Peripheral Vision – Why ‘Distractions’ Can Actually Let Your Creativity Flow

by

Christine Agro

In 50 Ways To Live Life Consciously, Metaphysical Expert Christine Agro offers the simplest, yet most life-changing answer to the question “Why Are We Here?”

My husband is an artist and for many years he has talked to me about his painting process. He talks about working on a piece and then hanging it on the wall of his studio and then moving on to work on something else, even though the first piece isn’t finished. He hangs the painting in a place where he can still see it out of the corner of his eye. He says to me ‘I’m looking at it with my peripheral vision. It helps me to see something I didn’t see.’

‘How cool,’ I think, ‘to have that ability to look out of the corner of one’s eye.’

I write, not because I am a writer, but because I am an explorer of Conscious Living and I love to share what I discover. As my own work has evolved I’ve found my own sort-of ‘peripheral vision’ developing. True to form, I don’t just want to have the experience of this peripheral vision, I want to understand it. When we can understand why something works, or how it works, or why it benefits us, then we can really start to create change in our lives. Our knowing allows us to consciously access and utilize the information, rather than it being a haphazard happening.

I gather information by observing what’s happening with others and also by sitting in my meditation space and looking at the energy. I call it ‘picking it apart.’ I visualize what I want to explore; it could be a person, a situation or even energy; and then I pick it apart like a cotton ball to see what comes out. The information unfolds for me like a movie.

I’ve been looking at this notion of ‘peripheral vision’ for a while now. Personally, I find the busier I am, the more I get done. I also find that information flows when I’m in the shower or I’m driving.  These are my own sorts of ‘peripheral vision’. But I’m not happy with the fact that they work, I want to understand why these experiences let my creativity flow.

After looking at it and exploring it, what I’ve found is that we can get so focused on what we are creating that our mind and sometimes our ego create blocks (writer’s block falls into this category). I get the picture of standing in front of a brick wall and we just keep trying to run through it, when in fact if we step back and take a look, we can actually walk around it, or easily climb over it.  In the process of shifting our focus to something else we open the door for the information, the insight, the clarity or the inspiration to resume flowing.

Interestingly in a book I recently read (iDisorder by Dr. Larry Rosen) there was a discussion about how the brain operates. One thing I took from it is that our brain doesn’t reset or calm down unless it receives different signals to do so. Simply turning off the computer doesn’t work; we need to change our environment, like go for a walk on the beach. So in the case of blocks, I believe, but I don’t know scientifically, that could be why ‘peripheral vision’ works. It allows our mind to receive a different signal and to release the block. Don’t quote me on that though, I’m just surmising from what I read. What I do know, however, is that energetically, shifting your focus works.

Next time you feel stuck, or you think you’ve lost your inspiration, consider looking with your own form of ‘peripheral vision’.

© 2012 Christine Agro

"Life is a journey. Spiritual evolution is a spiral. Living a conscious life puts you in the driver’s seat of your own magnificently spiraling journey." 

Does life seem complicated? 

Are you always trying to get to the next ‘something’? 

Are your relationships confusing and overwhelming? 

Christine Agro, Clairvoyant and Metaphysical Expert, shares her unique insight that will help you create a graceful, ease and flowing life. 

Christine’s information is so simple yet so powerful that you may actually feel yourself shifting as you read. With insight into the how, why and what-for of life, Christine helps you get off the mental and emotional wheels and helps you get your ego in check creating a natural balance with the one aspect of yourself that really does have all the answers, your Spirit. 

50 Ways to Live Life Consciously is a treasure box that answers the question “why are we here” and offers 8 tools and 42 concepts to help you make the shift into conscious living.

Christine Agro is an internationally recognized Clairvoyant, Inspirational Teacher, Metaphysical Expert and author of 50 Ways To Live Life Consciously: 8 Tools and 42 Concepts to Help You Wake-Up And Live (Haldi Press March 3, 2012).

She has helped numerous artists, writers, dancers, actors and designers through her Creative Vision Mentor Process. 

To find out more about Christine please visit her at: www.christineagro.com

or at www.TheConsciousLivingGuide.com

Blog  or drop her a line  by Email she'd love to hear from you.

Short excerpt - 50 Ways To Live Life Consciously

When we live consciously we begin to see that all things are interconnected and there is both magic and power in this awareness.

When we live consciously we are truly living. The blinders come off and a whole new way of seeing the world and living in the world spring to life

When we live consciously we wake-up to all the many ways in which our lives are put together and our destiny becomes ours to consciously create. Some people spend their entire life living unconsciously, unaware of why their life unfolds the way it does and allowing their unconsciousness to drag them along. Life is only ‘by chance’ if we are unconscious to it. There is so much richness and reward that comes when we live with awareness.

As you take this step toward conscious living, from this day on, each step you take must be made as a conscious choice.

We are no longer able to sit and wait for something greater than ourselves – God, The Universe, The One - to tell us what to do. Our learning, our healing, our growth will only happen when we say ‘yes’ to the steps along the way.

Flaming June

Well, the beginning of May was a washout weather wise, I wonder what June will bring? Hot sunshine? Sizzling barbecues? Barmy evenings?

We can all but hope.

Here on Wise Words the theme for June is Sock Puppets. If you don't know what they are, stay tuned because among those authors spotlighting their books and blogs, we have some fabulous guest-posts coming up revealing all the naughty things that authors get up to in their pursuit of success.

Ooh, I can hardly wait!

My line-up for June is:

Chrisso Courtis

Reginald Gray

Deidre Havrelock

Keira Michelle Telford
Marie Alesbury

M.K McClintock

Cindy McDonald

Elizabeth Nelson

Roll on June!

Hashtags on Twitter - what are they?

#kindletweet

Hashtags are simply mini communities on Twitter. With hashtags you aren't just connecting with your followers. You're speaking to EVERYONE using that same hashtag. But some have rules so please check the guidelines - yes even hashtag communities have rules! 

#

Some hashtags are inspirational and others are for promoting, and did you know ANYONE can dream up their hashtag and even register it! For more information go to: http://twubs.com/registerhashtag

#kindletweet was created by a group of writers on Facebook (Writing Kindle Books) and was meant to help spread the word of our work - and it still is. But it's also a way to connect with other indies/small press writers.

Anyone can use it. Anyone, that is, who RTs (retweets posts) and CONNECTS with others. 

Use it, but please don't abuse it by dumping your content and running.

Sharing content gets you noticed!

Techno-thriller/literary fiction - authors on tour

77 Days in September

by

Ray Gorham

Hurt, stranded, and alone, Kyle Tait sets off on a 2,000 mile journey home in post-EMP America.

On a Friday afternoon before Labor Day, Americans are getting ready for the holiday weekend, completely unaware of a long-planned terrorist plot about to be launched against the country. Kyle Tait is settling in for his flight home to Montana when a single nuclear bomb is detonated 300 miles above the heart of America. The blast, an Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP), destroys every electrical device in the country, and results in the crippling of the power grid, the shutting down of modern communications, and bringing to a halt most forms of transportation.

Kyle narrowly escapes when his airplane crashes on takeoff, only to find himself stranded 2,000 miles from home in a country that has been forced, from a technological standpoint, back to the 19th Century. Confused, hurt, scared, and alone, Kyle must make his way across a hostile continent to a family he’s not even sure has survived the effects of the attack. As Kyle forges his way home, his frightened family faces their own struggles for survival in a community trying to halt its slow spiral into chaos and anarchy.

77 Days in September follows Kyle and his wife, Jennifer, as they are stretched past their breaking point, but find in their devotion to each other the strength to persevere.

Amazon.com   Amazon.UK   Smashwords 

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77 Days in September

follow the tour

High above the sun-baked prairies of Lawrence, Kansas, the missile reached its target.  No one on the ground even noticed the blast.  Perhaps had someone been looking at precisely the right location, at precisely the right time, they might have noticed a tiny, momentary spark in the bright afternoon sky.  Had they seen the flash, it likely would have been attributed to the glint of sunlight reflecting off a passing airplane.  From every vantage point below the detonation, there was no sense of the destructive capacity contained in that tiny speck of light.  More than 300 miles above the earth, a nuclear explosion impacts nothing with the force of its blast.  It is merely a large bomb going off in a vacuum, creating no shockwaves, no fireballs, no radiation, not even any sound. 

