Exhumed!

It’s been a week and we picked a winner for June’s book. Today I’ll be going to my sister’s work for a book signing. I’m looking forward to it since my book signing on Saturday at my aunt’s house went great. It was nice and relaxing, eating, drinking, and spending time together, along with selling books. I had no idea I’d sell so many.

At my aunt’s house, my cousins asked when I was going to write my next book. *smacks forehead* I’ve put so much time into Net Switch that I haven’t really come up with anything new for months—poetry or otherwise. I told them about the novel I wrote back in 2002-2003, which was a Romance. They were really interested in that one even though they thought I was going to write another suspense novel. The wonderful thing is that my cousins’ genre is romance, so they didn’t think they’d like my book…but they did. Then I was at a friend’s house for dinner on Sunday and she brought up my romance novel, which she read years ago as a beta reader. My writing wasn’t the best back then so I put it away. She told me she still thinks about the book and believes I should publish it.

I’ve recently moved and threw away many things—that book being one of them. I figured I might as well get rid of it since I had no intention on publishing it.

Of course, all these questions and requests made me curious, so I checked my backup hard drive to see if I still had an electronic version of the romance novel. I DO! I started reading it and realized that it’s a good story. I’ll have to rewrite it to get rid of the crap and add some meat to the story. Writing a romance is a bit different than suspense because character focus is important. Not that my suspense didn’t focus on character, but the plot and suspense was more important to keep it going until the very end.

Now I need to decide whether I should write the screenplay for Net Switch, which will be a challenge, or rewrite the romance novel for publication. I hadn’t thought about doing a screenplay until I gave my book over to my editor for a line-by-line. She immediately said she could see it going commercial, but at the time I told her I always wanted to publish a novel and that’s what I want. I can do a screenplay later.

What do I do, screenplay or rewrite? What is your current project, writing or anything else?

Excavations and crossroads,

Bea

All the World’s a Givin’

Thanks to all my loyal followers and welcome to the new ones! This post is all about giving, and it doesn’t even cost anything. No blood test is required. No naming your first child after me—just honest to good givin’. But the giving isn’t all from me…and there are some things you HAVE to do to receive (don’t go there dirty minds).

Melissa's Giveaway

My blogger friend, Melissa, is doing a Blogfest Marathon. Stop on by “Have You Heard” to check out requirements and prizes. Prizes are for bloggers, but anyone can check it out. To whet your appetite, a few prizes she’s giving away is a $50.00 Amazon gift card and a Kindle Fire.

CMash's Giveaway

CMash Loves To Read is doing a Net Switch giveaway from January 27^th to February 10^th.  Mark your calendars and stop on over at her blog on January 27^th…you might even find a guest author post about none other than me, Denise Baer. I have put the giveaway on the top-right side of my blog.

 

*I interrupt this blog to bring you a few very awesome messages*

Look at pictures of Net Switch fans - http://www.authordenisebaer.com/

Oh Look! Customer Reviews of Net Switch on Amazon, and if you feel inclined to join in and review, the appreciation is always there.

Again, Oh Look! Check out the Customer Review of Net Switch on Barnes & Noble, and if you feel inclined to join in and review, the appreciation is always there.

If you haven’t done it yet, hop on over to Facebook and “Like” Denise Baer’s Page.

*You may now return to the previously scheduled blog post*

My Giveaway

Now it’s time for my special giveaway. My friend, June Kramin AKA Aunty Bug, has published many books. You can check them out on her website - http://www.junekramin.com/. The book of hers that I’m giving away is Double Mocha – Heavy on Your Phone Number. You like Romance? You’re going to love this one. Here’s a synopsis:

“Unable to make it home in a snowstorm, Ellie seeks shelter at an old farmhouse. When the owner’s grandson shows up and happens to be the man she had given the brush off to twice, it takes all they have not to kill each other during the snowed-in days that follow.

When Ellie’s twin sister shows up and puts all their lives at risk, they must now weather a different kind of storm together.”

You can stop on over at YouTube to check out Double Mocha Heavy on Your Phone Number Book Trailer.

To participate in this giveaway, you must head on over to June’s Facebook Page and leave a message mentioning me on her page and send an email to denise@authordenisebaer.com. Winner’s will be picked randomly using http://www.random.org/. I’ll contact the winner to find out what version they need, Kindle, Nook or pdf, and it will be sent to them.

 

So get in there and start clicking to win some of these giveaways. I mean...who doesn’t LOVE free things.

 

Giveaways and support,

Bea

P.S. This is just a reminder. Writers appreciate reviews of their books. When you read a book, let others know what you think of the book on whatever venue you can find.

What a Difference a Year Makes

Mother Nature decided to give us a taste of a wintery wonderland, although there are plenty of people out there saying there’s nothing wonderful about it. The Chicago area received anywhere between 5 to 8 inches. I keep looking out the window, my car piled high with snow, hoping the sun will come out and it will all melt away before I have to go out there and clean it up.

