Sally Ember's Blog, page 78
March 8, 2015
The Sunday Show – Defining Moments with Author and Broadcaster Sally Ember Ed.D
Thanks, Sally Cronin, for hosting me on your “Defining Moments” spot this Sunday! I hope readers will visit, comment, argue, share!
Best to you all,
Sally Ember, Ed.D.
Originally posted on Smorgasbord - Variety is the spice of life:
Time for another Defining Moments with someone who is totally at home being the other side of an interview when asking the questions. There is a great deal of information about this charming radio host and writer so I will give you a brief background and focus on one or two key subjects. I am certain that we will be treated to some fascinating defining moments later on in the interview, but one of the issues I am keen to cover is ‘Change’, as this comes up frequently in my guest’s writings. Also an appropriate guest for International Women’s Day as she is a staunch supporter of equality and welfare of women.
Sally Ember, Ed.D., has been passionate about writing since she was nine years old. She’s won prizes for her poetry, stories, songs and plays. She also very generously supports other writers with her conversations between authors live talk…
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March 7, 2015
Congratulations #Authors – One battle won against #Copyright #Infringement – UPDATE…
Important copyright info for authors and bloggers. KEEP THIS POST HANDY! It has language for sending an email to infringers. Thanks for posting, everyone!
Originally posted on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog:
To keep you posted after my post about CONFIRMED COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT NOTIFICATION yesterday and to let you see that you are NOT ALONE in the battle against it, here are the statistics on the post at the time of writing THIS post:
373 visitors viewed the post published at 20:12 pm last night.
TEN of them re-blogged it, thereby spreading the word FAST.
To see the all responses, look at the comments under the article HERE, however, here is a rough timeline of significant events:
At 21:56 pm, The following comment was received:
Update: I also sent them a message through Facebook demanding they remove it. They responded:”hi ******, all book grab automatically from many source. we are apologize if your book published in our site. please contact us via http://www.e-bookdownload.net/contact-us/ with your book title list and we will remove it in 1x24hours. thanks” I informed them I…
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March 6, 2015
PRACTICE AS A PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE
I am so pleased to be able to enjoy a *CHANGES* conversation in about 10 days with author and meditator, Jhana Hodson, writing here about practice, one of my favorite subjects on Episode 24, Wed., 3/18/15, 10 – 11 AM EDT USA LIVE conversation on Google+ and Youtube, and learn more about and get yourself or recommend someone to be scheduled as a guest on *CHANGES* conversations between authors. Check back here in about a week for the URLs for Episode 24: http://sallyember.com/changes-videoca...
Watch conversations with my previous 22 *CHANGES* guests any time: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPbfKicwk4dFdeVSAY1tfhtjaEY_clmfq
Originally posted on Jnana's Red Barn:
As I said at the time:
Along the way, the “creative process” is a phrase I’ve come to detest. “Poetic” is another, especially when applied to another art. Whatever “creative” really means or as though the resulting work always occurs in a given sequence. Perhaps “artistic problem-solving” or “artistic exploration” comes closer, except that “artistic” still carries too much excess baggage.
“Process” sounds too much like ritual for my taste. Or a formula, “If you add L to M you’ll end up with an original poem.” Which sounds too much like a dogma or a creed to recite. Like a corridor through a shopping mall. Like a secret code to be disclosed, a joke to be retold in some variation.
For universities, “creative process” can even be seen as the teaching of mistrust and technique. “Absolute skepticism is one of the powers,” Richard Foster writes in Money, Sex & Power
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Anna Comnena
More to celebrate women throughout history this month right here! Thanks!
Originally posted on natural zero:
March is Women’s History Month and all month long, Natural Zero is looking at great women in history, women who have shaped history in one way or another.
This guy is her dad.
Anna Comnena is an interesting figure in history, not so much because of what she herself did to influence history, but because she herself was a historian. She kept detailed accounts of her father’s life, which, in turn, have been handed down to us today. Anna Comnena’s accounts are widely used in studies of the Byzantine Empire, the Middle East, and the Crusades of the Middle Ages.
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International Women’s Day – Sunday March 8th – #MakeItHappen
I don’t usually blog on Sundays, except for reblogs, so GET READY for International Women’s Day this Sunday, March 8, and do something #feminist!
Originally posted on Smorgasbord - Variety is the spice of life:
International Women’s Day – Sunday March 8th – #MakeItHappen.
