Category Archives: Authors

Nostalgia Post No.3: Such a Goofy Dream! – Guest Post…

November 12, 2016 Tina Frisco 5 Comments

Lorinda J Taylor is a guest on The Story Reading Ape, sharing a goofy dream about coconuts, Merv Griffin, and funfairs. This was the perfect post to end the evening with in light of the intense political climate here in the U.S. Thank you, Lorinda and Chris. I shall sleep well tonight 🙂

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Back in 2013 I had a really goofy dream – goofy enough for me to want to share it and possibly make you chuckle.

It seemed there was a new TV station starting up and they were building a news team. (I presume this is from my having watched so much wildfire coverage lately.) I had been hired as a news anchor. Unfortunately, they signed me to do sports (a subject I know nothing about; the only sport I follow is ice hockey). But I must have needed a job because I took the assignment.

But the other strange thing was that all the anchors had to top off their reports by singing a song. (??) When my turn came, I sang “I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts.” Is anybody here old enough to remember that song? Here is what the Wikipedia article says about it:

” ‘I’ve Got…

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Authors, Courage, Gratitude, Honor, Inspiration, Love

Smorgasbord Short Story – A Soldier Waits – Sally Cronin

November 12, 2016 Tina Frisco 16 Comments

Sometimes we wish we were somewhere else or someone else, doing something other than plugging away to make a living, doing something we loved and regarded highly. Sometimes we wish our lives away, not giving a second thought to those who lost theirs too young or in service to others. In Sally Cronin‘s moving short story, A Soldier Waits, we see life through the eyes of a young man who served his country and who now attends the annual memorial for the old soldiers and heroes of his village. The memorial is always conducted with great love and respect. While reading this story, I was reminded that where there is love, there is hope; and where there is hope, there is the promise of tomorrow. Take a few minutes to read this superb tribute to our fallen heroes… ❤

Author Resources, Editing, Indie Publishing, Reading, Writing

EDITING 101: 11 – Using a Thesaurus…

November 11, 2016 Tina Frisco 5 Comments

Susan Uttendorfsky brings us Part 11 of her Editing 101 series on The Story Reading Ape: Using a Thesaurus. Do you want your writing to sound colorful or pompous? Hop over to Chris Graham’s blog for the details…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Originally posted as the Dun Writin’—Now Whut? series on this blog, EDITING 101 is a weekly refresher series for some of you and brand new for others.

Courtesy of Adirondack Editing

Using a Thesaurus

When you were in grammar school, you were taught the terms antonym and synonym. An antonym is a word that means the opposite of another word: love/hate, hot/cold, spring/fall, light/dark. Synonyms are words meaning the same thing (or nearly the same thing): light/bright, traitor/Benedict Arnold, flat/horizontal, soft/cushiony. A thesaurus is a book which lists synonyms for many words and can come in very handy for a writer. The first one you were exposed to was probably Roget’s Thesaurus. The one I like to use is the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus. If you don’t want to use a book, there are online thesauri, such as http://www.thesaurus.com and http://freethesaurus.net/. Microsoft Word has a built-in thesaurus. You can…

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Author Promotion, Authors, Books

Why I Ditched My Blog Sidebar – Guest Post…

November 10, 2016 Tina Frisco 8 Comments

Yecheilyah Ysrayl discusses foregoing the sidebar on our blogs because they are not mobile friendly. Since mobile now represents 65% of digital media time, many visitors might leave instead of browse — or worse yet, might not follow. Hop over to The Story Reading Ape for details, including possibly switching to a WP theme with a slide-side bar…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Why I Ditched My Blog Sidebar

I took a two-week break from posting on my own blog a few months ago. In that time, I was refueled with post ideas but I also had the opportunity to read most of yours. In that process, I realized something I hadn’t paid much attention to before. I didn’t pay much attention to it because that’s just how ingrained these things are in our lives today. The Cell Phone. During my observation, I realized that I read most of your blog posts (90%) from my phone. In fact, I observed that the only time I read blog posts from my laptop / desktop, is when I am logged in to draft a post that I can’t draft on my phone.

The number of mobile-only users has recently surpassed the number of desktop-only users. According to an article in Marketing Land, “Mobile now represents 65 percent of digital media time…

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Author Promotion, Authors, Books, Fantasy, Sci-fi

Grouchy Bear Wearers Who Drink Beer – Guest Post…

November 10, 2016 Tina Frisco 1 Comment

Craig Boyack is a guest on The Story Reading Ape where he discusses what authors should not be writing; how writing to the market is a risky business; and what he does to make his characters unique…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

November marks the third installment of the three post package the Story Reading Ape offered. So far we’ve talked about short form fiction, and paranormal. I also write science fiction and fantasy.

Since these shouldn’t be just promotional, let’s discuss something few authors discuss. What shouldn’t we be writing?

All authors have strengths and weaknesses. Many times we don’t learn what they are until we write something out. It’s a tough lesson to learn with 120,000 words of fantasy. This is where short forms are so helpful to an author. If it doesn’t work out, you’ve lost a weekend. With a novel, you may have lost a year.

Writing to the market is a risky business. In many cases the market changes before the author can reach it. I know there are any number of sparkly vampire novels and schools for witches novels that missed the mark. I think the…

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Authors, Books, Indigenous Peoples

A Young Man

November 8, 2016 Tina Frisco Leave a comment

Well-researched historical fiction by Andrew Joyce that resonates with today’s controversy over the Dakota Access Pipeline…

Andrew Joyce

Through no fault of his own, a young man is thrust into a new culture just at the time that culture is undergoing massive changes. It is losing its identity, its lands, and its dignity. He not only adapts, he perseveres and, over time, becomes a leader—and on occasion, the hand of vengeance against those who would destroy his adopted people.

Buy @ Amazon: US – UK – CA – AU

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Author Promotion, Authors, Books, Writing

Food in Fiction – Part 3 – Guest Post…

November 6, 2016 Tina Frisco 2 Comments

Christine Campbell is a guest on The Story Reading ape today, bringing us Part 3 of her Food in Fiction series. She discusses food as a central character in our novels. I think Countess Chocolate would make a delectable protagonist 🙂

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

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In the first two articles on this subject, we gave some thought to scenes in novels we’ve read where food played an important role, and how their attitude to food can reveal things about your character’s character. We looked at some examples, and talked about how important food is in our lives and, by extension, the lives of fictional characters.

I thought it would be interesting to think now about food as a central character in its own right. For instance, in Chocolat by Joanne Harris, chocolate plays the most important role. Without it, there would be no story.

When an exotic stranger, Vianne Rocher, arrives in the French village of Lansquenet and opens a chocolate boutique directly opposite the church, Father Reynaud denounces her as a serious moral danger to his flock – especially as it is the beginning of Lent, the traditional season of self-denial. As…

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Author Promotion, Authors, Books, Promotion

Christmas Promotions – Starting November 13th – Smorgasbord Christmas Reading.

November 5, 2016 Tina Frisco 2 Comments

It’s time once again for Christmas promotions on Sally Cronin‘s Smorgasbord, beginning Sunday November 13th. Soooo… All you authors and artisans out there, hop over to Sally’s blog for the details, as well as a look at John Howell‘s lovely Christmas Tree 🙂 ❤

Author Resources, Editing, Indie Publishing, Reading, Writing

EDITING 101: 10 – What Happens When You Die? – NOT in a Metaphysical sense…

November 4, 2016 Tina Frisco 6 Comments

In Part 10 of her Editing 101 series on The Story Reading Ape, Susan Uttendorfsky discuses the need for authors to plan for how they want their intellectual property handled in the event of their death..

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Originally posted as the Dun Writin’—Now Whut? series on this blog, EDITING 101 is a weekly refresher series for some of you and brand new for others.

Courtesy of Adirondack Editing

What Happens When You Die?

Wait, wait, don’t run away.

This is not a religious post.

This is a practical, necessary discussion about your writing, your books, your accounts, etc., when you bite the dust.

It’s going to happen to all of us, sooner or later, and writers have additional details to worry about—or their heirs and estates, if the writers don’t address it. What happens to your copyright? What happens to your accounts? Who can keep selling your books? There are lots of questions to answer, and it’s best if you think about it ahead of time. You’ve learned a lot through your journey of writing, publishing, and marketing. How many years did it take you to get where you…

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Author Promotion, Authors, Books, Historical Fiction, Indigenous Peoples

Guest Post: Andrew Joyce

November 2, 2016 Tina Frisco Leave a comment

Captivating guest post by Andrew Joyce on Marie Story‘s blog. He talks about his latest novel, Yellow Hair, and tells us the fascinating creation story of the Dakota, known today as the Sioux…

Story Book Reviews

My name is Andrew Joyce and I write books for a living. I would like to thank Marie for allowing me to be here today to promote my latest, Yellow Hair, which documents the injustices done to the Sioux Nation from their first treaty with the United States in 1805 through Wounded Knee in 1890. Every death, murder, battle, and outrage I write about actually took place. The historical figures that play a role in my fact-based tale of fiction were real people and I use their real names. Yellow Hair is an epic tale of adventure, family, love, and hate that spans most of the 19^th century.

1yellowhair-800-cover-reveal-and-promotional Now that the commercial is out of the way, we can get down to what I really came here to talk about: the Sioux people. The people we know as the Sioux were originally known as the Dakota, which means…