Despite the lack of explosive destruction, this was now the most lethal weapon to be unleashed in the history of the world, but it was a weapon that would have had absolutely no discernible affect on mankind 200 years ago, other than creating a more colorful aurora.  Upon detonation, the bomb expelled an intense wave of gamma radiation in every direction.  The gamma rays traveling earthward interacted with the upper levels of the atmosphere and created a chain reaction of displaced electrons that rushed towards the surface of the earth at the speed of light.  Most of the these displaced electrons passed rapidly through the atmosphere and grounded themselves harmlessly in the earth. 

A small percentage, however, encountered conductive materials:  metal, antennas, copper wiring, and silicon chips.  As these conductors absorbed untold billions of free electrons, they experienced sudden surges in both voltage and current.  In simple items, like a garden rake, this surge was manifested as a harmless static electricity-like spark.  But in larger networks and sensitive objects, the consequences of the electron overload were devastating. 

Ray Gorham was born in Calgary, Canada in 1966.  Prior to graduating college and settling in the United States in 1991, Ray had the good fortune to live in a variety of locations around the world.  Years in Australia, England, Lebanon, Japan, Canada, and the United States all helped to shape his background, worldview, and appreciation for other people and cultures.

Graduating with a degree in Accounting, he decided he couldn’t spend a future studying tax law and sitting in front of a computer all day, so he took a management position with Wal-Mart and spent the next 10 years in retail management where he had the opportunity to interact with hundreds of employees and thousands of customers on a weekly basis.  Growing tired of large corporations, Ray next tried opening and running a restaurant, but decided after a year that wasn’t for him either.  From there, he found a small log home business for sale in Montana in 2006 and settled in for what he hoped would be a long-term career.

When the construction industry slowed down in 2008, Ray knew he was going to have a lot of time on his hands, so he determined to cross off one of the items on his bucket list—writing a novel.  After thousands of hours of writing and editing he had the final draft of his first novel, a 108,000 word effort telling the story of a husband struggling to return to his family after a major terrorist attack.  While agents and publishers have passed on his efforts to this point, he has found significant success so far in digital format, selling over 10,000 copies of his work.

Managing Literary Dissonance

by

Virgil Allen Moore

There are few things in a writer's life that sting as much as criticism. However, it is a side of the craft that we all must touch in order to get through our careers.

If you've ever written a term paper that a teacher marked down for overall tone, or if you've written that masterpiece and your co-workers think it's too odd to sell - I know where you stand. Dealing with negativity is part of the learning process in this life, especially as a writer.

There are times when you want to cut the critics into little bits with their own tongue, and just maybe you've thought about where to hide the pieces. Sorry, that's my vindictive side talking out too much. I really have spent too much time writing dark fiction!

Now when you realize homicide isn't a viable option you need a way to handle those hurtful words that were dealt to your ego. There are many paths that you can take:

Option One: The first is to learn from it. I know that sounds overly goodie-goodie, but read their words carefully. Try to find out why they came to that conclusion about your work. If one person thought that way, others might as well. You need to find out what caused negative review/comments and better your writing for it.

Option Two: Behead them with better words. If they didn't like a part of your book, make them spell it out. Draw their words out in a way that forces them to define their actual misconceptions of your work. If they resorted to name calling or any other childish words, harp on it. You're the writer dammit! Own it! Make sure they understand if they're going to heckle you, blood will be spilled and they will not walk away happy.

But if they define themselves in a way that holds water and gives you a reason to re-think your writing, thank them. Yes, you read that correctly, thank them for pointing out something valid that will help you in your career. Basically, refer to the Option One. However, if they're just whining, gut the bastard.

Finally, the last way to go is to be the better person. Walk away. If they don't hold a valid standing ground, and if they don't stop being childish in their reasoning and words - let it go. Completely ignoring an idiotic comment is the best way to kill it outside of hiding the body (See Option Two).

Criticism is a fundamental part of life, remember that.

Others judge everything we do and say. The things that make you you and everything you are, is under your power alone. No one can tell you to think the story you've written is one way or another. You wrote it and it's all because of you.

There is a power in words, and there is strength in creation. Your pen allows you that creation because you have the vision to see what others don't and the talent to paint with words.

Remember that Dreams Create Reality and you will be able to deal with any criticism life give you.

