Category: Uncategorized

Dreams of Love by Pamela – A Review

~ John W. Howell ~ 5 Comments

dreamsoflovecover

Dreams of Love is a delicate collection of poems which will cause one to remember how it felt to love strongly. Pamela takes the reader on a journey much like attending a grand ball. There are light notes to entice the waltz and heavy notes to demand the reel. All are served up in differing tempos and style. My favorites are when Pamela lets go and gives herself free rein over the subject. She will bring tears, as well as, some moments of laugh out loud delight. This collection will be looked at again and again.

I actually took time out from a stressful few days of trying to get a couple of marketing programs up and running to read this collection of poems. I was immediately taken by the soothing aspect of the writing and the different styles. It felt good to take time away from the stress and concentrating on the thoughtful messages. The book is for those who have been in love, have fallen out of love, or who would like to be in love. In short, it is for everyone who needs soothing once in a while.

You can get both the e-book and paperback edition HERE

Inspiration is as Inspiration Does – Where Does a Plot Originate Anyway?

~ John W. Howell ~ 10 Comments

lex 4my grl

Picture of the USS Lexington CV 16 taken March 1944

As I have indicated before Madi Preda of Author’s promotion put together an interesting set of questions for the author interview which is HERE.  The one which caused me to do a complete retrospective on how I actually constructed the story of My GRL was simple enough on the surface: “What sparked the idea of My GRL? In a few words what is the book about?” When I started to concentrate on supplying the answer a whole range of thoughts came into my head. I finally put some organization around them and was able to answer the question. (Short and sweet) Here is a little more background on how the story took shape.

My GRL was not an idea born of concentrated thoughts on any particular subject. The germ of the story was generated when I visited the aircraft carrier Lexington which is moored in Corpus Christi bay. You see, my dad was a naval aviator and served aboard the Lexington during World War II. He was part of the dive bombing squadron taking part in the invasion of Iwo Jima,  the sinking of the Japanese Battle Ship Yamato and strikes on the Japanese homeland. Since my dad passed away when I was ten, I was very interested in visiting a place where he served. He was not a direct casualty of the war but died five years later.

It is not often families can be part of the space where loved ones fought to preserve the liberty we enjoy today. The last battles on American soil took place so long ago even the survivors of survivors are no longer with us. Most do not have the resource to travel to the place where epic battles took place involving loved ones as the locations are generally thousands of miles away. The Civil War was about the last time these places of honor were somewhat accessible. The beauty of a large floating ship taking part in the historic battles of World War II is the fact it is docked in the states and can be visited. The trip to the Lexington was in reality a pilgrimage to a memorial to my dad and his service.

While my sister and I were standing on the great flight deck, a thought came to me wondering how a ship like this could be protected should someone want to make a point of destroying her? There are no armaments or defensive systems which could be used to thwart such a move.

After leaving the ship, I began to construct a story on how a group of terrorists could destroy this or any other symbol of America’s naval strength. Once I figured out how it could be done, then it was a matter of developing a way to prevent a disaster from happening which makes up the story line of My GRL. From there, I allowed the protagonist to get involved and shaped the story to a final conclusion.

The general plot came out of one quick observation. The story itself had to be built and as we all know, word by word.

Back Story is as Back Story Does

~ John W. Howell ~ 15 Comments

 

I finished a very nice interview with Madi Preda of Author’s Promotion which you can read HERE. One of the questions asked about advice for other writers.  I responded: The most important thing about pursuing writing goals is to write. Yes, some planning should be done, but I find most writers who get stuck tend to over think their writing. I don’t know of any writer who has written something they are totally pleased with the first time. It takes a lot of practice to turn out a finished product. My GRL has over 10,000 words I cut before publication. There were scenes overwritten and did not move the story ahead. Those words are not lost, since they were part of the finished product through the learning they gave me. If I had stopped while writing to make sure everything was perfect, I never would have finished. The second most important thing is to be brave enough to be criticized for what is written. Trying to avoid criticism is another killer of writing productivity.

This lead me to also think of some of the back story of My GRL which was part of those words cut. I did a little weaving of the back story back into the novel so the reader had the information necessary to understand the character, but the bulk of the narrative is in a file. The important part is the useful pieces of the back story are there. The boring pieces are part of the character portfolio which has come in handy on the sequel and when people ask questions about the character. (Uh. . . no he is not commitment adverse, he just has not found the right person.)

I attended a seminar this weekend where one of the authors suggested taking your character out of your story context and placing the person in a different situation. The example given was to put your character in a Star Trek scene. If your character is well-developed you should be able to predict how he or she will behave in this or any other situation. I know my character would want to get actively involved with crew in trying to figure out a solution to the problem that Scotty can’t give any more power to solve.(“I’m givin’ her all I can Captain. She’s at warp speed now and any more an I won’t be responsible for what happens.”

