Do you do a lot of in-person events? If you do any events where you sell your own books (not like a book signing where you sell on consignment or the bookstore actually does the selling of the books) and you aren't taking credit cards at said events, why not?
Did you know you could get a free device that reads credit cards and is connected to your checking account? It's called Square. You can sign up for a free account and receive a free card reader here. What does it cost to use? Just 2.75% of the charge when you swipe a card, which basically comes out to 3 cents on the dollar being taken out before you receive your money. You can also manually key in a credit card number but the percentage is higher - 3.75% plus 25 cents for each transaction. The pay out is the next day. The other device you will need to use the card reader is an iphone, ipod touch, ipad, smartphone or any android based type device that the Square app can be downloaded to and need to be in an wifi area.
This was a big issue for me when I was at the Savannah Children's Book Festival in November; a lot of people asked if I took credit cards or stated they didn't have any cash on them. I've had my Square since last summer but haven't had a device to use the card reader on until last month. My daughter got a new Pantech Crossover phone through AT&T and it has an Android 2.3 OS and she was able to load the Square app and we tested my Square out and I now have the capability of taking credit cards at my events. So now, until I can afford a device of my own, when I have an event, I will have to borrow her phone for the purpose of taking credit cards (not into using her phone for phone purposes). Each Square is programmed to your account only. Do I feel safe using it? Yes. Am I worried someone might keep swiping cards and trying to take my money? Not really. I get notices when the card reader has been used and if there is a dispute on a charge from a customer and I can refund the charges, I don't feel fraud or identity theft is a problem. I can't wait to put my sign up for display at my first event of 2012, Geofest, February 18.
For more information, check out the Square here. May you have lots of sales at your in-person events. - See you all in the postings - E :)
-------------------
Elysabeth Eldering
Author of Finally Home, a YA paranormal mystery
"The Proposal" (an April Fools Day story), a humorous romance ebook
"The Tulip Kiss", a paranormal romance ebook
"Bride-and-Seek", a paranormal romance ebook
"Butterfly Halves", a YA fantasy ebook
http://elysabethsstories.blogspot.com
http://eeldering.weebly.com
Ma America, The Travelin' Maven
Author of the JGDS, 50-state, mystery, trivia series and "Train of Clues" (a mystery destination story and predecessor to the JGDS series)
Where will the adventure take you next?
http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com
http://jgdsseries.weebly.com
TIPS FOR BEGINNING WRITERS
WISDOM GAINED THROUGH 40 YEARS AS A PUBLISHED WRITER
BY HOPE IRVIN MARSTON
Writing for publication takes practice. Lots of practice. You don’t study for six weeks and then play first violin with a symphony orchestra, become a brain surgeon, or compete in the Olympics. Too many wannabe writers jot down some ideas from the top of their heads and then call me asking how to find a publisher. What they’ve written might be good. If they have some innate talent, it may be very good for a beginner. But it will get better with refinement. To submit a first draft manuscript is about as rational as entering a newborn baby in a marathon.
Writing for publication takes both short and long-range goals that are specific and measurable. To complete a short story in thirty days is a short-range goal. To find a publisher for the story by the end of the year is a long-range one. Interim goals will include refining your story and studying market guides to find a half dozen or so potential publishers.
Writing for publication happens sooner when writers narrow the focus of their works according to what they want to accomplish through each piece. They do this by asking themselves three questions:
A. Why am I writing this piece? To share a family story I want passed down? To paint the world in which I grew up? To entertain my readers with a funny incident I’ve experienced? To give my readers a story to help them escape their daily grind? Whatever the purpose, the story must excite the writer so it can be written with passion.
B. For whom am I writing this piece? The next generation? My family? Any contemporary reader? A reader who wants a laugh? It helps to have a specific reader in mind, such as my best friend, or someone who opposes abortion. It’s your decision.
C. What do I want to say? That I had fun growing up with eight siblings? That we live in a unique era with many blessings? That some days we need to learn to laugh at ourselves? That we can visit other worlds, real or imaginary, by reading a good book? Again, it’s your call.
