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Religion Category

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From Paul the Apostle...

 Chosen Instrument

By Kurt Schuller

 Another inspired work recreating

Bible times.

How I Published

My Own Book

Series

by Grandma Penny Hoprich

Editor’s note: This book series reflects the Bible study meetings of a youth group. They were published in a local newspaper before being released as books. See Grandma Penny’s series at: www.author-me.com/bible/

At the time, the printers wouldn't print less than 50. I wanted 6 for the 6 children that were in the stories. I had given them the stories in 3-ring notebooks the Christmas before. I knew it probably looked crazy for me to want to give them the same stories two years in a row. But I wanted them to have them in a real book. I felt this was a good example of what we can do if we set our heads to it.

As different friends found out I was having the book printed, they started giving me orders, some paying in advance. (Having had them run in the newspaper helped, this amazed me. I would have thought, since folks had already read the stories, they wouldn't want a book.) Before the printshop could get the first 50 printed out, I had to tell them to print more. By the time they had printed my order, I had sold 80 books.

They're still selling (sometimes only one at the time and the sales are far between). Even now, I'll have someone ask me if I have any more on hand. All together, I think they wound up printing about 300. I've given away quite a few. I think I have 3 of them left. Oops! I just remembered, I still have 10 copies in a book store in Lexington, NC

My sister-in-law has 5 she thought she had orders for, but it fell through for some reason. I need to get those, also. That would give me another 15. I know they'll sell around here, eventually.

The book "Grandma's Stories" is all over the place; Charlotte, NC. Indiana, Georgia, Gastonia, Belmont, the NC mountains, Florida, one is in the Netherlands, Columbia, SC; gosh I can't remember where all I've had people to order from. I still stand in awe when I think about it.

Critiquing Special

• Limited time special, one cent per word.  Just mention Publishing New Writers  Newsletter (July, 2003).

    Critiques by Sandy Tritt

• Unlike most editors, I consider my role to be a mentor or a coach. Instead of just telling you what is wrong, I explain how to correct the problem, and I work with you to teach you how to write effective prose. More than 50% of my business is repeat business, and I relish establishing long-term relationships with other writers.

• Treat you with respect and compassion. All criticism will be of the "constructive" sort. My purpose is to improve your writing, not to destroy your confidence.

• Mark your manuscript, correcting grammatical and spelling errors and suggesting alternative wording where appropriate, line-by-line.

• Highlight areas that are especially well-written, so you will know where your strengths are.

• Where appropriate, offer suggestions for plot development, character development or other areas that could be strengthened.

• Return a two-to-four page written analysis of your work. This will include evaluation of: plot, setting, characterization, dialogue, special effects (flash forwards, flashbacks, etc.), voice, point of view and any other areas particular to your work.

• If appropriate, recommend reading or resources to strengthen your areas of weakness.

• Answer any questions you  have via email.

• Provide my telephone number for a personal follow-up, if you desire.

For Sandy's success stories, see http://tritt.wirefire.com/Manuscript_Critique.html

Write Sandy at tritt@wvadventures.net

(See Sandy's article above.)

Read...   Move Over Maharishi

By Dee Landerman

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Publishing New Writers,

July, 2003 (no. 407)

Publisher: Bruce L. Cook, P.O. Box 451, Dundee, IL 60118.  Fax (847) 428-8974.

Submissions and comments to cookcomm@gte.net. Links are welcome.

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 Newslist

Tricks, Tips, Sentiment and Cameos

Yes, it's yet another AuthorMe Newsletter article by Ken Mulholland.

1. There's an old trick that actors at times use when trying to get into a character on the brink of some deep, emotional trauma. They think about an event in the past that has caused them pain and sorrow, or in one way or another has left permanent memories. It could be the sickness and death of a loved one: a child or parent, a close friend, a loyal pet; or perhaps the dissolving of a relationship, a longstanding friendship, a marriage. There are many incidents that touch us and they vary with every individual. Yet they can effect us so profoundly that we normally put them away from our conscious thoughts for fear that to dwell upon whatever event it was would be to reduce us to tears as the memories come hauntingly back. And so, the actor takes a recalled situation and employs the responses evoked in such manner that it becomes a tool of the trade. I believe that the same method can be utilised by the author to create the mood or feel for certain kinds of story.

