Happy New Year - I think 2011 will be a Doozy!

I just want to do a brief posting here today to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! I believe 2011 is going to be a wild ride and I'm looking forward to every peak and valley, every twist and turn. I also look forward to sharing some of the highlights with you here. I have promised a monthly book review and my plan was to post them on the 1st of each month. You know what they say about the best laid plans, the road to hell, etc., etc. To be honest, I am traveling and left the book I wanted to review and my notes behind in Dubai. I thought it was only fair to the author and to you to postpone it and do it properly when I can re-read my notes and properly share some of my favorite excerpts.

Stay tuned next week for my review on The Woman Who Fell from the Sky - it's a page turner!

The Woman Who Fell from the Sky: An American Journalist in Yemen

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Adverbs & Cliches in a Nutshell - Guest Post by Jessica Bell

Too many adverbs and clichés in your writing? I've got just the fix for you. by Jessica Bell Writers constantly have rules thrown at them left, right, and center. Show, don’t tell! Stop using so many dialogue tags! More sensory detail! More tension! Speed up the pace! Yada yada yada ... it can become overwhelming, yes? I used to feel overwhelmed by it all too. In fact, I still do sometimes. It’s hard enough to get the words on the page, let alone consider how to put them there. In Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird , she says that in order not to be overwhelmed, a writer needs to focus on short assignments. She refers to the one-inch picture frame on her desk and how that little picture frame reminds her to focus on bite-sized pieces of the whole story. Basically, if you focus on one small thing at a time, the story will eventually come together to create a whole. I believe the same applies to learning the craft of writing. If writers focus on one aspect of the craft at a time, t...

The Author-Preneur – Are you Ready for it? Book review: APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch

“Starting your book is only the first five miles of a twenty-six mile marathon that’s one-third of a triathlon.” APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur If you’re a self-published author or are contemplating taking the plunge (for whatever reason), be prepared for the demand of being an ‘Author-Preneur.’ Actually, it’s not a bad idea to do it even if you’re traditionally published. Start switching your mind-set from, ‘I’ve got to sit down and get a chapter done today’ to ‘I’ve got to sit down and write a chapter today AND post a tweet about my progress, share a sneak preview on Facebook, take that tutorial on how to convert to ebooks, and review the cover design proposals that are sitting in my in-box.’ There are plenty of books, blogs, websites, newsletters and videos out there on how to do it all... some helpful and others not so much. One that I would highly recommend is Guy Kawasaki’s and Shawn Welch’s APE: Author, Publisher,Entrepreneur . It takes you through the entire...

The Last Witch on Skye goes on tour!

I'm very exicted to give you a preview of the next title coming out from OC Publishing. The Last Witch on Skye , written by Carolyn J. Nicholson and illustrated by E.M. Gales (edited by Marianne Ward and book design by David W. Edeldstein) will launch on September 17th. Our virtual book tour has begun and we are thrilled to have the folks listed below on board to help build excitement for the launch. A bit about the book... The Ban the Witches and Fairies (BW&F) Party has chased all the supernatural beings out of the Isle of Skye. Only Magaidh, a young witch, remains, hiding in a castle disguised as a cat. But, she and the Queen of the Fairies have a plan to rescue the Fairy Flag, allowing the fairies and Magaidh to return to Skye. As Magaidh resumes her business, Spells Inc. she thinks about getting revenge but the Fairy Queen suggests peace would be a better plan. Throughout the book, Magaidh and her two fairy friends, Sean and Iain, go on many adventures together, including...

Writing...Just because!

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