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Writing in the Modern Age


Writing & Guest Author Blog

Interview with Author Susan Mac Nicol

7/8/2013

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My guest today is Susan Mac Nicol. Hello, Susan! Welcome to Writing in the Modern Age! It’s such a pleasure to have you here.

Can you tell us a little bit about your latest book? When did it come out? Where can we get it?
  
book cover for Together in Starlight by Susan Mac Nicol depicting a mysterious handsome man staring straight at his audience

My latest publication is called Together in Starlight. It’s the second in my Starlight trilogy. It came out in February this year. 

Together in Starlight continues the story of Bennett Saville, an actor living in London with his fiancée, Cassie Wallace, a woman who’s ten years older than him. They met each other through fairly tragic circumstances in the first book, Cassandra by Starlight. After a rather tumultuous beginning, they’re still together. 

Bennett is on the road to stardom, being catapulted to fame through his theatre work in London and his current project as the leading man in a remake of ‘Lost Horizon’. Cassie is an astute business woman, who provides the love and support her lover needs in the crazy world of show business. She tends to put the brakes on him when he gets all ‘prima donna’ which is pretty often.

This couple get embroiled in any kind of trouble you can think of, I have to say. From suicides of jumping off motorway bridges, to schizophrenic mothers and psychotic stalkers, ex-husbands with a grudge and supernatural happenings, Cassie and Bennett are in the thick of it. They have a tendency to attract kooks and trouble in equal measures.

Is there anything that prompted your latest book? Something that inspired you?

The series as a whole was prompted by two things. One was an incident in my home town of Essex, when some idiot threw a concrete bucket from a foot bridge onto the motorway and badly injured the woman driving under the bridge at the time. The other was the presence of a rather wonderful actor here in the UK called Benedict Cumberbatch, who I love, and he just had to be the role model for the character of Bennett Saville. I am what is known in the ‘Cumber’ trade as a ‘CumberCougar’ and I follow this young actor’s career with interest and more than a few drools down my chin. I’ve never fangirled before. This whole obsession with an actor thing is very new to me.

Once I had my very own virtual Benedict Cumberbatch in the form of Bennett, and had a writer’s privilege to do absolutely anything I wanted with him, I began writing the story. Of course, the fact that Cassie is my own age has absolutely nothing to do with anything. I promise. Honest. I was not sitting there writing steamy sex scenes, thinking of….well, you know.

So, when did you know you wanted to write? Or has it always been a pastime of yours?

I’ve always written. Songs, poetry and novels. I have some poetry published on etherbooks and of course I have two full length novels and two short stories already published with my publisher, Boroughs Publishing Group. 

(*Gives a wry grin*) It appears that once I started I wasn’t able to stop.  I’ve now written nine full length novels, three of which are in the pipeline and contracted to Boroughs, awaiting publication. The other four are all completed, just waiting for an available slot to thrust at my poor editor and say , "Here, Jill, want another one?" I love to see her squirm…

I’ve also written a screen play based on my debut novel, Cassandra by Starlight, which I’d like to show around and see if I can stir some interest in making a TV series. But that’s a little ways away at the moment

Do you have any favorite authors? 

I do. My favourite author is Stephen King, creator of the slavering beast, Cujo and the psychotic, child eating clown, Pennywise. I love the way he writes, his characters and his descriptive scenes. I’m also a huge Jonathan Kellerman fan, and love his ‘Alex Delaware’ novels. But I’m also an avid reader of gay male romances and soak them up like the proverbial sponge. I have a lot of favourite authors in this genre and it’s really hard to pick one as being the top one for me. But if I did, it would be the amazing Josh Lanyon. He writes stories that make you feel the characters are real, interspersed with a lot of witty humour and I love that in a book. Kindle Alexander is another one of my absolute ‘must haves’. Along with A. J. Rose, L A. Witt, Sue Brown, Sage Marlowe, Rory Ni Colleain, Harper Fox, Susan Laine, Barbara Elsborg -the list goes on. (If I didn’t mention one of you, sorry, rest assured you are all still loved. I just ran out of breath.)

Do you write in a specific place? Time of day?

Hmm. I thrive on chaos when I write. So where better than to sit than in the corner of the couch in the lounge, with husband, daughter, son and dog constantly on the move, asking me questions I don’t hear because - honestly? I’m not bloody listening – and hearing the blare of the television, the echo of my daughter’s Walkman or whatever it is she’s got, and the panting of the dog as he’s just come from a walk and is knackered. Oh yes, it’s just as well I like chaos in my house. I have a study, but if I went up there, my family would never see me.

I have a full time day job in the lovely city of Cambridge. So I get home about six p.m., eat the food someone has prepared (I don’t cook much – luckily my family enjoy it but it’s not of my favourite things to do unless it’s heating up a microwave dinner). I then sit down, laptop on lap, and write until midnight, one am. Then it’s up as six a.m. to start the day again. This, ladies and gentlemen, is my life. I do love it, but I’d rather not have the day job, be in the country somewhere in my country manor, gazing out over the grounds while the handsome groundsman walks bare chested across the field with his gun.

Are there any words you'd like to impart to fellow writers. Any advice?

I belong to a writing circle and one of my buddies has this plastered across the top of his blog. “Writers write. The rest make excuses.” It’s sort of become our circle mantra. The best thing you can do as a writer is put the words down. Don’t wait for a good time, till the baby’s stopped teething, till the kids have left the house, the robins have roosted or the cake has baked. Just sit down, arse to chair and either pick up a pencil or pen and write on paper, or type onto a computer. But don’t procrastinate.

The other thing I’d strongly advise is start getting ready to be a guru of social networking. If you think your book is going to be published and the publisher is going to do everything for you – think again. Authors nowadays have a huge responsibility to market themselves and their skills themselves. An author needs to learn the skills of promotion and there’s no time to start building that ‘author community’ like the present. 

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Amazon, Shelfari, Goodreads, tumblr, Wordpress, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, Flickr, Soundcloud, Vimeo, YouTube –the list goes on. A personal website is a good choice and, of course, a blog.

I run seven Facebook accounts for role playing activities with my characters. I have nine Twitter accounts, ten Gmail addresses and heaven knows what else.  I am constantly trying to remember who I actually am. I also administer three Facebook pages. So it’s an intensive, hands on job but it has to be done.

The writing, dear writers, is the easy bit. The work comes after that first book has been signed for. You may as well get a head start now.

Here is the blurb for Together in Starlight.

For superstar actor Bennett Saville and his fiancée Cassandra Wallace, returning to “The Val” theatre in London means greed, lust, and ghosts from the past—and that’s off stage.

Bennett Saville is sexy. At the height of his career, the English star of stage and screen is everything a woman might desire, as fiancée Cassandra Wallace well knows. They’ve seen the world together, from L.A. to Shangri La. Yet shadows persist, even in the spotlight. At home they face lust, greed, and ghosts from their pasts—and that’s offstage. There is also “The Val”. Bennett’s aged London theatre holds a mystery four centuries old, cast in starlight, waiting to be shown. Intensely personal, impossibly passionate, that play must go on…and Cassie and Bennett must see it through together.

Here's an excerpt from Together in Starlight.

Bennett Saville stood at the window of his hotel room looking out over the Hengduan Mountains surrounding the mystical town of Shangri-La in Tibet. He’d been there nearly six weeks now filming his new movie, and had yet to tire of the view of the valley and the towering mountains that seemed to surround the hotel like a massive rock shield. The October sun shone down on the valley and the green fields surrounding the hotel.

Across the river in the distance he could see the small figures of farmers as they went about their business. Small white forms of sheep were speckled like popcorn about the grassy hills. He sighed, stretching his lanky frame, wincing as his muscles protested against the activity.

The day’s filming had taken its toll on him, not least of which was his backside from sitting on a mule most of the day. The mule had not particularly taken to him. He supposed wryly that when two immoveable and stubborn objects met there was bound to be some friction. He turned as someone swore behind him, and saw his fiancée, Cassie Wallace, struggling under the weight of her now packed suitcase as she manoeuvred it off the bed. She strained to pull the suitcase over to the door where it would wait to be taken down by the hotel porters in the morning.

He observed her with raised eyebrows. Despite his suggestion that she get a suitcase with wheels, she’d insisted on taking her tried and trusted old green one—the one with no wheels and which in itself was a fair weight even without the mountain of clothes inside it.

Cassie muttered as she gave the case one final kick in annoyance and looked up at him.

Her eyes challenged him to say something, anything. He turned away with a hidden smile.

She flopped down onto the bed and groaned. “I can’t believe we have to leave tomorrow.”

She opened her arms and spread them out behind her, her T–shirt straining at the move and showing the generous curves beneath. Seeing Bennett’s predatory look, she hastily sat up again in case he had any ideas about pouncing on her. They were due downstairs for their last lunch together with the rest of the cast and crew in about five minutes.

“I thought you were looking forward to getting home?” Bennett said. “You’ve been itching to get back to business. That phone of yours hasn’t stopped since we left London.”

He sat down on the bed beside her, his green eyes observing her, admiring her tanned skin from the sunshine of the Tibetan summer and the small freckles scattered across her cheeks and nose. Her strawberry-blond hair, worn long but now even longer past her shoulders, had streaks of gold where the sun had bleached it.

All in all, he thought the six-week holiday she’d had whilst he was filming had done her good. After the events of the last twenty-one months together, it was good to see her looking so perky, healthy and downright sexy.

She nodded. “I know. I am. It’s just that it’s so peaceful here. I know you’ve been filming but I’ve never seen you look so relaxed either. This trip has been good for both of us.”

He regarded her ruefully. “What with all the past events, you and your car accident, Eric’s death, Mum’s psychotic episode and you landing up in hospital again and that bloody Laura woman stalking me, I’m surprised we’re not both basket cases.”

She sighed. “I can’t believe our Tibet trip is nearly over. I know when you get back you’ll be busy filming in the London studios—Waverly is it?”

Bennett nodded. “It’s a huge and very sophisticated studio in Chalk Farm. It’ll be great seeing how the rest of the film comes together there.”

“Perhaps, Bennett, when we get home, I might be able to convince you not to fall asleep with such regularity at your desk,” Cassie said drily.

He grinned. Whilst he’d been in Tibet, many were the nights he’d fallen asleep in front of his laptop, his script open, various research websites being bookmarked and copious notes in his untidy, almost illegible scrawl in the margins of his script. He knew it drove Cassie to distraction.

“You know me, Cass. I’m a little obsessive.”

Cassie stared at him in amusement. “A little? Bennett, you disappear in the middle of the night to God knows where, for hours on end, stalking about, talking to yourself and looking like a crazy person.”

He smiled, knowing this to be true.

Cassie continued her diatribe. “You wander up into the mountains, down by the river and I never quite know where I’m going to find you or when you’ll be back. It can be quite dangerous out there.”

He shrugged. “When the muse is on me, Cass, I can’t help it. I need to get things perfect or it doesn’t work for me.”

“That’s all well and good, sweetheart, but if you hadn’t noticed, ignoring me doesn’t make me go away. And you can be such an autocrat. It’s your way or no way.”

He raised his eyebrows at her. “An autocrat? Cassie, that’s a bit cruel.”

Bennett grinned at the exasperated face of his fiancée. “I guess we should be getting downstairs for lunch. I was planning on an afternoon siesta with you but judging from the sound your stomach is making, I imagine you’re hungry again. I can’t make love to a starving woman. It’s too distracting.”

He stood up and reached out a hand to her. She took it as she stood up and they
walked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind them.

Downstairs in the outside courtyard the lunch buffet was in full swing. The full cast and crew of Lost Horizon were helping themselves to a spread of both Chinese and Tibetan local fare including roasted yak which Cassie hadn’t wanted to try. Bennett found it delicious. But despite that, Cassie refused to taste it. He acknowledged that neither of them had developed the taste for the local butter tea.

Mingmei Cheng, Bennett’s co-star and love interest in the film, smiled when she saw them, wandering over to join them. She was stunningly beautiful, a slim exotic Mandarin woman with long black hair and small hands that waved like butterflies when she talked. Bennett was well aware that the one part about the making of the film Cassie couldn’t get used to was the on-camera love scenes and intimate moments between him and Mingmei. Although the film’s director, John Lammington, managed them tastefully and there was only what was needed on show, nothing gratuitous, he knew she still couldn’t bear to watch Bennett and Mingmei together in that way.

“Most of the time you’re half naked,” she’d grumbled when they’d talked about it recently.

He’d smiled at her discomfort. “Cassie, mostly I have my shirt off. My pants and everything else are still on for most of the scenes. And when they’re not, well, there’s not really any contact. Honest.”

She’d scowled. “Well, I still don’t like watching it. Mingmei is so beautiful and tiny and it just looks wrong when she has her hands all over your bare chest. Sometimes I want to scratch her porcelain face. That makes me a really bad person, Bennett.”

It hadn’t helped that he’d chuckled loudly at her comments. “You jealous harpy. You know I’m acting. I promise.”

Seeing them now, Mingmei smiled at them sweetly. “Bennett, Cassie,” she said softly in her lilting dialect. “I’m glad you decided to join us. I thought perhaps you might be having a siesta.” She smiled slyly.

Bennett smiled, watching Cassie’s face flush instantly. He did tend to have a proclivity towards afternoon ‘siestas’ with her when he could get them and it appeared the whole
crew knew about them.

“No, we were hungry and looking forward to lunch. I shall miss all of this when we get home.” Cassie waved a hand around at the tables laden with food.

Bennett looked at her with raised eyebrows. “The way you’ve been eating whilst we’ve been here I shall have to employ you your very own chef when we get home to keep you stocked up on Kung Pao chicken and roast pig.”

He frowned worriedly. “Actually, thinking about it, I think we should call the airport and pay to increase our baggage allowance. We might need to offset it against the extra weight in the plane when you get in.”

Cassie punched him hard in the arm making sure her knuckle was extended. He yelped and rubbed his arm but the smile didn’t leave his face. Mingmei watched on with amusement.

“You bastard!” Cassie hissed. “I can’t believe you just said that to me.”

Bennett realised he’d perhaps overstepped the boundary. Cassie was sensitive about the fact that she was older than him and always told him she had to work harder to keep her figure in shape. He loved it just the way it was.

He pulled her close, planting a kiss on top of her head. “You look wonderful to me, Cassie, just the way you are. I love your curves.”

She wasn’t mollified by his words, glaring at him fiercely. She was stopped from responding as John Lammington came up and slapped Bennett on the back.

“Bennett! Glad you could join us. We thought you’d gone for a lie down. I thought you might have been a bit stiff after riding that crazy animal this morning.” 

He winked at Cassie who felt her face blush red. The double entendre was not lost on anyone. Mingmei looked down, smiling.

Bennett chuckled softly as Cassie went even redder. “No, no siesta. The woman needed feeding again.”

He made sure to stay out of the way of Cassie’s fist as he wandered over to the table to pile a plate with food. Cassie muttered a rude but very audible swear word at him under her breath, making sure she piled her plate high. She sat next to Bennett at the long communal table. He was amused at her defiant stand.

“So, Bennett. Looking forward to getting back to London and the dreary October weather?” John took a swig of the local Lhasa beer he was partial to.

Bennett shrugged. “I’ve enjoyed it here. It’s been an incredible experience. But Dylan is chomping at the bit to get his latest production up and running. He opens in December and needs some help. So I’ll be giving him a hand at the Val in between filming the rest of Lost.” He looked at John wryly. “Assuming I have any free time at all, that is. You can be a real slave driver.”

The Val as it was lovingly known, real name the Valedictorian, was the theatre that Bennett, Cassie and Dylan owned in London. Dylan Donahue was Bennett’s best friend and business partner, and Bennett had given Cassie thirty-five percent of his shares when they got engaged last year. He’d thought it the perfect engagement gift. He knew she loved the ambience, the quirkiness, camaraderie and drama that went on there.

John chuckled. “Now, Bennett. That coming from one perfectionist to another.” John helped himself to another beer. “Isn’t Dylan’s play some sort of musical about some Australian lady gang?”

Bennett nodded. “It’s about the Razor Gang wars in the mid-1920s in Sydney. He’s done a hell of a job in getting something like that into a musical, but I think it works.”

John grinned. “I understand you aren’t contributing to the stage show. Not your ‘cup of tea’.” He mocked Bennett’s accent.

Bennett shook his head ruefully. “I’m not fond of singing in public and I’m not the greatest dancer. I’ll stick with drama rather than make a fool of myself trying to belt out a tune.”

“I can vouch for that statement,” muttered Cassie. Bennett saw she was still unforgiving about the weight comment. “Bennett has a tendency to be very noisy when he’s trying to sing Pavarotti in the shower.”

