Latest Post for Avalon Authors

“Never Put in Writing” is my post for this month at Avalon Authors’ Blog. What I learned from high rise window cleaners may seem a stretch but my mother would be proud I’ve learned that lesson.

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To Self-Publish or Not to…

A short piece from me about a long piece from David Vinjamuri. Thoughtful and thought-provoking, detailed and thoroughly researched, this article, Publishing is Broken, We’re Drowning in Indie Books and That’s a Good Thing goes into depth about the advantages and disadvantages of independent (self-) publishing, gives reasons for its growth and predictions for the […]

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Parachutes & Petticoats Cited

Parachutes & Petticoats, my second book with Honno, is cited in Alex McAulay’s Shelter Me.  Pretty thrilling to be research material. McAulay used the collection of autobiographical writings by Welsh women and makes a reference to me and my co-editor, Deidre Beddoe. I stumbled across this when searching for my own titles. Nice feature this […]

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Pareto and the Published Writer

Why social media isn’t the magic bullet for self-epublished authors This article refers to the Pareto Principle: (Wikipedia): “The Pareto principle (also known as the 80–20 rule, the law of the vital few, and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the” whole is 20% of the profit/problem/solution/​etc. The […]

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Writers & Freedom of Speech

“I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” François-Marie Arouet, (1694 – 1778) There can be no more important sentiment than Voltaire’s commitment to the freedom of speech. Once we have lost this, we have committed ourselves to imprisonment of mind, soul and […]

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Reasons for Writing

I don’t know where my dream of writing came from. It seemed always to be there, a part of me, like breathing. I’ve just read Andrew Galasetti’s article at selfpublishingteam.com and was moved to tears by his grandfather’s story. My mother was always telling stories from her life. One decade of her life is a […]

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Wait a Lonely Lifetime: To Readers

Now that Wait a Lonely Lifetime has reached its 90th day on the market and is now in the hands of Amazon Publishing, I want to thank all of the readers who have contacted me since the book’s release in April. I have received wonderful comments and support from so many, I’m overwhelmed and sincerely appreciate […]

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Memoir: Scent of Jasmine

From the author’s description of the book: “This memoir tells the story of the author’s life in Israel, New Jersey, and San Francisco. In particular, her life in Israel as a young adult was marked by the tragedy of losing her fiance to the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Angela Neff describes the memoir in […]

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A Short Break from Murder

Sandra Carey Cody has decided to take a short break from murder and has written a short romance – More Than Words Can Say. This story is available on Kindle and will be free tomorrow and through the weekend. I’ve started reading already. If I hadn’t stopped to post this blog, I wouldn’t have put […]

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To Prologue or Not to Prologue

I’ve never met a Prologue I didn’t hate. I’m in complete agreement with Elmore Leonard on this.  In his 10 Rules of Writing, “Avoid Prologues” is number 2. Leonard goes on to say “A prologue in a novel is backstory, and you can drop it in anywhere you want.” Exactly. He says a few other […]

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