You can buy Joy in a Box November 24, 2009

I am delighted to announce that
My collection of flash fiction, Joy in a Box, is now available in print. This is the perfect book to give as a gift to someone who likes to read stories that are short and sweet, because each story only takes two to three minutes to read. Put it in the downstairs restroom, beside the coffeemaker, or on the coffee table.

The sun pulled the daylight down with it, the silky nuances of dusk wrapping themselves around the strange couple, and Penny’s thoughts hovered in their folds. (Note Attached)

Genres
I’ve added as many genres as possible in the book in order to appeal to all tastes, and the stories are even clean enough for teenagers to read. Many of the stories have won placement positions in writing challenges, and others have caused readers to think, ponder, believe, imagine, reflect, feel, consider, suppose, assume, sense . . . (thesaurus, anyone?).

On went the motor of the walking machine; flip flap went the fat on the insides of Dorothy’s thighs. Dust flew abundantly in all directions. (Absolutely Fabulous!)

Reviews
“Her poignant crystal clarity of truth and honest point of view gather together in the smallest set of words for each short story. The antagonist—generally a normal aspect of any written story—isn’t entirely concrete, malleable, even visible. We’re not talking about a villain dressed in black here, or a mean old lady out to skin 101 dalmations for their fur to make coats. The conflict is something inside rather than outside. The plot is more based on thought than on action. The story moves more on the concept of memories than on events, sort of like . . . Haiku.” ~ Pierre Dominique Roustan, author of The Cain Letters

“It takes a special talent to write a complete story in a few words. Sally Hanan has that talent, and most of her stories have an interesting twist ending.” ~ Lena Nelson Dooley, award-winning author of Wild West Christmas, Christmas Love at Lake Tahoe, and Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico

“A well-written and thought-provoking book of inspiring stories. Each story was so different. This book is about more than JOY; it stands for HOPE!” ~ Fran Lewis, author of My Name is Bertha, Bertha Speaks Out, and Bertha Fights Back

Where to buy this work of genius
You can buy Joy in a Box for $11.99, with shippping by UPS, here. I haven’t got it available on other online stores yet, as I need to come up with $99 to cover the ISBN and channel distribution costs. Yes, that’s what it costs.

She smiled—one of those fizzy drink kind of smiles that pops tiny bubbles of air to the lips over seconds of time. Then she went back to reading. (In The Orange-Sherbet Light)

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

How to write academic sentences November 20, 2009

For those of you who like to sound as if you are from an elite group of academia, here is a handy-dandy tool to help you out.

                                                               
                                                               
Make you own academic sentence.

Simply choose from four drop-down boxes to create your next sentence of genius.

If you don’t like the way it sounds, you can change it or edit it, or simply start over.

If you’d like to learn more about how to sound boring smart, you can teach yourself here.
                                                               
                                                               

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

Publish your e-book with Smashwords November 16, 2009

Smashwords is a great idea Mark Coker thought up. Why not set up a site on which writers can upload their e-books for free and then sell them to the public? Mark’s beta site went public on May 6, 2008. Since then, the company has added support services, tagging, coupon generators, publishers’ pages, a marketing guide, writing contests, affiliate marketing, and distribution agreements with Barnes & Noble and Sony.

“Over one billion of the world’s roughly 6.5 billion inhabitants subsist on less than $1 a day. Paper books are simply too expensive for most of the world.” ~ Mark Coker, Smashwords

Here are some of the pros and cons of publishing an e-book with Smashwords:

PROS
—The moment your book is ready and formatted (according to the Smashwords formatting guide), you can upload your Word file and let the world read it.
—Smashwords converts the Word file into many optional reading formats to make your book compatible with most of the book-reading devices available these days. Formats available: HTML, JavaScript, Kindle, Epub, PDF, RTF, LRF, Palm doc, plain text download, plain text Web view,
—You retain all rights to your book.
—You get to decide how much of the book you want readers to preview.
—Smashwords continues to negotiate with various online retail outlets to ensure the best possible distribution potential for your book.
—Smashwords only takes a 15% fee and you get to keep the rest (and you can change the price as often as you want to).
—Writers from all over the world can publish their books with Smashwords.

“By moving books into the digital realm, we can start to change the economics of book publishing, while at the same time making great independent books available to people of all economic backgrounds from around the world.” ~ Mark Coker, Smashwords
                                                                 

CONS
—You tend to post it too quickly, before you are positive there are no formatting mistakes or before you give it the final read through.
—Most writers practically give their books away so it’s still hard to make a decent profit.
—You cannot post other people’s reviews of your book, only the reviewers can. It’s already a blessing to have someone read and review your book, so it feels even greedier to ask them to then go to the site to post the review again.
                                                                 

I began the process of uploading my flash fiction collection, Joy in a Box, a few months back, thinking it would lessen the pain of not having the printed version for a while. It’s great to have a place where readers can preview the first three stories, and, because of Smashwords’ free coupon generator, it has been extremely useful to be able to link reviewers to it.
                                                                                                                                  

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

The Search for God and Guinness November 12, 2009

Stephen Mansfield, the renowned biographer of presidents and dead men, has written a book that might cause the deeply religious to twitch an eyebrow or two. It’s called The Search for God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer that Changed the World, and it is a testament to the lives and philanthropy of the Guinness family over the last 246 years.

Faith seemed to play the largest part in the generous actions and career choices of the family, and it was heartwarming to see how one family could give such worth to so many. Even more fascinating is the fact that this has continued for so long.

Stephen got a lot of flack last year for writing a book called The Faith of Barack Obama. This book shouldn’t generate nearly as much shock and denial. It runs like a familiar history book with an easy, swing-door style into the hearts of various members of the Guinness family over the generations. Stephen is a writer who can take history and turn it into interesting stories. I’d give this book a four out of five, only because of the tendency for repetition in places.

The most valuable lesson in this book is the questions the reader can ask him/herself at the end.
What can I create that will change culture for the better?
What legacy of giving will I leave behind?
What value have I given to all I have encountered and had the opportunity to lead?
How can I be enough of an example to my children that the good will continue to touch the generations beyond theirs?

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

US v. UK English November 8, 2009

After living in the US for over fourteen years, I don’t tend to notice the difference in UK and US English until I go home for a week or so. Now that NaNoWriMo is driving me to write a new novel that’s set in Ireland, I’ve found that it’s time to give you guys a crash course in UK/European English.

SPORT
Soccer=football
Football=American football

In Ireland, the favorite sports are football, Gaelic football, hurley, and a little rugby. Stopping a game for any reason other than half-time or a foul is considered stupid, because a game means the players play and keep going until the game is won. Football lasts about an hour with a half –time of about fifteen minutes in the middle, but will go on for longer if it’s a draw.
                                                                 

COOKING
Biscuit=scone
Cookie=biscuit

A tablespoon in Ireland is huge, whereas a tablespoon in the US is a dessertspoon, or as my mom calls it, a puddy (pudding) spoon. People tend to be more likely to make things from scratch rather than use a box mix.

EDUCATION
Elementary school=primary school
High school=secondary school
School=college

There is no middle school. Primary school is from junior infants up to sixth class and secondary school is 1st year to 6th year. There is an option for a year of internship in 5th year, but lots of kids slack off that year.

ON THE ROAD
Highway=dual carriageway
Hood=bonnet
Trunk=boot
Parking lot=car park
Windshield=windscreen
Big truck=lorry
Sidewalk=pavement
Gas=petrol

There are usually no frontage/feeder roads, just one road in one direction and one in the opposite direction. The median is normally grass, if there is one. Most of the dual carriageways have two lanes. Most of the cars on the road are compact because of the high cost of gas (about $5 a gallon).

CANDY
Candy=sweets
And last but not least, the chocolate over there is amazing. That’s because there’s a law about the percentage of cocoa that has to be in it.

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

How to change your Facebook page back to normal October 30, 2009

Sometimes others just do a better job explaining things, and in this case, it’s Joanne Dolles of “The Facebook Insider.” She tells you:

How to stop annoying everyone else with lists of the groups you’ve just joined and the new friends you’ve just made. Unfortunately, it doesn’t tell you how to block seeing everyone else’s list of new friends, but for now, you won’t be the pariah.

How to see everyone’s updates, not just the 250 Facebook have decided are important to you.

CHANGE IT BACK!