The way it snowed yesterday reminded me of how it snowed in November 2010 when we were stranded in Edinburgh, Scotland. Here’s the link to that post, http://bit.ly/ysBOhP (the beauty of blogging—collected memories), and here’s the link about what we DID get to enjoy while in Scotland-http://bit.ly/gOuoCz.  

It’s amazing how much can happen and change in one year. I spent the winter of 2010-2011 in Germany, traveling to wonderful places, and seeing the bigger picture of life. My favorite was sampling the German Christmas markets in different towns. Here’s a glimpse at a few of the Christmas market booths-http://bit.ly/baJBsK. I also got the opportunity to record a German tradition in the town of Hattingen-http://bit.ly/eVvVp8.

In my 2010 Christmas post, http://bit.ly/vYWRaj, I talked about the changes in my life including my mother and I having the best relationship we ever had. Fast forward a year, and my mother is no longer in my life. If only I could have one more conversation with her, I’d tell her all the things I feel in my heart right now.

A little over a year ago, I finished my first revision of my 2008 National Novel Writing Month novel http://bit.ly/bP4ONG. This revision had transformed into many more revisions until it was published in 2011-http://bit.ly/vAZuqw.

I’ve always been one for change—except for this past year. But with bad things in life, good things do come out of it. I’ve learned who is important in my life—who cares for me—who was there for me in my time of need. I ended some friendships and rekindled some great friendships. I've also connected with my cousins, and can’t thank them enough for their support (life is full of surprises). I’m hoping for a happier future—a ‘life uninterrupted’.

How about you? What good and bad changes happened to you this last year?

Changes and hope,

Bea

The Lover in Hell

I was looking for a little humor today and this poem popped up. Hope you enjoy it like I do.

 

http://www.poemhunter.com/stephen-vincent-benet/

 

The Lover in Hell by Stephen Vincent Benet

Eternally the choking steam goes up
From the black pools of seething oil. . . .
How merry
Those little devils are! They've stolen the pitchfork
From Bel, there, as he slept . . . Look! -- oh look, look!
They've got at Nero! Oh it isn't fair!
Lord, how he squeals! Stop it . . . it's, well -- indecent!
But funny! . . . See, Bel's waked. They'll catch it now!

. . . Eternally that stifling reek arises,
Blotting the dome with smoky, terrible towers,
Black, strangling trees, whispering obscene things
Amongst their branches, clutching with maimed hands,
Or oozing slowly, like blind tentacles
Up to the gates; higher than that heaped brick
Man piled to smite the sun. And all around
Are devils. One can laugh . . . but that hunched shape
The face one stone, like those Assyrian kings!
One sees in carvings, watching men flayed red
Horribly laughable in leaps and writhes;
That face -- utterly evil, clouded round
With evil like a smoke -- it turns smiles sour!
. . . And Nero there, the flabby cheeks astrain
And sweating agony . . . long agony . . .
Imperishable, unappeasable
For ever . . . well . . . it droops the mouth. Till I
Look up.
There's one blue patch no smoke dares touch.
Sky, clear, ineffable, alive with light,
Always the same . . .
Before, I never knew
Rest and green peace.
She stands there in the sun.
. . . It seems so quaint she should have long gold wings.
I never have got used -- folded across
Her breast, or fluttering with fierce, pure light,
Like shaken steel. Her crown too. Well, it's queer!
And then she never cared much for the harp
On earth. Here, though . . .
She is all peace, all quiet,
All passionate desires, the eloquent thunder
Of new, glad suns, shouting aloud for joy,
Over fresh worlds and clean, trampling the air
Like stooping hawks, to the long wind of horns,
Flung from the bastions of Eternity . . .
And she is the low lake, drowsy and gentle,
And good words spoken from the tongues of friends,
And calmness in the evening, and deep thoughts,
Falling like dreams from the stars' solemn mouths.
All these.
They said she was unfaithful once.
Or I remembered it -- and so, for that,
I lie here, I suppose. Yes, so they said.
You see she is so troubled, looking down,
Sorrowing deeply for my torments. I
Of course, feel nothing while I see her -- save
That sometimes when I think the matter out,
And what earth-people said of us, of her,
It seems as if I must be, here, in heaven,
And she --
. . . Then I grow proud; and suddenly
There comes a splatter of oil against my skin,
Hurting this time. And I forget my pride:
And my face writhes.
Some day the little ladder
Of white words that I build up, up, to her
May fetch me out. Meanwhile it isn't bad. . . .

But what a sense of humor God must have! 

Kickbacks and humor,
Bea

Message in a Bottle

Who would you write it to? What would it be about? I watched the movie, Message in a Bottle, and I thought, “Who would I send a message in a bottle to?” Of course, the answer came before finishing the thought. My Mother. I would send a message to my mother telling her things I never got around to saying. It’s actually a wonderful idea, and I think it would be therapeutic for me.

