Writers Live The Life – Right? (Revisited) — Writing your first novel-Things you should know

May12

Most people think writers live the life. Writers lay around in pajamas writing stories and making millions of dollars. They control their schedule, and of course, travel to exotic places all over the world. I can picture it now. I’m sitting on a lounge chair, drinking a cold glass of lemonade, and looking out as […]

via Writers Live The Life – Right? (Revisited) — Writing your first novel-Things you should know

Fat Dogs and French Estates, Part 1

May5

Beth

Amazon book blurb: 

“Buying a country estate in France seemed such a simple thing to accomplish. When Beth, her irascible husband Jack, and their two fat dogs set off, little do they know that it will become such an extraordinary adventure. Surviving near-death experiences, they drive thousands of kilometres around French estates steeped in history and crazy aristocrats. Will they find their dream home, or return to Britain defeated? This is the hilarious first installment in the Fat Dogs series.”

My review:

I just finished reading Fat Dogs and French Estates, Part 1, by Beth Haslam. I totally found this book to be full of fun and European style humor. Hopping around France while looking at estates that weren’t really what the specs had written, and meeting quite few eccentric persons whose characters are well written, made me laugh to myself many times. I must say that I don’t find Jack to be “irascible” at all. This is a short read, easy to finish in less than a day. Five Stars. 

Update Front Lines #NYC #Nurse

May4

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My friend, Janeen, just completed 21 of 21 days… Please read…

From a nurse friend on the front lines:

“Day 21 of 21!!!!

Initial assignment was for 21 consecutive days of 12 hour shifts. When I first started in the ICU here the patients were very sick and dying. What you’ve seen on the news is true and accurate. NYC was the hardest hit with over 172,000 confirmed cases and over 13,000 deaths. Refrigerated trucks outside of the hospital for make shift morgues. Still a lot of very ill patients on my unit- almost all Covid + and on ventilators. But there has been a positive shift. The number of Covid hospital admissions and deaths is decreasing here in NYC. One of the make shift ICU units at the hospital I’m working at has closed!! Successful extubations and transfers to the medical floors. Staff use their personal cell phones to FaceTime families for a visit- even for our sedated and intubated patients. My 21 day assignment is complete after today but I have opted to stay longer and help. Still work to be done. I will get 2 days off to rest and go explore the city with several new friends who have also decided to stay! But then it’s back to business. I have cared for several different patients in the last few weeks but one patient I have cared for every day is slowly improving. He was on 4 medication drips and critically ill when I started caring for him and now is only on 1. We trialed him on cpap yesterday. I am hopeful before I leave he is extubated and awake so I can shake his hand and watch him go home healthy. This has been an incredible journey and I am so grateful to be a part of it, to have helped and made a difference, to make new friends and be a part of this incredibly talented team of healthcare workers from all over the country, and to share this experience with all of you. I can’t thank you all enough for the support” ❤️
#I❤️NY
#pandemicjourney

This entry was posted on May 4, 2020. 3 Comments

Punctuation Marks: The Comma – by Melissa Donovan… — Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog

May3

on Writing Forward: For such a little punctuation mark, the comma causes an awful lot of confusion. Some writers are too liberal with commas, sprinkling them about like nuts on an ice cream sundae. Other writers hoard their commas and avoid using them whenever possible. Why are these punctuation marks so widely misused? Why are […]

via Punctuation Marks: The Comma – by Melissa Donovan… — Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog

Is Ingram-Lightning the Future of Publishing? — Nicholas C. Rossis

May1

The other day, I came across an eye-opening article through The Passive Guy. Veteran publishing consultant Mike Shatzkin was describing the ways that the Coronavirus is changing the publishing industry. Among his main takeaways is that supply chains have been so disrupted by the Coronavirus that main publishers are turning to Print-On-Demand (POD) printers like […]

via Is Ingram-Lightning the Future of Publishing? — Nicholas C. Rossis

This entry was posted on May 1, 2020. 2 Comments

Book Marketing and COVID-19: Change What You’re Doing – by Frances Caballo… — Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog

May1

on Social Media Just for Writers: I originally shared this information about book marketing and COVID-19 in a newsletter I sent to my subscribers last Wednesday. I received so many positive comments that I am sharing it here too (with some additional information). To receive my newsletters, which has information I don’t typically include on my […]

via Book Marketing and COVID-19: Change What You’re Doing – by Frances Caballo… — Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog