 Downtown Scooter Parade SCOOTER PARADE
The Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press blog is participating in the The Indie Lights Book Parade. For the entire month of February, different authors and artists will be parading past our viewing stand. Today we get to spend time with Award-winning poet Leslie C. Halpern. In addition to writing children’s books, she writes nonfiction books about the entertainment industry for adults, and reviews books and movies for several online publications. She has a Master’s Degree in Liberal Arts and Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism. Today Leslie would like to share six things she learned from writing children’s books. 1. Humor is less subjective with children than with adults. Body functions, body parts, vegetables, animals behaving like humans, kids knowing more than adults, and anything that stinks usually get laughs from children. While adults have a lifetime of teachers, parents, and partners censoring their humor, young children know what amuses them and have no qualms about laughing out loud. The trick is finding the balance where the subject matter is funny enough to interest young children while still teaching them some kind of lesson. Adults sometimes lose themselves in funny children’s books as they let their “inner child” giggle along with the kids. 2. Children don’t fear poetry, parents do. When parents don’t expose their children to age-appropriate poetry while they’re young, they miss the opportunity to develop life-long poetry lovers. If the poetry is too advanced or too serious for early readers, or the parents project their own lack of appreciation for poetry, they doom their children to a built-in prejudice against one of the most creative forms of written expression. Many people fear poems because they don’t understand them, and therefore feel dumb when they can’t speak the language of poetry. Learning about rhyme, rhythm, metaphor, simile, and other literary devices at an early age will give children an advantage throughout their entire lives. 3. Reading challenges must be age-appropriate to build self-esteem. Parents and authors share the responsibility on this one. Books should clearly state the reading level on the cover, and parents and teachers need to direct children to age-appropriate books. As the writer, use mostly familiar words, although it’s fine to challenge readers a little if the context helps define the word. Include a glossary in the back if the book includes several words that might be unfamiliar. Reading ability in children varies greatly depending upon their exposure to books, parental support, and language skills. As the parent or teacher, be aware of the level at which the child is reading and find subject matter, writing style, and artwork that make the readers stretch a little to help build self-esteem. If the material is too advanced for the reader, they feel frustrated; if the material is too basic, they grow bored. That’s why age-appropriate (emotional age, intellectual age, and chronological age) are so important with your readers. 4. Gadgets, toys, and musical instruments bring poetry alive for children. I include many literary devices, such as onamonapia, rhyme, and alliteration in my poetry for children (ages 5-9), and take full advantage of these when reading poetry aloud for an audience. However, even with an animated voice and colorful pictures, my readings and other presentations are often enhanced by props. For example, in Rub, Scrub, Clean the Tub: Funny Children’s Poems About Self-Image, several of the poems and illustrations include yellow rubber ducks. I include a variety of ducks when I read from this book including wind-ups, pull-strings, squeakers, and quackers that never fail to elicit giggles from the audience. 5. Artwork is often more important than the text. As a writer, it hurts to say this, but the graphic design and artwork are the primary motivators when people buy children’s books. No matter how much they like the subject matter and text, if the artwork isn’t fun, colorful, or interesting, people don’t buy the book for children. Illustrations need not be masterful; it’s a question of reader engagement rather than artistic skill. Unless you have the ability to write and illustrate, hire an artist to provide illustrations that will capture children’s imaginations and make them curious about the text. 6. Don’t stereotype your customers. When I first starting writing the Funny Children’s Poems book series, I assumed the primary market would be 20-something parents and 50-something grandparents shopping for young children. I soon learned people in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s sometimes have young children, and grandparents also come in all shapes, sizes, and ages. In addition, aunts, uncles, cousins, godparents, brothers, sisters, friends, and teachers buy children’s books. Other people who might be interested in buying (or displaying free copies) include doctors, dentists, child psychologists, and other professionals who have children visiting their waiting rooms. ~ ~ ~ Contact info for Leslie Halpern www.LeslieHalpern.com www.facebook.com/LeslieCHalpern ~ ~ ~ Rafflecopter Giveaway: Thanks to our wonderful parade authors Indie Lights has fantastic swag baskets for three awesome winners! Prizes include ebooks, gift cards and fun! Remember, winning is as easy as visiting, clicking or commenting--easy to enter; easy to win! Click here to enter ~ ~ ~ Thank you so much to Leslie Halpern for sharing her knowledge and insight. Check in and find out who will be dropping by next for the final installment of the Indie Lights Book Parade. Thank you for all your support, Chris Bodor Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press
