Love
Better Late Than Never
So far recently, every time I’ve thought that I would be back to blogging often, some weird and terrible thing has happened. Lots of bad things. Now I’m sure that I will be back, even though that’s not to say that everything is all unicorns dancing on moonbeams for me, I’m OK, happy, and I’ve finally realised that change, no matter how toothy and scary it appears at the time, is best embraced and worked with rather than fought with. Change can be beautiful when viewed over your shoulder I think—the trick is to keep on moving no matter what and believe that it will be. Life is often about hard choices, and sometimes life can be so hard that the choice becomes whether to stay upright and carry on walking at all through that terror-filled valley or to find a suitably large rock to hide behind for the duration.
Problem with the rock is that the longer you stay with it the longer you stay in the valley. I reckon too that if you do spend a whole long time quivering in fear behind it, wondering how to get rid of the bulls-eye on your forehead and the sign on your back that says “Kick Me Really Hard All The Time”, you get to thinking that you’ve missed your chance altogether. That’s never true—it’s never too late. The hardest two parts about getting through to the sunshine are probably getting rid of that feeling of waiting for the next disaster, believing that of course more horribleness is surely on the way, and secondly believing that you deserve all horribleness issued to you anyway because you really are not only not fabulous, but you could indeed be the very epitome of anti-fabulousness.
Not easy peasy, but once you transform that rotten duo of beliefs, you might just be able find the rest of the trip not as petrifying as you imagined, and quite a lot of fun. Of course, some people’s valleys aren’t quite so deep and dark, but even though all people will have some level of tribulation in their lives, not all are properly equipped to deal with it depending on what they’ve learned one way or another, so I’m feeling quite excited about my upcoming non-fiction projects. Yes—finally! Late, yes, but at least not never. More on that and also epically late fiction launches to follow.
The past couple of years have been pretty surreal, and I’m really grateful to have actually not totally crumbled and expired. The worst happened this year when I lost one of my feathered horde, who those of you who have followed this blog for several years will know are my constant, very, very much beloved companions and fabulous feathered joy blessings. Little Button zoomed off to await the rest of us in Heaven. The worst thing is the way Jelly still mourns him. Those two little guys used to have the most appalling fights—feathers literally flew—but still, weeks and weeks after the fact, Jelly refuses to go to the places where they sat together, and would not bath in their bath either. I eventually threw it away, and now he will only bath in my cupped palms under running water. He looks at the ceiling fan that was Button’s domain, with a proper look of hope that his buddy will be there, and cried too, for a long time while holding on to one of my fingers very tightly with his tiny claw. I’ve never seen an animal grieve the way Jelly has, but it has taught me that without any shadow of a doubt, those of God’s creatures who we bring into our lives and love so much, will most certainly not “just die”. We will most certainly see them on the other side. I was going to post a RIP Button tribute, but as with when Angus died I couldn’t do it, those things just make everyone cry. I will instead be posting more photies of the whole horde in future regardless of “where” they are. Just the happy guys that they are should be shared. We place too much emphasis on mourning when we lose a love to what we see as the grim reaper, when I believe now that we should rather focus on the joy of their lives, and the knowledge that they really are in another place now—a good place—looking forward to seeing us again. Death is just a doorway, not an ending. It’s our job to move on positively, enjoy the time we have left here, and be as productive, helpful, and loving as we can while we do so.
Weirdly, even though the thought of my little yellow angel is still like a hot knife through my heart, after a couple of weeks of thinking that I would expire too from the pain of his absence, his death kicked me right out of my own weird head thing. Sometimes when the worst thing that you can think of happens, you have to either move forward with joy—or give up and camp out in the valley, forever in pain and misery. So moving on to new things for my horde and I. New things for Jelly will have to be found to take his mind off the past. New joys, and sometimes sadness too, but never hiding too long again behind anything.
I keep in mind now that when you expect only the horrible, the horrible is exactly what you will get. I’ve made a couple of fabulous discoveries—one especially, astoundingly simple, and almost instantly healing—all of which I’m very hard at work compiling into books for this year. Lots of fabulous publishing and design projects have been coming my way from my fabulous Indie authors. Thank you to all of you for your support, for allowing me to work with you on all of your wonderful books, and for your patience the couple of times I dived behind a rock or had a couple thrown at me.
When the trials of life do delay you one way or another, remember that it’s never too late to get moving again. Even if you drop some of your luggage on your way through your wilderness, that’s not always a bad thing, when you walk through the darkness concentrating on the light ahead, often there is a wonderful blue sky waiting for when you take that first step towards the exit of that valley.
Freebie Alert
A couple of my books will be free around now for the next couple of days. Right now African Me is, so if you fancy it just click on the cover image to zoom over to Amazon for download. While you’re there Sands of Time is also free if you like wild romps with dragons and chatty spacecraft.
Ronovan Hester Shares Advice on Writing Collaboration @RonovanWrites
How to Collaborate When Writing a Book by Ronovan Hester
As some of you know by now, if not you will shortly, I co-authored a book with the Award Winning Author PS Bartlett of the Razor’s Adventures Pirate Tales. This being my debut novel, it was an interesting experience to go through and one from which I’m taking take a lot away. As with any experience, there was plenty of good and some bad. I’ll explain the bad in the following in the How To parts of the article. This was a first for both of us, the collaborating part.
First I want to put down what you should consider when the idea of collaboration comes your way. In no way does any of this mean to say anything bad about my experience. I am taking good and not as good things I’ve learned and putting them him for you.
Things to do Before Collaborating
- Read the work of the other author. You want to see if the two of you have the same ideas, general style, and taste in writing and word usage. I personally loved PS Bartlett’s The Blue Diamond: The Razor’s Edge and that is what led to our becoming friends and co-author.
- Establish a rapport with the co-author. You want to be able to communicate with each other. You want to understand the language of the other person. By this, I mean you want to know when they are serious or joking, or when they are having a bad day and you can read emails and know it’s not you but just a bad day.
- Exchange writing samples for critique of work unrelated to any project you might work on together. See if you can handle criticism and a give and take process. See if the other person understands what you mean and if you understand them when talking about writing aspects of Character and Plot.
If you don’t do the above three things, your writing experience will likely be a disaster. I’m not saying it will definitely be one, but it could be.
Now you’ve agreed to begin the process of coming up with ideas. What do you do now?
Things to do Before Beginning to Write
- Agree on the type of writing process.
- There are different ways of writing a book with a partner.
- Each person may write alternating chapters.
- One person takes the lead on writing the first draft.
- The lead writer writes a chapter, the co-author reads it, and a discussion takes place before moving to the next chapter. (Although the lead writer in the process may keep writing as the ideas flow.)
- Agree on roles in the process.
- Depending on a book there may be;
- Who is responsible for what kind of research?
- Subject matter
- Style
- Or Voice, that may lend itself to one writer being the first draft writer, if that is the route you are taking.
- Who will be responsible for parts of editing and proofing?
- Is there one best at catching continuity?
- Tense
- Point of view check
- Tightening up the writing
This is a sticky one as editing will step on toes and possibly hurt feelings. This is why there needs to be a lot of agreements and thought before even beginning a collaboration.
- Agree on the final approval process.
- How do you determine when it is ready for the editor?
- Who is to say when the final draft is complete?
- What happens if one of you does not approve in the end?
- Agree on what happens if one drops out of the project.
- Do you scrap the entire project if only a certain percentage of the manuscript is completed?
- Does the remaining author continue with full credit and rights?
- Does the remaining author continue writing, with credit given to the co-author, but the continuing writer retaining all rights?
- Does the remaining author continue and both authors share credit and rights?
- When I refer to rights above I mean rights to the characters, the intellectual property, all rights related to the ownership of the book and characters, and the profits.
