Jacqueline Hopkins's Blog, page 4
July 31, 2012
250 word flash fiction short
Indies Unlimited holds a weekly 250 word flash fiction challenge. I have entered a few of them.
Here is the first one I submitted on January 22, 2012.
Skipping Rocks and Practical Jokes
I tried teaching my kids how to skip rocks on the rivers, bays and creeks whenever I took them camping. My daughter tried but only got lucky with one or two that magically went on and on of their own accord.
People who knew me, knew I had a penchant for playing practical jokes on people. My daughter was always trying to get me back. She loved hearing about the time I hooked up a fog horn to my friend's furnance; another time, during a friend's wedding, I kidnapped the bride for a few hours; during another friend's wedding, I put saran wrap on the toilet seat, short-sheeted the bed and put millions of chads in the air conditioner and shag carpeting.
My daughter came to visit me soon after my wife passed. She took me out to the bay and we skipped rocks and laughed until I couldn't stand anymore. I was really impressed with how she had learned to skip rocks after all the years of me teaching her and I couldn't figure out how she made almost every one skip three or four times. Many years later, during a low tide, I went for a walk, still lonely after my wife's passing. I walked among the rocks as best I could and looking down I saw a round rock, flat on one side and knew she had gotten me back after all these years with a man-made skipping stone. I smiled and now it's time to be with my wife.
Here is the first one I submitted on January 22, 2012.
Skipping Rocks and Practical Jokes
I tried teaching my kids how to skip rocks on the rivers, bays and creeks whenever I took them camping. My daughter tried but only got lucky with one or two that magically went on and on of their own accord.
People who knew me, knew I had a penchant for playing practical jokes on people. My daughter was always trying to get me back. She loved hearing about the time I hooked up a fog horn to my friend's furnance; another time, during a friend's wedding, I kidnapped the bride for a few hours; during another friend's wedding, I put saran wrap on the toilet seat, short-sheeted the bed and put millions of chads in the air conditioner and shag carpeting.
My daughter came to visit me soon after my wife passed. She took me out to the bay and we skipped rocks and laughed until I couldn't stand anymore. I was really impressed with how she had learned to skip rocks after all the years of me teaching her and I couldn't figure out how she made almost every one skip three or four times. Many years later, during a low tide, I went for a walk, still lonely after my wife's passing. I walked among the rocks as best I could and looking down I saw a round rock, flat on one side and knew she had gotten me back after all these years with a man-made skipping stone. I smiled and now it's time to be with my wife.
July 29, 2012
Sunday Mash-Up: 07/22-28/2012
Sunday Mash-Up: 07/22-28/2012
Lots of great links all in one place for authors to learn more about the craft of writing, publishing, taxes, and blogging on Rhonda Hopkins blog.
Lots of great links all in one place for authors to learn more about the craft of writing, publishing, taxes, and blogging on Rhonda Hopkins blog.
July 28, 2012
On the Road Again...Or is it the end of the road?
So my road trip, or lack thereof, took a huge detour.
As you can see from my previous post, I was looking forward to getting on the ferry with my bug and cat. I was looking forward to the solitude of being alone with my thoughts to either write, edit or just sit and watch the beautiful scenery of the Inside Passage go by. I'm also a photographer, too so the opportunity to have taken a lot of pictures didn't happen either.
I ended up having to fly out of Sitka a week earlier than planned. You see, my mother has a home on a secluded, very remote isolated island in SE Alaska with a population of about 40 to 50 year round residents, and the only way there is by float plane or boat. She has been living alone for the past seven years since my father passed away in 2005. And I could not get her to move from there no matter how hard I tried.
Her life style ended up being quite sedentary (I might write a post about how bad this is for her and me another time), more so than mine. Around May 2nd she fell at night, couldn't get up and laid there through the night until the next morning when she was so luckily found by the lady who cleans house for her. My mother had to be medivaced to a hospital in Bellingham from Ketchikan and had surgery early that same morning to unclog arteries in her right leg. I couldn't get there for a couple more days. My sister drove over from Idaho with her daughter to be with our mom until I could get there.
The day I left Sitka, a friend helped me deliver my car to the ferry early because another friend was going to drive it on for me who was also driving his vehicle on. That made it so I didn't have to wait for the time to drive it and I could get ready for my flight to leave at 6pm. After packing, the friend took me to the Moose Lodge for drinks before I had to catch my flight. But myself and my car almost didn't make either mode of transportation do to a stupid mistake by none other than moi.
When I had checked the car in for the ferry, and drove it into the correct boarding lane, I took the ticket with me when I left the car there and drove back into town. After about an hour or so, I got a call from the ferry boarding personnel who wondered what happened to the ticket. So I found out the sticker they give you for the window wasn't enough. I had to borrow the friends truck to run the ticket back out about the seven miles to the ferry with the ticket and make it back in time to finish my drink and get a ride to the airport. Made it in time to also see my grandson before I left. I miss that little guy.
So I get to Seattle where a friend picks me up. I spend the night at her house in Kent and the next day she drives me over two hours to Bellingham where my mother is in the hospital. Things with my mom were touch and go for a few days as she ended up in ICU because her lungs were full of fluids from the docs giving her way too much because she was dehydrated when she got there. While she was in ICU, my sister and niece had to leave to go back to work, leaving me there with no place to stay but in the in hospital with mom. I switched cars with my sister because she has a SUV and when mom would be released, I would have to drive her to Idaho and she needed a place to lay down. But after another two weeks of being there, she was finally released with a lot of memory loss and disorientation and not able to walk without a walker. So even though she was able to go home to my sister's house, an eight hour ride in a car was totally out of the question. I put her on a plane with a wheelchair and flight attendant help and I drove by myself across Washington.
Driving by yourself for long hours helps you get your mind back to where it needs to be sometimes. I found out, after listening to some of Cher's greatest hits, there are a couple of her songs I could listen to while writing and it wouldn't disturb me. See, I don't normally listen to music when I'm writing. I usually have the tv on in the background because I'm usually writing while hubby is watching tv, and now I'm doing it while taking care of my mother in my sister's house.
Having been living in Sitka, Alaska for the past ten years where there is only about 14 miles of road was strange, having moved there from Idaho in the first place. When I first got there, I remember how sad it was going to be that I couldn't just jump in my car and drive somewhere further than seven miles in one direction (N to S) and maybe only one mile at the city's widest point (E to W), and the speed limit at most was 45 out of the city limits. Now I am back in the lower 48, driving over 400 miles to get to my sister's house and I remember thinking how nice it was to be able to drive long distances again, and I easily fall back into driving fast. I love to drive fast. I really think I should have been a race car driver. And this is where perhaps my end of the road could very easily happen. I've driven in some places and so fast that I've even scared myself, so even though I don't like to talk about death and dying (scared to death to talk about it actually -- could be another blog post, but I seriously doubt it), I still can't seem to keep from driving fast and that is how I will probably end up leaving this world.
I have ended up setting a very bad example for both my kids, because they like to drive fast. Like most kids who believe they know more than you do, I can't even give them advice about a particular road and how they need to be careful driving on it, especially in the winter season, because they won't listen to me. I'm the one with more driving experience, but because they see me try to get away with the way I drive, they believe they can, too.
Now that I am kind of settled in at my sister's house, my son brought me the two pallets of my household goods I shipped from Alaska. I have been slowly going through the boxes (something I should have been doing all along while I was in Sitka) of junk, old papers, receipts, and my very old writing stuff. I found my notebook from the creative writing class I attended back in 1991 and the next few blog posts you will see will be from a few writing exercises. I hope you enjoy them. I hope to be adding some new ones like what it is like to be living with someone who is in the early stages of Alzheimer's, what its like to be living with your sister instead of your husband and hopefully some more cheerful things.
So tell me. Do you like to drive fast? Do you like to go on road trips to clear your head? Do you learn anything new about yourself when you take a road trip?
As you can see from my previous post, I was looking forward to getting on the ferry with my bug and cat. I was looking forward to the solitude of being alone with my thoughts to either write, edit or just sit and watch the beautiful scenery of the Inside Passage go by. I'm also a photographer, too so the opportunity to have taken a lot of pictures didn't happen either.
I ended up having to fly out of Sitka a week earlier than planned. You see, my mother has a home on a secluded, very remote isolated island in SE Alaska with a population of about 40 to 50 year round residents, and the only way there is by float plane or boat. She has been living alone for the past seven years since my father passed away in 2005. And I could not get her to move from there no matter how hard I tried.
Her life style ended up being quite sedentary (I might write a post about how bad this is for her and me another time), more so than mine. Around May 2nd she fell at night, couldn't get up and laid there through the night until the next morning when she was so luckily found by the lady who cleans house for her. My mother had to be medivaced to a hospital in Bellingham from Ketchikan and had surgery early that same morning to unclog arteries in her right leg. I couldn't get there for a couple more days. My sister drove over from Idaho with her daughter to be with our mom until I could get there.
The day I left Sitka, a friend helped me deliver my car to the ferry early because another friend was going to drive it on for me who was also driving his vehicle on. That made it so I didn't have to wait for the time to drive it and I could get ready for my flight to leave at 6pm. After packing, the friend took me to the Moose Lodge for drinks before I had to catch my flight. But myself and my car almost didn't make either mode of transportation do to a stupid mistake by none other than moi.
When I had checked the car in for the ferry, and drove it into the correct boarding lane, I took the ticket with me when I left the car there and drove back into town. After about an hour or so, I got a call from the ferry boarding personnel who wondered what happened to the ticket. So I found out the sticker they give you for the window wasn't enough. I had to borrow the friends truck to run the ticket back out about the seven miles to the ferry with the ticket and make it back in time to finish my drink and get a ride to the airport. Made it in time to also see my grandson before I left. I miss that little guy.
So I get to Seattle where a friend picks me up. I spend the night at her house in Kent and the next day she drives me over two hours to Bellingham where my mother is in the hospital. Things with my mom were touch and go for a few days as she ended up in ICU because her lungs were full of fluids from the docs giving her way too much because she was dehydrated when she got there. While she was in ICU, my sister and niece had to leave to go back to work, leaving me there with no place to stay but in the in hospital with mom. I switched cars with my sister because she has a SUV and when mom would be released, I would have to drive her to Idaho and she needed a place to lay down. But after another two weeks of being there, she was finally released with a lot of memory loss and disorientation and not able to walk without a walker. So even though she was able to go home to my sister's house, an eight hour ride in a car was totally out of the question. I put her on a plane with a wheelchair and flight attendant help and I drove by myself across Washington.
Driving by yourself for long hours helps you get your mind back to where it needs to be sometimes. I found out, after listening to some of Cher's greatest hits, there are a couple of her songs I could listen to while writing and it wouldn't disturb me. See, I don't normally listen to music when I'm writing. I usually have the tv on in the background because I'm usually writing while hubby is watching tv, and now I'm doing it while taking care of my mother in my sister's house.
Having been living in Sitka, Alaska for the past ten years where there is only about 14 miles of road was strange, having moved there from Idaho in the first place. When I first got there, I remember how sad it was going to be that I couldn't just jump in my car and drive somewhere further than seven miles in one direction (N to S) and maybe only one mile at the city's widest point (E to W), and the speed limit at most was 45 out of the city limits. Now I am back in the lower 48, driving over 400 miles to get to my sister's house and I remember thinking how nice it was to be able to drive long distances again, and I easily fall back into driving fast. I love to drive fast. I really think I should have been a race car driver. And this is where perhaps my end of the road could very easily happen. I've driven in some places and so fast that I've even scared myself, so even though I don't like to talk about death and dying (scared to death to talk about it actually -- could be another blog post, but I seriously doubt it), I still can't seem to keep from driving fast and that is how I will probably end up leaving this world.
I have ended up setting a very bad example for both my kids, because they like to drive fast. Like most kids who believe they know more than you do, I can't even give them advice about a particular road and how they need to be careful driving on it, especially in the winter season, because they won't listen to me. I'm the one with more driving experience, but because they see me try to get away with the way I drive, they believe they can, too.
Now that I am kind of settled in at my sister's house, my son brought me the two pallets of my household goods I shipped from Alaska. I have been slowly going through the boxes (something I should have been doing all along while I was in Sitka) of junk, old papers, receipts, and my very old writing stuff. I found my notebook from the creative writing class I attended back in 1991 and the next few blog posts you will see will be from a few writing exercises. I hope you enjoy them. I hope to be adding some new ones like what it is like to be living with someone who is in the early stages of Alzheimer's, what its like to be living with your sister instead of your husband and hopefully some more cheerful things.
So tell me. Do you like to drive fast? Do you like to go on road trips to clear your head? Do you learn anything new about yourself when you take a road trip?
April 29, 2012
My Dream ...
Well, it is soon to be that time again where I am on the road -- traveling/moving to another place. I have always loved to travel. I have driven across the USA twice in my life. But now that I am getting older, I am not sure how this traveling will work out. I have been so sedentary for the past eight years working at a job as a technical editor/writer and wore many other hats, its time to do something else before my health deteriorates.
I am hoping to leave on May 15, 2012. My road trip will start out in my red VW bug driving from my trailer on Sawmill Creek Road towards and through the town of Sitka, then out to the other end of the road (Halibut Point Road) to get on the ferry.
I will be on the M/V Colomubia for three days with no internet or cell phone service, unless they have installed the poles in the ocean recently.
I will also have my daughter's cat, Trip, who is not an outside cat and one who is not too wild about riding in a car. I may also have my daughter with me, unless she decides to fly back.
This will be a time to get a lot of reading/writing/editing in. After arriving in Bellingham, Washington, I will be driving to northern Idaho to see my son and my granddaughter, Sparrow Nova (named after my Choctaw Great-grandmother) Rain. She is one year old, doesn't talk yet, but has learned how to say yes bending her body forward and shaking it or saying no by moving her hand back and forth as you can see in the video. I can't wait to see her. I will spend a few days with them, then drive to Lewiston, Idaho to see my brother and then to Orofino, Idaho where my sister and niece lives. My niece will be graduating high school on June 2 and it will be great to attend that ceremony.
Then on the road again, heading east through Montana to get to Willison, ND where my husband is working as a mechanic in the oil fields. I have not seen him since February 21, when he left on the ferry and drove to Williston looking for a job. He arrived there on a Sunday, found a job on Monday and started working on Tuesday and has only taken about four days off from work. He has been working 10, 12, 17 hour days seven days a week. But he is making pretty could money and I am hoping it will be enough where I won't have to go back to work and can sit home and write more books. That is my dream.
I am hoping to leave on May 15, 2012. My road trip will start out in my red VW bug driving from my trailer on Sawmill Creek Road towards and through the town of Sitka, then out to the other end of the road (Halibut Point Road) to get on the ferry. 
I will be on the M/V Colomubia for three days with no internet or cell phone service, unless they have installed the poles in the ocean recently.
I will also have my daughter's cat, Trip, who is not an outside cat and one who is not too wild about riding in a car. I may also have my daughter with me, unless she decides to fly back.This will be a time to get a lot of reading/writing/editing in. After arriving in Bellingham, Washington, I will be driving to northern Idaho to see my son and my granddaughter, Sparrow Nova (named after my Choctaw Great-grandmother) Rain. She is one year old, doesn't talk yet, but has learned how to say yes bending her body forward and shaking it or saying no by moving her hand back and forth as you can see in the video. I can't wait to see her. I will spend a few days with them, then drive to Lewiston, Idaho to see my brother and then to Orofino, Idaho where my sister and niece lives. My niece will be graduating high school on June 2 and it will be great to attend that ceremony.
Then on the road again, heading east through Montana to get to Willison, ND where my husband is working as a mechanic in the oil fields. I have not seen him since February 21, when he left on the ferry and drove to Williston looking for a job. He arrived there on a Sunday, found a job on Monday and started working on Tuesday and has only taken about four days off from work. He has been working 10, 12, 17 hour days seven days a week. But he is making pretty could money and I am hoping it will be enough where I won't have to go back to work and can sit home and write more books. That is my dream.
December 17, 2011
A Wonderful, Shocking Surprise
I have been writing for a very long time, not always consecutively when life got in my way, and it is often a long, lonely journey. Then there are days we feel worthy and feel our writing is perhaps starting to be recognized when we receive wonderful news in our email such as the one I received yesterday morning (around 8:30 am Alaska time).
IndieReader.com emailed me to tell me this:
Hi,
IndieReader is now providing USA Today's "Happily Ever After" blog with indie ebook recommendations. And we suggested yours!
The post goes live at 6 pm today. http://books.usatoday.com/happyeveraf...
Have a good weekend!
Best,
Amy
Well, of course I was ecstatic. What wonderful news to receive first thing in the morning. Merry Christmas to me!! I was so ecstatic that I tried the link she provided and of course, it didn't work. So I emailed Amy back right away, thanking her profusely for recommending my book, but unfortunately the link didn't work.
You would think that if a writer can write, that she could also read, right? Wrong!!! I definitely couldn't read anything right that morning. While I was patiently waiting to hear back from her, I read the email again and then I saw it. The link would not be live until 6 pm that day which meant 2pm Alaska time. I was so embarrassed for having missed that minute detail, so I immediately emailed Amy back, apologizing for not seeing the 6pm and again, thanking her profusely.
So now I had about 5 hours to wait until the link went live. What to do until then? Well, of course, I was at work and had work to do, but I couldn't resist telling a few special friends on facebook and contacted my friend Stephen Hise to ask him if we could post something on his blog, Indies Unlimited and he said of course. And he is such a great guy and wonderful friend that he waited right along with me until I gave him the go ahead to go live with his post here.
http://www.indiesunlimited.com
And if you want a great book to read, you can't go wrong reading Stephen Hise's Upgrade
And then my friend Robert Bennett posted this on facebook: My friend, Jacqueline Hopkins-Walton, just had her book reviewed in USA Today. Check it out: http://books.usatoday.com/happyeveraf...
And he posted that before I could post anything anywhere, which was awesome he saw it on USAToday. Then I started posting the link everywhere and on every group I belong to on Facebook. Here is the link on USA Today
Happily Ever After blog as a recommended read.I'm just a little bit disappointed that my cover what not displayed with the recommendation, but I am not complaining. This was a such an honor to have my book recommended as an ebook read and the review itself was superb and wonderfully written as well. Thank you IndieReader Peggy La Vake and USA Today for posting.
