Guest Post

HAVE A BOOK TO PROMOTE? Lyrical Pens welcomes guest posts. Answer a questionnaire or create your own post. FYI, up front: This site is a definite PG-13. For details, contact cjpetterson@gmail.com cj

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Murphy's Law 2020 strikes again

 cj Sez: My gas fire log gave up the ghost last winter, which was not unexpected because it had more than outlived its one-year warranty. (I will confess to using it almost twenty additional years after I purchased the house which listed the fire log as one of its selling points.)

   In August, I thought I should have a new gas fire log installed and ordered one. After weeks of delayed delivery (two units were delivered to the installer with broken logs) and coronavirus deferred installation, the representative spent three-and-a-half hours in my family room on a beautiful, autumn Saturday afternoon…and couldn’t get the remote control to work right.
 
   Murphy’s Law 2020 strikes again.
 
   I think I expected that to happen and am not upset…yet, but I do know a product that will not get my 5-star review.
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Sharing sad news to report
   Ramona DeFelice Long, teacher, writer, editor extraordinaire, and dear friend to many authors has passed away. 

I had the good fortune to be one of her students during a Sisters-in-Crime/Guppy class. She was a respected, knowledgeable, generous, and kind person. 
 
   Her first novel, MURDERESS OF BAYOU ROSA, was released July 2, 2020, to five-star reviews.
 

   Learn more about Ramona’s literary achievements here:  https://ramonadef.com/
 
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Why it’s good to read anthologies
   Question: When you’re reading a story that drags you deep into the plot, do you wonder how the author could have imagined all those twists and turns? I do because I know personally that writing a coherent story is a difficult and exacting task, and I get a ton of inspiration by reading. In fact, a writer has to be a reader, especially in the genre they write.
 
   Because I also like to read the works of different authors in multiple genres, I find reading anthologies filled with short stories appealing for many reasons, but the top three are:
1) they don’t require a singular lengthy commitment;
2) they provide a lot of variety; and
3) they often introduce me to a new favorite author.
 
   I say three cheers for anthologies and their short stories! (Try it, you’ll like it.)
 
   I’ve been fortunate to have short stories published in three different anthologies in 2020—VALENTINE’S DAY PIECES, BIENVENUE TO THE CHATEAU ROUGE, HALLOWEEN PIECES—and there’s a fourth one in the editing process, HOMEROOM HEROES.
 
   All the anthologies offer readers all around good reading in a variety of themes and styles.
 
   In the Mobile Writers Guild latest anthology,
Buy Now 

HALLOWEEN PIECES, there are eighteen pieces from seventeen authors, ranging from ghost and paranormal stories to poems and even a play.
 
   The anthology is available on Amazon (free on Kindle Unlimited), and several of the authors have signed some copies that are now available from The Haunted Bookshop (see where to order below).
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Add the following anthology to your shopping list also:
   I’m in the process of going through edit cycles for my short story, “The Substitute,” in Bienvenue Press’s annual charity anthology, HOMEROOM HEROES. Here’s a teaser:

   When FBI agent Aron Olsen is assigned to work undercover as a substitute adapted physical education teacher, he knew he’d need a lot of help.
 
   When the principal assigned Melanie Andrews the job of helping the new substitute teacher with his charges, she learned how to turn her can’ts into cans and her dreams into plans.

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REMEMBER TO EXERCISE 
YOUR RIGHT/PRIVILEGE/DUTY TO VOTE
(If you haven’t voted absentee, I’ll be a poll worker on November 3 and looking for you.)
 
  That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.
 
   (P.S. Daylight Saving Time ends next Sunday, November 1, and we turn our clocks one hour. I intend to turn my clocks back to a gentler, kinder time, if I can determine what year that was.) 


 
cj

P.S.  TO ORDER my autographed books or any book of your choice on-line from my favorite indie bookstore, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us
 
   The store has re-opened to limited hours, so if you’re in the Mobile area, you can stop and shop, too.
 
