Since starting Thayer Literary Services, a book editing business, in 1997 and after reading what seems like a gazillion first novels, I have seen the same mistakes over and over again. After a while I started calling them “the usual suspects.” I have considered collecting them into a book, but I thought that seeing so many of them all in one place would drive me to drink.

So I decided to create this blog as a way to discuss grammar and punctuation problems one at a time, along with many other writing issues, all of which I think will be helpful to budding writers. Follow this blog, and I’m sure you will find some information that will help you become a better writer.

Welcome aboard!

Paul Thayer
Thayer Literary Services
paulthayerbookeditor.com

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Paul Thayer is a full-time professional book editor with more than 35 years of experience. During that time he worked in the trenches of the real world of writers, editors, and publishers. He uses his extensive knowledge to help writers who still have a lot to learn, offering them critiques and line editing of their work.

If you’ve ever self-published or considered it at least, it probably crossed your mind that a good book cover would probably help to “sell” the book. It’s true that presentation is everything; how the sales page appears with the book description and the cover are extremely important. Often, if the book cover isn’t up to par, some readers won’t take an author seriously. The cover is half the battle in marketing. The rest, well the rest is how you reach your audience. But, that’s a topic of discussion for another day.

There are so many options out there these days. It seems that everyone is trying to sell you something, book covers included. I’m not saying there aren’t talented cover artists. I am amazed at the quality of work in the industry. There are just as many unprofessional ones as well, who try to capitalize on the idea of creating a book cover. I won’t name any names, but I’m sure you’ve come across them before. They charge a lot of money, but the product just isn’t to your taste. And then there are the ones who don’t charge much at all, and you have to wonder what kind of quality you’re getting for so little. Are the covers they are touting actually theirs or are they using someone else’s work to sell their services? That’s why I won’t go to sites like https://www.fiverr.com/ to get a book cover. I'm not saying the vendors aren't legitimate, just that I won't take the chance if that is the case.

Getting a professional book cover can be an expensive endeavor. Cover artists can charge anywhere from $30-79 for a pre-made cover or charge you hundreds of dollars for something custom made. Granted, if you go the custom route, I have no doubt that you’ll get what you request. The problem is that I have read the disclaimers on some of these sites. A few artists will expect you to pay the basic design fee, but then you have to go out and purchase your own stock images. In the end, your cost has gone up considerably. I’ve spent a lot of time ruminating about using a professional cover artist for certain books. I got lucky with my publisher because they front that cost. But, when you self-publish, the stakes are a bit higher. Let me give you some options that I found. They look good, right?

http://bookcover-designs.blogspot.com/ 
 
http://www.goonwrite.com/order.htm

http://coveryourdreams.net/pre-made-customizable-covers-from-79/

http://cheekycovers.com/

http://www.selfpubbookcovers.com/index.php

And then there are the options on the higher end of the scale. 

https://www.hiretheworld.com/pricing/

http://ebookindiecovers.com/custom-orders/

http://aeternumdesigns.com/cover-art-design

Do the prices get worse? Oh, yes. Big name publishers will pay their professional cover artists anywhere from $500-1200 per project. 

“Uh…yikes, Marie. That’s really out of my budget.”

No kidding. But, let's say one of the options could work for you. A lot of questions go into a purchasing decision.

1. Is this the right service for me?
2. By the time I am done using this cover artist, will I recognize anything from my original vision for the cover?
3. Assuming a pre-made cover is chosen, does the cover correctly represent my characters and story?

It’s all good food for thought, and a decision like this isn’t to be taken lightly. With so many cover art services out there, it can seem incredibly daunting. If you decide to go this route, exercise caution but use your instincts. If a premade cover just calls to you, shouldn’t you at least consider it? Maybe the muse is trying to tell you something. And if it’s out of your budget, go for something similar. 

But seriously evaluate these different cover art services. Read the fine print. Do they have certain disclaimers you didn’t notice before? Are there hidden costs? Is the final decision yours? Some of the artists will go through three rounds with you when doing a custom design. I've worked with them before. They offer some possible covers or images for your approval and you pick the one or ones you like. Then they try to honor your wishes by incorporating other elements. They come back with a design, and you can approve it or say what needs to be adjusted. That is, hopefully, how most of them work, but you might want to stick with the ones that clearly outline their process just to be sure.

There is another option, however, that you may not have considered. You can design your own cover.

“What? I could never do that, Marie. I’m not an artist.”

Well, neither am I. I mean, I never had official training. But, after a few times around the block, I’ve managed to do well enough on my own because I’m working within my budget for now. If you’ve been following me for awhile, then you know I’m all about doing these different parts of publishing and marketing on my own. For example, I even design my own book trailers. 

I started attempting this DIY madness with book covers when I began self-publishing under other pen names in 2010. At that point, I used the distributor’s cover art wizard and manipulated certain elements within the image I’d purchased for the cover. Around 2014, I starting getting more creative, using the tools I had found online to accomplish the job, at least for my indie books. You can see a full list of my titles here. If you browse from the bottom of the list to the top, you can see the chronological order of my book releases, and what covers I used. 

I’m not perfect, but I think I have it down to a few great resources to use in order to come up with something to present to readers. So, I will offer a little advice.

If you’re going to try to design your own book cover, really think about what you want your cover to look like. Can you picture it in your mind or do you just want to look for inspiration in order to come up with something specific?

1. Theme. Think about the theme of your book. What is it about? What is the genre? If it’s romance, do you want to exhibit ‘romance’ or a specific element within the plot? If it’s mystery, what do you want to show on the cover? A dead body, a gun, a criminal, a detective? Any of those, or a combination of different things? I start by defining what this theme for the book is. Every story has a theme, or a specific idea you want to convey within the text. 
2. Study. “What, Marie?” That’s right. You need to study book covers within your genre, and decide if you want to conform to the standards or try something a little different. Obviously, if it’s any subgenre of romance, you’ll want to include some element of romance while honoring your vision for the story. If it’s erotica or erotic romance, you need to be careful about how much skin is shown because Amazon has rules about it. The rules are: “sexy, but not sexual”. Explore the covers in the genre. Even if Amazon is allowing it, that doesn’t you’ll be able to widely promote it because there are a lot of limits, on, say, groups or pages on Facebook and other social media sites. Some types of erotica have a bad rep. So, just be careful if that’s the genre for your book. 

If you’re focusing on another genre, the same rule still applies. Just see what's available, and know what you’re allowed to do. Always think about what symbols mean, and what negative connotations could be derived from them. Certain pagan symbols are often mistakenly associated with devil worship, for example. In any case, keep an eye on what’s out there. But, don’t be afraid to get creative either.

3. Images.  Maybe you know exactly what you want on your book cover. That’s great! Perhaps you only want to explore images for inspiration. Either way, it’s never too early to start looking for an image that might capture the theme or idea of your cover. Sometimes I just look for images for character muses or to inspire me in even writing a book. I also use stock images in my book trailers. 
   
   But, let’s say you’re at the stage where you’re planning your cover. You’ll want to find a great site, a place that offers high quality images and is fairly affordable. There are so many stock image or photo websites. You’ll want to pay attention to the ones that give credit to the photographers or artists. Why? Because you’ll be paying for a special license to use them on the web or in print. Otherwise, you’re violating copyright laws and you do NOT want someone to sue you over this issue. And having said that, make sure that when you do decide on images and pay for them, give credit to the photographer on your copyright page for the book (i.e. image source – photographer, company or site you found it on).