Filed under: Writing
March 5, 2015
The Truth about Corporal Punishment
The Truth about Corporal Punishment #Children/ #Parents /#Caregivers: It does not work. Stop doing it. http://wp.me/p1DWDm-Zt via @garyullah
Originally posted on A Pursuit of Truth:
On upworthy.com today, a website which claims to engage about 50 million people a month, I came across the first infographic (below) that I know of that summarises the scientific evidence against spanking (corporal punishment) as an effective parenting technique . This is great. The truth about spanking continues to spread. Research suggests that the vast majority of parents still believe in spanking, but mostly only because they think there is no alternative. This is perhaps one of the most harmful and tragic beliefs of our time. The still widely accepted wisdom in regard to child rearing hasn’t yet caught up with the science. Most parents are still parenting as if spanking benefits children when the reality is that it harms them, now and later on in life.
The best hope for greatly reducing violence against children is the general acceptance of the reality that spanking is harmful and wrong, as this will lead to the…
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MailChimp 1 – Signing up for MailChimp
Thanks for posting. Answers a lot of my questions.
Originally posted on LibroEditing proofreading, editing, transcription, localisation:
Welcome to the first in a series of walk-throughs that will show you how to set up a MailChimp account, set up templates and lists, and send out a MailChimp newsletter. You can start to set up your subscriber list in MailChimp 2 and create a sign-up form in MailChimp 3 …
What is MailChimp?
MailChimp is a web-based service which allows you to send out newsletters to a list of people who have signed up to receive them. There are other services out there, but MailChimp is very popular, often recommended to newbies and is free as long as you have under 2,000 subscribers and send out fewer than 12,000 emails per month. You can upgrade in order to get extra features and also if your list goes over the 2,000 mark. Please note right here and now that I’m not being sponsored by MailChimp for doing these posts…
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March 3, 2015
WRITING AND PROMOTING A SERIES: Series authors, Nicholas C. Rossis and Charles Yallowitz
WRITING AND PROMOTING A SERIES:
by series authors, Nicholas C. Rossis, Pearseus series, and
Charles Yallowitz, Legends of Windemere series
Guest bloggers and former guests on CHANGES conversations between authors
(Episodes 7 and 9), http://www.sallyember.com
PEARSEUS: VIGIL NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
This joint post was made possible by the invitation of Sally Ember, who has been gracious enough to allow us to speak on her blog. She has done this knowing that Mr. Rossis and Mr. Yallowitz have a history of crazy antics. Indeed, some of these antics occurred on Sally’s very own LIVE video show *CHANGES* conversations between authors, which you can find online. Thank you to Sally Ember and we hope everyone enjoys this post on writing a series.
Check out Nicholas’s newest release, Pearseus: Vigil, by clicking on the above cover art and
prepare for a March/April debut of Charles’s next book, Legends of Windemere: Sleeper of the Wildwood Fugue.
Charles: First, I would like to say that I’m happy to be working with Nicholas again and on a post this time. Our back and forth on our blogs is a lot of fun and he has a very sharp, creative mind that keeps me on my toes. This carries over into his writing, which impressively spans several genres.
Nicholas: Same goes for me. I’m very impressed by Charles, both as an author and as a person. Plus, it’s great to have someone who gets my weird sense of humor!
What is the hardest part about promoting a series?
Charles: It’s really easy at the beginning because you can play around with teasers and you only have one book out. Then you get the second and try to find ways to promote without revealing everything in the first book. Around the third book, if you go higher than a trilogy, you get caught between avoiding big revelations in the earlier books and spoilers for the next one. It’s a really hectic balancing act because you don’t want to say too much. Yet, you have to say enough to keep people interested and lead to them to the rest of the series.
I’ve found that you have to make sacrifices in this, for example, revealing a minor spoiler to promote the next book while keeping the big stuff secret. A teaser helps, too, because it isn’t so much a spoiler, but a hint that something is going to happen or a foreshadowed event is coming to pass. Oddly enough, I found that Twitter is the less nerve-wracking social media site to promote a series on because the 140-character limit means you can’t say much and it’s hard to tiptoe around spoilers like that; you have to stick to catchy blurbs or small quotes from the book.
CLICK FOR AMAZON SITE
Cover Art by Jason Pedersen
Nicholas: I agree with Charles that Twitter is a great promotional medium for a series, as my marketing relies on a short quote and a link.
One of the best things about having a series is that you can have a different book on sale each month and it will help the others’ sales as well. However, unlike Charles, I have also made a book bundle available. This contains all the books published so far in Pearseus. Obviously, when this is on sale, no one buys the rest of the books. However, it does attract a lot of attention as it offers great value for money. So, it’s all a bit of a balancing act.
How difficult is it to maintain continuity in a series and what tricks do you use to accomplish this?
