Monica Shaughnessy's Blog, page 3

Writing is a Pain in the Neck (Literally)

I have been quiet lately, more quiet than usual. No, I didn’t drop off the face of the earth. Instead, I woke up about a month and a half ago with excruciating neck and shoulder pain. I could barely get out of bed, and when I did, walking became a lesson in torture. My neck throbbed. My shoulders burned. My arms felt like I’d dipped them in acid. The diagnosis? Repetitive Motion Injury caused by too many hours in front of a keyboard. I then spent the next six weeks visiting a myofascial specialist who realigned my muscles – one by freaking one. Yes, kids, this is as painful as it sounds.

As I type this, I am still not back to normal. Though I truly hope recovery is just around the corner.

So that I can save you the same trauma, let me tell you what I’ve learned:

1. Listen to your body. That crick in your neck isn’t just going to go away. Get thee to a specialist. Airrosti doctors work miracles.

2. Stretch, stretch, stretch.

3. You know all those articles that say ‘take a break every hour’? Well…good advice.

4. Don’t push yourself beyond your limits. It’s just a manuscript, not open-heart surgery. No one will die if you don’t post that last video to YouTube or upload your short story to Amazon before you go to bed.

5. These injuries tend to build up over time. I had no idea I had a problem until I woke up looking like Quasimodo’s cousin. It really hit me that hard and that fast.

6. Ice is your friend. Apply it in copious amounts to your neck and shoulders whenever they ache.

7. If you suspect you might have a back problem, read this excellent book on Amazon: The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook  Tight muscles can be to blame for all sorts of things, including headaches, TMJ, neck problems, etc. If you suffer from pain, this book is going to open your eyes.

8. Medication isn’t going to work. Forget it.

9. If you have a small injury, it will take a few days to heal. If you have a more severe case, it will take MONTHS.

10. You only have one body. Take care of it.

And lest you think you’re  off the hook if you only READ books and don’t write them, all of what I described above happened to a friend of mine because she spent long hours on the couch looking down and reading her Kindle. Yikes!

So beware! Take care!

Cattarina Mysteries Book Trailer

Here is the trailer for my Cattarina Mysteries books. Enjoy!

Blog Tour for The Tell-Tail Heart, Pre-sale Announcement

Yippee! The blog tour for The Tell-Tail Heart started yesterday, and I’ve already gotten some movement on my sales. A BIG thank you to Lori at Great Escapes Book Tours for organizing it. Here are my stops along the way:

May 10 –  Lisa Ks Book Reviews

May 11 –  Back Porchervations

May 12 –  Sapphyria’s Book Reviews

May 13 –  Frankie Bow

May 14 –  Griperang’s Bookmarks

May 15 –  View from the Birdhouse

May 16 –  Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book

May 17 –  Brooke Blogs

May 18 –  LibriAmoriMiei

May 19 –  Cozy Up With Kathy

May 20 –  Jane Reads

May 21 –  Lori’s Reading Corner

May 22 –  Community Bookstop

May 23 –  3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too!

Also, I wanted to announce that I’m putting The Raven of Liberty up for pre-sale on Amazon with a release date of July 31st. Let’s hope I can publish it a few weeks early. :-) The complete omnibus will go on sale shortly after that.

Next, The Black Cats is in the middle of a Kindle Countdown sale (ends May 17). So if you don’t have your copy yet, now is the time to buy it.

Lastly, I’ve been swamped with a new editing project, a new ghostwriting project, and a new speaking engagement. So I’ve been ridiculously busy this last month. My apologies for not posting in awhile.

Thanks for reading! Hope you check out some of the blogs above. You just might find a new favorite.

FREE ebook – Universal Forces – YA Romantic Suspense

Just a quick post to let you know that my YA novel, Universal Forces, is FREE today through March 29, 2015. Get it while it lasts!

Synopsis:��As the daughter of an astronomer, Cassie feels like an outcast in dusty Fort Nesbitt, TX. In fact, she���s convinced she���ll spend junior year dateless until Jake moves to town. With his fiery red hair, blue eyes, and near-genius intelligence, he���s the slice of heaven she���s been searching for. But when Cassie tempts her reluctant crush into a date, she discovers shocking secrets about Jake���s home life.

Despite warnings from friends, Cassie decides to save Jake and their budding relationship by freeing him from a life he doesn���t want to live. Her plan, however, unleashes a supernova that nearly destroys their star-crossed love and dooms both their families to a violent fate. For mature readers, ages 15 and up.

 

 

Excerpt:

The dotted line dividing Highway 17 blurred into a yellow stripe as Jake and I sped toward our destination in the bleak hours of early morning. He’d been quiet about where he was taking me, about everything, in fact. Though I’d showered him with a million questions in the backyard, he simply held his finger to his lips and walked me to Esau’s Civic. After not seeing him for days and days, I would have followed him anywhere–Mexico if that’s what he wanted–my attraction was that strong, that overwhelming. I remembered my plea to the universe and shivered. Odd how it brought me exactly what I needed when I needed it.

We drove in silence, lulled by the whir of the road beneath our tires. It killed me to swallow my curiosity, but I didn’t dare speak. To do so would have broken the spell we were under. Every so often, he’d stroke my hand and smile, as if the act of touching me brought him pleasure, then grip the wheel again as the miles unraveled. When the Davis Mountains ironed into the smooth Chihuahuan Desert, we parked near a circular structure by the side of the road: the Marfa Lights Viewing Center. I’d been here several times with Daniel and my father, always hoping to see the mysterious orbs that drew tourists from all over the country, never catching them myself. Shy things, they didn’t always appear when the public wanted, preferring, instead, to appear on their own schedule.

Jake took a plaid wool blanket from the back seat and led me to the open-air viewing center, empty at three a.m. I was used to the wind gusts of Fort Nesbitt, but here, with no mountain range to slow them, they shrieked across the land, pricking our clothes and hair with grains of sand. At least I’d thrown on jeans and a sweater before leaving. With our fingers linked, I followed Jake to the low pink granite enclosure surrounding the observation area and settled next to him under the blanket.

“There they are!” Jake pointed to three balls of light zigzagging over the desert. They were close, only forty or fifty yards away.

“I’ve never seen them before.” My words sounded odd, unnatural in the stillness.

“Me neither.” He tucked the blanket around us. “I’ve been planning for days to take you here. I’m just glad the lights cooperated.”

“You know they’re headlights from passing vehicles, don’t you?”

“Um, we’re the only ones here.” He gestured to the lonely highway behind us. “Could it be a natural phenomenon? Yeah. But the point is, no one knows for sure what causes it, not skeptics, not believers, not anyone.”

I waggled my feet, bumping them against the sharp rock wall. “Why here? Why now?”

“Why here? Because I wanted to show you a miracle, even if I couldn’t work one myself before Saturday. That, and I think we both needed this tonight.”

“Needed what?”

“Wonder. A little awe-inspiring uncertainty.” He grinned. “You let facts get in the way of your faith way too often.”

“What faith?”

“My point exactly.”

We watched the orbs blink from white to red to blue. Jake was right. Even if the lights had a boring explanation, we didn’t know what caused them, and that was pretty wonderful, even, like he said, awe-inspiring. Just for tonight, I’d give in to their mystery. “You didn’t answer the second question,” I said. “Why now?”

Jake traced��his fingers over my jaw, tipping my chin gently toward his, and gazed at me with eyes that radiated xenon blue, even in the dark. The corners of his mouth lifted as he studied my face, fueling my anticipation. I sensed his need to be in control, so I clutched the blanket to keep from grasping him, from pulling him towards me and ending the explosive suspense. When his lips finally brushed mine, we tiptoed into the kiss, testing each other, tasting each other, until our exploration turned into something more eager than either of us had counted on, the blanket falling to our feet, the wind lapping our backs, building a charge strong enough to tilt the Earth’s axis, or, at the very least, my own.


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I’ve been doing a lot of “promotion” posts lately. Sorry! (a girl’s gotta pay her bills) But don’t worry.��In April, I’ll be starting a month-long series about plotting (and pantsing).

Easter (with a Texas accent)

A few weeks ago, several��of my fellow Space City Scribes and I created videos for World Read Aloud Day. I’d made book trailers before, but never any starring ME. Yikes! Anyway, because I’m a sucker for events that push kids to read, I knew I had to step outside my��comfort zone.��Which meant letting the world hear my Texas accent.

A looooong time ago, when I worked for a Fortune 100 company, I actually hid��my twang because many people equate a Southern accent with a low IQ. But after a number of years outside the workforce, it’s back, baby. It’s back.

