Pamela Schloesser Canepa's Blog, page 60
June 13, 2018
Ten Writer’s Habits I’ve Acquired. Which to Kick, Which to Keep? By Pamela Schloesser Canepa
A post about striking a balance with your newfound writer’s habits. Thanks to Chris Graham at The Story Reading Ape Blog for giving me this opportunity!
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
It happened the first time I committed to NANOWRIMO. I became a slightly different person, a more intense version of myself. In looking back at the last two years since becoming a self-published author, I realize how much I’ve changed. Here is a list of ten habits I acquired when I decided to stop writing in isolation and become a published author.
1. Likely the most common habit, I started losing track of the time at night. This is because I was either in writer’s groups on Facebook learning or staying up chasing an idea. When this happens, it means you are catching the spark. Be thankful. It’s not a bad habit. It certainly beats falling asleep in front of a TV show.
2. Getting hooked on a favorite show on Netflix (Hulu, Roky, whatever). Please don’t confuse this with falling asleep in front of the TV. This habit is…
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June 9, 2018
#WeekendCoffeeShare Replenishing the Well
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Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at the Eclectic Alli blog! It’s a full cup day for me, because I just feel tired. The ink well seems to have run dry, and it’s time to replenish. My sinuses were challenged for a few days this week, and I’ve been sleeping in later each morning. It seems I am catching up on some needed rest. I hope I’ll be caught up soon, because I’m started to feel unproductive…
Well, I have been making progress on the course I am taking for teaching; I am a little ahead of schedule. I have also made some progress on contacts to ARC readers, and a few people have added it to their Goodreads shelf after I posted about that on social media. If you add a book on Goodreads, all of your friends or followers there can see and may be curious what the book is about. If you go to Goodreads now, Undercurrents in Time can be found by searching the title. Just a suggestion… 
June 8, 2018
Undercurrents in Time, ARC review and pre-order available!
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Things are moving along with my upcoming novel, Undercurrents in Time! It has received its first ARC review by a book blogger. Here is a snippet: “After an emotion-filled tight rope of a beginning, this tale settles in and an easy-to-follow adventure begins! A little danger, a lot of luck and some amazing characters really make this tale tick!” -Dianne, Tome Tender Blog You may visit it here: Tome Tender Cover Reveal and Review
Undercurrents in Time is also on Goodreads. Please add it to your “Want to Read” shelf; it helps my book gain visibility! Just enter the title in to the Search bar and it comes up as Undercurrents in Time, Detours in Time Book 2. I’d much appreciate it. You can also pre-order a Kindle copy for just .99 between now and June 16th. After which it will be going up to 2.99, as it is a full-length novel. Visit the Amazon page at Undercurrents in Time on Amazon to pre-order or preview and read the full book description. Whatever you can do, I thank you for the support!
If you are a book blogger/reviewer and are interested in reading and reviewing my book, please contact me here with the URL of your blog with your contact information. I will get in touch quickly and would love for you to read and review my book on your blog and, hopefully, on Goodreads as well!
In the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing visual graphics for the book, GIFs, and the official book trailer, made with the help of some of my friends, and in some cases, on my own with Canva. It’s going to be a great, bookish summer!
June 2, 2018
#WeekendCoffeeShare. Where was I?
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Welcome to the Weekend Coffee share, hosted by Allison at Eclectic Ali. It’s the end of the school year for many of us, and as a teacher, I breathe a sigh of relief. I got to sit back and chat a bit with fellow teachers at a late lunch commemorating the end of the year. It was nice, but I left before the part was over so I could get home to finish up assignments for my online class.
Yes, in the midst of working on getting another novel released and wrapping up the school year, I started a course for teaching Gifted students last week. It actually started on the same day as my 50th birthday! Fortunately, I did most of my celebrating over the weekend leading up to my birthday. Here is a post I published here on WordPress where I attempt to humorously deal with turning the BIG 5-0: A Girl Turns 50 Now, back to this Teaching Gifted course. It will last until June 22nd, though it may not seem as tedious next week when I have Weds. through Fri. off work! I can do this. I can do this.
After 6/22, I’ll have a few free days for fun. There is my boyfriend’s birthday and the Pixies concert. It should be a great time! Good old eighties music, the best kind! We’ll be pretty tired the day after the concert, I’m sure, so I planned the book release for two days after the concert.
Yes, Undercurrents in Time, my sequel to Detours in Time, will be releasing on June 26th!
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Detours in Time, Book 1.
By the way, you can even check-out the pre-order page here for Undercurrents in Time, maybe even pre-order your copy at a reduced price before June 16th:
Undercurrents in Time Available on pre-order
That’s all I have for now! It seems like plenty on my plate, I shouldn’t try to handle it all at once, but I think I can do this! I just noticed how short this post is. It has been another full-cup-of-coffee day, and I still have much more to do. Have a great week, everyone!
