Want to read exceptional books for free? Self-publishing with IngramSpark. Some writing advice from Graeme Simsion, author of The Rosie Project.

Hi there!

Here are some of the things I've learned recently. Perhaps they won't be new to you, but they are things I haven't seen talked about much/ever on the blogs.

NET GALLEY

If you're an avid reader/reviewer like me, buying books can break the bank, so who doesn't look for a way to save money? Don't get me wrong, I love to buy blogger books and those special books by favourite authors that sit proudly on my bookshelves and get read more than once, but there are many books that are available to try before you buy or...don't.

I first came across NetGalley when I was roaring to read a new book which hadn't yet been released in Australia, so the author pointed me to NetGalley.  That book was in my hands, er, on my Kindle, in a flash.

What's it all about? Well, you have to fill out a form, implicitly agreeing to review or post on your blog etc about the book you read for free in e-book form. That's no hard ask. So you request titles as you see them -- they send emails of recent releases (example below) -- then you read and when you get around to it, review somewhere. You can also ferret through their copious lists anytime. They'll all be fairly recent books, not old titles.

Just today I requested the latest from Pulitzer Prize winning author, Geraldine Brooks called The Secret Chord, and a steamy romantic suspense by Michelle Somers, Lethal in Love. Some titles are more readily available for readers in certain countries, so both of these titles favour Australian readers, so I might be in with a chance.

Don't be shy! They want readers!

SELF-PUBLISHING MADE A LITTLE EASIER

Okay, so I'm thinking of self-publishing a romance series set in various locales -- Paris, Italy, Australia, then themes -- war etc. I've certainly written enough stories to keep me publishing for some time! There's so much out there about self-publishing my brain hurts, but I clicked when I read this guest post on C. S. Larkin's blog by the wonderful Jessica Bell.

I hadn't heard of Ingram Spark. Have you? Looks like they are a real possibility with the exceptional reach they have, releasing your book practically everywhere books, both print and ebook, are sold.

ADVICE FOR EMERGING WRITERS

I read a chat with Graeme Simsion, the author of The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect, both best sellers. His advice to budding writers was:

"Work hard. Seriously. It's a profession, and you wouldn't want someone operating on your brain with the experience level of some writers who expect to be published. There are more jobs for brain surgeons than successful writers.
And...from the start of your writing career, write for publication--essays, short stories, whatever. If you get published, it'll help your credibility when you go looking for an agent or publisher for The Novel. It'll make you finish things to the best of your ability instead of saying 'good enough'. And you'll get the thrill of publication and of writing complete pieces as you learn. It'll keep you going."

Here is a link to a Writer's Digest article where debut novelists tell their individual stories.

Of course, I can't do a post these days without mentioning Write...Edit...Publish (WEP). I'm pretty excited to be getting this online writing community up and running again with blogger bud, Yolanda Renee. Our next post is all about Flash Fiction. Goes live in a couple of hours. Be sure to catch it. It'll help you to get that writing brain in gear, so you'll be all set on your road to publication.

• Do you use Net Galley?
• Have you used Ingram Spark? 
• Any goss to share?

IWSG post - If you're writing to publish, stop. And WEP returns!

Greetings from New Caledonia!

Having a great time exploring this wonderful island in the Pacific, but before I left to come over here, I scheduled my IWSG post. I was considering giving it a miss this month, but then I came across this paragraph on writing in Writing Unboxed when I was doing my nonchalant surf of the bloggers I follow. Dave King, the co-author of Self-Editing for Fiction had some good writing advice.


I don't know about you, but there's a lot of pressure for blogger/writers to get their novels out there. I'm taking longer than most as I feel I'm still learning my craft and yes, well, I'm a perfectionist. So I get pressure from blogger friends and family to get something out there into the market. But I don't intend to publish until I feel my books are ready. (Don't get me wrong, I'm a prolific writer, and if you've published a novel, you know it sometimes feels like it takes more hours in the day than God gives us.)

We have the Slow Food Movement. I belong to the Slow Writing Movement. I choose to be someone who takes her time playing with words, rather than live in a state of panic because the years are racing by and I don't have a published novel. Lalalalalalala! It's not like there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for writers. I know there is validation for the gazillion hours spent on the laptop and in your head. But to me, the real reward of writing is in the writing itself.

