I is for . . . Ink

I think
we all recall
that moment when
someone wrote with pen and ink,
wedge-shaped pictograms,
hieroglyphs,
sacred illuminations 
fan-fold codices, 
lemon letters that twist brown by candle,
read backwards in a mirror.
No longer do we sit,
enthralled by elders’ tales;
Guttenburg’s gifts of ink and press
transform us and we transform others
by naming, those words
tattooed on paper, on computer screens, 
on our very selves,
indelible.

Photo by Christine Mitchell, Flickr.

Read what others have written for the A to Z Blogging Challenge HERE.

Just for today, my book Standing Stones is highlighted on ebookSoda.com -- check it out! Or, sign up to receive recommendations from ebookSoda.com for good reads in the genres of your choice.

H is for Hoarding . . . Books

When did I begin
holding each book close,
books I shall never read again?
How many are enough? 
These books that document 
my life into verse
and chapters?

I bring the quiet of a library
into my house,
arrange my chair just so,
the proper reading light,
sometimes a snack,
and fall into someone else's reality.
Never mind,
it's not my story, 
I'll slide sideways
into someone else's beginning
until the end.

I'm a bookworm, a bibliophile. I love books for what they contain, and I love simply the act of reading. Some of my earliest memories are of reading, sitting in a small children's chair and turning the pages of my own book. When I move to a new town, I don't settle in until I hold a library card, entry to my second home. On a first date with my husband, he took me to a small library in San Francisco to show me where Richard Brautigan wrote his stories. We used to go to used book stores everywhere; now, we just have too many books. What shall I do with the books I collected for teaching? Many are gone now, but boxes remain. As do the memories.

Allen's passion is travel. Oh, the libraries we have visited and the books we have seen -- original fan-fold codices in Mexico, illuminated manuscripts in England, even a tiny small tablet several thousand years old, with the first example of wedge-shaped writing, a cuneiform, brought out from a back room by a librarian to show us because we loved books.

My favorites, all the libraries in Scotland, the British Library -- so immense; and then in Buenos Aires, a theater has been converted to a grand bookstore -- El Ateneo Grand. After you have exhausted yourself, you can sit at a small table, look at the books you've collected, sip strong coffee, and listen to soft tango music.

El Ateneo Grand (bookriot.com)

See more pictures of El Ateneo HERE.

G is for Greece

Porch of the Carytids (Camp 2004)

We walked along the Plaka,
stopped for coffee
at an open-air cafe
and talked of this and that,
then up the hill
to the Acropolis,
a long walk on old stones
with an early morning crowd,
all marveling
at tumbled stones
and those still standing stones,
arachaic columns,
stylized friezes,
and the Kore,
their calm facades
looking out
from their own temple
over the city
and time, long past.

Kore (Camp 2004)

Below in the museum,
each Kore retrieved,
fixed anew in her own space,
mysterious,
linked to the cult of spring,
once holding flowers or a bird,
followers of Persephone,
down into the Underworld as
the seasons turn again
and again,

Kore (Camp 2004)

yet serene.






Read more of the Acropolis HERE and the Porch of the Caryatids HERE.

Column with Lotus (Camp 2004)

From a little research, the maidens shown on the Porch of the Caryatids are linked to the goddess Artemis and a spring festival where they would dance like "living plants", but their finely stylized hair is echoed by the Kore.

So perhaps the Caryatids is a specific name for when the female sculptures are used to support the building as pillars, for in the article about the Acropolis, the Kore are linked to Persephone. But the academics still argue about this.

Read what others have written for the A to Z Challenge HERE.

F is for First Snow

This year, I am grateful every moment for spring, the first forsythia blooming, the first hint of green on willows. But somehow as I caught up on downloading images from my camera, these photos of a memorable walk last winter in Manito Park linked to the A to Z Challenge (for me, a poem a day), all I could think of was:

First Snow

Our fingers crisp with cold,

we walked through the park,

our footprints, trajectories of hope

on iced pond,

the park bench bare,

shrubs along the path, ethereal,

delicate, etched with pure white.

