Ben Starling's Blog, page 18

Christmas Greetings from Ben

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Free library…in a bird house!

Hey, I saw this on my evening walk recently: a birdhouse in a front garden with books inside!

It’s The Little Free Library Project. The note on the door says:

“A free book sharing venue. Take a book, donate a book, return a book. http://www.littlefreelibraryproject.org.uk “

Inside there were thrillers, a book on butterflies and a children’s storybook, crammed in with many, many others.

What  a great idea! I’m going to go check out their site now…

…well, it looks like The Little Free Library Project UK is a part of The Little Free Library. All books are donated and all the materials used to create the book boxes are recycled.

Here’s how the project began: “In the beginning—2009—Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, built a model of a one room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mother, a former school teacher who loved reading. He filled it with books and put it on a post in his front yard. His neighbors and friends loved it. He built several more and gave them away. Each one had a sign that said FREE BOOKS….”

For more info, see history at  The Little Free Library !

Have you ever seen anything like this? Where did you see it? What great book/s did you find inside?

Filed under: books Tagged: books, inspiration, reading

Ben-isms: November Round Up

What is it with rhetorical questions?

It said in the paper today that people who nap for 1 hour every day live 7 yrs longer. I have worked out how I can live to 206 yrs old!!

I’ll gladly rip off my fingernails, bruise my knuckles and sprain my wrists before I let an unopened pistachio escape.

Can someone please come round here pronto with ice cream? Preferably double nougat chocolate chip banana ripple cookie dough Oreo Grand Marnier espresso Cornish cream autumn strawberry toffee nougat octopus ink vegan four seasons surprise with monkey dandruff sprinkles? Or vanilla, if Ben & Jerry’s are playing the “we discontinued that flavor due to lack of demand” excuse.

Homophonic observation of the day: When you sneeze, you go “a-tissue” (“a-tissue, a-tissue, we all fall down”). Then you reach for…a tissue. Perhaps the former is an unconscious plea for the latter.

As a writer, I frequently bemoan the relatively few words in the English language. So I am going to start inventing some in restinence to the oquibatory combustulon of semtopular rogulism.

These is only one logical explanation: My chess computer cheats.

man > kind > humankind > inhuman > unkind > inhumankind > inhumanunkind > ?

Microwaved potato with redcurrant jelly, washed down with tap water. I feel a recipe book coming on.

Someone said, whatever you do, never discuss paradoxical injunction. So there I was, wondering what to talk about when I had this great idea but –

Apparently my smartphone has 1m times more RAM and processes 800 times faster that the guidance computer on Apollo 11. At least that rocket survived a 240,000 mile journey and landed men on a hostile rock in space. My phone didn’t survive a two foot fall from my table to the floor.

IT’S NOT EVERY DAY YOU BEAT A GRANDMASTER AT CHESS!!! (and today wasn’t one of them. But I did manage a “Z” as a triple word score in Scrabble. The irony was, the word was “zero”.)

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Ben on the radio – podcast released!

Carol Graham has just posted her radio interview with Ben from her show Never Ever Give Up Hope!

When You Wrap Up Your Past, You’ll Unwrap a Perfect Present is now live…

Click image

In this interview, Ben talks about the challenges our oceans face today, life lessons learned from boxing, a guardian angel named Edington, and the first short story in his new series, Something in the Air, which has just been released on Amazon…

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Ben Interviews Karen DeMers Dowdall

Who is the exciting author behind, Garrett’s Bones, just released on Amazon?

Karen DeMers Dowdall is widely traveled and has explored many fields of study. But what are her favorite things, the things that she dreams of – and the things that surely influence her writing? What contributes to her unique outlook? I asked a few questions of Karen to find out. Here are her answers…

Welcome, Karen and thank you for joining me. Tell me a bit about yourself.

I grew up in a small farming community in a subdivision once known as the Salmon Brook Settlement, circa 1680. It was adjacent to a large forest preserve that gave me inspirations for writing daily. I spent a great deal of my time walking through the forest with my best friend. I would often sit under my apple tree drawing characters to add to my short stories and poetry.

I understand you have just released a new title. What’s it about?

Garrett’s Bones is a paranormal fiction novel that was written, in part, about an actual murder of a young girl in the forest near our home. The area I grew up in was an ancient American Indian settlement for over 10,000 years. The myths and legends, ghosts, and witch stories were a part of our everyday life. The stories I grew up with inspired me to write about those events.

Is this your first book? How many books have you written?

Actually, I now have three books: “Delphi Altair Strange Beginnings”, “Garrett’s Bones” and the soon to be published, “The Witchery of Sarah Windsor”. Each book relates to different aspects of growing up in a very haunted environment that was fascinating to me as a child.

Can you tell me a little more about yourself?

I was an Ocean Life Guard in college. I Majored in Art, History, Anthropology and Archaeology, but not all at the same time. I graduated with a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Nursing. I worked in cancer care and clinical research for cancer at Emery University. I also have a Doctorate in Clinical Nutrition. At Florida Atlantic University, I won several awards, including the coveted “Owl Award” stating I had gravitas to lead others. I have traveled frequently and I lived in the Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, and England.

Karen DeMers Dowdall’s first oil painting

What are some of your favorite things to do when you are not writing?

My first love was drawing and writing little stories but other outdoor activities included swimming, ballet and jazz, singing, exploring, skiing, and reading.

What is something that would surprise me about you?

