13? I’d have to search and scroll to figure it out.
In Scrivener, the binder holds the Manuscript, which is broken into Folders, which are my chapters, and inside the folders are Text files, which are scenes within the chapter. The folders and text files can be moved around with drag and drop. Files inside folders can also be moved around.
Best of all, there are different ways of viewing your folders and files. You can work within an individual file, just typing into the page. I like to write in Scrivenings mode, which shows all the files within a folder (or all the files in the manuscript) vertically. Here’s a screenshot from the extensive tutorial that comes with the program:
The Binder is visible on the left hand side of the screenshot. Notice it has three primary folders: Draft, Research, and Characters. The “Draft” is the manuscript with all its parts and steps, and only the files in it are compiled and then output into PDF’s or Word Documents or just about whatever form you want it in.
In my projects, I rename Draft to the name of the Novel. Instead of Parts, I have Chapters. And within each chapter I have a scene which I don’t number, I name with a tag for what’s happening in the scene: “Sarah argues with Scott”, “Babysitting”, “To the doctor’s office,” etc.
Naming my scenes this way makes it fast and easy to look up details when I need them, because I’m working both horizontally and vertically.
Notice in the screenshot above that Step 16 and Step 17, which are separate text files, are both visible and separated by a gray line. That’s because I took the screenshot in Scrivenings mode. Scrivenings combines individual documents into a single text for viewing and editing. You can work with the text files in a single folder, or you can group together a bunch of text files from several folders to work with–perhaps because those are all the scenes from one character’s p.o.v. or because those are the scenes in which a particular character shows up.
Here’s another screenshot in Corkboard mode:
In this screenshot of Corkboard mode, all the text files in the folder named Part 1: Basics are shown as index cards on a corkboard.
It just boggles my mind to be able to switch back and forth between Scrivenings and Corkboard! Can you imagine how delightful it makes plotting a novel????
There are a million wonderful features to this program, but I’ll just mention one more: the Research folder is facile and will accept just about any old thing you drag into it. So far, I’ve dragged in Mail messages, PDF’s, and Word documents. There’s a way to drag in Web pages but I haven’t used that yet because it hasn’t been necessary. But how sweet it is to have all my references grouped together in the Research folder for easy access…
One Caveat: this is a feature rich program and there is a learning curve. I spent the first few days watching Youtube video tutorials. Literature & Latte has some good ones. My favorite is called “Scrivener Bootcamp” by Jason Hough. I recommend that tutorial because it got me up to speed pretty quickly. I recommend investing the time in learning the program because you will reap vast rewards for doing so.
I’ve been able to write better, more easily and more cleanly, since acquiring and learning Scrivener. I also know, to the word, how many words I’ve written at a session, because there is a Target feature that allows me to set my target number of words for the day, and for the entire novel, and track the progress. Now I know for sure when I’ve written 383 words or 1672!
Scrivener is a terrific tool for writers. I give it 5 Traci Stars*****!
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August 27, 2015
Latest HuffPo Piece: Review of Lee Grant’s Memoir
A Review of Lee Grant’s Memoir is my latest piece on the Huffington Post.
Here’s how I begin the article:
Of late, meaning the last few years, coming to myself in the dark woods in the middle of my life, I read autobiographies of interesting women. They are my guides as I navigate a way that is lost only because it isn’t found yet—because I haven’t lived it. I read to see how these courageous souls made their way through the emptinesses and fullnesses that punctuate our journeys as mothers, wives, and people invested in their own careers.
Here’s a little more:
Along the way, Grant seems to have seized every adventure offered to her, displaying a wanton appetite for life at odds with her sometimes crippling stage fright and insecurity over her age. I was intrigued by the dissonance and heartened by it. I’ve long held that perfectionism is a virulent form of self-hatred. Grant’s openness about her frailties demonstrates the bedrock of self love that must have enabled her to endure the cruel devastation of being blacklisted when many McCarthy victims didn’t survive.
Find the piece here, and please do “like” it!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/traci-l-slatton/a-review-i-said-yes-to-ev_b_8037200.html
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August 21, 2015
Blood Sky Blog Tour; Fallen, Cold Light, Far Shore in a Single Volume
Bewitching Book Tours has set up a blog tour for Blood Sky. The release date for Blood Sky is 8/24/15.
