Applause, Applause!

cj Sez: Congratulations to Mobile author/artist Steven Moore…The Gulf Coast CW named him Super Fan of the Month and then invited him to create their Super Fan logo.

   Moore has posted several essays on the Gulf Coast CW Super Fan site about his artistic journey that carried him from pen and paint to prose. His most recent post lauds his membership in the Mobile Writers Guild, whose members encouraged his writing and voila! He became a published author. (That ‘voila’ was a hard-won victory—the result of his serious dedication to learning the craft.)

  Moore created the covers for all three Mobile Writers Guild anthologies and is working on the fourth, scheduled for publication later this year.

  Enjoy reading about his artistic journey at these url addresses:

https://www.wkrg.com/gulf-coast-cw/behind-the-super-fans-logo/

https://www.wkrg.com/gulf-coast-cw/gulf-coast-cw-super-fan/super-fan-status-writer-artist-steven-moore-shares-how-it-feels-to-be-a-super-fan/

https://www.wkrg.com/gulf-coast-cw/developing-creative-characters-a-sneak-peek-at-steven-moores-novel-the-timeless-crystal/

https://www.wkrg.com/gulf-coast-cw/gulf-coast-cw-super-fan/beyond-the-cover-writing-and-illustrating-fantasy-novels-with-super-fan-steven-moore/

https://www.wkrg.com/gulf-coast-cw/gulf-coast-cw-super-fan/learning-the-write-way-finding-support-through-mobiles-guild/

Follow him at this link: Steven Moore (Grim Trojan)   http://www.grimtrojan.com/

///

More Applause

Congratulations to the finalists for the 2020 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards. 

   One of your favorite authors could be among them. Find out here:  https://wp.me/p2YVin-1pS

            ///

Public Service Announcement

   According to an Associated Press article, “Alabama is in danger of losing at least one congressional seat based on its current response rate to the U.S. Census, officials said Tuesday.”

   “Some $13 billion in annual federal funding for programs including school nutrition, health care, infrastructure and housing also is at stake with the Census, which occurs every 10 years..”

https://mynbc15.com/news/local/alabama-could-lose-house-seat-based-on-census-response

cj Sez: Every state needs proper and adequate representation in Washington, D.C. If you haven’t yet responded to the 2020 Census, “Now is the time for all good citizens to come to the aid of their country.” (Anyone remember that last sentence as a variation of a typing class drill?)

///

    Over the past few weeks, I've been self quarantining after my son tested positive for the coronavirus. Fortunately, I tested negative. His symptoms were mild, thank the Lord. We are now both negative and have resumed our "safer-at-home" limited excursions out. You'd think with all that time at home, my house and yard would be nigh unto perfectly neat. You'd be wrong. I was crashing on the short story and managed to get it done and submitted on Friday.  Next comes the house.

 That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. (Sending up prayers for your health and safety.)

cj

   TO ORDER my autographed books or any book of your choice on-line from my favorite indie bookstore, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: The Haunted Bookshop 

➜ Follow me . . .

➜         on Amazon: Amazon Central Author Page = https://amzn.to/2v6SrAj

➜         on Facebook at:   cjpetterson/author/facebook

➜         on BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson

Got any ideas?

cj Sez: I am about a thousand words shy of typing “The End” on a short story for which I could use some help.

   The submission requirements call for a romantic short story that revolves around a teacher, and it has to have happily-ever-after ending, but I am not a chick-lit writer. I write suspense/action/ thriller/mystery with a touch of romance, so the “what if” of my story might go something like this: What if a first-grade teacher finds herself a participant in an FBI investigation into corruption by the principal of the school where she works?

Action, Background, Conflict, Development, Ending*

   My tale is about an FBI agent working undercover as a temporary adaptive physical education teacher for physically and mentally challenged students while he investigates fraud and tax evasion by an elementary school principal, and who is, at the same time, making a move on the first-grade teacher assigned to help him with the kids. She agrees to put herself in danger and record a conversation with the baddies who are more than willing and able to maim or kill her. (No need to worry. This is, after all, a romance that requires happily-ever-after or at least, an indication thereof.)

