5 WAYS TO COME UP WITH GREAT STORY IDEAS We all have a million excellent ideas for stories, but, without fail, they magically disappear the minute we sit down to write. It seems impossible, but it happens constantly. Hours are wasted staring at a blank page. And, no matter how many cups of coffee are in our systems, we still can’t find the energy to kick our muses into gear and develop story ideas.
Source: Writer's Digest
Simon & Schuster Steps Into Self-Publishing
Simon & Schuster is testing the water in the booming self-publishing market.
The publishing company announced Tuesday that it was teaming up with Author Solutions, based in Bloomington, Ind., to create a separate house called Archway Publishing, which would be available for authors wanting to self-publish fiction, nonfiction, business or children’s books.
"Her mother loved him – this had become apparent to him. Through the thick, arbitrary levels of her bitter derision laid a softer woman, much like Natalie,who, at all costs, resisted every attempt at exhibiting affection toward men."
When I published In Leah's Wake in 2010, self-publishing was, for all intents and purposes, in its infancy. Yes, authors had been self-publishing for years, but it was only when e-readers finally entered the mainstream that self-publishing exploded. Suddenly, platforms like Amazon's Kindle Direct, Smashwords, and B&N's PubIt made publishing an e-book inexpensive and easy. Still, there were hurdles: proper formatting and conversion posed challenges and there were few services to help indie authors.
Source: Huffington Post
Simply put, I love this story. I started it not too long after I graduated from college in 2008. I was lost, I was in love, and I was fighting for independence. So, marks Loren Soto's origins. At face value, she's a scorned bitch who's having difficulty getting over the fact that her first love is in love with her childhood friend. Hell, at the very beginning of the novel she's watching them get married. Yes, it's a love story: but it's one with some bite to it. While Loren and Nicholas' decade-long love affair comes to an end, she must decide if she can start anew with a fresh-face musician who's just returned to town from an inexplicable hiatus.
Without say too much, I encourage you all to read it at your leisure and absorb it.
Loren is a smart, witty girl and gravely misunderstood. Her sexuality, her cursing and her drinking make for an interesting heroine.
Interested? Read some sample chapters below :)