The above looks like a lot to consider and go through, but you need to do it. You don’t want to get to the middle of the process and discover this is not where you want to be, or maybe, just maybe, you discover your co-author is not into the project as much as you are.
Maybe you were expecting something about how to do a collaboration as in how to share documents in Google Docs through Google Drive. People jump into a writing partnership with a friend and end up discovering the friendship isn’t as strong as they thought. When sharing creations and giving some control of your ideas over to another there can be some problems arise. Feelings may be hurt, prides may wound, and friendships may end.
One final thing I would suggest; put it all in writing. Why should you do this? I’m not saying for legal reasons, I’m saying for reference reasons. A writing project can take a long time, and memories can vary. A document agreed on by both authors can be a great thing to have on hand. Document and note everything. It is important when ideas come up and each author agrees to changes. This can be a fun part of your life and a rewarding one, but don’t let it be a regrettable one.
I again want to stress, this article has nothing to do with how my own personal collaboration process went as far as the negatives go. I know what went great and I know what could have gone better.
PS Bartlett allowed me to run rampant with the book. I wrote the first draft, creating the story, and the characters with only one thing she wanted done for the most part, get a man with red hair and blue eyes that could be the captain of a ship to a certain place in the Caribbean by a certain time.
You would think she would have more concerns about a character who ends up being so important to her series of books. She wasn’t. I loved The Blue Diamond: The Razor’s Edge and that world created. I understood it. I discussed with her what this world could be and encouraged her to go for it. She went into her prequel trilogy and I into the book that became Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling. She trusted I would create characters with depth and character to match what she needed in her future books. While writing her trilogy she would ask me if the man I wrote as Captain Gabriel Wallace had certain things she could use in her books or if there were certain characters he had with him she could use. It worked out very well.
After I finished nitpicking my drafts to death, which took me about 4-5 weeks to write, I passed it over to Bartlett, as I call her or Blonde Bartlett the Sea Siren, her Pirate Name. Once some of her trilogy work was done, she then went to work on our book, added her flavor to it, her needed touches to match what all she did in the future with the man known as Wallace in the book, tightened up some of the sections, and added some proper ship and pirate jargon.
The final product was a story about 95-98% what I started with, and a read of language that blends nicely once you get past that initial set up and get on with it stage of unrest conflict causes. With four reviews in so far we have Three 5 Star reviews and One 4.5 Star review.
Here is part of the 4.5 Review.
This prequel is written to explain an enigmatic pirate, Captain Rasmus Bergman, found in a series written by P.S. Bartlett. Author Ronovan Hester was selected by P.S. Bartlett to go back in time to develop the character of this fierce, yet protective man. Set in the early 1700’s, Hester uses a very formal Old English dialogue and non-dialogue language style. The historical descriptions are done smoothly, and flow nicely without being to “teachy”.
A word of advice is to settle into the language as quickly as possible. It was a bit of a stumbling block for me, as I tried to mentally get the long slow phraseology to catch up with the fast scenes. Hester seems to settle into a great story-telling groove after the third chapter. After that I was along for the ride…
As stated above, the language is Old English and a bit stiff at the start. I don’t know if I warmed up or if Ronovan Hester warmed up, but it flowed through my mind smoother after a couple of chapters.
In Amber Wake, Gabriel Falling, Hester takes on the challenge of writing first person and steers clear of some of the pit-falls of that style. He doesn’t describe what is happening behind him or on another boat. As a reader, you only know what Captain Rasmus Bergman knows, which is critical in first-person writing.
Another challenge is developing a character from someone else’s series. Hester takes this in stride and creates a back-story to explain the famous pirate. He includes history of what could explain Rasmus’ high moral standards (for a pirate) and his upper class education. At times the internal and external dialogue, and the actions seemed at odds, but it didn’t stop me from reading.
This is the first I’ve read of The Razor Adventures Pirate Tales. It would be entertaining to get readers together, who read these books in different order, and see if we each have a favorite character based on which book we read first.