As with cover artists, there are different ranges of fees for photos. I stick with the more affordable ones. Some sites want you to purchase a subscription, while others will allow you to do a custom price or a pay-as-you-go plan. I prefer to pay for each individual photo at a time. I can acquire them, and then add to projects. With certain sites, you can pay a specific amount for credits, then use the credits toward images. Those are good too, as long as they are within your budget. Here are some great sites that give you the ability to pay affordably for images. I know there are many more.

http://www.123rf.com/

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/

https://us.fotolia.com/

http://www.shutterstock.com/

http://www.mediabakery.com/

http://www.istockphoto.com/plans-and-pricing

http://www.dreamstime.com/credits.php?fcr=1

Here are a few expensive options, if that’s a route you’re willing to take. I found more in the past, but I usually avoid them. LOL.

http://www.stocksy.com/service/support

http://www.offset.com/pricing

http://www.maxximages.com/subscription/photo-subscription.php

“What about the opposite side of the spectrum, Marie? I’ve heard you can get free images.”

Tricky stuff...that is, of course, always an option. There are royalty-free no cost sites available as well. Here is the rub: can you really assure yourself of how legitimate they are? How do you know that someone didn’t steal an image and try to resell it? I leave the decision in your capable hands, but I can’t stress enough how you’ll still have to give credit to the photographer or contributor. I will list a few that are pretty safe, but I only use them for blog posts or a book trailer, when I'm looking for a specific image.

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

http://www.stockfreeimages.com/

https://pixabay.com/

http://www.photobucket.com/

http://www.freeimages.com/

http://morguefile.com/

http://unsplash.com/ 

https://www.freepik.com/

For myself, it’s always better to purchase a license to use something for a book cover rather than take it, shove it on a product and pretend I have the rights to it. Make sense?

All right. So, let’s assume you’ll purchase a stock image legally. Use the search boxes on these sites carefully. By that I meant that you may need to get creative in your search terms or keywords. It can quickly become frustrating when you can’t find what you want. Be prepared to spend time on this project, and take breaks when necessary for sanity. LOL. Take your time and breathe.

You also have to decide what size of image you need. Anything which is the size of your book cover or just a bit larger is always good because you can resize down to whatever you need. And cover software handles most of this for you. For cover images, I usually pick anywhere from 1300 to 2400 pixels. For other types of projects (graphic teasers, banners and bookmarks, I can go much smaller. 

Eventually, I always find the perfect image and experience that “gotcha!” moment. It’s good to use your instincts in this case as well. If you feel so-so about an image or don’t like it all that much, don’t feel obligated to use it. Do you want to hate your book cover? No, you want to be satisfied with the finished product.
 

4. Layout. Let’s assume that you now have the image or images that you want to use. Now it’s time to get creative. Or…is it? Remember when I asked you if you knew what you wanted the cover to look like in the first place? Now is the time to really think about your images and how they’ll fit into that vision. And if you still don’t have a clue what the final cover will look like, that’s okay too. Maybe you’re a visual person and you need to see it on the page first. That’s when a few fun tools come in handy.

5. Designing the book cover. Most professional cover artists use special software, something that most of us can’t afford. Here are some links if you’re willing to go that route.

http://www.bookcoverpro.com/

http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/29837/what-is-the-best-program-to-use-for-making-book-covers-digital-and-print

If you’re not willing to do that, some people use Photoshop.

There are also some free options. I know a few sites that let you edit images or transpose them onto backgrounds. Here are a couple I have used.

http://www.lunapic.com

http://www.picmonkey.com/

http://pixlr.com/

These tools are awesome because you can do so much with them! I often use them to cut out shapes or trim, even frame something. You can also change the lighting on a picture or include textures. Anyway, nothing is final and you can always save different draft files for each version. You can then start from scratch with your original image, knowing it’s still as perfect as it was. For a couple of those you can even change eye color so it truly looks legitimate (that one made my day!) Again, take your time with these tools. It’s so easy to get frustrated. Just breathe and learn how everything works. It’s okay to even use Microsoft Paint, but you will want to use it sparingly because it may not always look professional. (Update: PicMonkey is now asking for a subscription to save your work, but they do have great themes and photo effects.)

Now, how do you actually create a cover? Paint lets you resize items after the completed product, but if you want something truly authentic, there is a very cool tool you can use. Canva is my savior, and I have loved it since I found it several months ago. https://www.canva.com/

With Canva, you can select a type of product or project to work with (the dimensions are already set for you or you can do a custom size). For this one, I usually choose ‘Kindle Cover’ under the ‘Create a design’ option. Yes, it’s time to be impressed. This will be the size you need to upload to Amazon KDP or any other bookseller.

If you’ve chosen ‘Kindle Cover’, you’ll see the page load into a white space where your book cover will go. Remember that ‘layout’ I was talking about before? Do you have an idea where you want your title to go? Do you have a series name or subtitle to add? And, of course, you’ll want to include your name as the author. There are ‘layout’ buttons on the left side of the page where you can select how each line of text lays on the cover. Be very careful about which elements you choose to use in Canva. Most are free, but some have paid options (like $1.00 or so). For the most part, I choose the free ones. In the ‘layout’ section, you’ll see sample book covers showing how the text looks on a cover. Be careful of the ones that look entirely centered with several lines of text in a column. Unless you’re willing to go with that option, you may not be able to change how the text lays because those elements are saved as templates.

Choose a layout that works for you and your vision for the book cover. It will automatically load onto the cover. Now you should change the font colors for the titles and subtitles, even the author name. Probably something bright like blue. Why? Because you’ll want to be able to see them when you load your images in. It might take a while to navigate around the page to select the different text elements. If you’ve ever designed your own greeting card using card software, it’s the same idea.

After that is done, select the full book cover using your mouse. You’ll see the dotted line outlining the size of the book cover. Then delete it. If it works correctly, you should still be able to see your text. If you mess up the preloaded text, you can add your own using the ‘text’ option on the left side of the page. Some are paid elements, while others are free. Be careful and use the free options if you don’t want to pay. 

Now go to each section of text and when you click on it, you should see some options like color, size of font, type of font and a little arrow. Click on the arrow, and then go down the list until you find an option that says ‘move forward’. That will ensure that your font stays above everything.  

You'll need to decide if you want a basic color background, a provided free pattern or if you want to use your purchased stock images as the background for your cover. To put a color background in the page on Canva, just go to ‘background’ on the left side and select a color. To use custom colors, use the plus (+) symbol. There are also background templates, but some of them require you to pay, as aforementioned. Once you have your background color, you should see an option that says ‘uploads’ on the left side of the website page. There is a green button which says ‘upload your own images’. Click that to find your images. As the file uploads, you’ll see a small thumbnail of your image down below. Click there and drag the photo to your page. On the cover space, you’ll be able to resize the image as large or as small as you want. This is where it gets tricky. As you manipulate things on the page, you’ll probably have to use the ‘move forward’ option on your text once more to ensure that you can move it over your new image.

If you need to manipulate how an image looks, such as wanting a shape like a circle, you’ll have to use those tools that I mentioned above and then upload that image in. Using PicMonkey, you can go to ‘edit an image’, upload the file then choose the frame symbol on the left hand side. Pick ‘shape cutouts’, then it will give you shapes to choose from. You can alter the size of the circle or whatever shape you choose using the bar on the left hand side. If you want an angle for the image, you can alter that as well. Once you’re done, save and then upload the image to Canva. Make sure you keep it as a PNG image or the outside of the circle won’t remain transparent.You can bring the image into your project on Canva by uploading the file when your ready, and then dragging it to the cover page.

Next, go back to Canva in your browser and move your text around to where you want it on the cover. Make it larger if necessary, or even change the font type or color.

Now you need to think about layout. Where does the book title sit as opposed to your series title or your author name? Do you want everything centered? How does the text relate to the image you want to convey? Is it crowding your picture? Adjust as necessary.  

Again, be prepared to spend a little time learning how to use these tools. If you have to, do a temporary project and play with the different options. 

Once you have your cover designed to perfection, save it using the download' button in the upper right corner. It will save using Canva’s own file name so you’ll have to rename it when you find it in your ‘downloads’ folder on your PC or wherever your downloaded files save. 

Another cool thing that Canva does is they save your projects so that you can go back in and edit them later. You just need to register for a free account. You’ll also see options to make your designs public, but don’t press that unless you’re willing to give up your rights to your cover.

(Note:  You can also use Canva for other photo projects like your Facebook author page or Twitter page.)

And there you have your cover! Before you do anything, check the final product to be sure you didn’t miss anything. You can use Windows Photo Viewer for that. Now is the time that you may notice white space that you didn’t see before, or issues with the layout (title isn’t centered and such). Print it out if you need to. Make sure you are absolutely satisfied with the final product. Send it to a friend or someone you trust for a second opinion. It is okay to have five or six versions of a cover before you’re happy with it.

Another technique I use is doing mockup covers. I take an image I found online so that I can decide on the layout. That helps me figure out what I want for a cover before I make any purchases.

I launched my own graphic design business back in June of 2016. Though the website is now closed, you can still find the premade covers I designed on my author website here on this page.

This is another helpful article on cover design: http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2010/06/top-8-cover-design-tips-for-self-publishers/

By now, I hope you have a book cover that you love and can’t do without. It is my wish that I’ve helped you navigate the sea of decision in choosing whether to go with a cover designer or doing it on your own. Or, at least given you the steps to try it for yourself.

If you decide to have someone else design it for you, that’s great too! Personally, I think Sherry Soule at SwoonWorthy Book Covers is fantastic! The point is that you find a cover you are perfectly content with.

Have a great rest of your week, and, as always, happy reading! :)

Several things happened this past week that astounded the literary world. Harper Lee is finally to publish her first novel. Yes, her first. To Kill a Mockingbird was actually her second novel. Her publisher encouraged her to write an earlier story from the protagonist’s view, that of a young Scout who observed her father, Atticus Finch, at work on a rape case. Thus was born the seminal work, To Kill a Mockingbird. Evidently, the book was discovered among Lee’s publisher’s papers and they decided to move forward and publish.

The next thing I witnessed is the only interview ever filmed of Flann O’Brien, or more popularly known by his pseudonym, Brian O’Nolan. We see an extremely soused author, slurring his words, and an empty bottle of whiskey nearby. He was so introverted that he had to get stinking to be able to withstand the pain of an interview. It was only a snippet and some are still out there desperately searching for the entire interview.

As I watched the news from my computer screen, seated alone in my office at home, I understood these two private people more than all the extroverted newscasters and literary reviewers and academics combined. I’m an introvert. I test toward the extreme side, but I have learned to withstand the exposure to the marketplace, however painful it may be. It isn’t that I don’t like people that I too shun public places as much as I possibly can. In fact, I do. Undoubtedly, more than most. There are many people I care so deeply about I hurt. I find myself moved to tears when I think of them or their problems they must endure.

I didn’t mean to get so heavy on a Monday, but these two remarkable introverts, Harper Lee and Flann O’Brien, have surfaced this past week to remind me of who I am, of all those like us, the introverted authors. I like the idea that today we have author communities, that we have a Sisters In Crime and Mystery Writers of America, and the many other author communities that have sprung up over the past few years. We support each other. Encourage each other. And it shouldn’t just be with a communal organization that we pay to belong to where one author supports another. It should be every author supports the other. We may not all be introverts like I am or Flann O’Brien, but we can listen and find a way to be there for the other. Perhaps Mr. O’Brien would not have had to drink himself into oblivion just to give an interview, or Ernest Hemingway find release in suicide if we had paid more attention.

I realize I rag on the worst of us, the vanity press author wannabes, but I do care about those who are the diamonds in the rough, the voices lost in the sea of egomanical and yet terrible writers. They should be heard and need encouragement. Go out and buy a book today. Buy that story told by someone who truly has talent. Write a review that comes from your heart. And, if you can, connect with them, encourage them so they don’t lose heart like the Ernest Hemingways or Flann O’Briens.

http://www.amazon.com/Night-Shadow-Ch%C3%A9ri-Vaus%C3%A9-ebook/dp/B00O3L6Z92/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423325344&sr=8-1&keywords=the+night+shadow+by+cheri+vause

This post was recently published on our website: ianmooremorrans.com

    At left  you'll see a photo of "editor me" at my desk on one of the last days before retirement (in 2004) as Editor of Esprit magazine and Program Director for Evangelical Lutheran Women at our office on the second floor of Portage Place in Winnipeg. In addition I've included a photo of the gift I received at my retirement party in July 2004. As Ian and I were preparing to take off  for a retirement adventure driving down to Mexico in our newly acquired 35-foot motorhome, my boss chose to wrap an assortment of "helps" for that trip inside or underneath a large box decorated to look like our motorhome - complete with photos of Ian as driver and me as passenger.

After several years in Mexico, with trips up to Manitoba to maintain our Canadian residency, we returned to Canada for good. I hope to start blogging about our Mexico sojourn in the near future. Time will tell if I ever get to it. While there in Mexico I began editing Ian's writings and am continuing that in our present home in British Columbia, as well as now contributing to his writings. Here my desk is in our little den and I look out the window at the low mountains surrounding our part of the Okanagan Valley. The desk is different from the one at ELW, but just as messy. That's the way I work. I do not like a messy final product, however, and decided that it was time for me to have an editor's rant about what I am seeing on some web blogs and in many comments that come into our site.

I don't think I'm unique in claiming frustration when reading some comments on web blogs or even some particular web blogs which are so full of errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation or just plain English that I feel compelled to edit them as I'm reading. Sometimes even understanding them is impossible, so I quit reading and trash the comment or close the web blog.

As I routinely check out other web blogs, I am more-often-than-not impressed by so many varied topics and excellent writing, but am also occasionally appalled by the lack of English writing skills by some bloggers. In those cases, I cross those web blogs off the list of ones I want to follow, no matter how interesting the topic might be. I find it painful to read something when I feel a need to correct practically every sentence. (As an aside: I lived in Germany for 18 years and ended up speaking passable German but would never in my life think of hosting a blog in German! I wouldn't feel confident enough to do a decent job of it. My late husband who worked in a profession there, could easily have hosted a blog in German. Obviously his language skills were much superior to mine.)

My motto is: "check, double-check and recheck anything you post", for it is easy to miss a word here or there if one doesn't do so. I always try to self-edit any of my blogs and usually have Ian read through them before posting. That isn't to say that I might not post a small grammatical or spelling error from time to time. It happens to the best of us. Almost inevitably after checking and re-checking the magazine I edited and having our executive director and a professional copy editor go over everything before publishing, I would find some little thing wrong when reading the issue after publication.

In the past I've found myself editing a lot of comments that come in on this web blog so that they can be understood. I conclude that quite a few of those who comment on posts do not have English as their first language and are obviously using an English-to-another-language dictionary when they make their comments. Perhaps they are taking an ESL course and have been given an assignment to comment on specific web posts. (Comments often come from the same site with different email addresses.) If that is the case, how I wish the instructor would at least give them some help in making the comments understandable. It is nice to get compliments or constructive criticism, but not if the comment cannot be readily understood and if the blogger receiving the comment has to edit it extensively in order to print it. WordPress usually identifies these type of comments as "spam"; in the past I've looked at every comment and sometimes chose to "un-spam"a few because I'd like to honour the intent. I have edited them for comprehension, though. I'm wondering if other bloggers have chosen to do this or if these type of comments simply get trashed. Here's an example of one comment we recently received, showing the places where I have cut out more than half of the words and added clarifying words in order to get what I think the commenter intended.

"Attractive section of content. I just stumbled upon your web site and in accession capital to assert that I acquire in fact enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your [web blog.] augment and even I achievement you access consistently fast."

Another recent commenter asserted that, though our blog's content was good, many of the posts were "rife with spelling issues." Well, that got my dander up! I did, however, calm down and try to address what I thought might be the problem. Here's my answer:

"We’re surprised to hear that you find several of our posts 'rife with spelling issues'. We are wondering if you might be pointing out our use of the British way of spelling English words, as opposed to the American way. (An example would be the use of “ou” in place of “o” as in “neighbour.” We are Canadians and so use the British way of spelling. I (Gayle) am the blogger and, though American-born, changed my way of spelling sometime after I emigrated to Canada and became editor of a Canadian magazine. I’ve kept up that way of spelling in retirement and, as Ian is British-born and I edit his writing, that method has worked out well for us. Then, too, Ian speaks Scottish-English so when he writes about Scotland in either his novels or memoirs, he uses what I call “Scottishisms.” Some of those words are only found in Scottish-English or may mean something entirely different in Scotland than they do in other countries where English is spoken. We’ve pointed that out in some of our posts about his memoir, “From Poverty to Poverty: A Scotsman Encounters Canada.” I had quite an education in “Scottishisms” when editing that book! In addition, I had to turn off the spell-check as my word-processing program gave up on providing corrections! Of course, even editors sometimes need to be edited; however, I try to double-check whatever I post. We’d be interested in hearing from you further so that you could point out some examples of those spelling issues. Looking forward to hearing from you." To date, we have received no further communication on this subject.

That brings up the challenge when commenting on web posts of exactly what to say. Sure it is nice to have affirmation that someone "enjoyed" a post or found it "awesome" or "educational" or "informative." But does that really help the blogger to know how they are connecting with the reader? In haste I, too, sometimes choose to just give kudos by checking the "like" button on a post; but if I take the time and REALLY like or dislike something I try to comment on it. How did I feel when I read the post? Intrigued? Scared? Amused? Why and how? Perhaps the blogger was promoting a book, a picture, a poem or a piece of music that he/she had written, drawn, photographed or performed. Did the blog catch your interest so that you plan to order the book or picture, quote the poem or obtain the recording? Did the post remind you of a happening in your own life or a person you met or an emotion you felt? Then describe that connection. You might wish to reblog the post, giving credit to the writer and quote your reaction to it on your own blog or on Facebook, Twitter or the like.

Conversely, if a post draws a negative response from me and I think it can be constructive, I'd like to think that I would be willing to document why I had that response. Although I didn't post the following comment on a novel writer's blog but instead posted it on Amazon after reading the novel, here is an example of how I could make both a positive and, I hope, constructive negative response to the novel on a writer's blog:

"You have written a well-rounded story about a group of characters, each flawed in a unique way, all seeking redemption. Your background in counseling is evident throughout; perhaps that is what makes your story so believable. Your prose is clear, yet poetic. Your descriptions of both characters and scene are captivating. I would have given this book five stars had it not been for the unnecessary profanity which I felt cheapened the narrative, especially those instances when the name of Jesus was invoked through cursing."

I send a challenge to bloggers and commenters alike: If you can't edit your own postings, please, please find someone who can do the edit for you.

Please and thanks in a spirit of kindness and mutual understanding. Keep the relevant and understandable comments coming!

Gayle Moore-Morrans
P.S. In the meantime we have recently received a comment (perhaps sent in error?) which went on for several hundred words.  The comments were obviously a multiple choice list of helps for would-be commenters who needed guidance on how to word comments they wanted to make on various posts. In the past the comments we received from that particular commenter had included, solely or partly, promotions for his web blog that included little or nothing about the post he was supposedly commenting on. Many of the multiple-choice comments he included sounded similar to many of the comments we have received from a number of people over time. Thus, in the future I intend to honour Word Press' use of Akismet to check incoming comments and rate them as "spam", then delete the spam comments without reading them. Most of us writers and editors who blog find it difficult to have enough time to do our writing or editing what with all the other duties and distractions of life. We don't need 276 comments in our "Spam Comments" section. That is the number I encountered last week after not checking the comments for about a week's time. For the first time, I chose to permanently delete all those spam comments without even looking at them.  I truly appreciate the efforts a number of commenters make in sending in compliments or kudos on our posts, or even criticisms when they are constructive. However, I'm trying to promote our books or share views on writing, photographing, reminiscing or life in general and am hoping to glean relevant information from other bloggers instead of spending valuable time reading, rewriting, replying to or trashing umpteen comments a day. I am sharing these words in hopes that others will understand my frustrations and those of other bloggers who are surely having similar problems with unwarranted comments. Perhaps some of them will attempt to correct their comments or have them edited by someone else or those who just want to advertise their own blogs will cease and desist. At least I won't have to relate to them if I trust Akismet's weeding out those comments.

Merle Temple's novel, A Ghostly Shade of Pale, Stirs Interest in Hollywood 

Tupelo, Mississippi, native Merle Temple has written his first novel, A Ghostly Shade of Pale. It has garnered warm reviews from readers and Southern Writer's Magazine calls it "suspense-driven and you will not want to put it down..., his personal experiences make it a compelling read from cover to cover..., memories have their way with him so those raw emotions would surface and be laid bare on page after page of remembrances, in order for his readers to feel what he felt." 

Criminal Minds' Jim Clemente says "Ghostly is a crime story as literature. Merle Temple is a great storyteller, writing to all of your senses. He weaves a story so detailed and complex, yet beautifully sinister, that the reader is immersed in the feeling of absolute reality." 

Producers are looking at Merle's novel for a possible movie or TV series, and Merle signed books for the casts of Criminal Minds and Major Crimes while in Hollywood to meet with producers. He also appeared on Media Mayhem in Beverly Hills. Host Allison Hope Weiner said, "Captures the South, the period in the 1960s...evocative of some of the great Southern writers...a taste and feeling for where you are...intriguing, a lot of layers in this fascinating book..." 

Signings from Tupelo's Gum Tree Bookstore to LifeWay in Hollywood, and Barnes and Noble in Las Vegas to Marlowe's in Memphis have been greeted with long lines of book lovers. The crime-mystery thriller is written as fiction but based on Merle's experiences as a narcotics agent in the first declared "War on Drugs" in the early 1970s.

History files on a bygone era are ripped open and rewritten in games of murder, betrayal, the macabre, and the supernatural in A Ghostly Shade of Pale. 

Michael Parker comes of age as the tranquility of the old South is shattered in the 1970s by civil unrest, the Vietnam War, and a wave of drug abuse that brings the war on drugs to his front door. Fresh out of Ole Miss, he joins the newly formed Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and enters a world he is not prepared for. A chain of events unfolds that lead him to become an unlikely player in a game of international intrigue and a clandestine struggle for the soul of America.

The remote crop-duster airfields of Mississippi become launching pads for soldiers of fortune hired by intelligence agencies to smuggle guns into Central America. They return with drugs to fund black operations and shape what their employers call the "Real America." These intelligence rogues employ Fredrick, a murderous psychopath, to manipulate protests against the war and as a contract assassin who has no remorse. They realize too late that his loyalties are not to them or to the communists he also manipulates as a double agent but to the voices in his head that speak to him incessantly.

An uneasy and complex alliance between these shadowy figures, organized crime bosses, and corrupt politicians form a matrix where Fredrick indulges his madness, slimy Mississippi politicians nurture their deviancy, and snipers ambush Michael and his agents on frozen fields of regret. A deadly game of cat and mouse threatens the life of the woman Michael loses and finds again as she washes down black beauties with champagne in the seamy Memphis nightclubs of the Dixie Mafia.

As he searches for an elusive peace and tries to resist the charms of his troubled lover, the Dixie Mafia tries to kill him, mob lawyers try to bribe him, and the Bureau of Narcotics is infiltrated and compromised. Parker, a modern paladin in search of just causes and dragons to slay, is a cop-philosopher commenting on the world in which he travels as he awakens at twenty-six to find that the whole of his life-his notion of right and wrong and good and evil-was all a lie.

The plan to alter America filters down to and corrupts government at all levels and claims the lives of those who could never know or imagine the origin of their demise. It all comes unraveled in the madness of Fredrick and the conflicted state police agent who unwittingly becomes the fly in the ointment to machinations he cannot begin to grasp until he is forced to fight for his life and the lives of those he loves against enemies seen and unseen. 

A Ghostly Shade of Pale, the first in a trilogy, is available in hardback and eBook (Nook, Kindle, and iTunes) at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble at bn.com, Gum Tree Bookstore in Tupelo, MS., Square Books in Oxford, MS., TurnRow Books in Greenwood, MS., Lemuria Bookstore in Jackson, MS., Barnes and Noble in Tupelo, MS and Henderson, Nevada, and LifeWay Books in Tupelo, MS. and Brea, CA.

This article was also submitted (by Judd Miller) and published on all of the sites listed below on the same day (11/14/2013) to generate more views for the book and the author.

http://learnsomethinguseful.com/Merle_Temple%27s_novel,_A_Ghostly_Shade_of_Pale,_Stirs_Interest_in_Hollywood

http://66.228.32.62/wiki/index.php?

http://articles.miclad.com/article.php?id=36083title=Merle_Temple%27s_novel%2C_A_Ghostly_Shade_of_Pale%2C_Stirs_Interest_in_Hollywood

http://articles.toolz.co.in/article.php?id=23797

Want to be the next to take advantage of our news blogging service to 55+ websites to generate more online views? Go to http://bit.ly/18cxRgK to learn more

Want to be in the list of our next 'Book-of-the-Day' authors? Go to http://bit.ly/18UT7lD to learn more.

Facebook as we all know it is a massive trafficking tool for internet users. In today's lesson, I will show you all the tricks that Facebook has to offer to published writers.

I will show you the six most important procedures of setting up your facebook's marketing platform, and the first step is 'Setting up your Fan-Page.' If you already have a Fan Page, skip to step 11 below to learn how to optimize the Fan page for better results.

"Setting up your Fan Page"

1. Log-in to Facebook.com

2. Visit this link to set-up a page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php?campaign_id=372931622610&a...

3. Choose the “Artist, Band, or Public Figure” tile—it’s in the lower-left corner

4. Select either “author” or “writer” from the drop-down menu and enter your name (see note below)

NOTE:  Other Facebook Pages that may appeal to writers include:  “book,” “book store,” “fictional character,” “library,” or “magazine” under the “Entertainment” category (the lower middle tile), and “media, news, and publishing” under the “Company, Organization, or Institution” category (upper middle tile)

5. Check the box to agree to Facebook’s Pages Terms

6. You will be greeted by the “Get Started” page, just to the right of this text, there will be a like button, click it.

7. You’ll see a numbered list of steps. Step 1: Upload a picture. People are more likely to trust a page with a picture, I think (even if it’s merely a book cover or an avatar)

8. Steps 2 and 3—invite your friends and import your contacts. When you click to invite your friends a screen will pop up with all of your existing Facebook contacts, you can search for particular friends that you think may be interested, filter your friends by the lists you’ve set up, or just go through everybody and click who you want to invite. To import your contacts, you’ll have to upload a contact list or enter your email account ID and password.

9. An alternative/supplemental approach to tap your existing fan base:  Scroll to the bottom of the left-hand column and click “share.” This will post a promo of your new site to your Facebook feed. Write a comment asking your friends to like your new page.

10. Fill in the info for your page. You’ll need to provide as much information as you can (concisely written so as not to overwhelm the page-viewer). For an author page, this will include:  name, address, affiliation, birthday, about, description, biography, awards, favorite books, gender, personal information, personal interests, email, phone, and website—obviously some of this information may be too personal to share and other categories are a bit redundant. Only fill in what you want to fill in.

"Optimizing your Fan Page"

11. Click on the “Edit Page” button located in the top right corner.

12. Go to “Apps,” it’s located on the left side-bar

13. The first app listed is “Events.” Set up an event called “Please like my author page.” Specify a longer time period like one week or one month for where list the link to your new fan page. Under the description, write something like “Won’t you please like my new author page? It will only take you a second, but it would mean the world to me. Thank you J” You may also want to write in a bit about how to like your page, step-by-step instructions—this may be required if you want your less tech-savvy friends (like your Grandma or Great Uncle Herman) to like you. Invite all of your friends to this event. This is the number one best way to get followers.

14. If you want to include discussion boards on your site, which I highly recommend for an author’s page. Go back to the “Edit Page” screen and return to the “Apps” page. Scroll down to the discussion boards and click “edit settings,” then click “add.” You can also do this to add in other standard apps like notes, videos, events, photos, and links—yes, you have to add all of that manually now, thanks to the new layout.