Sending a message in a bottle dates back to 310 B.C., when the Ancient Greek Philosopher Theophrastus used it to show that the Atlantic Ocean’s inflow formed the Mediterranean Sea. When Christopher Columbus needed to get information to the Queen of Spain, he sent a note in a cask hoping she’d get it in case he died (messages were sent in any container that could float and remain waterproof).

This method of sending messages was used by military to inform where the enemy was located, for people to convey their love to another, and as an S.O.S. message. To this day, we all use different methods to communicate reminders or convey feelings. Some people use voice messages on phones to express themselves. It’s a way for people to use their creativity. And then you have people (like me), who write in journals, putting pieces of their happiness and pain on pages. These messages give us life even when we’re gone from this world.

If we were standing in your house, what would you send your message in? Who would you write it to? Someone you know or a stranger? Would it be about something you did, how you feel, or use it as a time capsule?

For those of you who don’t know what to send your message in, I found a Message in a Bottle website while working on this post. All you’d have to do is find a body of water to throw it in…or you could give it to the person you wrote it to and have them open it sometime in the future.

Letters and memories,

Bea

*Flips the Switch On*

It’s a New Year and I can finally say I’m a published author. Net Switch is available in paperback on Createspace (subsidiary of Amazon) and Amazon, and on Kindle and Nook.

Blogs, Amazon, Goodreads and Barnes & Noble have already received reviews and I’m excited and nervous because I know my novel will get good and bad reviews (hopefully more good). Criticism was my biggest fear of publishing, however, I knew I’d always wonder and regret it if I didn’t do it. This experience has also opened my eyes to all the liberal arts. How actors and actresses, musicians, painters, and writers must feel when they receive unflattering criticism. It hurts, plain and simple, and sometimes even makes us cry. Criticism of an author’s book is very personal. Our book is our baby, and any bad publicity is like saying our baby is ugly, stupid, and should never have been born. Yes, I know it sounds dramatic…and the feelings are just as dramatic. None of us like criticism; a boss putting negative comments on an evaluation, and family and friends letting us know what they don’t like about us. We cringe, get defensive, and usually no one walks away a winner.

But since I published, it means I accept the good with the bad. It’s part of the deal. It doesn’t mean I shouldn’t read about how to deal with it, so I actually researched how other authors go about handling negative reviews. Should you bother reading the reviews? Do you accept them like a grain of salt or do you learn from each one? Do you post a comment on a blog who has reviewed your book thanking them for reading it? There are so many questions and different ways authors handle negative reviews. A few have even gone a bit nuts online—berating the reviewer (You gotta read the comments). And there are even some authors out there that don’t read any reviews of their books. They feel it doesn’t matter at this point.

Literature is subjective. Some people will like my book and some won’t—there’s nothing I can do about it. What I can do is handle my reviews professionally. Everyone has a right, including me, to express how something makes them feel and that is something I need to remember about reviews. I don’t have to agree with every review, but it's how the reader felt and what they took away from the book (right or wrong). It isn’t debatable.

*raises beer*

A toast! To all the reviews I receive regarding my book, good and bad, and a heartfelt thank you to all who bought it (or will buy it) and took (or will take) the time to write a review.

*chugs beer, puts it on the counter and smiles*

Reading and reviews,

Bea

Friends!

I know my blog has resembled a leaky faucet but I am working on getting back into blogging.

Years…maturity…change…these play a big role in the wonderful world of friendship.

Such words you

speak, paint my heart—

colorful, sublime.

Our friendship stew,

never sharp like a dart,

grateful for its kind.

Variety sits at the table

to draw out humor

I waited so long for.

Several talks of a fable

always knew as rumor,

a late night but wish for more.

My friends, I hold on tight

to such memories of delight,

until we soar high into the white.

The last month has been trying, and I witnessed the preciousness of friendship. My friends were there for me—still here—and I can’t thank them enough for being them.

Today I start blogging on a regular basis, and tribute this day and onward to the wonderful friends I’d never want to say good-bye to. You are the epitome of what a friend is all about. So I thank you for our past, present and a wonderful future. I’m here for you.

Friends, compassion and giggles,

Bea

New Year—New Hope

The New Year is a sign of hope. It's a hope to live better, hope to be healthier, hope for more money and a hope to not lose anyone close to us. A New Year is a clean slate to start on a different path. Whatever wrongs we did in the last year, we want to make amends, reach our goals and share our dreams. Dreams are not limited—know no bounds—but they’re what keep our souls fluttering each day.

Last year I published a few books, but it will always be the year I lost my mother forever. All I can do is continue on with my dreams and know my mother is watching over me.

I hope you all have a successful year with your dreams, finance, love and support. When you succeed in your dreams, sprinkle them like glitter dust to share with the world. Hug a little longer, appreciate loyalties and those closest to you, love deeply and never let the glow of hope dim within.

Happy New Years to All of You!

Dreams and successes,

Bea