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Welcome Alicia Rasley…
…as guest blogger today. Alicia Rasley is a Rita-award winning author and nationally known teacher of writing workshops. She teaches composition and tutors students in two state universities. She grew up in the mountains of Southwest Virginia but now lives in the Midwestern flat land. Her book The Year She Fell has been a Kindle fiction bestseller. Her blog is at: www.edittorrent.blogspot.com, and her website is www.rasley.com. Her writing book, The Power of Point of View, is still available from Writer’s Digest Books. All her books can be found on her Kindle page and are listed at the end this post. Stop by and click the “like” button or add…
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Savoring
I’ve been hungry for ice cream and not low-fat frozen yogurt or that fat-free nasty stuff from the grocery store. (You do what makes ice cream taste good, right? It’s the fat!) I’ve been wanting some Ben & Jerry’s Everything But the… Best ice cream ever! “A Collision of Chocolate & Vanilla Ice Creams with HEATH® Bar Chunks, White Chocolatey Chunks, Peanut Butter Cups & Chocolatey-Covered Almonds.” Ordinarily when I get ice cream, I go out to Ritter’s or someplace like that and gobble up a dish of whatever deliciousness is on the menu that day, or I buy a pint of B&J’s and eat the whole damn thing right…
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Stop SOPA
No blog today in protest of SOPA. Go here to learn more: Stop Online Piracy Act End Piracy, Not Liberty How SOPA Would Affect You: FAQ
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Confessions of an Addictive Personality
I’ve been watching TV this winter. Not a lot, just occasionally. But since I don’t usually watch television, it feels like I”m spending too much time in front of it lately. We started watching PBS’s Downton Abbey on Sunday and it is great! Sort of like the old Upstairs, Downstairs, which I used to love. That was back when I was a television addict. Seriously…I was! Here’s a confession that I’ve never made publicly before: At the height of my TV addiction, I was also at the highest weight I’ve ever been. Son was in kindergarten then, and I used to drive him to school. Every day, on the way…
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Guest Today Is Editor/Writer Ally Peltier
I’m so happy to welcome editor, writer, and consultant Ally E. Peltier to the blog today. Ally has worked with small and large book publishers, including Simon & Schuster, where she acquired and edited books. Ally loves using her insider knowledge of the publishing industry and more than a decade of writing experience to help others reach their publishing goals. She offers tips, advice, and news at www.allypeltier.com and provides editorial services through www.ambitiousenterprises.com. She’s also the co-sponsor of the Self-Publishing Success Intensive, a new event for indie authors coming in March 2012. Visit www.selfpublishingsuccessintensive.com for details. Take it away, Ally. Why Fiction Writers Need Editors You’ve slaved over your…
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Book Review: ONE MORE SUMMER by Liz Flaherty
I come from a family of voracious readers. I started reading at age four, thanks to my sisters who were both in school. They played “school” after school each day and I was their student, so learning to read early was the natural result of that. Also, Mom read aloud to us constantly and was a big reader herself. Honestly, only my sister PJ rivals Mom’s ability to be so completely absorbed in a book that she can read anywhere, anytime, while anything at all is going on around her. I once saw PJ read a book in the middle of a chaotic, crowded airport with Kate and I on…
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Welcome, Lani & Alastair, Creators of StoryWonk.Com
Today, I’m excited to welcome Lani Diane Rich and Alastair Stephens to the blog. They are the creators of StoryWonk— a daily podcast for people who are passionate about writing and storytelling. Introductions are their own words: Lani is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nine novels. Currently, she’s writing romantic fantasy for St. Martin’s Press as Lucy March; her first novel, A Little Night Magic, will be released in February 2012. She has been teaching writing workshops across the country since 2004, and has been an adjunct professor at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School for Public Communications, teaching introductory television writing and production. Alastair is a…
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My first guest blog of 2012…
…is at the Bettyverse today! Come on over! We’re talking about movies and how lines from movies have become a part of our culture’s vernacular. Do you love movies? Do you quote lines from your favorite films? Talk to us!
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Champagne and Fireworks…
…not so much. I celebrated the birth of 2012 with a couple of glasses of Layer Cake Pinot Noir (which was fabulous), shrimp, and another viewing of the movie I found in my Christmas stocking. Midnight In Paris has officially knocked Independence Day off the pedestal as my favorite movie. I just realized that means that I haven’t truly loved a film since 1996. I’m not sure what that says about me. Or what the fact that I’ve graduated from a sci-fi apocalyptic story to Hemingway’s Paris says about me either. Maybe that I’ve grown up just a little? I’d like to think so. I hope growing up means I’ll…
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Great Expectations
2011 is almost over and it was an exciting and fascinating year for me, but Son and DIL brought the best news to us this holiday season. We’re going to be grandparents. Now, I’ve always maintained that whether or not they chose to make us grandparents was something I wasn’t going to be pushy about. They’ve been married almost ten years and both Son and DIL are very career-oriented. Both are highly successful in their chosen fields. Their life is full of adventure and friends and joy in one another. Nothing has ever seemed to be “missing” to me. They’ve talked about children, and in their typical fashion, discussed and…