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Writing

Acts of Redemption and Children of Discord

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Author C.C.Cole

Hi, all readers and writers! I’m author C.C.Cole of the two “Gastar” novellas, four when completed. The medieval dark fantasy story follows the teen assassin Shevata as she journeys through the history of the city of Gastar to seek redemption for her past actions and to re-gain her soul. As a dark heroine trying to become a normal girl with hopes to find love, happiness, and family, she is a complex but very capable character. She is a Goodreads action heroine winner.

The first, “Act of Redemption” was published in 2009, and has been listed as Best Independent Novel on Goodreads. Shevata kills a group of evil priests without a death order, so she is punished for murder. Her soul is removed and she is imprisoned. The story moves into the future of the city of Gastar, after its fall, and the remaining people gather their strength for survival with the help of soldiers from the past, the dragon Harathgus, and Shevata against the demon lord Zermon who plans to make the remnants of the city part of his domain in hell.

The second novella, “Children of Discord,” was published in 2011. It won an NABE pinnacle award for fiction. Shevata is summoned back into Gastar many years later by unlikely allies. She had been searching for the traitor boy Goldeon. Though Gastar has grown, the people are ignorant of the powerful children, and their inner war places the entire city in danger. And yes, vampires play a role in this novella. Shevata takes her first important steps to reclaiming her humanity.

The third novella “Point of Return” is in the writing process now. For Shevata-fans, I don’t think they will be disappointed.

Generally, the Gastar series is medieval dark fantasy/action/adventure, recommended for ages 13-15+ for intense battle scenes. Minimal profanity and no erotica are used. Though short and intense, some humorous dialogue gives the reader a moment to take a breath.

About me: I’m from rural Mississippi, and currently live in the suburbs with my family. My educational background is medical, and other interests besides writing/reading are martial arts, medieval and 20th century history, and adopted racing greyhounds. I write regular articles about new authors and writing on my blog http://www.shevata-cccole.blogspot.com, as well as book reviews.

Photo on 2011-04-06 at 11.57.jpg

C.C.Cole is a talented Fantasy Action Adventure author. The Gastar Series are incredible and as a grandmother of a thirteen year old boy, found them amazing reading. C.C. writes to spark their imagination with solid content.

An Author Interview with Linda Ballou

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Wai-Nani book cover by Linda Ballou

What is your day job?

Real Estate sales person in Studio City, California

What is your book about (in a few sentences)?

Through the eyes of high chiefess, Wai-nani, you experience the Hawaiian society as it existed when Captain James Cook arrived at Kealakekua Bay in 1779; ride the billowing seas with Eku, the wild dolphin she befriends; learn why she loved the savage, conflicted ruler, Makaha; walk with her as she defies ancient laws and harsh taboos of the Island people; share the love she received from all who knew her and learn how she rose to become the most powerful woman in old Hawai’i.
??Most challenging part of the writing process: Staying true to the culture was extremely difficult. As one would expect there are many contradictions in a 200-year-old oral history. Deciding which version was most correct was not easy. Not using modern words like plastic that would snap the reader back into the 21st century became an enormous challenge. You don’t realize how hard that is until you try!

What motivates you to write?

The goal is self-actualization. Writing expands and excites my universe while providing purpose to my adventures. It is my form artistic self-expression that allows me to be a part of the “Long Conversation” that is our civilization.

Did you experience writer’s block? If so, how did you overcome it?

As with any task, the hardest part is getting started. I force myself to get the first paragraph of any writing project onto paper. This helps formulate what it is I am trying to accomplish and the rest follows. Sometimes, I have to go back and rewrite the opening paragraph because the story that has revealed itself to me is different than what I thought it was going to be when I started.
?How long did it take you to write this book? It is the culmination of a 30-year love affair with the Islands and the woman who inspired this tale Ka’ahumanu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha the Great. It became my mission to visit all the places in the story that I could so I could absorb the mana—that is the spiritual essence –of the people of old.

Why did you decide to self-publish this book?

I wanted to do it my way. Agents and traditional publishers are looking for block buster material that will pay their mortgage payments. That means they will change your work around to fit a pre-existing mold that has succeeded in the past. I don’t believe they are interested in pure literary efforts unless the author can show them that the work is commercially viable. One way you can do this is to self-publish and let the reading public write reviews. If people love your book and share it with friends you can convince a traditional publisher to invest in you. In my case, I had no choice, in terms of my own psychological development I had to get Wai-nani out of my drawer and into the hearts and minds of readers. It was necessary in order for me to move forward with other writing projects and my real estate career. The process has been empowering, rewarding and has allowed me to interact with the wider world as a writer.

What is the biggest misconception about writing a book?

