Beyond Words

Welcome to author and all round funny guy, Greg Crites. Can you tell us a little about yourself? I’m an alcoholic. Not reformed. A practicing alcoholic. In fact, I’m practicing right now! In what genre do you write? I write humor. Laughing is good for you. I read that in one of those lurid tabloids with headlines like ‘My Vacuum Cleaner Is Really A Spaceship." How many books have you written? Twenty in the last five years. Twenty-four if you count the ones I’m not fond of. OK, I’m not fond of any of them because I forgot what they were about and my favorite book is my next one. You’ve chosen to self-publish and are very successful at it. What would you say is the key to success for the self-published author? There are several things I’ve observed after numerous mistakes. Style. I stay true to mine. I don’t do litrachur, which I’m unqualified for. I aim to entertain and I never lose sight of that goal. Approbation. I don’t delude myself that everyone will enjoy my wor...

Michelle Fayard for winning an ebook of Dianne Hartsock's Alex . Enjoy the read, Michelle :) Thank you to Dianne for offering her fabulous book as a prize. 

Today I'm welcoming author Sara Curran-Ross to my blog. Take it away, Sara... Recently I had a discussion with a friend about the attributes of a good female lead character in a novel. Many female characters are often depicted as weak-minded women calling for male help as often as Penelope Pitstop when in a rut. Then there are those who allow the male lead to overpower them. After that, we have women who are super human, indestructible loners who spit on the very idea of needing a man’s help or even one in the their life. So which one is the most realistic? Which one can you identify with? Neither? Me too ... I loved Twilight but I have to say I wasn’t very keen on Bella. I found her miserable and weak when it came to her relationship with Edward. I was actually concerned about my daughter reading it for fear she would get the wrong idea about relationships. Bella offers little resistance to Edward when he stalks her and prevents her from seeing Jacob. She also completely falls...

I'm happy to announce the winner of an ecopy of Ta Ta for Now! by Bethany Lopez is Christy. Her blog can be found at http://loveofbooks409.blogspot.com/ Congratulations, Christy. Enjoy your book!

Dianne Hartsock is a wonderfully prolific author. I have had the honor of reading and reviewing, Alex. A terrific read for those of you into paranormal thrillers. She would like to offer a giveaway of a n ecopy of Alex to one lucky commenter. Just tell Dianne who your all-time favorite literary character is. Tell us something about yourself and how you became a writer. I grew up in California, lived ten years in Colorado, and now make my home in the beautiful Willamette Valley of Oregon with my husband and college-age son. My daughter lives nearby and attends OSU. I’ve been writing since 7th grade where a very supportive creative writing teacher said I had talent. It’s funny, but I didn’t settle down to serious writing until about three years ago. I went through the ‘Writer’s Workshop’ given by Wolf Pirate Publishing http://www.wolf-pirate.com/#/alex/4535582697 that really opened my eyes. I never realized how much I didn’t know about writing a story!   Tell us about your ...

Andrea Buginsky has enjoyed writing since she was a kid. Once in college, she decided to turn it into a career and earned a BA in journalism. She has been writing freelance for several years now. Andrea has always wanted to write children’s books. She loves fantasy movies like "The Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter," so she decided to try writing one of her own. She is excited to announce her first publication, The Chosen , a young adult fantasy. As writers know, writing can sometimes be hard. You have moments when you want to write, but don’t have time. You have moments where you have the time to write but no idea what to write. You even have times when a huge deadline is looming and you’re working day and night to meet it. These obstacles and more can make your writing life a hard one. Not to mention the publicizing and advertising that comes with it. But you suck it up and do what you have to do for your writing career because it’s what you really want. T...

Thanks to Rachael Harrie of Rach Writes http://rachaelharrie.blogspot.com/  for her third Campaign to help bloggers connect. This campaign is now open and will run until October 31st. Stop by Rach Writes to sign up and start touring!