Monday, March 16, 2020

HERE BE NEWS for March 16, 2020

Posted by: Dani Harper, Author



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Monday, March 9 
"HERE BE NEWS" - All the latest from the gang at Here Be Magic.

Wednesday, March 11 -
"12 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT ST. PATRICK'S DAY" - From the original color (hint - it's not green!) to the traditional foods and more, see how many of these you know! By author Ruth A. Casie on Here Be Magic.  

Thursday, March 12 -

"WAYS AUTHORS CAN USE PINTEREST FOR MARKETING AND INSPIRATION" - Deborah A. Bailey shows how this often overlooked social site can help authors find readers plus connect with other writers. 
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from the authors at Here Be Magic


Authors at Here Be Magic may host their own giveaways or take part in larger events with other authors in the genre.
..................................
It's here! 
THE ANNUAL SPRING FLING GIVEAWAY 
at Night Owl Romance

Looking for some fun? Discover new-to-you authors and books in the online romance reader scavenger hunt! 


Enter between March 17th and the 31st. You could win a waterproof Kindle Paperwhite, a reader-inspired Prize Bag or Amazon gift cards.

https://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Blog/Articles/Spring-Fling-2020



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Thursday, March 12, 2020

Ways Authors Can Use Pinterest for Marketing and Inspiration

Posted by: Deborah A Bailey
You might not want to be on yet another social media platform, but Pinterest is worth checking out (if you're not already there).

Though I've been on the platform for a while, I wasn't doing very much pinning. Finally, I decided to go back and see if I could do more with it.

First, I created boards related to my books. Then I added boards based on popular Pinterest topics, like food, quotes and home décor. After that, I added boards that reflected my interests: science fiction, fantasy, writing and blogging.

Not only are the boards giving prospective readers (and other writers) a snapshot of who I am, but they’ve also helped me to connect with other Pinterest users.

Organic reach isn't what it used to be on most social media platforms. But, since Pinterest is a search engine, links from there will rank pretty high in Google searches.

Marketers say that someone has to have several touch points before they’re ready to buy (or even to click). Some say 7, others say 20 or more. So, that means you have to get your book in front of your prospective reader many times before they might click for more information.

Ideas for book-related boards:

  • Create boards based on your genre, your book series or individual books. 
  • Pin your book covers (with links back to an online store)
  • Start a board with images to use for inspiration (mood boards)
  • Pin images that you can use as references (I created a board about mythological gods and goddesses from around the world)
  • Collect motivational writing quotes and blog posts 

Because of my pinning, I’ve been asked to join a few group boards for writers and bloggers. Group boards will help your pins to be seen by even more people.

Remember I said Pinterest is a search engine? Well, that means when you search for various items on the platform, pins will show up in the results. Those pins also identify the pinner, so someone can find your pin (and you) when they’re searching for other things.

Pinterest has a lot of advantages for authors who are looking to market and to connect with other writers. Even better, book cover pins look great on the boards. What’s not to like?

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

12 Things You Might Not Know About St. Patrick's Day

Posted by: Ruth A Casie

In advance for St. Patrick's Day!

1. Saint Patrick ~ True Blue
Green became associated with St. Patrick’s Day in the 18th century after it was linked to the Irish independence movement. Saint Patrick was true blue through and through. His color was “Saint Patrick’s blue,” a light shade.

2. Saint Patrick Was British

Patrick may have been famous for introducing Christianity to Ireland in the year 432, but he wasn’t Irish. Patrick’s parents were Roman and lives in the Scotland or Wales.

3. The Irish Take Saint Patrick’s Day Seriously
No doubt about it. Saint Patrick’s Day is a big deal in his adopted country and is a national holiday in both Ireland and Northern Ireland.

4. Everyone in New Yorker City is Irish on Saint Patrick’s Day
New York City’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade is one of the world’s largest parades. Since 1762, over 250,000 marchers have tramped the six hours up Fifth Avenue on foot. You can see green beer and green bagels along the parade route. If not marching you can catch people ‘the green.’ Some people are a bit more out there than others with green hair, green makeup and let’s not forget the shamrocks tattooed or temporarily tattooed almost anywhere you can imagine.

5. Chicago Does More Than March
New York has a parade, but Chicago has an event all its own. Since 1962 the city has been coloring the Chicago River with green dye to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. It takes 40 tons of dye to get the river to just the right festive shade!

6. It Used to Be a Dry Holiday
In Ireland up until 1970, Saint Patrick’s Day was strictly a religious holiday. Pubs were closed for business on March 17. But it was in 1970 that the day was converted to a national holiday. Since then March 17 has not been dry.