IndieReader.com emailed me to tell me this:
Hi,
IndieReader is now providing USA Today's "Happily Ever After" blog with indie ebook recommendations. And we suggested yours!
The post goes live at 6 pm today. http://books.usatoday.com/happyeveraf...
Have a good weekend!
Best,
Amy
Well, of course I was ecstatic. What wonderful news to receive first thing in the morning. Merry Christmas to me!! I was so ecstatic that I tried the link she provided and of course, it didn't work. So I emailed Amy back right away, thanking her profusely for recommending my book, but unfortunately the link didn't work.
You would think that if a writer can write, that she could also read, right? Wrong!!! I definitely couldn't read anything right that morning. While I was patiently waiting to hear back from her, I read the email again and then I saw it. The link would not be live until 6 pm that day which meant 2pm Alaska time. I was so embarrassed for having missed that minute detail, so I immediately emailed Amy back, apologizing for not seeing the 6pm and again, thanking her profusely.
So now I had about 5 hours to wait until the link went live. What to do until then? Well, of course, I was at work and had work to do, but I couldn't resist telling a few special friends on facebook and contacted my friend Stephen Hise to ask him if we could post something on his blog, Indies Unlimited and he said of course. And he is such a great guy and wonderful friend that he waited right along with me until I gave him the go ahead to go live with his post here.
http://www.indiesunlimited.com
And if you want a great book to read, you can't go wrong reading Stephen Hise's UpgradeAnd then my friend Robert Bennett posted this on facebook: My friend, Jacqueline Hopkins-Walton, just had her book reviewed in USA Today. Check it out: http://books.usatoday.com/happyeveraf...
And he posted that before I could post anything anywhere, which was awesome he saw it on USAToday. Then I started posting the link everywhere and on every group I belong to on Facebook. Here is the link on USA Today
Happily Ever After blog as a recommended read.I'm just a little bit disappointed that my cover what not displayed with the recommendation, but I am not complaining. This was a such an honor to have my book recommended as an ebook read and the review itself was superb and wonderfully written as well. Thank you IndieReader Peggy La Vake and USA Today for posting.
November 5, 2011
New Cover
Well, I decided to go with a new cover for my book. I hope you like it. Meet Jimmy Thomas, male cover model.
I thank Laura Redmond of England so much for designing the first cover I asked her to design. Everything on the cover was at my request and she did a fantastic job, but perhaps I am better at writing than knowing what should be on the cover of my books. I had a lot of feed back that the flowered heart should not be on there, that the cover looked more like a cartoon, and one reviewer's daughter asked her why Ken and Barbie with brunette hair were on the front cover.
With the reviews I have been getting and a lack of sales lately, I was wondering if part of the book that needed changing was the cover, and the other part was editing. Though my book had gone through some editors twenty years ago, perhaps it needed to go through some modern day editing. It is so easy for an indie author to edit their book again and again and again, if necessary, and that is what is so great about self-publishing -- we can take our books down and edit the heck out of them and hopefully make them better. So this week-end, I am editing Wilderness Heart with some changes recommended by editors and reviewers, especially taking out most of the adverbs. I had one person say they had a hard time reading it and would not review it because I had way too many adverbs and they were not fond of them. When did it change in writing that adverbs were not very well liked in fiction writing? When did it change that we should not put two spaces after a period? Anyway, I am from the old school of the way we were taught in school, but I am hopefully learning to change with the times and make my writing better. I can always learn as long as my brain is working and functioning properly. Without our reviewers, where would we be so I want to take the opportunity now to thank everyone who has reviewed my book and any reviewers of my work in the future.
Anyway, I hope you like the new cover and if you have't read it yet, I hope you enjoy my first work in light contemporary romantic fiction, a book to take your mind off your real world and delve into my 1970s Idaho world.
July 16, 2011
How to Make Bookmarks
Bookmarker I made this bookmark to give with the paperback version of my book, Wilderness Heart. I used Microsoft Publisher to design the layout. The front I did by using the front cover my book and then said who I was, where I lived, name of book and a tiny bit about it, and my email address. I did this layout 8 times to print out 8 bookmarkers on an 8.5"x11" good quality paper. For the back side, I put all the places it can be purchased (at the time I designed the bookmark, though it can be purchased from more places now) for all ereaders and paperback. I take them to the local business supply store to be laminated.
So I hand out bookmarks to people I know, when they ask about my book, and ask them to take a few to hand out to their friends who might like to read it. I also mailed quite a few to friends and family members who have lots of friends and asked them to hand them out if they liked my book.
The cost per bookmark ends up being about $0.25. But I also have a great boss who lets me use his nice printer and his ink. He is very supportive of my writing, probably in hopes it will be a long while before I quit working for him, but he even brought me in some good quality paper to print them on without having to pay him back. So the only cost to me is the laminating. I use the 5 mil at a cost of $2.00/sheet.
I have kept the layout so that when I get other books written and published, I can paste the new book info over the old.
Autograph Sticker The tiny autographed sticker I made by finding a graphic of a quill pen, and using microsoft publisher again, I place it on a layout to print about 30 or so per sheet after I inserted the small text box 'Autographed Copy'. I printed it out on sticker paper that does not have a lot of sticky stuff on it like large blank name labels. In other words, I used a sticker paper that would come off easily so it didn't leave a sticky residue on the book when removed. I place these stickers on the front, usually on the lower right or lower left of the book. I put these stickers on books I have sold to a local bookstore, local grocery stores that sell books and gift shops like the airport gift shop who bought 5 with option to buy more when he sells out of them.
To cut them in a circle, I use my circle cutter from my Creative Memory scrapbooking supplies.
Would you like to give out Bookmarkers and get some autograph stickers? There a few places online like vista print and others that can also make these things for you. I checked them out, but since I have a great boss, it was cost effective for me to do my own and I love working with Microsoft Publisher and I used it to make a company brochure for the boss. I have used that program for over 20 years; used it when I first starting making web sites for real estate agents.
Anyway, if anyone is interested in getting some made to hand out with their books, email me at iam14choctaw at hotmail dot com or ChoctawJac at gmail dot com and be sure to include a graphic of your book in good resolution so it will print out nice and still look like your book (readable when printed out the size of 1 3/4" x 2 3/4"), information you want on the front below the book cover, and all the places it can be purchased on the back (if that is what you want on there) or the information you want on the back, if anything. I also use Paint Shop Pro X at work to work with pictures/graphics so if your cover needs to be resized, lightened, etc I can do that, too.
If you want the same autographed sticker that I use, let me know if you want any and how many.
Cost Autograph stickers - approximately 20-25 per 8.5"x11" sheet - $2/sheet, cut in circles. ($0.08/sticker)
Bookmarker - 8 per 8.5"x11" sheet - without lamination and cutting - $1.25/sheet ($0.16/bookmarker), but you will need to take the full size sheet, uncut, to an office supply store to have them laminated and cut.
Bookmarker - 8 per 8.5"x11" sheet - WITH lamination and cutting - $2.50/sheet ($0.31/bookmarker)
Payment for the above can be by paypal at iam14choctaw at hotmail dot com or check in the mail. In your email, let me know how you are paying for it.
Thank you for stopping by.
Even if you don't order any made, I hope you found this post helpful and got some ideas of what to do to further market your book. If you have Microsoft Publisher and would like the layout I used, I will sell it to you for $5.00 and I accept paypal at iam14choctaw at hotmail dot com. Just email me and let know you want the layout so you will always have it to use on all your books.
June 20, 2011
ANNOUCING Autumn Rosen and her new book My Novel Affair
I am pleased and proud to introduce Author Autumn Rosen and her newly released novel: My Novel Affair! I was so pleased when Autumn picked me to be a beta reader for her newest book and I have to tell you that if you love comedy and want to laugh while you read, this is the book that will do it. I rarely laugh out loud when I am reading, but Autumn brought me out of my shell when I read her book and I laughed. It is funny, it is pure witticism at its best, and you will cry but I think you will fall in love with Autumn Rosen and her books if she keeps writing them like this.Jacque - Do you have any quirks or superstitions that have become as integral to good writing as plot and character?
Autumn - Never be cliché or too obvious, I try to avoid those two things. Strange as it sounds, I have to have gum to write. I buy it constantly; my desk drawer is filled with it. It's usually the only time I chew it.
Jacque - Are your stories plot or character driven?
Autumn - My stories tend to be character driven. I believe that the emotion of a character can move a story along in a more realistic manner. Emotion can change so quickly and in unexpected ways, it allows you to keep a reader interested.
Jacque - Everyone has their own dream. What's yours… best seller, feature film adaption, fame, riches, Oprah, Pulitzer?
Autumn - I would love to see my work on the big screen. I'm not in it for the money or fame. I would love nothing better than to enter a theatre and stand in the back, to take in the reactions of a crowd watching my story unfold, that's what I'm after.
Jacque - Where do you get your ideas?
Autumn - Different places, my first novel My Four Fathers & Eleanor was from a dream, as most of my books have been. My Novel Affair, just popped into my head while I was watching an unrelated movie. I walked out on the movie and pounded out fifteen thousand words in a couple of hours.
Jacque - Tell us, what is your most productive/inspiring setting?
Autumn - Last year I cleared out my old home office and created a space that was more conducive to writing. An open window with a great breeze flowing through and music to set a mood (depending on the plot) and I'm set. I have a catalog of eight thousand songs and growing, so I feel I have lots to write in the future.
Jacque - How much of you will a reader find in any given book?
Autumn - Most people find me complicated. My friends and family will tell you that my characters are all me in some way. All of my work is some side of my personality, some obvious, and some not so obvious. People that believed me to be insensitive were shocked by my debut novel's depth and emotion. In turn my spouse spent weeks asking me if he was the protagonist in my new novel, My Novel Affair, because the main character was so like me. I think I actually had him worried.
Jacque - That's funny, you would say that, Autumn. I have my husband worried because I am doing research on poisons for one of my books, lol.
Jacque - What advice would you give to new/unpublished authors?
Autumn - No matter how many times you are rejected do not stop writing. The great thing about writing is the audience, you will find one since you have an entire world of people to share your work with. Possibilities are endless, treat them that way.
Jacque - What's the best advice ever given to you, and by whom?
Autumn - I was told by an English teacher in school that my writing was rubbish, but it was good rubbish and to keep trying. I don't remember his name and I should, but I have always followed that advice. It keeps my ego in check and makes me work harder.
Jacque - Do you have an author you feel your work most resembles?
Autumn - That's a hard question to answer. Fans usually compare my work with films rather than books. My first novel was compared to Rainman and Pay it Forward. I'm a visual person and I think that transfers over to my stories, so people find it easier to find resemblances to something they've seen rather than read.
Jacque - Autumn, this book reminds me of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum PI novels, if I may.
Jacque - What is the one thing you would most like people to know about you?
Autumn - I answer 99.9999% of my fan mail and I have an unexplainable addiction to gummy bears sent in that fan mail.
Jacque - What are the biggest misconceptions new authors have about the publishing industry?
Autumn - I think that most believe they are not good enough if they are not published by the large publishing houses. There are other avenues out there now, take advantage of them if you don't get that big publisher.
Another is that agents are goddesses/gods sitting upon pedestals, untouchable. In reality they are just people with the same problems as the rest of us.
Jacque - Where do you see yourself in five years? Where did you see yourself five years ago? Did you make it there?
Autumn - In five years I see myself at my desk, still entertaining readers and myself. Five years ago I didn't think that far ahead, call it irresponsible, but I liked not knowing. I guess I've come out better than I thought I would.
Jacque - What do you do when you're not writing?
Autumn - In my spare time I hang around my house and with friends. I play the piano in my kitchen when people are not around. I'm piano shy.
I also write book reviews and blog on-line. I love Twitter and Facebook, they allow me to bounce ideas and find people who are like minded to chat with.
Jacque - Do you belong to a writer's group, on or offline? Critique groups?
Autumn - I belong to a brilliant writing group called Book Country, it's run by two fabulous ladies from Penguin Books, Colleen Lindsay and Danielle Poiesz. I was more than happy to join the Beta group when it started several months ago and I have met some great writers there. I have learned a lot from my fellow authors, I love the fact they are willing to tell me when I need to take something back to the drawing board. I use beta readers for critiquing; I pick volunteers from my social sites to do this. I think this is more honest since these are the people more apt to take a chance on reading my work. I take that feedback and work it over.
Jacque - I want to thank you again for letting me be a beta reader for this book. It was a great pleasure to read and I hope you make lots of sales from it.
Jacque - Who's your target audience? What aspect of your writing do you feel targets that audience?
Autumn - I work in seven separate genres in my writing so I have a pretty wide audience. My target audience for My Novel Affair is anyone who has ever been in, or wants to be in love, from ages eighteen to six-feet under. I think the ultimate goal for anyone in life is to find and give love, those are the people I see reading this novel. Love is messy, hard, easy, scary, funny and irresistible.
I think the characters really help people dive into the story because all of us can find something in common with at least one of them.
June 13, 2011
I am pleased to Introduce Laura Watts
When did you realize you wanted to become a writer?
When my travelling days were over and I decided I wanted to write a book about my experiences. It was only as I began to write that I realized how much I actually enjoyed the process, and made the decision to write other books.
Is this the only job you've had?
I wish it was! I've done quite a few things from working in a psychiatric ward to working in pubs. My favourite job other than this has been working in a library.
Have other work experiences made you more determined to follow a writing career?
Definitely. There's nothing quite so satisfying as working for yourself. You're the one in control; you don't have to answer to anyone else. That's the best bit.
What genre do you write?
At the moment I am currently writing a memoir about my days travelling Canada. My first book is also a memoir about travelling Australia and New Zealand.
Have you written under more than one genre?
No, not yet but I plan to do so. After my current book I want to take a break from writing so I can spend more time reading different kinds of books to decide what genre I want to write in next.
Where do you get your inspiration for writing?
Everywhere! I have a very active imagination which is the best thing to have while writing, but it can be frustrating when I want to switch off my brain to go to sleep. As for getting inspiration for my first books, I kept a detailed diary of both travelling accounts.
Do you ever dream of your next book?
I don't think I ever sleep enough to dream!
Describe the highlight of your writing career.
Definitely selling books on Amazon. That has been fantastic.
Have there ever been moments where you've wanted to give up?
Absolutely not. This has been one of best things to ever happen to me. I am not giving up on it at all.
What's been the worst thing to happen to you regarding your writing?
I think the stress of having to constantly market, it's never ending. I didn't realise at the time when I was writing how much work I would have to do after releasing the book.
Have you always believed in yourself, or have you let negative comments get you down?
I take no notice of nasty comments if they are just meant to be spiteful. Constructive criticism is another matter entirely, I can listen to that no problem because I can learn from past mistakes.
Who is the author you'd most like to be and why?
I like being me, even if I don't sell millions of books. I'm very proud of my achievement. I didn't know at first whether I would come this far.
Can you name the drawbacks to being a writer?
Definitely! The lack of time for doing anything else with your life. That's why if you want to become a writer you must enjoy it because you don't have a lot of time for anything else. That's a major downside if you have a family.
What's your typical writing day?
Well, I usually work a 6-7 day week. I'm always doing something. Most of the time I write in the mornings and then spend the rest of the afternoon marketing. I sometime work at night too, depending on what I am doing. Sometimes I'll market for the whole of the day, other days I'll spend mostly writing. It's pretty full on.
What's the most outrageous thing you've ever done?
You'll have to read my first book to find that one out!
What do you do when you finish writing a book?
Have a glass of wine to celebrate.
Do you hire an editor or do you do that job yourself?
I hire a professional editor, I wouldn't want to publish anything if it wasn't edited to a high standard.
What do you do when you receive criticism of your work?
Take it on board if it's constructive. Otherwise, if it's nasty I just ignore it.
What's your best tip for other writers?
Listen to constructive criticism. You're never going to learn otherwise.
What's been the most helpful advice you've ever received?
To do plenty of research on the topics you want to know. If you plan and research, you'll do well.
What do you think of the ebook industry?
I think it's amazing! It's given so many people an opportunity.
Please list your books and give your online details.
My book: Secret Confessions of a Backpacker: My Adventure Down
Under - can be found at:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...
http://amzn.to/mnaL1Q - Amazon.com
http://amzn.to/lL0Cjj - Amazon.co.uk
Visit my blog where I blog about useful marketing tips:
http://lkwattsconfessions.blogspot.com
June 11, 2011
6 Sentence Sunday
For Sunday, June 12, 2011 #2
Again, here are another six sentences from my contemporary romance, Wilderness Heart.
Here is a set up to the scene. It is the next morning where Lyn is trying to get the flue open on the cook stove in the canvas tent to cook breakfast for the men she is guiding on an elk hunting trip, when Nic walks in and sees her bent over trying to open it. It is so stuck, and he can't resist helping a woman in distress, of course, so he has gone to help her.
"Thanks, I appreciate it."
Lyn didn't ask him to move and she made no move to try to get out from under him, but being this close to her, touching her with the front of his body from the waist down was proving his undoing. He stood erect and looked into her eyes as she turned to face him. At this closeness, he could see the gold flecks in her eyes sparkle, but the movement in them from yesterday to now was as different as night and day. Could she be as aroused as he was by their touch? He hoped she didn't give him a once over from head to toe like yesterday or she would see how aroused he was.
Again, here are another six sentences from my contemporary romance, Wilderness Heart.
Here is a set up to the scene. It is the next morning where Lyn is trying to get the flue open on the cook stove in the canvas tent to cook breakfast for the men she is guiding on an elk hunting trip, when Nic walks in and sees her bent over trying to open it. It is so stuck, and he can't resist helping a woman in distress, of course, so he has gone to help her.
"Thanks, I appreciate it."
Lyn didn't ask him to move and she made no move to try to get out from under him, but being this close to her, touching her with the front of his body from the waist down was proving his undoing. He stood erect and looked into her eyes as she turned to face him. At this closeness, he could see the gold flecks in her eyes sparkle, but the movement in them from yesterday to now was as different as night and day. Could she be as aroused as he was by their touch? He hoped she didn't give him a once over from head to toe like yesterday or she would see how aroused he was.