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 Everyday Parade EVERYDAY PARADE
"Sunlight is leaking through my shade / the wake up call from the day." - Bronze Radio Return The Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press blog is participating in the The Indie Lights Book Parade. For the entire month of February, different authors and artists will be parading past our viewing stand. Today we get to spend some time with Elise Abram, a high school English and Computer Studies teacher, former archaeologist, and student of the human condition. Everything she does, watches, reads and hears is fodder for her writing. In her spare time she experiments with Paleo cookery, knits badly, and writes. Elisa new book is called The Revenant. Here is the synopsis: Raised from the dead as a revenant more than a hundred years ago, Zulu possesses superior stealth, superhuman speed, and a keen intellect. His only companion is Morgan the Seer, an old man cursed with longevity and the ability to see the future in his dreams. Zulu has spent the last century working with Morgan in order to save the people in his nightmares from horrible fates. Branded a vigilante by the media, Zulu must live his life in the shadows, traveling by night or in the city's underground unless his quest demands otherwise. Morgan also has enemies. His twin brother Malchus, a powerful necromancer, is raising an army of undead minions to hunt Morgan down. Will they be able to stop Morgan from raising his army? How will they kill someone as powerful as Malchus? Is there more at stake than just their own lives? Elise would like to spend her time with us speaking about a subject that is very near to her heart. ELISE ABRAM: The Importance of Dialogue Reading should be an immersive activity in which you experience everything the point of view (POV) character experiences. A good narrative should give the reader a fly-on-the-wall-with-extra-sensory-perception feeling in which everything the POV character sees, hears, feels, and occasionally tastes and smells is related. The ESP comes when we hear the POV character's thoughts. This helps to establish pathos, a sense of empathy, compassion and the ability to put myself into the protagonist's shoes. What about dialogue? Every seasoned writer has heard the old adage "Show, don't tell". It's the first thing I teach my Writer's Craft students, repeating it as a mantra to them throughout the semester. Dialogue is the best way to show your audience what motivates your main character. To demonstrate, consider this: John said he was mad. Here the narrator tells the reader what John has said, that John is mad. We know nothing about John's thoughts, or his level of agitation. Rather than tell us what John's said, let your characters speak for themselves. "I'm mad," John said. Though this time John is allowed to speak for himself, this excerpt gives the reader nothing more than the first example of telling. John felt the blood rise in his temples. "I'm so angry I could spit," he said. Here the author tells us what John's feeling in the moments before he speaks. Something's happened that has clearly agitated him. He's not just mad, he's angry, really angry. Dialogue doesn't just show detail, it helps advance plot ("Don't follow me," he told her and he climbed into his pick-up, that old Dodge beater he'd bought on Craig's List for a song.), and character ("I hate it when she does that.") to show the characters' thoughts and feelings in a way being told these things (He told her not to follow him and he got into his truck and drove away.) by a disembodied narrator can't. ~ ~ ~ Contact info for Elise Abram Websites - http://eliseabram.com Facebook - https://facebook.com/zulutherevenant and https://facebook.com/eliseabram Twitter - https://twitter.com/eliseabram LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliseabram Amazon Author Page - http://www.amazon.com/Elise-Abram/e/B009FF1JGA Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/EliseAbram Purchase The Revenant : Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Revenant-Elise-Abram-ebook/dp/B00M4V19D0 Barnes and Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-revenant-elise-abram/1119936760 Kobo - http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/the-revenant-5 Black Rose Writing - http://www.blackrosewriting.com/childrens-booksya/the-revenant ~ ~ ~ Rafflecopter Giveaway: Thanks to our wonderful parade authors Indie Lights has fantastic swag baskets for three awesome winners! Prizes include ebooks, gift cards and fun! Remember, winning is as easy as visiting, clicking or commenting--easy to enter; easy to win! Click here to enter ~ ~ ~ Many thanks to Elise Abram for parading by our viewing stand. Check in and find out who will be dropping by next. Thank you for all your support, Chris Bodor Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press  The Slow Parade Went Fast SLOW PARADE