I Love Being Liked On Facebook!

by 

Hillary E. Peak

How are you supposed to know you are cool if you don’t have a Facebook fan page? OK, well, you can kind of tell based on the number of people who like your page. But I have to tell you, it brings me all sort of joy to be liked by people I don’t know. For me, it means that my books are reaching people. Someone out there enjoyed what I wrote and connected with my thoughts. 

It is genuinely thrilling.

I can’t decide if it is having an impact on my sales, or if I’m liked because I’m a writer of fiction. But all the same, people I’ve never heard of, and who have never heard of me until I began writing, know that I’m alive all because of my Facebook page. 

I follow like I read—anyone who interests me, including but certainly not limited to other writers, fans and my family and friends. I post my interviews, my reviews, my tour dates, and anything else happening to the writer me on Facebook, so I know that I’m reaching all those people who enjoy my work. They know when new interviews come on, when I’m guest posting, or when I’m doing a reading at a library. 

Better than that, my fans tell their friends and I gain MORE likes. 

Now, I’m focusing on learning to be interesting on Twitter. Each author group I join has meant more followers, and I’m reaching more people all the time, such as independent authors, indie authors unite, and indie author group. 

However, I find Twitter harder than Facebook. It’s time consuming and I still haven’t figured out how to write something interesting with just 140 characters, and I’m not so sure my everyday lives up to Twitter hype!

Email   Website   Facebook   Goodreads

When perfection is a mask for disaster. A novel by:

Pandora Poikilos

Catherine Dixon is everyone's dreamgirl. 

Girls want to be her. 

Men want to be with her. 

From her charming smile to her gentle voice, one always turns to take a second look at Cathy. Wherever she goes there isn't an ill word spoken about her. Her job as Vice President of Communications at MoonStar, one of the world's top hotel chains is to make sure guests are happy to the point of perfection.

From the blue oceans of Antigua to the bustling streets of Vietnam, the racing adrenaline at the Green Hell, the devastating natural disaster in Japan and the stunning architecture in Germany, Cathy finds herself in a whirlwind of fine dining, plush clothes and sheer extravagance. But is perfection only a mask for untold disaster? In a job that deals so much with people, Cathy goes home to an empty bed. There are no pictures on her wall, no doting phone calls from a tongue tied lover and no family holidays to boast about.

What is Cathy's secret and how will her world change when the world knows? What is the significance of the blue pendant round her neck? Who is the mysterious man she is seen with every three months? What are the contents of the brown envelope delivered to her on the fifteenth of every month? Will her secrets ever catch up with her or will Cathy continue to sail alongside perfection in the world she has created for herself as a Frequent Traveller? 

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre - Women's Fiction 

Rating - PG13

View the Book Trailer for Frequent Traveller

Connect with Pandora Poikilos on Twitter and Facebook

Website http://pandorapoikilos.com/

Blog http://peacefrompieces.blogspot.com/

Check out where this author will be talking about her latest release!

A bit about the author:

International best-selling author, Pandora Poikilos, has been writing for more than 10 years for various media which include newspapers, radio, television and various websites.

A social media enthusiast who is passionate about blogging and finding her way around the virtual world, she wills away time in the real world by reading, writing and people watching.

A book signing tip from the authors of Launch Out Into the Deep

by

Aaron L. Slaton and Acacia Beumer

The first edition of Launch Out Into The Deep! was completed around 2006. My sister set up a lot of local book signings in the local metro Atlanta area, with hopes of getting the book noticed and selling a good amount of copies.

I remember the first book signing was at Barnes and Nobles. If I remember correctly, I think we almost sold all of our books that day. We were unknown authors with a self-published book, which makes the odds of any success with a traditional book signing very slim. It’s hard to get anyone to look your way as they walk into the bookstore, let alone sell any books. So what did we do that was so special on our first book signing?

How to use Social Media to Promote your Books

How I Use Social Media to Promote My Books

by 

Diane Griffin

I have a very high powered career as CEO of a Security Company and as an author.  I have written three books to help parents protect their teens that text, use Facebook , and social media, Safe Text: Protecting Your Teens from the Dangers of Texting, Protecting Your Teens on Facebook, and Social Media Secrets Every Parent of College Bound  Teens Must know.  I not only open their eyes to what dangers lurk on the Internet and texting, but also tell the parents what to do about the problems and also how to protect themselves.   Not everything is negative about   the Internet and there are ways for parents to help their teens use social media for their advantage, just as authors can use social media to their advantage.

In the process of getting the word out about my book with the help of Assisting Authors Online,  I have done the following:

Kimi's secret - YA fantasy at its gory best.

Wanna see something really scary?

When death comes knocking on your door there is really only one place to hide. Dragged screaming to the paranormal world of Heart, where ghosts are real, big cats prowl, aliens are greylians, monkeys rule, trolls troll, fairies are vermin, the Adepts always know best, magic is mojo and roasted dodo is the dish of the day; Kimi Nichols is handed a secret that must never be revealed. To do so would mean the end of mankind. 

WARNING: 

contains imploding toads, gravity-defying clowns, liquefied brains, a sadistic dentist and a deformed taxidermist; great dollops of blood and bogies, half a million crows, and a giant with OCD.

Gothic horror meets supernatural sci-fi; Kimi’s Secret will leave you gagging, breathless and sleeping with the light on.


This book will be FREE Sunday 6th May and Monday 7th.
Download it FREE while you can.

An interview with John Hudspith - author of Kimi's Secret

The line-up for May on Wise Words

It's almost May! Summer is around the corner for old Blighty. We've a hosepipe ban already, so you'd think it would be Vitamin D all round, wouldn't you? Ha! This is England, probably the only country where you'd get rain, drizzle and more rain and a hosepipe ban simultaneously!

Love it!

This month the theme is OPEN. The touring authors can write whatever they like!

Cait Lavender's top ten books

by

Cait Lavender

1. Guards! Guards! By Terry Pratchett—God, I love this book. I pretty much love anything that Pratchett writes, but this is one of my favorites. Sam Vimes is the main character and he’s a rough-around-the-edges Watch captain doing his best to be a good man, protect the city he loves and deal with his team of miscreant guardsmen.


2. Moon Called By Patricia Briggs—I love all of her werewolf books, but the Mercy Thompson series is by far my favorite. Mercy is a kick-ass shifter who takes care of herself and those she loves. No wusses there.

Paranormal romance - Hunter Moon 

3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin—Let’s be real; if you’re a woman odds are you love this book too. I’ve read and re-read this book so many times I could almost quote the whole book.

4. A Spell for Chameleon By Piers Anthony—This series really lit the flame of my love for the fantasy genre. In fourth grade my older brother ripped my Goosebumps out of my hand and gave me this book and while I didn’t understand the faintly sexual double entendres I enjoyed the Alice In Wonderland­­-like story filled with jokes and puns.

5. Shadowfever By Karen Marie Moning—I loved the entire Fever series, but this one was my favorite because we finally got to know what the hell was going on! I love Mac and especially Barrons and I blame Moning for ruining me for all other male main characters like Austin ruined regular men with Darcy.

Why family shouldn't review your book...

especially your mum!

I’d only checked my book's ranking yesterday, but you never know. I click onto Amazon and type my name into the product line. Up come my books, and I bring up Eden, my sci-fi/romance. It has been doing well lately so I’m keen to see if there are any reviews as well as to see if its rank has improve.

Not only has it climbed I have a review! My heart does a little jump of pleasure. And, better, it’s a five-star review! Oh, joy. I’m imagining the chocolates I can crack open in celebration.

The title of the review reads: Fan! Tas! Tic!

I begin to read feeling like a starving woman on the point of finding a feast of chocolate-covered goodies.

I loved, loved, LOVED Eden. I read it in one sitting and I hope there is Eden 2, and maybe 3 and 4 as well. Steven Spielberg should produce Eden into a film with Sean Connery playing the lead.

Amazon.com
Amazon.co.UK

My heart did another funny little jump, but not in pleasure this time. I think, at the mention of Connery, it curled into a foetal position with its heart hands covering its heart head.  

You see Sean Connery is my mum’s favourite actor. In fact, in her eyes, he should play EVERY male lead in EVERY film ever made.

I continue reading, 


It’s a made for TV book! It deserves to be on the screen! In 3D!