Writing for publication goes faster and avoids dead ends once the writer summarizes the piece in one sentence of twenty-five words or less. Fewer words are better. If you can’t do that, chances are you don’t have a clear idea of what you are writing or why. Neglect this step and you are setting yourself up for a roadblock in the future. You can find examples of these summary sentences by looking at the cataloging in the books you are reading, or in the summary sentences in book reviews.
Writing for publication works best when you brainstorm everything you know about the story before you attempt to write the first paragraph. You can do this by making a list, or by free writing a paragraph about the things you want to include. When you can’t think of any more, read what you have written and organize it into an outline. Study the outline to see if it’s inclusive or if it has things you don’t want to include. Make necessary changes. Now you are ready to begin writing. It’s acceptable to make changes as you go along. You have to know where you are going if you expect to arrive at your destination. An outline helps you figure that out.
No matter what genre you want to learn to write, I recommend three things to help you on your way. Be as regular with practicing them as you are in taking your daily vitamins.
A. Read! Read! Read! It’s important to read all kinds of books, but concentrate on the kind you aspire to create.
B. Read How-to-books in the genre you want to write. Find them in the library, in the bookstore, on line at sites like Barnes and Noble or Amazon Books. Or Google the topic you are looking for, such as plotting, characterization, or viewpoint.
C. Write! Write! Commit to writing every day, 24/7. It doesn’t have to be the next chapter of your manuscript, but it should be something that you have to think about.
About the Author: Hope Irvin Marston is a member of the New York State Retired Teachers, the Greater Thousand Islands Literacy Council, the Jeff-Lewis Librarians Association, and the Adirondack Center for Writing, the St. Lawrence County Arts Council, the North Country Arts Council and SCBWI. She organized the Black River Valley Writers Club and served as its leader for several years.
In addition to writing thirty-two children’s books and several adult titles, Hope has been on staff for Christian Writers Conferences at Hephzibah Heights (MA), Montrose Bible Conference (PA) and at St. Davids Christian Writers Conference at Beaver Falls, PA. She has taught creative writing workshops at Jefferson Community College, the Jefferson-Lewis Teacher Center and the North Country Arts Council.
Her picture book series, MY LITTLE BOOK COLLECTION (Windward), has grown to eight titles thus far and has 125,000 books in print.
Hope does school visits from kindergarten through post-graduate college and presents writing workshops for kids and adults. When she is not researching, reading or writing, you may find her cooking or baking in the kitchen, or out walking Heidi.
The World of Ink Network will be touring three of award-winning author Hope Irvin Marston books. Her most recent release Eye on the Iditarod: Aisling’s Quest (ISBN: 978-0-89317-071-4) is a biography, but was written as an autobiography. Windward Publishing (An imprint of Finney Company) released the book December 1, 2011. The other two books on tour are My Little Book of Bald Eagles also from Windward Publishing (An imprint of Finney Company) and Against the Tide: The Valor of Margaret Wilson from P & R Publishing.
You can find out more about Hope Irvin Marston’s World of Ink Author/Book Tour schedule at http://storiesforchildrenpublishing.com/HopeIrvinMarston.aspx. There will be giveaways, reviews, interviews, guest posts and more. Make sure to stop by and interact with Marston and the hosts at the different stops by leaving comments and/or questions. For each comment, you will be entered into the big Giveaway at the end of the tour.
Great Sky: One more Valentine freebie
Valentine's Day is impending. Are you ignoring it this year? Rebelling against yet another commercially driven effort to part you from your hard earned money? If you're visiting this blog you're probably a writer, so why not use your writing talents to say something meaningful to someone you care about? Write a poem for Valentine's Day. Why not? You could pen something quirky and funny, or deep and powerful - poetry can often 'say' things that prose strains at. If you need inspiration, or want to provide a lovely, no-cost gift to someone you care about, there's still time. From now until the 17th of Feb, drop by Smashwords and use coupon code EL42C for a completely free copy of the love poetry book Cherished Pulse, by Carolyn Howard-Johnson and me. Below is a poem from the book, set in a lovely little village in Buckhamshire in the UK, nor far where I used to live in Oxford. Now it's your turn.
Great Sky
At Brill on the Hill (with the windmill)
the sky ominous
a purple bruise threatened to knock
us off the bikes
Nixy’s little mill tenuous
perched alone,
six hundred feet above sea level
no trees to buffer the wind
more than three centuries
of lovebirds
non conformists
showing off calve strength
as they worked their way towards
a pint at the The Pheasant Inn.
