Friday, January 27, 2012
Voices from the Heart
Author Call for Romancing the Pen
2012 is here, and Romancing the Pen's author line-up for the new year is open and FREE to all authors!
If you have a book, blog, or appearance that you'd like to discuss and promote, contact Angela for more information about appearing on Romancing the Pen. Join authors like: Denyse Bridger, LaVerne Thompson, Meredith Bond, Kelly Abell, Roseanne Dowell, Ginger Simpson, Rachel Brimble, Kim Smith, Nana Malone, and more. Visit Romancing the Pen to see the full list of previous guests.
And Romancing the Pen is a Goddess Fish blog tour partner!
Your appearance will be promoted via approximately 30 listservs, Angela Kay Austin's newsletter, blog, website, FaceBook, and Twitter pages.
Happy New Year!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Conquering your fears...
What does it mean?
Does it mean to completely eradicate any and all apprehension you may have at the simple of thought of something? Or does it mean to peacefully exist with that slightly irrational piece of yourself? Is it even irrational?
Lots of people fear:
-heights
-water
-public speaking
-the dark
Me...what is my fear you ask? Bridges. There was a time when I thought they were beautiful...truly architectural wonders. Then, there was a time when I preferred to look vs. drive over them. Then, it turned into only driving over them at night.
Now, it's freaking maddening. The idea of driving over one a year from now would have me researching ways to avoid driving over it ;-) I simply don't understand where it came from.
Fast forward, for work, I had to drive from Tennessee to Arkansas. In order to do that, I had to drive across this...
...and not at night!
So, as I researched flights, trains, buses, etc. I really took a look at myself, and wondered just how far I was willing to go to avoid driving over that freaking bridge.
Finally, I decided that was a far as I would go. Why spend hundreds of dollars on anything, when I could simply hop in my car and go. Did I mention that the train would take 10 hours, and that it cost $300 one way! By car, two hours and a tank of gas.
I threw my suitcase in the car, grabbed my phone, and headed for that $#@! bridge!
Have you ever in life felt like something literally crawled up your leg, slinked up your back, and some way wormed it's way into your heart, and slowly squeezed?
Well, I have, and it's not fun...not at all.
But, happy dance time, I FREAKING DID IT! YES YES YES. And not only did I do it once...I did it TWICE!
I haven't conquered it, but...it hasn't conquered me!
Have you ever had to fight against a crippling fear? (I hope you won.)
Does it mean to completely eradicate any and all apprehension you may have at the simple of thought of something? Or does it mean to peacefully exist with that slightly irrational piece of yourself? Is it even irrational?
Lots of people fear:
-heights
-water
-public speaking
-the dark
Me...what is my fear you ask? Bridges. There was a time when I thought they were beautiful...truly architectural wonders. Then, there was a time when I preferred to look vs. drive over them. Then, it turned into only driving over them at night.
Now, it's freaking maddening. The idea of driving over one a year from now would have me researching ways to avoid driving over it ;-) I simply don't understand where it came from.
Fast forward, for work, I had to drive from Tennessee to Arkansas. In order to do that, I had to drive across this...
So, as I researched flights, trains, buses, etc. I really took a look at myself, and wondered just how far I was willing to go to avoid driving over that freaking bridge.
Finally, I decided that was a far as I would go. Why spend hundreds of dollars on anything, when I could simply hop in my car and go. Did I mention that the train would take 10 hours, and that it cost $300 one way! By car, two hours and a tank of gas.
I threw my suitcase in the car, grabbed my phone, and headed for that $#@! bridge!
Have you ever in life felt like something literally crawled up your leg, slinked up your back, and some way wormed it's way into your heart, and slowly squeezed?
Well, I have, and it's not fun...not at all.
But, happy dance time, I FREAKING DID IT! YES YES YES. And not only did I do it once...I did it TWICE!
I haven't conquered it, but...it hasn't conquered me!
Have you ever had to fight against a crippling fear? (I hope you won.)
Friday, January 20, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Congratulations Michelle!
I hopped along with you because there were so many great authors, and I wanted to reacquaint myself with a lot of them. Some were new to me and, of course, that made my "to be read" list grew!
I don't know why, but that freaking list never seems to go down. Every time one drops off, there are so many more added.
At the moment, I'm going through a non-fiction phase, so it might take me a while to get through the backlog on my Kindle!
But, anyway, that brings me to my announcement...
The winner of the Kindle from the Friday, January 13th blog hop is...Michelle Bledsoe!
Congratulations Michelle! Thank you for hopping along with us, and joining in on the fun.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Blog Hopping Friday
Blog Hoppers...
If you're staring at the big eyeball in the other post, I guess you're asking yourself..."What is Angela doing?" Yeah, yeah, I know. I don't write horror, but this blog hop is made up of authors from all genres, so I guess you'll just have to hop along to meet us all, and get to know a little more about us all.
If you dropped by my site before you began the hop, start here:
If you're staring at the big eyeball in the other post, I guess you're asking yourself..."What is Angela doing?" Yeah, yeah, I know. I don't write horror, but this blog hop is made up of authors from all genres, so I guess you'll just have to hop along to meet us all, and get to know a little more about us all.
If you dropped by my site before you began the hop, start here:
If you've clicked through the other sites, click the button below for your next stop.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Rules for writing fiction
As written for The Guardian by A.L. Kennedy, novelist.
1 Have humility. Older/more experienced/more convincing writers may offer rules and varieties of advice. Consider what they say. However, don't automatically give them charge of your brain, or anything else – they might be bitter, twisted, burned-out, manipulative, or just not very like you.
2 Have more humility. Remember you don't know the limits of your own abilities. Successful or not, if you keep pushing beyond yourself, you will enrich your own life – and maybe even please a few strangers.
3 Defend others. You can, of course, steal stories and attributes from family and friends, fill in filecards after lovemaking and so forth. It might be better to celebrate those you love – and love itself – by writing in such a way that everyone keeps their privacy and dignity intact.
4 Defend your work. Organisations, institutions and individuals will often think they know best about your work – especially if they are paying you. When you genuinely believe their decisions would damage your work – walk away. Run away. The money doesn't matter that much.
5 Defend yourself. Find out what keeps you happy, motivated and creative.
6 Write. No amount of self-inflicted misery, altered states, black pullovers or being publicly obnoxious will ever add up to your being a writer. Writers write. On you go.
7 Read. As much as you can. As deeply and widely and nourishingly and irritatingly as you can. And the good things will make you remember them, so you won't need to take notes.
8 Be without fear. This is impossible, but let the small fears drive your rewriting and set aside the large ones until they behave – then use them, maybe even write them. Too much fear and all you'll get is silence.
9 Remember you love writing. It wouldn't be worth it if you didn't. If the love fades, do what you need to and get it back.
10 Remember writing doesn't love you. It doesn't care. Nevertheless, it can behave with remarkable generosity. Speak well of it, encourage others, pass it on.
1 Have humility. Older/more experienced/more convincing writers may offer rules and varieties of advice. Consider what they say. However, don't automatically give them charge of your brain, or anything else – they might be bitter, twisted, burned-out, manipulative, or just not very like you.
2 Have more humility. Remember you don't know the limits of your own abilities. Successful or not, if you keep pushing beyond yourself, you will enrich your own life – and maybe even please a few strangers.
3 Defend others. You can, of course, steal stories and attributes from family and friends, fill in filecards after lovemaking and so forth. It might be better to celebrate those you love – and love itself – by writing in such a way that everyone keeps their privacy and dignity intact.
4 Defend your work. Organisations, institutions and individuals will often think they know best about your work – especially if they are paying you. When you genuinely believe their decisions would damage your work – walk away. Run away. The money doesn't matter that much.
5 Defend yourself. Find out what keeps you happy, motivated and creative.
6 Write. No amount of self-inflicted misery, altered states, black pullovers or being publicly obnoxious will ever add up to your being a writer. Writers write. On you go.
7 Read. As much as you can. As deeply and widely and nourishingly and irritatingly as you can. And the good things will make you remember them, so you won't need to take notes.
8 Be without fear. This is impossible, but let the small fears drive your rewriting and set aside the large ones until they behave – then use them, maybe even write them. Too much fear and all you'll get is silence.
9 Remember you love writing. It wouldn't be worth it if you didn't. If the love fades, do what you need to and get it back.
10 Remember writing doesn't love you. It doesn't care. Nevertheless, it can behave with remarkable generosity. Speak well of it, encourage others, pass it on.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Snoopy Happy Dance!!!
Give Me Everything is a story idea that came to me in bits and pieces, literally. After having a conversation with a close male friend about his divorce, this story was born.
So often we look at the relationships from women's point of view, very rarely from inside of the man's head. Kendis Washington spoke very loudly to me. But, the love of his life spoke a little more softly. After I took time to get to know her, I understood why. She was afraid to love again, of course. But, not because she didn't want love because it had hurt her and left an ugly scar.
I hope that readers will enjoy this book as much as I loved writing it. It made me cry, and it made me laugh. I think it will touch your heart.
Blurb: He’d sat on top of the world... the perfect woman, a daughter, and a job that made his father proud. Now, Kendis was divorced, and his daughter wasn’t really his. At least, he has a good job...at Brady and Associates, the firm that sends him to Maryland for their client, Eastover. Eastover, one of Maryland’s largest commercial real estate developers, is on a mission to take over older, outdated malls.
She’d been through the wringer in her personal life, and now LaKia thinks the only thing she can control is her career as Marketing Director for a small commercial real estate company. She’d always wanted marriage and children like her best friend has... but she’s given up on ever finding her own Mr. Right.
Until Kendis. He gave her everything, and she gave it right back.
So often we look at the relationships from women's point of view, very rarely from inside of the man's head. Kendis Washington spoke very loudly to me. But, the love of his life spoke a little more softly. After I took time to get to know her, I understood why. She was afraid to love again, of course. But, not because she didn't want love because it had hurt her and left an ugly scar.
I hope that readers will enjoy this book as much as I loved writing it. It made me cry, and it made me laugh. I think it will touch your heart.
She’d been through the wringer in her personal life, and now LaKia thinks the only thing she can control is her career as Marketing Director for a small commercial real estate company. She’d always wanted marriage and children like her best friend has... but she’s given up on ever finding her own Mr. Right.
Until Kendis. He gave her everything, and she gave it right back.
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