Writing is not a gift as much as it a craft that has to be polished to perfection. Writing Wai-nani and getting it into to publishable format is the hardest thing I have ever done, but sharing Wai-nani’s story is also my proudest achievement and has proved extremely rewarding. People often say, ‘You are a great writer, how about writing my story for me?” They don’t understand we all have our own stories to tell with limited time on the planet to do so. I have more stories in my drawer than I can ever get done in one lifetime.”

What was your favorite aspect of the writing process for this book?

This story is set in pre-contact Hawai’i, a sensual age that fired my imagination. I lived for one carefree year on the north shore of Kauai. The romance of the place and the beauty of the culture is what inspired me. Writing this book allowed me to surf with the royals, dance the hula with beautiful hula sisters, and imagine would it be like to live in lush Waipio where cliffs sparkle with triple-tiered waterfalls. I actually stayed in the famed valley a couple of nights hoping to capture a sense of the place for my readers.

What tools/methods have you employed to promote your book?

The internet is the way the truth and the light for self-published authors. Brick and mortars are simply not cost-effective. They have limited shelf space and most of it is dedicated to big publishers who pay them for their best advertising slots. They return books that are not sold in thirty days and that eats up any profit you might have made on other sales. Without the internet alternatives for marketing, that are often free, I don’t know if I would have ventured onto the self-publishing path.
Blogging seems to be the most effective tool I have used so far. My blog posts go to Facebook, Twitter, my page on Amazon, Kindle, and Goodreads.com automatically, as well as other places that I chose to post manually. I am an adventure travel writer, so many of my posts are about my trips. I published my travel collection Lost Angel Walkabout in May of 2010, so I have reviews of that book as well as for Wai-nani on my website and blog.

I also give talks at various venues around southern California about my books. I love to take Wai-nani to Polynesian fests which are a lot of fun with hula and Hawaiiana of all kinds.

What advice would you give to writers regarding promotion?

One of the dangers of the internet is that it can be a real time drain. Yes, it is all fascinating, but you need to stay focused on getting your own writing work done. If you are like most people you have limited time for your creative endeavor. You must be very selective about how many newsletters, writing tips and you- tube videos you are going to view on any given day.

I’m a writer – if I stop writing, I am nothing. -Wilbur Smith? Is this true?

Surgeons cut, writers writer. If you have invested yourself in the craft and it is your form of self-expression, I would say yes! I do not feel good about myself if I am not devoting my best energies to my writing projects. I feel very satisfied when I finish an article or essay that really hits the mark! It makes me feel that I am living up to my promise as a human being.

Inspiration is the act of drawing up a chair to the writing desk. – Anon How do you feel about this statement?

As I said earlier, the hardest part is getting started. Your mind will automatically help you organize and structure something it can see, but if it is just a jumble of ideas whirling in your head, it can’t. You have to kick start the process. I enlist my subconscious in this endeavor by reading at night about the subject I’m trying to get going on and write first thing in the morning before the pressures of a busy day set in.

Thank you Sonia for this opportunity to share my thoughts. If readers would like to become one of my “Hot Contacts” and receive blog posts they can come to my site and enter their email address. I have lots of articles and photo essays there for them to enjoy.

Making Room by Corinne Rodrigues

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When we were renovating our apartment, we had the freedom to play around with the space in the way we wanted. We received suggestions to expand our sitting room in to a much bigger space. The idea was that we could then accommodate a lot more people when we entertained. However, the fact is that we don’t entertain much – never a large group of people any way, so we saw no use for a larger sitting room.


What did we do with the space instead? We used it to make a large study with lots of shelves for our books –  that we have collected separately over the years and many that we have acquired as a couple. Books are something that both of us prize and we were prepared to make space for them.


As I thought about this today, I realized how this could be a metaphor for life. If you prize something very much you will make room for it in your life. You will be willing to let go of something else in order to accommodate what you value. If you value someone, you will make sure that you spend time with them. If you value your health, you will make sure you exercise. In reflecting on this,  I realized that health is very low on my list of values – that needs to change and fast.


What is it that you value and need to make more room for in your life?

May you be inspired – everyday!


Sonia sez: Corinne Rodrigues is not only an inspirational writer but also a friend. With miles apart, we still managed to make what I hope is a long-term friendship. A motivational Speaker, a life Coach and a wonderful Writer, she continues to inspire those around her and those who visit her site. May she inspire you – everyday!

Enough

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Greetings from the wilderness of Alaska. My name is Anna and Sonya has graciously invited me to write up a little something for her blog. First, a little about me. I live what some might consider a homesteader’s life out here in the wilderness of Alaska, and when I say wilderness, I don’t mean out in the country, I really mean wilderness. To get in and out of this place a boat is required during the summer and a snow-machine is required during the winter. A bush plane will work both seasons, but in between, nothing works – there’s no going anywhere.

Living out here has giving me a very eye-opening perspective on the value of things. Since getting things here, it is imperative that we weigh the importance of what we buy carefully. Not that I was one to surround myself with all the comforts of life, but light was always available at the flip of a switch and water was always there when I flushed the toilet. You thought I was going to say ‘turn on the faucet’, well that qualifies too – I can do neither here.

So, what is important to me? What is enough? Over the years I’ve gotten pretty good at shopping for the entire year, and if I don’t get enough of something, well darn, I generally do without whatever that something is.

I don’t buy clothes every day, or every year for that matter, though since I’ve managed to lose fifty pounds last summer, I’m due for some new clothes. I buy food. I buy fuel. If I had school age kids, I might need to get some clothes for them once in a while, but I raised my kids out here and they never ran out of clothes either. Most of the neighbors all had kids too, give or take a few years so hand-me-downs were abundant.

What else do I spend my summer wages on? You’re reading this post so I have electricity (our own generator) and I have internet – the one really incongruous thing about my homesteader lifestyle. That and the phone bill are about the only monthly bills we have.

We got internet because I published a book and needed to do my own advertising. AuthorHouse wasn’t going to do any for me – they made their money from my book, they could move on to the next author looking to self-publish a book. What I can do on the internet isn’t what most author’s can do so living out here has its drawbacks, but I try my best to remind people every day that I do have a book out there. Good news is, I’ll have another one out there early next year, and the great part is, quite a few people are already waiting for the news so they can buy a copy.

The only thing about having a book out there, it’s not a consumable product – it doesn’t go away after it’s read, so an avid reader doesn’t need to buy my book more than once. All I can count on is that they will tell their friends and someone else will buy a copy.

Since I’ve had this nice little connection to the outside world, I’ve kept an eye peeled for tips on how to write better. I’ve also gleaned all the advice about advancing my writing career that I can find. So, thanks to the www, I now have three blogs, when at one time I didn’t have a clue what to do with one.

My first and primary blog is my writing blog, Anna’s Obsession.

Following advice I’ve gleaned from several different sources that said I should be willing to give something away, I started a second blog. I wrote a story that happened to break into very short chapters so I thought it would make a great blog, and it would be free. I post up a chapter a week, and it is purely for my readers’ entertainment. When it’s finished, I plan to publish it as a book. I’m not sure if I will charge for the book then or not. I’ll make my decision when I get that far. I hope you stop by and read it, and I really hope you enjoy it.

And for those of you who might be interested in my private life. I’ve created a third blog where I share many of the funnier stories about my life. Be assured that I welcome questions about my life – they help me decide what my next post will be.

So what is enough for me? Well let’s do the math. I make about $1500 a month for most of four months during the summer, and at this point, I make roughly $2 per book if you buy a new copy from Amazon. Amazon offers my book at a sale price calling them used and maybe they are, I can’t say, but I don’t make any money from those. At this point, I’m just thrilled to get them out there. At any rate, to break even and make it so I don’t have to work summers any more, I need to sell about 3000 books a year. Ah well, maybe someday, when I have a few more books out there. I have a dozen full length novels waiting to be published and a bunch of short stories too. I’m looking for an eBook publisher to help me with those.

You say, use Lulu or CreateSpace or SmashWords. I could, but you see, I need help with advertising and these places won’t do any more for me than AuthorHouse did for $2400.

Nice chatting with you all
Hope to see you in my corner of the world soon
Anna L. Walls

When is Enough Good Enough

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Since I do not want to mention a name, suffice it to say that RR a billionaire was just sentenced to an eleven year jail term for insider trading. Everyone does it, but he got caught. It saved him a whopping $70,000,000. Now remember, he is a billionaire. I do not wish to bash RR, I am just using his situation as an example.

My question to you is, when is enough? What is enough? How much money do we need to generate, to be satisfied? Is 10 billion enough? Looked upon as one of the richest in the world, enough? If we have adequate food, shelter and clothing is that enough? Are a pair of nameless jeans not good enough?

The dictionary states that it is: “as much or as many as required”. So the truth is, we are the ones to decide how much is enough and when is enough.

So in the end it is a matter of choice. Time and again, our choices make a difference to our environment, our friends and our fellow man. It does not mean to relinquish ambition and success. It means to know when enough is enough.

Today, here is my prayer for you:
May you be satisfied with your day
May your accomplishments give you hope
May your needs be met
May your health get better
May you live a fulfilling life
May what you have serve to satisfy all your needs.