Sarah Robinson's Blog, page 27
July 9, 2014
Have you supported this cause yet? Did you know that 100% of the...
Have you supported this cause yet? Did you know that 100% of the proceeds go to a cancer research foundation? July 28th, it goes live!!! Go to this link to support it!!
New Review for Sand & Clay! 5 out of 5 RockSTARS!
By Rosie’s Book Heaven
This review is from: Sand & Clay: Her Forbidden Rockstar (Kindle Edition)
This story drained me and made my heart ache. After the ending of Logan’s Story, I was excited to read Sand & Clay. I totally loved both books. But, I have to admit, I was hoping Sand & Clay would take a different turn, call me a hopeless romantic, I was hoping for what did not happen ( I don’t want to give away anything). This book again showed Clay’s good heart and loyalty. He struggles to get what he really wants and he struggles with his loyalty.There were moments I wanted to reach into the book and take Logan into my arms. My heart took a hard beating with this story. I wanted Gina to change (I wanted to beat her on the side of the head) and I truly wanted it to work out with Turner (I cried). I don’t like it when good guys get hurt. But, the author did a good job with the turn of events. I am glad I read Logan’s Story first. Have some tissue when you read this one and protect your Kindle, there are moments you might want to throw it against the wall. I loved the ending, it was the only way to go.
Grab your own copy of Sand & Clay now!!
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes | Paperback | Scribd |
July 8, 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars for Logan's Story: LOVED IT!! MY HEART IS FLUTTERING!!!
Absolutely LOVE this new 5 Star Review of Logan’s Story on Amazon!
5.0 out of 5 stars LOVED IT!! MY HEART IS FLUTTERING!!!
By Rosie’s Book Heaven
This review is from: Logan’s Story: A Sand & Clay Prequel (Kindle Edition)
This story is full of emotions and loyalty. I fell in love with Logan Clay, he is a tough Irish Man with a very good heart. He has sacrificed a part of himself to be the financial support for his parents. Logan and his band play at small gigs at night and then he works the graveyard shift at a warehouse. Logan is totally dedicated. Music is Logan’s fuel. He feels through his music. He lives through his music. When he meets Gina Vile, she stirs up his feelings; feelings he hadn’t felt in a very long time. When Logan is discovered by a Scout, he is ecstatic, but they want him alone and not his band mates. What will he do? Loyalties will be tested. Will he have a chance at fame? This story grasped me and tugged at my heart. I was pulled in and felt Logan’s struggle. I completely loved this story from beginning to end. The ending surprised me a bit, but I can totally see this happening.
Get your copy now at any big retailer!
Logan’s Story at Amazon or Barnes & Noble!!
Overcoming Fear in Writing
Another amazing article that teaches writers to become not only better on paper, but in who they are…
I love Stephen King, I think most people do. While some of his novels are too much for me, they all are expertly crafted and they show a spotlight into the mind of a true genius.
He has refused to stay true to his typecast, and has frequently published work which doesn’t belong to the genre he became famous for.
I love this because I write all over the map. I write crime drama, romance, rockstar series, and have upcoming projects in military dramas and young adult. I think that is what makes me a better writer, the ability to have variety in my imagination. To bring you stories that tell you a little something different about me each time, rather than a similar storyline rewritten fifteen different ways.
Check out the article here or below:
What writing lessons can Stephen King teach us?
You’d think after many years studying King’s fiction and career I’d be well placed to answer. But as I chased round my mind for a list I could share with you here, it finally dawned on me that all other lessons disintegrate, like so many vampires caught out by the morning sun, when compared with the one key lesson I’ve learned and continue to practice daily.
He taught me to write without fear.
You may find it a little strange that, in my search for a teacher of fearless writing, I would turn to an author renowned for manifesting a state of abject terror in his readers. A teacher of fearful writing, perhaps, but not fearless. However, during the last three and a half years that I have spent researching King (reading articles, tracking down old interviews, transcribing archived documents), I’ve been struck time and time again, by his bravery, by his willingness to tackle new challenges and by his approach to writing, often from new and frequently surprising directions.
For example:
He has refused to stay true to his typecast, and has frequently published work which doesn’t belong to the genre he became famous for.
He stands up to the literary establishment and demands that his writing is taken seriously.
He experiments with new media.
He will try his hand at just about any kind of fiction: short stories, serial novels, comic books, screenplays, e-novels.
He offers his work up to others for their own creative interpretation.Writing can be a scary business. Turning up to the page day after day trying to produce something of value, something worthy of both yours and your reader’s attention is often intimidating, sometimes almost crippling. In my own writing I try and choose my words as fearlessly as I can. My touchstones are authenticity, playfulness and audacity, and by keeping these three key words at the forefront of my mind when sitting down to write, I find that I am capable of overcoming my fear of the blank page.
July 7, 2014
The Most Important Writing Lesson Ever Learned
If you haven’t read this article yet by Steven Pressfield, and you want to be a writer, I highly recommend reading it ASAP! I absolutely loved it when I first read it because it’s seriously enlightening and grounding.
Nobody wants to read your shit.
That’s the most important writing lesson you can ever learn. Seriously. That’s the article, and that’s the gosh darn truth.
My favorite highlight from the article is: "When you understand that nobody wants to read your shit, your mind becomes powerfully concentrated. You begin to understand that writing/reading is, above all, a transaction. The reader donates his time and attention, which are supremely valuable commodities. In return, you the writer, must give him something worthy of his gift to you."