Further along, we walked

Past a double column of elms,

their branches bare against the sky.

We followed the path under a weathered stone bridge,

sheltered for a moment from winter’s wind,

the path ahead, slick with ice,

as if last year’s long winter were a memory,

as if we could not remember when the darkness began. 

Read what others have written for the A to Z Challenge here.

E is for Elephant's Foot

Think Chernobyl,
molten masses melting
at over 2,000 degrees Centigrade, 
then solidifying in layers 
to form a lump of corium 
underneath the reactor,
nicknamed Elephant's Foot.

A poet once said,
we might die by fire,
but ice would suffice.
This is the fire
that will melt our bones.

I would rather watch
an elephant eat the heart
of a baobab tree.

Today's poem is late as I volunteered at a book sale that took up most of the day, and my feet are trash. 

I took this little, 21-second video during a trip to Tasmania in Africa two years ago where we did see this small elephant eating the inner, soft bark of a baobab tree. You can hear our guides talking softly; "Sowa, sowa" means "Let's go!"

The baobab tree is considered by some to be that mythical upside-down tree, for its branches look more like roots, another World Tree that began all life as we know it.

I never thought of elephants as destructive particularly, though we've all heard of elephants run amok, perhaps maddened by restraints. Yet we could follow the path that the elephants had taken, so marked by downed trees.

I'm trying to write a poem a day as part of the April A to Z Challenge. Read what others have written here.

Read more about Elephant's Foot and Chernobyl here.
Read Robert Frost's poem, "Fire and Ice" here.

D is for . . .Deciduous

I would rather be like you, 
oak, elm, maple,
shedding leaves at the proper season,
that flame of red in the fall,
my branches mere sticks in the winter,
when the birds turn south,
lighter somehow
of those night terrors,
able to see showers of stars
through my bones.

Then into spring which brings
the barest of buds,
through that season of gray rain,
when songbirds return
and build nests in my hair,
their chirps a joyful noise,
as I bloom full summer green,
the round of days before 
and to come:
infinity.

Japanese Garden
Manito Park, Spokane (Camp 2011)

C is for Constancy

C is for Constancy . . . 
A paradox, like love, 
that state couples enter,
anticipating decades of happy-ever-after
between thee and me. 
And so I write, 
imagining words do not change 
their meaning over time. 

Instead, each day, 
I construct meaning
out of each breath, each touch
on the keyboard,
each moment held fixed
and changing through
scene, character, plot, setting,
all those tools of a writer,
not the least, heart.

We construct meaning,
you and I, each day:
countless ways I show you 
that I love you yet,
unchanging.

Tyree Callahan's Chromatic Typewriter (2011) 

I did fall in love with this image, found on internet, and discovered the Chromatic Typewriter, created by Tyree Callahan, a gifted painter and creator of the typewriter. Read more about Tyree Callahan in an article by Twisted Sifter and on his blog.

Check out what others have written for April's A to Z Challenge. 

B, Baby, B

When no one quite knows yet
that you are here, 
a baby bump
in the overall scheme of 
everyday life,
riding to infinity,
possibilities streaming
like that dimple in Beethoven's ear,
glorious music
bopping, bursting forth,
bringing hope
with your first flutter.
That's when
I believe, baby. 

Leda at almost 2 (February 2014)

I'm a grandmother and just now I've learned that little Leda Rose will have a baby sister or a baby brother, a few days after Halloween. I say, "Trick or treat!"

And on we go with the A to Z Challenge. Read what those other 2,000 plus bloggers are writing here.  Note: That gorgeous letter "B" is the work of Jeremy Hawkins.

Introducing an amazing cover from Tia Bach

Over the last two years of being active in A Round of Words in 80 Days, I've come to know Tia Bach, writer of paranormal fantasy for young adults. 

Today, I'm thrilled to introduce her forthcoming book and hot-off-the-virtual-presses cover:

Chasing Shadows (Tala Prophecy, Book 2)

Reagan thought one night changed her life forever, but her fate was written long ago.

