Sheila Deeth's Blog, page 99

A little romantic reading for Guy Fawkes night?

I'm still trying to work out how to post my blogtalkradio interview on my blog--I probably need to read  more how-to-do-it articles, but instead I've been reading novels and story-books, trying to catch up on my reviewing backlog. If you want to listen to me talk about Flower Child (and many other things), just follow this link  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/anjuellefloyd/2011/11/02/author-sheila-deeth.
Then, while it plays, you can come back here and see what I've been reading. (Don't forget the coffee too--coffee ratings for content, not quality, since every tale requires a different brew.)

Starting with a wonderful literary tale, The Twoweeks, by Larry Duberstein reflects the many faces of love in the relationship of two people taking a two-week break from their lives. Happily married, but not to each other, the poet and the actor play roles that neither intended, but fate's a kinder playwright than it seems in this intriguing tale. Drink a 4-star complex-flavored coffee while enjoying this complex tale.

Another tale of love is Loving Joe Gallucci, by Kate Genovese, reviewed for poetic monthly magazine. Click on the link for November's edition to find my review. A romance that spans 30 years, high-class political families and a risky restaurant where drugs and alcohol flow, this is a true tale, filled with as many characters and details as full disclosure might require. It offers a very honest look at the consequences of risky behavior and the trials of Hep. C. Read with a 5-star dark intense coffee.

The Key to Charlotte, by E.A. West, reviewed for Nights and Weekends (Nov 10th) is a much shorter romantic tale, perfect for coffee or lunch break with a 2-star bright, lively coffee. Autistic Charlotte is a silent cleaner in her local church when she meets the new youth leader. Will he, who once overcome the letter-blindness of dyslexia, be able to help find her voice? But maybe God has brought them together for more than just words.

And for those with darker romantic thoughts, there's Cursed to Kill, by Claire Ashgrove--also reviewed for Nights and Weekends. The first of an intriguing series where members of an ancient family seek release from the family curse,  this story reunites two lovers once parted when Cian realized he was bound to murder his beloved.Will he hold his darker nature in check? Will she hold her doubts in check long enough to save him? Another short book, enjoy a 5-star dark-flavored coffee with this intensely sensual tale.

And finally, another lunch-break read, Beloved Life-Mate: Dong of the Sidhi by Jodie B. Cooper creates love in a parallel (second dimension) universe of valleys where mythical creatures--including vampires and elves--have been trapped after a war on their home-world. A young teen just coming into her powers is abducted by an ancient leader, and if only her LifeMate weren't trying to kill her... Drink a 1-star light crisp coffee, and be ready to enjoy the glossary after you've finished your meal--it certainly fills in a hugely detailed background to the story.

So... what have these romantic tales to do with Guy Fawkes Night? Well, I guess Guy Fawkes loved his country so much he wanted to blow up parliament, so why not read about the many guises of love while remembering him?

BLOG TOUR: Blogtalkradio interview TODAY !

HELP! I'm on internet radio today, talking on a telephone (never my favorite thing) about Flower Child and whatever else comes up. I'd love to hear from you.


Anjuelle Floyd interviews Sheila Deeth
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/anjuellefloyd/2011/11/02/author-sheila-deeth
on her show BookTalk, Creativity and Family Matters
airing live at 12 Noon PT, 1pm MT, 2pm CT, and 3pm ET

Call in on (347) 215-7740 

Come Back to Me! 99 cents

No, I'm not asking you to pay for my blog tour, but there's a lovely book called Come Back to Me being released today with a great 99 cent deal. Head on over to The Women's Literary Cafe and you'll find that's not the only deal--a fantastic launch party and really good read.

Melissa Foster, is the award-winning author of Chasing Amanda and Megan's Way, and you can tell I enjoy her writing since I've already read all three books. Click the links for...

my review of Megan's Way
my review of Chasing Amanda and
my review of Come Back to Me.

Then go on over and enjoy the party! http://www.womensliterarycafe.com/ for the 99 cent book event, and http://www.melissafoster.com/ for more about the author, plus a really neat video trailer!



Come Back to Me tells the tale of a photographer in Iraq and a wife back home, separated by reports of the photographer's death. Tess determines not to believe the reports while everyone else says move on. Meanwhile Beau is just as determined to "come back" to her. Rescued by an Iraqi family, befriended by a handsome client, both Tess and Beau have their loyalties tested in this tale. A young teen strays from his family, a young man faces loss... and a country sees its own identity changed. This novel explores love and loss, of people, hope, culture and land, with beautiful descriptions, great characters, and a truly absorbing tale.

BLOG TOUR: Flower Child meets a bit o' sunshine

It's the end of the month. The Flower Child Blog Tour is almost done, and Ruthi Cox is celebrating my book with a wonderful review on her blog, http://ruthireads.blogspot.com/2011/10/flower-child-by-author-sheila-deeth.html. Thank you for reading, Ruthi--especially thank you for reading an ebook--and thank you for such a lovely touching review.

While you're on Ruthi's blog, don't forget to look at some of her lovely poetic creations http://www.cafepress.com/abitosunshine and check out her amazing Squidoo lenses http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Ruthi

Ruth Cox believes "a bit o' sunshine can always be found peekin' out o' the clouds."  I've certainly enjoyed the sunshine of everyone's encouragement during this blog tour. Thank you for following and supporting me, and I hope you enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it.


Still to come: YES! THERE's MORE!

Anjuelle Floyd will interview me on Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 on her radio show Book Talk, Creativity and Family Matters .
You can find the interview at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/anjuellefloyd/2011/11/02/author-sheila-deeth

Call in time is 12 Noon PT, 1pm MT, 2pm CT, and 3pm ET.

 and the call-in number is: (347) 215-7740.

If you want to join in with questions or comments, you can write something in the comment section on the show page (above) or phone in on the day and talk to me.Looking forward to meeting you there! And thank you Anjuelle!

BLOG TOUR: Where it all began

[image error] Yes, really. This is where it all began, with a cup of tea and a wonderful author treating me as if my writing really mattered... Visit Jane Kirpatrick's very appropriately named Words of Encouragement blog at http://janeswordsofencouragement.blogspot.com/ to find out more.

I love Jane Kirkpatrick's books (see my review of The Daughter's Walk). I love Jane's talks (see my report on her visit to Willamette Writers). I love the way she lifts people up--historical people whose stories she tells, and contemporary people who she leads so gently into stories. I love how her novels take well-researched history and bring it to meaningful life, with women empowered and genuine lessons learned. And I love my favorite quote from her talk--History tells us what happened and when, but stories tell us why.

At the end of the Willamette Writers talk, back in 2008, Jane Kirkpatrick encouraged aspiring authors in her audience to think of a clock face. Twelve o'clock represents really smart; three is kind of smart; six, not so smart; and nine is really rather stupid. Then ask yourself, what's 11:59, and can anyone tell the difference between that and 12? Keep writing, she said, so I did.

Thank you Jane. And yes, this is where it all began, with words of encouragement and a cup of tea.

BLOG TOUR: That first book...

Today my Flower Child blog tour stops at Anne Petzer's blog, celebrating the end of Anne's first blog month with a post about "my first book." Of course, my first problem was working out which book to write about. Does that pile of paper, hand-written in multi-colored biro and tied up with string in a cardboard box count? Go to http://annehpetzer.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/introducing-shelia-deeth/ and find out.














While you're there, you might want to read some of Anne's other posts--especially if you like cats.

(These links are for you Mum! I hope they work.)

http://annehpetzer.wordpress.com/2011/10/01/welcome/
http://annehpetzer.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/feline-fancy/
http://annehpetzer.wordpress.com/2011/10/22/zvonek-pet-status/

Anne Petzer is the author of the Zvonek 8 series, Cat on Thin Ice, Cat Among the Pigeons, Mau-ow, Return of the Rats, and The Miracle of the Carp, available in two volumes from Gypsy Shadow: http://www.gypsyshadow.com/AnneHPetzer.html With Christmas coming, these sound like purr-fect treats for cat-lovers.

BLOG TOUR: Kimberly Brock asks some great questions

Flower Child's blog tour visits Kimberly Brock's blog today. Kimberly's review of Flower Child brought tears to my eyes--thank you Kimberly! She's interviewed me too, and her interview questions certainly made me think: http://kimberlybrockblog.com/2011/10/28/the-needs-of-other-souls-sheila-deeth-interview/

Later today (6pm PT), I hope to meet you for a live chat on Gather.com. I don't have the direct link yet, but I'll post it as soon as I get it. The chat is advertized here: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474980420916



Kimberly Brock is the author of The River Witch, a women's fiction novel to be released by Bell Bridge Books in late May 2012. She also writes contemporary gothic novels with elements of romance, suspense and historical adventure.

Her first publication, a short story in Summer in Mossy Creek, is part of an anthology published in mass market by Berkley Books.  She has published in parenting magazines and won numerous awards, most notably first place in the Low Country Romance Writer's Jasmine Contest and the Georgia Romance Writer's Maggie Award for Single Title Fiction. She lives with her husband of fifteen years and their three children, north of Atlanta where she is working on her next novel.

Meanwhile she runs a great blog--be sure to visit some of her older posts to find more authors and more fascinating interviews.

