Jo Robinson's Blog, page 48

Chris The Story Reading Ape: The Man, The Ape, The Legend…

jorobinson176:

Another loving ode to our beloved TSRA. (Of course we’re not at all frightened of those tennis ball in stocking muscles. Ahem.) Chris has supported me on my Indie trip all the way. His support of Indie writers, editors, cover designers and every other writing related guy in the SP industry is amazing. Chris doesn’t publish his own work yet (chicken), so it’s all about total support of Indies for him. He is honest and fair – he’ll ignore you pretty well if what you publish doesn’t come up to his high standards. I’ve had the amazing experiences of his absolute professionalism designing the covers of my Sci-Fi books, as well as him using his talent as a professional designer of buildings and other stuff – true story – to create the most awesome book trailers. No more to say – follow… (Darth Vader’s voice with images of R2D2 used absolutely without permission of any sort.)

Originally posted on The Linden Chronicles: The Wolf's Moon by Patrick Jones:

��

Chris The Story Reading Ape���Whaaaat?

When I first encountered Chris Graham, the man behind ���The Story Reading Ape��� I inquired as to what in the world was a story reading ape and how did he come up with that name?�� He politely referred me to his about tsra page to explain the circumstances of his unique designation in the Blogosphere.�� After all, everyone has to develop�� their own brand���right?

On one of my next encounters with Chris, he introduced me to his favorite ���characters��� who back up his really mean emails reminding authors to send him their stories so that he can feature them on his blog.�� At this point, I really became curious as to what this cyber person was all about!�� As you can imagine, I in fact raised an eyebrow when he sent me this!!

As I continued to read on, I learned that Chris Graham���

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A Tour Through Blogland Award

A huge thank you to my lovely friend Sally Cronin for nominating me to tag along on the Tour Through Blogland Award Hop. From the first day I met Sally I could see the wonderful person that she is ��� the fabulous soul that she is shines through so brightly, it���s impossible to miss. She also has my kind of wicked sense of humour, and loves to laugh. We share an abiding love of animals and the Earth. Straight away we became firm friends, and we will always be that. Hopefully one day we���ll be able to laugh and party in reality if her International Convention happens ��� we���re all buying LOTS of lottery tickets. Sally has shown me the most amazing support in every possible way, and I���m regularly humbled by her thoughtful kindness. We chat away on emails all the time, and all I can say is that I���m very, very happy to have my dear Sal in my life. She is also amazingly supportive of all sorts of bloggers and authors out there. She shares the work of talented artists, poets, photographers, musicians, cooks, and generally cool people and things with us, boosting them, and giving us opportunities to meet new and interesting people and friends.

Sally is the author of several books, every single one of them brilliant. I���m not saying this because she���s my friend ��� I don���t ever lie about writing. Her books are real, emotive, beautifully written, with her wry wit and humour adding to the way that they grip you from the start. She���s lived an eclectic life, and has done much successfully over the years, including working in radio and television. Her personal experience as well as her training as a Nutritional Therapist resulted in her writing columns in the media in the United Kingdom and Spain and the publication of the awesome book, Size Matters which I���ve read a couple of times, reviewed here, and still often pop into. This book is a gem for anyone who wants to live a healthy life without being deprived.

Sally���s beloved and gorgeous husband is the Ebook Doctor, and also runs Moyhill Publishing, where you can find all of Sally���s books as well as the works of other authors you might like. All her books are also available from:

Amazon

And

Smashwords

If you���re not already connected with her, I really suggest you do.

LinkdIn

Twitter

Facebook

Facebook Page

Google+

Now on to the tour.

The rules:

1. Pass the tour on to up to four other bloggers.

2. Give them the rules and a specific Monday to post.

3. Answer 4 questions about your creative process which lets other bloggers and visitors know what inspires you to do what you do.

4. The last part of Tour Through Blogland is to write a one-time article which is to be posted on a Monday (the date supplied by your nominator). This article can be in the same post in which you answered the 4 questions. The article can be anything of your choosing.

The date supplied by my nominator was Monday, 9th February 2015. I���m a bit late (for a change) because I squished my left hand and up to now it���s been refusing to type anything without letting me know about it rather painfully, so I���ve been forgiven. The dates I choose for my nominees to post is any Monday between 16th February and the end of March 2015, if they choose to hop on.

Questions Section About My Creative Process

1. What are you working on at the moment?

I work on a couple of different things simultaneously. I didn���t like that ���What Now?��� feeling after finishing my first book and having nothing else on the go at the same time. I like to work on different projects and genres at the same time, but always there is one main focus which is the next in line for publication, so I���m working on Shadow People two and three mostly.

2. How does my work differ from others in my genre?

Shadow People is difficult to put into a classic genre. It’s science fiction, fantasy, metaphysical, spiritual, with an element of horror ��� especially in the coming books. I generally don���t think genre when I write. If something seems right to me I���ll plop it in anywhere.

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

I���ve loved to read all of my life ��� multiple genres ��� fiction and non-fiction. Writing is just taking that pleasure up a notch for me, in that I get to decide every little thing that happens ��� a very giddy joy indeed. I���ve neglected my arty attempts for years and years, and have only started getting back into it when I created a couple of my own book covers. I���ve always leaned towards pencil sketches, children���s pictures, and collages, but pastel and oil painting I also enjoy. Now that I have a Wacom tablet and a couple of nice paint programmes I have a lot of plans for future art.

4. How does my writing/creative process work?

Unless the universe tosses me a dodgy curve ball of some kind (and just lately I���m wondering if my destiny was to take up cricket ��� thank you universe), I always write in the morning. Monday to Sunday, whether it���s one hundred words or three thousand words. Good words bad words ��� I like to get done either way. If I don���t then I don���t feel right until I do again. I don���t have a problem with thinking up ideas for stories. Those little guys arrive all the time, and when they do, I immediately stop what I���m doing, open a new document, scribble the idea, and the first couple of paragraphs, and then leave it alone for the future. I have piles and piles of paper notebooks filled with ideas and stories too. The Shadow People series has an enormous amount of it still in notebooks. As I write any of my stories I take notes too ��� this is especially important writing a series. Things like names, appearance, or items I might forget, important scenes and the page numbers they���re on. Sometimes I add a couple of bold XXXXXX���s when I can���t think of what comes next and want to move around it ��� then I go back and sort it out later.

The Article: Sometimes Scribblers Have to Scrub

I���ll say this first off ��� I���m not overly fond of housework. In fact I really can���t stand it. I���ve got books to write, people to create, worlds to imagine. I really do enjoy cooking and spending time in my kitchen ��� but actually washing the dishes ��� not so much. Sometimes I���m so busy scribbling or doing some Indie related thing that I don���t realise how much clutter builds up till it falls on me.

Any sort of job isn���t going to go smoothly in a cluttered, disorganised, or dirty environment though. Subconsciously that pile of dishes, dusty everything, or the fact that you���ve been in your PJ���s for three days subsisting on Doritos is going to have a detrimental effect on your creative output.

Scribblers will get to a certain point where their inbox is loaded with thousands of emails. The fridge has taken on a bluish glow from all the new life taking form in its neglected innards, life gets in the way, the cat is lost in the towering pile of ironing, and the dishes… well…. But no matter how hard you stubbornly try and ignore all of these things, you still can���t write. I���m all for write first, and the rest must wait, but sometimes it doesn���t happen because all those festering piles of things waiting to be done really is taking up too much brain space even though you aren���t fully aware of it. So in the long run, pulling up your sleeves and spending a day having at it all will probably actually translate into more and better scribbling when you park your tired bum back in your chair, basking in the afterglow of having done what needed to be done, and the piles get to start from scratch again….

Nominees

My first nominee is Noelle Granger. A lovely lady and fascinating author. You can find her on her blog at Sayling Away. Have a squiz at her Interview with Chapel Hill Magazine and be as blown away as I was. She���s one very humble lady doctor with many kudos to her credit, and a fabulous way of researching her books, which you can find on Amazon.

Noelle A. Granger grew up in Plymouth, MA, in a rambling, 125 year old house with a view of the sea. Summers were spent sailing and swimming and she was one of the first tour guides at Plymouth Plantation.

She graduated from Mount Holyoke college with a bachelor’s degree in Zoology and from Case Western Reserve University with a Ph.D. in anatomy. Following a career of research in developmental biology and teaching human anatomy to medical students and residents,the last 28 years of which were spent in the medical school of the University of North Carolina, she decided to try her hand at writing fiction.