Merging creature and white blood,

One of flame, one of night,

At eighteen years it will commence,

Spiritual warrior and power,

Will bring an end to the lawless ones.

A war looms: One that pits brother against brother for werewolf supremacy. Angels and demons will each have a say before a victor is chosen.

With her eighteenth birthday only six months away, time is running out. Reagan must find a way to harness the two powerful, ancient bloodlines coursing through her: Werewolf and Wiccan. Then, she has to figure out her role in the century-old prophecy foretold by her great-grandmother.

However, if Reagan can’t save her family from her most vicious rival, Rafe, the forces of Hell will be unleashed and the war will be over before it starts.

For more about Tia Bach, check out her blog, Depression Cookies.

Here's the link for Tia's first book in this series, Chasing Memories

You can add Chasing Shadows on GoodReads 

NOTE: This gorgeous cover was designed by Jo Michaels 

A to Z Challenge: A is for Anachronistic

I unwind into morning,
fingers curled over the keyboard,
too aware of decades lost,
almost anachronistic.
Yet April begins another spring,
I am here, in this place and time,
and I am writing.

April 1 begins the first day of the A to Z Challenge, and I'll join 2,000+ other bloggers with that commitment to write every day, inspired on day one with the letter A.

My themes will be mostly scattered as my office is these days, too many projects -- writing and quilting, but this has been a long winter, and the snows have finally, finally melted. Even my African violets have begun to bud.

I will try to write a poem a day.

I write historical fiction, immersed in mid-19th Century. One novel has been self-published. The second is in final editing. Another awaits in the earliest of reading and research phases. But I begin to know that plot. The characters already have hopes and dreams; their doubts are surfacing. I will do some research/reading, but my primary writing goal for April will be to finish the edits on Years of Stone.

If you are a blogger participating in the A to Z Challenge, may you find inspiration each day!
We each will be reading what others have written, up to 10 each day. Read what others have written here! Or check out A-to-Z on Facebook.

To blog or not to blog?

Tomorrow marks the beginning of April and the A to Z Blogging Challenge. 

If I make a commitment, that means a blog post a day, from A to Z.

Over 2,000 bloggers have already made that commitment and have mapped out what they're going to write about for the month. Some have begun to prewrite their posts. I haven't even started.

I'm undecided. Those nasty demons of doubt have arisen. What could I possibly write about that would interest others? Will I have the time to actually write something every single day, even though part of this month will be on the road?

So here's the deal. You choose. Let me know what YOU would like me to write about!  Here are the options:

1) A poem a day?

2) Short posts about what I've learned from writing historical fiction?

3) Tidbits from my research for Years of Stone, set in 19th Century Van Diemen's Land (current day Tasmania, Australia) OR Rivers of Stone, set in 19th Century Canada and the Pacific Northwest?

4) Short posts about self-publishing on the cheap and that greatest and perhaps most humbling challenge of self-marketing?

You can do this! End my indecision! Please answer via comments or send me an e-mail to bluebethley@yahoo.com and please, please don't call me a slacker!

If you'd like to join this challenge, check out the A to Z Challenge 2014 website!

Celebrating Women's History: Moms Mabley

I saw Moms Mabley for the first time last night on a documentary produced by Whoopi Goldberg. I don't know how I missed Moms back in the 1960s when she became popular. Maybe because I lived in Seattle, where one black kid was in our high school of over 400. But I never knew her in the 1970s either.

Moms Mabley (Wikipedia)

She comes on stage, shuffling, a baggy hat pulled low, frumpy old lady clothes that don't match in any way. If she is wearing her teeth, she takes them out, saying, "Now, that's better." Her big smile wins everyone over.

Her wise-cracking, authentic, heart-tugging humor turns to simply expressed, laser sharp critiques of racism. And people listen. 

In 1969, in her disarming way, she tells an obviously uncomfortable Merv Griffin, that she has a new nickname. Trigger. Then, after a beat, she adds, "At least, I think they was saying Trigger."

