New Blog!

To all of you who have followed me on my blogging journey, and to any new followers, I created a new blog site on my new website.

Baer Books Press - Blog

I will no longer be posting on Skipping Stone Memories. Thank you all for your continued support and I hope to see you over at my new blog. If you can, stop on by within the week for a chance to win an eBook of one of my novels, Net Switch or Fogged Up Fairy Tale.

Blogger and Goodbye,

Bea

Brooding Boredom!

I’ve always had this problem--boredom. Throughout my life, I’d get bored with things very easily. It’s probably one of the main reasons I couldn’t keep a long-term relationship. But like most, we’re supposed to mature and lose and gain things along the way. Unfortunately, I haven’t lost boredom.

Change has always suppressed the boredom for the time being. It makes my life interesting. My hair is a great example. Everyone and anyone who knows me has seen my hair change months at a time from long to short, blonde to eggplant, I constantly change out of boredom. Changing my looks spices things up for me. I’m sure change was the main component when making the decision to move from the U.S. to Germany.

Now I’ve come into a major problem with boredom. I’m on all social networks and I blog, yet I can’t seem to stay focused in promoting and keeping an online presence. I can Tweet about something, but I get bored reading the countless tweets with links. My attention just isn’t there. I go to Goodreads and participate in discussion groups, but then I stop for weeks at a time.

The consistency and dedication that so many writers have I seem to be missing. I’m so caught up with my life and writing my current WIP that I don’t have the drive to Tweet, post on my Facebook page, blog, join in discussions on LinkedIn and Goodreads on a daily basis. I’ve forced myself and find that I’m not even ‘listening’ to what’s being said out there.

So what do I do? How do I shake the boredom, keep an online presence, promote and live life? How do some of you amazing people do it? I’ve followed and watched some delve into their blogs like daily journals. They respond to every comment as if they’ve been friends forever. They’re Tweeting and making friends, posting on Facebook pages and connecting with others. But me, the boredom seems to cast a veil over my face, hiding me from the things I should be doing as a writer.

All I hear is, you gotta have a website. You gotta have a blog. You gotta get involved. As much as I want to get involved, find critique partners, connect at a deeper level with writers, I’m struggling to find them…or I don’t know how to go about finding them and then boredom sets in and I turn to life to get things going again.

Does any of this sound familiar to anyone else? Am I the only one unfocused and bored? Should I buy a smart phone or an iPhone? Should I start eating black licorice on a daily basis?

Boredom and Change,

Bea

Hot Diggity Dog…New Digs!

Well...do ya love it? It was time for me to redecorate my blog. Like we do with homes, I knocked down a few walls and applied a new coat of paint, still keeping with the main color scheme. The left side bar has information about me and my books, and the right side bar has lists and a new thing I’d like to start—Pay It Forward.

I self-published my book and it’s difficult for self-published/indie authors to promote their books. “Pay It Forward” will help all involved. The more the word gets out, the more you profit…or at least receive comments that your book sounds interesting. It might even be added to someone’s TBR list.

Here’s how it will work…if anyone is interested. Send an email to denise@authordenisebaer.com with “Feature” in the subject line requesting to be featured on my blog and then I’ll request the following:

- Book cover (jpg)
- Author Photo (jpg-optional)
- Author Bio (no attachment- in the body of the email)
- Book Genre
- Synopsis
- Paragraph (no more than 150 words) about how you came to write the book, such as where the idea came from or why you wrote it (no attachment-in the body of the email)
- Paragraph (no more than 150 words) about why you decided to Self-Publish or about the Indie Publisher (no attachment-in the body of the email).
- Links to where the book can be purchased
- Links to author website, book trailer, etc.

After the author’s book is featured on my blog, they will be asked to feature an author on their blog with a link to my blog at the bottom of the post or write a review, and then send an email with a direct link to their blog post or review. I will then add it to the “Pay It Forward” list on the right side of my blog…And if the author wants to add the “Pay It Forward” list to their blog and continue on, I’ll send them the list links. We’ll see how this idea pans out.

I hope you enjoy the new digs and make sure to stop on by to read about some new and upcoming writers.

Redecorate and Feature,

Bea

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Hello, my Friends,

As you can see, I haven’t been blogging much due to other pressing matters. I wanted to stop in to let you know that I will be taking time off from my blog for the rest of the summer. This crazy little thing called love will get all my attention—Mein Liebster (my love) will be home in ten days.  