Check out the article here or below:
My first real job was in advertising. I worked as a copywriter for an agency called Benton & Bowles in New York City. An artist or entrepreneur’s first job inevitably bends the twig. It shapes who you’ll become. If your freshman outing is in journalism, your brain gets tattooed (in a good way) with who-what-where-when-why, fact-check-everything, never-bury-the-lead. If you start out as a photographer’s assistant, you learn other stuff. If you plunge into business on your own, the education is about self-discipline, self-motivation, self-validation.
Advertising teaches its own lessons. For starters, everyone hates advertising.Advertising lies. Advertising misleads. It’s evil, phony, it’s trying to sell us crap we don’t need. I can’t argue with any of that, except to observe that for a rookie wordsmith, such obstacles can be a supreme positive. Why? Because you have to sweat blood to overcome them–and in that grueling process, you learn your craft.
Here it is. Here’s the #1 lesson you learn working in advertising (and this has stuck with me, to my advantage, my whole working life):
Nobody wants to read your shit.
Let me repeat that. Nobody–not even your dog or your mother–has the slightest interest in your commercial for Rice Krispies or Delco batteries or Preparation H. Nor does anybody care about your one-act play, your Facebook page or your new sesame chicken joint at Canal and Tchopotoulis.
It isn’t that people are mean or cruel. They’re just busy.
Nobody wants to read your shit.
There’s a phenomenon in advertising called Client’s Disease. Every client is in love with his own product. The mistake he makes is believing that, because he loves it, everyone else will too.
They won’t. The market doesn’t know what you’re selling and doesn’t care. Your potential customers are so busy dealing with the rest of their lives, they haven’t got a spare second to give to your product/work of art/business, no matter how worthy or how much you love it.
What’s your answer to that?
1) Reduce your message to its simplest, clearest, easiest-to-understand form.
2) Make it fun. Or sexy or interesting or informative.
3) Apply that to all forms of writing or art or commerce.
When you understand that nobody wants to read your shit, your mind becomes powerfully concentrated. You begin to understand that writing/reading is, above all, a transaction. The reader donates his time and attention, which are supremely valuable commodities. In return, you the writer, must give him something worthy of his gift to you.
When you, the student writer, understand that nobody wants to read your shit, you develop empathy. You acquire that skill which is indispensable to all artists and entrepreneurs: the ability to switch back and forth in your imagination from your own point of view as writer/painter/seller to the point of view of your imagined reader/gallery-goer/customer. You learn to ask yourself with every sentence and every phrase: Is this interesting? Is this fun or challenging or inventive? Am I giving the reader enough? Is she bored? Is she following where I want to lead her?
When I began to write novels, this mindset proved indispensable. It steered me away from Client’s Disease. It warned me not to fall in love with my own shit just because it was my own shit. Don’t be lazy, Steve. Don’t assume. Look at every word through the eye of the busy, impatient, skeptical (but also generous and curious) reader. Give him something worthy of the time and attention he’s giving you.
The awareness that nobody wants to read/hear/see/buy what we’re writing/singing/filming/selling is the Plymouth Rock upon which all successful artists and entrepreneurs base their public communications. They know that, before all else, they must overcome this natural resistance in their audience. They must find a way to cut through the clutter. As a fledgling cub at B&B, I remember days, weeks, months when our various creative teams did nothing but beat our brains out trying to find some way to make the dull exciting and the unlovely beautiful–and to make the beautiful-but-overlooked gorgeous too.
How, you ask? You’ll know you’re on the right track when beads of blood begin to pop out on your forehead.
NEW ANTHOLOGY COMING JULY 28th!!!!!!
Have you added The Bound Anthology (coming July 28th) to your TBR list yet?? Go add it on Goodreads and RECOMMEND to friends!!! This anthology is going to be AMAZING!!!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22671084-bound-anthology
How can I work with a face like this staring at me???~I love my...
How can I work with a face like this staring at me???
~I love my little Elly puppy!
July 6, 2014
Reigniting the marriage flame after you’ve had house guests for...
Reigniting the marriage flame after you’ve had house guests for two weeks…. Sacrifices must be made.
"I really enjoyed beta reading this story for the author. I think this is my new favorite book of..."
I really enjoyed beta reading this story for the author. I think this is my new favorite book of hers.
This is the prequel to Sand and Clay, and it introduces us to Logan before he becomes a famous rock star, back when he was playing in bars with his band. This story has so much depth and challenging events, I was surprised that it could all fit in a novella. But it works so well, I was gripped by the story, and when I got to the end, I yelled no!
Logan has played guitar his whole life. Now, he finds himself playing gigs at the bar and working 12 hour days in a warehouse to help pay his mother’s medical bills, as well as keep a roof over all their heads so his father can take care of his mom, since the accident had made it impossible for her to take care of herself. He loves his family, and he has no regrets. But what happens when a big scout is going to be at their show? What will the guys do? And when bad things happen, what is the right thing to do?
This story has so many surprises and twists, it sure feels bigger than a novella, but you can read it in one sitting. And that’s a good thing, because I could not rest until I got to the end.
”-
Amazon Reviewer of Logan’s Story
This is my favorite review for Logan’s Story, it’s so beautiful! Thank you, darling Heidi! Everyone should definitely check out this awesome, 99 cent book this weekend!!
~Sarah
I’m so excited to bring you Logan’s Story in The...
I’m so excited to bring you Logan’s Story in The Bound Anthology, coming July 28th!! The authors and books in this are absolutely wonderful and amazing! This is going to be an awesome box set!
