Pointing in the Right Direction

It's been awhile, but I thought a refresher on helpful websites might be in store. Maybe one or both of them will work for you.

In the market for a class to brush up on your craft? Then this course offered on the Writers' Village site is worth a look. This 14 week course is a free introduction to the Writers' Village Master Class. Learn to add energy and suspense to your stories, build characters, and so many more effective strategies. With several weeks of modules emailed to you along with a writing manual, you have a great start. -- Writers' Market Class 


If you don't like to travel the path most taken or follow the herd or, in other words, you'd like to find a way to self-publish, but not through Amazon Kindle or Smashwords ... then this might be for you. Indie Isle will help you publish, sell and promote your stories free of charge. They provide the ebook formats and the promotional tools to market your work. One of the most attractive features is that you get 90 percent of the profit. Yes. I said 90. Not 70. Once you've published your books, you get a web page to promote them. Nice. So, check it out: Idie Isle

 Enjoy!

My alter ego, K. Sean Jennkrist has surfaced and created a new fairytale. Enjoy the magic!                                      
                                          NOT SO SNOW WHITE

NOT SO SNOW WHITE is a modern teen fairytale that's magical, adventurous, mysterious, romantic, humorous, sensitive, and so much more. Winter Snow takes advice from her elfin-sized sidekick she's named Duane and journeys to find her missing dad. She soon discovers she has more than "elf power" to help her. Winter has "witch power". It's an exciting battle with good witches and bad, with school bullies versus the witchy freak, and then of course add in a little romance to comp..is a modern teen fairytale that's magical, adventurous, mysterious, romantic, humorous, sensitive, and so much more. Winter Snow takes advice from her elfin-sized sidekick she's named Duane and journeys to find her missing dad. She soon discovers she has more than "elf power" to help her. Winter has "witch power". It's an exciting battle with good witches and bad, with school bullies versus the witchy freak, and then of course add in a little romance to complicate things and you have Winter Snow's life. The ending will leave you feeling good since Winter gets to discover more about her family and herself. Lots of surprises and lots of entertaining fun. It's CINDERELLA GEEK (the first in this series) but with a magical boost. Only 99 cents in Kindle format.

Stylish Blogger Award

It's the little things ... I received a blogsite award from a new-found friend and blogger -- Krista and The Jelly Beans of Writing So, I am honored and now will talk a bit about me :-) How hard can that be?! (sweating profusely now). Before I start, here are the rules of the game. And best of luck to those five I pass the award along to!

Ok, here are the rules for this award:
1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
2. Share seven random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 5 new-found blogging buddies.
4. Contact the winners to congratulate them

R.F #1: I used to be a closet Victorian Romance reader! You name it and I read it. From Victoria Holt to Barbara Cartland, I had no boundaries to my ravenous appetite. But then I got married, had romance of my own, and didn't find as much interest in that genre. I switched to Stephen King and Dean Koontz horror for a while. It took a heavy dose of gruesome to get me to change camps once again. And it's been mysteries and suspense ever since! (Although, I admit, once in awhile I will venture back into a syrupy sweet romance and feel joy!)

R.F.#2: I am like an only child, but am not an only child ... No, it's not a riddle. My youngest brother is 16 years my senior. I have a sister, the oldest, who is 23 years older than I. And I have 9 nieces and nephews who range anywhere from 3 years to 8 years younger than I. Those were and are like my brothers and sisters. It's crazy during family reunions. I recall when I was a kid, I used to tell them, "If you ever call me Aunt Kathy, I will deck you!" It must have had the impact I wanted because when one of them had a bridal shower years later she asked if it was okay now to introduce me as her aunt!

R.F. #3: I wrote my first song when I was 12. It was actually just lyrics which I put to the tune from a movie, "The Moon Spinners" (Haley Mills was my idol then. And Cary Grant. I loved his old movies.) Anyway, I remember going out into the backyard, swigging on the tree swing and singing my song. It doesn't get more cheesy than that, folks!

R.F. #4: I've been writing stories since I was 7, belonged to my high school writers' club, and even took a class or two on creative writing. But it was when I approached my 50th birthday that I remembered the promise I'd made to myself: If I didn't write a full novel by then, and try to get it published, then I would give up on writing. Rather harsh, don't you think? Anyway, I finished Oklahoma's Gold that year. It felt good :-) And I was encouraged to write even more.

R.F #5: I actually decided to dabble in the self-publishing arena, but I didn't want to publicly say it was me :-). So, I published a young adult novel under a pen name. It's actually a fusion of my children's names into one. It's here, somewhere. I will let you all do the detective work to figure it out!

R.F. #6: I love bodies of water ... oceans especially, but I can't swim! I often say that when I retire, I would like to live in a beach house and watch the ocean waves move, smell the salt air, and just relax on my deck. To me that is Utopia!

R.F. #7: I talk to myself. Not that it's so unusual. I know lots of people who admit to that. But I do it to act out scenes I'm writing about in whatever WIP I'm working on. It helps ... I think ... yeah, it does. Or at least that's what I tell myself ... out loud ... when I'm carrying on a conversation with no one else in the room. Oh, boy ...

That actually wasn't too hard. I guess like most of us, I enjoy writing about myself. It's almost cathartic. Okay, so here below are my five "victims". Enjoy!

Allison Simon

Sue Maynard

Elena Solodow

Katherine Crawford

Danielle Raver 

Pointing in the Right Direction ... Book Country

So, what's the buzz? Tell me what's a happening ... Okay, not really trying to quote lyrics from rock opera, Jesus Christ, Superstar, but I couldn't resist :-) Just wanted to give a bit of flare to introducing yet another online forum for peer reviews. What makes Book Country somewhat unique is the "author" of the forum, Penguin Books. I will paraphrase the About Us page they've created to give you idea what to expect.
The obvious? You, the reader, can read original works. You don't have to be an author yourself, but it's a nice way to view new and immerging authors' creations. And you authors can place some of your work on the site, after you have reviewed at least 3 other works. I guess that seems fair, trying to balance both sides. You leave comments--constructive criticism, of course--and share thoughts, tips, and learn about the publishing industry through inciteful articles. It's refreshing to see that it's free. That's very unlike Fan Story, which is tainted with price-driven motives, IMHO.


Book Country and it's creator, Penguin, plan to offer a publishing service under the Book Country logo. There will be a cost, but they claim it is a "convenient and affordable way to self-publish eBooks and print books". This (and variety of services they provide) is yet another way for new authors to skirt around the traditional methods of finding a publisher and/or agent.

It will be interesting to see where this leads and how much it fits into the trend of things in publishing, especially in competing with self-publishing giant, Amazon and its Create Space and Kindle. At the very least, the free reviewing available is something to check out.

Book Country