2. Another source of inspiration comes from music, which is how I came to write the short story 'Sencha'. Some writers like to work in complete silence, whilst others prefer to employ music that stimulates the mood as a background to aid the flow of their composition. Often in the past I have found music to be a stimulant to both writing and illustrating.

3. Likewise, a comfortable environment can enhance the productive responses, somewhere that is your special space out of the mainstream of your home. It may be your own room, your den or just a corner that is reserved for you. Here, repetition and habit are important.

4. Write every day. Get into the mindset that is expectant of work in progress. A single line is enough to give you some satisfaction that you have moved forward.

5. Find your best time of day or night. Mornings can be very productive. But so can the evening after the kids have hit the deck and the house is quiet.

6. Work at two or more projects at the same time. This is an aid against 'writer's block' and a stimulant challenge. 'I couldn't do that.' you say.

Oh yes you can.

7. We have two states of being: awake and asleep. When we are asleep, we have no control of our conscious minds. Some might say we do but that is the subject of conjecture. However, we can still make use of the realm of sleep, in the form of dream. The dreamworld is a fantastic area of the mind. That is, 'Your Mind': a very private place that belongs to you alone. It is your possession, something that cannot be invaded by anything other than the subconscious thoughts and memories and impressions that belong to you. (For more about dreams see The Dream Ascending.)

The dreamworld is a collection of all that you have experienced, suffered and endured. It is also a reservoir of instinctive behaviour patterns learnt and imprinted over the generations of human activity and behavior. And, it has an afterglow. That, we know, is wakefulness. That first glimmering of consciousness is the time when thoughts of this afterglow are there as you come, somewhat muddled, out of sleep. And the fleeting images and memories of dream must be captured before they fly, like so many coloured birds, into the dawn. When you awake, in the midst of night, or at daybreak, you must have a pen and paper to hand, if you desire to capture those coloured birds.

Now if all this sounds like so much smoke, think again. Usually, when you wake up you are refreshed and your mind is about as active as it's going to be. Yeah, sure, there are those 'hung-over' times, and some of you are slow wakers etc. But in the main, most folk are ready to 'come out punching'. That's when you need to recover any valuable thoughts and impressions from your slumbers. You know the old saying of 'sleep on it,' well of course that refers to letting your thoughts rest overnight and seeing if things become clearer in the light of day. Only logical ain't it?

Now to those Sentiments and Cameos; you don't have to say a lot to say a lot.

1. Once, when about ten years of age, I tore down an old inscription penned on cardboard, intending to rewrite and replace it; thinking I was doing a good thing. The lady, my uncle's mother, went into a rage and never spoke another word to me as long as she lived. The torn up pieces were lovingly put back together; they had been written by her departed husband.

2. Early in our marriage we lived next door to an old couple. When his wife died, at a ripe old age, the old man just pined away too. His family came and emptied the little cottage. In a pile of discarded books, I discovered a copy of The Iliad. (I have four copies) This copy is dated 1805, and is my oldest version.

But the point of this story is the sepia photo I found between the pages; it is of a young woman, her hair tied back with a simple band. I like to think that it is his wife, his Helen of Troy. The photo is still there between the pages.

3. I have my father's silver watch and his gold one too. But the watch that I am wearing is the one given to me at age twelve by my mother and father. That watch slipped off my wrist in the middle of a busy road without my noticing, and but for a man picking it up and returning it to me, I would not have it now.

4. I look across my desk at a small, simple rectangular wooden box that I keep paper clips and such in. It is the last thing my father ever made. It is almost childish in construction, a thing that I could have constructed when I was six or seven. Perhaps that is why it has such a poignant, potent quality for me.

5. I gaze up to the bookshelf, and there perched on the top is a turned, wooden vase and sticking out is a goose quill. Many years ago I sharpened that quill and used it to draw the maps and illustrations for my fantasy story Varlarsaga. I look forward to a day when I might take up that quill and draw new visions.

I keep these things, the objects and the memories, because of their intrinsic value. That is the value that is worthless to others, yet priceless to the individual. That is how you can begin your own store of sentiment, filling it with the many cameos of your life and the lives of others, the tiny events that have touched you and in turn that you can employ to touch others.

In the next few weeks I shall submit two short stories to AuthorMe. Both are true stories and happened to people I know who are very close to me.

As a sneak preview I...

Well bless my cotton socks! Guess what?

That's right. Out of time again!

Ken Mulholland

Country Editor - Australia

AuthorMe.com Group