*Weekend Coffee share is hosted at https://eclecticali.wordpress.com/201... where you can check out other fellow bloggers coffee shares and even enter your own for this week. Check it out!
May 29, 2018
“A Girl Turns 50,” Top Ten Wishlist
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Photo taken, 1991 at Royal Gorge, Colorado. The way I still see myself….
On this, my fifitieth birthday, I have ten wishes. If nothing else, they’re good for a laugh. Maybe you can identify? I don’t know how am I fifty, anyway. Where does the time go?
My Ten Fiftieth Birthday Wishes:
Stick on eyebrows that won’t come off or irritate my skin when I take them off… I haven’t tried the stick-ons because I’m afraid. That, and I’d suddenly look completely fake. Seriously though, where’d the eyebrows go? Maybe a temporary tattoo of eyebrows would be better, because there’s no way I’d do a permanent eyebrow tatt, what if it went wrong?
Eye make-up that applies itself. Honestly, who has time for eyeliner? Though the eye shadow can hide some wrinkles, I still only have time for it 1-2 days a week.
An extra pair of hands that will do all the typing I want. They’ll respond to my every wish, but I will never feel their pain.
A button on my shower that will emit lotion water. Does that exist? Well, it should. Adjust your shower so it only hits you below the chin to avoid the eyes and mouth.
Shoes that will massage your feet with every step. Come on, that is not unrealistic! Somebody needs to make this!
For my favorite dress shirts to all be also available in cotton. It absorbs sweat much more nicely than those other materials. I could wear something other than t-shirts comfortably.
A portable fan you can sit on your shoulder like a parrot. It should be lightweight, too. When a wave of sudden heat hits a gal, sometimes it shows up immediately on the face. Just push the button and start the fan! Everyone close by will benefit as well!
Compression pants with extra padding at the hips and the rear area, for when you have to attend meetings sitting on hard chairs after a full day at work, yet you’d rather be on your couch with the feet up. There should be some magnetic magic in the hip area for those of us with joint issues or arthritis. Supposedly that helps.
A new law to limit the cost of all band concerts so that I can afford to go to more of them every year. Indoor/ outdoor, it doesn’t matter. Music makes everything better and my budget isn’t growing much yearly.
Something to drink on a long flight that will not upset my stomach. Is there such a thing? Travel is just not as comfortable as it used to be. We need to fix that!
Oops, I’m at ten already. I’m sure I could think of more, for instance, making every workplace dog-friendly and immediately lowering stress levels of all (well most) employees. However, I promised ten, and ten puls a half is all you will get this time. Just wait until I turn sixty!
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Here I am, a year ago, in the finest Jimi Hendricks t-shirt of cotton, very little eye make-up, and subtle eyebrows. (Subtle, LOL)…You’re right, I don’t want to act like a middle-aged woman!
May 26, 2018
#WeekendCoffeeShare. Closing in…
Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at Eclectic Ali in which I will do a drive by chat. Stay and enjoy whatever beverage you choose, mine is a full-cup day, and there is much to do!
The first exciting news is that I am done proofing my manuscript for my upcoming sequel, Undercurrents in Time! I am closing in on my goal! I’ll send it off for formatting today. I had fun with graphics one day and came up with a great idea for a teaser. Here it is:
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What’s special about this car? It’s a time travel vehicle that happens to be housed within a classic automobile. How does it fit with the storyline? Tabitha takes off in it, without her husband’s knowledge. Whatever could go wrong?
I’ll be sharing the book trailer soon and more of the blurb. I had it made for me, I think it really rocks!
What else is exciting? I’ll be turning 50 soon, very soon. I am excited, because this gives me reason to make all kinds of funny jokes about myself. Just you wait….
So, my summer will consist of planning, promoting, a book release, probably writing blog posts and interviews, and a little travel in July. Not to mention, June brings my boyfriend’s birthday and a Pixies concert! This 80’s girl is going to rock. Never mind the muscles spasms I’ve had in my knee lately. I’m just so excited this morning. Stay tuned to this blog! There is so much good stuff to come…
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Undercurrents bookcover, designed by Jonas Mayes Steger. Coming soon!
May 19, 2018
#WeekendCoffeeShare. On the Hamster Wheel.
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Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at eclecticali.wordpress.com. May is slipping past us. I have felt so busy and overwhelmed, yet the days keep going by. To quote T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, “I have measured out my life in coffee spoons.” Eliot is singing to me lately, as I’ll be turning 50 later this month! I just worked on a turing fifty post and can’t wait to share it later this month! Lately, I have pondered my life, what I am doing, where I am going, etc., and sometimes that just results in anxiety.
Case in point, last Saturday. I was feeling frustrated with my book marketing efforts. I had a marketing strategy session with Audrey, who runs the Author Transformation Alliance, and it was so exciting and educational. I was pumped! Then, I went and saw that my back tire had been leaking air all night; you see, my boyfriend and I had put air in it the night before. I’d have to take it in somewhere. Only, I had a massage appt. for 3:00 and hadn’t showered yet. I had spent time on the laptop doing lesson plans before I’d even gone out to see my car. What was I going to do?
I wasn’t taking my car in. I would not cancel the massage appt. It was bad enough that I had brought work home this weekend; I didn’t need a crisis situation. Instead, I got a ride. My son and my boyfriend later patched it up, and it was looking better Sunday…not flat. I am so glad I didn’t jump and react with panic. That was NOT going to be my Saturday.
Saturday evening was relaxed. Affter dinner, I fell asleep watching Netflix after my boyfriend left. I had started fantasizing all day about leaving the job, leaving my writerly aspirations, leaving my responsibilities, buying a van and then parking it on a beach where I would live and write poetry on paperbags, convincing someone I was the next Kerouac so they’d bring me tacos and sandwiches a few days a week. On the beach! A great way to leave behind the hamster wheel. Sometimes it seems I’m going nowhere. I’m getting older and I’ve never been to Europe. My body aches after a massage. I stress out just planning a vacation to the Northeast. This tells me I’m riding on the edge a little too much.
On the writing scene, I finished my first edit for Undercurrents in Time (the sequel to Detours in Time) after the paid editor did her edit and notes. Someone is now reading it for me….Excited, I am! I also took at least two webinars this week and read many notes of advice on the GDPR that is passing on 5/25, so I feel like my privacy policies and my e-mail marketing are in compliance. I was stressing about that for a while.
On the topic of stress, I’m still reducing the caffeine intake. I am dreaming of camping out and watching beach sunrises. I suppose that could replace the dream of Europe. Flying in a plane for 12 hours might not be the thing for me. It’s okay. I’m still living my life. I’m just tired right now. Slept until 10 a.m. last Sunday. Guess I needed it! The hamster wheel is a pain, but I am going to imagine it is exercising me, getting me in shape and ready for the next phase of life. I’m going to believe it will be fabulous.
My family and I enjoyed a wonderful Mother’s Day last week. We went on a boat in the St. Augustine waters. Here is my post about my Mom and the wonderful ways she has shaped me as a person: What Mother’s Day Means to Me
Thanks for visiting my Weekend Coffee Share! Visit more Coffee Shares or enter your own for viewing at Eclectic Alli Coffee Share 5/18
Have a great weekend!
May 16, 2018
#RRBC: Author Exposure and Support!
Want to know how I got to be on an online Blog Talk Radio program in August last year? Or how I’ve worked my way up to over 1,000 Twitter followers? How about the author who has posted my author interview on her blog? The truth is, it wasn’t all that difficult, and it wasn’t just because I published a book on Kindle. It all happened thanks to the help of some powerful networking, a tool no indie author could really live without, especially if they want to stay the course in these sometimes lonely waters. Let me tell you about Rave Reviews Book Club!
I imagine one could pay to have a PR company promote them. There are many book promo. sites that will tweet for you. I simply didn’t feel I could foot the bill for such a thing. You may have heard me mention Rave Reviews Book Club before. It is a grounding point for me as an indie author. I truly feel as if I am not alone since finding this community of writers and readers whose main goal is to show one another reciprocal support. Therefore, I may have joined this club in order to receive author support, but I remain, as my responsibility as a writer is to encourage other writers, to respect writing as an art, and to appreciate and promote other worthy authors, after all, I am still a reader and an appreciater of books and great Literature!
How does it work, you might wonder? Rave Reviews Book Club requires a nominal fee once per year, and with that, you are a member! Membership means you will get news of excellent books being published or going on sale, and as a writer, you will get to share your books and news. Your requirement is to follow other members on Twitter, purchase 4 books by fellow members yearly and review them on Amazon, and to share/retweet fellow members’ news of their books. In return, you will be supported with shares of your tweets and book information, you’ll have your book looked at, purchased and reviewed, and at some point, yours will be chosen as the book of the month. This all means much more exposure, what every indie author needs. Besides all of this, they have a blog talk radio show, a channel on Whatsapp (which I haven’t joined yet), and special programs such as the Back to School Blog party. It is amazing just how many types of author support they provide! I haven’t partaken in every little bit, but I just wanted to show that there are so many opportunities for networking and spreading news of your book at this club. After a few months, I had been chosen as Member of the Week, which is a huge Twitter support storm, and about a month later, I was chosen to talk for a few minutes about my book on their Blog Talk Radio show, which was an exciting opportunity!
A.M. Manay, @ammanay on Twitter, a talented fellow member, made a graphic and Twitter blasted it during my Member of the Week “reign.”
I’ve had the opportunity to read and review such excellent authors as Bruce A. Borders, author of Over My Dead Body, http://amzn.to/2d1w7Qw and J.R. Barrett, author of Winnerland, http://amzn.to/2d1uC4H. By the way, I highly suggest you read both of them! These are books I might not have discovered otherwise.
Another type of author support some of the members use is author promotion on their blogs. Check out the site of Kim Cox, http://twitter.com/KimCoxAuthor, fellow published author and RRBC member! This is the link to the author interview she posted on her blog for me: http://kimwrtr.wordpress.com/2016/09/17/the-writers-journey-guest-author-pamela-schloesser-canepa/
Are you interested in the policies and perks of the Rave Reviews Book Club? I encourage you to visit their site and join up at http://ravereviewsbynonniejules.wordpress.com/join-here/ and if you sign up, tell them Pamela Schloesser Canepa sent you there! Yes, they even have perks for getting new members signed up. I seriously love being a part of this Book Club.
Go now, check out Rave Reviews Book Club at the site above!
-Pamela
May 13, 2018
Counter Clockwise. #FFfAW
This week’s photo prompt is provided by Enisa.
Counter Clockwise, (c) Pamela Schloesser Canepa
I’d always been amazed by that watch he said he received from his grandfather. It looked as good as new, and his grandfather had been long gone.
“They didn’t make that sort of gadgetry back in your Grandpa’s day,” I teased.
He just shrugged, explaining very little. His grandmother, whom I’d met, told cryptic stories about the grandpa. He was from elsewhere and therefore unaccepted by her parents. She wasn’t surprised. “They were narrow-minded,” she sniffed disdainfully.
Of course, Nadine was far from narrow-minded. They’d never tell me where his grandfather was from.
Once, while on vacation in France, the watch started acting up, moving counter-clockwise really fast.
“You should take that for repair,” I suggested.
He shook his head no, and held his arm out the window. Unclasping the watch, he let it drop to the street only to be pummeled to pieces by a passing delivery truck.
~149 words
Challenge- Write a flash fiction story of 100-150 words or less in response to a photo prompt. Visit the FFfAW blog for more information and other stories: Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers, May 7th prompt
Thank you for your readership and your comments!
May 12, 2018
What Mother’s Day Means to Me. #mom
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I found this pin in a pile when my mom recently cleaned out her room. Oh, the things she saves! It is about 30 years old and brings back so many memories. My mother is a huge part of who I am as a person, more so than anyone I know. Her faith and her ability to not curse make her seem angelic and very religious, but let me tell you about the quiet rebellion she has instilled in me through all these years. She has truly shaped who I am as a person.
Independence is something I learned from my mom. I always thought she just developed it because my dad left, but I believe she had it long before then. You see, Mom left home after graduating and lived in Denver, working as a telephone operator. A few years later, she got married and had me; then my brother came along five years later. She returned to work when I was 11 or 12 after she and my dad divorced. As a teen, I grew to admire her for that. She was a proud Union member, which this pin represents. When Dad left, she worked to help support us. Today, I am also a proud Union member, which is why I love this pin. I also hate the kitchen, so I totally agree about a woman’s place! Worker’s rights are very important to me as well.
Books, books, books!! I love them, maybe because she taught me to love them. Some things are hard to say, and I now write to get a lot of things out. Part of why I think I love books and writing is because Mom shared this with me. She also read just about anything. Stephen King’s Cujo and Firestarter were lying on her night table, so at an early age (12 or 13), I had read them after finding them in her room. There were ugly things and even profanity inside them. It almost seemed taboo, and I was hungry for even more. Perhaps she reasoned that it was better to prepare me for the world in this way. Maybe, she listened to all those people who told her I was precocious, and just let me read what I wanted. I thank her so much for not trying to keep blinders on me, though I was reading these books long before she let me see R movies….Still, I loved this secret world of knowledge. And life happened, as it does to all of us. It will shock and disappoint, so why restrict our written education? Those books created warriors who arose from horrible situations, except Cujo, which just taught us to be sure your dog gets rabies shots. I hated King for a while, but it sure didn’t stop me from devouring the next Stephen King book!
Thanks Mom, for leaving a door open for me that sparked my imagination, and thank you for being the best example of what I could grow up to be!
I wish everyone a happy and relaxing Mother’s Day!
-Pamela
