Hello writers. I just joined this site and thought i'd introduce myself. But after looking at some of the work that the authors who are listed here have published, I may not be good enough to be a member here. I've only had two of my 'coffee table' short stories published. I'll not mention the 'publisher'. I'll just say i'm happy to call myself a writer although I've not had anything so great as others here on this site have had. I'll quietly remove myself from the site. Thank you anyway. I wish you all the best and great success.

Paul, a handsome young Greek business executive guides Sophie, a younger ethereal beauty of a Greek Goddess in her Harvard Business School application. They are interested in one another. However, so many questions arise. Will they date, as Sophie has a steady boyfriend for six years, Robert. Also, Paul still has a mad crush on his former girl friend at Harvard, Wendy. Will they fall in love, will he ask her to marry him and will their marriage ever take place, if at all. Many threatening plots against their relationship unravel as they island hop the Greek Isles or jet around the world to Paris, Venice, India, Switzerland, Boston, New York, Cuba, Boston and Vail Co. Robert, Sophie's psychotic ex-boyfriend physically assaults her.  Wendy, Paul's ex girl friend stalks Paul. Sophie’s authoritarian mother constantly interferes in their affair. Paul's, aristocratic and snobbish mother plots to turn the lovers apart. Alain, Paul's classmate from Harvard grossly sexually harasses Sophie. Even Alice, Sophie’s sexy-bombshell sister wants to “share” Paul. Paul is definitely passionately interested...

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.

USA Today's Robin Covington~ evokes the adventure and pace of the big movie thrillers

I figured perhaps I should stop and introduce myself properly.  My name is Serena Pettus and I am celebrating the release of my first novel "Blood in the Bayou", which managed to snag a spot on the Amazon Bestsellers list under Psychic Romance!!  Needless to say, I was overwhelmed!  It was sooo great to see it there and a major motivator to keep cranking out my stories.

Now I am looking forward to beginning the editing for my novella releasing in July.

I'm happy to be here and will be working hard to be an active participant.

An excerpt:

in the areas of interracial, MILF, and amateur pornography, a man named D. Wise has appointed himself king. A few weeks ago, I found myself being led by Wise up the stairs and onto the roof of a Lefferts Gardens apartment building. The porn shoot I had come to witness had supposedly begun at 8:00 that morning, but when I arrived at 12:30, emerging from the stairwell into the crisp May air, it seemed nothing had yet gotten under way.

“Man, things in this world are so chaotic,” Wise said. Clothed, he has a hip-hop vibe, with a diamond-encrusted, “DW”-monogrammed medallion around his neck and matching rings on his fingers. He takes particular pride in, of all things, a navy, long-sleeved waffle shirt, which he wore with black basketball shorts and white Nike Airs. “You’ll notice I wear this type of shirt on almost every box cover,” he told me.

Accompanying us on the roof was a buxom black woman. Timidly, she offered me her hand: “Hi, I’m Deseray Love.”

“She loves anal,” Wise said, and then cackled.

The rooftop shoot was for the benefit of the photographer I’d brought along. As we watched Wise in front of the camera, it took only a second to see that he’s a natural fit for the business he’s in. Wise needed no direction; the man was poised and puffed up like a rapper who’d just won a Grammy. Love, a New Jersey native soon to be signed with Wise’s production company, Cheeky Pictures, took longer to warm to the camera.

From the sidelines, Wise coached. “Turn to the side. There you go. There you go.”

After the roof shoot, we headed down to see Wise and Love “on set” — not a set at all, in fact, but an unkempt bedroom. As Wise reminded us, there’s a reason it’s called “amateur” porn. “This is the set,” he said, miming sex with his fingers.

To read the entire article, visit BKLYNR

It seems like it’s been forever since I’ve completed an installment of the newsletter. I am still doing a newsletter, aren’t I? The plan was to send them out quarterly… more or less.

In the spirit of Monty Python, here’s something completely different:

Do you feel as if you’re always in a rush lately? I certainly do. Caught up in this last month, I drove home from work on the 3^rd Tuesday, which, as everyone knows, is the time of month when the now infamous Tulsa NightWriters gather together to socialize and disseminate knowledge. My sweet wife, Kathi, had something going as well so I was alone. I worked briefly on the 4^th Detective Elliot novel, threw some clothes in the washer, loaded the dishwasher, and stuck a frozen pizza – a concoction called Marinara Meatball – in the oven. To this point everything was going smoothly. When the oven timer dinged, I pulled out the pizza, sliced it up, wrapped a couple of pieces in a paper towel, left the rest for Kathi and David, and headed out the door for the meeting. With my stomach screaming for sustenance, I maneuvered the sometimes dangerous streets of Tulsa, grabbing a bite of pizza whenever possible when the unthinkable happened. One of the marinara meatballs – and quite delicious I might add – rolled off the pizza and fell between my legs on the car seat. I know most of you have experienced this. Perhaps not with a marinara meatball, but you get the idea. The more you try to retrieve the fallen object – due to the slant of the car seat and the gravitational pull of the planet – the deeper it slides beneath you. And I was wearing Kaki, colored pants, except for the red stripe.

Is it just me, or does it seem a tad too commercial that the Gambling Hot Line has three sevens in the number?

And now for a word from our sponsor:

I’ve received enough feedback, or even worse the lack thereof – you know the feeling when you hand someone something you’ve worked on and their face loses expression and they just sort of nod but don’t say anything – on Footprints of a Dancer to feel the need to talk about it. Footprints of a Dancer, the 3^rd book in the Detective Elliot series, definitely differs from Twisted and Buried. Fortunately, or not, that was by design. With the book, I wanted to do something I had not done before. The plan was to incorporate my Christian faith and my love for the paranormal while still retaining the flavor of the Elliot books. I don’t think I succeeded in doing that, at least not completely. That is to say it has picked up some great reviews, but it’s gathered some bad ones too. The other books have done this as well but not to the same extent. With Footprints, it seems the reader either loves it – gets it – or they don’t. Once a story takes hold of me, the characters and the situations just sort of pull me along, and into the realm of Elliot’s tortured mind is where they took me. I would try to further explain, but in the writing business if you have to explain what you’ve written then you have failed to properly communicate your ideas. However, losing faith at this point is not recommended. With the first three books old Elliot has conquered most of the ghosts from his checkered but interesting past, and he promises to be back soon with a completely different and more down to earth – though not completely – adventurous story.

Okay, you talked me into it. For fiction to work properly, various backstage functions need to be there and working properly. An important aspect of this would be opposition for the protagonist. The hero of the story must have someone or something opposing him, or her. Sort of like a plus needs a minus, a ying a yang, or something like that. With Footprints I struggled with this until I realized who the enemy, or opposition really was. Unlike the first two books in the series, Footprints of a Dancer is a Paranormal mystery written from a Christian world view.

When you read Footprints of a Dancer, this will become clear to you. Or perhaps when you re-read it.

I'm happy to have found this site because I have been feeling so isolated as a writer. We need each other.  Until recently, I was living in an off the grid cabin in the woods of Maine. I lived there for twelve years but recently moved to a farmhouse built in 1777 to be with my son, his wife and my grandson.  Still, I write every day without fail beginning at 4 am.  I recently finished my 7th novel "Chaordia--A Novel of Transformation" which is about to be published on Amazon and my own publishing company Clayfield Books. I have a trilogy based on the Atlantis legend titled "Children of the Dream," a novel titled "SPAM," also, "Revolution and the Journal of Joshua Johnson." I have three books of poetry and a collection of essays on education.  My life is an adventure. I started three alternative schools, one of which is still going in Philadelphia and is on its 44th year. 

I love my solitude and the opportunity to write every day, but I would love to share my writing with others and am finding it difficult to be read. There are so many writers writing today and publishing which is great, but it also makes it difficult to be seen in the crowd.  

Hopefully, all of us independent writers can help one another.  I think that's the value of this site.

Anyway, I am happy to be here and hope we can connect. Check out my site at http://clayfieldbooks.com

Arrnold 

I love adjectives!!

I know authors are supposed to use them sparingly. Today, we’re urged to find strong nouns rather than depending on supporting a weaker noun with an adjunct. Unfortunately, sometimes the search through the dictionary or the thesaurus just doesn’t come up with the exact meaning I want to impart.

