Saturday Snapshots

To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at At Home with Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

My dog Charlie is terrified of the camera, I wondered if he would think the tablet was a camera. Hopefully these won't be the last I get of him.

And because Schatz gets jealous when the attention is all on Charlie.

I did a bit a yard work this morning and spring is here!

Related articles

• Saturday Snapshot - March 30 (athomewithbooks.net)

Weekend Deals & Steals

Whether you are spending a quiet weekend at home or need a little "me time" during a family filled holiday weekend, don't miss out on these free and discounted ebooks.

“Sacrifice is a fast-paced, gritty story that’ll keep you guessing, gasping, and gripping your Kindle” 

 ~ Donna Brown, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave

Coral did an EXCEPTIONAL job capturing the violence plaguing our Mexican borders.

 ~ Jeannette, Walking on Bookshelves

It was a wonderfully mastered piece of writing with such engaging characters that your heart would literally drop at each turn of the page.

~ Cindy Holdmann, Goodreads

Everyone's fate lies in the hands of an old woman. Will she let the past die with her or take revenge the only way she knows how?

FREE March 30 - 31 at Amazon

Okay, little side note here. If a psychopathic killer asks if you want to see a trick, say no. That’s the smart thing to do. I, on the other hand, responded, “Bring it.”

~ from The Conduit

...the perfect mixture of humor, action, and suspense.

~ Karen Pokras Toz, author of award winning Nate Rocks series

I loved the [The Conduit], but I loved [Embrace] more! 

~ Heather, Goodreads

99 cents each for a limited time

The Conduit

Embrace 

A sad, truthful portrayal of society today, and the cultures we live in and issues we face.

~ Candice, Lubs Book Chatter

The end of the novel broke my heart. It's a Nicholas Sparks level of tragic.  

~ Leslie Rayborn, Rayborn Rambles

...this is a great read and I recommend it to anyone who likes true to life dramas. A fabulous 5 star book!  

~ Christina Condy, Recent Read

A wonderfully beautiful read for anyone who loves young romance.

~ Emma, Goodreads

99 cents through March 31 at Amazon

It was completely original and it had so much potential! The characters were amazing!

~ Kendall, Goodreads

What drew me into this book was its beautiful cover and interesting premise. I thought I knew what I was getting in terms of the paranormal part of the book, but it was so much more. 

~ Alyssa, The Eater of Books  

Surfacing the Rim, book two in the Piercing the Fold series, is beyond good, it is stellar. 

~Penelope Bartotto, Library at the End of the Universe 

99 cents each for a limited time

Piercing the Fold

Surfacing the Rim

Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made through the links above.

Related articles

• The Fifth Grade Boy Inside My Head with Karen Pokras Toz #NateRocks (librarygirlreads.blogspot.com)
• Book Review and Giveaway: Sacrifice - Coral Russell (tweedling.com)
• "'Sacrifice' yourself to Brutal Music" - Fourth-Wall Friday with Coral Russell (cabingoddess.com)

Rochelle Jewel Shapiro: A Cosmic Oddity

Like Miriam Kaminsky, the heroine of both my novels, I’m a phone psychic and have been for over thirty years. People contact me to inquire about their relationships, finances, health, and loved ones who have passed on. I’ve been psychic all my life, a gift inherited from my Russian grandmother, but my writing career started as one of those cosmic oddities.

In 1985, I was eagerly looking forward to a much anticipated visit to a famous psychic who had a seven year waiting list. A day before my appointment, he phoned to say that he had to cancel.

“But I waited seven years,” I said. “Could I make it another day?”

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m closing my practice.”

He was sorry? I was so sorry for myself that I felt tears running down my cheeks. “Can’t you tell me anything now? Anything at all?”

“You’ll sell a book to Simon & Schuster,” he said.

Oh, yeah, I thought. Like that’s so likely. I wasn’t even writing, never even wished I was. I was no longer upset that he couldn’t do the reading for me.

But I decided to start writing a journal because doing psychic readings is like breathing. You can’t hold on to the end product. So I began writing a journal just to remember how I spent my days—anecdotes about my kids—such as my son falling out of a tree like Icarus and my daughter receiving a vial of ants for her ant farm that turned out to be red biting ants. It was nothing anyone outside the family would be interested in.

And then I took a plane trip to Florida and sat next to a businessman from New Jersey. When he asked me what I did, I was hesitant to say that I was a psychic. If he wasn’t a believer, I’d see his eyes roll and my IQ would go down 50 points in his estimation. If he was a believer, he’d ask me for psychic information the whole trip and other passengers and flight aids would want readings too. Maybe even the pilot would want a reading and more than anything, I wanted him to pay attention to his own work.

“I’m a novelist,” I said.

“Oh, what kind of novels do you write?”

“A mix of family drama and the supernatural,” I said.

It sounded cool to him and cool to me. When I got home, I began writing seriously. I couldn’t make the leap from a journal to a novel, so I began with essays that chronicled my psychic experiences. They were published in The New York Times (Lives) and Newsweek (My Turn.) An article was also published about me in Redbook. and can be read on my website (Click PRESS). By the time I got my novel together, I had, what’s known as a platform like big bloggers do today. Without much trouble, I landed an agent who sold my first novel, Miriam the Medium, to Simon & Schuster within six weeks. As I signed the contract, my whole body quivered with that feeling of destiny.

When my newest novel, Kaylee’s Ghost, came out and Kirkus Review called it “an intriguing mix of family drama and contemporary fantasy,” I LOL-ed. It was as if I had made my own psychic prediction.

About the Author:

Articles have been written about Rochelle Jewel Shapiro’s psychic gift in such places as Redbook, The Jerusalem Post, the Dutch Magazine, TV GID, and the Long Island section of the New York Times. She’s chronicled her own psychic experiences in Newsweek (My Turn), and The New York Times (Lives) which can be read on her website at http://rochellejewelshapiro.com.

Her first novel, Miriam the Medium (Simon & Schuster) was nominated for the Harold U. Ribelow Award. Besides her psychic practice, Shapiro teaches writing at UCLA Extension.

 website  *  Twitter

Buy the Book! Amazon  *  B&N

Girl Who Reads is an advertising affiliate with Amazon and IndieBound; a small fee is earned when purchases are made using the above links. The views, beliefs, and opinions expressed by guest post authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Girl Who Reads.

Related articles

• Rochelle Jewel Shapiro: Stories Don't Come Easy, Even to Psychics (girl-who-reads.com)
• Rochelle Jewell Shapiro and KAYLEE'S GHOST (traceybaptiste.wordpress.com)

What to Write About

It is once again time for you to write a blog post and you are stumped as to what to write. As a book blogger it should be easy to have a topic - review the book you just finished - unless of course there hasn't been time to finish a book. (See last week's tips post). When I talk to authors about starting a blog, inevitably the question of what will I write about comes up, but I also hear it from book bloggers. Typically, it is when reviews are slow in coming or they are wanting to branch out beyond just reviews.

One option, is to write about other interests or life in general. For authors, I often recommend providing a personal look at their lives through blogging. However, many book bloggers (me included) want to limit the extraneous commentary and keep their blog focused on books. Good news, the book world is huge and the topics to explore are as endless as the books on your TBR list.

Some suggestions for what to blog about...

Reviews - what makes a good review, your opinion on negative reviews, should there be rating system for review, etc.

Themed Recommendations - best audio books, must read epic fantasy (or other genre), books for the beach, etc.

Authors - fun facts about your favorite author, author behaving badly, interviews, guest posts, etc.

Publishing - whole discourses can be written on the present state and future of publishing.

eBooks - pricing, print vs ebook preferences, etc.

Book Blogging - tips, difficulties, what you like about it, etc.

Reading - what you are currently reading, aspects of a book that make you enjoy reading (hot characters, witty dialogue, etc). Explore the book - are there issues it addresses that make your think, based on a real place, event, person.

As you can see there are number of topics you can choose from when stumped for what to write about. The next time you need to write a post and not sure what to talk about, try a new topic. It can be refreshing to your readers and may spark discussion.

Do you ever have a blogging block? What do you write about when you aren't reviewing?

This post came about because I wasn't sure what it write about for tips. I welcome suggestions from my readers for topics you want to know more about.

Jolie du Pre: A Good Way to Supplement Your Fiction Writing Income

When I became a full-time writer, about six years ago, I wrote articles in addition to writing fiction. I earned enough money to pay my bills. To this day, I still write articles along with fiction.

Do you dream of becoming a full-time writer but find you’re not making enough income with your novel or short story writing? You may desire to supplement your fiction writing income with article writing.

In the beginning, I used to tell myself I would quit article writing after my fiction writing took off. Today, I’m still working on my fiction, but I no longer have an interest in quitting article writing. I write celebrity news and gossip, and it happens to be something I enjoy. I make good money with my celebrity articles, and I see no reason to quit writing celebrity articles as I continue with my fiction writing.

If you decide to supplement your fiction writing income with article writing income, whether you do it just until you make enough as a fiction writer or whether you do it in addition to writing fiction, here are a few sites that I frequent for article writing.

Yahoo!

(https://contributor.yahoo.com/signup/)

I’ve been with Yahoo!, formally Associated Content, since 2007. Because I’ve been with the site for so long, I’ve been granted opportunities that allow me to make the top money. Therefore, with Yahoo!, you’ll need to pay your dues and put in the time before you’ll start making good money. It is not a site where you will make good money right away.

Examiner

Examiner is a site I joined in December 2012. I had been trying to become a celebrity writer for the site for a couple of years, and finally my application was approved after a couple of rejections and when more celebrity writing opportunities opened up. I’ve been able to earn good money right away, because celebrity writers at Examiner earn the top income. Examiner is a site where certain topics make good money and other topics not so much. If you sign-up, please use my referral link. (http://exm.nr/UUboM1)

Textbroker

(http://www.textbroker.com/)

Textbroker is a site I’ve been a member of for a number of years. Assignments are listed with exactly how much you will be paid. You choose the assignment (s). Pay goes up depending on the level you've been assigned. There are also teams you can apply for. Only the members of a team see the assignments designated for that particular team.

ODesk

(https://www.odesk.com/)

ODesk is a site where you apply for jobs that are posted by clients. You’ll find that after you’ve worked for a number of clients, they will start coming to you.

There is also the option of acquiring private clients on your own. However, what I like about working with sites is my money is better protected. If you work with a client on your own, you have to make sure the client pays you when they’re supposed to. In addition, you have to make sure you actually get the money. With a site like oDesk, for example, the site protects writers by making sure the writers get paid.

So check out article writing sites for a way to make money as a full-time writer and to supplement your fiction writing income.

About the Author:

Jolie du Pre is a full-time, published author, editor, article writer and blogger. “Like” her Facebook fan pages:

Jolie du Pre (https://www.facebook.com/joliedupreauthor)

Celebrity Write (https://www.facebook.com/Celebritywrite)
African-American Hollywood (https://www.facebook.com/AfricanAmericanHollywood)


The views, opinions, and beliefs expressed by contributing authors do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, and beliefs of Girl Who Reads.

Avery Snow Prize Pack & Twitter Party

Are you an Avery Snow fan?

The highly anticipated sequel to The Many of Lives of Avery Snow is here!

The Unraveling of Avery Snow 

by Christy Sloat

Enter below for your chance to win the ultimate fan prize pack

Chat LIVE with Christy Sloat

Twitter Party, March 26, 10 am EST

#AverySnow

And get your own copy of The Unraveling of Avery Snow

at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

As Avery Snow settles into her life and relationships with those around her, she fights to forget her past lives. All of which she spent with Landon, who still has no recollection of who she really is. It seems better that way. Even though she still feels a draw to his soul, she chooses to ignore it.

For now everything is fine. Her boyfriend, Dallas, has opened a new restaurant. Her friends, Ianni and Kerri, are settling into their lives as well. But when news of a new Dark Guide is revealed, Avery is forced to start thinking about the life she truly leads. One that is very abnormal. One she is desperate to forget. This Dark Guide is determined to make Avery pay for the death of someone she held dear.

Now Avery’s life has gone from seemingly perfect to falling apart. What will be at stake next? Her life? Her love? And who will be there in the end to help her up off the ground?

Even the strongest love can unravel.

Will Avery be able to hold it all together, or will she just let go?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A GWR Publicity promotional event paid for by Anchor Group Publishing. Giveaway is sponsored by the author.

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• Author Spotlight: Christy Sloat (kptoz.blogspot.com)
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Laura Preble: Raising a Book Without Losing Your Mind (PS – It’s Too Late for Me, Clearly)

I just finished my novel!

Here’s the weird part: I feel a big letdown. I know, this could be my Irish tendency for melancholy peeking out, but it happens every time I finish something. I have a sense of loss rather than a feeling of triumph.

I feel like Debbie Downer. My husband is all excited for me, and wants to celebrate, and I say something like, “Well, it’s a little too early for that,” to which he answers, “Why? You finished it, right?” and I say, “Yeah, well, I guess.”

Maybe this is because I never feel truly finished with any book I’ve written. I feel like there could always be additional tweaks or changes or additions or subtractions. Are the characters well-rounded, appealing, complex? Does the plot work? Did I do enough research? Did I get rid of awkward, confusing, or wordy bits of verbiage? After reading it numerous times and getting tips from my selfless beta readers, I think I’ve dotted all the I’s and crossed the T’s (and by the way, I know that I and T do not need apostrophes, but I don’t know how else to write that. But what if I’m wrong??) At this point, I’m so tired of reading it and writing my story that I just want to let it go, so…I do. Then I worry that I didn’t do enough.

I could compare it to child rearing, although fictional characters have a little less backtalk and attitude than real kids. (Mostly.) It’s similar in that you do your best, you try to infuse the child or novel with all your best qualities, with your wisdom, your gifts, but then at some point you have to just let it (or him) go out into the world to see how he/she/it performs. The experiences have similar qualities: with a book, you worry about how other people will see it, if they’ll see what you see, or understand what you were trying to do. With a child, you hope that people will accept your beloved baby, see the good in him or her, and credit you with good or decent parenting.