So in conclusion; Ivory Dawn, Amber Wake, Demons and Pearls, and Jaded Tides are all prequels to The Blue Diamond. Unlike Ivory Dawn, Amber Wake is a stand-alone novel, but barely.
Why include the review here, and why the 4.5 and not one of the 5’s? This one shows some of those things that can happen with co-authors. However, you can see how overall it worked out nicely. Eventually you have to put the book out and into the hands of the public. We could have spent another month or more . . . maybe . . . and found some of those things mentioned above, but that’s one reason a professional editor was paid. Obviously, the points were not problems to keep from publishing or keeping his reader and others from enjoying the book. With any review, it’s an opinion and a matter of taste, this coming from a man who created and runs a book review and interview site. In reality, the book could be a two. I like it. I am proud of what I’ve done. That’s what matters at the end of the day.
Thank you, Jo, for allowing me to take up some of your space today. You are one of the most highly respected people in the author support world I know and the fact you volunteered for this is truly an honor.
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Moving On
Sorry I’ve been gone so long. I didn’t want to share a whole lot of self-pity and grief here, and after today I’m not going to in the future either. It’s been six weeks since Angus passed away, but it feels like a lifetime ago, so much has changed. I’ve discovered that emotions I’ve believed I’ve fully felt before were really just the tips of icebergs, and that sometimes when you fall and think that no one can halt your plummet, and that you’ll never stop going down, that there are hands that will catch you, and hold you tight until you find the strength to stand again. So now here I am – standing again.
I’m not afraid of dying anymore, because now I know for sure that that isn’t the end at all, and I also know without a doubt that after all my years of intellectually studying the religions of the world, and referring to whatever lay beyond as “The Universe” that I was wrong. God is all around, and so are a whole lot of His angels. I can honestly tell you that He buys you books, finds you parking, and fixes broken washing machines, and a whole lot more that you wouldn’t expect from Him. Don’t worry – I’m not going to start preaching at you. It’s just nice to know, and I’m truly grateful for His very direct and impossible to call coincidence approach these past weeks. It’s all been a bit miraculous.
Angus passed instantly, and I’m absolutely positive that he felt no pain. We had no inkling that he had any problems with his heart, and he generally bounced around like a horse. He was sitting on the chair next to mine drinking his coffee when he said that he felt faint and that was literally the end. I “felt” him leave, and I knew that he never left alone. There is absolutely no doubt in my heart and mind that he is alive and well in another room in this incredible realm of our existence with a whole lot of others already there. There you go – end of preaching.
And now on with living – because it’s important, and we’re supposed to enjoy it. I think that every little thing that we do is important in the grand old scheme of things. We spend so much of our time worrying about things that may never happen. M Scott Peck had a thing that he’d say to his patients when they were fearful or worried. He said that when those feelings arose that they should ask themselves what they’d be doing right then if they weren’t really busy being scared. The answers were always doing something that brought pleasure. The solution, he said, was to just start doing the happy thing.
Right now I’m trying to find my bearings as far as earning my crust is concerned – not overly keen on doing the whole starving and camping out under a tree thing with my feathered and furred horde – but I’m getting there as far as ideas go, so hold thumbs. I’m sure that I have more emails than the Dalai Lama, so please be patient with me while I get stuck in and catch up again. It’s good to be back here with you lovely guys again – I’ve missed you all and hope to be back to zooming.
Farewell my Angus – till we meet again.
Tales from the Garden – Guest Post by Sally Cronin
Thank you so much to my much loved friend and talented author Sally Cronin, for being my guest here today to introduce her new book, Tales from the Garden. It’s full of wonderful, and sometimes wistful tales, as well as gorgeous photos. It’s joyful to move to exciting new climes but also a little sad to leave behind old friends. This is a beautiful book. I’ve been dipping into it now and will review later, but already I recommend it heartily. I’ll be back to normal transmission here tomorrow by the way, and catch up with comments, but for now Sally’s in charge. Over to you Sal!
Tales From The Garden – Behind the scenes – by Sally Cronin
My deep thanks to my friend Jo for hosting me today. Also for all her support over the last two years for my blog and other projects that I have been working on.
We are leaving our house here in the mountains at some point as soon as we have sold it and will be returning to Ireland and dare I say; more rain than I care to mention. The realisation that I would have to leave this beautiful mountain garden with sun filled summers and dry and sometimes snowy winters; was the inspiration behind the stories that are a record of all the features that I have come to love. Tales from the Garden began as a weekly short story series but the response was so positive I decided to publish as a permanent record. This is particularly important as many of the statues are simply too heavy to move and will have to remain with a new family that they will watch over.
Until the spring of this year we had a wonderful gardener who came in three times a week for a couple of hours and took care of the basics. We inherited Antonio with the house in 1999 and in total he worked in this garden for 47 years. He used to be a beekeeper up in the hills where the wild flowers add such a delicate flavour to the local honey. However, his wife’s ill health resulted in a need to work part-time and close to home. Hence our great luck in having him as a permanent part of the family. At age 82 he decided that he would like to retire. After issuing strict instructions about the lavish care he expected for this garden he had cared about for nearly 50 years; he left us to find our own green thumbs.
Our dog Sam arrived with me from Ireland by car in 2003 when I moved across permanently. He took to Antonio immediately and they would spend all morning in the garden together. Sam would supervise the watering, picking of the tomatoes, chasing of squirrels and general mischief making. The garden is the quieter for both their departures, although I sometimes feel eyes on me from Sam’s favourite bush behind the pool house!
Sam features in the book of course despite already having his own autobiography. He is The Last Emperor and is one of the stories that I found the most difficult to write. Here he is in his imperial glory.
Tales from the Garden is a collection of fairy stories and 80 illustrations, for children of all ages, from five to ninety-five that will change the way you look at your garden forever.
The tales reveal the secrets that are hidden beneath hedges and trees and you will discover what really happens at night as you sleep unaware in your bed. Stone statues and those hidden worlds within the earth are about to share their stories.
The guardians who have kept this sanctuary safe for over fifty years will allow you to peek behind the scenes of this magical place. They will take you on a journey through time and expand your horizons as they transport you to the land of fairies, butterflies and lost souls who have found a home here.
The book is available at a substantial discount via my own website: http://moyhill.com/tales
Also at Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0180Q6CKM
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0180Q6CKM
About Sally Cronin
Sally Cronin spent a number of years in each of the following industries – Retail, Advertising and Telecommunications, Radio & Television; and has taken a great deal of inspiration from each.
She has written short stories and poetry since a very young age and contributed to media in the UK and Spain. In 1996 Sally began studying nutrition to inspire her to lose 150 lbs and her first book, Size Matters published in 2001, told the story of that journey back to health. This was followed by another seven books across a number of genres including health, humour and romance. These include Just Food For Health, Size Matters, Just an Odd Job Girl, Sam, A Shaggy Dog Story, Flights of Fancy anthology, Turning Back the Clock and Media Training.
All these can be found on Amazon or smashwords.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sally-Georgina-Cronin/e/B003B7O0T6
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/SallyGCronin
For the last two years Sally has written a daily blog covering the subjects close to her heart including writing, health and music: Smorgasbord Invitation – Variety is the Spice of Life. You can link to it from here: smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com.
Connect to Sally on social media.
http://moyhill.com/tales/
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sallycronin1
https://twitter.com/sgc58
https://www.facebook.com/sally.cronin
https://www.facebook.com/sallygeorginacronin
https://plus.google.com/+SallyCronin/about
Thank you again Jo for all the support and friendship and for inviting me to guest here today.
It’s an honour to have you here Sally – thanks for being here. Friendship aside, you’re a formidable scribbler and newscaster, and for that you have my undying admiration.
Back to Blogging
This past week has been kind of life-changing. What happened in Paris has obviously changed the whole world, just as 9-11 did. Can’t just ignore it and go back to zooming around the bloggerverse. I just hope that we don’t look back at this time as the beginning of some rather bigger ending. I also hope that these insane murderous cowards get stopped in their rotten tracks once and for all, and that peace and love returns to the hearts of those so hurt in France and everywhere else too. My heart hurts for all humanity that any of us are even able to consider, let alone perpetrate such evil. Shameful, shameful.
After the initial shock, sadness set in. Sadness and disappointment. I’m not generally pro-violence, but sometimes maybe evil really does need to be violently excised. That kind of evil doesn’t deserve to live in my book. How to go back to life in the land of happy blogging with this huge worldwide pain? I have no idea. We’ll get there eventually, but we can’t pretend this didn’t happen. Life is precious, and obviously there is no guarantee of it continuing tomorrow, so I reckon that a bit of reflection and gratitude is in order now and then. Nobody will benefit from constant sadness though. Life must be lived, and has to be appreciated with joy, and the knowledge of how we should be treating our fellow man should encourage us to behave in the ways that we know we should. No matter how big the world and how many people sail on her, each and every individual act of kindness and caring counts. Best not to forget that this life, every individual life, is actually important after all, so while we do zoom around doing arbitrary daily things, we should occasionally remember that we’re probably here to learn something. I don’t think that our mission on Earth is to destroy each other, and I can’t understand the mind that would embrace such a concept. So – I’ve learned that evil is real and will find its way out under some cover or another. Evil shows us what we don’t want to be – what we don’t want in our world. I can’t imagine any God who would want this. Hopefully there’s time to stop it before it makes the whole world a very bad, bleak place.
The weather here has been insane. We’re having a drought which has now become painfully soggy. After months of intense dry heat the heavens finally opened, but not in a good way. There’s been flooding and some really terrible hail. Seems kind of obvious that Mother Nature is not a happy bunny at all. I haven’t been online much, apart from trying to practice doing that very thing on my phone – much safer with the amount of lighting we had. Such strange storms too. All hell breaks loose for about twenty minutes with fireworks and much deluge, then twenty minutes of full on sunshine, then more of the deluging and so on and again. Not cool and late-making in general. Still, the mud is welcome and the perking up trees too. More rain on the way for the next couple of days, which while cool, will hopefully be without any hailstones and smiting lightning.
Love Aflame by Pamela Beckford – Launch Tour
Pamela Beckford publishes her 3rd solo poetry collection. Using various poetic forms she illustrates how love can set the heart on fire but also shows how that same love can turn to ashes. Poetry is an expression from deep within the soul. It can be therapeutic and healing. It can bring out all the best or the worst in life. Her poetry comes from the heart, not the head. It is an outpouring of emotion and she exposes it to the reader in the pages. She leaves a piece of her soul in every poem Reviewers have said things like:
“Pamela’s poems are refreshing since they are truly written from the heart. She has a gift of writing a poem that speaks to each person’s heart and emotions.”
“Breathtaking. That singular word – breathtaking – is the best one-word description of “Dreams of Love” by Pamela Beckford that kept coming to mind as I lingered within the pages.”
http://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Love-Pamela-Beckford-ebook/dp/B00NVDUYQS/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_img_1
“These are not just words strung together in forms. Somehow she manages to share huge and deep emotions with two words – or one. ”
“Pamela’s poetry is diverse and creative. Lyrical without self-conscious fluff. Quiet confidence in her abilities with the various forms.”
Pamela Beckford has been writing poetry for about two years. She began writing with the encouragement of a couple of friends and has found that it has taken over her mind. She is a nonprofit CEO and enjoys reading with children on a regular basis, as well as her own reading. She lives in northern Indiana where she devotes her life to others through her job and her family.