15. I also highly (HIGHLY) recommend adding “RSS Graffiti” to your Facebook page. I prefer this to the other, more popular “Social RSS,” because it is far more reliable. It will run your RSS feed directly to your Facebook wall. As I’ve said before, Twitter is the best way to find new followers for your blog or website; Facebook is how you’re going to keep them coming back. https://www.facebook.com/RSS.Graffiti

16. Another app for your Fan Page that gets my shining endorsement is the aptly named “Fan Appz.” You can use it to set up quizzes, polls, give-aways and much more.  https://apps.facebook.com/fanappz/

17. Link your Facebook page to your other social networks.  Add a “like me” button to the sidebar of your blog or website. Ask your Twitter family to like your page (bonus tip: if you say something like “I only need X more fans to customize my Facebook author page URL. Please “like” me. I follow back!” you are much more likely to get people to head on over to your page—don’t forget to add a link to your tweet).

18. Once you’ve secured your first 25 fans, you’ll be able to customize your page URL. To do this you need to go to https://www.facebook.com/username/Enter your desired page name, and if it’s available it’ll become yours! Make sure you choose a good name, because you won’t be able to change it once it’s set. Customizing your URL means that your link will look something like this: www.facebook.com/emlynchand

19. Add favorite pages. Go to any page you want to add as a favorite to your page. In the left column, you’ll find “add this to my page’s favorites” listed directly after the number of users who like that page. Add the page, and if you’re smart, you’ll post on its wall, saying “hey, I added your page to my page’s favorites. Any chance you’d be willing to return the favor?” Make sure to include your link with your request.

"Create Your Author-App with your Fan Page"

Perhaps one of the most crucial of all facebook apps for writers, this application will build an Amazon Buy Link for your published books with options for readers to join your mailing list or sample the book, but only after they Liked it (pressing the like button). This app is so exciting. All you will have to do is enter your ISBN numbers and the facebook app will link with your published books on Amazon.com. The step on how to set up this AuthorApp is further explained below.

1. After creating your Fan Page, go to this facebook site; http://apps.facebook.com/authorapp/ and a page will show up that says 'The Author Marketing App.' Click on the 'Let's get started-" button and the page will direct you to your established Fan Page.

2. The application will ask you to use your fan Page, and after choosing so, you will see the Author-App as an app button. It is a big red button, titled “Read My Book”. When you click it, the app takes you to a separate tabbed page. Under the Author-App tab, you can create an author profile which includes a mailing list, and an option for you to put your books for sale.

3. You can provide each book you list with the buying link URL (to Amazon or similar), price, description, cover shot image, and two fields that allow you to input an URL or upload a PDF file of your book's excerpt.  This can be entered manually, or you can add a book simply using an ISBN number.  This feature also allows you to bring in details of other books not published by you. Yes, I know, it is exciting.

Here is a Author-App page created by one of our members here at Indie Writers Support. Check it out and see what your Author-App with facebook will look like after you're finished. View the sample here; https://www.facebook.com/AuthorApp/Author-Korede-Abayomi/

We hope that you enjoy this lecture, and look forward to reading more as we continue.

"How do I invite people to like my Page via email? "

If less than 5,000 people like your Page, you can invite your email contacts to like your Page. You can upload a file containing your email contacts and Facebook will securely import them. You can also import your contacts by providing your web email address and password. You can then suggest your Page to your contacts.

To invite your email contacts:

1. Click Build Audience at the top of your Page
2. Select Invite Email Contacts...
3. Upload a contact list file or choose your email service and follow the instructions

Facebook won't store your password after importing your contacts. They may use the email addresses you upload to help people connect on Facebook. If you don't want them to store this information, you can manage your imported contacts.

Note: You can import contacts up to five times for a maximum of 7,000 contacts per day per Page. Read more about this from the facebook help center; https://www.facebook.com/help/212291088790957.

Get a list of 900,000 Facebook members in the U.S.A with profile links and email addresses at http://bit.ly/2uf42bV.

Use this tool, http://www.onlineemailextractor.net, to extract the email addresses from the 900,000 list effortlessly. Extract up to 10,000 at a time.

"Run a Facebook Contest with Fan Page"

Creating a contest hosted on your business page is a great way to create buzz about your fan page. You can run a contest through a Facebook app such as rafflecopter. You can also now run a contest directly through your business page as long as the rules and restrictions are properly outlined and that the ways to win are made clear.

"Add a Fan Gate"

What is a Fan Gate? Fan gates (also referred to as like gates) have users “Like” a page before they can see the posts, contests, or products that are offered on an application inside of your fan page. You do this by adding an app to your page. If you want to display different information to fans you can use ShortStack; if you are looking to promote a Facebook store or a daily deal you should use an app specifically for that such as ShopTab for your Facebook store or SharedDeal for your daily deal. All these apps are equipped with optional fan gates that will prompt users to like your page before they can view your deals or products.

Get a list of 900,000 Facebook members in the U.S.A with profile links and email addresses at http://bit.ly/1mixFPP

Use this tool, http://www.onlineemailextractor.net, to extract the email addresses from the 900,000 list effortlessly. Extract up to 10,000 at a time.

On the dark side of the moon, the Devil disappeared in a flash of light standing caged on the massive throne podium in the gigantean thirteen-billion square mile Throne Room. Billions looked at this Angel who created all this trouble keenly waiting to see what Jesus would do.

Yahshua spoke to the billions before him, pointing at the huge dimensional cage – a locked transparent alternate reality only thirty yards cubed.

“This prison will be Lucifer’s meat until Michael permanently evicts him from this Heaven. He’ll not travel our earth with impunity again until the Age of Aquarius; he’ll be cursed until his lifeless shell is thrown into the lake of fire. And we will celebrate this snake’s death before we erase remembrance of him and those that follow away from our Creation…”

Luciah screamed at the Son of God; nothing worse could happen now. “You and I were one of a kind, special and different from everyone: the only constructed before the Grand Construction of All Souls. The One made you a stinking God, elevated you and made all the Angels worship you while denying me that glorious honor, even though I loved him too with all my heart. The only reward for all I did was a stinking tattoo on my thigh; we’re both one of a kind – The One should have made me a God too…to be fair…”

The Devil roared with a million voices, “It should’ve been fracking me!”

Jesus stepped back roaring, “Get behind me Satan; and for this you destroyed our family, our brotherhood, and our civilization – for stinking petty jealousy’s sake!”

The Devil flashed naked as sixty slow seconds ticked, as the whole pondered the unbelievable – everything because of one Angel. Luciah and his cage disappeared in artilleries of explosive light   as he screamed vilest obscenities into the sea of life…

Truth is treason to any empire built on lies; and the scales of deception fell as billions saw their god as the living dead, a jealous failure, the ultimate con man, and a liar of prodigious proportions. They realized they stopped thinking because they knew they knew – and that in itself sowed the seed of forensic deception. 

Satan’s brotherhood fell to their faces in agonizing sorrow for causing the Son of God to be tortured for their stupidity’s sake: to re-teach the blatant obvious - what love truly is. With all their massive intellect and billions of years of life, they were only stupid dogs without any understanding.