In addition, in honor of the publication of this fourth book in the series, Parvati Press is releasing a volume that includes the first three books in the After Series. That’s right, readers can now purchase a single eBook that contains all three books. The Amazon link is here http://amzn.to/1hw7cRT
So for readers who’d like to own the first three books, here’s the opportunity to do so! JOY OF READING!
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August 11, 2015
Blood Sky Book Blog Tour
This post lists tour stops for the Blood Sky Book Blog Tour.
Bewitching Book Tours Set up a really nice book tour for my forthcoming novel BLOOD SKY.
Schedule Blood Sky by Traci L. Slatton
August 24- September 21
August 24 Spotlight
Booklover Sue
http://bookloversue.blogspot.com
August 25 Spotlight
Zenny’s Awesome Book Reviews
https://zennysawesomebookreviews.word...
August 26 Spotlight
3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, and Sissy, Too!
http://3partnersinshopping.blogspot.com/
August 27 Spotlight
T’s Stuff
http://teresanoel.blogspot.com/
August 28 Interview
Deal Sharing Aunt
www.dealsharingaunt.blogspot.com
August 31 Guest blog
Roxanne’s Realm
www.roxannerhoads.com
September 1 Spotlight
Books That Hook
http://booksthathook.com/
September 2 Review
Fantatical Paranormal Romantical
http://fanaticalparanormalromantical....
September 3 Spotlight
Lisa’s World of Books
www.lisasworldofbooks.net
September 4 Character Interview
Eclipse Reviews
www.totaleclipsereviews.blogspot.com
September 7 Spotlight
Books and Tales
http://booksandtales.blogspot.co.uk/
September 8 Interview
Literary Musings
www.literarymusing.weebly.com
September 8 Spotlight
Books N Pearls
http://booksnpearls.com/blog
September 9 Interview
Author Karen Swart
www.authorkarenswart.blogspot.com
September 10 Interview
The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom
www.creativelygreen.blogspot.com
September 11
September 14 Interview
Urban Fantasy Investigations
http://urbanfantasyinvestigations.blo...
September 15 Spotlight
Marianne Willis Author
https://mariannewillisauthor.wordpres...
September 16 Spotlight
Live Laugh and Love Books
https://livelaughandlovebooks.wordpre...
September 16 Spotlight
Around the World in Books
http://www.aroundtheworldinbooks.ca/
September 17 Spotlight
Houston Havens
https://houstonhavens.wordpress.com
September 18 Spotlight
CBY Book Club
http://cbybookclub.blogspot.co.uk
September 18 Spotlight
Geeks In High School
http://www.geeksinhighschool.com
September 18 Spotlight (review)
Books and Authors
http://bookreviewsandauthors.blogspot...
September 21 Guest blog
Fang-tastic Books
www.fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com
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August 3, 2015
My Personal Statement on Frank Gehry & the Eisenhower Memorial
What follows is my personal opinion about Frank Gehry and the Eisenhower Memorial based on my family’s experience with him.
Statement about Frank Gehry
I am the wife of classical figurative sculptor Sabin Howard, who was courted by Frank Gehry to be the sculptor for the Eisenhower memorial, asked to write a proposal and give ideas, flown to LA for a lengthy meeting with Gehry and his team, promised the gig to the tune of a verbal statement: “You are the sculptor for the Eisenhower Memorial and you will start next week,” and then suddenly dropped.
Sabin says outright, “He stole my ideas for creating a relief that places general Eisenhower as part of his troops and at the same time at the head of his troops. He hired a less competent sculptor who does not have the ability to pull it off.”
This kind of dishonorable behavior and intellectual theft on Gehry’s part convinced me that Frank Gehry is not to be trusted. I began to pay attention to the Gehry camp’s arrogant shenanigans around the Eisenhower Memorial, starting with his blatantly rude and condescending disregard for the Eisenhower family’s staunch opposition to his plans.
Gehry’s ill conceived plans call for gargantuan woven metal curtains and a tiny sculpture of the boy Ike. The curtains are ugly and reference only an elderly architect’s egotistical notion of himself as a groovy post modernist—they have nothing whatsoever to do with our beloved and plainspoken president, statesman, and military general.
It’s not just the way Gehry treats the Eisenhower family that’s scandalous. The cost of these hideous metal curtains is astronomical, more than a hundred million dollars. Those curtains aren’t in production and yet, to date, more than forty million dollars have disappeared into Gehry’s pockets, with only spin doctoring to show for it. Gehry has hired a team of full-time publicists to keep the machinery of his self-aggrandizing monument going.
I have written in the Huffington Post about the disappearance of this taxpayer money. Forty million dollars is a lot of cash! I have queried high profile media venues, trying to garner interest in some real journalism, some real investigative reporting.
In this I was aided and directed by my neighbor, the venerated and sadly recently deceased international bestselling author Frederic Morton. He personally spoke to people at the New York Times and the NBC investigative unit. Fred was an Austrian Jew who wrote poignantly of his father’s internment at Dachau. He had met and dined with Eisenhower and Mamie; he held a deep respect for President Eisenhower and felt distressed that the Eisenhower family was being disregarded and condescended to, he agreed with me that Gehry’s plans were inappropriate, and he felt that the vanished tens of millions of taxpayer dollars was an outrageous scandal that warranted serious investigation.
Despite Fred’s stature, these news outlets failed to respond.
I can only surmise that these news outlets are as smitten with Gehry’s celebrity as were the cronies who handed him the Eisenhower memorial in the first place despite the fact that Gehry is patently the wrong man for the job.
I do intensive historical research for my historical novels. I published one novel set during WW2 and I am still researching that period for another novel. The more research I do, the more certain I am that Eisenhower the statesman and president of simple dignity would have been horrified by the gargantuan metal drapery. Absolutely horrified. His family has spoken up in his memory and in his honor and they deserve to be heard.
In continuing to press his plans, Frank Gehry is thrusting up his middle finger not just at the American people, but at President Eisenhower as well. I would say, “the very man whom the Eisenhower Memorial is supposed to honor,” but it is clear that Gehry’s plans honor only Gehry and no one else. They certainly do not honor President Dwight Eisenhower.
I have been told that Tom Brokaw and Bob Dole have been sucked into the slick chicanery of Gehry’s PR efforts. If so, then I say to Brokaw and Dole, Shame on you!
Pushing to get money for Gehry’s hideous plans would only be throwing good money after bad money, and that’s the sign of rank foolishness. Gehry’s advanced age is the only reason to rush ahead with widely-loathed plans despite obvious chicanery, massive quantities of vanished tax-payer money, and the Eisenhower family’s objections.
Some politicians and TV personalities who are also elderly like to pontificate that it’s time to get the monument done after the 15 years of wrangling over it. To them I say: after an open competition, it only took a few years to get Maya Lin’s breathtakingly gorgeous Memorial Wall done.
And Lin’s Memorial demonstrates the better way to move ahead: a fair and open competition, as is currently being done with the World War 1 memorial.
So to those aging cronies and TV personalities who are smitten by Gehry’s celebrity, I say, Don’t throw good money after bad. It’s time to cut bait and move on. Hold a fair, open, and blind competition. That’s what would truly honor Eisenhower, a man of famed and celebrated humility.
To anyone who is listening, I say: don’t buy into Gehry’s shenanigans. President Eisenhower, his remaining family, and We the American People deserve better. We deserve to know about how our money is lining Gehry’s pockets. And we deserve a truly beautiful and magnificent Eisenhower Memorial, something on the order of the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial wall.
HEAR THE BLOGTALKRADIO SHOW ABOUT THE GEHRY MEMORIAL.
DR. BRUCE COLE’S ARTICLE “GEHRY’S MIDDLE FINGER”
DR. BRUCE COLE’S ARTICLE “A MONUMENTAL SHAME”
Traci L. Slatton about the Gehry Memorial on the Huffington Post
“Ongoing Chicanery With the Gehry Memorial”
“The Problem With the Gehry Memorial”
Check Out Art Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Independent Artists and Thinkers on BlogTalkRadio
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