We were more tenuous.
Healthy children
our eyes wide with the cold
wild landscape
hungry for our future
the warm taste of flesh.
Your red and white leathers
seemed bolder
than the great sky
bigger than the bleak landscape
and grassed over clay pits
when you took my hand
for the first time
pulled me down
out of the wind.
No going back.
The windmill kept turning
the Pheasant
churning
hearty ploughmen’s
while we rode off
into adulthood.
Red and white bravado may be gone
with the purple clouds
and cracked leathers
of our childhood
but hunger remains.
Don’t let age blind you.
Under my crepe paper skin
lies a beating heart
blood moving bravely
through veins and arteries
Pull me down
out of the wind
like you used to.
Magdalena Ball runs The Compulsive Reader. She is the author of the novel Black Cow, Sleep Before Evening, the poetry books Repulsion Thrust and Quark Soup, a nonfiction book The Art of Assessment, and, in collaboration with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Deeper Into the Pond, Blooming Red, Cherished Pulse, She Wore Emerald Then, and Imagining the Future. She also runs a radio show, The Compulsive Reader Talks. Find out more about Magdalena and grab your free copy of her Quark Soup at http://www.magdalenaball.com
At Brill on the Hill (with the windmill)
the sky ominous
a purple bruise threatened to knock
us off the bikes
Nixy’s little mill tenuous
perched alone,
six hundred feet above sea level
no trees to buffer the wind
more than three centuries
of lovebirds
non conformists
showing off calve strength
as they worked their way towards
a pint at the The Pheasant Inn.
We were more tenuous.
Healthy children
our eyes wide with the cold
wild landscape
hungry for our future
the warm taste of flesh.
Your red and white leathers
seemed bolder
than the great sky
bigger than the bleak landscape
and grassed over clay pits
when you took my hand
for the first time
pulled me down
out of the wind.
No going back.
The windmill kept turning
the Pheasant
churning
hearty ploughmen’s
while we rode off
into adulthood.
Red and white bravado may be gone
with the purple clouds
and cracked leathers
of our childhood
but hunger remains.
Don’t let age blind you.
Under my crepe paper skin
lies a beating heart
blood moving bravely
through veins and arteries
Pull me down
out of the wind
like you used to.
Magdalena Ball runs The Compulsive Reader. She is the author of the novel Black Cow, Sleep Before Evening, the poetry books Repulsion Thrust and Quark Soup, a nonfiction book The Art of Assessment, and, in collaboration with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Deeper Into the Pond, Blooming Red, Cherished Pulse, She Wore Emerald Then, and Imagining the Future. She also runs a radio show, The Compulsive Reader Talks. Find out more about Magdalena and grab your free copy of her Quark Soup at http://www.magdalenaball.com
Get Organized For Less Stress!
One of my writing friends likes to say, "The dirty dishes never seem so important as when I am struggling to write." I know what she means -- when facing the blank page or empty Word document, or when I'm 200 words into my writing for the day and already feeling as empty as my car's gasoline tank, it seems like anything else would be more appealing than staying there in front of my computer screen typing or pressing my pen again and again to the notebook page. When that time comes, and the dirty dishes call, it is best to ignore them. Stay put. Butt-in-chair. Keep writing. In the writing manual Ron Carlson Writes a Story, he urges that this is when the magic happens -- when you push through the distractions and stay there in the story.
But, after my writing time is over for the day, I'm going to attack those dirty dishes. When I get home, instead of collapsing immediately on the couch, I'm going to take ten seconds to hang up my jacket, put away all the groceries, place my keys in that little dish by the door so I can find them the next day. This year, I am going to get -- and stay -- organized. That is the gift I am giving myself to cut back on stress, to make an already busy semester less hectic than it needs to be.
When my surroundings are neat and free of clutter, my mind feels less cluttered, too. I feel calmer. And the funny thing is, once you get organized, it is easier to stay organized -- it just takes a few minutes every day to keep that way. And really, how much harder is it for me to file that important paper away in my file cabinet than to set it on the kitchen table, where it will continue to take up my mental space before getting lost or buried underneath other stuff, alluding me when I am frantically looking for it weeks later? Answer: actually a heck of a lot easier to just file it away from the get-go.