When I do publish my poetry e-book, I will post it on my blog and Facebook to let you all know. I thought I’d have it out on Kindle and Nook by July, but I’m waiting for copyright. My novel is still on for November 2011, and I will post more about it as we get closer to publication.

I wish you all a safe and happy summer. ♥♥

Love,

Bea

The Murderer’s Daughters

A friend of mine recently made a blog post, Complete, Yet Incomplete, about a book having so many great things about it, yet parts of it failed. She asked her readers several questions, such as how we consider a story a success, or if we didn’t like a book by an author, would we attempt to read that author again?

In The Murderer’s Daughters by Randy Susan Meyers, I can honestly answer with a booming response that this book is a success and I’d definitely read another one of her books. It was the first since The Book Thief where I wanted the end to tie everything up in a little bow, yet even though that didn’t happen I was content (with a smile). The Murderer’s Daughters is beautifully written and executed with emotional depth and truth from two points of views (POV)—Merry and Lulu (the daughters).

This book spans about 30-years of Merry and Lulu’s lives. They struggle with who they are and how to get through life after family abandons them, spending years in an orphanage and then college to be free of other’s help. Each girl has her own demand of life, very different from the other, and each one remembers from the age of loss. “Trying to catch memories of mama felt like trying to hold rain.” (173)

The story begins with Merry (the youngest) and Lulu’s (the oldest) father killing their mother, stabbing Merry and trying to kill himself. From the first page, my throat constricted and I cried for these two girls.

Essentially, Mama regarded me as a miniature hand server:

Grab me a Pepsi, Lulu.

Get the milk for your sister’s cereal.

Go to the store and buy me a pack of Winstons.

Then one day she upped the stakes:

Don’t let Daddy in the apartment.

Each chapter is Merry and Lulu’s POV of how they see the world, their father, and how they cope with life. Lulu, the oldest and practical thinker, tries to bury the past and makes plans to better their lives—it’s her survival mechanism. Merry, the youngest and emotional child, tries to please her father by visiting and relies on her sister’s direction. Many times they are at odds for their feelings toward their daddy. Lulu wants nothing to do with him while Merry feels obligated because daddy has no one else. How they deal with their father is how they deal with life; one wants to be free of the past and the other can’t let go.

The Murderer’s Daughters reveals the struggles and sadness when horror strikes a home. It shows the after effects of how a family has to pick up the pieces and carry on; some unable to glue the pieces together; and some tossing them away. As Merry said, “Did he know that sometimes I hated people so much it burned?” (40)

I highly recommend The Murderer’s Daughters. You won’t be disappointed.

Weathered Work

I stopped in at my blog and noticed I hadn’t posted since Saturday! It isn’t that I’m ignoring my blog—it’s just that my unemployed days are not empty. I wake early to go through my email job notices (apply or not), and then work on a combination of my poetry e-book, website, homework or my novel revisions.

Like the title of my post, my weathered (tough, windswept, worn) work has coincided with Chicago weather. As soon as I think it’s okay to head outside, the clouds roll in and the rain comes down. Every time I think I have the formatting perfected with my e-book, I view it and something is off kilter.

This week I’m working on my poetry e-book for publication within the next week or two. I can’t begin to explain how crazy tough it is to create a book. Not only did I have to choose the poems and edit them, but I want it appealing so I changed formatting and added pictures. I’m hoping these additives will help readers interpret my poems and keep on reading. Of course, not all my formatting converted properly, which forced me to remove some of it. I’m not complaining about creating it—having fun—although decision making and formatting is taking more time than anticipated.

My poetry e-book, Sipping a Mix of Verse, will be available on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook and Smashwords. I want it accessible to everyone, not just those who own a kindle or nook (because I don’t have one). Poetry isn’t a high reading genre; however, I hope my poetry will convert some non-poetry readers into enjoying the beauty of it. I think some people find poetry intimidating—mainly due to interpretation—but readers can enjoy poetry without worrying about what the author means. Take it for how it affects them individually.

What have you been up to? I’d like to live vicariously through you.

Like the Wind

Like the wind, I’ve drifted through the days without stopping to write on my blog. I let almost a week go by without a word…or a whisper…or an endearing note. Holiday, job searches, revisions, and spending time with my Love have stopped me from posting to my blog. I’m sorry for this lull of words. By next week, I’ll be in full force with keeping up with my posts. For now, you’ll just have to fill your time watching Dancing with the Stars and the Royal Wedding. ;) I'm sure you're upset about it. 

I hope you all had a nice Easter.