On Writing Forward: We all make mistakes in our writing. The most common mistake is the typo — a missing word, an extra punctuation mark, a misspelling, or some other minor error that is an oversight rather than a reflection of the writer’s skills (or lack thereof). A more serious kind of mistake is a […]

Eight Common Writing Mistakes – by Melissa Donovan… — Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog

on Jane Friedman Site: Audio rights used to be the ugly stepsister of publishing rights, often thought of as throwaway rights to be included with a group of other secondary rights in a publishing deal. If you think back to when audiobooks made their big splash in the early 1970s with audiocassettes and Books On […]

Securing Audiobook Rights: The Rights You Need to Bring Your Audiobook to Market – by Matt Knight… — Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you! May your time be filled with love and may you all remain safe. Love, Mary and Mike

Via today’s New York Times, there’s an extremely strange phishing epidemic that affects both established, big-name authors and newbies alike—basically anybody involved in a querying and/or publication cycle. Someone is impersonating editors and agents, requesting drafts of manuscripts in progress toward publication, then “disappearing” the manuscripts. No one thus far has an adequate theory as […]

Mysterious Phishing Scam for Authors! — Just Can’t Help Writing

Labs, chest x-rays, fluids and medicine given,
Then back home as my husband had driven;
Once home, he helped me inside as bidden,
A simple sinus infection had much ambition.

My husband gently shampooed and showered me,
While I stood next to him, my bone pain beastly;
Gently he combed my hair, dried and dressed me,
Ten steps at a time, dizziness swirled like the sea.

Two weeks of 24 hour cares from my husband, I received,
My cough and shortness of breath unrelieved;
My time on Earth was short, I perceived,
I knew my husband and son would be bereaved.

Sure enough, many more people were stricken,
Businesses and churches closed or destroyed with division;
Wear a mask and wash hands was the new condition,
A mantra of six feet apart was the new volition.

Discharged home with Covid-19 pneumonia,
Loss of taste and scent, no smell from the begonia;
Weakness of speech, now hypophonia,
I was sent home without my nurse, Sonja.

I’m a statistic, one who survived, on the long haul,
Fighting, struggling, yet scared as I bawl;
It seemed life kept throwing a curve ball,
Everyone watched and awaited my downfall.

Too sick to dress or apply makeup,
I went to the doctor for a follow up;
Sipping clean water from a paper cup,
I’m afraid if I fall asleep, I might not wake up,

Now I’m on the long haul of this Covid-19 virus,
One small droplet of a viral germ not desirous;
Relentlessly, it still wreaks havoc like a bad retrovirus,
God’s faithful healing and prayers of many inspire us.

It didn’t matter, my saturations and respiratory failure,
No beds left in the hospital, everything was a blur;
No one there, I felt lost at sea like a lone sailor,
Slowly I became well with faith in Jesus, my savior.

He wanted me alive, my work not yet complete,
I started teaching about Covid-19 via a tweet;
Honest suggestions for all with each heart beat,
Doing His work, teaching, giving of self so sweet.

By Mary L Schmidt, 20 November 2020

The hospital is short staffed and full was his cry,

I don’t want my staff to get sick and die;

I can’t breathe, my lips are blue, said I,

You should have stayed home, was his blind eye.

Three emergency room visits did I make,

Two visits went well, the last doctor a snake;

What do you want, his voice a quake;

I want to breathe, I cried out for my sake.

© Mary L. Schmidt December 2020

From Amazon Blurb: When Darby McPhee falls in love with Cayo Bradley, a wild cowboy from a nearby ranch, her world is ripped apart. Caught in a lifeless existence of caring for her father and brothers since her mother’s death, Darby does little else but work. But a death-bed promise to her mother to get her education now stands in the way of her heart’s desire to belong to the rough-and-tumble Cayo Bradley.

Darby is Cayo’s redemption from a horrific act in his past that torments him. After being captured as a young boy by the Jicarilla Apache, he now tries to settle back into white society—but how can he? If he loses Darby, he loses everything.

Darby is determined to keep her promise to her mother, but will Cayo wait for her? In this stunning tale of love and loss, Darby comes to understand that no matter what happens, she will always be THE GIRL WHO LOVED CAYO BRADLEY…

I just finished this novel and it has all of the feels and more! It is a period novel set mostly in New Mexico. If you don’t know how life was back, or if you, this book will give more insight as far as different races and cultures. The writing is prefect. I found zero errors. I anxiously wanted to see how it would end as I read the struggles of each character. Five stars. Ten if that was a star option.

Never sleep on your back in recliner or a bed,

Your lungs can’t aerate, the doctor said;

My husband repositioned me, I felt like lead,

With a gentle touch his love shown, and said.

I slept on either side or partly prone,

Slept three hours, then awake I would moan;

Dexamethasone, my new drug did I intone,

Dreading the side effects, I did indeed groan.

© Mary L. Schmidt December 2020

on Just Publishing Advice: Every writer needs to know how to get attention. You spend days, weeks, or months writing articles, blog posts, or books. However, attracting readers to take just a few minutes to read your work is challenging. In today’s busy online world, capturing people’s attention is always work in progress for a […]

How To Get Attention To Your Writing And Books – by Derek Haines… — Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog