Writers On The Move: Revision, Part 2: Editing Fiction after a Long Bre...

For those who need a little different approach to editing/revising a project, check out Linda's method and see if it might work for you. 



Writers On The Move: Revision, Part 2: Editing Fiction after a Long Bre...: Needlepoint art made for me by a friend that faces my computer. It reminds me  every day to keep on trying, Photo by Linda Wilson Wha...

Writers On The Move: A New Year Gift

A new year's gift for all writers - content writing for the upcoming year.  Thank you all for being part of the Writers On The Move experience with us.  Mrs. E :)



Writers On The Move: A New Year Gift: Today is the first day of the rest of your life and the beginning of a new year - make it all it can be! HAVE A HEALTHY, HAPPY, AND ...

Writers On The Move: A Gift From Writers on the Move to You

We at Writers On The Move are sharing some writing tips with all of you.  Please visit the WOTM site and download your free gift and share with all those you know who may be a writer or anyone who wants to be a writer.  Merry Christmas to all and enjoy our free gift to you. - E :)



Writers On The Move: A Gift From Writers on the Move to You: Another year is coming to a close and at this time we at Writers on the Move would like to THANK YOU for being a part of our online lives, ...

Book Club Discussion Questions

I was informed today at the brown bag lunch book club that Finally Home would be the April read for the Reluctant YA Readers book club.  I don't have any discussion questions for my book.  So I'm posing this to anyone who has read the book to please send me some possible discussion questions.  I need between 10 and 15 questions.  Any help is much appreciated.  Either leave your questions in the comment boxes or email me at eeldering@gmail.com with suggestions for discussion questions.  Thanks to all in advance for helping me out with this.  E :)

2014 Author Showcase - Columbia, SC

I have finally finished putting labels and eyes on all the bookworms I've made up in the last few weeks (spent a little over an hour and a half putting eyes on 17 bookworms and labels on those plus the other 80 sitting here waiting to be labeled).  I'm ready for tomorrow.  I have 6 small library book tote bags and 3 larger sized ones available plus 10 books.  Have borrowed my friend's tablet to use my Square card reader (and did get it working last night, just hope it continues to work tomorrow so I can accept credit cards).  I've printed up table signs on my price list and the square signage.  I have books and bookworms and everything boxed and ready to go. 

If you happen to be in the Columbia, SC, or anywhere that is remotely close to Columbia tomorrow between 11 AM and 1 PM, come visit us.  For a list of authors who will be there, please check out the posting.  I'm looking forward to seeing some friends I haven't seen in a while including Ann Einstein, author of the Sean Gray, Jr FBI series; Karen Petit, author of the Ivy League series; Mary Lee, author of children's books and nonfiction.  I'm also going to see folks from the local Sisters in Crime group, although I just saw most of them last month at our meeting.  The authors from the SinC group include Polly Iyer, author of thriller/suspense novels; Cindy Blackburn, author of humorous cozy mysteries; Judy Buch, inspirational author who is working on a cozy mystery with a ventriloquist as the protagonist; Danielle Dahl, memoir author; and Roger Meadows, thriller/suspense/mystery writer (unfortunately he doesn't have a webpage).  Another author who will be there is Paula Gail Benson, short story writer and author of several genres who is a member of Sisters in Crime but actually lives in Columbia so isn't really a member of our local group but she has been the guest speaker for our group as well as attended a meeting or two.  Paula and I go back a ways. 


Those are just a few of the authors who will be attending the event tomorrow.  Hope to see you all there - E :)

Sharing with Writers and Readers: Reputable Not-To-Be-Missed Contest News

A contest for all you readers who are thinking of polishing that soon to be published story - :)



Sharing with Writers and Readers: Reputable Not-To-Be-Missed Contest News: I am proud to be a sponsor of the brand new, first ever North Street Book Prize and thought you’d want to put it on your list of contest...

Author Showcase - December 13, 2014

I will be at the Richland County main library on December 13, 2014, from 11 to 1.  Check out the list of over 100 authors who will be there. 

If you follow me on facebook, you know I not only sell books but am selling bookworms and "market bags" (sold as a book carrying bag for all your goodies or to carry your library books).  It's the time of year to place your order for bookworms or other crocheted gift items.  Bookworms are $2 each and there are (at the writing of this posting) 23 colors available but some of them are in very limited supply as they are colors that can't be picked up at any store nor can they be ordered from Red Heart or other places.  Market bags/book carrying bags (or purses if you would like to line one yourself) are two sizes, small and medium, and they are $12 and $20; I'm doing these in the cotton more so than the acrylic yarn and like them better.

If interested in obtaining class gifts, stocking stuffers or other gifts, please email me at eeldering @ gmail (dot) com (eeldering@gmail.com) and let me know what you are interested in and I'll discuss payments and shipping with you. 

Hope to see many of my South Carolina friends at the event in December; have a blessed holiday everyone - see you in the postings - E :)

Highway Robbery

Recently, I went to Walmart for a few items (really less than 10 items) and I used to enjoy shopping at Walmart because they always boasted decent prices on everything.  I was shocked to find that the cost of some of the items I was there to get actually went up, not much but everything was increasing in price around the store. 


I guess if the prices hadn't jumped somewhat drastically on some items then I wouldn't have noticed since I haven't been really shopping at Walmart of late.  I've been spending my food money at places like Aldi's and Dollar Tree.  Yes, Dollar Tree, where everything is a dollar.  I can find lots of things in their freezer section for meals for just me.  Sometimes I can get several meals from a variety of items mixed and matched from Dollar Tree.  Aldi's has good prices too and their fresh fruits and veggies are pretty good.  Sometimes I don't like the lack of variety at places like Aldi's and Dollar Tree but then again, looking at the prices of places like Walmart and the grocery stores out there, I shouldn't complain.


While on my trip to Walmart, I stopped at Subway, which is actually right inside the entrance to Walmart and I stopped there before heading to the back of the store to pick up half a gallon of milk (used to be $2.50 and is now $2.60).  Subs used to be priced at a decent cost for eating out and now - for the sub I like, it is $7.50 for just a foot long sandwich.  And the girl was new and very chincy with the veggies she was putting on my sub.  I had to tell her to put more stuff on it because the meat was so little and I wanted to feel like I had a hefty sandwich for the price.  If you want to add a drink and chips to that it's another $2.50.  That's $10 before tax for a complete meal.  When did that happen?  The cost of eating out is outrageous.  It's absolutely highway robbery.


 I recently went up to $2 on my bookworms and I'm sure some of you are saying that it's highway robbery for me to do so, but let me explain why.  I've been working with Elaine C. from AIM (Anderson Interfaith Ministries) and she's trying to work a deal with some local shops for my bookworms and books and other things I make and she wanted me to add labels to the bookworms.  Not an easy task in and of itself but I did it.  I purchased a double sided sticky tape dispenser from Walmart, some double sided sticky tape; I ordered some blank sew-on labels from Starlight labels; I ordered some pocket stamps from Vistaprint which are just the right size for the labels.  This is working out well for the bookworms and the labels once stamped will be sewn onto other larger items, once I figure out where to set up my sewing machine - lol.  I have afghans, a crocheted vest, scarves, and shawls to put labels in so this will be another task.  Labor.  It can be so expensive, especially when you are doing all the work yourself.  Anyway, I apologize for being one of those highway robbers since I had to go up in price on my bookworms.  I had no choice.  The cost of everything around me went up, including the yarn I pick up at Walmart (this is when I first noticed that the prices were going up - I had purchased a skein or two for my daughter to finish a project she was working on and was kind of shocked to see that the cost of the yarn had changed, even if it was only 11 cents a skein - still - that was 22 cents extra on 2 skeins).  If bookworms are purchased in bulk of at least 20, I will go back down to my $1.50 each price. 


Anyway, the economy is shifting, prices are going up on everything, and the small business person will be the one left behind if they don't follow suit.  We are all victims of highway robbery - :)

Book Club Discussions, Screenplay Writing, and a General Update

Greetings to my One Hundred Plus follows out there.  I know it's been a while since I've posted but I've been going through a very rough patch in my life right now.  I'm trying to stay positive and take it one day at a time, but some days are harder to do just that. 

Last month, I had to go out of town due to my father being in the hospital.  He ended up being in the hospital for about two weeks (had back surgery a week and a half after being admitted) before being transferred to the rehab facility.  He has been there for a little over 3 weeks and I just found out Monday afternoon, via his church email/blog/google+ group that he developed pneumonia over the weekend.  They do have him on antibiotics and hopefully he will recover as quickly as possible to not be set back too much from his therapy.  He may be at the rehab facility through the middle of August or maybe the end of August; it's all dependent on how well he progresses.  He admits his muscle strength is very weak and that is one of the things they are working on - strengthening. 

In March, I started another transcription position with Nuance Transcription Services after having been unemployed for six months.  My primary accounts are rehab facilities across the United States in the Select group of facilities.  Every day I'm typing reports on patients who are in rehab for various illnesses or injuries.  Some back injuries or surgeries, some fractures of the hips/knees/wrists/shoulders, and some from strokes or other neurological/brain problems - subarachnoid hemorrhages or closed head injuries, et cetera.  Every day I type one of these reports I think of my father and how he's doing and I think I need to call him but then forget.  My feeling on that is that I don't want to be a pest checking on him every day and I need to be working rather than making phone calls during work hours.

My friend, Anita Fricks, asked me a few months ago to join her in the Reluctant YA readers book club and then I started going to the Wednesday Brown Bag Lunch book club after that.  The problem with the book club reads are that the choices, of late, are books I wouldn't normal read and probably still don't read them.  I hate going to a discussion having not read a book but if I can't get past a few pages, I really find it difficult to read the whole book.  Today's reading was "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury.  Now, I understand it was written in the 1940s; it's not really sci-fi but is futuristic, and all that and I know this has been touted as a great book but I didn't see it that way.  I guess because now that I'm a writer and knowing our mantra in this day and age is to "show, don't tell" and I felt that these stories were just telling us everything, no leaving us to imagine anything really.  I found the first few pages rather boring.  Last month's selection was "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café" and I didn't even get to attend the book club due to being out of town for my family.  I did try to read as much as I could before turning it in but after seeing the movie before reading the book, I couldn't follow along with the book.  The movie and book are two different things.  In the movie, I got the impression that Mrs. Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy's character) was Idgie telling the story.  In the book, Mrs. Threadgoode is telling the story, but she introduces herself as being the wife of one of Idgie's brothers.  The only brother mentioned in the movie was Buddy who got hit by a train.  I understand that things have to be done differently for the movie to work and there were some elements that were kept from the book in the movie (the lake freezing with the ducks and the ducks flying off with the frozen lake so there was no more water in the lake - just an empty space where the lake used to be; giving the drunk a drink to steady his nerves). 

So that leads up to my next point.  Making a movie out of a novel.  Screenplay writing.  I've not done it but when I wrote Finally Home several years ago, I could picture it as a made-for-TV movie - but have yet to actually write the screenplay for it.  I'm thinking of it. 

For those who have read the book, have you been able to picture the story as a made-for-TV movie?  Do you think it is worth trying to write the screenplay?  Do you think I could get someone to produce a movie from the story?  I look forward to hearing your opinions on this matter.  E :)

Anne R. Allen's Blog: 12 Dumb Things Writers do to Sidetrack Our Own Suc...

Some sound advice to fairly new authors/writers - E :)



Anne R. Allen's Blog: 12 Dumb Things Writers do to Sidetrack Our Own Suc...: by Anne R. Allen W e writers tend to be a delusional lot. Most of us know the average writer doesn't make a bunch of money, but we s...

Finally Home Now Available on Nook, iBooks, and Kobo

Finally Home is now available on Nook. You can pick up your copy here

If you are Kobo user, you can pick up your copy here

If you are an iTunes or ibooks reader, you can pick up your copy here

Of course, if you are a kindle user, you can still get your copy here


We are waiting word from draft2digital for the Scribd (a book subscription site) and that link will be posted as soon as I have it.

 

Finally Home is also still available in print through amazon.com and bn.com as well as an audio book through audible.com, iTunes, and amazon's pages. 

I Won!

I've been following several blogs and sometimes I'll leave a comment and sometimes I won't.  Last week there was a posting on Buried Under Books about reading order of mysteries or any books in a series.  It was an interesting article and there was a giveaway.  I won a copy of Real Murder by Lauren Carr. 


Thank you, ladies.  It's been a while since I won anything.  I will call this a late birthday present.  E :)

Looking for a New Avenue to Promote Your Books?

Are you looking for a place to promote your books? 

A couple of weeks ago, my friend, Anita Fricks, texted me stating there was a "Reluctant YA Readers'" book club at the local library the next evening and did I want to go with her.  I responded sure.  I took my book Finally Home with me, participated in the group discussion, even though I hadn't read the selected book for the month since I only found out about it the day before, and then talked about my book a little bit.  After the book club dissipated, I stopped at the circulation desk on the floor and chatted more with the librarian who is in charge of the book clubs, and Finally Home will be either the selected read for October or I'll have my own event, maybe on a Saturday, where I will be able to promote and sell my books. 

If you haven't checked out your local library's book clubs, do so.  If you can find one where your book possibly would fit the types of books they are reading, I suggest attending the book clubs, read the selected books and bring your books in to let the person in charge know about them and maybe get some of your books in the monthly selected reads. 

If nothing else, you are learning some new to you authors and reading other books that are on a similar line to yours.  But on the chance the librarian is stoked to have an author in the book club and would like your books or one of your books to be a selected month's read, then you have just gained a new audience. 

Good luck and remember book clubs are our friends because those readers will spread the word about your books.  E :)

Long Time No Postings

It's been since October (and I'm not even sure how I posted anything in October) since my last posting. Just letting my followers know I am still around and finally things are turning around for me. I'm out of the house, moved into an apartment on my own, have been without a job since September 12 and now am about to start a new job. I've been in the courses through the SC Works program for Medical Billing & Electronic Health Records specialist and only have 3 more to go to get to that certification exam. I've been without internet until recently so have not really done much of anything - posting or writing. I am getting back to The Ties of Time and hope to have it written (at least first draft) by the end of this month. I may be able to persuade one of the ladies from the Sisters in Crime group to do a couple of covers for me or maybe I'll do a couple of them myself for "Butterfly Halves", "La Cave" and "Zombies Amuck" to get them published. It's been a while since I've published anything. I hope now that I have internet and am back to working that more will come about in my writing world. Stay tuned for more updates. E :)

Just Catching Up

Since my last posting a month ago, a good bit has transpired in my life and with my writing (okay not so much in the latter). I was terminated from my job of over 7 years, for some unknown reason but they didn't contest my unemployment so I should start receiving unemployment soon (fingers crossed I see a check this weekend). I've been applying for all kinds of jobs including with the state, but with the Federal shutdown, not sure how much that will affect state positions and put a hold on hiring on jobs that have been opened for a while. I have also found some positions available through the South Carolina Work Force site which I have been applying for. Tomorrow I take my skills assessment testing to hopefully get into the program for Medical Billing and Coding (that's not what they are calling it now but same idea) that will hopefully put me on a better road to getting a job. I'll keep filing and searching until I either find another job or my unemployment runs out, which, from all best guesses, is basically 4 months from now. Sadness hit the writing world as the Great Tom Clancy passed away. My baby's b-day was last week and I didn't have any funds to get him a card or anything and to top that off, my printer decided to stop working, so I can't even print anything that I need to print right now. Not sure what's up with that. On the writing front, I have decided to stop editing my friend's manuscript and have decided to get back to writing the second story in Kelly's series. I'm not very far in but I feel I can write it rather quickly once I get back to it. I have now pushed my self-imposed deadline to have it written by the end of this month. I need to knock out about 50,000 words in 27 days (considering that the 3rd is busy full with class time with the 6th graders, testing, Sisters in Crime meeting), but hopefully I can bust out some serious writing Friday. I hope I can write the story that Anita and I brainstormed, although I feel like it's not really my story right now. Guess that is the hazard of outlining or plotting a story from beginning to end when one hasn't ever done that before. I think that catches you all up on what's going on in my life. How about you? What's happening on your end? Anything good you'd like to tell us about? --- See you all in the postings - E :)

Texting, Audiobooks and Writers

What do texting and audiobooks have to do with writers? I learned over the past week that texting and writers don't mix. I've also learned that if I am sitting up listening to an audiobook, I tend to stay awake but if I recline and turn the book on and just let it sit on my nightstand that I tend to fall asleep. Texting in general is a terrible form of communication for anyone. With all the abbreviations and "text speak" out there, it is very difficult to keep track of what you are saying. This writer doesn't abbreviate when texting and even so, she tends to misspell words that there is no reason to misspell. I was texting a friend the other day who was about to leave for a month-long trip to Serbia and was telling about my free download for kindle of Finally Home and also that I had some "short" stories available for 99 cents. Well, I meant short stories, but what came out was "slopt" and how that came about was a simple error of hitting the incorrect number key associated with the letters. I thought I was keying in the 4 for the H and the rest of the numbers were okay but when I hit the 5 instead of the 4, it put in the word "slopt", not that I believe that is a word. But it was funny when she texted me back saying she loved "slopt" stories. As a writer, we are told to use our words and when we get sidetracked with text messaging and other short forms of communicating like this, we tend to get sloppy and everything comes out incorrectly. My advice to writers who insist on texting (my preferred form of communication is email or actually talking on the phone) don't abbreviate your words. Use your words and use them correctly. As far as audiobooks, I suggest trying them - listen in the car when traveling and if too much of a distraction, then it's not for you; try them when getting ready for bed or just listen to them when you are working out. They are a great form of getting your reading time in every day. I have listened to 2 full books (although I do believe I fell asleep during one of them and may have missed some of the book or perhaps if I did, I went back and relistened to what I had missed) and have 3 more in my library to listen to. I am in the process of listening to The Story of Dr. Doolittle and know I fell asleep the other night. No worries, since I know I can rewind to a place I remember actually hearing. I wonder if reading a different book than you are listening to counts as reading several books at a time? My guess is yes since you are getting the reading in by either actually seeing the words on the page or hearing them as read by someone else. I used to think I wouldn't be one of these people who could read several books at a time but I guess I just proved myself wrong as I am currently visually reading a book and listening to a book. If you are looking for a way to lull yourself to sleep, I suggest opening an audiobook and unless its an intense thriller or suspense novel, that should work in putting to you sleep. No wonder babies fall asleep when mothers read to them. It's that soothing sound of the voice that lulls them into slumber. See you all in the postings - E :)

How do you get your book ideas? - Books & Such Literary Agency : Books & Such Literary Agency

How do you get your book ideas? - Books & Such Literary Agency : Books & Such Literary Agency

This is more interesting after reading the comments by others.  I was asked this question by one of the 6th graders a couple of weeks ago when I was doing an introduction time to the kids so that they would know who I am.  They had a brief introduction to me last year but we found it was too much for me to spend my days in all three classes (4th, 5th and 6th) and that it would be best to just focus on the 6th graders knowing I would get the 5th graders this year and they would be more likely to do writing related events that they could work with me one-on-one.  Let us know where your ideas come from - E :)

Quick Audible/ACX Update

As most of you know, Finally Home went up as an audio book the end of June.  The first week it went up, 5 copies were downloaded (Yay!!!).  This evening I went to do laundry and having not checked my mail all week, I went to the post office first.  Upon opening there was a large, oversized but thin envelope from Audible.com and I was thinking it was more paperwork that I might not have filled out, but no my first royalty check from audible for 5 downloads of Finally Home and 1 download of State of Successes.  Royalties are paid monthly as long as you have earned at least $10.  Since the first of July, I have had 2 more downloads of Finally Home and 2 of State of Successes, one of which I believe occurred today or yesterday as I haven't checked my ACX dashboard in a couple of days and the last time I looked there were only 3 total for State of Successes. 

For those of you who have downloaded the audio books, I thank you very much.  I hope you all enjoy listening to Sienna narrate the story.  Just a reminder too that there will be a second in Kelly Watson mysteries.  I'm workig on The Ties of Time and hope it meets your expectations.  E :)

The Proposal Free Days/Research Field trip

It's free download days again; this time, my short story "The Proposal" is available.  It will be free through Thursday midnight PST.  I'd forgotten to post this yesterday but I have a reason.

Yesterday, my friend Anita and I took a field trip to Iva (the town setting for my Kelly Watson stories) and explored.  We parked on the square and kind of walked around checking out the store fronts or buildings there and turned the corner to find the Iva Museum.  It was closed as they are only open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.  The person who operates the museum was there checking on the air conditioner as he had been on vacation last week and he wanted to make sure that the folks had returned it to its normal settings.  He was coming out of the museum as we were kind of looking in the windows, stating we needed to make another trip when the museum was opened.  Anita asked him about the museum and we explained what I was doing, so he was kind enough to let us in and showed us around and allowed us to take some pictures of some of  their pictures.  We gained a lot of information from that short visit.  Thank you, Mr. David Newby, for spending some time with us and giving us some background history of the town.  He also told us about the "Antique Body Shop" just around the corner, so we naturally had to stop in there.  No, it's not an antique car shop but a senior citizens gym.  We spoke with two folks there and Anita bought herself a T-shirt. 

From there, we made our way to the town hall which houses the police department, municipal court and the place to pay water bills (I've forgotten what it was called).  We talked to the one lady who was standing behind the police department window, who happened to be the victim's advocate.  We asked for some information and she told us that the guy across from them would be able to help us but he had just stepped out of the office, but would return shortly (I missed when he did return or we would have engaged in a conversation with him).  The Chief of Police had to deal with a situation but when he finished with that business, he was very nice to sit with us and give us all kinds of other information.  He even printed out a map and marked places we wanted to explore for us.  That map may show up in the front of The Tie of Time (A Kelly Watson paranormal mystery).

When we left town hall, it was lunch time so we stopped by the cafe we had originally parked in front of and had lunch - buffet style - fried chicken, sweet potato casserole, green beans, beets (which I didn't get any of but I do love beets if they are fixed right), rice and white gravy, some greens (I think they were collard greens), country fired steak, and desserts and a few other veggies.  The buffet table isn't very large so they can only  put up a few items each day.  The waitress was very friendly.

After leaving the cafe, we drove around looking for the different items marked on the map for us including the supposed ghost house (which we didn't really find  but no worries) and the oldest house in Iva which was old but didn't really give me the impression of being the oldest house around, the old drug store (vital to The Ties of Time as this is where the whole mystery will occur), the nursing home, the old high school which is now the Civic Center and houses an indoor basketball court and is used for all kinds of activities.  There is also a very nice park in front of the Civic Center and the only remaining building of the old school which was the cafeteria. 

We got a tour of the nursing home and were invited back during the activities time to observe what one of the worker's daughter does to help out (bless her little heart, she is only 6 years old and was trying her best to do the craft of the day, which was building little bird houses or bird feeders).  Thank you to Diane, Melissa and Tina for helping us give a reason for Kelly and Emma to be in the nursing home.

From the center of town, it is about 1 mile to the outskirts in any direction, so it is not a very large area, so I'm having to change what I started out with for the girls to get around since State Law says that no one can operate a moped or golf cart without a driver's license.  So now my girls will be riding bicycles around town.  I just need to make sure they have somewhere to put their picnic basket and other stuff.  Do they still make front handlebar baskets for bicycles? 

Overall, I think we had a very productive and interesting day of discovery.  We will probably make several more trips to Iva over the ensuing months.  Everyone we spoke to seemed genuinely excited about the fact that I was an author and had set my story in their small town.  I look forward to visiting the town of Iva again and hopefully meeting more people.  I also am excited to really get to writing The Ties of Times and hopefully can get it done fairly quickly.  I will post pictures later as it is now time to get to work as there is a team conference call this afternoon and one of my co-workers is out this week.  See you all in the postings - E :)

Bride-and-Seek Free Days

The Bride-and-Seek free days are here.  For the next three days, you can pick  up your copy of my romantic ghost story based on a legend in England for free.  Hope you all enjoy it.  E :)