"When the slow parade went past / When it felt so good you knew it couldn't last." - Matchbox 20 The Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press blog is participating in the The Indie Lights Book Parade. For the entire month of February, different authors and artists will be parading past our viewing stand. Charmain Zimmerman Brackett is the parade spotlight today. She started her writing career while still in college joining the sports staff of the local paper as a correspondent taking high school sports stats. She's continued working for that same newspaper for more than 27 years. In 2012 she published her first novel, The Key of Elyon, and it was awarded the 2014 Yerby Award for Fiction at the Augusta Literary Festival. Charmain Zimmerman Brackett's three children have always been involved in dance. Flexible and athletic, they seem to take to the stage naturally, and they have been given many featured roles in dance and musical theater productions because of their prowess. As it turns out, it might have been in their genes after all. "My great-grandmother started performing in her father's circus when she was only 4 years-old. She was billed as a 'contortionist,' and by the time, she was 13, the newspapers called her 'the boneless wonder,'" said Brackett, who has written a book about her great-grandmother called Little Pearl's Circus World. It was published in November 2014. Pearl Clark LaComa (1890-1927) was the daughter of Mack Loren "M.L." Clark, who owned the M.L. Clark and Son's Combined Shows. Their wagon circus traveled throughout the United States from 1894 until 1945. The family sold the circus after M.L.'s death in 1926. Pearl started off as contortionist but after marrying her husband, Cris LaComa, she took to the air on a trapeze. Brackett decided on a circus book because of the notes her grandmother, Juanita LaComa Zimmerman, had kept in spiral notebooks. She had wanted to be a writer and even took newspaper correspondence courses, but Zimmerman's dreams went unfulfilled in her lifetime. It took her granddaughter to bring them to life. "I added my grandmother's name to the project because the ideas I put on paper were inspired by what she'd written. She had the facts I used to transform the story," Brackett said. Most of Little Pearls' Circus World is the children's piece with illustrations by Erica Pastecki; however, she wanted readers to know this work was based on a true story so she included a history with some of the family photos she'd collected of Pearl. Ashlee Henry's design brought the whole project together. "This project is something greater than I ever could have imagined it. Erica and Ashlee's work made this into something incredible," she said. And to add to her excitement, readers at The Kindle Hub voted her book as the Best Children's Book of 2014. It was thrilling the response from people," she said. Amazon sales link - http://amzn.to/1wcFpGo Barnes and Noble sales link - http://bit.ly/14dLBGt ~ ~ ~ Contact info for Charmain Brackett: website/blog - www.charmainzbrackett.com twitter - @CZBrackett facebook - www.facebook.com/thekeyofelyon ~ ~ ~ Rafflecopter Giveaway: Thanks to our wonderful parade authors Indie Lights has fantastic swag baskets for three awesome winners! Prizes include ebooks, gift cards and fun! Remember, winning is as easy as visiting, clicking or commenting--easy to enter; easy to win! Click here to enter ~ ~ ~ Many thanks to Charmain Brackett for stopping by. Check in and find out who will be checking-in next. Thank you for all your support, Chris Bodor Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press  SOFT PARADE
"Gentle streets where people play, welcome to the soft parade." - Jim Morrison / The Doors The Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press blog is participating in the The Indie Lights Book Parade. For the entire month of February, different authors and artists will be parading past our viewing stand. Next up is Ruth O'Neil, who has been a freelance writer for more than 20 years. She has publishing hundreds of articles in dozens of publications as well as a few books. Born and raised in upstate New York, she attended Houghton College. When she is not writing or homeschooling, she spends Her spare time quilting, reading, scrap booking, camping and hiking with her family. Ruth was cool enough to answer a few questions. Ancient City Poets: When you were a child did you have a favorite book or books? Ruth O'Neil: I loved reading, even as a child. I would often spend my summer days lounging at the pool, after a stop at our local library so I would have something to read. The Little House and Trixie Belden series of books were some of my favorites. Ancient City Poets: Do you have a favorite Genre to both read and right write? Ruth O'Neil: Definitely fiction. When I read, I like to escape to another world. When I write, I like to touch reader’s emotions. I love to make readers laugh and cry. Ancient City Poets: Did you have favorite authors growing up who have influenced you? Ruth O'Neil: I don’t know if I had any particular authors that influenced me. I was a voracious reader and read everything I could get my hands on. My influence was probably a conglomerate of authors. Ancient City Poets: When did you know you wanted to be an author? Ruth O'Neil: I was 9 years old when I wrote my first story. My mom liked to write and would tell me about writing stories with her cousin when they were young. I wanted to be just like my mom – like most little girls. Ancient City Poets: How did you go about becoming an author? Ruth O'Neil: My mom was a HUGE influence on me. She would encourage me, give me constructive criticism, and take me to writer’s conferences where I gained valuable information at a young age. Ancient City Poets: If you were not a writer what would you like to be? Ruth O'Neil: I would probably do something crafty. I enjoy sewing quilts on the side to relax and think when I have a writing project going on in my head. Ancient City Poets: Outside