Dave King, editor, says:

So if you’re writing to publish, stop.  Instead, write to write.  Do it for the moments when your characters say or do something so unexpected that you wonder if you ever really knew them before.  Do it for the moments when you overhear something in the supermarket and think That was beautifully put and would make great dialogue.  Do it for the mornings when you wake up and know exactly how the atmosphere of one of your settings feels, when you have to hurry to get it down on paper before the feeling fades.  Do it for the late evenings when you finish a scene with tears in your eyes.

Exactly.

• How about you? Do you feel pressure to get your novel out there, from yourself or from others?

PS: You may have heard a whisper that Write...Edit...Publish (WEP) is starting up again! It's true! Yolanda Renee has joined forces with me. Couldn't do it without her. Our first challenge begins on August 19. There was a post on Monday at the WEP site. Go there if you want more info.

So if you got this far, you deserve a picture. [INSERT IMAGE HERE] If there's no image, it means I'm having so much fun I forgot!!

At the Baie de Citron, Noumea.

Thanks to Alex J Cavanaugh and the team for this month's IWSG. Click here for more posts.

From the couch - with Yolanda Renee, Dial M for Murder.

Hello everyone!

Time for another guest to recline on the couch and share with us their thoughts and musings. Today's guest needs little introduction. Yolanda writes murder series for Curiosity Quills Press--the thrilling Detective Steve Quaid stories enjoyed by many.

Let's get this interview going, Yolanda! By now you should have finished smelling the roses!

As a mystery writer, you must have a very vivid imagination. What is your most frightening childhood memory…

         I remember being afraid to go to sleep at night for fear someone would cut my head off. I was 10 when I read in the paper that three young men had been decapitated in a car accident and for some reason being beheaded, became a phobia. I would sleep with my blanket up to my neck, certain if they couldn't see the neck, they couldn't remove my head. Who were they? I have no idea. I was a kid.

Do you have a favourite movie about murder?

         The original 1954 Alfred Hitchcock movie Dial M for Murder, with Ray Milland and Grace Kelly. There was an excellent remake in 1998 with Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow called A Perfect Murder. I enjoyed the remake as much as the original!

I love both of those films too. Now do you have a favourite song about murder?

         Delilah by Tom Jones is a favourite. The antagonist kills her with a knife after she spends the night with another man. Did you know there are nine songs written about murder?

I would have thought there were more, actually. Now how about books? What's your favourite book about murder?

         The Murders in the Rue Morgue, a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in 1841, and recognized as the first modern detective story. I found the story quite frightening at the age of twelve. This was my first introduction to murder mysteries.

Have you ever thought about how you would commit the perfect murder?

         Guns are too loud and nosy, knifes are too messy, poison is so cliché. I would find a way to make the death appear as an accident. Maybe place baby oil in the shower. Baby oil is a great way to moisten the skin, but can make a bathtub a very dangerous place.

Remind me never to take a shower at your place! How did you choose this genre?

         It was always my favourite genre. I wanted to write a mystery with several suspects and the reason for the murder had to be unique. I think I achieved that with my first book. Murder, Madness & Love is the very first book I ever wrote. They say don't count on getting your first book published, but don't believe everything you hear.

That's encouraging. Plenty of writers will be pleased to hear that. What is your latest project/s?

         I just recently finished the third book in my murder trilogy.

Due to hit the shelves in March of 2016 – Murder & Obsession –

Tagline: Flames burn between a hard-boiled cop and a gifted artist but soon extinguish as another man’s obsession ignites into a towering inferno of desire, driving him to destroy the object of his madness…Sarah.

I also have a book of short stories and flash fiction coming out in June titled When Zombies Attack. I enjoy the horror genre too; Stephen King has always been a favourite author. I admire his imagination.

In August, I should have a prequel to the murder trilogy ready for publication. The Snowman is a short story about Steven Quaid's first case as detective.

Moving from fiction to real life, have you ever known anyone who was murdered?

         Yes, my sister's ex-husband was stabbed once in the heart outside a bar. He died instantly. I originally had one of my victims die the same way, but an editor claimed it wasn't possible. Even though she was wrong, I changed the story.

Have you ever met a murderer?

         I've read that during our lifetime most all of us will have been in the same vicinity as murderer, at least 36 times. Crazy fact isn't it? I do think I met a man who could have been. I've never had a similar reaction to an individual as I did this man. He scared the crap out of me and my reaction bothered me greatly. I had an instantaneous dislike and couldn't figure out why, but I knew I did not want to get to know or be in the same room with him. He was a very unassuming looking man, but there was just something about him that had all my warning bells going off.

Will you create a new detective or stay with Steven Quaid?

         Steven keeps popping up in my head regarding the next mystery I'm formulating. So, I think he'll be around for at least one other book.

Would you consider doing a female detective?

         I've been mulling it over for some time. And if I write a fourth Steven Quaid mystery, then yes. I'd like a new series with a female detective.

Available Now:

             Murder, Madness & Love - After a gritty detective becomes involved with a beautiful widow suspected of murder, rumour and obsession obstruct his quest for justice.

             Memories of Murder - World damnation is a psychotic man’s goal, but two obstacles stand in his way, greed and a dedicated detective.

Coming Soon:

Murder & Obsession - Flames burn between a hardboiled cop and a gifted artist but soon extinguish as another man’s obsession ignites into a towering inferno of desire, driving him to destroy the object of his madness…Sarah.

Blurb:

 Love is never easy, but for Detective Steve Quaid and his fiancée, Sarah, their road to happiness is laden with minefields.

 Steven’s countless hours reconverting his grandfather’s cabin into the perfect honeymoon retreat for Sarah soon becomes a bloody crime scene detailing her death. Accused, Steven escapes into the Alaskan mountains, biding his time to find the truth…

 Who killed his beloved?

 A seasoned woodsman, he outsmarts even the cleverest of trackers. All but one…

 Mauled by a grizzly, a half-dead Steven barely escapes.

 But will he live to bring the true murderer to Justice?

Bio:

Although she grew up in Pennsylvania, Yolanda Renee has an adventurous spirit that has taken her to Alaska where she hiked the Brooks Range, travelled from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, and learned to sleep under the midnight sun. The time she spent in Alaska greatly influenced her writing. Her favourite genres – mysteries, with a touch of romance and horror - describe the murder trilogy she's just completed.

Yolanda's bucket list includes drumming lessons, driving a race car and owning her very own fire-breathing dragon!

After all, anything is possible!

 You connect with Yolanda Renée here:

Murder Blog ~ Twitter ~ Defending the Pen ~ Pinterest ~ Amazon ~ Facebook

Cafe Writer presents:
The best iced coffee in the world
@Baked Poetry Cafe
Peregian Beach
Queensland. 

• Thanks for coming by and learning more about Yolanda.
• Do you like murder mysteries? Have you read any of Yolanda's?
• Yolanda maintains a blog, as well as many other social media platforms. Here is a link to a great post by Anne R Allen's latest advice to author-bloggers. Remember, you will be googled!

From the Couch With Chrys Fey, including my review of Witch of Death.

Hi everyone!

Now wasn't Roland Yeomans entertaining as he spoke From the Couch! I hope you learned something you didn't know about him previously. Go to my next post if you missed him!

Now this week is a little different. I'm featuring Chrys Fey, beloved of many of us. Her blog (Write with Fey) posts are scheduled like a year in advance or something amazingly ridiculous, but it works for her! And we all benefit from very practical 'how-to' posts much of the time. 

Now, musn't dally, as because Chrys has launched her new story, Witch of Death on May 20th, this post is going to be a bit longer than usual. Long posts are a joy to me to read, but I know many of you get itsy after a couple of hundred words. Just skip to the salient bits!

ON THE COUCH WITH CHRYS FEY!

The word that best describes me is...

Determined. When I set out on a new goal, I head toward it with all I’ve got.

My favourite smell is...

Baking bread. Oh it’s the best! Especially if it’s banana bread.

A song that gives me goosebumps is…

Somewhere by Within Temptation. Seriously...listen to it!

My favourite movie of all time is...

Little Women with Winona Ryder. I’m a huge fan of Louisa May Alcott and love Jo!

My first job was...

Going door-to-door trying to get subscriptions to the Florida Today newspaper. Yes, I was one of those annoying kids. I hated it because I didn’t like talking to strangers, but I was the best seller because everyone thought I was sweet. ;)

I began writing when I was...

Twelve years old and found a rusted screw with a crooked tip in the grass next to my house. For the strangest reason, I got a story idea while looking at that pathetic screw. It was essentially the key to my creativity. I started writing a story right then and there and never stopped.

My most treasured possession are...

The notebooks of the first series I ever wrote. I was twelve when I started the series, after I found that magical screw, and I was seventeen when I stopped writing the series. I stopped because I ended up rewriting them, but I can’t even throw out the original books. Those notebooks were a huge part of my childhood.

Books I loved as a child:

Are You My Mother? By P.D. Eastman, the Little House on the Prairie books, and Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.

If you are a writer, tell us about your latest project.

I recently published two short story eBooks Ghost of Death and Witch of Death. Right now I am working on book three in my Disaster Crimes series. As a matter of fact, I just sent book two (to follow Hurricane Crimes) to my publisher. My fingers are crossed.

What is your writing plan?

To finish my Disaster Crimes series. The next four stories will all be novels and available in print, which is awesome since I’ve only published short stories and novellas in eBook format. So I’m thrilled about that. I also hope to publish a couple of short stories to go with things already available. But those stories are still secrets. ;)

Where do you do most of your writing?

Either on the couch while watching TV or at my desk with my headphones plugged in and strapped to my head. I’m one of those writers who like sound.

I relax by...

Plopping down on the couch with a good book, hot tea, and some chocolate.

The point of life is...

To try. We all go through hard times and traumas, we all fail and fall, we all have dreams and goals, we all experience grief and heartbreak, but we just never stop trying...trying to strive, love, and live.

NOW I'VE JUST READ WITCH OF DEATH AND OFFERED TO REVIEW IT IN WITH THIS POST.

Firstly, Chrys is a great writer. I read so much, (52 books so far this year!) but am not enamored of reading e-books (so I'm pleased that Chrys is going into print soon!), but I did sweep through Witch of Death. Chrys had me hooked from the get-go.

NOW, MY REVIEW...

Chrys is, in my opinion, a writer who has learned her craft. I'm a sucker for wonderful imagery. Description delights me. And Chrys has mastered the art.

For example, CHAPTER ONE begins:
"The moon was a ceramic bowl overflowing with milk in the amethyst sky, and all the stars were sugar crystals." Nice scene setting, isn't it, but you just know things aren't going to stay nicey nicey in Chrys' spellbinding story. Skip down a few lines: "At the end of the street a tidal wave of white fog billowed over the black pavement...and crashed into houses..." Oops. Not good. Then..."Inside the deflated cloud a woman manifested..." And so the story gets underway and continues with relentless suspense. 

This is a magical love story. All excellent stories have a romantic element I think. We are human after all, well most of us are, and we like to see love overcome obstacles. Liberty Sawyer and Detective Reid Sanders have a mountain of obstacles to overcome if they are going to have a crack at the happily-ever-after. 

There's a witch causing mayhem in the town, and Liberty is the only one with any idea of the modus operandi of this evil murderer. Obstacle number one, Reid, no believer in what he can't touch or see, marks Liberty as the number one suspect, even while she uses her skills as a witch to fight against time to solve these horrific crimes. It doesn't help her case that she looks like your typical evil witch: "Black hair fell from a rigid part in the middle of her scalp to her hips. Her eyes were a soul-stabbing blue and her lips were blood-red". Ooh, aah! 

Will Liberty solve the crimes in time to save herself? Will Reid come to respect her magic abilities and work with her instead of against her? Will they stop this rampaging witch before Liberty loses her life?

Pick up Chrys' story to find the answers. You'll love it!

My only criticism is that it's too short! I want to read more about Liberty and Reid!