Charles: I once switched one of my main character’s eye colors and a minor recurring character lost his hair. So some of the details can be messed up if one isn’t careful. Perhaps the biggest challenge to story continuity is that you can forget some foreshadowing or you do something that alters a previously established rule. Middle books can also have events that change the finale because what you plan in your head might not always be what comes out on paper. It really is a game of memory and concentration or like putting together a 5,000-piece puzzle with no picture to guide you.
There are two tricks that I use. One is that I keep notes on a lot of things that I believe I will forget. For example, I had some minor characters who step into the spotlight in a later book and I never gave them much description in their first appearances. There was just enough that they stood out and I had to make sure I had those identifiers written down. The other trick is never to be afraid to look back at your earlier books to confirm information. If you have even an inkling that you’re off on a fact, then jump back to the book where you know the information has already been written. This helps with plot lines, character descriptions, world-building and anything else that carries over from book to book.
Nicholas: LOL—I love the idea of “a 5,000-piece puzzle with no picture to guide you.” Indeed, it can feel that way at times.
I have a .doc file that includes all sorts of minor details, from names to subplots. Also, when I write, I always have my older books open as well. That way, I’m instantly able to jump back and forth and check things out. For example, a lot of the action takes place in a place called the “Chamber of Justice.” Every now and again, I’ll catch myself typing “Chambers of Justice” (plural) instead, so I have to remember it’s actually singular. I have no idea why some days it feels self-evident it’s singular and others that it’s plural, but that’s just how it is.
Pearseus Bundle on Amazon
Do you have any suggestions for readers who wish to get into reading a long series?
Charles: I’m a fan of starting from the beginning, but I know many who start at the most recent book. If you do this, then I highly suggest that you read the earlier books at some point for more context and to see events that don’t get mentioned again. Also, one must be patient with a series because the story is stretched out and every book will have an opening. Also, not everything gets cleared up at the end of the earlier books. That understanding helps a reader accept that questions will remain. The only other tip I have is that you have to trust that the author knows what he or she is doing. I see a lot of readers try to demand that certain events happen in a story, but those desires might not fall in line with what the author has planned.
Nicholas: This is a typical “patience is a virtue” situation. Writing a series is a serious responsibility. Reading a series is an investment of both time and money, so we have to make sure that each and every book not only meets the readers’ expectations, but exceeds them. We owe them as much. That is why I’m grateful to all my readers, but those who have invested in Pearseus hold a special place in my heart.
There are several things we can do to make it easier on the reader, of course. For example, all my Pearseus books have a map with the cities and places that have been revealed so far, plus any new ones. Also, I have a character list at the beginning (and in “X-ray,” if reading on a Kindle), with a two-sentence description of who that person is. Another good idea is to offer a quick reminder each time a minor character first appears. For example, you can say something along the lines of:
“Parad walked into the room. He spotted Angel, his daughter, and smiled.”
This helps people who may have forgotten who Angel is.
Yet another trick I use is to give names to as few people as possible. For example, a minor character may be safely referred to by their property or occupation. Readers don’t need to know the name of every healer that tends a hero’s wounds or every blacksmith that sharpens his weapons.
Finally, the best thing to do is to make sure each book can stand on its own. That means no cliffhangers and no obscure references—at least not without a reminder.
Sadly, this is not always possible. Mad Water, the third book in the series, ends on a cliffhanger because the subplots raised there are not resolved for another 400 pages. So I could either have an 800-page-long book or two 400-page ones, the first of which ends on a cliffhanger.
Obviously, I chose the latter, which brings me back to readers’ patience. :)
CLICK FOR AMAZON SITE
Cover Art by Jason Pedersen
Charles Yallowitz‘s Information
Blog: www.legendsofwindemere.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cyallowitz
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/CharlesYallowitz
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Charles-E-Yallowitz/e/B00AX1MSQA/
Website: www.charleseyallowitz.com
Jason Pedersen, Legends of Windemere‘s Cover Artist: http://www.jasonpedersen.com/
Nicholas Rossis‘ Information
Blog:http://nicholasrossis.me/ .
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Nicholas-C.-Rossis/e/B00FXXIBZA/
Goodreads: Pearseus: Schism can be read for free on Goodreads.
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Nicholas_Rossis
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+NicholasRossis
Facebook: www.facebook.com/NicholasCRossis
Sally Ember, Ed.D., is the author of the sci-fi/romance/utopian ebooks in The Spanners Series. Volume I, This Changes Everything, is permafree. Volume II, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, is usually $3.99. Look for Volumes III and IV in 2015.