Her popularity led her to Carnegie Hall and the White House, where she visited Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, amended and approved by President Johnson on April 11, 1968.  Before that, John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, and Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

This clip from youtube.com shows Sammy Davis, Jr. introducing Moms to sing "Abraham, Martin, and John."



Read a little more about Moms on Wikipedia.
More about Whoopi Goldberg's documentary on The New York Times.

Sunday's Author Spotlight: It's Me!

Whew! Busy week! Two interviews went online this week. 

Thanks go to Annette Drake for hosting me on her weekly Author Spotlight, up at the crack of dawn this morning. Annette is the author of Celebration House (on Amazon), a compelling read about a woman who buys a house to discover ghosts and a unique ability to communicate with them. 

And just one week ago, Deb McKnight hosted me on Novel Notions: Self-Published Sunday.  Deb is also an author. Her first book, Of Dreams and Shadow (on Amazon), looks to be a powerful tale that begins with a missing child.

In both interviews, I talk a little about the writing process and self-publishing. You'll find another excerpt from Standing Stones as well. 

And I finally was able to attend a panel hosted by the Inland Northwest Writers' Group (INWG), here in Spokane at Auntie's Bookstore. Six writers with widely varying experience commented on the vagaries of self-publishing. I gleaned a few new ideas and found some interesting new writers to read.

• Ignore social media at your peril! Twitter, tweet, and cross post.
• Build your community online. Connect to those who comment on your posts.
• If you blog, then blog 2x a week consistently.
•  Consider Kobo and Barnes & Noble in addition to Amazon.
• Keep developing your technical skills:  E-books rule!
• Make your work accessible on different media -- Podcasts?

And, perhaps most important, book reviews really matter! If you like an author, post a review, no matter how short.

NOTE: If you are a self-published author looking for another way to promote your book,  ebooksoda.com (a service much like The Fussy Librarian) is offering free listings for writers -- just until March 24. Here's their For Authors page.

Added to my to-read list: Frank Zafiro (crime/noir), Ned Hayes (historical fiction), Deby Fredericks (science fiction/fantasy), Raymond Hudson (literary fiction), and Terry Fossum (self-improvement). 

Happy reading! How did we get to the end of March so fast???

Here's my book at Auntie's in Spokane!

Cover Reveal and ABNA news . . .

Available on Amazon

Here's the new cover for The Mermaid Quilt & Other Tales . . . just for the Kindle version. 

I'm kind of excited this morning, and having a little difficulty in concentrating on the editing. Here's the background on the cover. The Mermaid Quilt was my first self-published collection of short stories and poetry. I used an off-the-shelf cover from CreateSpace because I couldn't figure out how to make something dazzling. This brand new cover comes from Angie Zambrano at pro-ebookcovers; her work is available through fiverr.com    

So what do you think? 

Have you heard of ABNA, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Entries ended once 10,000 would-be writers entered or by March 2, whichever came first. The next step: 400 writers from 5 categories (or 2,000 writers) are selected by March 18 to advance to the next round.

Here's the update: Announced today, my Years of Stone (follow-up novel to Standing Stones) has advanced to the next round in the General Fiction category, there not being a historical fiction category this year. 

Whoopee! I think it's time for a cup of coffee. Then maybe I can turn to that revision that's waiting on my desk.

May your writing and reading day go well!

Poetry Review: Wild Woman Waking

This week, I’m pleased to review the latest book of poems by Morgan Dragonwillow, friend and chief instigator behind poetry prompts and online resources (both StoryDam and OctPoWriMo). I look at poetry as a way to explore our most intimate perceptions of life, nature, love – distilled into impressions of what we hold most dear.

Click to go to Amazon!

Wild Woman Waking, a collaborative work by Morgan Dragonwillow, poet, and Tui Snider, photographer, shows the transformative power of poetry combined with images. Each of these 57 poems in free verse begins with a beautiful image that evokes the very nature of the poem, inviting the reader to reflect further on the nature of women, identity, healing, and growth.  

