God wants you to know that it sometimes looks like “one thing after the other,” but really, it is Blessing After Blessing.

I know, I know…you don’t experience it that way. But that’s because you don’t see it that way.  In this business of life, “What you see is what you get.”

If you think you are looking at struggle, struggle is what you will experience.  If you decide that you are looking at a gift (even if you can’t see it clearing in this exact moment), a gift is what you will get. Just wait. You’ll see. I mean that literally. You will see. www.CWGPortal.com

“Golden Rule of Writing” by Amber Lanier Nagle

Posted on July 21, 2014by Amber Lanier Nagle

I recently read Chuck Sambuchino’s post (Writers in the Storm Blog) titled, “How to Support an Author’s New Book: Eleven Ideas for You.” I found myself jumping out of my chair with arms lifted high, shouting “Amen, Brother!”

I think about this topic a lot these days. I call it, “The Golden Rule of Writing,” which is, “Do unto other writers as you would have them do unto you.” It’s about reciprocity—please help me get the word out about my book, and when your next book is released, I’ll do the same for you.

Don’t get me wrong—most of my friends and fellow writers have been extremely caring and helpful as I‘ve worked tirelessly to promote Project Keepsake. But a few of my friends and writing buddies have not helped at all. In fact, a few of my writer friends have vanished from the face of the earth, and I’ve been wondering why.

But as I read Sambuchino’s post, I had some revelatory thoughts—maybe a few of my friends think I’m upset that they haven’t bought a book, and maybe they just don’t know how they can help me, aside from making a purchase. I’ve tried very hard not to push any of my friends into purchasing my book because I know the content of Project Keepsake doesn’t appeal to everyone. I’m fine with friends not buying a book. Really.

But there’re are many other ways to help a writer/author/friend promote his or her projects other than buying the product. I’ve listed Sambuchino’s suggestions below, and I’ve added a few more to his list.

HAND OUT YOUR FRIEND’S PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL—Give her business cards, her book marks, her sell sheets, her postcards to your other friends, family members, and coworkers who may be interested in her book or scheduling her for a presentation at club or church meetings.

SHARE CONTACTS—Hook your friend up with your other friends in the media business (newspaper editors, feature writers, radio personalities, television hosts, etc). Introduce them. It’s very hard to cold-call a media contact and get noticed, so your introduction could make the difference. I also share names of contacts at bookstores and libraries with my other writing buddies. It saves them time.

Wayne Minshew kept me company for two hours at a book signing at the Barnes & Noble in Rome, Georgia.

SHARE INFORMATION—Clubs are always looking for interesting speakers. If you hear that Rotary, Kiwanis, or a book club is looking for an interesting speaker or guest, share that information with your friend. If you learn of an upcoming writer’s conference that fits your friend’s project, send her the link or remember to tell her about it.

ATTEND AN EVENT—Whether it is a book launch party or a reading at the public library, attend at least one of your friend’s events and bring someone along. I recently had a poorly-attended book signing at the Barnes & Noble in Rome, Georgia, along with ten other local authors. I was pleasantly surprised when two of my writing friends (my buddy, Wayne Minshew, and new friend, Karli Land) showed up to hang out with me. It would have been a lonely two hours without them.

CRAFT AN EFFECTIVE ELEVATOR PITCH FOR YOUR FRIEND’S BOOK—Don’t just tell your other friends, “My friend has a new book out.”  Give them a little more meat. Say, “My friend, Amber, just published a collection of stories about keepsakes—a quilt, a pocket knife, a cake pan, a ring. It’s a really interesting book. She was recently on a magazine cover. The article talked about the whole project. The name of the book is Project Keepsake.”

BUG A BOOKSTORE EMPLOYEE—Don’t look for your friend’s book. Go to the bookstore clerk and ask him about the book. They will find it in their system and lead you to the book. Your action will cause the bookstore employees to take notice of your friend’s title, and who knows? One of the employees may select it for their “Pick of the Month.”

FACE THE BOOK OUT AT BOOKSTORES—When you are at the bookstore, rearrange the books on the shelf so that your friend’s book faces out. This will help your friend’s book get noticed by passersby.

WRITE ONLINE REVIEWS—So many times, if a reader is on the fence about a book, a well-written, positive review will seal the deal. So take five minutes and post great reviews for your friend’s book on online sites at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, etc.

BE SEEN WITH YOUR FRIEND’S BOOK—If you have a copy of your friend’s book, carry it around with you sometimes and mention it to friends. Read it at the doctor’s office. Read it at the DMV. Read it at your kid’s soccer practice. Read it on the plane. Make sure that others see your friend’s book.

“LIKE” YOUR FRIEND’S FACEBOOK PAGES—The more “likes,” the better because strangers navigating to the Facebook walls will think, “Wow, I need to know more about this author and her book.”

SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES—Merely “liking” a post is not enough sometimes. When the author mentions the book or an event on Facebook, share the news with your social circles and include a small note about what the book is and why they should buy it. Sharing is an act of endorsing. My friend, Ruth Demeter, shared my post about the book event in Rome with her friends who live in the Rome area. I am appreciative. It’s all about exposure.

RESERVE A COPY AT THE LIBRARY—Again, the library employees will take notice of your friend’s book and may order additional copies or suggest it to readers.

CONSIDER SHARING EVENTS—If you are also a writer, consider sharing an event with another writer. I have shared my events with other writers/authors, when applicable. And I recently shared a fifteen-minute radio spot with another writer. I still had plenty of time to promote my book, and quite frankly, I think that including her made the radio spot more interesting. Two of my writer friends, Janie Dempsey Watts and Renea Winchester, have recently asked me to partner with them at upcoming events. I’m thrilled. It doubles the event’s exposure, splits the costs, and it’s fun to enjoy the ride with people I adore.

BE ENCOURAGING—Being kind and encouraging is just what friends do. Ask your friend about her events. Ask how book sales are going. Ask if there is anything you can do to help promote your friend’s book. And then, just listen. Sometimes, new authors just need to know that their friends care. http://ambernagle.com/2014/07/golden-rule-of-writing/

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Author Maryann Wakefield is on the mend and home again!!

Maryann Wakefield, author of A Gentle Sun Coming, who had an accident several months ago, is home and ready to tackle words again. She had just begun the sequel when she obtained a head injury in a fall which had her in a coma, then learning to talk and walk again. A miracle is what it is! God has special plans for her!

One just may have been paying-it-forward to an orderly at the rehab center she was in. I had sent her an angel in amber, which she then gave to him. You see, he was from Puerto Rico and had just gained his US Citizenship whereupon he immediately joined the Army. When she gave him the blessed angel, he was about to be deployed to Afghanistan. He told her he would keep it with him always.

Never one to think of herself, only of others.

Please reach out and send her love. She said she had no idea how loved she was until this happened. A beautiful woman in and out.

A Gentle Sun Coming                                         

When Kade Turner lost her husband and son to a freak automobile accident, she tried to commit suicide and was hospitalized for a year. Daily sessions with Dr. Luke Bradshaw brought her back to the land of the living… and also of loving. Or so she made him believe, as an unexpected and suppressed emotion is kindled and an eternal flame ignited on the night of her departure. She flees to Destin, Florida with the goal of being reunited with her family ‘on the other side’; unable to believe Luke could love a ‘lost cause’ like herself. Instead, she is targeted by a serial killer who sees her as a challenge. Unbeknownst to Kade, her worst nightmare is her next door neighbor; a man who knows her every move and hears even her thoughts.  Will Luke find her in time? Is what they shared strong enough to turn a determination to die into an undeniable desire to live?

Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency 

Published by Argus Publishing 

Maryann Wakefield is a retired academic professor who has garnered many distinguished awards and was the Sleuth’s Ink contest winner, 2006. She is currently a member of several writing organizations: Board Member of Missouri Writers Hall of Fame, Ozarks Writers League, Springfield Writers Guild, and Sleuth’s Inc, Panel member for Missouri Writers Hall of Fame, October, 2012. Having been published in several literary magazines, this is her first novel, but far from her last. www.maryannwakefield.com

Love Song of the Chinaberry Man and its sequel, The Mama Tree by Trisha O’Keefe have been acquired by Black Opal Books!

  author Trisha O’Keefe

Trisha O’Keefe’s southern fiction, Love Song of the Chinaberry Man is a story that makes you turn the cell phone off and forget the rest of the world exists.

It is said that in the Thicket right outside of Julia Springs, Georgia lives a creature of myth and legend, the Chinaberry Man. Rightly so named due to the sweet, pungent scent those who have remotely come across him remember smelling. I say remotely because very few have lived to tell of a close encounter, except one… Gina McFarland has always been special: predicting plane crashes, having visions and dreams that come true— mostly the kind that don’t have happy endings. Now she sees the dead, and, of all people, the creature has chosen to save her.

In a matter of days, several horrid things seemed to develop in this quiet hamlet, all of which culminate with hatred, ignorance and revenge, Mother Nature’s wrath, pure serendipity… and the love song of the Chinaberry Man.

 Mama Tree

The Mama Tree, the third in the series, (the first is Hanahatchee, Deer Hawk Publications, 2012), involves hoo-doo practice Root Woman style. “By the way, the incidence with Chinaberry Man that Tanner has on the way to Root Woman’s place in Love Song of the Chinaberry Man happened to my cousin while he was night-stalking deer at Rood Creek in Lumpkin County.  He is now an avid believer in Chinaberry Man. I think climate change and loss of habitat has a lot to do with increased sightings of these legendary creatures, although I heard about them when I was a kid from these guys who work on oil rigs stuck out in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. The world is still full of wonders, thank God.”

As an anthropology student many years ago, Trisha O’Keefe became aware of the past’s potential for mystery. While living and studying in Egypt, she began writing with that connection in mind. O’Keefe lives in Georgia where she teaches and, of course, writes mysteries. Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com Published by Black Opal Books www.blackopalbooks.com

God wants you to know that there is a solution. There is, but you must keep going to find it. You cannot stop, you cannot give up.

This is about more than just patience. This is about more than just persistence. This is about absolute
knowing that God is on your side.

When you know this, you never give up…and the sense of struggle goes away. You simply keep moving
forward knowing that, in the end, all will work out. And that along the way there will be great insights
and wonderful remembering. www.CWGPortal.com

Mississippi Humanities Council Speakers Bureau topic on The Man Called Brown Condor – The Forgotten History of an African American Fighter Pilot  by Thomas E. Simmons is now available for viewing: http://www.mshumanities.org/index.php/speaker/the_man_called_brown_condor/

Tom Simmons has returned from his honorary trip to Ethiopia at the request of His Excellency the former President of Ethiopia Girma Wolde Giorgis, CEO of Ethiopian Air Lines, Ato Tewolde Gebremariam, and Director of the Pan-African Technical Association (PATA), Fredric Yaw Davis, to speak and be recognized for his narrative nonfiction, The Man Called Brown Condor – The Forgotten History of an African American Fighter Pilot (Skyhorse, 2013).

The occasion: the memorial for the sixtieth anniversary of Col. John Charles Robinson’s tragic death.  The main event was at an invitation-only reception at the former president’s home where Simmons was privileged to meet several men who John Robinson had taught to fly (including the former president himself) and who were among the first to serve in the new Ethiopian Air Force. “Talking to them, all ninety-years-old or so, was humbling and thrilling for me. They confirmed to me that I had gotten the facts of the book right.”

Simmons also had guest speaking engagements at the American Embassy and to high school students at St. Joseph’s Academy.

John Robinson, besides being the commander of the Ethiopian Air Force during the Italo-Ethiopian War, returned in 1944 at the request of Emperor Haile Selassie to rebuild the Ethiopian Air Corps and start Ethiopian Air Lines. An incredible man who deserves all the accolades of a hero of Ethiopia, as well as being a role model to all mankind. www.thomasesimmons.net Published by Skyhorse Publishing www.skyhorsepublishing.com Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com  Buy now! Amazon B&N

God wants you to know that there is a book, waiting for you to read. It carries a wonderful message for you. This may be a book that you started, then set aside. Or it may be a text that you have just heard about
and that is now calling out to you. Whichever it is, listen to the calling. Follow the impulse. Read the book. Its time is now. www.CWGPortal.com Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch

Buzz Bernard, author of EYEWALL, PLAGUE and SUPERCELL, scheduled events!

Sunday, August 3, 2014, 2 p.m.
James Patterson Day (w/local authors)
Barnes & Noble, Mansell Crossings
Alpharetta, Georgia
Book signing

Sunday, August 31, 2014
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival
Decatur, Georgia
2:30 p.m.: Moderator, Memoir Authors panel discussion (Marriott Ballroom C)
5 p.m.: Mystery/Thriller Writers panel discussion/book signing (City Hall Stage)

www.buzzbernard.com

www.bellebooks.com

www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com

God wants you to know that it is okay to want to make lots of plans, but it is also okay to make lots of room for that which planning can never produce.

It’s sometimes nice to get everything decided, settled, and arranged. But you may want to leave room in your life for spontaneity. Some of the best choices are made “on the fly.” Some of the best outcomes are created by not needing anything specific to happen.

Who and how and why and when and where to love often falls into this category. www.CWGPortal.com

Here’s some pretty fabulous news …. The Devil Takes Half was reviewed in Library Journal–starred!–and featured under “Best Summer Debuts.”

“One of Greece’s most far-flung islands, Chios, has struggled through the centuries with Turkish invasions and natural disasters. In short, it is a potential treasure trove for archaeologists, and there are rumors of great riches to be found. One such archaeologist, Eleni Argentis, has been working for the past two years in the shadow of a remote monastery administered by an old priest, Papa Michalis. When Eleni’s assistant, teenager Petros, is found bludgeoned to death on the site, and random body parts belonging to Eleni are also discovered, police officer Yiannis Patronas is brought in to investigate. The suspect list is diverse: Eleni’s former lover; a competing professor; Petros’s mother and her boyfriend; and Eleni’s greedy stepmother all make the short list. Patronas and Michalis latch on to this academic puzzle with a vengeance. At times dealing with horrific violence, Patronas’s dedication to his people and his country’s heritage is heroic. VERDICT Serafim’s dense prose is perfect for lovers of literary and scholarly mysteries. Her plotting is methodical and traditional, with subtle nods to Sherlock Holmes, Greek mythology, and historical events.”

— Library Journal

www.letaserafim.com

Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com

Published by Camel Press www.camelpress.com