All reviews, info, excerpts, links: http://www.sallyember.com/Spanners
Filed under: Blogging and others' content, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Writing Tagged: action, adventure, authors, blogging, books, dark fantasy, dragons, ebooks, epic fantasy, fantasy, guest post, high fantasy, humor, interview, Legends of Windemere, magic, Pearseus, sci-fi, science fiction, series, sword & sorcery, vampires, warriors, Windemere, wizards, writing, zombies
March 2, 2015
#SMASHWORDS’ “Read An #Ebook Week” is NOW! Many #sales and #discounts!
#SMASHWORDS’ “Read An #Ebook Week” is NOW! Many #sales and #discounts!
Get any ebook format you want on Smashwords!
The Story Behind Read an Ebook Week: Read an Ebook Week was created by Canadian Smashwords author, Rita Toews. If you’re interested to learn the story behind her creation of Read an Ebook Week, read my 2010 interview with Rita over at The Huffington Post . Please note that the prior web address mentioned in the interview, www. ebookweek.com, is now controlled by a squatter and is not associated with this promotion, so please don’t link to or promote the old address.
The Smashwords RAEW page at http://www.smashwords.com/ebookweek is a better option, and has Rita’s blessing.
The official Read an Ebook Week Facebook page, operated by Rita, is at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Read-an-E-Book-Week/193882590629749
Show your support for RAEW by “Liking” it on Facebook and sharing it.
Both published Volumes of the sci-fi/romance/multiverse/utopian/paranormal (psi) ebooks in The Spanners Series for adults/NA/YA are participating in this great sale!
Volume I, This Changes Everything, The Spanners Series, by Sally Ember, Ed.D.
Dr. Clara Ackerman Branon, 58, begins having secret visits from holographic representations of beings from the Many Worlds Collective, a consortium of planet and star systems in the multiverse. When Earth is invited to join the consortium, the secret visits are made public. Now Earthers must adjust their beliefs and ideas about life, religion, culture, identity and everything they think and are. Clara is selected to be the liaison between Earth and the Many Worlds Collective and she chooses Esperanza Enlaces to be the Media Contact. They team up to provide information to stave off riots and uncertainty. The Many Worlds Collective holos train Clara and the Psi-Warriors for the Psi Wars with the rebelling Psi-Defiers, communicate effectively with many species on Earth and off-planet, eliminate ordinary, elected governments and political boundaries, convene a new group of Global Leaders, and deal with family’s and friends’ reactions. In what multiple timelines of the ever-expanding multiverse do Clara and her long-time love, Epifanio Dang, get to be together and which leave Clara alone and lonely as the leader of Earth? This Changes Everything begins the 30-year story of Clara’s term as Earth’s first Chief Communicator, continuing in nine more Volumes of The Spanners Series. Are YOU ready for the changes?
Vol I is FREE!
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/376197
Volume II, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, The Spanners Series, by Sally Ember, Ed.D.
Intrigued by multiple timelines, aliens, psi skills, romance and planetary change? Clara and the alien “Band” are back in Volume II, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, The Spanners Series. Now as Chief Communicator, Clara leads the way for interspecies communication on- and off-planet. Fighting these changes are the Psi-Defiers, led by one of the oldest friends of the Chief of the Psi-Warriors, its reluctant leader, Rabbi Moran Ackerman. Stories from younger Spanners about the first five years of The Transition fill Volume II. How would YOU do with the changes?
Usually $3.99; “Read an Ebook Week” Promotional price: $2.99
Your coupon code is NH97X (not case-sensitive). Expires: March 7, 2015
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424969
Enter the code prior to completing checkout.
Cover art and logo by Aidana Willowraven: http://www.willowraven-illustration.blogspot.com/
Find ALL books participating in this great sale and stock up on your favorite genres, authors, and titles OR scout out some new talent! http://www.smashwords.com/ebookweek
Filed under: Indie or Self-Publishing, Marketing, This Changes Everything, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, Volume I of The Spanners, Volume II of The Spanners Tagged: #RAEW, Book sale, Discount coupon, ebooks, free, Read An Ebook Week (RAEW), Smashwords, The Spanners Series
March 1, 2015
Diverse Books Contest
MG LGBTQIA2S authors, take note! Submission opportunity, here!
Originally posted on Writing and Illustrating:
If you write MG and have a diverse background, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities, you may be interested in submitting a short story to We Need Diverse Books. They are putting together an anthology of children’s literature to be published in January 2107.
Phoebe Yeh, VP/Publisher of Crown Books for Young Readers/Random House, has acquired publication rights to this Middle Grade WNDB Anthology, working title “Stories For All Of Us.”
The anthology will be in memory of Walter Dean Myers and it will be inspired by his quote: “Once I began to read, I began to exist.” Every new story contribution to this anthology will be by a diverse author.
WNDB is proud to announce that the anthology will have one story reserved for a previously unpublished diverse author. WNDB will fill that slot via…
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