Happy Valentines Day!
Let the 
begin! It’s not a secret that I’m an old sloosh-bucket. At this point in my life I feel a lot of love. I love the Earth and most of who sail on her. I feel a very real love for animals, that turns to very real pain when I see them suffering. Then I feel very real urges to go all Greenpeace, and beat the crap out of those doing the hurting. But that’s not what today’s about. I love YOU bloggers! I really do. Over the time I’ve known you, and seen all your wonderful personalities shine through in all sorts of wonderful ways, I’ve grown very partial to so many of you. So. Once again I give to you the words of one of my favourite poets, and my favourite poem of all time.
How Do I Love Thee?
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight.
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use, in my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
And some mellow love vibes to continue my slooshing of you today.
I hope you have a wonderful day of love, wherever on this floating rock you’re lurking over a hot keyboard. And…. MWAH! Sloosh out.
Dreams of Love by Pamela Beckford
Description: Poetry is an expression from deep within the soul. It can be therapeutic and healing. It can bring out all the best or the worst in life. Her poetry comes from the heart, not the head. It is an outpouring of emotion and she exposes it to reader in the pages.
Various poetry forms are explored: free verse, tanka (5-7-5-7-7), doidotsu (7-7-7-5) and etheree (1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10).
Dreams of Love
Dreams of you and me
Together in ev’ry way
Your lips pressed to mine
Assuring me of your love
Dreams of love eternally
Purchase here!
Pamela began writing poetry in just the last year. She is a nonprofit executive by day and spends her hours trying to be sure that everyone has a chance for a good life. Pamela is passionate about her job and it spills over into her writing. Dreams of Love is her debut poetry collection. Pamela feels that poetry can be very personal but invites you into her soul as you read her poems.Visit the Author!
It’s A Groovy Kind Of Love
Today is the wonderful, soppy, and slooshiest day of the year, as I imagine you might already know – Valentines Day. And yes, I am a romantic soul. I can indeed sloosh it up with the best of them, and wax lyrical for hours about all sorts of heart-palpitating and blush inducing things. Today though, I think I’ll stick to my most ardent passion. Books. What a surprise, you say? Well.
I’ve heard that Amazon has the rights to sell second hand e-books. They haven’t actually decided to exercise this right yet, but already there is much noise about the concept. Some authors are most indignant, considering the fact that if readers can sell their books at much lower prices than the “new”, this will mean rather large drops in their overall book sales. Readers on the other hand, say that if they have paid good money for a book, e or otherwise, it belongs to them, and they should be allowed to do with it as they wish.
From my point of view, I don’t believe that this will be a terrible thing. I’ve spent many hours of my life in second hand bookshops, before gleefully scurrying home with piles of newly bought books to read. Books that I would not have bought as new. Not because I’m a tightwad in any way, I hastily add. Some of these books I would never have come across, because they weren’t in the Top Ten section of new books for sale. Others because I didn’t “know” the authors, and I would rather spend the big bucks for a brand new book on one of my old favourites.
These battered old second hand books gave me many passionate new loves. Now I buy every single new book put out by quite a few authors that I would never have looked twice at in the new books section. This seems like a situation where everyone wins. Writers have new readers to adore them. People who for one reason or another don’t, or can’t afford to buy new books, get to read new authors, and of course fall madly in love with them. So, I for one, am most certainly feeling the warm glow of stocking my kindle up with new writer guys to get all hot and heavy with. Bring it on Amazon!
So. In the spirit of all this slooshing, and being a little too far away from all my friends for chocolates, sort of thing…. I am of course giving you my short stories again today, if you don’t already have them. From around 00:01CMT – 14th February. And if you feel a slight warming of the heart when you read them, you might very well just fall in love with Shadow People too, which is still far too fresh and nubile to be overly free right now. But that’s the whole point of this kind of loving. Isn’t it?
Till next time friends xxx And today of course, I have to say,
Jo Robinson 