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

Commonly misspelled words October 24, 2009

There are written words that people misspell, and seeing them causes my fists to form and my brain to scream. . . . Here are the culprits:

Alot
There is no such word.
A lot
I ate a lot of candy.
Her brother is a lot nicer.
She jogs a lot.
———-
Your (these things belong to you)
Your purse, your house, your car, your boyfriend.
You’re (short for you are)
You’re skinny. You’re kind. You’re smarter than I thought.
———-
Affect (verb/action word)
He affects my heart.
Her sharp words affected my emotions.
Effect (noun/person, place or thing)
The swine flu had a bad effect on my lungs.
His kissing had no effect on me.
———-
Alright
Used a lot but not correct
All right
She drank all right, and she felt sick the next morning.
———-
Than (for comparison)
He is taller than her.
She is more beautiful than that actress.
Then (relates to time)
And then we quit writing.
We ate and then we drove home.
———-
Further (abstract)
Don’t push me any further!
Her imagination went further than she wanted it to go.
Farther (distance)
The plane went 150 miles farther than the airport.
The coach made us run farther than we had ever run before.
(I remember this because farther has the word far in it.)
———-
There (a place)
No, she doesn’t live here, she lives over there.
He went there yesterday.
Their (belongs to them)
Their testimonies are exaggerated.
Their kids are wild.
(This is also easy to remember because there has the word here in it.)
———-
Bear
I can’t bear (carry) this heavy burden.
Love bears all things.
Bare
She bared (exposed) her soul.
Her feet were bare (shoeless).
———-
Lose (used more often as a verb)
I can’t lose you, you cannot leave me!
And when did your husband lose the remote control?
Loose (used more often as an adjective)
Wow, your pants are really loose on you! You must have lost a lot of weight.
She’s a loose woman, a nymphomaniac.
Loose/loosen, when used as a verb
Loose (completely release) me, set me free!
Loosen (partially release) my shackles and I will run far from here.
———-
Hopefully this will help those of you who are not gifted with good spelling.

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

Find a concept for your novel October 21, 2009

Concept
For my last novel and the one my mind is currently cooking up, I got the basic idea from quotes. Last time around, I found the following quote:

“We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart.” ~ Blaise Pascal

I had spent some time around a friend who had once been a sniper, and he talked a lot about the secrecy and mental stress of the job. I then formed my novel around those two things. It’s called We Know the Truth and is currently with an agent. Here’s hoping!

Find the right quote
This time around (because of gearing up for NaNoWriMo), I went looking for the right quote again. My story begins with a girl who gets pregnant at seventeen and her mother is not impressed, to say the least. I specifically went in search of baby quotes and found a perfect quote that I can use part of as my title.

My basic concept is that the girl runs off to America with the aid of a rich man, but there are strings attached. Eventually she hears of her mother’s cancer and returns home to heal the relationship. This idea is still sorely lacking, though, because there is nothing to carry the story. I need a plot, a theme; novels based on daughters reuniting with their mothers don’t really sell in droves.

What if . . .
What if she falls for the older rich man? What if she still pines for her boyfriend? What if that boyfriend is a player? What if the child dies? What if she gives her up for adoption only to change her mind when the child is two because the father wants to marry her? What if the child is kidnapped? All these questions depend on which genre I want to write in, but no matter which one I choose, the reader must want to keep turning the pages to find out information.

What genre?
I could do some paranormal thing—she could discover a gift of mind reading and cause a lot of damage. Perhaps she gets into astral projection and visits her ex to torment him about impregnating her. I could make it a love story and a hunk of burning love shows up and she is in love in three days (although I hate the absurdness of that)l; I could take the suspense angle and have the child kidnapped, I could write Christian fiction and save them all in the process of love/suspense/paranormal activity.

What’s the goal?
So what if the child dies and the MC really loves kids and really wanted this baby once she was settled? What if the rich guy wants kids with her but she does not want them brought up by him? What if her biggest goal is to have kids and he is the chief antagonist to her having them? What if no publisher in the world will touch a novel with the chief goal of the protagonist being to have babies?

This, my friends, is the way a writer’s mind works. If you have any helpful suggestions that will turn me into a multi-millionaire, um, an inspiring writer, please let me know. In the meantime, see what you can come up with based on quotes you find.

All the best with your own search for a concept and plot-driven theme.

brainyquote.com
quotegarden.com
quotationspage.com
quoteland.com
thinkexist.com

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

What Is NaNoWriMo? October 19, 2009

“National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.”

How do I sign up?
Fill in the details on this form.

How much does it cost?
NaNoWriMo is free to everyone BUT, naturally, these things cost money. Here is a list of expenses the NaNoWriMo team incurs, so even if you can only contribute five bucks, it will make a difference.