of reading and writing what do you like to do? Ruth 'Neil: Quilting (when I’m thinking about writing), camping (where I enjoy writing in the peace and quiet), hiking with my family (where I get inspired with new writing ideas), and reading (where I enjoy other people’s writing). Ancient City Poets: Do you have a place you love to visit or would love to visit? Ruth O'Neil: I really enjoy the beach or pretty much anything outside. I often work outside simply because I can since I work at home. ~ ~ ~ Ruth's latest book, Belongings, is available on Amazon as an ebook: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LA8KK9M and at Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/belonging-ruth-oneil/1120404512?ean=2940150460935 Ruth O'Neil Contact Info: Website - http://ruthoneil.weebly.com/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/writerrutho Blog - http://ruths-real-life.blogspot.com/ ~ ~ ~ Rafflecopter Giveaway: Thanks to our wonderful parade authors Indie Lights has fantastic swag baskets for three awesome winners! Prizes include ebooks, gift cards and fun! Remember, winning is as easy as visiting, clicking or commenting--easy to enter; easy to win! Click here to enter ~ ~ ~ Many thanks to Ruth O'Neil for stopping by. Who's up next? Check in and find out. Thank you for all your support, Chris Bodor Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press  Rain Parade RAIN PARADE
The Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press blog is participating in the The Indie Lights Book Parade. For the entire month of February, different authors and artists will be parading past our viewing stand. Even though it rained all day, the parade continued. Next up is author Cheri Roman. Most days you can find her on her blog, The Brass Rag, or working on the next novel in her fantasy series, Rephaim. Cheri lives with her husband and Jack, the super Chihuahua. With all the rain, we invited Cheri in and we are handing the microphone over to her so that she can share he own word. Cheri Roman: The realization came to me, about half way through Descent, that the story I was writing couldn't be contained inside one book. If I tried, the book was going to have to be opened with a forklift. So, I ended Descent with a sigh of satisfaction and started Quest. By the time I finally finished Quest, all my other characters were giving me the silent treatment. I think it’s because I didn't write their stories first. Characters can be touchy that way. Turns out they were right. I was writing the stories out of order. Now I’m finishing up Sacrifice, and I finally feel like I’m back on track. Not coincidentally, Quest will have to be completely rewritten, and another book, Illusions, has taken its place as third in the series. So what could I have done differently from the outset that would have saved me from this dilemma? I could have started out by deciding how many stories would be in the series and what issues would be addressed in each one. But the truth is I didn't do that because I didn't know that there would be more than one story. I could have done single paragraph synopsis for each book. That way I would know what direction to take at the beginning of each tale. However, aside from reason number one, my plots have a habit of changing as the characters shape the story. So, plot synopsis might have been helpful, but not completely effective. I could have drawn out a story arc for each character and a series arc or plot thread that connects all the books. I did, in fact, draw out a story arc for the first book. In the end though, this wasn't as beneficial as I had hoped. Descent’s final draft looks nothing like my original arc. I am actually working on a connecting plot thread and am pretty happy with the results so far. I could have chosen a different theme for each book in the series. (Again. See reason one.) I may still do that, but at the moment there is the whole silent treatment thing going on. These are all good ways to start out on a series. I definitely should have used more of them, but as you might have noticed, I didn't and it’s a little late now. So what am I going to do? Well, first I’m going to invite all my characters to tea and apologize for not writing their story first. (I’m not really sorry. Despite the drawbacks I've learned a lot of lessons along the way and I’m a better writer for it. But, one makes certain sacrifices in the interests of diplomacy.) After apologizing, I’m going to ask them what happens next. And then I’m going to write it down. ~ ~ ~ Cheri Roman Links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/C.L.RomanFantasynovels?ref=bookmarks Twitter: https://twitter.com/cheri_roman Web site: www.brassragpress.com Blog: www.thebrassragcnr.wordpress.com Amazon author page: http://tinyurl.com/otz5ejp ~ ~ ~ Rafflecopter Giveaway: Thanks to our wonderful parade authors Indie Lights has fantastic swag baskets for three awesome winners! Prizes include ebooks, gift cards and fun! Remember, winning is as easy as visiting, clicking or commenting--easy to enter; easy to win! Click here to enter ~ ~ ~ Many thanks to Cheri Roman for dropping by. Who will parade by next? Check in and find out. Thank you for your support, Chris Bodor Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press  The Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press blog is participating in the The Indie Lights Book Parade. For the entire month of February, different authors and artists will be parading past our viewing stand. Today author Rhyannon Yates is marching into the spotlight.
