Archive | January 2017

New Release! Uncle Stubby Gets Married

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Uncle Stubby Gets Married is our latest new book this month!  $2.99 for eBook version. 

In this children’s picture book, and sixth book in our ‘Shadow and Friends Series’, Uncle Stubby Gets Married, a fox squirrel named Uncle Stubby has fallen in love with a girl squirrel named Sparkles. Squirrel family and friends, including a small dog named Shadow, and her boyfriend, Max, are invited to attend the wedding in a special Valentine Fairy Forest. Uncle Stubby thinks Sparkles is the most beautiful girl squirrel in the land. Uncle Stubby’s twin, Shorty, flies in from New York City with his family, and Shorty is best man for his brother. Foxy is matron of honor for Sparkles. The Valentine Fairy Forest is truly a magical land, the illustrations show how this dream forest looks, and all the animals are safe in this forest both day and night. Along the way, we meet mouse fairies, and Minister Mouse conducts the wedding. Sparkles’ wears a crown, and Uncle Stubby is dressed in a cummerbund. Various other animals are present, including one unicorn, and the bride and groom spend their wedding night in Walnut Forest, a special part of the Valentine Fairy Forest. Children will love seeing how magical the forest is, with abundant sparkles thrown in for good measure. This delightful and funny book for children, targeted at ages 4-11, is easy to read and perfect for home or classroom. This story illustrates how beautiful the Valentine Fairy Forest looks, produces pure imagination in children, and the illustrations will fascinate children and adults.

Uncle Stubby Gets Married” is a wonderful and magical children’s book that both children and adults will enjoy. The story hits the targeted age range of 4–11. My grandchildren loved the beauty of the magical Valentine Fairy Forest, and they loved seeing two squirrels get married. The illustrations are lovely and the entire book sparkles, in a tale of pure imagination for child and adult.  As a Christian, I loved how the authors wove in the kindness of all the animals, and the book speaks of kindness to all. This book is perfect for home, schools, and libraries. I highly recommend this book. ~ Susan Vance, “Leaving Savannah.

How to add a StumbleUpon share button

Jean M. Cogdell's avatarJean's Writing

I’ve read some terrific posts about the fun and importance of Stumbling.

If you missed them do yourself a favor and go to the links below and read.

However, some people have had problems adding the StumbleUpon share button to their blog. So I decided to help with one of my videos.

stumbleuponPixabay.com

Hope it helps.

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Keep Reading: 

3 Ways StumbleUpon Can Get YOU Noticed January 10, 2017

StumbleUpon Follow-Up: The Results Look Like This Posted on

Leave a comment and let me know how this worked for you!

Go here to “like” my Facebook page. Facebook at jeanswriting

To connect with me, click the “write me” tab or find for me on Twitter @jeancogdell, Facebook at jeanswriting and Amazon.com, stop by and say hey! The lights are on, and I’m waiting.

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11 Ways Writing Improves Your Mind, Body and Spirit

Nicholas C. Rossis's avatarNicholas C. Rossis

Sierra Delarosa | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's booksThis is a guest post by Sierra Delarosa. Sierra is a freelance writer, musician and content writer for Global English Editing.

11 Science-Backed Ways Writing Improves Your Mind, Body, and Spirit

For many of us, writing is a practical tool. We use it to communicate our thoughts, ideas, and experiences with other people, usually through email and social media. However, considerable scientific research is showing that writing has exciting health and wellness benefits too.

When you write you let go of pent up stress and sorrow, which is a positive way to release these emotions.

When you write expressively and honestly about your experiences and how you feel, you can also notice patterns of how certain emotional conflicts arise, giving you insight into the source and nature of your malfunctions.

Among the many benefits of writing, you become a better communicator, your immune system is boosted, blood pressure is reduced…

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This entry was posted on January 25, 2017. 2 Comments

Owning Your Writing Craft

Own your works…

theryanlanz's avatarRyan Lanz

craft ink table

by Tonya R. Moore

There’s all this hubbub floating around out there lately, conflicting theories of all the DOs and DON’Ts of what it takes to be or become a successful author.

Some time ago, I saw some Perpetual Writing Advice Giver actually tweet that if you’re a writer promoting your work and you don’t have this many (double digit) thousand followers on Twitter, you’re simply not trying hard enough. To add insult to offense, said party didn’t even have a half of that “strongly suggested” following.

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EDITING 101: 20 – Dashes…

Great to know…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's avatarChris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Originally posted as the Dun Writin’—Now Whut? series on this blog, EDITING 101 is a weekly refresher series for some of you and brand new for others.

Courtesy of Adirondack Editing

Dashes

Many authors have trouble with dashes. It’s hard to know which one to use and when to use it. There are several different kinds, and they all have different usages.

Qualification: Since I deal with mostly United States fiction, my style guide is The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS). Other style manuals have different rules for dashes, especially if you live in another area of the world, such as the UK or Australia. This international blog is actually based in the UK, so feel free to ask questions in the comments (letting me know where you’re located) and I’d be happy to give you individualized answers. The following information is taken from the sixteenth edition of CMOS

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This entry was posted on January 25, 2017. 2 Comments

Printing is Not Perfect

Jordan B. Jolley's avatarThe Tales of Draco

As the months pass, I still feel satisfied with the publication of The Tales of Draco: Rise of the Dragon. This was a big step for me. However, like every author, there are some aspects in the novel that I wish I could change. The biggest frustration I have with the book is how many misprints I find now and again. To tell you the truth, misprints in books are more common than you think. I see them in even the most popular of books, but it seems there are more errors than there should be in Rise of the Dragon, and there are a few reasons why. Just to be clear, I am not pointing my finger at anybody or criticizing whatsoever. Accidents happen and the best thing we can do is learn from them.

The biggest cause of misprints is because the book is self-published. Being in school…

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The Sweat and Tears in Writing

theryanlanz's avatarRyan Lanz

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by Jordan Jolley

If you devote time for the quality of your story, then your book’s potential can go far.

There are two very common questions people ask me: “How long did it take you to write your first book?” and “Are you done with your second book?”

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Use word-based interactive fiction to promote your novel?

Felix's avatar

Video games have always played well with other media. Can word-based interactive fiction do the same and maybe help you promote your novel or other work? Absolutely. But first some history.

Many early games were, if not outright adaptations, heavily inspired by popular franchises of the time. The licensing could be a bit dodgy. But games complemented  other media and vice versa, and creators learned to use tie-ins in both directions to flesh out imaginary worlds.

As early as 1984, the cult-classic war game Lords of Midnight, by the late Mike Singleton, came bundled with a prequel novella that detailed the game’s premise and backstory, written by the same author. It is an auteur game.

More recently, the original Myst prequel trilogy of novels sold pretty well, if not nearly as briskly as the game. And if you look on Scribd these days, books set in the Warcraft, Halo or Mass Effect universe…

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