BLOG TOUR: Not all ghosts are scary

Okay, it's nearly Halloween. But this isn't a scary ghost story, and neither is Flower Child. I'm visiting Tracey Pacelli's Little Red Writer blog today with a post on paranormal experiences. I hope you'll like it--I promise, not a single fright in sight. Click the link to find the post at http://traceypacelli.com/.

While you're clicking links, you might like to check out Gail Lewis's insightful review of Flower Child on http://summitbookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/10/flower-child-by-sheila-deeth_26.htm

and Anjuelle Floyd's interview with me at http://www.anjuellefloyd.com/2011/10/26/author-interview-shelia-deeth/ 

Tracey Pacelli's latest Young Adult novel, Time Warped has just come out from Gypsy Shadow (in print and ebook form) and looks like a truly intriguing tale: Here's the blurb...

 
In her bible-thumping town, Lanie Landry is a teen misfit without a cause. After a tragic accident that kills her adopted mother, Lanie escapes from the hospital where she was admitted for psychological observation. At a service station she accepts shelter from a kindly old woman. The next morning she awakens to find herself in the violent ward of an insane asylum in 1969. How can she escape this horrible nightmare? Remarkably, in the most awful of all places, Lanie finds her biological mother and falls in love with a mysterious inmate.



Visit http://www.timewarped.net/ to find out more--Lanie certainly sounds like an interesting character.

BLOG TOUR: Excerpt, Book covers, and Editing, Oh my!

There's a lovely review of Flower Child on Summit Book Reviews today: http://summitbookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/10/flower-child-by-sheila-deeth_26.html, plus a 100-word excerpt on Ruth Cox's blog  http://ruthireads.blogspot.com/2011/10/wow-100-words-for-flower-child.html . Thank you Gail and Ruthi!






Meanwhile I'm putting Divide by Zero on a diet before sending the manuscript to my editor at Stonegarden. The novel comes out next July and already has a gorgeous cover from Peter Joseph Swanson (click on the link to see Peter's excellent books and book covers! I'm totally amazed that he's done a cover for me!)




A friend asked what diet I was feeding my novel on, so here goes:
First I re-read the manuscript, looking for obvious duplication: "She put the cup down, laying it gently on the table" becomes "She placed the cup gently on the table." (4 words removed.)Then I used my word processor to find every " And ". Admittedly this doesn't find "and" but it successfully avoids "hand" and "grand" so it's not quite so overwhelming. Some of the pages looked awfully yellow with their "And "s highlighted, but they're much whiter now.Next find " But "And "that"And "was"And "were"And "Then" And "So "And "Meanwhile" too.Meanwhile I found and removed lots more ands and buts, shortened sentences, and deleted unnecessary adjectives and adverbs in passing ("dark night" and "crept slowly" for example). I'm rereading (again) on a quest for repeated words ("she said" "he said") and hope to finish, maybe, next weekend.4,000 words removed so far--it's a long slow process, but I hope it'll read a lot better when I'm done. So that's my novel diet.

BLOG TOUR: Interview, Book covers, and Editing, Oh my!

Today I'll be interviewed by Anjuelle Floyd, author of The House, Keeper of Secrets and The Road to Ibadan, and host of Book Talk, Creativity & Family Matters , the BlogTalk Radio discussion show with artists, entrepreneurs and authors that broaden our understanding of the creative process, address the importance of family, and highlight the impact of books in our lives. Anjuelle's blog can be found at http://www.anjuellefloyd.com/blog/. For a longer interview, you'll need to listen to BlogTalk Radio on November 2nd when I'll meet Anjuelle over the telephone (more details later).




Meanwhile I'm putting Divide by Zero on a diet before sending the manuscript to my editor at Stonegarden. The novel comes out next July and already has a gorgeous cover from Peter Joseph Swanson (click on the link to see Peter's excellent books and book covers! I'm totally amazed that he's done a cover for me!)




A friend asked what diet I was feeding my novel on, so here goes:
First I re-read the manuscript, looking for obvious duplication: "She put the cup down, laying it gently on the table" becomes "She placed the cup gently on the table." (4 words removed.)Then I used my word processor to find every " And ". Admittedly this doesn't find "and" but it successfully avoids "hand" and "grand" so it's not quite so overwhelming. Some of the pages looked awfully yellow with their "And "s highlighted, but they're much whiter now.Next find " But "And "that"And "was"And "were"And "Then" And "So "And "Meanwhile" too.Meanwhile I found and removed lots more ands and buts, shortened sentences, and deleted unnecessary adjectives and adverbs in passing ("dark night" and "crept slowly" for example). I'm rereading (again) on a quest for repeated words ("she said" "he said") and hope to finish, maybe, next weekend.4,000 words removed so far--it's a long slow process, but I hope it'll read a lot better when I'm done. So that's my novel diet.