7. Size Doesn’t Count
New York may have its big parade and Chicago its green river, but other cities participate in their own way. From 1999 to 2007, the Dripsey, a cozy Irish village proudly told anyone who would listen that it hosted the Shortest Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in the World, 26 yards between two pubs. Today, Hot Springs, Arkansas claims the title. Its parade runs for 98 feet. Hmmm, to me that may be the distance to the bathroom.

8. Why Shamrocks?
According to Irish legend, Saint Patrick used the three-leafed plant as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity when he was introducing Christianity to Ireland.

9. Why Is It Called Corned Beef?
Corned beef and cabbage, a traditional Saint Patrick’s Day staple, doesn’t have anything to do with the grain corn. Corn refers to the large grains of salt, referred to as corns of salt use to cure the meat. By the way, while Ireland traded heavily in salted meat, the average people couldn’t afford it. It wasn’t until they immigrated to the United States where it was a low-cost meat that they could afford it.

10. Put It On My Tab
All of the Saint Patrick’s Day revelry around the globe is great news for brewers. Recent estimates say the total amount spent on beer for Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations will be about $275 million. And that’s before tips to pubs’ bartenders.

11. First You Say Its Blue Not Green and Now You Say Its Maewyn Not Patrick
Saint Patrick was born either in Scotland or Wales to Roman parents in 385 AD. His birth name was Maewyn Succat. He changed his name to Patricius after becoming a priest.

12. The Lingo Makes Sense
You can’t attend a Saint Patrick’s Day event without hearing “Erin go Bragh.” What’s the phrase mean? It’s a corruption of the Irish Éirinn go Brách, which means roughly “Ireland Forever.”

BONUS: But the Leprechaun Economy Is Thriving
Another little-known fact from Irish lore: Leprechauns earned the gold they guard. According to legend, leprechauns spend their days making and mending shoes. Hmmmm… I thought that story, the Elves and the Shoemaker was from the imagination of the Brothers Grimm.

Monday, March 9, 2020

HERE BE NEWS for March 9, 2020

Posted by: Dani Harper, Author



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Monday, March 2 
"HERE BE NEWS" - All the latest from the gang at Here Be Magic.

Wednesday, March 4 -
"THE PLEASURES OF REREADING" - Do you reread books? Author Nicole Luiken reveals six of her own reasons for sitting down with a story she's already read. What are yours? 

Thursday, March 5 -

WHEN FICTION BECOMES FACT: Wait…Am I haunted now? – Angela Campbell is the author of psychic detective novels and paranormal romances. What does it mean when ghostly occurrences start happening to the WRITER?  



Did you remember to turn your clocks ahead?

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Thursday, March 5, 2020

When fiction becomes fact: Wait…Am I haunted now?

Posted by: Angela Campbell
Sorry for the long lapse in blogging, again. I have repeatedly tried to crawl my way out of the murky depths of grief and depression for the past two years, only to get dragged back under every now and then. Boy, am I messy each time I reach the shore after flailing about for a while. Sorry about that.

Approximately six months ago I decided to start being social on social media again – but only twitter since Facebook overwhelms me, y’all. Not even kidding about the anxiety it induces in me, but I digress. The writing community on twitter is fantastic. In general, I think of twitter as a cesspool for humanity, except for 98% of the creatives on there, who are all very supportive of one another. Anyway.

I’ve been mostly tweeting about cats (I rescue them), podcasts (I listen to them), and my ghost.

Wait, what?

That’s right. I said ghost. Let me point out that I've always been transparent about my love for all things spooky. I've blogged here before, years and years ago, about my lifelong experiences with the paranormal, including my readings with supposed psychics, ghost-hunting with my niece, and the shared experiences I've had with a friend who grew up in a truly scary haunted house which prompted me to contact Ed and Lorraine Warren of "The Conjuring" fame many years ago to help her (that's a whole 'nother story, y'all).

I think I've half-heartedly blogged about my new possibly haunted house before, but since moving into my home almost 2 years ago, I’ve experienced some strange things that have led me to believe I might be sharing it with a spirit or two. I know not everyone believes in ghosts, and it might seem awfully gimmicky if a lady who includes haunted houses, psychics, and ghosts in her books suddenly starts proclaiming she’s haunted, but I’m being 100% sincere when I share the oddities I experience in my home here and on twitter. To be honest, I'm posting them on twitter so I will have a journal and timestamp for some of them — you know, in case I need to seek professional help in the form of a priest or witch doctor or psychiatrist or whatever.

Am I haunted? To be honest, I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe I’m really that mentally ill. I am made up of part Mulder, part Scully, so I want to believe but can’t get past my own skepticism sometimes. I always try to reason away the things that happen, but folks, things are happening more and more now. I also have been dealing with some strange health problems over the past year. I am always sick, feel drained, and while the doctors have diagnosed me with a couple of autoimmune diseases in recent months, the treatments haven’t worked all that well. I’m still always sick and I hate it. It was in the back of my mind but I didn’t want to voice the idea aloud, so of course, my friend did it for me. “What if your health problems are related to Carol?” she said. Carol is what she named my ghost, by the way.

Here is a highlight of some of the tweets I’ve posted about my, ahem, ghostly roommate since I last mentioned it on this blog. If you click on some of these, they open the thread that explains more, but I didn't want to put ALL of my haunted tweets here!








Maybe I should start a hashtag to keep track of these better. Any suggestions? If I start having #DearDavid-type experiences, you’d better believe I am moving as soon as I can figure out how to so please don't suggest #DearCarol to me. Thank you.

I also wish I could say my possible ghost adventures have inspired me to start writing more, but I’m still struggling there. Basically, I hate everything I write and have written, but I’m not giving up. I’ll get back to finishing my next book or screenplay….someday. In the meantime, I’ll continue to pop in and blog here whenever I can, as long as they don't kick me off for being that weird lady who has 14 cats and thinks she's haunted. In the meantime, feel free to send me cat gifs, chocolate, and money as encouragement.

Happy early St. Patrick’s Day, everyone.

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Angela Campbell is the author of the psychic detective series, a paranormal romantic suspense series featuring ghosts, sexy psychics, haunted houses, serial killers ... and cats and dogs. Learn more about her books at www.angelacampbellonline.com.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

The Pleasures of Rereading

Posted by: Nicole Luiken

Anne Bishop has a new Black Jewels book coming out next week, so I just spent the last two days skim-rereading the first trilogy to get myself up to speed on who all the characters are and how the magic works. (So psyched!)
Many people, like my sister, are baffled by this behaviour. Why reread an old book when there are so many new wonderful books and their time to read is limited? So I asked myself, why do I reread usually at least one book a month?
Sometimes, as mentioned, I reread to get up to speed on a series so that I will enjoy the newest release more without having to wrack my brain over who is this minor character and what happened in the last book anyway?
Sometimes I reread because something triggered a vivid memory of an awesome scene. I try to limit myself to just reread that scene but often end up rereading the entire book.
Sometimes, as a writer, I want to study a particular writing technique and may pull out a book where I know the author did it well.
Sometimes I reread in order to share a book I loved with someone else—books I read aloud to my children often fall under this category.
Sometimes I reread an old book out of frustration because my nothing in my current To Be Read pile is grabbing me. Or, more painfully, if I’m not enjoying a book by an author that I usually love, I might then reread one of theirs that I did enjoy just so I can get that promised hit.
The biggest reason I reread is for comfort, because I’ve had a long day and I want a guaranteed reward instead of the uncertainty of trying a new book which I may or may not like.
What are your reasons for rereading (or not rereading)?

Monday, March 2, 2020

HERE BE NEWS for March 2, 2020

Posted by: Dani Harper, Author


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Monday, February 24 
"HERE BE NEWS" - All the latest from the gang at Here Be Magic.

Tuesday, February 25 -
"DISTRACTIONS" - Every writer gets them! Author PG Forte asks "What tricks do YOU use to get yourself back on track when you’ve fallen off the writing wagon?" 

Thursday, February 27 -
SCI-FI FLASH FICTION today! Read "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" by Linda Mooney, plus get a look at her shiny new sci-fi romance, "Return to Neverwylde". 






LOVIN' LARGE


Erotic Sci-Fi/Paranormal/

Futuristic Romance
by Linda Mooney 
writing as Carolyn Gregg

Word Count: 25.6K

$2.99 e

A "Choose Your Ending" Romance! 


Asa Kelby, Director of Entrapment for WesCept, never knows what his job will entail day in and day out. After the earth passed through a comet’s tail, wiping out 90% of all animal species, life changed drastically for both humans and remaining animals. Gone is the surplus of meat for meals, domestic pets, and farm animals. But companies like WesCept are working hard to reverse that.


Scientists have developed a machine that can reach back in time, seize animals of all shapes and sizes, and transport them forward to current time to repopulate the Earth, bringing those species back from extinction, and also provide food for meat-eaters. The biggest problem is they have no control over what animals the Grabber will trap, or even WHEN in history those animals will come from.


At great risk, Asa’s boss tells him to turn up the power on the Grabber, in hopes of bringing in bigger game, but they weren’t quite expecting it to bring in something quite as large or prehistoric as they are soon facing. When the mistake is realized, it’s too late, and they get more than they bargained for. More than the history of Earth itself ever knew existed.



And it will shake the very core of everyone’s belief as to humanity’s past.

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