Most times, when I know there’s an adjective that works well and will create the exact emotion I’m trying to communicate, I give in and use the darn thing.

For instance in “Spin the Wheel”, the book I just finished and will release at the end of this month, I described a wedding gown. It’s true, those two words are probably sufficient to give the reader the idea of what type of clothing my heroine wore. Except I wanted that dress to belong to her, be true to her personality and therefore I had to add words like strapless and white satin and lace.

I know there are times when one word is sufficient to tell the story. Words like: fragility, knickknacks, stupor, slumlord, and on and on. I also knew my vocabulary wasn’t huge, so when I first began to write seriously, every book I read for months I highlighted all the strong nouns. Then I listed them on an excel spreadsheet. My best learning style for acquiring and processing information is by writing things down and so I instigated this procedure and stuck with it for months until I had gathered multiple pages with multiple columns of wonderful nouns to choose from.

Surprising how often that file comes in handy when I know there’s a word I want to use… the perfect word, and I just can’t think of it. Skimming these lists has saved my sanity time and again. Aha! There are still occasions when I’ve searched and searched but the term just isn’t there.

For instance – muscles. What better noun can you use to describe muscles? The thesaurus says strengths, powers, physiques, brute force.

Nope – ain’t gonna work!

Say I’m describing my hero’s body and a sentence comes up about his muscles. Fine! The charmer has muscles. Not all that exciting, right? What if I said –The charmer’s bulging muscles... Much better!

Hopefully you get a mind picture of a man whose very strong, likely works out and who’s physically active in some way. And if that was the exact vision I wanted you to have, then rather than saying it in any other way, adding one word to get my point across seems rather logical to me.

On the other hand, I have read some stories that are silly with adjectives. At the worst it’s annoying and at the least it’s unnecessary. Guess we all have to come to grips with what constitutes the term – too many.

If anyone would like a copy of my list of nouns just send an e-mail to mimibarbour@hotmail dot com I'm happy to share.

A scene has many elements. Let’s review some of the question an author can ask to determine if a scene is complete. Some things are essential like a character and an event to drive the plot forward. Other things like time and setting might not play as an important part in the scene but they do add depth.


Let’s break it down into three components:

1. Character

a. Who is this scene about?

b. What is the relationship of the characters in the scene?

c. What is the emotional impact to the character?

d. What does the character want? (Long-term and short-term goals)

e. What are the obstacles in the way?



2. Setting

a. What season is it? (Time, day, year, past, future)

b. Description of the place (house, boat, office, city, country)

c. Special items (gun, knive, pills, items needed for the plot)

d. Senses (see, hear, smell, taste, feel)

3. Event

a. What’s happen in the scene to drive the plot forward?

b. What does the reader learn for this scene?

c. What are the characters doing? (the physical action or character movement)

d. How does the event occurring affect the character?


All of these thing are important in developing a scene. The more items presence, the richer the writing.


Good luck,


Anita Philmar

I have joined today: a few hours ago. I have written eight eBooks and would like to invite member friends to download them free. They are available at Smashwords, Amazon, B&N, Obooko, Lulu.com and a few others. The titles are:

1. The Honey Gatherer - a story set in the deep jungles bordering India and Nepal

2. Aroma Of Orange Pekoe - Snippets and musings spanning the life of Tea & Coffee planters in India & PNG.

3. Laugh Like A Dog - The daughter of a rich Hindu industrialist elopes and marries a poor Anglo Indian boy.

4. To Sweeten Boredom - thirteen gripping short stories to keep you riveted.

5. Episodes Of Ecstasy - Thirteen more unput-downable stories.

6. A Compilation Of Short Stories

7. Travails Of Innocence - A story from rural India of love, God-women, teen pregnancy, honor killing, etc.

8. She Shed A Tear - Love between a Hindu boy and a Muslim woman and its crashing consequences. 

I majored in English, to teach, read post grad theology to understand, researched everything else, just because I could.
DTP, web design and copy writing, freelance writing for those that thought I could put more than two words together. Written and illustrated two children’s book series.
Have taken the huge step into the world of Direct and Independent digital publishing, because I believe in the future of this medium. I have even succumbed and will be starting my own blog. Don’t know what I am going to write there but I will defiantly enjoy the ride, hopefully I will see you there soon
However, forever the quintessential romantic and traditionalist, the feel, smell and atmosphere of printed books still attracts me, don’t walk past a book shop with me if you are in a hurry to get somewhere.
Like all things on this planet, they have to change. We witness this with the Japanese Samurai, American Indian and Cowboy, the African great Ivory hunters, the future unceremoniously catches up to them, you either adapt or die. I choose life!

Take a look at my latest blog post and leave a comment if yo would...

http://dodgyitch.blogspot.com

Check out my first newspaper interview with Jacqueline Durett of the Suburban...
http://sub.gmnews.com/news/2012-09-20/Front_Page/S_Amboy_resident_finds_world_of_exposure_on_the_In.html

http://www.storiesspace.com/forum/yaf_postst538_My-911-Tribute-poem-has-been-in-print-at-least-fourteen-times-in-2011.aspx

DL Davito resides with his family near the Inter coastal Waterway in eastern North Carolina.  One of his passions is his old wooden sailboat, SV Jewel, and taking overnight sails with his faithful Lab, Seadog.

It is during those jaunts he can contemplate the mysteries of life under a starlit sky and allow the seeds of his stories to take root. Research and personal experience are the foundation of his stories.  Character development and plot are his hallmark.  Seduction, desire, passion and fulfillment are his gifts. His current series is based on the Tenth Commandment theme of coveting another mans wife. 
 
A sample of his work can be found in the free short story, “The Job”. (Smashwords, Barnes & Noble and Amazon)  
Contact address:  dldavito@gmail.com

I'm Marie McGaha, author, editor and owner of Dancing With Bear Publishing, a Christian publishing company. I love with my husband and a plethora of 4-legged critters in SE Oklahoma in the beautiful Kiamichi Mountains. We are members of The Patriot Guard and love to ride our motorcycles as often as we can get away. We have a bunch of kids, and a bunch of grandkids that we love to spoil! I am also a doula and have my own shoe line!

I'm currently on a blog tour promoting my book, One Good Man, a BBW, sweet romance set in Biloxi MS., a town I lived in way back in the late 70's.

So stop by my page here and "friend" me, or look me up on my sites --

www.mariemcgaha.com

www.dancingwithbearpublishing.com

www.dwbchildrensline.com

www.birthmagic.org

and on Twitter, Facebook, and if you love shoes, check out my shoe line at www.girlsgotgrit.us

Formerly a teacher and librarian, I am now a freelance writer and children’s book author. I have published essays, poetry, magazine articles, and web articles. I maintain a child safety blog, as well.My first book, What Would You Do? A Kid’s Guide to Staying Safe in a World of Strangers, was honored as a Best Books Award Finalist, USA Book News and was awarded five stars as a Reader’s Favorite. It was published by Headline Books, Incorporated. It is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Follett, Baker & Taylor, and Ingrams Catalogue. 

I continue to advocate for the education and well-being of children in my new book, The Bully and the Booger Baby: A Cautionary Tale, which is being published under my own imprint, Write Solution Ink, in early June. It will be available in paperback and Kindle formats through Amazon and also in Nook format through Barnes & Noble.

The Bully and the Booger Baby: A Cautionary Tale is not only a fun and imaginative school story about a big bully, the kids he picks on, and a little boy robot who tries to lead the charge to stop the bullying problem in their school, but it is also an informational book. It includes two sections of  researched and effective strategies and resources for children, parents, and teachers to help them better deal with today’s ever-increasing bullying problem.