   As I mentioned above, I have about a thousand or so words to go before submitting it to a charity anthology from Bienvenue Press scheduled for publication around the Christmas holidays. The anthology is titled "Homeroom Heroes," and part of the proceeds will benefit the Acadiana Writing Project.

   There is, of course, no guarantee that my story will be accepted. But on the odd chance that it is …

I need a title. Got any ideas? I could sure use a nudge

          

     (*A, B, C, D, E: Anne Lamott’s formula for writing short stories)

///

   A recent Jane Friedman blog features a marvelous guest post by Dave Chesson titled” “Amazon Editorial Reviews: Are You Using This Incredible Section?” Lots of good tips and how-tos. Read more here: https://www.janefriedman.com/amazon-editorial-reviews-are-you-using-this-incredible-section/

///

   That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same, (Sending up prayers for your health and safety.)

cj

TO ORDER my autographed books or any book of your choice on-line from my favorite indie bookstore, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: The Haunted Bookshop 

➜ Follow me . . .

➜         on Amazon: Amazon Central Author Page = https://amzn.to/2v6SrAj

➜         on Facebook at:   cjpetterson/author/facebook

➜         on BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson

"White space is the canvas where we draw our words."

cj Sez: The title to this blog is a quote from an article by author, speaker, and former teacher Ellen Buikema. Did you ever watch a movie or read a novel with so many visuals or words tumbling out at a rapid-fire pace that they left you feeling breathless?

   If you’re an author who is self-publishing or a small publishing company, Buikema has some advice on how “to keep sensory overload at bay.” Her post for the Writers in the Storm blog offers up some great suggestions on the use of “white space” and the reasons the tips work both in the text and on the cover.

   Buikema says: “Like a pause in a song, white space can help create drama, emotion, a bit of quiet before a storm of words.”

Read more at https://writersinthestormblog.com/2020/03/white-space-in-writing/

///

Public Service Announcements: 

 In case you missed it, the popular international writers’ conference Killer Nashville has been cancelled for 2020. 

   Founder Clay Stafford regretfully announced the cancellation, and couched the cancellation this way: “We’re going to postpone Killer Nashville 2020 and roll everyone’s registrations forward to KN 2021 (August 19-22, 2021).”  The three 2020 guests of honor—New York Times best-selling author Lisa Black, New York Times and USAToday best-selling author J. T. Ellison, and Walter Mosley, a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America—will be returning for the 2021 conference.

   Killer Nashville's preferred method of contact is by e-mail. Reach them at: contact@KillerNashville.com

///

///

   The coronavirus pandemic hit close to home this week, and the daughter and granddaughter of a dear writer friend were hospitalized, one already in the throes of pneumonia. Please gather your prayer warriors and raise petitions for all who are suffering from this deadly virus.

///

   That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same, (Sending up prayers for your health and safety.) 

cj

TO ORDER my autographed books or any book of your choice on-line from my favorite indie bookstore, contact The Haunted Bookshop here: The Haunted Bookshop 

➜ Follow me . . .

➜         on Amazon: Amazon Central Author Page = https://amzn.to/2v6SrAj

➜         on Facebook at:   cjpetterson/author/facebook

➜         on BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson

Passing along grammar info...

cj Sez: Today’s post is a tale of the complexities of commas…

https://platinumpr.com/styleguides/

   Without going to a Google search to look it up, do you know what a vocative comma is? (I didn’t—at least not by its proper term.)

   Jane Friedman’s guest post by writing coach, teacher, editor, and writer Mathina Calliope (@MathinaCalliope) explains comma use. Mathina says:

“Hardly anyone would argue that commas don’t matter, but plenty of people—including plenty of writers—give them too little thought.”

 Read her views on commas here:   https://www.janefriedman.com/you-win-this-round-comma/

///

For want of a comma, the money was lost …

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-commas-that-cost-companies-millions?utm_source=pocket-newtab

///

That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same, (Sending up prayers for your health and safety.)

cj

  TO ORDER my autographed books or any book of your choice on-line from my favorite indie bookstore, contact The Haunted Bookshop here:

The Haunted Bookshop 

➜ Follow me . . .

➜         on Amazon: Amazon Central Author Page = https://amzn.to/2v6SrAj

➜         on Facebook at:   cjpetterson/author/facebook

➜         on BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson