Literary Love

When my second, and youngest, child got his driver’s license, the ecological side of me decided I needed to downsize my car. It’s been years since I’d toted around Girl Scout or Boy Scout troops or organized carpools to and from school or extracurricular activities. A smaller car made sense. But moving my eldest child back and forth between cities for clinical rotations made me long for the vast boxy-ness of my previous Chevy Astro van. A road trip to Pittsburgh from our Long Island hometown this past week, served two purposes: to celebrate Thanksgiving as a complete family unit, and to move my daughter out of her latest, clinical setting at UPMC. My family and I enjoyed traipsing through the mountainous and picturesque ‘City of Bridges.’ We laughed, we took silly pictures, and we ate turkey, together. But on our last night, I could see the stress begin to set in. Both my husband and my daughter, the two so much alike, began to dwell on the move. He asked, “Does she ha...

Final Edits, Check! I am very close to completing the book publishing process. Saving Toby will soon be available in paperback. The publishing company I am working with hasn't given me a date yet, so I don't know if it'll make it out before the holidays. I almost hope, for my family's sake, it isn't available until after the New Year. It took a lot of effort and time to promote Saving Toby in its current ebook format. Knowing it will soon be available in physical form, is a whole new level of excitement, but it will require a great deal of focus. Writers who get traditionally published have the expertise of agents and publishing houses to back up their work. I am Self-Published. Some might call me an Indie Author. While I pay an editor to work with me, when it comes down to it, as a self-published author, I am responsible for every aspect of the book. (It even says so in the book publisher's contract.) Not only am I the writer, but the promoter, a...

You don’t have to preach a sermon. You don’t have to quote twenty-five scripture verses. Just a few kind words can start the healing process for someone else. ~ Joel Osteen Ministries The last few years, I have been doing a great deal of inner reflection, and have worked hard to be positive and to acknowledge the many blessings I have in my life. Being grateful has improved my outlook on life and the challenges I face. But even riding a wave of gratefulness, I still get hit by rogue waves. Undertow can leave me breathless and sputtering for air. The other night, right after reading a wonderful comment from a reader, I found an awful, negative review. It was by far, the harshest review yet. The earlier, warm glow of praise slid right off. I floundered in the waves and forgot how to swim. This reviewer seemed angry and vengeful and went so far as to condemn the writing of my sequel. I understand my book will be judged by all who read it. And, I expect that som...

The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before.      ~  Neil Gaiman, author What a weekend! Saving Toby's popularity has had an explosion during the 2-day promotional free downloads this past Friday and Saturday. I believe I have scored a slew of new readers. To those, I say welcome! As my ability to navigate the publishing field becomes more practiced and comfortable, I will happily entertain you with many more stories. For those of you who don't know me, I began working on Saving Toby in the spring of 2010. At that time, the story was loosely configured in my head, and though I'd been writing all my life, I didn't know a lick about how to publish a book, but once I started putting this story together, I couldn't stop. I fell in love with the my characters, and every day, I thought about how the story would unfold. I had to keep a notebook on hand at all times. Ideas flooded me day and night. Claudia ...

To celebrate the new cover of Saving Toby, the Kindle eBook version will be available for FREE both Friday and Saturday.  Find out what all the hype is about! http://www.amazon.com/ Saving-Toby-ebook/dp/ B00EV6K2AC/ ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=13790976 30&sr=8-1&keywords=saving+toby

A blog about Inspiration Back, just before I consciously decided to take my writing seriously, I was working at a job I loved. While my manager was super smart, our interoffice relationship was awkward. After paycheck cutbacks sent many of my coworkers packing, the situation with my manager darkened. Stressed by the uncomfortable office atmosphere, and now, making less money, I decided it was time to move on. Was it scary? YOU BET! Thankfully, I had other financial support to back up this decision, but I didn't sit around. I got another job... a few of them. They included: Web design, pet sitting and bus trip organizing for a non-profit organization on the north shore. My schedule was erratic, and I had a lot of time to think. I asked myself that age-old question, the same one I'd often asked myself most of my adult life - "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I had an answer. I've always had an answer. I wanted to WRITE. Never believing I could a...

A New Cover New version to come soon I have been working with an artist on a new cover for both the eBook and print versions of my novel. This one still has the designer's watermark on it. Designing a cover has been quite an learning experience. Trying to get someone else to envision what I had in mind was, at times, difficult. (Worse through email) But I believe the final product is very nice. What do you think? Current version on Amazon New cover by Steph's Cover Design