So I guess the long and short of the back story is it will serve you well on a number of occasions. You do not necessarily need to write it all in the book.

John W.Howell’s Interview-author of My GRL

~ John W. Howell ~ 8 Comments

really nice interview by Madi Preda of Author’s Promotion. Madi asked some very Interesting questions and she is a real professional.

authors promotion's avatarAUTHORS PROMOTION

 

 

AuthorsPR Review

My GRL BY John W. Howell, an adventure of a reluctant hero fighting unscrupulous terrorists and stop them with their evil plans.

The main character of this book is a successful lawyer, John Cannon, who instead of finding his peaceful leave of absence from his firm and enjoying his new acquisition, luxury fishing boat – My GRL, he is faced with other circumstances. He finds himself in incredible danger and being the suspect in the death of a young and attractive woman, Gerry who sold him the yacht. He knows he didn’t pull the trigger, but asks himself if there was something connected with him which caused Gerry to be killed.

As the story unfolds, John is haunted by an evil mastermind; a terrorist who plans to kill lots of innocent people in an explosion, in the name of insane beliefs and reasons.

John attempts to…

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Dreams of Love Poetry Collection

~ John W. Howell

A lovely collection of poems by a lovely person.

Pamela Beckford's avatarPoetry by Pamela

I alluded to working on a project – and now I’m going to unveil that project. Only a couple of good friends were even aware of this. But I took the plunge and published a collection of my love poems.

I have been supported by one friend in particular and without her encouragement, this would never have happened. So, if you have enjoyed my poetry, please check this out. There are a couple of new poems in it that have not been on this blog. Oh, and be kind. This was my first attempt at anything like this ever.

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Issue Seven, an Apology and a Thank You.

~ John W. Howell

Marie Bailey is included in this issue. (well…yeah me too) Such a nice collection. Check it out.

Jayde-Ashe's avatarThe Paperbook Blog

Hello everyone.

As you might have noticed, I have been appallingly absent from the WordPress halls.

You might have also noticed that it is February 5th today.

And I am four days late in publishing Issue Seven of The Paperbook Collective.

Here is the apology part of the post: I am very sorry!

And the thank you: You guys are all awesome for waiting so patiently!

I won’t bore you with the who’s and the why’s and the when’s; rather I will get straight into the good stuff.

Issue Seven has arrived!

Here it is, in all its February glory.

As always, I think the quality of work sent in is incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed putting this issue together, despite the delays.

I do hope you enjoy reading it.

Capture

PDF –

 The Paperbook Collective Issue Seven 2014

ISSUU –

The Paperbook Collective Issue Seven 2014

Cheers, and happy February…

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Community Story Board is as Community Story Board Does

~ John W. Howell ~ 6 Comments

 

4c942a6b65c4478ea3021619574dcc55The Community Story Board is back. Here is a message from the editors to provide some guidance going forward. Please visit with the idea of submitting some of your great work. You will find the submission guidelines on the site.

We’re back!!! New Guidelines.

After careful consideration and discussions with a panel of experts (we hear voices), we are implementing some not so drastic changes.  In the spirit of keeping this a fair and fun community for everyone, we have rearranged some privileges, made some editorial changes, and adjusted our guidelines.  Some of you who had free posting privileges prior to our closure may now find that you are restricted and need an editor’s approval before posting.  After a history of consistent quality posts, you may regain privileges to post without editor approval.  This is not anything personal or a judgment against your writing or talent, but we are striving to take the CSB in a more positive direction.  To do so, we need to establish more quality control.

Going forward, we ask that people remember that this website is about feedback.  The ‘C’ stands for Community and we mean it.  Even if you dislike a piece, please feel free to comment on it with respect and integrity.  Consistently coming to the editors with an issue about works that are represented on the blog does not help the author in question learn and grow.  If discussions do get heated and cross the line of civility, the editors will step in and there will be the risk of removal of offending party(ies).

Without further ado, here are the New Guidelines!