began writing at the age of five with a charming story about a misunderstood girl and her pet hippo. She grew out of her pachyderm-peddling ways, and spends her time now trying to crank out the next great American fantasy novel while binge-watching Netflix. She lives in Florida with her husband, her cat, and her two offspring. She was kind enough to answer a few questions. Ancient City Poets: What inspired you to write your first book? Rhyannon Yates: I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but Catalyst grew out of two different writing projects, one of which has early drafts that go back to my thirteen-year-old self. I was working on both projects simultaneously, and had the problem for one that I had a great antagonist, but no real problem, while for the other, I had an awesome conflict, but not defined antagonist. I ended up picking up my antagonist from one story, as well as a few of said story’s key characters, and plunking them into the world of the other. Ancient City Poets: What book are you reading now? Rhyannon Yates: Abhorsen by Garth Nix. I’m rereading it for the first time in years, and I’d forgotten how much I love the Abhorsen Series. Garth Nix combines realism with fantasy so seamlessly, and the idea of stepping through the veil between life and death, and the notion of controlled versus uncontrolled magic influenced me as an author quite a bit. The more I read of his work, the more I see his influence in my own writing, which, on the one hand, is awesome, because Garth Nix is amaze-balls, but on the other, makes me wonder if I’m being too derivative or unoriginal. Reading is so stressful as an author. Sometimes you read something and think “If this nonsense can get published, I can definitely succeed!”, and other times you read things that are just genius and spend the next week in a spiral of booze and self-loathing, researching accounting school because you’ll NEVER succeed as an author. Ancient City Poets: Do you have any advice for other writers? Rhyannon Yates: Not that I’m a great success, yet, but the best advice I’ve found is just to write. Life comes prepackaged with excuses. I have two young children, a nine-to-five job, volunteer responsibilities, and a marriage to maintain. Life is busy, and writing time doesn’t just present itself. Make time, and guard that time. It’s easy to blow it off and see it as expendable, but the Law of Infinite Probability notwithstanding, your novel won’t write itself. Ancient City Poets: Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers? Rhyannon Yates: I feel like that is one of my biggest challenges, is that my work doesn’t really have a message. I remember that I used to get so annoyed in English class when we were supposed to dissect these works of literature to find what the authors message was. To borrow from John Green, books belong to their readers. If you read Catalyst and find a message that impacts you in a profound way, that’s awesome, and I’m glad that the book is able to mean something to you. If you read it and enjoy it and walk away without feeling like any great message was conveyed, I’m great with that, too. I’m much more into the idea of a story that stays with someone than in trying to impart anything deep and philosophical. Ancient City Poets: What are you working on right now? Rhyannon Yates: I’m in the middle of writing a book called Catalyst, which will hopefully be ready for publication in June. It’s been a long time coming, and now that the end is in sight, I’m starting to get really excited about the future of the book, whether it will be a series or a standalone, that sort of thing. The book deals a lot with race issues, social hierarchies, and the personal effects of mental illnesses like anxiety, all set against the backdrop of this fractured world that has literally sequestered itself in a bubble, away from the rest of the universe. Ancient City Poets: While you were writing, did you ever feel as if you were one of the characters? Rhyannon Yates: There are definitely pieces of myself in Levi. I’ve dealt with anxiety and panic my entire adult life, and Levi is a particularly anxious hero. Our triggers are different, but the results are the same. Levi fears change and lack of stability, where my triggers tend to fall more into the realm of the irrational. We do share several anxiety coping methods, which you can see when Levi gets really nervous, and which I didn’t really put in as a conscious “Oh yes, let’s give this character a similar anxiety tic”, but which I feel fit him well anyway. ~ ~ ~ Many thanks to Rhyannon Yates for stopping by. Who will parade us next? Check in on Wednesday and find out. Thank you so much for all your support, Chris Bodor Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press  Parading Around Town
The Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press blog is participating in the The Indie Lights Book Parade. For the entire month of February, different authors and artists will be parading past our viewing stand. Writer Tracie Roberts was kind enough to stop by. She is the author of Echo and Blur, paranormal New Adult romances and Books 1 and 2 in the Élan Series. She lives in Florida with her husband and two daughters. She would like to share some advise for new writers. Tracie Roberts: First, know your premise. What is the idea behind the story? What do you want to express to the reader? Where do you want the story to take the reader and where will it end? These are questions for you to answer, either before you start writing or as the story develops. For my novel Echo, I knew I wanted the reader to consider the topic of being responsible for one's choices. I had an idea that I wanted my story to take my characters down a path that may make readers question if what is illegal is always wrong, but I didn't know how far I was willing to go to support that point. My characters did, though, and that'll be discussed later. Also, some writers feel at ease starting a story that they don't know the end to. I'm not one of them. I usually know what will be tied up at the end of one of my works, just not how. That's what I work through in outlining. And that's what I suggest to my students. Know what will happen even if you can't figure out how just yet. Plus, limiting the amount of "what" will happen keeps your story from getting out of control. When the students in my Creative Writing class were tasked with drafting a short story based on a picture they were given, some of the stories they came up with got out of hand. I had to constantly remind my students that they had a limit of ten pages. Most of them said, "Oh, I can write all that in less than ten. Don't worry." What I got was "tellings" of stories, not actual stories. I had trouble with letting my story get out of hand when I first started writing. The two novels I have out now, Echo and Blur, (plus the third, Bound, coming out in May) were originally just one book. I realized as I was writing that there were too many ideas to cover in just one novel, so I broke the story up into two, then three, books. The pacing is better in each novel and no major plot point is rushed in any of the books. So, limiting the number of big events (or plot twists) to a couple or three, even in a novel, helps keep a writer focused on the premise. Second, know your characters. What makes your character tick? What does a normal day for him look like? What are his hopes, fears, dreams. etc.? Again, questions that, when fully answered, are most helpful in truly representing your characters in all their brilliance and flaws. When I taught Creative Writing for two years, I assigned my students a character biography sheet and a list of interview questions to answer in order to understand their characters and motivations. I've included links here and here to a couple of good ones, but a Google search will also pull up useful bio sheets and questionnaires. Should you complete this for every character in your story? I didn't for Echo, but I later found myself creating sketches on Scrivener for most of the characters in my series and adding traits as they manifested while writing Blur and the novella, Whispers. Third. know yourself. Are you willing to put in the effort to write this story? Are you comfortable with the topics you'll be exploring? Are you afraid of hurting others with or being embarrassed by this story? Most people don't want to "write" a novel/story, they want to "have written" one, because face it, writing is tough! I know. It took me five years to finally start The Elan Series, and seven years to publish my first book, Echo. Now, I find that ideas for stories just come to me, usually as a single line or thought that pops into my head and I get frustrated that I don’t have enough time to get to them all. And some of the topics are taboo. When I wrote Echo, I found myself asking, “What will my mom or my husband think of me writing about illicit relationships or witchcraft? Will they be upset?” What I realized is that, though I don’t want to hurt my family, I can’t dishonor myself, my gift, or my story by not telling it. Still, even I shy away from certain topics. I can’t write erotica or horror, but it has more to do with my comfort level than whether I believe those genres should be written or shared. As writers, though, we must push ourselves to explore edgy topics but still feel okay with ourselves for doing it. In closing, Tracie says "Don’t wait for the right time, it won’t come." She encourages new authors to make writing a priority, if you want it to be a profession instead of a hobby. "And believe in yourself and the story. Good writing can be learned, tenacity cannot." ~ ~ ~ To learn more about novels by Tracie Roberts, please visit: tracieroberts.com. Facebook – tracie.roberts13 Twitter - @tracie_roberts ~ ~ ~ Rafflecopter Giveaway: Thanks to our wonderful parade authors Indie Lights has fantastic swag baskets for three awesome winners! Prizes include ebooks, gift cards and fun! Remember, winning is as easy as visiting, clicking or commenting--easy to enter; easy to win! Click here to enter ~ ~ ~ Many thanks to Tracie Roberts for stopping by. Who will parade us next? Check in on Monday and find out. Thank you so much for all your support, Chris Bodor Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press  A Parade of Shadows Main Street Strutting
The Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press blog is participating in the The Indie Lights Book Parade. For the entire month of February, different authors and artists will be parading past our viewing stand. Today, we get to share a moment with David C. Edmunds, a former Marine, Peace Corps Volunteer, Senior Fulbright Professor of Economics, academic dean and U.S. government official with long experience in Latin America. He's the author, editor or ghostwriter of seven other books, including the award-winning Yankee Autumn in Acadiana. Dr. Edmonds grew up in Louisiana and Mississippi and studied at Mississippi Southern, L.S.U., Notre Dame, Georgetown, George Washington and American University. He currently lives in lovely Tarpon Springs, FL with his wife Maria. He would like to share with us the info that appears on the back of his new book entitled Lily of Peru. Markus goes to war-torn Peru for one reason: to take home the woman he's loved since his Peace Corps days—Marisa with the long dark hair and sparkling blue eyes. But when he arrives in Lima, he's confronted by a general with a subpoena, agents with guns, and the startling accusation that she's a key figure in one of the most bizarre terrorist movements in the world. And they want his help in bringing her to justice. Markus is stunned. Is she the Marisa of his dreams, or is she the bomb-throwing terrorist on her wanted posters? The truth lies somewhere down the road, and nothing is going to stop him from finding it—not the soldiers who dog his every step, not the terrorists who think he's on their side, and not the hostile natives and witches who chase him through the eastern jungles. ~ ~ ~ Amazon.com link for Lily of Peru: http://www.amazon.com/Lily-Peru-David-C-Edmonds/dp/1935925563/ Many thanks to David Edmunds for taking the time to visit us today. Who will parade by on Friday? Check back in and find out. Good luck to everyone with the give away listed below. Thank you so much for your support, Chris Bodor Anicient City Poets / Poet Plant Press ~ ~ ~ Rafflecopter Giveaway: Thanks to our wonderful parade authors Indie Lights has fantastic swag baskets for three awesome winners! Prizes include ebooks, gift cards and fun! Remember, winning is as easy as visiting, clicking or commenting--easy to enter; easy to win! Click here to enter  Parading Through The Intersection INSPIRATION AT THE INTERSECTION The Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press blog is participating in the The Indie Lights Book Parade. For the entire month of February, different authors and artists will be parading past our viewing stand. Tuesday is terrific because historic romance writer Jaima Fixsen is marching through the intersection of Cuna and King Street to talk to us about her book project Incognita, the second book in the Fairchild series. The series chronicles an aristocratic family in Regency England. The first book, Fairchild, tells the story of Sophy, Lord Fairchild’s illegitimate daughter, who must carve her way through a world that has no place for her. Incognita, the second book, follows Sophy’s rejected suitor, a Captain in the British army during the peninsular war: his unconventional love story and the complex web of relationships in the Fairchild family. Here’s a letter from the conflicted and lonely Lady Fairchild, not included in the novel, that she writes (but is too proud to send!) to Sophy, her estranged step-daughter, in the midst of Alistair’s troubles. From the correspondence of Lady Fairchild: Dear Sophy, I've written you so many letters I can hardly close my desk—they slide over each other, ramming against the top of the drawer—but I never send them so they sit here, getting battered about the corners. I've started even more that I can’t finish, and they end up in the fire. It shouldn't be this hard. What I want to say is, I’m sorry. For not loving you from the first, when you lost your mother and came to my home, and then, when you became like a daughter to me, for not loving you well. I should have listened, when you told me you loved Tom and couldn't marry Alistair. I just wanted to keep you close and see you settled happily. Alistair seemed the best chance for both. Now I’m less certain. He was broken hearted for a week or two, but now he’s tangled up with a Widow with Problems. I don’t see it ending well at all. He feels though, more than you think. It’s a sad tangle. Are you happy with Tom? Is he good to you? It’s hard, imagining you