These themes lead we readers on a poetic journey of discovery. We find we must acknowledge the sometimes harsh realities of our pasts before we can embrace change and heal ourselves. For me, that is the essential message of Wild Woman Waking – that we celebrate our true selves with passion, self-acceptance, and commitment. We may not be able to return to the home of our childhood, but, as Morgan writes in ‘Finding My Way Home,’ “. . . you carry home in your heart . . . where it was all along.”

Wild Woman Waking is a passionate read. When we read these poems, we become the child who is misunderstood, the woman who searches for acceptance. From ‘Diving Deep’:

As the leaves fall I find

myself curled up inside

diving into the darkness . . .

Several poems ask us to consider the link between poetry and our bodies. In ‘Where Do Words Come From’, Morgan asks if words are:

searching for a way out of our fingers

 . . . . are the words traveling in your blood

riding along the great highway of your inner being

 Morgan’s poems make me think about the power of poetry to transform ourselves, as if in the very act of putting down words, we invent ourselves, we create order out of chaos, we show others possibilities.

Sometimes poets write what we wish we could say, and they tell us what we need to know. The poems in Wild Woman Waking lead us to a place where we can proudly refuse to be “bent and broken”; instead, they document a journey to self-acceptance, peace, and understanding – where in a community of women, we celebrate and dance as Mud Women. We become women of spirit and keepers of our own keys.

What's next? You can scroll down to read a little about about Morgan and Tui, visit the other hosts on this blog hop, and ENTER Morgan's giveaway (see below). As always, thank YOU for visiting and commenting.

Morgan Dragonwillow is a shadow poet and recovering perfectionist that strives to inspire other poets and writers. She especially enjoys helping those that have had trouble letting go of the fear holding back their words from landing on the page. It thrills her to her marrow when her words inspire someone to write; it is one of her greatest joys. Morgan released her first poetry book, Dancing within Shadow, in March 2013. She is intimate with shadow and dances into the heart of it. She believes that diving into what most people try to avoid makes great fertilizer for all types of creativity, especially writing and poetry. She writes poetry to be able to say things, feel things that she can’t seem to express or feel anywhere else. Morgan lives in Marietta Ga. with her partner, their Pekinese, and their long haired Tabby. She loves creating of all kinds but words are her passion. You can connect with Morgan from the links below.

Morgan Dragonwillow's Amazon author page 

Morgan Dragonwillow's Shadow Poet & Author Page: Dancing where others fear to tread. 
Facebook Author Page 
Pinterest
Twitter

Tui Snider is a writer, photographer, and travel blogger specializing in offbeat sites, overlooked history, cultural traditions, and quirky travel destinations. Her articles and photos have appeared in BMIbaby, easyJet, Wizzit, Click, Ling, PlanetEye Traveler, iStopover, SkyEurope, and North Texas Farm and Ranch magazines, among others. She also wrote the shopping chapter for the “Time Out Naples: Capri, Sorrento, and the Amalfi Coast 2010” travel guidebook. Unexpected Texas is her first book. For Tui, travel is a mindset. Her motto is "Even home is a travel destination," and she believes that "The world is only boring if you take everyone else's word for it." She has worn a lot of hats in her life - literally - and is especially fond of berets. Her first book, "Unexpected Texas" is a guide to offbeat and overlooked places within easy reach of the Dallas - Fort Worth region of North Texas. You can find Tui all around the web. 

·        Tui Snider's Amazon author page

·        Tui Snider's Offbeat & Overlooked Travel blog

·        Facebook author page

·        Instagram 

·        Pinterest

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Women's History Poetry: On women quilting

We begin innocently,
as strangers,
stitch and turn,
repair and bind,
the talk between quilts
held us together,
stories, dreams, revelations, laughter.
We shared more than fabric.
We began to quilt for others.
Sometimes we were angry.
Sometimes we despaired.
Stitch and turn,
repair and bind.
We attended weddings and funerals.
Our quilts remain,
a history of stitches.

This is the first little poem I've written in quite a while. Pared down to simplicity, the words remind me of how women create beauty out of small scraps of fabric, sometimes those scraps that we cannot throw out. So we repurpose, and the quilts remain to brighten our daily lives. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to have old quilts, those made by women we knew.

Quilting has gradually become a passion, a process of making something from a flat piece of cloth. You'll find a quilt in every book I write, sometimes drawn from history. The fascinating story of the Rajah Quilt, made in 1841 by women transported to Van Diemen's Land (present day Tasmania) for petty crimes is hidden like a small quilt block in Standing Stones. Can you imagine being down in the hold of a small sailing vessel, on a trip that took four months, and sewing a quilt?

This poem came about because of Morgan Dragonwillow's mini-poetry challenge to celebrate Women's History Month. See what others have written here. Morgan will be back here as a guest on March 15 to introduce her new book, Wild Woman Waking.

Marketing for Self-Published Authors: Give-Aways?

Give-aways! Should we self-published writers truly give our books away? An accountant would say, check the cost of goods sold first.

But how do we get our books out to a wider audience?

One strategy is to use a sponsored give-away, like that through GoodReads.

If you already have your Author Dashboard set up on GoodReads, you simply add your book cover, set the time for the give-away, decide how many copies to give away, and follow up at the end of the give-away to send your copy to the winner.

I set my give-away for two weeks, ending February 28. During that time, 334 people entered the give-away and 178 added Standing Stones to their "to read" list. I could have added a widget to my blogs, alerting blog readers they could enter the give-away. Next time.

Another plus: GoodReads encourages those who win the book to write a review.

Have I seen a bump in sales? Not yet. Will I offer another give-away? Perhaps. Some of the research suggests that giving away our books is not the first or best marketing choice.

Other marketing strategies I'm working on this week:

• Bookmarks to give away at a book signing at a local book store.
• Lining up readings/visits with local book clubs (and drafting book club questions/handouts).
• Preparing materials for guest posts (Self-Published Sundays coming up in March). 
• Working on final edits on Book 2 for another launch later this year.

If you are a self-published author, what has been your most effective marketing strategy?

Writer Unboxed offers this post on "The Year Long Book Launch" which intrigues me. The links follow the journey a writer of literary fiction undertook to find an agent, a publishing house, and the launch. Her concerns mirror the concerns of any writer. We may find useful gems here, even for the self-published writer.

May your writing go well.

Detail, stained glass window at
St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh (Camp 2009)
Inspiration for Lord Gordon in Standing Stones

A little book launch . . . a lotta fun . . .

Oofta. What a day. My launch party for Standing Stones. I'm right in the mainstream of those writers who resist marketing, but one strategy intrigued me:  the launch party.

Caught between advice from marketing gurus who plan elaborate book launch parties and spoofs that recommended several bottles of wine, I wondered what would work for me -- a self-published author with a limited budget and an inclination to stay home.

Knocking myself on the head with 'should' was not productive (as in, 'I should have organized this last month'), so I ordered paperback copies a month ahead, set a date, sent invitations by e-mail, and sent out a press release to our local paper (into the black hole). 

On the appointed day, I ventured forth to my favorite coffee shop here in Spokane -- Forza Coffee Shop serves Sweet Venetian coffee lattes, my favorite occasional treat.

What worked!

Invitations by e-mail brought a variety of people in and notes from those who could not come. The e-mail invite included a pic of the book cover and was sent to my friends from writing groups, quilting, and swimming. Two of my writing groups (Spokane Authors and AAUW) forwarded my invite to everyone on their list. 

The invite sounded something like this:  Drop by to help Beth celebrate the release of her new book, Standing Stones. Rachel will play a little classical music. Enter a book drawing. No purchase necessary -- unless you would like a cup of coffee! 

The no-host coffee bar venue was perfect. I scheduled a large meeting room with lots of comfy chairs and a big table. Some 30-35 people dropped by; some bought coffee, nearly all stayed to chat. Copies of my two books were arranged on that big meeting table with this sign:

If you would like to buy a book, 
the red-winged blackbirds will sing spring, 
and all the snow will melt. 
You really don't have to buy a book, but 
if you would like to take one home, here are the prices. 

