A New Year

(credit)

These are my thoughts for the New Year, not necessarily resolutions, but some working thoughts to help guide me in 2011.

1. E-Publishing. Amazon Create Space is the way forward for Dust Scenario. Maybe also to put Riddle of Berlin there (in addition to iUniverse, which is a dead end I have decided vs. Amazon which has the market clout).

Just watching Miss Dale download books is convincing about the potential of offering $ 2.99 or free downloads.

2. E-Marketing.  In addition to Amazon Create Space for Dust Scenario,  I need to devise a marketing plan, including how to get cover art done. I paid the designer about $ 5,000 for the covers done to date. I think the covers are too complex. We should explore the Create Space approach or the designer that Joe Konrath suggests, Carl Graves.

It will take time for me to devise a marketing promotional campaign on the internet, as well as beginning to attend meetings where on-line marketers gather.

3. Agent and Standard Publishing. I still think we should pursue AgentFest and contact other agents that come across our sights using the manuscript 30,000 Camels. I have re-written much of Harvest of Gold, but it needs serious attention to make it far more riveting. I need to cut about 60,000 words to get to 100,000.


Happy New Years-
Cym

Dust Scenario
Riddle of Berlin
30,000 Camels
Harvest of Gold

Read More

The Perfect Family by Kathryn Shay

The Perfect Family
by Kathryn Shay
Bold Stroke Books 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1602821811

Have you ever had a crisis in your life that challenged everything you believed in? How did you react? Did you find your guidance within yourself? From your religion, faith, friends, family, or someplace else?

I am a writer not a psychologist. Nonetheless, I recall being advised once upon a time that most of us find our bearings from the world around us. If there is crisis, we look for a strong figure to point the way to safety. Others of us find our bearings from within, so that the chaos around us is lost in the focus from within.

Of course, we all have crises in our life. That is the nature of life. Happiness is a wonderful state, which we appreciate because of the crisis that periodically rolls up on our shores.

Would you like to evaluate how you might react to crises all around you?

What if your parents essentially rejected your sister, and you, for their religious beliefs? What if your children exploded in an unexpected revelation? What if most of your friends deserted you? And your husband violently disagreed with your feelings? And he sought solace in another’s arms, as you might as well? How would you react?

In The Perfect Family, Maggie experiences all of these crises. Her youngest son announces that he is gay as a high school student. And then all chaos breaks lose in her life.

As the walls come crumbling around her, she has her bearings. A sister declared dead by her parents (because she married a divorced man) comes back into her life. The gay son needs her, as does the straight son. Does she choose gay son over straight son, gay son over husband? What would you do.

The Perfect Family is a wonderful read. Kathryn Shay has the ability to create characters that seem like neighbors. People I know and understand. As I read this finely crafted story, I suspected that I was living part of the author’s life. She says not, but I felt like I was right there. I wondered how I would react to each of those events.

I’ve had my share of crisis in my life. Reading this story brought back memories of those crises. I measured my own response against Maggie’s.

I respect Maggie. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her travails.

Read this book! Then compare how you handle crisis in your life to how Maggie does in hers. And when you are done, please post your thoughts. Maybe we should have a review party where you express how you feel about your life vs. The Perfect Family. How’s that for a challenge?

Warms, Cym

Resource Links:
Kathryn Shay
Bold Stroke Books
Bold Stroke Books Facebook
Bold Stroke Books Twitter

Read More

What Santa Brought

Santa Brought New Cookery - and breakfast is underway. We hope yours is joyess and relaxing. Enjoy.

Warms, CYM

Read More

The Pine Tree of St. Martin by Paul Coelho

As the parish priest of a little village called St Martin in the French Pyrenees was getting ready to celebrate Mass one Christmas Eve, he began to smell a wonderful fragrance. It was winter, and the flowers had disappeared a long time before, yet there was the pleasant smell of springtime floating through the air.

Intrigued, he decided to go outside and look where the smell was coming from and across a young boy sitting in front of the school door. Next to him was a golden Christmas tree.

"What a beautiful tree!" said the vicar to the boy, "It seems to have touched the sky, and it gives off such a delightful scent! It's made of pure gold! Where did you find it?"

The young man looked up at the priest, seemingly unhappy with what had been said.

"Truth is, the longer it took me to carry this home, the harder the leaves got and the heavier it felt. But it can't be real gold, and I'm scared of what my parent's reaction will be."

The young man continued his story.

"This morning, my mother gave me money to go to the city of Tarbes to buy a Christmas tree. When I was going through the village, I saw a lonely old woman who had no family to spend Christmas dinner with. I was certain I would be able to get a good discount on a tree, so I gave her some of the money I had for her to buy herself some dinner. As I continued through the town, I passed by the prison and saw an enormous line of people waiting to go inside to visit their loved ones. I overheard some of them say they did not even have enough money to buy a slice of Christmas fruit cake. I was so moved by these young people waiting in line and I decided I would share some of my money with them too. I gave most of it to them, keeping just a small amount for myself to buy some lunch. The florist I was going to visit was a friend of the family and I was sure that if I promised to work all next week for him, that he would give me the Christmas tree for free. When I reached the market, though, I found out that the florist I knew did not go to work that day. I tried as hard as I could to find someone who would lend me the money I needed to buy the Christmas tree somewhere else, but it was all in vain. Frustrated, I decided that having some lunch would help me clear my head and I walked over to the restaurant counter. As I approached the bar, a foreign-looking little boy asked me if I could spare some change because he hadn't eaten in two days. I remembered that at one time even Jesus may have gone hungry, and I handed over the little money I had left and began returning home. On my walk back, I broke off a brand from a pine tree and tried to decorate it as well as I could, since I didn't get the Christmas tree I was supposed to get. But as I continued to walk it just kept getting heavier and heavier and turning into metal, and it's far from being the Christmas tree that my mother is expecting me to come home with."

"My dear boy", said the priest, "the perfume that is emanating from this tree leaves no doubt whatsoever that it has been touched by heaven. Let me tell you the rest of its story."

The priest sat down next to the boy and continued, "As soon as you walked away from that lonely woman, she immediately asked the Virgin Mary, a mother like herself, to give you an unexpected blessing. The parents of the prisoners were convinced that they had come across an angel, and said prayers of thanks for the Christmas cakes they were now able to buy. The boy you met at the restaurant gave thanks to god for satiating his hunger. The Virgin, angels and Jesus heard the prayers of those who had been helped and when you broke off the brand from the pine tree, the Virgin bathed it in perfume. As you continued to walk, the angels touched the leaves and they turned to gold. Finally, when everything was complete Jesus looked upon the work and blessed. From now on, whoever touches this tree will have their sins forgiven and their wishes fulfilled."

The legend goes that the sacred pine tree is still there in St. Martin, and that its force is so great that all who help their brothers on Christmas Eve, however far they may be from the little village in the Pyrenees, are blessed by it.

(Inspired by a Hassidic tale)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have a Blessed & Happy Holidays-
CYM

Read More

Hard Cache by Charles B. Neff

Hard Cache 
by Charles B. Neff
Bennett & Hastings Publishing 2010
ISBN: 978-1-934733-57-8


One of many joys being a blog book reviewer is the opportunity to read a wide variety of books. They arrive from publishers, publicists, agents, and authors. I tend to review them in the order in which they are received, so I will have books written by famous, best-selling authors and by writers who I have never heard of in sequence. There may also be thrillers, mysteries, chick lit (which Beachbrights says I should not use as a genre term, but I do not have a better term that is widely understood), romance, and whatever. It is all interesting. Great writing comes from where it does.

One observation I often think to myself as I read is that there is often not a whole lot of difference between the stories of known and unknown writers in terms of plot, characterization, excitement, and so on.

Hard Cache is one of these fine books that, thank goodness, found its way across my transom. It is a mystery/thriller set in the Pacific Northwest. The background is a black market in Russian artifacts, specifically Fabergé eggs, which are sold privately to finance certain types of Russian mafia activities. The main characters are a group of Ukrainian men, and their families, who emigrated to Washington State following service with the Russian Army in Afghanistan. One of them becomes a Pentacostal minister and builds a strong church.

A young couple seeking to be married in an exotic location come to the little town. The male, Magnus, is a police officer who left the force at the request of his fiancé, Mariella. Mariella fears that he will not be able to resist the temptation to get involved in whatever crime is discovered.

One of the Ukrainians is discovered bludgeoned by a stream where Magnus was directed to go fishing. And the story takes off from there. The son of the deceased is a new local police officer. He becomes romantically interested with a Ukrainian woman who is a friend of Mariella’s who comes for the wedding.

Hard Cache is a lovely story, cleverly told, and interesting to read. It is on the slim side so it is an easy read. As is often the case with successful writing, when I put the book down I wondered what happened to these interesting characters. Perhaps a sequel is in the offing.

Order this book and see if you agree with my thoughts about the nature of the books on your reading pile and the level of fame of the authors.

Warms, Cym

*as always, if you have reviewed this book, please feel free to link your review in my comment section*

Resource Links:
Books By Neff

Read More

Spotlights from Around the Web (Book Edition!)

1.  December's Compendium of Literary Links from The New Dork Review of Books.  Here, you'll find everything from the year's best book-related videos to the annual Tournament of Books.

2.  The Books that Changed Your Lives from Lifehacker. A compiled list of some of the titles that readers mentioned the most, with summaries and links to Amazon so you can check 'em out further—and get a glimpse into the minds and lives of Lifehacker readers.

3.  Shophouse. Book works and Art Objects for the modern home and the timeless soul.

4.  Glitterati. From now, until midnight EST, Dec 18th. Get 50% off your favorite Glitterati Deluxe book sets in our Festive Flash Sale! Each one of the gift-perfect limited edition sets comes with a photographic print, numbered and signed by the artist. Order before the end of the sale and the books are guaranteed to be delivered by December 24th (and shipping’s on us!).

There's something for everyone on your list:
Surf, Deluxe Edition, by Peter Wise
Wanderlust: 100 Countries, Deluxe Edition by Michael Clinton
Exhibitionism, Deluxe Edition, by Christopher Makos
Homage: Encounters with the East, Deluxe Edition, by Christian Peltenburg-Brechneff
Coco Chanel: Three Weeks/1962, Deluxe Edition, by Douglas Kirkland
Sleeping Beauty, Deluxe Edition, by Nikita Polyansky

There's just enough time left to order, but supplies are limited. Shipping costs are included.  Be sure to purchase from the Glitterati Facebook shop link to get your awesome discount.


Enjoy!
CYM

Read More

Family

An important element of he Holidays. We are at that lake this year. One of my brothers, and his sweet wife (known as Sisteroid) and her parents, join us with family and friends. Thankfulness is a wonderful element.

Warms, Cym

Read More