Here's the blurb:

Detective Reid Sanders doesn’t believe in the supernatural, but when he’s faced with a crime scene that defies the laws of nature, he has no other choice but to start believing. And solving a magical murder involves working with a witch.
Liberty Sawyer embodies the look of your classic evil witch, so, it’s no surprise when she uncovers the murderer is a witch that she becomes Reid’s number one suspect. If she can’t convince him otherwise, more people could lose their lives to dark magic, including her.

Book Links:

Amazon US / Amazon UK / The Wild Rose Press / NOOK / KOBO

A LITTLE MORE ABOUT CHRYS' BOOK

Title: Witch of Death

Author: Chrys Fey

Genre: Supernatural/Suspense

Format: eBook Only
Page Count: 45 (short story)

Release Date: May 20th, 2015

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

HERE'S CHRYS' BIO: 

Chrys Fey is the author of Hurricane Crimes and 30 Seconds. She is currently working on the sequel to Hurricane Crimes that’ll serve as book two in the Disaster Crimes series.

When Fey was six years old, she realized her dream of being a writer by watching her mother pursue publication. At the age of twelve, she started writing her first novel, which flourished into a series she later rewrote at seventeen. Fey lives in Florida where she is waiting for the next hurricane to come her way.

You can connect with her on Facebook and her blog, Write with Fey. She loves to get to know her readers!

Author Links:

Facebook / Blog / Website / Goodreads

Thank you dear readers (sorry, just re-read Pride and Prejudice with a student) for coming by today for From the Couch with Chrys Fey, and to support her as she launches her new story. Please leave a comment. Both Chrys and I would love to hear what you think!

Now, who's next to recline on my couch? Come by next week to see! On May 30th I'm participating in Lexa Cain's SUMMER bloghop!

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From the couch with Roland Yeomans.

Hi everybody!

I'm glad you enjoyed reading Ann Carbine Best's 'From the couch' last post. Today we have the passionate mysterious writer who hails from down near New Orleans, Roland Yeomans. Roland and I have been blogger friends for years. I've enjoyed reading/reviewing many of his stories and have hosted him previously. These days I can't keep up with his releases. It was hard nailing down this mysterious spirit, but I used my super powers. 

The shadows weighed heavy on us, as to our left Diana Krall was playing “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”  It was Meilori’s after all … it could have been the ghost of Billie Holiday singing.

Denise shivered, “That Indian pulled me through my mirror to here! Considering I transported all the way from Oz it was no picnic!”

I shrugged, “That Indian was Apache actually.  You wanted to ask me some questions.  I wanted to do it on home ground.”

Denise flicked on her tape recorder.  “So, Roland, let’s get this party started so I can get back to Oz and write it up in time for this week's post! First question: What is your most vivid childhood memory?”

“Being abandoned in Detroit by my father on a street many called Skid Row when I was six  … running after his car, screaming, ‘Daddy! Daddy!”

“Bugger! I've heard that story before, but it doesn't get any easier with time. How long before you were found?”

“Six weeks.  I was taken under the wing of a street person, Maudie, and her little dog, Tufts.  I pay tribute to them in my FRENCH QUARTER NOCTURNE.”

Denise looked away, dabbed her eyes, then said, “I loved that book. I think it's her spirit who turned up on the image I created for you and erased yours. Funny that. Now, back to business, what is your most treasured possession?”

I smiled sadly, “My honor.  Everything else can be taken away from you, but you have to give up your honor yourself.”

“Hmm. What is the word that best describes you, Roland?”

“Evolving.”

Denise shook her head at me.  “Here’s a question you can’t be existential about: what is your favorite smell?”

I grinned, “The new car scent since I smell it so seldom.”

Denise arched an eyebrow.  “Then I won't tell you about my smashing new Suzuki X-Cross. Moving right along. What is the song that gives you goose bumps?”

I tipped my Stetson to the ghost of Lauren Bacall as she strolled by with her husband, Humphrey Bogart.