You can access useful resources and additional information through the following links:

My Amazon Author Page

Melissa Harker Ridenour Books 

Write Solution Ink

Melissa Harker Ridenour Facebook Store

My Google + Profile

My Child Safety Blog

My First Video Book TrailerMy Second Video Book Trailer

In this modern era everything has changed. We can say it a Hip-Hop era where everything is considered so normal and usual that no one cares what is happening to others. Now, if a girl gets engaged with a boy of her age is considered as normal thing. This living relationship has become a fashion for everyone and if any girl or boy is not engaged in this then they are considered to be old fashioned or dumb. Modern girls and boys give priority to this relationship above all things in their life. One day I met a young couple in an auto, you may call them girlfriend-boyfriend. They were busy in themselves without caring of others who were sitting beside them. Old people who were sitting there were having odd feeling seeing this but they did not care. One of the people sitting there said that “Kya zamana aa gaya hai, pehle log bade logo k saamne ek saath khade hone se bhi sharmate the or ab kis ke andar sharm lihaaz hi nahi bacha hai. “  

Some of you will be thinking that these things are common now-a-days and may be some of you will be in support of above statement. I will say that, yes, both of you are right. People are able to say such things because we have made it so common for them. But I want to ask one thing from this new generation that is it right that our elders feel ashamed on us and we don’t even bother about that. They are just busy in following a trend of having relations without thinking what they should really do.   

Why is it so?? Everyone has right to live their life according their way but everything has its limits and conditions. People in old time also used to fall in love but they were not shameless. And if we talk about modern love then there is no purity and honesty. Today it is a time pass for the young generation. They think that if one goes then another will come in their life. It is not only true for boys but for girls also. Even if I talk about my classmates (girls) they also have 2-3 boyfriends and some have even more. When I say them that it is wrong then they just reply me that living with only one person is just a boring task. It seems to be shocking but not for them.

They do not understand its demerits. They are only busy in enjoying their life. Enjoying life is good but the path chosen for it should be right. We are seeing that young generation does not believe in marriage. Reason is same. They get bored seeing same person in their life. For getting over from this boring schedule they acquire wrong paths to enjoy life which lead towards a drastic end. This end could ruin someone’s life or someone’s soul. Women harassment and increasing level of divorces are its examples. It is totally true like that if a bird is in habit of flying above in the sky and suddenly it is caged; then it will have only two ends. It may be that whether she will compromise with her life or one day she will fly away by deceiving her lord. And very few people compromise with their life. Men think that they will never compromise. They have a gut feeling that no woman can underestimate them. And a woman thinks that why should she. If she is educated then it became a plus point for her. She thinks that she can live alone without her husband and can take care of herself and her children by doing any job.

 It just not affects their married life but their children also get affected. When they see their mother father in this way they also get depressed. In a very small age children realize truth of life. It has also been tested that children living in such environment get psychologically affected and are unable to live their life happily. Sometimes it becomes so drastic that they get attracted towards wrong path like addictions of drugs and alcohols which hurt them both physically and mentally.

 We all know that it is not going to end or even stop. Now everyone wants to enjoy their life without caring about what is wrong or right. Some of you who are reading this article may be thinking that it is their personal matter. They can do whatever they want. Then I will say yes, it is their personal matter. But I will also say that if it is their personal matter then do not let it be public. Because their personal matters are becoming so public that it is affecting society.

Thank you Judd Miller for this:

"Today we give a special thanks to Author Jodine Turner. Please show her your support and welcome her to our community by visiting by going here; http://lnkd.in/ntW9-d. Her e-Book 'Carry On The Flames: Destiny's Call' can now be downloaded for $0.00. Let us all show her our community love by leaving her wonderful reviews on amazon.com so that one day the favor may be returned back to You when it is your turn."

Have you noticed how most people have an obsession with celebrity news?  It doesn't matter if they're politicians, sport figures, actors/actresses or singers.  We all perk up and race to the internet or television when there's a story or scandal about them. We just don't seem to get enough media coverage about whatever is the flash of the day. Of course many of us fantasize about what their lives must be like. Others wish they had the opportunity to be like them.

Well they do have the same issues in life as the rest of us.  We don't hear or read about them as much because they try to have private lives like the rest of us. It's usually when something bad happens or when a rare good thing occurs that we hear anything about them.  In spite of being frequently hounded by the paparazzi many are able to maintain reasonable levels of privacy.

In my Trilogy Series, I take you into both the private and professional  worlds of two famous singers. The go through many of the same situations and face similar issues as the rest of us.  Of course there is always more  intrigue and drama to it but you'll have to read them to find out the secrets.

Start off with Beyond Beautiful, continue the journey with Sweet Emotions then end with Deuces are Wild.