  • This blog is intended to feature Short fiction, non-fiction and poetry, as well as art pieces and musical works. We would prefer if your submission was no longer than 1000 words long, unless it has been arranged prior.
  • We ask that you limit your posting to 1 piece per day unless you are an editor or have previous permission.  The exception to this rule is during contests, prompts, and themes that require more than one post per day.
  • The work you submit must be original and all rights must belong to you. If you are submitting work for someone else, you must include a signed release with your submission. Any work that is deemed as not original will be promptly removed from the site and you will no longer be allowed to participate. This includes any art work or photos that are an accompaniment to your writing, unless it is public domain.
  • Your work will be published as determined by the editors of this site, and on the schedule that works for them.
  • We will not edit your work for you. It will be published as is.
  • We maintain the right to refuse to publish a work at our discretion and without any further explanation.
  • We do not claim any rights to your work. It is yours to do with as you wish. If you no longer wish to have your work featured on the site, please use the contact form on the Submission Guidelines Page. Please remember to include the title of your post so that we may easily find and remove it. It may take up to 72 hours for it to be removed from the site.
  • Please keep in mind this is a community.  Choose only your best stuff and post the rest to personal blogs.
  • The formatting of your piece will be handled by our editors, unless you have posting privileges. WordPress sometimes does odd things. We will do the best we can to ensure that it comes out looking great.
  • If you are submitting an excerpt of a published book, please also send us a link to the book and the publisher information.
  • Fan Fiction will NOT be accepted.
  • NO self-promoting via single links to your blog with no other content.
  • All content on this site is property of the individual author. If you are going to use it in part or in whole somewhere else, you must have permission from the author first, with the exception of reblogs.
  • Please include the links to your website/sales pages with your work if you wish to have them posted.
  • Please note: It may take up to a week for one of our editors to get back to you.
  • If you wish to have a photo included with your submission please note this at the top of your submission and we will send you the appropriate email to submit it to. We kindly ask that you limit your photos to one per submission, unless you are doing a photography post that has been previously approved.
  • Please ensure that your photos are appropriate for all audiences and are not offensive.  This includes graphic nudity, violence/gore, sexuality, and anything else that may be construed as inappropriate.

We hope everyone has a good time here and shares in the joy of reading and writing–Thank you, the editorial team.

Keep a look out for a post about coming events such as an artist contest and the bi-monthly theme, which will be replacing the weekly prompts.

Top Ten No Nos is as Top Ten No Nos Does

~ John W. Howell ~ 12 Comments

Here is the 31st installment of Ten Top Lists of What Not to Do by Marie Ann Bailey of 1WriteWay at http://1writeway.com and John W. Howell of Fiction Favorites at http://johnwhowell.com. These lists are simu-published on our blogs each Monday. We hope you enjoy.

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Top Ten Things Not to do When Writing a Novel

10.  When writing a novel, do not try to explain to anyone what you are doing. If you do, at best they will walk away shaking their head.  At worst you might find yourself as a recipient of an intervention by well-meaning friends and family which you didn’t know was being filmed until you see it on Dr. Phil.

9.  When writing a novel, do not assume everyone in the world is waiting for it to be finished. If you do, at best you may get used to the sound of crickets when it’s done.  At worst people might start avoiding you on purpose without trying to hide the fact that they are.

8.  When writing a novel, do not ask your spouse to read parts and provide an opinion on how they like it.  If you do, at best, you might end up in an argument over whether you really only used your imagination in writing those sex scenes.  At worst, you both might end up paying a lot of money to a divorce lawyer.

7.  When writing a novel, do not ask your children to be quiet while you write. If you do, at best they will make even more noise and you will have to find a way to sound proof your room. At worst, you might just be investigated by child protective services at the request of neighbors who are tired of the screaming and crying (mainly from you).

6.  When writing a novel, do not think you need a rest by playing a video game or knitting the sleeve of a sweater. If you do, at best you’ll lose your focus on your plot. At worst, you will finish the sweater and reach the god level in the game, but never finish the book.

5.  When writing a novel, do not try to make a decision on whether you should plan the book or just write it. If you do, at best you may get stalled on starting the novel and have to adjust your publication deadline. At worst, you may end up having an argument with yourself and end up not on speaking terms, which would totally blow your deadline.

4.  When writing a novel, do not keep your own counsel on word usage or grammar. If you do, at best you may get lucky and have only a few mistakes. At worst, you will need to leave town and change your name to avoid the laughter from your peers.

3.  When writing a novel, do not do your own editing. If you do, at best you may be surprised by the number of problems in your book.  At worst, you may want to book a trip to a country with no extradition treaty with the US.

2.  When writing a novel, do not avoid rich characterizations. If you do, at best you will have a book filled with pounds of boring material that not even you will want to read. At worst, you will need to find a decent disguise when meeting other authors and readers to avoid being called out by your characterizations of them.

1.   When writing a novel, do not skimp on the plot thinking your literary style will pull you through. If you do, at best you might have a book you love, but no one else does.  At worst, you might win the Worst Literary Book of the Year Award in recognition of your achievement.