married to a stranger. I wish I knew how you are faring, that I’d listened, and held your hand as you drove to church for your wedding. The chance for that is gone, but if I could convince you that I only ever had your best interests at heart…I’d like to see you, in your home, with your new husband. I’d like to be your friend, if you will let me. I’m not good at apologies, or at starting over, but I want to try. Is Tom kind? Does he smile at you and tell you to stay off high-tempered horses? I hope you listen. You've had enough scrapes of that kind. London is empty with you gone. I miss you. With affection, Georgiana ~ ~ ~ Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Incognita-Fairchild-Book-Jaima-Fixsen-ebook/dp/B00NQ44CA6/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top Follow Jaima at her website: http://jfixsen.blogspot.ca ~ ~ ~ Many thanks to Jaima Fixsen for stopping by. Who will parade us next? Check in on Friday and find out. Thank you so much for all your support, Chris Bodor Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press  Soft Parade MONDAY MARCHES ON
The Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press blog is participating in the The Indie Lights Book Parade. For the entire month of February, different authors and artists will be parading past our viewing stand. It has been said that Monday is just a reminder that the weekend has past and there are only a few more days before another weekend gets here. This Monday is some thing special because James DiBenedetto is here. James is best know for his "Dream Series" books. Ancient City Poets: What inspired you to write your first book? James DiBenedetto: Dream Student came from asking a simple question. Why, in most mystery stories, do average people try to solve a crime or catch a killer themselves, when most normal people would do the sane thing and just call the police? I tried to come up with an answer, and what I thought of was: maybe they wouldn’t go to the police if the only evidence was in their heads. If they saw the crime through the eyes of the killer, and that was the only proof they had. If they saw it in the dreams of the killer. So there was the idea: if you could see someone else’s dreams, and that person was committing crimes, what could you do about it? You’d have no physical proof, the police would never believe you. You’d have to start investigating yourself, if you wanted to stop them. Sara, the main character of Dream Student, came into being along with that idea, and so did the college setting of the book. Ancient City Poets: Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life? James DiBenedetto: The actual story of Dream Student (and the rest of the Dream Series) is not based on real people or events, but the background settings and some of the minor characters definitely are. In Dream Student, Sara attends a (very thinly) fictionalized version of my college; the apartment building she lives in in book four, Dream Family, is basically the building I lived in when I moved down to Washington, DC, and so forth. Ancient City Poets: What are your current projects? James DiBenedetto: I’m working on the latest book in the Dream Series. This is the ninth book, and it’s called Shattered Dream. I hope to have it released by the end of April. Ancient City Poets: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book? James DiBenedetto: Absolutely. Every time I read my work over, I see things I would change. But I think every author feels that way. Leonardo Da Vinci said it best – “art is never finished, only abandoned.” Ancient City Poets: Who designed the covers? James DiBenedetto: The original covers for my first six books were hand-painted by a local artist who also was the head graphic designer at my old employer, Ami Low. She did a fantastic job, and gave me exactly what I wanted. But unfortunately, what I wanted was not what readers in my genre were looking for. So I had to change the covers, and the new covers were designed by Emma Michaels (http://www.emmamichaels.com), who’s also done an amazing job. Ancient City Poets: While you were writing, did you ever feel as if you were one of the characters? Not exactly. What I feel like, sometimes, is that the characters are actual people, and I’m only passing on the stories that I've heard from them, rather than creating them myself. ~ ~ ~ Info on James DiBenedetto Links: Website & Blog: http://www.writingdreams.net Amazon Author Page: http://viewauthor.at/JJDiBenedetto Twitter: https://twitter.com/jjdibenedetto Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Dream-Series/107699179403603 ~ ~ ~ Many thanks to James DiBenedetto for taking the time to stop by during the Indie Lights Book Parade. Who will stop by next? Check in tomorrow, February 10th, and find out who parades by. Thank you for all your support, With Respect, Chris Bodor Ancient City Poets / Poet Plant Press |
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