What do I do once I’ve signed up?
Wait for the e-mail to confirm your participation.
Read the forums to get a feel of what the heck it’s all about.
With some writing friends (or on the forums) plot your novel.
Download a word count widget for your blog, forums signature, etc.
Add a web badge to any public web page you own.
                                                                 
And then what?
Start writing on November 1. You’ll need to write close to 2,000 words a day, but it doesn’t matter if all you write is total trash. All that matters is the word count, and the whole point of this exercise is not to write something perfect and stunning; it’s to just write. It’s an exceptionally good project for the perfectionists among us, and face it, most writers tend to lean on the side of perfectionism.

The time for editing and going over mistakes and dumb writing is not November; it’s after the first draft is complete. Most novelists never get beyond their first chapter because they keep going over and over and over the same few sentences. You may as well quit as a writer if that’s all you’re ever going to do. To be a writer you have to WRITE!

I took part in this in 2007, and I now have the results (after quite a few edits and rewrites) in the hands of an agent. It’s called We Know The Truth. I don’t know if I would have ever finished the first draft had it not been for NaNoWriMo.

Some things you can expect if you participate in this year’s NaNoWriMo
A lot of time away from other daily activities and loved ones
Frustration
Bad writing
Headaches
Feeling like a total failure

Some good things you can expect
The beginnings of a finished novel
A sense of accomplishment
The thought that perhaps you can be a writer after all
A greater appreciation for your computer and writing software

The goal
To have a novel that is eventually good enough to submit to an agent or publishing house

If you’re under eighteen, and the thought of writing with a bunch of old fogies is a huge turn off, NaNoWriMo has a page just for you. It’s also a big help to teachers who would like to have their students go through the writing meat grinder, um, I mean, enjoy the delectable process of writing a novel.

I’d like to be more involved in this
If you’re one of those project-oriented people who loves to help the world, you can print off NaNoWriMo flyers and put them in bookstores.

If you’re the competitive type, you can check your area’s word count against those of other states or cities.

Take advantage of the discounts for Schrivener, Writer’s Digest Shop, and Alphasmart NEO that are available to NaNoWriMo participants.

Subscribe to the NaNoWriMo blog.

There is more fun to be found on the NaNoWriMo site, but rather than spoil it all for you, I’ll leave you to look around for yourself. Once the last day of November comes around, I hope to see many certificates posted on your sites for the world to see. It’s a huge accomplishment to be able to write 50,000 words of anything.

Carpe diem!

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

The legacy October 17, 2009

The soil hadn’t even dried over his dad’s coffin when we lowered his mother’s into the ground. Heaped like caramel-shortbread mix over the grave, the rich Irish earth covered eighty-seven years of two lives from a different generation of living.

Gerry’s hand gripped the corner of my waist and pulled me closer, as if the closeness of life would push away the sting of death’s loss.

The funeral party stood around the bottom of the small hilly graveyard, wiping away more tears as three handfuls of dirt were thrown onto Carrie’s coffin. People who had worked in the shop with Carrie, neighbors, people who saw them walk about town together, the doctor who had answered their every call in the middle of the night, clergymen who had seen them sit in the middle of the church in silence just to feel His presence; these people shook their heads and hurt for the sons.

“Ah sure they couldn’t live without each other,” so many of them said as they shook the two brothers’ hands, the two left behind to carry on the legacy of kindness, generosity, and a love for God. “They were soul mates. They always said they wanted to go together.”

Perhaps one can look on it as a romantic event, but death is never romantic because others who loved the departed must now look forward and figure out how to live without them. Today the two brothers must pack up everything in the house their parents left behind—sheets, paintings, coffee cups. Everywhere they look they will see reminders of lives once lived, of a marriage that lasted sixty-four years.

Please pray for them.

Me? I’m back home again in the US, back to the daily living of today’s generations. I have coffee to drink, a blog post to write because I didn’t write one while I was away, a house to clean. Sometimes the important things lose all significance in the face of death.

If you have living parents, please call them today. Tell them you love them. Tell them you miss them. Tell them you’re sorry if you still have things to say sorry for. Life really is just a series of constant breaths, and we are all one breath away from eternity.

Live your life with fervent determination to build your own legacy of faith, hope, and love; and love much. These are the things we need to last forever.

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM