Dec 14, 2016 | Entertainment
Distractify.com recently published a list of reasons why reading a book is a life-changing experience. Here are my favorite ones! 1 . Reading a novel increases brain function for days. Research from Emory University has found that reading a book can increase...
Dec 12, 2016 | Publishing
As you know, most of my books are available in print format as well. I use Createspace for this but have often flirted with the idea of using Ingram Sparks. How can one choose? I recently stumbled on a great post by Giacomo Giammatteo on the Self-publishing advice...
Dec 10, 2016 | Fun Historical Facts
Two days ago, thieves broke into a chapel in my local parish. They left with a chalice, two candlesticks, and a Bible. When I heard about it, I wondered if the Bible’s publishers still followed the Medieval tradition of protecting books with curses. Which makes...
Dec 8, 2016 | My Publications, Writing
Back in September, I published Emotional Beats: How to Easily Convert your Writing into Palpable Feelings. As promised, I will be posting the book on my blog. So, here is the next installment, listing beats you can use to convey: Pain What good is a story with no...
Dec 6, 2016 | Writing
When I published The Power of Six, my first collection of short stories, a reviewer said that the book had grammatical errors, albeit small ones. This shocked me, as the book had been professionally edited and proof-read. So, I reached out and asked her for an...
Dec 4, 2016 | Marketing, My friends' Guest Posts
This is a guest post by Mary Kleim, who works in the digital sphere. She is also a guest blogger who shares her online marketing experience on sites dedicated to creativity, self-development, writing, and digital marketing. Connect with Mary on LinkedIn. I...
Dec 2, 2016 | Marketing
My reviewer friend, C, aka the happy meerkat, recently notified me of some further tweaks in Amazon’s review policy. Most of them make perfect sense, yet a couple raise concerns. The new rules can be read here in their entirety but here are the new points: If...
Nov 30, 2016 | My Publications, Writing
Back in September, I published Emotional Beats: How to Easily Convert your Writing into Palpable Feelings. As promised, I will be posting the book on my blog. So, here is the next installment, listing beats you can use to convey: Sadness Characters will often...
Nov 28, 2016 | Maps and Infographics, My friends' Guest Posts, Writing
Reedsy recently published an inspired infographic on the differences between the third person limited point of view (PoV) and the third person omniscient one. As they say, an image is worth a thousand words, so here is the perfect way to understand the differences...
Nov 26, 2016 | My friends' Guest Posts, Writing
Making a living as a writer can be hard. Sometimes, it helps to remember that publishing our books isn’t the only way to achieve this. Ghostwriting can be a satisfying and lucrative profession that can help put bread on the table when things are slow. This guide...
Nov 24, 2016 | Random Musings
This has been a wonderful year in many respects, with the new arrival in our life stealing our hearts, even though we barely have the time to enjoy a nice cup of tea anymore. Apart from Mary Natalie, one of my top reasons to be grateful are you – my amazing community...
Nov 22, 2016 | Random Musings
I’ve been using Google since the early 90s, when it was first conceived, and have been using it daily since. And yet, even I didn’t know some the shortcuts found below, brought to us by brightside.me. 1. Either this or that Sometimes we’re not sure of,...
Nov 20, 2016 | My Publications, Writing
Back in September, I published Emotional Beats: How to Easily Convert your Writing into Palpable Feelings. As promised, I will be posting the book on my blog. So, here is the next installment, listing beats you can use to convey: Joy Hopefully, our characters will...
Nov 18, 2016 | Fun Historical Facts
If you are in London until November 27th, you have a great opportunity to visit “Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost Worlds” at the British Museum. The exhibition contains treasures excavated from the Mediterranean and, as the Economist points out, explains how the ancient...
Nov 16, 2016 | Marketing
Written word media recently published a great post with ideas on how to take advantage of holiday marketing trends to sell your books. With Christmas fast approaching, I figured this is a great time to have a look at the main points: 1. Between mid-November and early...
Nov 14, 2016 | Blog hops tours & reblogs
When Katie loses her Athens office job, a gypsy woman hands her an amulet for good luck. Next, she gets hired as hotel receptionist on the Greek island of Sifnos and everything seems perfect, except for the overbearing hotel owner, Mrs. Matina. One of the guests,...
Nov 13, 2016 | Events and Giveaways
Dragons & Magic Dragons & Magic is a new humorous fantasy series by Dave Higgins and Simon Cantan. It is set in a world where role-playing game attributes and statistics are real. At birth, your parents decide what they want you to be. If they want a warrior,...
Nov 12, 2016 | My Publications, Writing
In September, I published Emotional Beats: How to Easily Convert your Writing into Palpable Feelings. As promised, I will be posting the book on my blog. So, here is the next installment, listing beats you can use to convey: Relaxation In a sense, this category is the...
Nov 10, 2016 | My Publications
“Each story is like watching an old episode of the Twilight Zone” ~ C. Mackay Great news for those who love short stories of a science or speculative fiction nature, and who enjoy my writing. I have collected my Short SSF Stories series in a single bundle,...
Nov 8, 2016 | Fun Historical Facts
It was a slow day in 1450 and Herman Strepel, a scribe in Münster, Germany, was bored. With the last manuscript almost complete, he needed a new client. So, his eyes lit up when a passerby stepped into his store. His clothes spoke of a wealthy merchant. Perhaps even a...
