Blog Memory Lane

I had not been back to my Alma Mater in forty years. But here I was driving down once familiar streets, craning my neck at buildings renovated and reinvented that housed me, fed me and schooled me many years ago. This return visit was not by chance, but by invite. I was to be a guest speaker to a group of communication majors. Me. The girl who graduated with a degree in science was returning as an author of literary fiction.

Strange how life has its way with you; how a barely eighteen year old with the dream of being a journalist finds herself taking Anatomy and Physiology, Physics and Biology. The dreams I left behind remained dormant waiting to energize again when the timing was different, better; when life said it was okay to be what I always wanted to be.

I stood before a group of students recounting my journey from graduation using the metaphor of shoes. With lines taken from Forrest Gump in the film of the same name I weaved my way through the maze of days, months and years.

“Mamma always says you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes, where they are going and where they have been. I bet if I try real hard I can remember my first pair of shoes.” Forrest Gump

Perhaps some of the students listening never saw the movie. Too bad. Despite its length there were some memorable lines, chunks of wisdom like the one above that might serve as a guide in the future. My shoe metaphor allowed me to travel through the decades since I’d last walked that campus and each different pair put me in another mind set, on another journey.

I told the young men and women listening, to nurture the friendships they will make while in college and to live their lives with passion. I told them also to believe in their dreams and to do whatever it is that ignites the fire inside. Let that flame burn hot, I said, for a life without passion is no life, why it live any other way.

For the record, my next pair of shoes might be flip-flops; I want to see where they will take me.

Blog what you say, see, hear, and feel.

One Writer's Passion
Linda

Textnovel.com serializes REMOTE CONTROL by Cheryl Kaye Tardif

After news spread across North America about the novel I am writing on my iPhone 3G, I have had the pleasure of being interviewed for TV, radio, newspapers and websites, plus I was contacted by Stan Soper, the founder of Textnovel.com, a website devoted to cell phone novels or serialized fiction by phone.

Stan states: "I started Textnovel™ after I stumbled across an article in the New York Times on Japanese teenagers who were writing and reading fiction on their cellphones and publishing them on websites."

This fad has quickly spread across Japan over the past few years and resulted in a number of bestselling novels written mainly by teenagers with no previous writing or publishing experience. Many of the novels were written using cell phone lingo (LOL) and most are Young Adult (YA) novels.

Textnovel is the first English site to offer cell phone novels, which can be read on your computer or cell phone.

With my novel Finding Bliss I take cell phone novels to a whole new level. Not only am I the first person to attempt to write an entire novel using the Notes application on my iPhone 3G, it'll be written with my normal style (no cell phone lingo) and will feature a character who uses and iPhone 3G. This novel may one day find itself on Textnovel.com.

When Stan read about me in a recent press release, he extended a special invitation for me to check out Textnovel.com. That's when I decided to do a test run with my serialized novelette REMOTE CONTROL. I've been posting it on my website, but that will be on hold while I post it to Textnovel.com instead. Feel free to read it on Textnovel.com or you can subscribe and have new chapters delivered right to your cell phone. And don't worry, my chapters are short.

Read REMOTE CONTROL on Textnovel.com.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif
bestselling author of Whale Song

Guest blogger Jeff Rivera talks about his journey to getting published

My journey to getting published: an inspirational essay by author, Jeff Rivera

I remember walking along the beach in Hull, Massachusettes. I was depressed and frustrated, wondering if I'd ever even finish this crazy little story called Forever My Lady. See, I had this idea that because Hollywood kept rejecting my screenplay for Forever My Lady that somehow, maybe real people would be interested in reading it. So, that's why I set out to write it as a novel. Nevermind the fact that I had never written a novel before, nevermind the fact that I had already decided to self-publish it and didn't have a dime to my name.

I had this idea in my head because some small voice inside of me kept longing me to do it. It's that nagging part of me that kept pushing me to go when I felt stuck in my life, when I was disappointed in the people that didn't "get me" that kept me going. Yet, here I am and now my novel, Forever My Lady is being released by Grand Central Publishing. I knew it was a crap shoot to be one of the few people who went from self-published to published but I had to anyways.

I want to be a voice of inspiration to any of you writers out there that have self-published something and want to make that leap out there to being published by a major because it can happen. I'm living proof of it. I'm not saying it's the best route but if you decide to take that route it can be very rewarding.

I worked so hard to promote my book. Not having a dime to my name forced me to become creative with my promoting. I stuck to online promotion, spreading word through mainly message boards and forums, spamming the world. And eventually because of the love for my story it was the fans that spread word mostly. It was their support that kept me going. I'll never become jaded by those letters and emails.

I felt like I was on a mission, that I had to tell this story. It wasn't every day that a Black American writes a Latino story and I had that strike against me. Would people accept me? Would they "get" me? How would I pay for the printing? All those questions entered my head.

But one thing I learned is that God, the Universe, whatever you believe in has given you right now everything you need to succeed. Anything else you need will fall into the right place at the right time. And I knew that I had internet access, I had the time, I had the energy and I had the drive to tell the story I wanted to tell and that's all I needed. Think about what you have. If it truly is your dream to get published you won't allow those doubts and excuses to enter your mind. No, you'll keep moving forward.

**********

Note from Cheryl:

I've had the pleasure of talking with Jeff Rivera and working with him. He is an extremely gifted writer and someone I'm very pleased to call a friend. I am so happy to see that his novel Forever My Lady is being released tomorrow.

You can order Jeff's novel at your favorite online retailer such as Amazon.com, or purchase from your favorite bookstore. If they don't have it in stock, please ask them to order it.

Visit Jeff's website at: http://www.jeffrivera.com/

What's on the grill at Book Roast?

Today's special: Karen Harrington, author of Janeology

The fine book chefs at Book Roast are officially roasting me today. Ouch! Hop on over to the Book Roast grill and take a look at how they've set the table.

Not only is the Maitre d serving up an excerpt from JANEOLOGY, he is also going to help me give away one copy of the book to a lucky commenter. And the winner will be chosen by the end of TODAY! I'll be stopping by the grill all day to answer questions, too.

Hey, one little blog comment of what, 50 or so words, to win 75,000 words! That seems like a deal to me.

Even better, Book Roast grills up new authors each week so stop by and see other writers take the heat.

--

Karen Harrington
www.scobberlotch.blogspot.com

Reflections on an Anniversary

This month, I reached the one-year anniversary of my first blog, and I want to thank Cheryl Kaye Tardif for inviting me to join this group and for encouraging me to try blogging . . . something I'd never thought I'd find time to do until after retirement from day jobs. But this is my 52nd post and one of three blogs I now keep.

I've been writing a journal since I was 22, a little over 30 years ago, so blogging hasn't become the time-consuming demand I'd been afraid it would be. Thoughts about writing and the writing life pour out of me easily, but then I've been at this business since 1980, and have a lot to say on the subject.

What I've gotten back by reading others' thoughts, though, has been tremendous, and the people I've met through blogs and networking is just amazing. I've read some terrific novels you won't likely find on bookstore shelves because they're independently published by writers with talent and an absolute passion for the written word. You will, however, find their books and my reviews of their books on amazon and goodreads.

The other day, I met a woman through MySpace who asked if I'd review and blurb her unpublished book (she has a publisher). I was hesitant. I'd never been asked to blurb a book before and her work is nonfiction: a tragic story about the loss of her four-year-old son due to medical errors. Her story is intense and heartbreaking, and it's a privlege to help promote someone with a story that needs to be told. I'll let you know when her book is published.

Meanwhile, let's keep sharing and reading and writing. It's the best remedy I know for tough times, whether they're personal or global.

For excerpts and reviews of Taxed to Death and Fatal Encryption visit my website at www.debrapurdykong.com

Blog Another Season

There is a woodpecker rat-tatting on the south wall of my house. The sound reminds me of other autumns, other late mornings when October’s leaves fill my driveway full of yellow, orange and rust. My writing space has been winterized. I am now in the loft just above the wood stove. For the next four to six months this is where you can find me most often; under the window over The Elm.

Today the dog is outside, oblivious to the knocking of our feathered friend. If I knew Morse Code I am sure that bird is tapping a message; something profound.
Something to do with the shift of my writing space, which has also created an alteration of purpose, because with so many months devoted to book promotion I feel that my writer’s compass is off. There is a strong pull to let go and let what I’ve done find its way and give myself permission to do this without penalties attached.

I keep a calendar on my kitchen counter. Every day there is a painting or print from museums around the world. Today there is a black and white print of The Large Cat by Cornelis Visscher (1629-1662). This feline is over three hundred years old, drawn by a man who died at thirty-three. I wondered what he would think if he knew I had my morning cup-of-tea looking at his large cat. I wondered too just what becomes of all we do and all we have created, centuries from now. Perhaps my tapping woodpecker had the answer or maybe Mark Twain did when he said: “If you would have your work last forever, and by forever I mean fifty years, it must neither overtly preach nor overtly teach, but it must covertly preach and covertly teach.”

Blog what you hear, see, think and feel…

Linda Merlino