Now, may I present to you, my reading of The Easter Hound. If you like the book (or just want to support��a good ol’ Texas gal), it’s available on Amazon via a COUNTDOWN deal through this weekend. The sooner you buy, the cheaper you buy.

Happy first day of spring!

Why It’s Good to be Irish

I’m not just one of those people who is��“Irish” on Saint Patrick’s Day, I’m of Irish descent. I’m also of English descent, which is why I’m always at odds with myself. :-) But that’s another story.

In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day, I give you ten awesome reasons why it’s good to be Irish 365/24/7:

10. We can talk circles around anyone. Ever heard of the gift of gab?��It’s not a rumor.

9. We value��the written word. Four Irish writers have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, among them, demi-god George Bernard Shaw. The Irish also protected the Book of Kells from Viking invaders in the 10th century. If we turn to Irish Americans, eight signers of the Declaration of Independence were of Irish descent. And then there’s F. Scott Fitzgerald. There’s really no need to continue��after naming him, is there?

8. We persevere. Potato famine? No worries. Pick up and go. There are more people of Irish descent living in America than in Ireland, and this is a testament to our adaptability.

7. We are hard workers. The Irish worked alongside the Chinese on the early railroads of America and paid the price. Still, we did not quit. We stayed the course��and made our fortunes.

6. We’re witty.��Here is a quote from George Bernard Shaw: “Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.”

5.��We’re clever. My grandfather shook the��family tree and found��Richard the Litigious, so named for fighting his battles in court. When the English stole his land, he waited for the war to blow over and then sued the occupant to get his land back. He won.

On the left, the ideal “white woman.” On the right, the Irish immigrant.

4. We’re patient. Okay, as individuals we��are rather quick-tempered. But as a race of people, we��excel at the long game.��At one point in history, Irish Americans were denied jobs, college entry, and the ability to hold public office. My immigrant ancestors faced a fair amount of discrimination, I’m sure. A hundred and fifty years later, they dye the��Chicago River green to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day.

 

3. We’re ingenious. I won’t say we’re a scientifically-minded bunch (on the whole). That honor belongs to the Germans, who have more Nobel Prize winners in the sciences than you can shake a shillelagh��at. But we’re inventive, giving the world the tractor, the steam turbine, and the hypodermic needle. In these cases, there was a need and an Irishman to fill it. These inventors didn’t set out to change the world, only their small problem, but they did anyway.

2.��We are ponderous. No one can break your heart like the Irish: sad music, sad poetry, sad literature. The tragedy of the Irish is well chronicled in story and song. Here’s a weighty quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald: “At eighteen, our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five, they are caves in which we hide.” Still not convinced? I give you Danny Boy…

1. We are EVERYWHERE. Even Muhammad Ali has some Irish ancestry. I bet you do, too. :-) If not, you can pretend–just for today.

Surprising Things About Edgar Allan Poe’s Work

1848 “Ultima Thule” Daguerreotype

While writing my Cattarina Mysteries, I’ve uncovered many interesting facts about the Master of the Macabre and his work. Here are a few:

The Tell-Tale Heart

Poe never names the gender of his��first person narrator, and it’s hotly debated whether or not the protagonist could’ve been a woman. Since Poe never made sloppy choices (as far as his work was concerned), and he took such care to omit gender, I suspect provocation and speculation was his goal. He achieved it mightily since we’re still having the��conversation a hundred and fifty years later. I won’t tell you which path I chose for my own novella, The Tell-Tail Heart, since I don’t want to spoil the surprise!

The��Gold Bug

Poe was accused of plagiarizing the story line for “The Gold Bug” from a thirteen-year-old girl. She’d written about pirate treasure being buried under a tree, too. The theme is a fairly common one, but Poe’s detractors were looking for any excuse to drag his name through the mud. Competing publishers even rushed to print the schoolgirl’s stories – a “thin volume” of two – just to keep the brouhaha going. Why doesn’t this surprise me?

The Raven

“The Raven” catapulted Edgar Allan Poe’s career. But the poem wouldn’t have been half as compelling if he’d kept the��original bird he wanted: a parrot. He initially chose a parrot��because of the bird’s ability to “talk.”��He then thought about using an owl because of its reputation as a “wise” bird. He finally settled on a raven because it suited the poem’s theme more than the other two. Though “The Raven” wasn’t published until 1845, he actually showed an early version of the work to his friend, Mr. Graham, in 1843, proving (if historical records are to be believed) he wrote the poem in Philadelphia. This is important since my upcoming��novella, The Raven of Liberty,��is set in Philadelphia!