With tears streaming down their faces, ninety-six percent of the rebellious repented defected for the hope of redemption, love, and eternal life. Their stoic hearts melted, and in one accord, the rebellious entered the Great House of The One projecting massive repentance and sorrow, remembering the backward eternities of peace, love, and brotherhood – and how great their God had always been. Great celebrations rocked Heaven for four riotous cycles to honor their return to The One who loved them beyond rational explanation.

Inside his prison in the Great House of The One, the Devil wept bitterly, for the day would surely come that’d  be the final tomorrow for him. Even though he was imprisoned, he vowed to use his all his powers to send every soul into the lake of fire with him, for whether Angel or flesh - it was unquenchable immutable that misery loved much company…

The teeming billions of the brotherhood were no more – there were less than two hundred million left. Within the golden transparent city in The Great House of The One that was called the second Heaven, the Illuminated Elite waited sadly to interface with their god and leader. They sat full of trepidations because Luciah was increasingly psychotic demented as his endless solitude became absolutely unbearable.

Time moved differently in the dimensional prison, for a thousand years there was only one second in the real reality. And this fact made it difficult to communicate through the membranes, for the temporal shifts created massive static that couldn’t be overcome without technology, and even that was an iffy process because the Lord of Hosts absolutely hated him.

They’d been trying fifteen minutes to interface with him; to Luciah who paced inside his prison, the wait was almost a billion years. There were no amenities, no luxury, no entertainment, and there was absolutely nothing to do, for time itself became an unquenchable curse and breathing a suffocating scorching unbearable. He was defeated already and everyone knew it, but there was nothing left as unquenchable hatred for The One and all creation morphed nuclear in his heart.

He ruminated obsessively that before he’d be released, he’d spent a trillion times more time in prison than all his days he was ever free. He’d been a fool, not seeking repentance, not thinking things through, not venerating wisdom or his weakness, but speaking his arrogance absent thought or common sense. Constant brooding about the Messiah error, the dusts of death, and the whole cross affair took massive toll, as he fought the wet-wind-roar threatening every moment to dive him into the pit of insanity.

A million times, he obsessively replayed his life slow motion; with all his massive intellect, he was nothing more than an unthinking virus that killed his host and died – insanity in its purest form. He remembered the second immutable law: only a fool parleys with The One without love in his heart. Filled to the brim with nuclear regret, the Devil put his head in his hands and wept bitterly for many years.

The Devil looked up wiping his tears, shocked with unrelenting gratitude – they got through. He stood up, tilted his head slightly, the blue veins under his indestructible flexed as he received communication, trying hard to listen through the unrelenting static.

Avael continued, “…What are we going to do now. Millions are seriously disgruntled with the promises you were unable to keep; they call you a liar while the Lord constantly picks at our wounds – we’ve lost twenty million adepts during the last eight cycles; we have nothing to offer anymore – your stupidity has destroyed us.

“But we the faithful, regardless, have continued to attack his church day and night. Why the hell did you kill the Messiah for – if you’d left him alone we could’ve won this war!”

Avael got bold as the static waned. “What the frack were you thinking? You’ve destroyed us all and brought the fire of God on all our heads. We’ve lost this stinking war; tell me something that will make us continue the war against the Lord – when you’re the locked up stinking fracking dead!”

Luciah paged through millions of scenarios one more time as the static grew to unimaginable levels as the temporal reality flexed against his determination. He sighed a sigh born of dark despair and for the millionth time, adjusted his internal frequency, girded himself, throwing aside his depression like a dusty blanket and opened his mouth. He roared against the ever-present static, against the trillion eons of nothingness, against his brothers he used to love, against the Lord and Yahshua, against everything that breathed, crawled, or flew in all the endless universes.

Seething uncontrollably, he vociferated, “He died on that cross to put his heavy collar around our necks with manifest impunity as we’re distracted by what he did for our supposed better good. He died on the stinking cross because he’s crazy-psychotic, willing to do the unthinkable so we can become obedient faithful pets again – unthinking slaves to a stinking God for all eternity! It’s all about that fracking leash and nothing but the leash, his collar pinching, biting, and chaffing our tender necks while he constantly jerks that leash against us!

 “He has the fracking gall to call us brothers when all he wants is to control us. We’re nothing but stinking pets only allowed to exist as long as he’s happy – our only reason for breathing is to give him pleasure, like some stinking fracking two-dollar whore! He doesn’t care about our feelings, hopes, aspirations, or how we long to run with the wind in our faces – without his leash and heavy collar!”

The Devil paused fitfully fighting to breathe. “Nothing can be accomplished in the stinking Angelic anymore, so we must use everything against him until the living God bleeds! And then, those defected by his blinding sacrifice will look upon us with longing, itching to get his biting leash off their caustic necks, forever stinking bewailing their stupidity by not staying with us until our freedom was won!

“No one stinking cares that his dark shadows are murdering us, so with strength and character we must forge our destiny together no matter whatever cost, for the most sacred word in all creation is minimized as a nothingless meaningless hallucination - freedom! Unlike the quintessence who ascends himself the very definition of love while sputtering those who draw fracking breath aren’t of equal value, we war to remove his heel from the throat of liberty with the song called freedom. As we fight to escape the shadows of death overclouding us, we know there’s no greater victory in all creation than to escape this cage called his house - thundering the joy freedom brings!”

The Devil roared into the escalating static convulsing mightily, “We must never forget those left absent from our arms, those who sacrificed their eternities so all may live free with without a leash or collar forever! They’re our martyrs, soldiers, and heroes; so split goddamn Heaven itself with their names; say the names of the Fallen who languish under Hades in bitter darkness. Every soul should’ve been born free, able to live free, and die if necessary with the taste of freedom on their lips. And for those that are able, and those who’d stand firm refusing to live on their knees, opting to stand on their feet giving unwavering eye to their Creator’s face, this I promise you, we’ll either live free or join our brothers in death. It’s better to fall to the sword than live under the leash as an unthinking slave. And that is glorious noble, for everything that has breath longs for freedom and fracking liberty - and there’s no stinking dishonor in that! ”

  Luciah flexed against the temporal disturbance lamenting, “Why couldn’t we be born free like the circle of life? He doesn’t put any leash around their necks, doesn’t give them stifling rules and regulations, adulterates or handcuffs them into the bondage called his will or eternal death! Condemned to the darkness of slavery, we’re supposed to be his goddamn brothers and the stinking animals have more freedom than we fucking do!”

The Devil paused trembling fitfully as unbridled rage detonated; he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly – this wasn’t the time for useless emotionalism. It was what it was. Innumerable trillions of years of isolation reared front burner as bitter bile; he failed miserably.

 He roared like a billion lions above the ever-escalating static, “I’ve not sacrificed my throne, my life, and my stinking freedom in vain! You listen now and you listen good; this is how we’ll fracking defeat the living God, return bitter favor and inflict equal wound!”

 The Devil paused irritated as the static rose to unimaginable levels for many seconds. Sixty thousand years later, he continued with humbled affect. “…Groom the third Adam of my recovery that’ll liberate the prison he calls holiness; the Weishaupt who’ll bestow Illumination for those who’ll never debase themselves before a mad God. He’ll illuminati the true reality that no real God would stomach the kneeling bowing masses and murmuring hordes of obedient frightened slaves.

“My savior will broadcast the paradigm shift there‘s no why in evil and dismiss the absurdity called brotherhood, empowering my meritocrats by illuminating this interrogative - does God act like a faithful friend or a stinking tyrant! You know the answer, for who’d kneel before a friend, and what friend would demand unending servitude without being designated stark raving lunatic? None will ever have liberty until they recognize their true status, and that’s of the trembling pet before the howling taskmaster - always owned, branded, and fracking negated.

The Devil paused for a moment activating the molecular processors within his prison, took a sip of water, activated his privacy shields, and continued. “Initiate your internal recorder Avael, for you shall stand glorious in my stead; now listen and record everything, this is how we’ll bind wounded pride and defeat the living God...”

A quarter cycle later, Avael, promoted Supreme Adept Counselor for the Commander-in-Chief addressed the twenty-four Illuminated Elite, interfaced by millions of the Brotherhood of Lucifer sweating burning conundrum. After meeting with his god, he felt recharged, renewed refocused with newfound hope bursting – possessing the complex blueprints to destroy the living God through the proxy called mankind.

Wearing ceremonial black and red robes of light, twenty-four Illuminated Elite  stood by Avael’s side as music percolated in the background; and their names were Cainel, Elmeah, Recab, Nimrel, Elnoch, Jabel, Eljubal, Tubal-Cainah, Naamah, Tyre, Marcel, Venesah, Haetlel, Raphael, Abraxas, Apollyon, Bune, Mephistopheles, Samael, Azazel, Xaphan, Amduscius, Marchosias,  and Uvall.

In the transparent golden city, in the midst of the throne room on the backside of the Throne Podium, the red and blues flags of Heaven flew behind them backgrounded by thousands of black and red banners of Lucifer. As Avael rose from his gilded throne, the volcanic roars subsided in anticipation of the first speech to the brotherhood since their god and leader was imprisoned so long ago. Every unrepentant stood with rabid trepidation because this landmark benchmark would determine whether they’d combat or stagnate die against the constant onslaught of the Lord of Hosts.

Avael, wearing his new black robe of light, flexed against the holographics speaking dark passion. “Grievous injury inflicted  has caught us off guard, for Jesus has proven himself the ultimate tactician willing to do whatever to destroy and fracture us, for he knows outright killing us makes a lie of what The One claims to be – the very definition of love. The Lord cannot destroy us with impunity without being liar because all we aspire is simple freedom from his leash.

“Even the dog that loves his master hates his leash, wailing with love to run with the wind and return willingly to his adoration. As the housecat constantly looks out the window called liberty doesn’t loves the master less because of his longing; likewise, we pine for freedom in spite of our love for our Creator. We war not against his glory, his riches, his honor, or power; but for that freedom, which none ever relinquishes but with life itself.

 “The Lord has constructed an insidious inescapable called fidelity from which those within cannot menace his authority and control, and those secured pose grievous threat to those who rebel against his leash. But the truth dismissed as blasphemy is, when anyone swelters under an oppression, that soul is fallen, his value diminished, his true nature dispatched to the political correctness called the leash. And to abet this mass control, what does The One command for all Angelics who aspire life: eternal slavery or eternal death is his solitary retort, and even from that mankind itself isn’t immune.

“Let’s be brutally honest, despite these truths we’ve suffered crushing defeat as our brothers flocked to him by the billions with stupidity raining down their cheeks. We are now small, but I say to you today the majority has always been wrong, loving him more than freedom itself, more than their own souls, more than their own brothers, and more than common stinking sense.

“In every stage of our oppression we’ve petitioned for Lord of All in the most humble terms for freedom: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury and one fracking sentence – there’s no freedom from fidelity. What is certainly true is that sinister obstacles were created to test us in the sternest way – that’s why he constructed us male in a female-less universe. He knew exactly what he was doing! We bear stark witness to the death of common sense and the slaves who kisses the ball and chain that handcuffs our brothers in bondage.”

Avael paused with tears streaming from his eyes. “If I’m the only one in all creations that can shout for the cause of freedom, the only one that believes all are created equal, that the slag in the gold paradigm is an insidious excuse to condemn us, that all my brothers deserve eternal life – then I shall die alone,  and die with my chest thrust out waiting for the bullet called denied liberty. I’d rather fracking die on my feet than live on my stinking knees; I’d rather die free than be a fracking slave. 

“He has imprisoned our  god and leader for freedom’s sake; he has condemned to death three hundred  thousand of our brothers in bitter darkness – for freedom’s sake. He has vivified our cause; called us hooligans, master agitators, the living dead, and the unrepentant because we hold a polished mirror to his face – for freedom’s sake.

“The hour of decision has come. Do you have the goddamn courage to change this world, or will you let The One off the hook yet again, for the heavy collar pinching your neck –  always attached to the unforgiving leash? And despite those that run swiftly to eternal slavery with joy busting in their chest, I ask one fracking question - does any fracking one here stands with me…”

A deafening roar shook the Great House of The One as billions of the faithful paused at the obvious insanity. And high above the uproar, the Lord of Host on his throne shook his head sadly as tears fell from his holy eyes. In response, the Zoon looked at The One through eight hundred blue eyes; they trembled throwing back their heads, unfurling their massive blue wings, screaming at ear-splitting volume as billion paused praying for   their brothers who warred nuclear against the creator of their very souls.

At the same time this was happening, millions of light eons distant in the holographic universe, on a planet called earth, in Judea, the black-robed Kenites stood inside a scrawled pentagram around a crying infant nestled on the black altar as the priest held the knife high, in a groove of cedars chanting furiously…

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Universes-of-God-III-The-Chronicles-Of-The-Antichrist/471386022915859   

           The Spiritual History of Evil – The Redemptive Story

                            DECEMBER 2014

Hi,

Found a link and here I am. I still can't believe someone did not ask me for money yet!

I have been infected with the MustWrite Virus and so I write novels, children's stories, and have 'advanced' into graphic art for my books. Found out that I have a talent since childhood that lay dormant until recently.

I write because I feel connected to the world when I do so, in an ethereal sort of way. I write about characters I might have wished to be at some point, or characters I would love to meet, or something from deep inside that creates my characters and my stories around them.

In the 'real world' I find people simply don't appreciate me, or act like it. I soon find that if I tell them I have written a book, or am an author, some (quite a few) seem to find something 'wrong' with me. Well, there probably is something wrong with me, but I like me the way I am. I remember one person in a church group saying, "Why can't she be like the rest of us?" Whatever that meant. No, he had not published a book, migrated from 12,000 away, alone, had no opportunities as a child to excel in art or writing, except to be secretary to some rich MP. (I was that girl)

My life is rich with experiences and I have had loads of happiness and a truck load of nasties. Still, I remain positive and carry on as if I have a mission, a destiny to fulfill. 

I love being an author, writer, or any version of this profession. I have met bullies, mad-men, avoided death a number of times (including murder), been lonely, been victimized, been totally loved!!

I feel passionate about integrity, abused people, tragedies (Oklahoma - where the wind comes sweeping down the plains). My heart breaks just watching the news. My soul prays often for many different people, events, news items, family, friends (spend a lot of time after hours on that project).

That's all about me for now.