Death in a Red Canvas Sail is her first book and features an emergency room nurse as her protagonist. The book is set in a coastal town in Maine, similar to Plymouth, and she has used her knowledge of such a small town, her experiences sailing along the Maine coast, and her medical background to enrich the story.

She has also had short stories, both fiction and non-fiction, published in Deep South Magazine, Sea Level Magazine, the Bella Online Literary Review, and Coastal Style Magazine. Her second novel in the The Brewster mystery series, Death in a White Dacron Sail, will be published soon.

N.A. Granger lives in Chapel Hill, NC, with her husband Gene, a physician, and is the mother of two children.

My next nominee is the lovely author and artist Carole Parkes. I have her book on my Kindle, and am dying to get stuck into it. Check out Tissue of Lies on Amazon US or Amazon UK.

Carole was born in Liverpool, England in 1945 and has lived in her current house in Lancashire for the past 37 years. She���s been married for 49 years and has three married sons.

She started writing in 1985 when she produced several short stories, a series of children’s books and her newly published book on Kindle “TISSUE OF LIES.” Between 1985 and 1989 she also encouraged her elderly mother to write her life story whilst she started on her own biography. Owing to her commitment to her elderly parents, she didn’t take her writing too seriously until after they both passed away in 2012, aged 97 and 94.

She has since rewritten “TISSUE OF LIES” to take in the technologies of our modern age. Although it’s been hard work to finally finish, edit and publish it, she���s thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and has already started on her second book.

My final nominee is one of the most fantastic musicians I���ve ever come across, Mihran Kaladjian. A wonderful supportive blogger and friend, I���ll never forget the first time I clicked on one of the YouTube videos of him playing the music he writes. Angelic, beautiful ��� it will knock you off your chair. Have a listen.

Mihran Kalaydjian loves the outdoors, comedy, bbq, reading and travelling. He worked in the beer industry in college so he loves talking about good beer. He used to be a competitive runner so (like all runners) if you make the mistake of asking him, he���ll tell you about his entire career and PRs. He also spent his youth working in restaurants, so if you’ve done the same, he���s happy to swap stories. As well as all that, Mihran Kalaydjian provides visionary leadership and management oversight of the sales, marketing and revenue strategies for Classic Hotels and Resorts.

Protection

Originally posted on :

Imagine your eighty thousand word novel disappearing before you publish it ��� never to be seen again. Obviously you know what your story is about, but there���s no way you could ever get it down just the way you had it after months or years of scribbling, tweaking, and editing. Imagine also all of those bits and pieces on your computer ��� plotlines for future tales ��� research ��� links ��� bookmarks ��� pictures ��� covers ��� lots of other important things ��� also disappearing. Or how about some crazy hacker fellow getting into all your online sites and wreaking havoc, stealing your stuff, and breaking all the windows. Scary thought, but all of these things have happened many, many times.

Spending money on protecting these things is even more important than spending money on editing or cover art to begin with. *Ducks to avoid missiles thrown by editors and���

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Kate needs Help.

Originally posted on ronovanwrites:

Ever had your house burned down and lost everything but the clothes you were wearing and the car in the driveway? Well you all know Kate of Dazzling Whimsy, part of our WordPress family. She designed some of my early Haiku Challenge badges and is an actual friend of mine outside of blog life. I help with her blog when her job of teaching special education students and being the mother to three teenage daughters and taking care of her live in grandmother gets to be too much for her.

Below are her parents. Retired. Her father still does a little work to make ends meet, and now they have lost everything. Everything except those clothes they were wearing when the person rushed up and knocked on the door to tell them their house was on fire. Thankfully they saved their pet as well.

Now they need help. Go to���

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#Promote #Authors & #Books for #Readers on YOUR #Blog…

Originally posted on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog..... An Author Promotions Enterprise!:

The Questions:

(From authors)

WHY should I promote other authors and their books on MY blog when I can���t even get LOTS of people to buy and review MY book(s)?

(From Readers & Bloggers)

WHY would authors (read demi-gods) who are way above me in the hierarchy of intelligence levels possibly want to send their articles to ME ��� a lowly Reader and Blogger?

(From existing Author / Books Bloggers)

I ALREADY have a good system going so WHY should I even CONSIDER changing it?

The Answers

(To Authors)

By featuring other authors and their books on YOUR blog, YOU and YOUR BOOK(S) will be seen by visitors as well ��� plus ��� it WILL bring NEW visitors and followers to YOUR BLOG and may even result in them getting YOUR BOOK(S)!

(To Readers & Bloggers)

Authors may have a talent with words that YOU may, or may not, have���

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Readers Meet Authors and Bloggers

I started a Google+ community a while ago called Readers Meet Authors and Bloggers. The aim was to promote interaction between bloggers (who aren���t always authors), and readers who had other passions to promote (photography, art, cooking, knitting, animals, personal healing, funnies – you name it), but still loved to read. Probably due to my own fault ��� I���ve had a whacky and seriously stressful couple of years ��� I���ve neglected it, and community moderators have lost interest and stopped going there. My fault, but still a viable community.

These days it���s become pretty much an ���Oy Buy My Book��� spammy kind of place. I still believe that it has potential though, and with three thousand, five hundred odd members, I think that it has the potential to be a good place to market as well as interact with other writers in the future. Rules need to be put in place though, and proper content (not just links to blogs and books) needs to be regularly posted.

In the beginning anthologies were planned, joint book promo functions, read for review opportunities, and allsorts were envisioned. Unfortunately I dropped the ball with too much else going on.

The community is still growing all the time, with newbies often posting and trying to start an interesting conversation or put a marketing idea out there, but these are all lost in the white noise of the promos. In a last ditch attempt to get back to the original vision for the community, I���d like to invite any of you guys who���d like to try and make a fresh start with it as community moderators.

I reckon with the current membership we���d need about five people who were prepared to actively control the site on a regular basis, as well as come up with ideas for marketing Indie books, art, photography or any sort of craft, and having a bit of fun while helping each other. With a couple of thousand people already there, I think that this might be something that could benefit all of us. Remember that Google rules – it’s much more powerful than Amazon or any other site, and it streams your content to strangers. As far as SEO goes – Google rules. Even if you haven’t been active there – or haven’t even joined yet – and would like to start – don’t be shy to step forward for this. We need talent and we’ll talk you through the steps of signing up if you have something to contribute.

It���s a very casual community, and posting personal funny pics or memes should be encouraged as well as posting our daily blogs and so on. Often poets post their work on the wall ��� anything not linked and posted straight on the wall automatically gets G+ SEO points.

Would any of you be willing to jump in on this one, and see if we could mould it into something helpful, and maybe conducive to selling more books? It would be awesome to have some group leaders who are not writers, but other artists – painters – photographers – inspiring people – craft people – just people. Moderators would pretty much have carte blanche with ideas and input. Check it out on Readers Meet Authors and Bloggers, and let me know what you think.

[contact-form]

Solecism

Originally posted on Callum McLaughlin:

Narcissus worshiper inglorious in lust

Presents a banquet with table fit for one

Feasting on richest spoils that leave a bitter taste

But numbed to resonance this gorge seems infinite

Dancing clumsily in your unkempt redundance

Lancing your armed mouth comes forked guile

Reviling, backbiting displayed in destitution

Repudiate truth disallowing clean visibility

Languishing now by your crystallised lake

To preserve your miserable, warped creations

Nails scraping on icy barriers of self-made loathing

Carelessly discarded souls of generosity at bay

Advent in your predictability to flourish animosity

Never austere in your unaccountability

Presumptuous in the clouded lies of a behemoth brain

Only draws the precipitous turn of the swift arm of karma

For when you seek out the eyes reflected in haste

Feel the void of an induced blackness held within

Gathering fists to birth the sweetest overflow of union

Finding rather desert plains of enforced drought

Let me just���

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Around Here

I’ve been having a couple of jump up and down tantrums because wild creatures refuse to sit still and have their photos taken – they apparently don’t at all care that I’m still new at this. I do have lots of photos of tips of bird tails and feathery backsides, so I’m guessing that at some point I might just get the whole thing – I might have to venture forth too rather than waiting for them to come to me. There are the most amazing birds zooming around now all busy with their nests and babies. I love watching the weaver birds doing their wild thing best of all. They’re the cleverest little guys, even though I could be a bit biased.

Jelly and Button have never shown the slightest inclination to go outside, and on the couple of occasions that a door has been accidentally left open they’ve run away from it not towards it. Outside is a bit of a scary place for my guys.

In the wild they construct the most amazing nests in huge noisy communities. These are in a thorn tree, so good luck with that any snake who fancies a snack.

My two little guys zoom around busy all day making their own constructions, and singing their little hearts out. They have their own kind of tunes that I’ve never heard from a wild weaver. Anyway, a couple of people have wondered what it’s like around here. Weather wise, I think it’s sub-tropical. Louis Trichardt (here) is a little town situated at the foot of the Soutpansberg Mountain range, and only a couple of hours drive away from the Kruger National Park (I’ll get there yet). It’s a mellow place right up at the top of South Africa very close to the Zimbabwe border, and the people are lovely, both the townies and the farming community. The national highway runs through the town, and if you blink twice you’ll very probably miss it. Wherever you look there are gorgeous mountains. I hope sometime not in the too distant future to head out a little ways and get some pics of just how gorgeous this place is to share, but for now – a couple of shots around and about where I live.

Meat is Meat

Controversy ahead. As I���ve just said on a friend���s blog post ��� I don���t eat meat ��� I try to avoid using any animal products, and without being preachy, I���m against killing any sort of creature for any sort of reason these days. I do cook meat for the meat eaters in my life ��� freedom of choice has nothing to do with recipes as far as I���m concerned, and not my karma. I don���t hate them for eating it ��� I ate it for most of my life, so I get it. Bacon is fabulous on a plate of anything. I commented on a supposedly good friend���s remarks a good while ago about hunting critters (not to eat) that were endangered because of some flimsy thing, and was immediately unfriended and severely crapped upon before being blocked, so I���m a bit wary about posting about such a sensitive subject. I never foist my personal beliefs on others in harsh ways, because I believe that we���re all on our own trips, and what is good for us when it is, is. Something has been getting up my nostril lately though ��� and I really hope that talking about it isn���t going to make any of my friends enemies. Still….

Matthew McConaughey has been coming under a lot of fire since it���s been discovered that he is part owner in the ���canned hunting��� 22 000 acre ranch run by his brother in Texas. Canned hunting revolts me, and the tiny enclosures of lions and so on so killed is way beyond my comprehension. If I only had the choice to eat meat or die, I’d rather eat his hunted buck any day of the week than some horribly farmed cow. Hunt for meat ��� alright ��� you can���t eat lions – leave those guys alone man. 22 000 Acres is not canned hunting by any stretch of the imagination though, and the vicious comments he���s been getting on his various online sites are truly appalling. Those of you who are faint of heart ��� look away now. De-beaking, throwing baby chicks into grinders for the egg industry, production of fois gras, veal ��� eating baby animals of any sort, milk, down for feather pillows or comforters – ugh ��� all of these industries are so, so much worse than hunting. Rearing them, transporting them, killing them ��� all atrocities in my eyes. Hunting is cleaner I think. Quick and unexpected, and by far the better of two evils in my meat free thinking. I may be wrong. I prefer murdering veggies myself – so just saying.

In my opinion meat is meat, and if you���re going to eat it, why be holier than thou? Eat the meat that requires less terror and pain from the original supplier of said meat. Why the species issues? Why care if it has digits for fingers? Why is killing and abusing some species ok while other species is seen as rotten? Seriously – I’d like to know. As I said earlier ��� meat is meat ��� killing is killing. Why munch happily on a sheep and be appalled by eating any other thing? And if you’re going to eat one animal that’s had a crappy life because – well – it’s food – then shush about what anyone else eats. There’s no difference – a cow is a deer is a lion is a monkey.

Heading off to hide under my bed now………

Image courtesy Public Domain Images

Throwback Post: These Are Not Rules of Fantasy

Originally posted on Legends of Windemere:

I���m drawing out a popular post from July 4, 2014.�� I���m still standing by this, but a year hasn���t even passed.�� As usual, I don���t edit these when I put them back up for another look.�� I might be doing this more because I���m tired and my brain can���t think of anything else to talk about.�� Feel free to do this for your own genre or writing style or whatever.

A big headache for genre writing is that nearly every reader has their own set of rules about how that genre should work.�� They have their favorite authors and all others get compared to those ���elite���.�� Any deviation is met with disagreement or outright rage because god forbid you have two fantasy authors who take different approaches to the genre.�� So I���m going to have a little fun here and go over a few rules that have been hurled���

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