➜ Follow me . . .       
➜ on Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page = https://amzn.to/2v6SrAj
➜ on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor
➜ on BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson
➜ on Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Welcome fall and first page turn-offs

cj Sez: Fall—my favorite season—when cooler, shorter days inspire flowers and trees to outdo themselves in a kaleidoscope of color.

   My photographer son took his camera gear in search of fall color this week. The picture of aspens above is one he took in Colorado a few years ago. He used a computer technique on the photo to create the look of watercolor art.

  On the home front, Mobile doesn’t have a lot of leaf-peeper red, orange, and gold on deciduous trees—but I have my camellias in many colors. I especially love the fuchsia blooms in front of the house.

  What fall doesn’t do, though, is inspire me to sit my butt in a chair behind a computer and write when I could be outside. What’s your favorite season where you live?

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   I’ve been re-reading some of my old “how-to” files and came across this reminder as I edit my current WIP:

Writing miscues that can cause an agent to stop reading your manuscript:

*  The story’s opening paragraphs fail to establish where the story is taking place, the time, and the setting.

*  The beginning is too slow. Too many details, too much description, too much backstory, or too many characters. The opening paragraphs lack action or a hook to entice the readers to continue to read.

*  The writer didn’t establish a clear point of view.

*  Mechanical errors can earn a speedy rejection. Mechanical errors are the typos, punctuation errors (a lot of them involving dialogue), and unclear syntax that can destroy a good story.   

  What agents or publishers see in the first few paragraphs of a manuscript is what they expect to see throughout each chapter and scene, and they have to reason to continue to read.

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Buy Now
   The book signing event at The Haunted Bookshop for HALLOWEEN PIECES was a good time.
   Masks, social distancing, candy, wine, and authors signing books at the entrance to The Haunted Bookshop in downtown Mobile on ArtWalk night. What a treat it was to interact with real people, mask-to-mask. 
The bookshop had a live video feed to Facebook. And surprise, surprise: It was chilly enough to wear a coat.

   The anthology is available on Amazon (free on Kindle Unlimited), and signed copies are available from The Haunted Bookshop (see where to order below).

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 Coming soon . . .

   My short story, “The Substitute,” in Bienvenue Press’s annual charity anthology, HOMEROOM HEROES.


  “The Substitute” is about an FBI agent working undercover as a substitute adapted physical education teacher for physically and mentally challenged students while he investigates Federal fraud and tax evasion. He is, at the same time, making a move on the beautiful, first-grade teacher assigned to help him with his students.  (p.s. My daughter-in-law is an adapted PE teacher and my inspiration for the story. 

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PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE

  That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

P.S.  TO ORDER my autographed books or any book of your choice on-line from my favorite indie bookstore, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/contact-us 

  The store has re-opened to limited hours, so you can stop and shop, too.

➜ Follow me . . .       
➜ on Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page = https://amzn.to/2v6SrAj
➜ on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor
➜ on BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson
➜ on Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6

Sunday, October 11, 2020

Forty-three years before the Pilgrims...and a Halloween video

 
cj Sez: Oh, Canada…Happy Thanksgiving! (Monday, October 12.)  

   The Canadian Thanksgiving holiday tradition dates back to 1578 when the English explorer, Martin Frobisher, landed on the shores of the land that became Canada while searching for a northern passage from Europe to Asia. The day has been a Canadian national holiday on the second Monday in October since 1957.
 
   When Frobisher came ashore, he gave thanks for surviving a long, treacherous journey and celebrated by feasting on a meal of salt beef and peas.
(Source: https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/canada/thanksgiving-day )
 
   In the U.S., forty-three years later (and months after they arrived in Plymouth), the Pilgrims celebrated a successful harvest by sitting down with the Wampanoag Indians to a feast that likely included venison and maize.

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Buy Now 
  Speaking of being thankful, I’m thankful for the Mobile Public Library’s support of the Mobile Writers Guild HALLOWEEN PIECES anthology that launched Oct 9. The library invited the authors to share videos of themselves reading an excerpt of their submission to be posted on the library’s public YouTube site. Here’s the link to my video:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PUlZ7kUswE&list=PLBvSFfmvnJuBHiGkQqy_M9kSDepqoqKMl&index=3
 
   Let me know what you think of my home-grown “movie set” and the surprise Halloween cameo.
 
   For readers in the Mobile area: Because of Hurricane Delta, the anthology book signing was postponed to Friday, October 16 at The Haunted Bookshop, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Put on a mask and stop by. We’ll be wearing masks, too, and would love to see you. (I’ll be there from 4 to 6.)

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NEWS FOR READERS AND WRITERS
   If you’re wondering about the impact of Amazon on the books you like to read and/or write, a Jane Friedman article examines the multiproduct industry giant:   
       Amazon’s Importance to U.S. Book Sales

   And about that showing and telling in internal dialogue:
      http://blog.janicehardy.com/2020/09/are-you-showing-or-telling-your.html
 
///
 
 
Buy Now
Raising prayers for my neighbors in Louisiana. I cannot imagine the stress they are undergoing as they cope with getting hit ... in the same area ... within the span of six weeks by two of the record-setting ten hurricanes to make landfall in the U.S. this year.

 
   2020 has been one hellacious Murphy's Law year.
 
    Speaking of hurricanes, part of the proceeds from sales of the anthology HOMETOWN HEROES benefits The Cajun Navy, those wonderful volunteers who trailer their boats to disaster areas to help the victims of hurricane floods. 
 
  That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.
 

cj

P.S.  TO ORDER my autographed books or any book of your choice on-line from my favorite indie bookstore, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: The Haunted Bookshop  The store has re-opened to limited hours, so you can stop and shop, too.
 
➜ Follow me . . .       
➜ on Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page = https://amzn.to/2v6SrAj
➜ on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor
➜ on BookBub:  
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson
➜ on Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6

Sunday, October 4, 2020

HALLOWEEN PIECES LAUNCH


 
cj Sez: Available for pre-order! The Mobile writers Guild anthology HALLOWEEN PIECES launches Friday, October 9.

   This anthology is the fourth in the Guild’s PIECES series, and the second anthology they've launched in 2020 (after VALENTINE’S DAY PIECES).
 

   If you’re in the Mobile area, several of the local authors (including me) will be celebrating the launch at The Haunted Book Shop from 4 to 8 p.m. Put on your mask and stop by—we’d love to say hello…we’ll be wearing masks, too.
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A brief syntax lesson: "Different from" typically requires a noun or noun form to complete the expression, while "different than" may be followed by a clause.
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   I’m a visual person (is that a right brain or a left brain thing?), and that shows up in my writing. Scenes are not easy but they are the most enjoyable for me to write. I love creating the details of a setting that I hope will perm
it my readers to visualize where the characters are and what they are seeing/doing. I like to incorporate the scene into the flow of the character’s actions.  

Dealing with narrative of personal
 introspection, emotions, and internal dialogue is more difficult for me since I “see” the action in my stories as movies in my head. Narrative doesn’t exist in movies unless there’s a voice-over, so I tend to use little of it. I’ve been told and I do understand I need more narrative in my novels. 

   I hope you’d agree that I’ve expanded my narratives when you read my HALLOWEEN PIECES short story, “Once in a Blue Moon.”
 
   Okay, I’ve confessed. Your turn. What is your writing strength or weakness?
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  That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. 

 (Raising prayers for your health and safety.)  
 
cj
P.S.  TO ORDER my autographed books or any book of your choice on-line from my favorite indie bookstore, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: The Haunted Bookshop  The store has re-opened to limited hours, so you can stop and shop, too.

➜ Follow me . . .       
➜ on Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page = https://amzn.to/2v6SrAj
➜ on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor
➜ on BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson
➜ on Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6