Oh my God! It had to be my mum. I didn't think she'd read Eden. She's more a Catherine Cookson/Jane Austen reader, and openly detests contemporary romance.  I look to the name of the reviewer:

Historical novel set in the 1930s Depression era:

Dinner with Lisa
by

Rod L. Prendergast 

In the disastrous economic times of the 1930s, Joseph Gaston, a young widower with four children, arrives in the small town of Philibuster seeking security for his family. Instead, he faces barriers everywhere. He does his best despite great adversity, but the strain of feeding and protecting his family whittles away his strength. Finally, destitution forces him to consider giving up his children in order to save them. Enraged by his situation, he attempts one last desperate act—on the night he learns about the mysterious Lisa.

Heart wrenching, humorous and historically authentic, Dinner with Lisa incorporates the crucial issues of the depression: poverty, unemployment, drought and racism. In the midst of love and loyalty, trickery and despair, the ultimate message of the novel is one of hope and the courage to survive even the worst odds.

For more information: 

Website 

Email 

Purchase Links:

For the print version:

 B and N (U.S.)

 Amazon (U.S.)

 Chapters/Indigo (Canada)

 Amazon (Canada)

W. H. Smith (U.K.)

 For electronic version:

 iTunes (U.S.)

 iTunes (Canada)

 iTunes (U.K.)

 For the Kindle

 For the Sony eReader

 For the Nook

Suggestions on Dealing with a Bad Review

by

David S Grant

It happened, you got a bad review.  It happens to the greatest and most “successful” artists every day.  Still, after reading the bad review you may need more than a hug.  Here are some suggestions on how to handle the bad news.

1. Don’t overreact. This applies to both good and bad reviews: stay “Even Steven”, and understand its part of the promotion process. 
2. Promote the good parts. For example “David S. Grant’s new book balances his sense of humor with the dark topic of murder…” See, not so bad. Now that’s a blurb I can use, never mind that the review continued “…, but his emotionless and materialistic characters didn’t impress me.” It goes without saying which blurb will make the press release! 

Don't Waste Time Dwelling on Bad Reviews

by

David Kubicek

It is never pleasant to get a bad review. In fact, reading a review that savagely eviscerates the novel you’ve spent months nurturing is one of the most unpleasant experiences a writer can have.

This might help: Getting a bad review often means that you have missed your audience.

Even if you haven’t thought about writing to an audience, one exists for your book. If you’re successful at finding your readers—and assuming your book is well written—most of your reviews should range from 3 to 5 stars, which is where you want to be.

But every author who has collected lots of reviews has picked up some bad ones—even the most popular books by the most popular writers.

Why Authors Should like Poor Reviews

by

Will Macmillan-Jones

Louise asked me to write a piece, from the perspective of a new writer, on the subject of book reviews.  From a readers’ point of view, a book review is an interesting and useful tool in helping you decide to buy a book - or not.  From a writer’s viewpoint (especially a new writer) they are close to being a major breach of the Geneva Convention on Warfare.  Or citeable as a cruel and unusual punishment.  And that’s the good ones!

Publishing is undergoing a bit of a sea-change with the growing involvement of the internet.  Now, I write what I assure people is comic fantasy.  If you fancied such a book, you could turn on your computer, search Google, and see what came up. Alternatively, you might seek out the book review websites and blogs like this one, and see what they had to say.  Either way, you would soon be looking at a truckload of books and mostly both the titles and the authors would be complete unknowns.

I’ll admit it.  I’m unknown.  Bet you’ve never heard of me before, and (trust me on this) you aren’t the only one.  But I’d like to be known, and not only to the police! Aside from a major lottery win, it’s unlikely unless my stuff starts selling.  And that means getting reviews. 

A tip for Indie Authors from the book Go Publish Yourself!

 by

Katie Salidas

I like to tell authors to avoid reading reviews about their book(s). That will prevent them from being tempted to respond. However, we’re all human, and we want to know when someone talks about our work. I can safely assume that 99% of authors will ignore this advice completely.

So, let’s just assume you’re one of the 99%. Once you’ve read a review on your work, you might be tempted to respond. The best advice I can give you for that is, no matter if they are good or bad, leave your book reviews alone. 

Firstly, reviews are not written for you, the author. They are the reader’s personal interpretation of your story. They need to feel free to share their thoughts, good or bad, without fear of harassment.

iwriteReadRate.com a new community for writers

iWriteReadRate.com is an open community for writers and readers of fiction. Harnessing the power of ebooks, the objective is to support writers - making what becomes a successful story or novel more democratic, more personal and more social. iWriteReadRate is also here to help readers discover great new writers and stories.

iWriteReadRate.com is an open community for writers and readers of fiction.

Literature inspires, entertains and educates. The eBook Revolution is enabling people who love literature to come together in exciting ways. Both creators and consumers have a new freedom and opportunity to connect. If there ever was a time to be enthralled with and by literature, this is it.

The social potential of ebooks is opening up new possibilities for writers to build their platform and reach an audience. For readers there are new ways of discovering ebooks, connecting directly with writers, discovering new stories and voices, and becoming a part of the writing process itself.

Click for more

What I wish I had known about reviews before I got a bad one

by 

M.C.V. Egan

 

I come from a huge family and married into another large one. I have (or would like to think I have) many friends. My book came out on June 9^th 2011 and many of my friends and family read it.

I got beautiful cards and e-mails with ‘review-like’ comments. One or two actually posted them on my facebook page.  So I found that as an author I had the wrong kind of friends and relatives. Perhaps not the wrong kind, but not review friendly friends and relatives.

I had a publicist last summer and through that PR the book was requested for reviews, but that meant I had to sit, wait, hope, fear, wonder. What if my first review was a bad review? What if all my reviews were bad reviews? What if my friends and family were trying to spare my feelings? Should I start smoking again? Should I take up drinking? I opted for massive amounts of chocolate; I am still trying to lose the weight acquired during the waiting period!

How far would you go to protect your child from the world of drugs and sex?

Protecting their children comes naturally for Zoe and Will Tyler - 

until their daughter Leah decides to actively destroy her own future.

Leah grew up in a privileged upper-middle class world. Her parents spared no expense for her happiness; she had all-but secured an Ivy League scholarship and a future as a star athlete. Then she met Todd.

Leah’s parents watch helplessly as their daughter falls into a world of drugs, sex, and wild parties. While Will attempts to control his daughter’s every move to prevent her from falling deeper into this dangerous new life, Zoe prefers to give Leah slack in the hope that she may learn from her mistakes. Their divided approach drives their daughter out of their home and a wedge into their marriage.

Twelve-year-old Justine observes Leah’s rebellion from the shadows of their fragmented family. She desperately seeks her big sister’s approval and will do whatever it takes to obtain it. Meanwhile she is left to question whether her parents love her and whether God even knows she exists.

What happens when love just isn’t enough? Who will pay the consequences of Leah’s vagrant lifestyle? Can this broken family survive the destruction left in Leah’s wake?

Buy Now @ Amazon 

Genre - Women's Fiction / Contemporary

Rating - PG13

More details about the author

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Website http://tglong.com/site/

Check out where this author will be talking about her latest release!

Writing is about experiences, not just publishing.

by 

Janet McNulty

Many people want to write that novel, but they have no idea how to start or how to complete it.  Another problem many have with writing is the writing craft itself.  Writers always have to improve their writing to avoid falling in a rut. To accomplish my first completed novels I did a few things.

First I took a couple of writing courses.  One was a creative writing course that focused on poetry.  My goal in taking it was to get ideas for stories that I wanted to publish.  It also enabled me to learn about a different kind of writing.  Most of the time I write prose.  But taking a poetry course introduced me to the world of rhyme and meter.  Having to tell a story in a few stanzas that follow a pattern is very challenging.  It forced me to think of a new way to communicate.

The second writing course I took was one the involved learning how to write fiction.  In it I learned to move beyond telling a story and put the reader in the tale with detailed description.  Writing is about more than just putting what is in your head onto paper.  Your reader has to feel as though they are in the story itself.  That is what this class taught me. 

I wonder what April will bring?

April is soon approaching and for this month I have asked my guest bloggers to concentrate on REVIEWS, and I'm sure we'll be in for a treat with the line up of authors I have coming over to share their delights, woes, tips and funny stories.


We have the honour of M.C.V Egan author of The Bridge of Deaths, Katie Salidas with her non-fic novel Go Publish Yourself.


Then David Kubicek author of Friend of the Family, and David Grant author of Blood: The New Red. 


Rod L. Predergast is spotlighting his excellent book called Dinner with Lisa, and we can look forward to Cait Lavender's top ten sharp and short reviews of her favourite authors. She is the author of Hunter Moon.


Who else wants to join the line up?


http://bit.ly/GMqQRe