My GRL Blog Tour Volunteer Recognition – Audrey Dawn

January 27, 2014 ~ John W. Howell ~ 4 Comments

Audrey Dawn’s blog Oldest Daughter Red Headed Sister is involved in the My GRL blog tour and I want to give you an idea of what you can expect when you visit her place. The tabs at the top are organized so you, the reader, can maintain a connection with what is going on even if this is your first visit.

The first tab is titled: Who Am I?. When you click on it you will find some interesting posts which give you some insight into Audrey’s muse and motivation. There is a wonderful story on missing her sisters as well as a reflection on the South Texas way of life. The most intriguing are the posts on Audrey’s early years not only as a being, but also as a writer.

The next is label Childhood has very interesting posts on her reflections around her college years. There are well-developed characterizations and some really good descriptive writing under this tab.

Winter’s Gift tab contains a three-part story titled Winter’s Gift which should be a must read for those who love a love story. If you missed it when published you can catch up now.

The remaining tabs: Short Stories, My Muse, Poetry, An Epic Journey, and Awards point out the unbelievable versatility of Audrey’s talent in writing. Any one of the tabs could result in a very impressive visit to the genre contained, let alone taking in all of them. I would plan of stay a while when you come for a visit since there is so much to see and feel.

I think it is meaningful to know the words Audrey lives by:

Exodus 4:11-12

11. The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12. Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say

Thanks again Audrey.

My GRL Blog Tour Volunteer Recognition – Herman Kok

January 27, 2014 ~ John W. Howell ~ 5 Comments

I want to thank Herman Kok for helping with the My GRL launch. He has a blog If All Else Fails Use a Hammer which has a sub-text of An Exercise in Percussive Maintenance. So what does all that mean? A visit to his blog quickly explains under the About Hammers tab: “Percussive maintenance is the fine art of bludgeoning an electronic device in order to encourage it to work properly (Urban Dictionary).” Herman further explains: “So this is me whacking stuff (and sometimes just myself) with a verbal hammer.”

A visit to the blog is like going to a multi-faceted, talented, and sumptuous buffet of words and ideas. More words from Herman about this: If you’re looking for a single-subject blog you’re in the wrong place. “While I aim to mostly write fiction and book-related posts, you’ll also get photography, philosophy, recipes and social commentary (which shouldn’t necessarily be taken seriously). Sometimes I just rant. Sometimes I’m silly. Sometimes I write about puppets. It’s fun, really, cause you never know what’s coming up next.”

His About tab gives even further incentives to become a regular follower of his mode of writing. Here you will find the name of his Gravatar KokkieH. It is named after his grandfather Kokkie with an H for Herman and hammer tacked on the end. The important part of the about tab is the knowledge that Herman is from South Africa and is very serious about life. Of course he hides this seriousness behind a very large sense of humor. The example here is his claim to be a Lion trainer (quickly rescinded)

His other tabs: Books 14 and Song Title Challenge show the wide range of Herman’s interest. The books tab list the books he is currently reading. The song challenge tab describes the feature where Herman writes a 300 word piece using a song title as a prompt. He also allows the readers to suggest songs and as a side challenge the genre of pieces to be written. He also encourages all of us to participate with pieces of our own. Great fun.

Thanks Herman for the help on this tour.

My GRL Blog Tour Volunteer Recognition – Bradley Corbett

January 26, 2014 ~ John W. Howell ~ 4 Comments

Bradley Corbett tends to remind me of the line in the Three Dog Night song regarding Jeremiah Bull Frog. “He was a friend of mine. I never understood a thing he said, but I helped him drink his wine. And he always had some mighty fine wine.”

What I mean is Green Embers is the place to go for solutions.(ignore the fact that bull frogs are green) Bradley knows IT and WP and you need not always understand what he is saying, but what he tells you works. So let’s take a stroll to his place and I’ll give you an overview of the very neat things you can expect there.

The first thing you see on the left is a tab called My Blog Network which when clicked yields some really fascinating places to visit:

My review blog has a number of reviews on books, movies, music, comics, and TV shows. There is also a submission section to request a review. The review editors (5) have their special talents and will rate a work as Recommended – Something the editors liked, Found Wanting – Something they disliked or Sixes – Something the editor felt had quality, but did not care for.

My Comic Blog is where Bradley demonstrates his artistic talent in the comic genre. Definitely worth a visit. You can also look at the work for which he was commissioned.

Community Story Board where you can link directly into CSB. Bradley is an editor.

Rome Construction Crew where inspiration, goal setting and support is found

Blog Roll Update where you can catch some comment made by Bradley and highlights of recommendations.

The balance of his site gives you other tabs. The Word Press Tutorials tab is where you can learn how to manage your WP blog and add interest with media. Bradley’s novella A Lich’s Tale and Other Stories can be found under the tab Buy My Novella.

Take time to read the About tab since there you will get a view of a man who is committed to self-improvement and wants to lead in this endeavor through a positive example. Bradley Corbett is a very special person and I am so thankful he decided to volunteer for the My GRL tour. Thank you Bradley.

My GRL Blog Tour Volunteer Recognition – Helena Hann-Basquiat

January 26, 2014 ~ John W. Howell ~ 5 Comments

A delightful site to visit belongs to author Helena Hann-Basquiat. She has named the site, Being the Memoirs of Helena Hann-Basquiat and then goes on to explain the site contains, “ A patchwork discourse on pop culture and society from the scattered mind of someone who thinks that being “random” and “unfocused” is perfectly okay.”

The first visit will lead you to believe the person writing the words you find is far from random and unfocused. She has the corner on clever, thoughtful, well written and intriguing thoughts which cause the reader to pause to think. Yes thinking in today’s world is one of those activities which could be deemed random or unfocused.

A survey of her blog will give you an idea of just what goes on here.

In the about tab you will find a piece of original humor describing Helena that will have you laughing out loud while being amazed at the quality of the writing. Here is a small sample: “She’s written cookbooks, ten volumes of horrible poetry that she bound herself in leather she tanned poorly from cows she raised herself and then slaughtered because she was bored with farming.”

Under the Jessica Bell tab you will find all the information you need to catch up on the notorious nome de plume of our very own Helena. To get a taste of who Jessica is (not Helena’s real name if she even has one) let Helena describe her: “And so Jessica Bell was born (and no, it’s not my real name, either, so don’t bother looking me up). Jessica writes some pretty creepy stuff, darlings, and you may want to keep a fresh pair of pants handy if you end up reading her stuff.” Right now Helena is retelling the Bayou Bonhomme Serial so when new episodes are available the reader will be in the know about what went on before. (Helena’s like that)

The Sordid Tale so Far tab is a handy table of contents which in itself could rescue one from a snowed in boredom session in the Midwest.

Thank you Helena for the help on My GRL and I really like your writing. Also please tell me the clothes less person in the bed of roses is you. I have my fantasies to maintain.

My GRL Blog Tour Volunteer Recognition – Helen Valentina

January 25, 2014 ~ John W. Howell ~ 7 Comments

Helen Valentina is a writer who loves to explore why we do the things we do and how our characters are formed by our beliefs and actions. The essence of the reason for her blog is best said by her: “Like most people, I have a number of sides to me. The most interesting one probably emerges through my writing, hence this blog. I love to read, and also to write, and so this is a way to share both. A visit to her blog will show you how uniquely talented Helen is in her writing. Her poems will cause you to think and ponder and then react.

She has organized tabs on her site where she has sorted her work into Fire (action, ego, creativity, passion, lust, activity), Water (emotions, love, sorrow, grief, joy, connection), Air (thoughts, belief, theory, philosophy, satire and science), and Earth (the physical, earthy, sensual, appetite, money) to make it easy for the reader to look back in retrospective as to what she has written. One of the more entertaining tabs is labeled Chronicle of Proofs the World Has Ended. Here you will find a collection of logic leading you to believe the world has in fact ended long ago. You must visit to read the items under this tab.

Not content with poetry alone, Helen has written two books:

‘The Seed’ is a dark romance that looks at the impact of dreams and myths on our romantic natures and choices – an intense and sometimes ambiguous journey into the heart of passionate people. The Seed, now available on lulu.com, iTunes (link via lulu.com), Amazon Kindle and POD and on Nook. Helen describes The Seed, “ is a dark romance, exploring passion and the reasons that we choose to follow relationships and the implications that can arise from those choices. For those familiar with my poetry, the mix of passion/love and mystery/ambiguity will be quite familiar.”

‘Curiosity’ is about a man who believes the world has already ended and no-one noticed, and how his beliefs and nature propel him into being an unlikely hero for the modern, media age. She says: “As a black comedy/satire, Curiosity is a major departure from my first novel The Seed. It’s writing style, though of course my own, is lighter and more cynical – more extroverted and action oriented than introspective and contemplative. As I’ve said before, if my novels were my children The Seed would be the moody, passionate artist. Curiosity is a bit of a brat to be honest, but hopefully a clever child, who will one day grow to cut a swathe in public relations or the gossip column industry.”

Curiosity is available:

http://lulu.com/spotlight/helenvalentina

It is also now available on Amazon (Kindle and POD) at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G726GRQ

And also at Apple ignore at:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/curiosity/id745194071?mt=11

And finally it’s also available at NOOK as a POD at:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/curiosity-helen-valentina/1117336145?ean=9781483403656

And at NOOK as an ebook at:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/curiosity-helen-valentina/1117336145?ean=9781483403649&itm=1&usri=helen+valentina

Thank you for your help on the launch of My GRL Helen

My GRL BLOG Tour Volunteer Recognition – Dean Kealy

January 25, 2014 ~ John W. Howell ~ 2 Comments

There is a very talented artist among us and he is in college. He is actually doing full-time study as well as seemingly full-time blogging. His name is Dean Kealy and he sort of looks like this:

Dean has two blogs.

The first is Deanz Worldz where he explores and publishes interesting posts on fellow bloggers, writers and the general state of what is happening in his world today. Dean says it best:. “In Dean’z Worldz I share my adventures through words and books and photography and everything and anything else–the choices are endless as I’m putting a no-holds-barred on this blog so anything and everything is welcome!!!”

His second blog is titled Deanz Doodlez. As you can see by the header this blog has a little different edge. Dean says about this one: “Dean’z Doodlez began September 6th 2012 when I began a new college course in Illustration! My intention with this blog is to share my daily doodlez and personal and college artwork. Dean’z Doodlez is more than just about MY art. Here on Dean’z Doodlez expect to find my appreciation of other artists work and their journeys with art.” You can also visit his commission tab and get a sense of some of the richness of his own art. He shows a range of work he has finished from logos, headers and book covers. Yes and did I mention he’s in college and he is open for commission business?

A visit to either blog will yield a rich experience. The way Dean has his blogs laid out you can spend all the time you want on the different articles and not have to hunt around for the previous post or search the archives for what you are looking for. It’s all right there.

Dean is also an author of a Novelette. The title : Quentin Hide and the Evil Lord Twigton

Young Quentin Hide has just graduated from the Dragon Academy of Knights and Warriors, and with a new quest in his pocket, he’s off on his first adventure, but little does Quentin know, this may also be his last!

Thanks for your help on the My GRL launch Dean.

My GRL Blog Tour Volunteer Recognition – Papi Z

January 24, 2014January 27, 2014 ~ John W. Howell ~ 4 Comments

Papi Z could be the godfather of the writing community. He embraces the good in each and every one of the Indie authors and has set a tableau which gives exposure to one and all. I think of Papi as the matriarch holding court at the biggest literary dinner of all. He calls it the Literary Syndicate and the rest of us call it god send.

If you have not taken advantage of being listed as an artisan on Papi’s site you ought to go out in the yard and kick your own ass. He has taken the time to place in one spot not only the writers, poets and other assorted crazies who put words together, but also book reviewers, cover designers, editors, and helpful literary sites. It is all there under the Friends of the Syndicate tab. In short almost everything a struggling author might need to actually be successful.

On top of the information on the site Papi calls for submissions for collections that are to be published under the Literary Syndicate banner. The first Literary Syndicate collection has been decided upon. Monsters Under The Bed: A Horror Compendium (that is a working and not final title) has an official due date to have your stories in by March 15th, 2014. These should be stories in the 5,000 to 15,000 word range. Where to send them: theliterarysyndicate@gmail.com with Monsters Under The Bed in the subject line. For full details go HERE.

The Literary Syndicate is also accepting smaller word count stories for those authors who are challenged by the bigger count requirements. You can go HERE for the details.

His book Retail Memories: When Customers Attack updated version is now available on Amazon

Papi thank you so much for helping with the My GRL launch. You pitching in is like Payton Manning tossing the ball around with a little league receiver. This receiver really appreciates it.

My GRL Blog Tour Volunteer Recognition – Rhonda Blackhurst

January 24, 2014 ~ John W. Howell ~ 2 Comments

Rhonda Blackhurst’s blog–A Novel Journey Experiencing life through words and grace is as descriptive of the content as could be made. Rhonda says it best, “A Novel Journey was born by my desire to live a life of grace, through the grace given to me daily, by reaching out to others through words and story. A Novel Journey. Novel–‘new’ and ‘books.’ Fitting for my loves. Each “new” day is a novel one. One in which to live with abundant gratitude and grace, for there is so much to be grateful for in this life.”

While reading Rhonda’s blog I became aware that she is a wife, mother and grandmother. She is also a lover of words and has written a number of novels which are in various stages of finish. The NaNoWriMo of 2013 produced 50,000 words by Rhonda and is a rough draft for her mystery novel titled; The Last Resort. Rhonda is also a member of Northern Colorado Writers

Rhonda took some time to capture the reasons why she writes. I think you might enjoy an insight into her motivation. Here is what she said on a post recently:

I write because when I do, I:

* Feel freedom and the ability to express myself in a way that nothing else can match.

* Feel joy, peace, and pure contentment. Even if I’m working on a piece that doesn’t come easy, I’m in my element in the quiet of my office with pen in hand or fingers on the keyboard, mood music playing softly on Pandora, and my mind creating whatever it happens to be creating at that moment.

* Get more connected with God by making my thoughts concrete on the page, where oftentimes it’s then I can see where God is working in my life, or where I’m not, showing me I need to make myself available for more of God.

* Am able to live vicariously through my characters–where else can one live so many different lives and have so many fun, funny, loyal, and even quirky friends?

* Have the ability to reach and connect with other people who I wouldn’t have been able to without the magic of written words. I’m able to connect with my sponsor kids through Compassion International, making a difference in lives in another country. How blessed am I! I’m able to connect with readers on this blog, every one of which I am so grateful for. It’s a magical connection that other writer’s at heart can likely understand.

* Can turn a bad day to better from being able to escape to another world, whichever I happen to create, or by simply writing my feelings on paper, making me aware of them and then being able to let them go.

* Spent a number of years getting too busy with life, which resulted in not writing, and I’m a much happier person when I write.

* Cannot imagine my life without words and story, whether handwritten or from the keyboard. The vehicle which produces those words doesn’t matter, only the fact that I’m able to do it.

When you visit her blog you will also get a sense of the spiritual side of Rhonda as she is thankful for the gifts given her. She is one of those people who make you feel good through her love of life. Thank you Rhonda for helping me launch My GRL and I hope to return the favor on your novel

My GRL Blog Tour Volunteer Recognition – Melissa Janda

January 24, 2014 ~ John W. Howell ~ 2 Comments

Thank you Melissa for helping launch My GRL. In following Melissa’s blog titled: Melissa Janda A Time to Write for the past year I have learned so much.

The first thing I learned is she is one of the nicest, most considerate bloggers in the sphere. She seems to be everywhere when it comes to supporting her fellow bloggers. The support of my book launch is a small example of the many times you will see her using her space to promote someone else.

The second thing I learned is when Melissa makes up her mind to accomplish a goal you can put your money on the fact that she will do it. In 2013 she wanted to compete in NaNoWriMo. She became a winner with 50,004 words. This on top of all the other things she has to do. For 2014 she plans to read 50 books and to make ten of them from the Modern Library’s Top 100 list. Anyone want to bet against her? I’ll take that bet.

The third thing I learned was Melissa’s dedication to the writing craft. She is actively involved with prompts and teasers and does challenge each of us to join in the fun. She also has a word of the day feature which I find very helpful. Over time I am finding that the exposure to her word of the day causes me to upgrade my use of words which have been dormant since the old memorize vocabulary days. It is really nice to pull something from the brain while writing and not have to go look up a word. I would say just checking in for the word of the day would be very beneficial, but do yourself a favor and stay for a while and read. Another thing you should do is; check out her Resources for Writers tab. Melissa has eliminated the need to hunt for a place to get information on writing, publishing and marketing. She has a bunch of links which can prove to be useful if you investigate them.

Finally I learned Melissa wants to become a published author. She has the ability, the skill and I believe the determination to make that happen. I believe one of these days this will be a goal met by her. Thank you again Melissa.

My GRL Blog Tour Volunteer Recogntion – Julian Froment

January 23, 2014 ~ John W. Howell ~ 6 Comments

Julian Froment has a very active life. His blog which he titles appropriately Julian Froment’s Blog has an interesting mix of prose, poetry, and importantly book reviews. Julian’s overall direction of his blog is summarized by his sub headline; Life, Literature and Lewd Comments. The picture of a lion is on this post since if Julian were an animal (come on Ionia no giggles) I think he would be a lion

Julian is also a collector of books and describes his collection as follows: “I also enjoy collecting books and have a (very) small collection of first editions, mostly Enid Blyton’s children’s adventure stories.”

Those of you who regularly stop in to visit Julian know he is a man of beautiful words and a keen sense of good writing. His prose and book reviews always hit the mark. What you may not know is Julian is also a world traveler and lately is commuting between the UK and the US. The reason for this is he has the love of his life living here and cannot seem to convince the US government that he is worth having as a long-term resident. So he must limit his visits to the time proscribed by the government. He is 43 years old, and a senior manager at an environmental analysis and ecotoxicology services company, CHEMEX Environmental International Ltd.. His job is mainly concerned with the environmental chemistry side of the company. So WTF gov. We don’t have an unskilled laborer here, he will be able to support himself.

This situation has created a global Romeo and Juliet story with the government acting as the patriarch. The rest of us can only stand and watch. I do want to thank him for supporting My GRL launch blog tour. Also Julian has a birthday on January 27^th. Go visit and wish him a happy day.

Thank you Julian for helping with the My GRL launch