I have an identical twin sister and together we won a singing contest and were offered singing contracts with Capital Records and Universal Studios when we were fifteen years old. Our parents declined to accept. They thought we were too young.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

First, write what you know and what fascinates you. For me, I always have a beginning and an end of a story first and then I dream about them. I write my novels in my head before I begin. I also have favorite books and authors. My favorite book is Jane Eyre. As a child, being dramatic was a way of developing creativity. I would act out my stories for my family and friends.

Karen DeMers Dowdall was born in West Hartford, Connecticut, USA and grew up in a small farming community in a subdivision once known as the Salmon Brook Settlement (circa 1680), adjacent to a large forest preserve. She enjoyed the hauntingly beautiful forest and most of her writing includes forays into her fascination with the magic of its history. She spent summers swimming in the Salmon brook and ice-skating on a “haunted” pond in winter.

After high school, she attended Florida State University in Fine Arts. Karen later married an Air Force Officer and moved to the Republic of China where she worked in orphanages and children’s hospitals as a volunteer. Eventually, she graduated from Florida Atlanta University with a Bachelor’s in Nursing and later a Master’s in Nursing and Clinical Research. Her love of love writing was always there and she wrote short stories and poetry along the way.

Connect with Karen: You can find out more about Karen and her work at http://www.karendowdall.com, http://www.facebook.com/www.thewritersloft.net, @kdemersdowdall, Twitter: @kdemersdowdall, Goodreads: Karen Demers Dowdall, or www.amazon.com/author/karendowdall

 

 

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The magic ingredients of an unforgettable title

The title of your novel, your short story, your masterpiece – is critical. It’s your first foot forward, the very first time your reader meets you.

What are the magic ingredients of an unforgettable title?

A title has got to reflect the theme/s of the book, be a hook and ideally be a kind of paradox or pun. And it’s got to be memorable and fresh!

Something in the Water now available for pre-order at Amazon. Click on the image!

That’s a lot to ask from 1-5 words. So it’s important to find one that grabs you, but really hard to do!

I tried out over 50 working titles on my upcoming novel, Something in the Water.

I began with the Wisdom of Solomon. That was my first love and lasted the longest. I tried on and then passed by Drop in the Ocean, Stolen Thunder, The Hardest Word and Swimming With Angels. I smirked at To Krill a Mockingbird and giggled over The Humpback of Notre Dame.

Ask your beta readers for ideas and feedback, ask your friends, ask yourself after you wake from your dreams  – collect every possibility and then choose the one that feels right.

I don’t know if the title of my upcoming novel is unforgettable. I hope so. It’s the one that felt right to me.

That’s all we can do. Good luck!

What titles did you try out – and then discard – for your most recent masterpiece?

What do you think is important in a great title?

Leave a comment (click on the link next to the date above) and let me know!

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Genuine Jenn interviews Ben

Genuine Jenn has just posted an interview with Ben at her blog! Author Spotlight with Ben Starling ~ Interview is live from today…

In this interview, Ben talks about love stories, a book he drew for his children, his favorite things, and the first short story in his new series, Something in the Air, which has just been released on Amazon…

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An Interview with Ben Starling

Karen DeMers Dowdall has just posted an interview with Ben at her blog! An Interview with Ben Starling, Author of Something in the Air is live from today…

In this interview, Ben talks about the first short story release in his series: Something in the Air, cover design, the one scene he hates to write…and something that would surprise us.

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Ben voted to Top 3 shortlist for Mills & Boon Man of the Year 2016!

After an exciting three weeks, Ben has been voted a Top 3 finalist for Mills & Boon (Harlequin UK)’s Man of the Year 2016!

This competition is not about being an author – it’s about the chance to appear as a model on the cover of Mills & Boon’s upcoming Valentine’s Day release.

Selected from 300 other candidates, Ben advanced to the Top 15 Hotties shortlist on October 12, 2015 – and the vote was then opened to the public. The voting has now closed – and Ben is one of three finalists who may be chosen by three celebrity judges to appear as a model on the cover of a book. The winner will be announced next January.

 

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Ben-isms: October Round Up

I love a harvest moon…

Having a productive morning compiling a list of all the things I won’t get done today.

Wrap up your past and you’ll unwrap a perfect present.

Why does it take 20 minutes for a photo sent from my iphone to arrive in my laptop gmail? They are only 2 inches apart.

At the heart of the matter lay a matter of the heart.

I’d be a polymath if I could do sums.

The dust dragon is on her final warning: she has started building a nest under my bed again.

How to improve pizza: Cook. Remove from oven & fold in half (topping to topping). Place in fridge overnight. Eat as pizza sandwich.

A seductive voice is whispering in my ear – making promises I know she can keep. She is the dawn, the sunset, the warm rain of spring meadows, she is the breeze that ripples the surface of the dark lake in whose deeps I store my most secret dreams. She is craving, she is wisdom, she is truth. Her sisters are torture and ecstasy. And she is using the words that always render me powerless: “It’s time for chocolate”.

Dear Norton Anti-Virus, I disagree – my password “password” is 100% secure because it is counter-intuitive. Therefore no one will guess it and I won’t be hacked. Just sayin’.

BREAKING NEWS: Windows 10 secret sneeze-predicting software identified. How else could I have typed “unfabiliar” when I meant “unfamiliar”?

To procrastinate or not, now that’s one I need to mull over.

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