“But I do have other talents you like in the shower, sweetheart.” Bennett regarded her lazily, not wanting to be outdone. He sniggered as Cassie once again blushed pink.

John gave a great laugh. “You two really keep us all amused with your bickering, you know that? It’s been like having two teenagers on set.”

He stood up. “Well, packing beckons. I still have a ton of things to sort out before we leave tomorrow afternoon.” He looked gloomy. “I suppose we’ll be taking that dodgy tour bus to the local airport and then flying to Lhasa Airport for the flight home. It’s going to be a long couple of days to get home.”

John hadn’t enjoyed the bus ride to the hotel, having white-knuckled it all the way due to the driver’s fairly erratic driving narrowly missing the long drops over the side of the mountains. He sighed. “See you kids later.”

Bennett sat back in his chair, closing his eyes, enjoying the rays of the sun on his face. Hearing a little voice beside him, he opened his eyes to see little Soong Li, the daughter of one of the hotel managers, smiling shyly at Cassie as she held out a small carved wooden bird.

Cassie smiled at her as she sat up. “Hello Soong Li. This is beautiful. Is it for me?”

She leaned over and took the small bird gently from the child’s outstretched hand. “Did you make this yourself?”

The little girl nodded. “I want you to take it back home with you,” she said in slightly broken English. “To remind you of me and Shangri-La.”

Cassie often took the child on her travels with her, mule riding, climbing the nearby mountains and wading down in the river collecting any item of interest the pair could find. The little girl had taken a shine to Cassie and was constantly fascinated by the colour of her hair and the freckles appearing on her face.

Bennett watched the two together now, seeming so comfortable with each other. Cassie couldn’t have any children of her own. She’d been unable to do so even before his mother had attacked Cassie one evening and injured her so badly that it had simply cemented the fact that Cassie would never be a mother.

The closest they’d get would be Bennett’s five-year-old nephew, Sean, who lived with Bennett’s father at the family home. Bennett and Cassie enjoyed taking him out occasionally but were always glad to see him home to Edward’s.

Cassie hugged the child and Soong Li ran off to join her friends playing nearby. She looked over at Bennett, smiling. “If you’re finished stuffing your face, I suppose we could go for a walk down by the river. It’ll be the last chance we get.”

He extended his arm to her and they walked out of the hotel courtyard into the dusty road leading down to the river. It was quiet, the clouds settling low upon the horizon and the warm breeze slightly unsettling Cassie’s hair, causing it to blow across her face.

She brushed it back absentmindedly as she walked. “Have you spoken to Sean recently?”

Bennett was in the habit of calling his nephew with an update on how many yaks he had seen, what the stupid mule had done next and generally painting a vivid picture for the child of what it was like to be in Shangri-La.

Bennett nodded. “I spoke to him last night. Apparently he’d had a bad day at school, some kid pinched his lunch and when Sean found out, he punched him in the nose. Mary had to go down to the school and placate them.” He grinned. “I’d say he’s definitely a Saville.”

Cassie kissed him affectionately on the chin. “Given his uncle’s temper, it sounds like the fruit hasn’t fallen far from the tree albeit a little removed.”

Bennett’s temper was legendary, something he sometimes struggled to control. The last year had certainly tested this to the limit. More than once Cassie had found herself having to defuse him.

They’d reached the river now, sitting down on the grassy bank, taking off their shoes and planting their feet in the cool running water.

“Did you ever think we’d be where we are now?” asked Bennett suddenly. “I mean sitting here together in Shangri-La in Tibet. Sometimes it all seems rather surreal.” He glanced at Cassie as she watched the water run over her feet.

“You know I believe things happen for a reason,” she said slowly. “Everything has a purpose. I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing now than sitting here with you in this magical place. January last year I was just plain Cassie Wallace. Now I’m Cassie Wallace, engaged to a young, filthy rich, sexy man in her bed. Who could possibly have seen that coming?”

She leaned over and kissed him. He pulled her towards him and the kiss grew deeper and more intense. Bennett wound his fingers through her hair, pulling her closer, enjoying the feel of her warm body and the sunshine on his back. After a few hot and heavy moments they pulled apart.

“I think it’s time for that siesta,” Cassie said huskily, running her fingers down his chest, pausing on his flat stomach and slipping her hands under his loose shirt.

He drew a breath as her hands found the warm skin beneath. “I certainly don’t think we should carry on here, we have an audience,” he murmured, kissing her ear, his tongue darting in and out causing her to shiver.

Cassie looked up in panic and Bennett chuckled. “There’s no one watching, Cassie. I mean that lot over there.” He pointed to where half a dozen curious yaks were congregating by the river bank, observing them through large brown eyes. Cassie giggled when she saw them.

“Whilst I could quite gladly ravish you here and now, I don’t relish the thought of doing so with them watching me. I don’t like competition.” Bennett stood up, picking up his shoes.

Cassie did the same and together they walked back up to the hotel. The lobby was fairly quiet. Everyone was probably in their rooms packing for tomorrow’s early get away. Their hotel room was cool and the breeze wafted in through the open windows. No sooner had they closed the door than Bennett pulled Cassie towards him, his mouth finding hers again, his tongue running its way across her top lip and finally finding its way into her mouth.

Universal Reader link:  https://books2read.com/u/mB2vEM

 

Author Bio  

  picture of author Susan Mac Nicol

Sue Mac Nicol was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom. At the age of eight, her family moved to Johannesburg, South Africa where she stayed for nearly thirty years before arriving back in the UK in December 2000.

Sue works full time in the field of regulatory compliance for a company in the financial services industry in Cambridge. But she still finds time to work until the small hours of the morning doing what she loves best – writing. Since her first novel, Cassandra by Starlight, was penned, Sue has written the other two books in her Starlight trilogy, six other novels, two short stories and a screen play based on Cassandra. Her passion is keeping herself busy creating worlds and characters for her readers to enjoy.

Sue is a member of Romance Writers of America and Romantic Novelists Association in the UK. She is also a member of a rather unique writing group, called the Talliston Writer’s Circle, which in itself has a story all of its own to tell and lives in the rural village of Bocking, in Essex, with her family.

Her plan is to keep writing as long as her muse sits upon her shoulder. Her dream is to one day get that big old house in the English countryside overlooking a river, where she can write all day and continue to indulge her passion for telling stories.

Website - www.susanmacnicol.com

Twitter - @SusanMacnicol7

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/susiemax77

Blog -  http://susanmacnicol.wordpress.com/

 

The Whole 'Starlight Series': 

book cover image for Cassandra by Starlight by Susan Mac Nicol depicting an elegant man and woman standing together but she is turned away

Universal Reader Link:  https://books2read.com/u/braXKY

cover image for Together in Starlight

Universal Reader Link:  https://books2read.com/u/mB2vEM

book cover image for Forever in Starlight by Susan Mac Nicol depicting a couple standing with a starry background this is the final book of the trilogy

Universal Reader Link:  https://books2read.com/u/mZrEnB

Check out our latest Writing in the Modern Age blog article here.

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A Review by Kathryn Elizabeth Jones

6/21/2013

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BOOK REVIEW: Journaling with Jesus: How to Draw Closer to God

 

Reviewer:  Kathryn Elizabeth Jones

Author:  Carol Round 

book cover image for Journaling with Jesus by Carol Round depicting a young woman writing in her diary with an antique background on the picture

For readers who know me and my personal journey with what I've always called "scripture" journaling, you'll want to read Journaling with Jesus, an insightful, honest and refreshingly motivating nonfiction book by Carol Round.

If you've ever wanted to get closer to God through prayer, scripture study and journaling, then this book is for you. Journaling with Jesus is beautifully penned from the first word to the last, and gives adult readers an opportunity to see the power of prayer while they are developing a more intimate communication with God. 

Round shares personal experiences that she has had with God through her journaling of the past 10 years. She also shares the experiences others have had with prayer journaling. She opens the way for readers of all faiths to experience prayer journaling for themselves. 

Consider these insights:

"(Prayer journaling) is a relationship with God. I talk, He listens. He talks, I listen."

"...we write to grow, not to stay the same."

"I wasn't aware of God's plan to use my gifts and talents for His glory. Through my daily habit of journaling, He has made me appreciate the importance of letting Him shape and mold me into the woman He created me to be."

Journaling with Jesus is for anyone desiring to improve his/her relationship with God. Although this reader could see the direction of the book for women, primarily, the truths spoken of in Round's book will assist anyone with the desire for a deeper connection with God. 

Discover the interest God has in you as His child. Feel the presence of God.

Carol Round's book can be purchased at Amazon. 

About the Author

CAROL ROUND, self-syndicated columnist, Christian author and inspirational speaker, began her journey with the Lord in October 2001 when she admitted her need for His guidance. Since that time, she has sought a deeper relationship with Him through reading scripture, Bible study and the personal discipline of keeping a daily prayer journal. After being encouraged by other Christian women, she has compiled her experiences with prayer journaling into "Journaling with Jesus: How to Draw Closer to God" and the companion workbook, "The 40-Day Challenge." Both are available through amazon.com.

Carol's first two books, A MATTER OF FAITH, and FAITH MATTERS, are collections of her weekly faith-based column which runs in 12 Oklahoma newspapers and at http://www.assistnews.net/. Both books can be purchased through Amazon.com.

Her third collection of columns, "Sola Fide: by FAITH alone," was released in October 2012 and is also available through Amazon.com.


Reviewer Bio

picture of Kathy actually author Kathryn Elizabeth Jones
Kathryn has been a published writer since 1987.  She graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. in Mass Communication and a minor in Creative Writing. Her studies included work in creative writing, public relations and journalism. In 2012, she opened the doors to Idea Creations Press, a publishing services company that caters to writers and their writing, publishing and marketing needs. Her newest book, Marketing Your Book on a Budget 2013, can be found at Amazon.

Links:

Websites: http://www.ideacreationspress.com

http://www.ariverofstones.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/KathrynElizabethJones.Author?ref=ts&fref=ts

LinkedIn:  http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=21281954&locale=en_US&trk=tyah2

book cover for Marketing Your Book on a Budget by Kathryn Elizabeth Jones featuring a dollar bill turned on its side along with the book title  

Universal Reader link:  https://books2read.com/u/mdDDyZ

Check out our latest Writing in the Modern Age blog article here.

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A Review by Olga Sonia Dávila

4/26/2013

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A  Book Review of The Other Island by Jaime Martínez-Tolentino


Reviewer:  Olga Sonia Dávila

 

Australia’s ASJ Publishing Company has just released Jaime Martínez-Tolentino’s memoir The Other Island (Melbourne: ASJ Publishing, 2013) currently available on Amazon.com.

cover image for The Other Island by Jaime Martinez Tolentino showing one side of an apartment building with a flag plastered across the bottom part

The memoir is highly informative. The author invites the reader to explore, reflect upon, and ultimately understand the circumstances that arise when one comes from humble beginnings, but possesses the essentials to achieve a better life by struggling and acquiring the wisdom of real-life experiences. What is even more remarkable is that the main protagonist achieves all that while facing a physical handicap and having to cope with a family of limited resources and living in a foreign world.

The author provides a wealth of scientific and historical information in a very palatable form on a disability of which we have limited first-hand information today. Polio, which was once the scourge of infancy, is, thankfully, a thing of the past today. Aside from learning about this terrible illness, Martínez-Tolentino’s book allowed me access to the heart of New York City’s “El Barrio” Puerto Rican community of the 1950’s and the 1960’s. The author very cleverly weaves accessible information on polio with vivid descriptions of life in El Barrio to inform the reader of the obstacles he had to face in his youth. He also portrays the problems he was forced to overcome in order to achieve his dreams.

This memoir is also a provocative tale of the author’s relationships with his family and his friends, as well as an exploration of his circumstances, his strengths and his faults. In that, it is, basically, the story of all young people growing up. However, through his vivid descriptions of growing up in a hostile environment, Martínez-Tolentino presents a coming of age story set in the type of neighborhood with which many readers aren’t familiar. 

Still, the lessons taught through this immersion in a strange world are quite familiar… and uplifting. I know the author personally, and I can vouch for his many accomplishments, but his memoir reveals how those accomplishments were achieved. His efforts, his desire for a better life and his endurance all paid off, in the end, and they constitute a powerful life lesson for all those facing difficult circumstances.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Other Island, and when I finished it, I still wanted to continue with the author on his journey. I look forward to more such literary adventures from this author who has narrated, once again, the hardships and the joys of all those who have come to this country in search of a better life and have achieved their dreams.

About the Reviewer
 
Olga Sonia Dávila is a retired City of Buffalo public school principal.


Author Bio
 
picture of author Jaime Martinez Tolentino
Jaime Martínez Tolentino is a Puerto Rican writer. At the age of four, Martinez Tolentino contracted polio, which left him crippled. In 1951, he and his family emigrated to New York City where he lived until 1966. He attended New York University where he majored in French and French literature, while also studying Spanish literature and German. As an undergraduate he participated actively in the theater.  After earning a B.A. and an M.A in French literature, he returned, briefly, to his native Puerto Rico where he was named French professor at The University of Puerto Rico. Then he left for Europe to pursue further studies.

In France, he studied French at the Sorbonne, and then he relocated to Spain, where he studied both French and Hispanic Literature. He received a Ph.D. in French Literature from the University of Madrid, and then he returned to Puerto Rico.  Between 1970 and 1984, Martinez Tolentino taught French at the Mayaguez Campus of the University of Puerto Rico, and he also published three books on French. Also during this period, he published a full-length play, and in 1984, he directed its staged version. One of his short stories was adapted for the stage in Puerto Rico in 1979.  In 1980, he published his play La imagen del otro, and three years later, an original collection of short stories of the fantastic.

As he continued publishing in Spanish, his interest in Hispanic literature grew. He began taking graduate courses in Spanish and Puerto Rican literature, and then taught Spanish literature at the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, while still also teaching French at the UPR.  In 1984, Martinez Tolentino resigned from his position as a French professor.  In 1990, he became a Spanish professor at the State University of New York’s College of Buffalo, where he continued writing and producing plays. He retired from teaching in 2002, but not from writing and publishing.  For a full history, you can find Jaime on Wikipedia or on his website.

Some of his books can be found on Amazon.  For a complete list of his works, click here.

To purchase or view The Other Island, click here.


Thank you, Olga, for that informative review!

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Social Networking Part 2: Beware by Marie Lavender

4/19/2013

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Back in March, you may have seen my post about social networking and how useful a tool it can be. I still stand by that statement with the exception of a few things. 

Facebook is a good social networking tool. Remember how I said to connect with as many people as possible to expand your presence? You should. And joining discussion groups on Facebook is a good idea too. If you are published, your publisher may have its own authors group. Definitely join. It will save you a lot of unanswered questions. Facebook is a really good tool.

However, Facebook has this funny way of preventing you from adding friends like crazy. I have been blocked before. This is basically like putting a hold on your account for a certain length of time. You can do everything except add new friends and send direct messages to people you aren’t connected with. The only way you can get new friends is if people add you and then you confirm. I know it's not great while you're waiting for the wonderful people at Facebook to take the hold off of your account, but it's something. I think part of it is Facebook’s fault. The other reason you get blocked is because the people you have tried to add have nothing better to do than to report to Facebook that you are a complete stranger or are spamming them. It is simple. They don’t have to confirm you as a friend. They can simply hit “ignore”. Instead, they chose to report you. The only good reason I see for blocking someone is if they are sending you creepy or threatening messages. That is just my take on being blocked. Unfortunately, Facebook has their own rules. So, that is one of the disadvantages of adding friends like crazy on Facebook.

LinkedIn is still a tool I would recommend. Having said that, there is one hiccup you’re bound to come across at some point. LinkedIn lets you join 50 different discussion groups. This is nice if you have joined good ones. It is not so nice if you have not. I mentioned the notifications you’d receive before. Just be sure to change the notification settings on each of your groups so you’re not bombarded with messages in your inbox. 

The one thing I want to cover with LinkedIn today is knowing what those groups are about. Read the rules of each group. The moderators can get really picky with what they allow. I encourage you to join discussions. Make sure your website and any other information is on your profile so others can see it and link to it. Posting discussions can get hairy though. You need to decide if what you post goes with that specific group. One of my discussions was removed recently and I was flagged to be moderated in the future. All I posted was the fact that I was interviewed by a blogger. It’s not like I was doing multi-level marketing and trying to get people to look at and buy a specific product. I was just excited about the interview. So sue me. LOL. For future reference, just keep an eye on what you’re posting and what the group is all about.

Twitter is also a neat tool to use. You can tweet about pretty much anything from your book to interviews to where you went to eat last night to how you took your dog for a walk. I’m not kidding about the last two. People actually do that. Nowadays, it’s becoming the standard to talk about things besides what you really want to post. That is why you see the celebrities you follow tell everyone they just ate a bag of Doritos or painted their toe nails. Really? That’s nice. I know. Not very exciting. And not very hopeful for the burgeoning writer.

So, there are a few things you can do to ramp up your presence on Twitter. Sure, you can post news about your writing. I recommend it. Also, try to gain a following by following other authors or your own interests (i.e. companies or brands you like, people you admire). Chances are they’ll follow you back. And on the left side of the page, Twitter gives you recommendations, kind of like the age old, "if you like this, you'll like this" notion. And always try to follow those who have followed you on Twitter. If someone direct messages you, asking a random question like, “What is your favorite food?” or maybe they want to talk about how they just finished a needlepoint project, go ahead and reply back. This puts out the idea that your efforts are not self-serving and you actually do want to talk to people, which is most likely the case. The downside of Twitter is this: some of the people you follow are not exactly professional, and you may get some pretty nasty comments or propositions. The best way to handle this is to go through your list of followers and unfollow those rude people. They may still follow you, but by unfollowing them, you have just saved yourself a big headache and a ton of embarrassment.

In my previous article, I did not mention any other tools that could help you network and give you more of a presence. But, I will now. Some of these include blogging and email lists. Blogging is a good tool. Start your own blog. Find a niche market, something to write about. You want to write about writing? Go ahead. You want to tell people how much you love baking pies? You can do that. In most cases, if you say you’re a writer somewhere on your profile and have a link to your website, curiosity alone will cause people to go there. Will they buy your book? I don’t know. But, it’s worth a try. The important thing is you have something to offer people, something that brings them back to the blog again and again. You’ll get subscribers. That’s a good thing. You’re building a web presence. I have two blogs, one that showcases my books and one that is all about writing. Obviously, you’re here so you know which one is which. LOL. Then, you want to look up ways to advertise your blog. There are many sites where you can list your blog and thereby draw attention to it.

Now, I’m going to say something about email lists. Sure, you can take a bunch of your connections and email them like wild about your books, etc. But, I don’t recommend it. You’re mainly going to piss people off. They’ll end up blocking you in some form or other. And you’ll get some replies back, mostly ones like, “Stop emailing me” or “Take me off your mailing list”. The same could happen if you buy email lists. But, if you go that route, mostly what you’ll get is a bunch of non-deliverable emails sent back because those emails were out of date. Probably the best thing to do is to make connections or even friends on LinkedIn, Twitter or in real life and simply ask them if it’s okay to put them on a mailing list for updates or news on your books/writing. 

So, that’s my spiel for the day, folks. Yes, there are a few disadvantages to social networking. I’m sure there are more than I even listed. But, without these tools, we would have no presence as writers. Gone are the days when all books ended up on shelves in libraries or bookstores. This is the digital age. E-books are the thing. If someone can read a book on their Kindle or Nook, then we have to use the tools provided to us in the digital age to try to reach those readers. Though I love traditional books as much as anyone else, even I have to evolve with the times. 

Thanks for reading! Keep an eye out for further posts. I am still hosting author interviews, guest blog articles, and I am beginning to take guest book reviews on my blog. Enjoy, or read back through the archives of Writing in the Modern Age. Have a great day!

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The Benefits of Social Networking by Marie Lavender

3/28/2013

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Okay, so we’ve all heard that to make it in the new publishing world, we have to promote, promote, promote! Sigh. Unfortunately, it’s true. It is important to maintain author accounts on significant social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Did I miss any? Probably. I’ve heard Pinterest is up and coming, but that is not what I’m going to talk about here.


LinkedIn was at one time a social networking site for mainly the business world. Now, it still is, but tons of people use it. If you do decide to create an account on LinkedIn, make sure you connect to as many people as possible. As I have tons of accounts (one for each pen name…LOL), this is a hard thing to do. For the benefit of this blog, I’ll only mention my Marie Lavender identity. LOL. To this day, it still gets me that I have so many pen names, but I digress.


On LinkedIn, I have 1126 connections. What? How did that happen? Network, network, network. If someone wants to connect with you, do it. The more connections you have, the more potential readers you’ll have. Or peers. Fellow writers always come in handy because you can ask them questions. And they may recommend you to someone else. Cool, right? Mostly, I do it because I feel an affinity with other writers. We’re all going through the same thing. Also, try to reach out to as many people as you can and connect with them. If LinkedIn is suggesting you connect with five people, take the suggestion. LinkedIn will make suggestions depending on if you happen to be connected to someone else in that person’s network. LinkedIn has a three tier system for networking. The first level is who you’re connected to. The second is who those people are connected to. And the third…well, for the most part you don’t need to be concerned with them. They are so out of your reach, it would be a miracle if you ever connected to people like them. Think Bill Gates. But, if you happen to connect to Bill Gates, good for you. Those “third” connections are persons of influence. 


So, on to my next thing about LinkedIn. The other way to gain more connections is to join groups. Yes, I did say “groups”. Discussion groups are a time-consuming process, but believe me, they foster a lot of learning and networking. Try to join discussion groups that have a lot of members, and are about a subject you’re genuinely interested in. If you like making pottery, don’t join a comic book club. You get the idea. And LinkedIn lets you have about 50 groups, so you have a lot to choose from. Considering there’s about a million discussion groups on LinkedIn (I could be exaggerating...then maybe I'm not), you have your work cut out for you. In some cases, the moderator of the group will have to approve you to let you in. Nowadays, a lot of discussion groups are becoming open groups so it may be easier for you. 


Once you are in a group, you can post discussions. Yes, some people take this to the extreme and use it as an advertising tool. “Please look at my book….please go to my website…buy my pet rocks…” But, this is a sure-proof way to get the moderator to block you or boot you from the group. You can advertise, but please, oh please…do it sparingly. The thing you want to focus on here is the discussions posted asking someone else’s opinion about a topic or advice. If you have something to say, comment on the discussion.  Be mindful of your image, however.  You can choose to follow the discussion, and you will receive email notifications about other comments from group members. And if you’d like to post a question, go ahead. In most cases, you will get a response. You will get a ton of emails once you join a group though. Not only because of these discussions you participated in, but because of the discussions posted in the group overall. You’ll receive updates. Thankfully, you can change your notification settings when you click on each group. You can tell it to only send those once a day, once a week, etc. Take advantage of that, or you’ll end up screaming in frustration at the craziness in your inbox. 


The other thing you can do on LinkedIn is create a discussion group. If you really feel there aren’t many groups that interest you and you think there’s a niche for it, then make one. Be sure to make the rules for the group clear, and the description as accurate as possible. You can invite your connections to the group. You can sit and wait for people to join. In some cases, it totally works. In others, not so much. Really consider what you’re doing when you start a discussion group. For one of my accounts, I created a romance writing discussion group, and it has gone very well. People are posting discussions all of the time. For another account, that didn’t go so well. I had plenty of members, but no one wanted to say anything. You will have to post the occasional discussion in your group to actually foster discussion. And moderation is very important. You will have to approve members quite often and approve discussions. Occasionally, you’ll get someone that posts the same topic/advertising tool like crazy, and you have to delete those posts or it will make the group look bad. In some cases, you may have to tell that person the group is not a forum to advertise, but a “discussion” group. Again, I digress. But, forming a group can be a powerful tool, if that’s what you want to do and you have the time to moderate it.


There are ways of advertising on LinkedIn. Yes, you can send a blitz of messages to your connections, but you may get some pretty hateful replies in return. LinkedIn has paid advertising just like Google, if you want to do that. LinkedIn offers free accounts as well, but there are paid accounts that will give you more power. Do that if your budget allows it. For most of us writers, at least at the start of our careers, our budgets are pretty meager so we have to evaluate things like this.


On to the next tool. Facebook. Facebook can be a pretty useful medium. Once you have an account, you can “friend” people. At first, it might seem like you don’t know anybody. You want to look up your friends from high school? You can do that. You want to connect with other writers? You can do that. Facebook will suggest friends for you like LinkedIn does. Take the suggestion. The more friends you have, the better. Right now, I have 870 friends. Also, if you are an author, you will want to find fellow author’s pages and “like” them. They will likely connect with you and “like” your page if you have one. Like other people’s pages if you want too. 


Yes, you can create a page. It’s free, and it’s a very useful tool. You can create an author page and a page for each of your books. For some writers, this is very nice because once they reach the maximum amount of friends that Facebook allows, they can refer people to this page. If you are connecting with other authors, you’ll understand exactly what I mean very shortly. Then, you want to try to get people to “like” your page (or pages, if you have more than one). Sure, you can message people like crazy, but this can also get a pretty unsavory response. Believe me. LOL. You don’t want that can of worms. 


The best thing to do next is to join some discussion groups. “Oh, no!” you say. Not more discussion groups. Yes, my minions. LOL. Just kidding.  You should join more groups. On Facebook, you really don’t need to join that many. Between five or ten is a good number. Sometimes people will automatically add you to their groups, which can be good and bad. You can choose to leave at anytime, of course, just liked you can on LinkedIn.  Within these groups, you can post questions and present topics. 


The other thing is “events”. You may get invited to join “events.” Sometimes it’s a book signing or release. You can choose to join or decline. Or click “maybe” if you don’t know yet. In my case on two of my accounts, it was a “Liking” event. This was very, very cool because a bunch of authors joined it. And all of us started “liking” each other’s pages. And yes, you need as many likes as possible on your pages. In some cases, you can even encourage people to “like” your Amazon book page, if Amazon still allows that.   Never forget to return the favor of liking. If someone likes you or your book page, do the same. It’s only fair.


If you want to get the word out, Facebook has advertising too, and it’s cool if it’s within your budget. But, I don’t even have that kind of budget right now so I can’t give you advice in that regard.


The next tool is Twitter. Ah, Twitter. The wonderful Twitter where you can “tweet” like crazy. You can create your author account here. Yes, it is an advertising tool for the most part. Or it seems like that. It doesn’t have to be. If you are a new member, you will need to “follow” your interests. Most likely, Twitter will offer a tutorial. Once you have established what interests you, Twitter will make suggestions based on that. You can also search for what you want to follow. If you like healthcare, follow the CDC.  If you like Taylor Swift (*shudder), follow her.  If you like writing, follow other authors and their books. In most cases, people will “follow” you back.


You want to get as many followers as possible. This may seem hard. It will look as if you follow more than you’re followed. Keep pushing forward. You will also receive notifications about Tweets the people you’ve followed have posted. Yes, it does make your inbox crazy. I believe you can change the notification settings here too.   Another tip. With Twitter, you can customize your profile with your book cover, author pic or other background to make it look nice. Other people will see this when they follow you. Because you do want a lot of followers, I will give you this.  


Recently, I heard of a way to actually buy followers. I haven’t tried it yet, but it might be a decent way to get potential readers. As of right now, I have 181 followers. I’m getting there! LOL. 
As always, I’m still learning. We all try to pick stuff up every day to keep promoting ourselves as authors. Do you have any tips for writers in the modern age? Want to write an article for my blog here or maybe you’d like me to interview you? Please email me at marieannlavender@gmail.com and I’ll get back to you promptly.

 

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