The timing was perfect! The two hour no-host coffee drop-in was set up for 9:30-11:30, right after my swimming class to make it easy for my swimming buddies to drop by.   Two ladies who love historical fiction found out about the launch from friends. Two ladies wanted the link to Amazon for the Kindle edition. And attendees bought books!

What I will do differently next time!

1. Make BOOKMARKS with websites and book info! People can give them to their friends.
2. Think about what to write in the book ahead of time. Everyone wanted a personal note! At one point I had three books backed up to sign. 
3. Post a sign at the venue, directing people where to go. 
4. Have a formal sign-in to capture who attended, if they want to be added to newsletter, etc. 
5. Move around and keep talking to different groups of people.
6. Make sure the venue is large enough. A few people had hearing problems, which may have been exacerbated by the small room.
7. Plan something extra! Before I set up the open house, one friend asked if I was going to have 'eye candy'. Well, that was a good idea, but I opted for my daughter to play classical violin. Everyone loved her playing a small 10-minute concert.  
8. Have someone else collect the money. 
9. Maybe ask for reviews . . . this seems a bit forward to me. 
10. Make posters to publicize the event about a week before. Post at libraries.
11. Don't drink coffee before the event. 

I ended the two hour session amazed by how many folks came to celebrate with me. One friend made soup so I wouldn't have to worry about cooking that day. Folks really talked to each other, and I saw connections between people I knew from different groups who didn't know each other.

Several times attendees wanted to talk more about their own writing journey (which was fine with me); others were curious about my book, how it got started, how much time it took, what research I've done, why I chose to self-publish. All these questions were easy to answer, and everyone seemed interested in the next book out.

I hope this overview helps you plan or feel better prepared for YOUR book launch party. For self-published authors with that shoestring budget, my suggestions may help you look at the launch as a time to celebrate your accomplishment.

If you've already had your book launch, any tips to share?

Beta, beta . . . boom!

Writers need readers. We all know that. Being a shy person, I've long cherished the role of writer, tapping away on the keyboard in sheer isolation, until those final words . . . 'the end'.

Readers can be exceptionally helpful throughout the writing process, though, and especially at 'the end'.

Whenever I've finished that fabulous-to-my-eyes first draft, I dive into NOVELS_L, an online critique group, part of The Internet Writing Workshop. Here writers can submit chapters, read and critique other chapters, and in a kind of 2-for-1 exchange (2 reviews for every sub), gain feedback from seasoned readers at the chapter level.

But when the whole book is nearly ready, then I'm hoping to find a good beta reader, someone I trust and someone I know will give me the deepest kind of feedback on how I can strengthen my story.

Here, risks abound. For if the beta reader is too critical, you might find yourself not editing or writing at all. That happened to me once. Oh, I'd rather not go there again.

Beta readers will tell you what works and what doesn't. They can function at least at two levels -- micro and macro.

At the micro level, a good beta reader can find typos, grammatical and punctuation errors you really should have caught at this stage, and even extra spaces (for those of us still struggling with one space after a period instead of two). She or he will also spot when you've suddenly reverted to calling a character by a previous name. Oh, those little proofreading and editing inconsistencies that plague us all.

At the macro level, a good beta reader will delve into the structure of the novel itself, the character arcs, the underlying meaning of the theme and how well it translates into shaping the conflict and action of the story.

Julie Glover, in her very useful article, "When the Book Isn't Working," says "Sometimes we've been over a book so many times, we can't see it fresh anymore." That's the moment to reach out to a beta reader. Julie suggests that we might keep the questions as simple as: "Where did your interest wane, even a bit? Which characters did you relate to? Did any characters feel one-dimensional or unnecessary? Where do you think the story could be strengthened?"

I've lost count truly of how many times I revise a novel before it's released into that wider world of readers. How I write requires patience for these seemingly endless rounds of editing and revision, for I want my stories to be good enough to move the reader with compassion for other lives and other times.

Writers: Have you used beta readers? What have you gained from this experience? Would you recommend it to others?

Read more about:
The Internet Writing Workshop
Julie Glover's "When the Book Isn't Working"