“La Marseillaise when I watch that scene from my favorite movie, CASABLANCA.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM-E2H1ChJM

Denise said, “I can see where it would be.  I love La Marseillaise when they sing it in the stadium before the French rugby team loses to Australia. Their anthem beats ours hands down even if their players aren't quite up to the mark. Now, I see in the notes here that your first job was working at a movie theater. Is that right?”

“Yes, actually it was, but it was way past the time of black and white movies.  It was the time of George Lucas.”

“Fancy that." Denise shuffles her papers. "How did you get into writing novels, Roland?”

“I started into writing by the lure of reading.  As an elementary school student, I was lured into the magic of myth by Edith Hamilton’s MYTHOLOGY.  In junior high school, Beau Geste, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Fu Manchu, and John Carter of Mars hooked me into fantasy and science fiction.”

"Go on."

I smiled sadly, “I remember being entranced by the movie, THE THIRD MAN, I watched one Saturday night on a Golden Oldie marathon.  I handed in a short story fashioned after it to my English teacher.  You would have thought it was bleeding to death when I got it back with all the red slashes on it.”

Denise smirked. "Those English teachers can be vicious with the blood-red pencil."

I rubbed my lips with the back of a thumb.  “But I’ve always been stubborn.  So I kept right on writing through junior high to today.  Thankfully when my home burned down all those early stories and novels went up in smoke!”

“I'm glad you coped. So, Roland, what books recently have you been unable to put down?”

“The LONGMIRE mysteries by Craig Johnson: a sheriff at the end of his tenure in Wyoming tries to solve murders while attempting to ignore Native American flashes of the supernatural that will not let him alone.”

“And what is your latest book?”

“Glad you asked that. CARNIVAL OF THE DAMNED: an existential take on the Hero’s Journey that’s a meld of THE WALKING DEAD, Lovecraft, and Ray Bradbury.  I can just see my old English teacher getting her red pencil out!”

Denise cocked her head, “Now listen, remember you're speaking to an English teacher here. Mind  your mouth! Now speaking of existential: what do you think the point of life is?”

“Since life is infinite, the meaning to it is also infinite.  Our finite minds cannot grasp it.  But that should not stop us from trying to understand the world around us. Perhaps, there is only the meaning each of us gives to our lives, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person. What did Robert Louis Stevenson write?  “To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.”

Denise got out a large white handkerchief and mopped her sweaty brow a bit like Pavarotti used to do after a performance, “Thanks for the interview, Roland. I knew you’d be hard work. Now how do I get out of here?”

So folks, I hope you enjoyed today's 'From the Couch' with Roland Yeomans. Stay tuned for next week's reclining personage on Monday, May 25th! I wonder who she/he will be?

Here is a link to Roland's Author Page on Amazon. Looks like he has 19 stories available. He's a spirit all right!


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From the couch - bloggers share an intimate peek into their lives. Today I welcome Ann Carbine Best.

Hello everyone!

I'm starting a new series incorporating some of my favourite people, bloggers! I've sent out some random questions, hoping to receive some interesting/inspiring/funny/poignant answers. 

The first blogger guest who agreed to recline on the couch and come up with answers to my questions is a long-term blogging friend, well known to many, Ann Best. It's her birthday today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ann! Here's your present from me!!

I first hosted Ann just before she got her publishing contract with WiDo Publishing. Her memoir, In the Mirror...met with high, followed by steady, sales. In Ann's words, "I find it amazing that this is its 4th year anniversary. It recently dropped in the Amazon ratings from Page 2 to Page 5 (out of 400+ pages) on memoirs..." Ann believes the success of her memoir has a lot to do with timing, but really the ongoing success amounts to more than good timing I think.

So it is with great pleasure I say thanks Ann for agreeing to tell it like it is from your couch!

FROM THE COUCH WITH… Ann Carbine Best, Author of In theMirror: A Memoir of Shattered Secrets.

A vivid childhood memory is… 

As a teenager in Salt Lake City in the 1950s, I and my late beloved sister would ride our bicycles up and down the streets in the eastern part of the city. These were second-hand bicycles our father found for us, the kind with tires that had inner tubes you had to keep pumping air into. When he brought them home, I talked my easy-going sister into taking the bicycle that I knew was the most difficult to pump. She was a good sport, and we laughed about this in our later years.

My most treasured possession is …

Ancestral stories from both of my parents’ lines that my mother first laboriously typed on an old Underwood typewriter for my first family history book.

The word that best describes me is …

Persistent. Maybe tough.

My favourite smell is…

Lilacs. They were first to bloom in my parents’ backyard those long-ago summers.

A song that gives me goosebumps is… All the dramatic songs from Les Miserables as performed at Prince Albert Hall.

My favourite movie of all time is…

Casablanca.

My first job was… After-school typist of invoices for an insurance agent (using not a computer but a typewriter in 1957-58).

I began writing…

...stories when I was in first grade (1946). Poems when I was in high school (1956-58).

Books I loved as a child… Nancy Drew mysteries. Anne of Green Gables. I also liked whatever was current in murder mysteries. I’d have to look up their titles online as I can’t remember any of them now, over fifty years later.

Books I couldn’t put down recently… Flying with a Broken Wing by Laura Best, and The Catacombs by Jeremy Bates.

Books that I enjoy are… Memoirs. Thrillers. Murder mysteries. But at this time in my life, I’m interested in non-fiction, especially ancient history which includes anything Jewish and Biblical, and an ancient record called The Book of Mormon.

If you are a writer, tell us about your latest project…

I thought I might write or try to write a second memoir aimed at publication. This one would be based on my life as a caregiver to my disabled daughter. It would be about our “spiritual” experiences together, experiences that are the center of everything we are and have become. But I’ve discovered that trying to write this for a wider (possible) audience is very frustrating, so I’m just going to relax and write it for family and close friends.  

What is your writing plan?

I’ve got many, many scenes already written, and the others wriggle in my head. I just have to discipline myself to write something each day. Will see how that goes J

Where do you do most of your writing?

In front of a computer, usually the one in the corner of the living room in the small duplex that I share with my daughter Jen.

I relax by…

Watching movies and series that stream through Netflix. Jen and I have watched all the Leverage episodes, and now we’re working through the modern remake of Hawaii Five-O. It’s fun.

The point of life is…

For me, one of the points of life is to gain knowledge, especially knowledge of God.

Thanks so much for sharing with us today Ann. Hi to Jen! 

• I hope you enjoyed spending time with Ann. If you're burning to recline on the couch and answer my questions, please email me: den.covey@gmail.com or drop a few answers in the comments below!

What are you writing?

Hello everyone!

Brisbane survived the G20. Life is returning to normal. There was no terrorism, just a few low-key protests.  

November is NaNoWriMo month for many of us. I don't expect to finish 50,000 words this year, but I'm using the time to get a new story underway. If you're not doing NaNo, you are probably writing up your own little storm, editing your latest masterpiece...or thinking about Christmas while you plan your latest blog tour. 

Here’s your chance to share and discuss with each other what you are writing about.

So...my questions to you are --

What Are YOU Writing? What are you working on right now? - a novel? Your best article ever? A poem? A memoir? A photo essay? Maybe you’ve just finished something you’re really proud of? Or you just can’t tell whether it should get a Pulitzer or be thrown into the trash? Whet our appetite with a few lines or the opening paragraph of your future bestseller or give us a link to your best article. (Give us some context for your excerpt). State what aspect you’re working on. For example, you might say, “Here’s a link to my NYT future bestseller, 'Whatever,' a story about 'Whatever'. I’m currently working on eliminating superfluous words.”  A word on critiquing: * When commenting, first list everything you really like about the excerpt. * Only then offer careful suggestions. * Treat each other with respect, friendliness, caring, and honesty. * Remember that we are all still learning. Go on, share your lines with us. Comment using the Reply button on those brave enough to share with us. Have fun! Play nice! I've still been making time to read. My favourite read of the week is Bitter Chocolate by Lesley Lokko. Wow! What a mix of settings and characters and fantastic storylines - it took me to Haiti, Ghana, London and the US. If you're doing NaNo, all my best wishes for you to finish! And...f you had me on your blogroll, please copy whatever URL you see above and replace the old URL. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!! Apparently now Google adds your country to the end of my URL. I never noticed that until now.