At this very point in time, I have a young’un going off to college. He’s so enthusiastic to get out of here and go to New York that he constantly reminds all of us that in a couple of months, he won’t be around to take out the trash and other such menial tasks. He is so ready to go that it’s almost making us glad that he’s leaving, even though we’ll miss him a lot. But I’m afraid that he isn’t ready, that we need to teach him some last-minute grown up stuff, or we need to be sure he has a work ethic before we cut the tether. What if he mixes the whites and the colors (in the laundry, I mean). What if he forgets to eat vegetables (which he doesn’t eat here anyway, unless you count iceberg lettuce.) What if he starts hanging out with the wrong people, and he falls into a life of Big Apple debauchery and destitution?

My book is a lot like that, except I’m pretty sure it won’t go out drinking and wind up unconscious in Times Square. I don’t want to let it go, but at this point, it’s really the only thing left to do. I love it, but it’s frankly annoying, and I want it to leave. Yet, I am terrified to let it go. What if it’s not ready? What if there’s some crucial element missing? It might be so.

What if my main character has some weird nervous tic that I know nothing about? What if the multi-dimensional villain I’ve crafted actually has the same name as the head of a major publishing house? What if, in my sleep-deprived and addled state, I’ve used words that only exist in my own mind? Or…horror of horrors…what if the book really sucks, even though I’ve expended time, money, energy, and love on it?

This book could be a total reprobate. It could steal money out of my purse. It could take a can of spray paint and scribble illiterate graffiti on the walls of my house. (I envision grammatical and spelling errors like ‘A famus Arthur lives hear!’ or ‘Donut beleev everthing u reed!’) Or maybe the book will take my car out for a joyride, crash through the plate glass window at the Barnes and Noble, and spill an open container of malt liquor all over the too-many copies of Twilight that every bookstore, grocery, and liquor store seem to have.

But in books, as with children, we do our best and then have to trust that they find their own way.

Maybe I should celebrate. But I’ll hide my keys just in case.

About the Author:

Laura Preble is the award-winning author of the young adult series, Queen Geek Social Club (Penguin/Berkley Jam), which includesthe novels Queen Geeks in Love and PromQueen Geeks. She has also won a KurtVonnegut Fiction Prize, and has been published in North American Review, Hysteria, and NEA Today.

 Twitter  *  Facebook  *  website

Buy the book at Amazon!

Girl Who Reads is an advertising affliliate with Amazonl; a small fee is earned when purchases are made through the link above. The views, opinions, and beliefs expressed in the article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, and beliefs of Girl Who Reads.

Wildflowers 99 Cent Tour

"This story deals with some strong issues, so it is not for the faint of heart." ~ Christina

"What a beautiful and sad story,one of the saddest I've ever read."  ~ Emma

A tragic love story filled with tough choices, sacrificial love, and a chance for redemption.

Wildflowers by Schledia Benefield will give readers hope amongst the darkness.

Pick up the ebook for 99 cents at Amazon.

Tour Schedule:

March 25
[YA] Between the Lines Author Guest Post
Ohana Day Academy Review
The Avid Reader Book Promo
Brooke Blogs Character Guest Post

March 26
Rayborn Rambles Review 
Cabin Goddess Author Interview & so much more

March 27
Now is Gone  To Outline or Not to Outline
Lubs Book Chatter Author Guest Post & Review

March 28
Library Girl Reads & Reviews Fairy Tale vs Reality

Sab The Book Eater Top Ten Favorite Books EVER

March 29
Pieces of Whimsy Author Interview
Curling Up With A Good Book Top Ten list 
Alli's World Character Guest Post

Have you ever feared what may be hiding deep within you?

Darkness often skulks in the blood of unsuspecting victims, but Aster McGrath is acutely aware of the violence coursing through his veins. After all, he is the son of a murderer, and everyone in the town of Bayville, Mississippi says he will end up just like his father.

When Susan Blackman moves into town, Aster has already embraced his brutal nature, but her gentle spirit draws him in and slowly melts the icy exterior of his heart. Taming his savagery, she professes her love, but will the good within him be able to overcome the evil lurking deep inside? Or will the fiend break free of its fetters and seek blood?

A GWR Publicity tour paid for by the author. Girl Who Reads is an advertising affiliate with Amazon and IndieBound; a small fee is earned when purchases are made using the above links.

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• Pub Day Book Blast & Giveaway: Wildflowers (girl-who-reads.com)
• Today's Feature: Wildflowers by Schledia Benefield (librarygirlreads.blogspot.com)
• Wildflowers by Schledia Benefield book blast & giveaway (frellathon.com)
• Friday Fun with Schledia Benefield (girl-who-reads.com)