Today, in between working on my novel, going to the gym, and preparing my lesson plans for the week, I am going to take half an hour to clean out my backpack and purse. I am going to sort through the papers scattered on my desk and kitchen table. I am going to make a list for the grocery store instead of winging it and forgetting something I need.
I am going to get organized, and stay that way! Will you join me?
Dallas Woodburn is the author of two award-winning collections of short stories and editor of Dancing With The Pen: a collection of today's best youth writing. Her short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize three years in a row and her nonfiction has appeared in a variety of national publications including Family Circle, Writer's Digest, The Writer, and The Los Angeles Times. She is the founder of Write On! For Literacy and Write On! Books Youth Publishing Company and is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Fiction Writing at Purdue University, where she teaches undergraduate writing courses and serves as Assistant Fiction Editor of Sycamore Review.
Avoiding Extraneous Words
I recently learned a new term: Pleonasm. Is it a murder suspect? A graffiti artist? A practical joker?
Turns out, it’s nothing quite so mysterious. A pleonasm is a word or phrase, which can be removed from a sentence without changing its meaning. For example, John walked to the chair and sat down. “Down” is a pleonasm and can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence.
Although I was not familiar with the term, I did know them when I saw them. In fact, part of my editing advice revolves around deleting extraneous words. Words such as “that,” “very,” “both,” and “there was.” Others might include “began,” “started,” or “continued.”
Here’s another phrase that nearly everyone is guilty of: “The sky held a myriad of stars.” Myriad means “countless.” So the correct use is “The sky held myriad stars.” (Simply substitute the word countless for myriad.) That eliminates two extraneous words.
And then there is the word “unique.” We are inundated with varying degrees of “uniqueness” every day: “That was a rather unique movie.” “Your story is very unique.” What’s next—uniquely unique? Unique means “the only one of its kind.” Unique is unique. It doesn’t need any modifiers
I also caution to watch use of “ly” words. These words are often used to prop up weak verbs. For example: “She walked quickly” can be stronger if written “She strode” (or bounded or rushed). Likewise with the “to be” verbs (was, were, had been, etc.) especially when used with an “ing” verb. “She was walking” is better as “She walked.”
Some authors like to use taglines (he said, she said) plus an action: “…she said, taking a sip of coffee.” The simple action is sufficient: “She took a sip of coffee.”
You also don’t need to describe two actions at once: She nodded and smiled. He puffed himself up and took a swig...
A writer friend of mine is looking at every sentence in her manuscript and challenging herself to remove at least one word from each. She has cut 14,000 words from a 400-page manuscript.
I challenge you to go one step farther: see if you can delete an entire phrase from a sentence, an entire sentence from a paragraph, a paragraph from a scene.
Hunt down and exterminate those “Pesky Pleonasms.”
-------------------------
A native Montanan, Heidi M. Thomas now lives in Northwest Washington. Her first novel, Cowgirl Dreams, is based on her grandmother, and the sequel, Follow the Dream, has recently won the national WILLA Award. Heidi has a degree in journalism, a certificate in fiction writing, and is a member of Northwest Independent Editors Guild. She teaches writing and edits, blogs, and is working on the next books in her “Dare to Dream” series.
Turns out, it’s nothing quite so mysterious. A pleonasm is a word or phrase, which can be removed from a sentence without changing its meaning. For example, John walked to the chair and sat down. “Down” is a pleonasm and can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence.
Although I was not familiar with the term, I did know them when I saw them. In fact, part of my editing advice revolves around deleting extraneous words. Words such as “that,” “very,” “both,” and “there was.” Others might include “began,” “started,” or “continued.”
Here’s another phrase that nearly everyone is guilty of: “The sky held a myriad of stars.” Myriad means “countless.” So the correct use is “The sky held myriad stars.” (Simply substitute the word countless for myriad.) That eliminates two extraneous words.
And then there is the word “unique.” We are inundated with varying degrees of “uniqueness” every day: “That was a rather unique movie.” “Your story is very unique.” What’s next—uniquely unique? Unique means “the only one of its kind.” Unique is unique. It doesn’t need any modifiers
I also caution to watch use of “ly” words. These words are often used to prop up weak verbs. For example: “She walked quickly” can be stronger if written “She strode” (or bounded or rushed). Likewise with the “to be” verbs (was, were, had been, etc.) especially when used with an “ing” verb. “She was walking” is better as “She walked.”
Some authors like to use taglines (he said, she said) plus an action: “…she said, taking a sip of coffee.” The simple action is sufficient: “She took a sip of coffee.”
You also don’t need to describe two actions at once: She nodded and smiled. He puffed himself up and took a swig...
A writer friend of mine is looking at every sentence in her manuscript and challenging herself to remove at least one word from each. She has cut 14,000 words from a 400-page manuscript.
I challenge you to go one step farther: see if you can delete an entire phrase from a sentence, an entire sentence from a paragraph, a paragraph from a scene.
Hunt down and exterminate those “Pesky Pleonasms.”
-------------------------
A native Montanan, Heidi M. Thomas now lives in Northwest Washington. Her first novel, Cowgirl Dreams, is based on her grandmother, and the sequel, Follow the Dream, has recently won the national WILLA Award. Heidi has a degree in journalism, a certificate in fiction writing, and is a member of Northwest Independent Editors Guild. She teaches writing and edits, blogs, and is working on the next books in her “Dare to Dream” series.
Write From the Heart: LINE UP THE TIMELINE
Check out my friend's posting on setting up a timeline in your story -
Faye's book To Tell The Truth will be free for downloading on Kindle only February 8 through February 10. If you like some romance and a lot of suspense, check it out
Write From the Heart: LINE UP THE TIMELINE: When writing my book, To Tell the Truth, there was one of many elements I forgot to include. It was the hardest for me to correct, my effort...
Faye's book To Tell The Truth will be free for downloading on Kindle only February 8 through February 10. If you like some romance and a lot of suspense, check it out
Write From the Heart: LINE UP THE TIMELINE: When writing my book, To Tell the Truth, there was one of many elements I forgot to include. It was the hardest for me to correct, my effort...
$4.00 fix
It’s hard to believe that we are facing yet another gift
giving season. We just finished paying
for Santa’s run and now Cupid is hot on our heels. As a woman, I am here to tell you that a gift
really doesn’t have to cost much money but it does have to meet a couple of
specific criteria: it has to be personal (I have to know that you know me) and
the gift has to show me you took time in planning and getting it. These two things hold true whether the gift is
from a female friend or a romantic interest.
Here is an example of
a gift that didn’t work and how it could have been a success with a little
extra effort. A boy, we will call him
Sam, bought a gift for his girl friend, Jane.
To Sam’s credit, he purchased it, wrapped it and gave it to her
following a nice dinner. Sam was
terribly confused and surprised when Jane unwrapped the gift and burst into
tears. Sam just didn’t understand why
Jane was not happy with the jumper cables he had bought her. She had been having trouble with her car battery
for Pete’s sake.
Now for the $4 solution that would have made the same gift
work. The jumper cables were a good
idea, but they failed to meet the two specified criteria. When asked if Sam knew Jane’s favorite candy
bar he said “Sure, she loves Snickers” and when asked if she liked flowers he
answered “yes”. Sam could have purchased
the jumper cables, in an effort to protect Jane, and then stopped by a local
convenience store. There he could have
purchased two Snickers and clamped the wrapper of each into one of the cable
clamps. Usually, convenience stores sell
carnations or some other flower in a water vile so Sam could have purchased a
flower and laid it across the other set of clamps. When she unwrapped the present Jane would
truly know that the present was meant for her; it contained her favorite candy
and a flower. $4 extra dollars would
have made the difference. Most men don’t
believe me, but ask any woman and she will agree. So, if you are buying a gift for a woman, whether
you are a man or a woman, follow those two simple rules and you will be sure to
get a gift that will be sincerely appreciated.
PS. Unless she
specifically asks, don’t buy her a vacuum, a blender or any other practical
gift that will make her life easier. On
special occasions she wants to feel special not useful.
PSS. Books are always a hit so make sure to check out some of our great authors. Just take a look to your right under contributors and you can click on their links.
Martha Swirzinski
www.wholechildpublishing.comwww.movementplus.com
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