The Black Cat

Many people rightly attribute Poe’s own cat, Cattarina, for providing some inspiration for this story. Except he did not, in fact, own a black cat – at least not when he wrote this story. Cattarina was a tortoiseshell! And while I delve into numerous flights of fancy in my own novella, The Black Cats, the true thrust behind Poe’s story was temperance and the ills of drinking. He struggled much of his life with alcoholism, especially during his marriage to Virginia.��And I do touch on this in my story. Yet I painted Poe, not as a drunkard, but as a complex man who tries to solve his problems (the wrong way).

To the River

This is a little known poem by Poe, yet��it fit so well with my short story, “To the River – Rescue by the Schuylkill.” So I would be remiss in not mentioning it. “To the River”��was one of several works published in��Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems by Edgar A. Poe – when Poe was only twenty years old.��Literary critic of the day, John Neal, had this to say about Poe’s work: “The following passages are from the manuscript-works of a young author, about to be published in Baltimore. He is entirely a stranger to us, but with all their faults, if the remainder of Al Aaraaf and Tamerlane are as good as the body of the extracts here given ������ to say nothing of the more extraordinary parts, he will deserve to stand high ������ very high in the estimation of the shining brotherhood. Whether he��will��do so however, must depend, not so much upon his worth now in mere poetry, as upon his worth hereafter in something yet loftier and more generous ������ we allude to the stronger properties of the mind, to the magnanimous determination that enables a youth to endure the present, whatever the present may be, in the hope, or rather in the belief, the fixed, unwavering belief, that in the future he will find his reward.” Prophetic, no? May we all find the reward we seek.

To me, these “behind the scenes” glimpses of Poe’s work are just as fascinating as the work itself and add so much depth to his already-complex stories. I hope this encourages you to read some of them today.

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What about you, dear reader? What is your favorite work by Poe? Mine is the poem, “Annabel Lee.”

 

Books Are Like Cheese

My bookshelf on Amazon is like the gourmet cheese section of the��grocery store. It’s full of exotic offerings that elicit��strange��looks and head scratches from most people. The small cross-section��of the population that��ADORES imported cheeses with unpronounceable names? They seek me out. Everyone else? Not so much.

When readers, er, shoppers��do stumble upon my wares, the conversation goes something like this (at least in my head):

Me: Won’t you try my port-laced Stilton? How about a slice of cloth-wrapped Nuskasse?

Shopper: Never heard of that stuff.

Me: Both are quite delicious, I assure you.��Buy some?

Shopper: Nah, I’m here for��the cheddar. It’s��on sale. 99 cents a pound.

Me: Then let me give you a free sample.

Shopper: Okay. I’ll take a small piece and try it later.

Me: But I have Table Water crackers and fig jam and Marcona almonds. I can give you a sample of those, too, They pair well together. Please try the Nuskasse, won’t you? It’s handmade in Switzerland with milk from cows that��graze on Alpine grass.

Shopper: So?

Me: Fine. I’ll give you the WHOLE��block free.

Shopper: I’ll take it.��I guess…

Me: Well?

Shopper: Oh. My. God. This cheese is spectacular! Why didn’t you tell me it was so good?��I��may come back for more later.

 

Most of the people who try my books love or at least like them, around 80 to 90%. Can’t please everyone of course, but I’ve��gathered��fans along the way.��Problem is, I’ve spent waaay too much time hand-wrapping��Nuskasse and not enough time cranking out brick after brick of plastic-wrapped cheddar. Unique books sell, but in small quantities. Books with basic��plots, characters and themes sell in larger quantities (even the poorly written ones). And this kills me. But it’s a fact, and the sooner I face it, the greater chance I’ll have at success. That’s why I’ll probably crowdsource the idea for my next book. Is this a best-seller guarantee? Of course not. Will it increase the number of shoppers that flock to my shelf? I hope so.

Now, before��you go, let me offer��you a slice of handmade Nuskasse…

Universal Forces is a polarizing book–a new take on Romeo and Juliet that pits the House of Religion against the House of Science. Except what I believed to be��a really cool concept and a hot topic fizzled. Here’s what I think��caused the book to falter: atheists��see the��story��as “too religious,” and the devout see the story as “anti-religious.” And they’re both right. Which means the book is for��free-thinking humanists��open to the concept of spirituality, but not necessarily religion, who like a dash of science, suspense and romance in their young adult stories.��Yeah, all twelve of them.

When I first wrote UF, my agent at the time said it was “fairly brilliant.” A best-selling author (who briefly mentored me) told me my beginning chapter was “thoroughly alive and engaging.” A��recent reader called it “a great ride.”

Still not convinced? How about I give you the whole block, er, book for free? Right now, you can download it from Story Cartel at no charge (my FINAL offer of February). If you haven’t been to Story Cartel yet, give it a try – it’s a pretty cool site for writers and readers alike.

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How about you, dear reader? Are you the cheddar type? Or do you dig Nuskasse?

Eight Things That Cost More Than A Book (Or, The Economics of Book Selling)

The American Car – You Get What You Ask For

A couple of days ago, I was having a conversation with one of my author friends. We were discussing��(lamenting) the fact that 99 cent books fly off virtual bookshelves and anything more than that takes tremendous��effort to sell nowadays (blog tours! paid promotions! non-stop social media!).��I know, I know, it all comes down to economics – book supply is skyrocketing and demand is leveling off. This creates a glut where readers can selectively pay the lowest price for the things they want. This applies to jars of pickled onions��and books, perhaps not in equal measure, but in some measure. Ceteris paribus, the decreasing price of books will��eventually��drive many writers and small presses out of business (it’s already happening) until supply begins to dwindle again.��Only then will prices collectively swing the other way. Some authors will soldier on, supported by alternate incomes, and others��will continue to make a living, but ALL will be affected.��Conceivably, this market correction��could take years.��(This concludes the Econ 101 portion of my post.)

I don’t know about you, but a) this sounds kind of depressing and��b) “ain’t nobody got time for that.” So where does that leave us?

While consumers–on the whole–don’t care, individuals��can be persuaded.��Who are these individuals you ask? Why,��you are one of them, dear reader! And if you give me a moment, I’d like to convince you that $2.99 is not too much to pay for a good book. (“Free” is too much to pay for a bad book in terms of your time, but that’s not what I’m talking about here.)

On average, it takes 3 to 6 months for an author to fully bring a book to market, including all the pre-writing, the writing, the editing, the cover, the promotions, etc. (It takes some authors up to a year.) Again, we’re not talking about hobbyists who “bang out” a book in two weeks and upload their typo-laden tome with a hand-drawn cover. We’re talking about authors with��well-considered works. On average, many of these books are priced in the $2.99 range (some slightly more).

The next time you’re browsing Amazon, see a book you like, and balk at its��“exorbitant” $2.99 price tag,��consider the following list of ten items��that cost more and are consumed/experienced in less time:

The $3��farting dog app you bought to keep your kid quiet��(what a mistake that was)
The $4 latte it took your barista five minutes to make (in between texts)
The $5 tip you gave your waitress for thirty minutes��of service (even though she spilled��your water)
The $6 bucket of movie popcorn you ate (before the previews ended)
The $7��magazine you flipped through for an hour (that gave you whopping insecurities about the color teal)
The $8 pair of earrings you wore only once (because they were teal)
The $9 box of dog treats you tossed��in an afternoon��(because Fido refused to eat anything that tastes like kale)
The $10 musical greeting card you bought Grandma (that Grandma thew away when you left) – oh, don’t get me started on greeting cards…

I know some people��will read this and think, “Readers don’t care about how long it took an author��to make a good book, they just care about finding a good book.” I COMPLETELY agree with this. But consumers teach��the market, and once��the market is “taught,” consumers are sometimes surprised��at the results. If people��say “We will only buy American cars because we want to keep jobs in America,” this teaches��American car manufacturers that they can��produce an inferior product for a superior price. Why? Because consumers have shown them that their products will sell no matter the quality. ��If people say, “I will only buy the cheapest milk,” this teaches dairy farmers that the only way to survive is to pump their cows full of rbGH to increase milk production. Why? Because it costs more to let cows produce “the old fashioned way” and now our children drink chemicals on a daily basis. I could go on, but you get the idea…

Indie publishing comes with its own lessons, too – many of them positive. But in the next few years, I think we’re going to see a big shake-up in suppliers (i.e., your favorite authors and small presses) if��readers begin to approach book buying with the same indifference as selecting��a jar of pickled onions. “That will NEVER happen!” you say. Give it time, I say. There are already 3,000 Amish Romances available on Amazon today, a good number of them priced at 99 cents. What happens when there are 6,000? 9,000? This: Meh, I found seven Amish romances set in Kentucky where three brothers were vying for one girl – so I downloaded the one��that was free. (Or worse, they’ll be overcome by selection paralysis and not buy anything, but that’s a different post for a different day.)

There are MANY impassioned readers out there who care about quality and creativity and don’t mind paying for it. If you’re one of them (and I hope you are), it’s up to you to evangelize good books and continue buying and supporting your favorite authors. Now, I usually end with an appeal that you buy one of my books. But today, I don’t care. Just go and buy a book–any book–as long as you feel it’s got a fair price��(not the cheapest price) for the work offered.Together, we can teach the market a thing or two.

Wow! If you read to the end of this long-winded post, you deserve applause. Can you hear me clapping?

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How about you dear reader? I’d love to hear your thoughts on writing and the economics of book selling.

Adding Art to Your Words

I’m going to be speaking at the Houston Writers Guild’s Indiepalooza this September on “Adding Art to Your Words.” Of course, if you live in the Greater Houston Area, you should totally come. But it you don’t, I thought I’d share a few ideas on jazzing up your work��with pictures and taking your creativity to the next level.

I’m going to start with a project I recently released called Mr. Eakins’ Book of Cats. It’s an illustrated companion to another recently released book, The Black Cats. And I made it with the Kindle Kids’ Book Creator. Think of it as a super-cool picture book for adults that complements another story.

A little background: The Black Cats is an historical cozy novella that follows Edgar Allan Poe’s cat, Cattarina, as she solves crimes and inspires great works of literature. Strange, no? Well, that’s just how I like my books.

Anyway, within the story, one of the characters possesses a hand-made��journal��called The Book of Cats (and it plays a role). So I thought it would be fun to recreate this for readers.

 

MY PROCESS:

I knew I wanted the cover to look like an old journal from the Victorian era. So here’s what I came up with:

Cool, right? Then I created a series of pages that looked as if a man of meager means in the 1840s had created them. Not to give too much away, but Mr. Eakins��draws a lot of cats and keeps notes about them. Here are a few sample pages:

I found��copyright-free ephemera, got to sketching��on my Bamboo Board, and came up with some pretty nifty journal entries. Take a look at the finished product page and the “look inside” feature. I’ll wait here… Go ahead. You have time.

Now, if you’re a children’s picture book author, I’m sure you’re thinking really hard��about putting your latest WIP into a digital format. Ah! But if you’re writing an adult work, you should still be thinking really hard about leveraging��this technology to your advantage – especially if you’re the uber-creative type.

Still not convinced? Here are some ideas:

Monster compendiums for fantasy books
Secret dossiers for spy novels
Police files for thrillers
Tech drawings for science fiction
Watercolor or photographs to accompany��a small poetry book
Love notes for a romance novel

I know I’m leaving out plenty more. But you get the idea.

WARNING: Don’t view this as a way to publish a long book. Your file size will be monstrous and Amazon will charge you an arm and a leg to deliver your product. So keep it short, around 20 to 25 pages at the most.

I know full well that this is highly experimental. But I’m into risk. Nothing ventured, nothing gained is usually my motto. I also know that no one is going to buy a derivative��book who hasn’t read the source book (i.e., The Black Cats). But I truly created Mr. Eakins’ as a fun “go along” for super fans. I also use it for promotional purposes.

And now…the pitch! If you buy The Black Cats��and leave a review, email me (contact (at) monicashaughnessy (dot) com) and tell me about it. I’ll send you your very own copy of Mr. Eakins’ Book of Cats��free. (FYI: my third offer of February) And at $2.99, The Black Cats is less than a cup of Starbucks coffee and you’ll enjoy it a lot longer! You’ll also be showing thanks for my awesome blog post and for pointing your creativity in a brand new direction. Just sayin’.

Now go out there and get creative!

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How about you, dear reader? Ever think about adding pictures to your words? What opportunities did I fail to��mention? I’d love to hear!