Dreams Galore

Do you have one of those days when nothing seems right and all you want to do is just curl up with a book that will make you forget your woes and give back nothing but sweet love? Yeah, I have those too and when I do have them, there are very few books I turn to. One of them and of late, quite often, are books by Sasha Summers. I feel very proud that Inkspell Publishing chose to publish her. I enjoy her romance books like no other. She makes me want to dream and I think thats the hallmark of a good author. So, Inkspell Publishing has contracted her for her Red Carpet Series and I am so pleased to share a book excerpt from her the book 2, appropriately named "Hollywood Holiday". Its a Christmas treat that no romance fiction lover should miss! :) “My name’s Gunner.” His arm tightened a little. His hand rested on my back, warm and solid.   “Gunner Foster.”   “Gunner?” I didn’t look up or open my eyes, but murmured against him, “I’m Jenny.”   I drew in a deep bre...

Courtesy:Radial Direct Of late, I have come across a lot of digital short stories and anthologies over various forums. Authors are excited about this new phenomenon where each story range typically from 8K-10K word count. I have never bought a short story yet but I have enjoyed quite a few as giveaways. I know a lot others who feel the same way and prefer the longer versions of a story. Yet, there is no smoke without fire. If they are being written with much enthusiasm, there is an audience too. Hence, it piqued my interest and I went about doing my little research. After reading through readers and authors experience with these digital bite sized stories, I concluded there are two ways to look at the short story reading/selling phenomena. Direct Sales - Selling Short Stories - Single or series There are authors who make a living just by writing and selling short stories. Yes, they do. In fact, Amazon has a dedicated page for shorts known as Kindle Singles . That definitel...

I have often wondered what makes one buy a book. The times that gets me thinking about this is when I discover a gem that no one talks about much. They lie at the corners of the bookstore, alone, shunned while other books shine brightly to our eyes. Fortunately, through fate or unavoidable circumstances, we stumble upon these undiscovered gems and wonder, why didn't I pick this before? I thought of a few reasons: 1. Blurb: The blurb at the back page. That is my guide to the book and the right hook there makes me pick it. And writers, well, they do a great job at it! 2. Cover page: Don't judge a book by its cover? But we do judge them, don't we? It is sad, but our visual sense is so much more dominating that our reason.  3. Visibility: There are a lot of people talking about it. In a good way. And sometimes, if they trash it too much, even that gets me itch to read that book. (I know, weird!). Visibility, of course, is directly linked to promotions.  4. ...

For my Monday Spotlight this week, I thought there was no better topic than NaNoWriMo. It is my first year at NaNoWriMo and I have had a good run till now. But miles to go before I sleep. Then, I met Sean, my writing buddy. His first year too and boy, he did his research! He is here today sharing with us all a bit of NaNoWriMo history and a lot of motivation that we all need for us to go through the month! Hope you enjoy the post as much as I did. For years I've known National Novel Writing Month was lurking out there, occasionally making itself known via friends who brazenly placed NaNoWriMo badges on their blogs, spouted off about writing a novel in a month, and so on. But, finally, after sitting on this for a few weeks, I decided late this past Saturday night that it was high time to sign up and commit myself — not to the loony bin, but to hashing out my own 50,000-word novel in the month of November. That's right, a novel in a month. On average, that amoun...

Today I have a special author friend doing a guest post here. Why? Simply because she had an amazing journey to publication through Trestle Press. She shares with us the reemergence of short stories in the form of digital short stories or in other words, ebooks and the role Twitter can play in promoting an author's work! Welcome Victoria!  Just over a week ago, my first e-book ‘I Should Have Seen it Coming’ was released thanks to the wonderful folks at Trestle Press. The amazing thing is that a month ago, I had no publisher and a backlog of short stories sitting on my computer with nowhere to go. Sounds like a quick turnaround, doesn’t it? After having done a lot of reviewing for the local newspaper (Evening Chronicle) a couple of years ago, I decided earlier this year to set up my own blog, http://elementaryvwatson.wordpress.com. My blog doesn’t concentrate solely on reviews but the majority of the posts are about books I’ve read. Alongside my blog, I started using Twi...

My weekend was spent editing. So much of editing and all that I could do was worry. Worry if anyone would like my book. Worry if it is worth putting out there for readers. Worry if I have given my best. It also brought with it a hope that it will be better. As I worked through the chapters, there was one particular part that got me all teary. I wanted to share with you all a snippet of my upcoming novel - Memories Rustle. It might not be the next bestseller, but it is special to me. I hope you enjoy this. And later, when the time comes, I hope you would also join Lyla's journey down the memory lane. He stood in front of her resigned, taking in the lovely face he had hurt deeply. He watched as another big tear rolled down her cheek, leaving a trail of gleam on her smooth skin. He instinctively caught the tear midway with his thumb and first finger.  Lyla shivered lightly with shock under his touch. She did not stop him when he came closer, feeling his body touching her...

OK. I have to admit I am neither pro- or against Twilight. The first time I read the book, I finished the series in flat 4 days along with the first two movies. (Yeah, I forgot I needed to sleep as well. I literally adapted our beloved vampire lifestyle! LOL). I enjoyed the books thoroughly and loved Edward. Jacob was mostly irritating to me butting in to their cute love story. But that doesn't mean I liked all the books. "Breaking Dawn" for one was a disappointment for me. I kept feeling it was written because it "had" to be written. For most part, especially Bella's pregnancy (did I mention how difficult it was for me to go through the cruel pregnancy stage?) was a stretch. The only thing which saved the book for me was Jacob's narration in the first part. It was funny to say the least with noteworthy chapter titles! I am sure I would have not completed it if it was Bella narrating it. It would be too much of self-pity!  But I liked the movi...

"Moneyball" stars Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, the man who successfully led the a super-bad baseball team on a budget by employing a computer geek who provided computer-based analysis on players. I watched this movie last week and had been planning to write this post sooner. A remarkable movie with many lessons that we as writers in particular can do good to learn. 1. Accept The Challenge : There are times when things won't go your way. Like no agent or publisher would seem to like your book. Or even before that - people did not believe that you can write a decent sentence, let alone a whole book. If you are passionate about your book, accept the challenge. Just like Billy Beane did. He did not quit because he was on an impossible budget. He accepted the challenge and did everything to make it happen! 2. When On A Budget, Be Innovative: Yes. Especially if you are going self-pub. Unfortunately, we writers do no have deep pockets, but we have amazing creative br...

Most of you are aware of my tryst with my first e-book and how intriguing it was for me. It was indeed an experience that got me exploring the industry further and before I knew, I had downloaded all kinds of e-readers on to my iPhone (not sure why I downloaded so many!) and also the complementary e-books with them. I spent my whole last week reading them and felt strangely empowered. You know the feeling of having a book in your hand and the time in the world to finish it without even having to bother about food? I felt that last week. May be the books that I read were so good that it left me with this wonderful feeling. Either way, I spent a lot of time researching about e-books. What e-books can do for us readers and authors in particular? The internet seemed ripe with lots of news especially with Amazon releasing Kindle Fire (looks amazing BTW). Here are few things that I feel are worthy of notice: 1. e-Books or Digital Books Are Cool: Yes, I finally agree to this. I stil...

I know it is now 19th century to debate about printed vs ebooks but guess I am from 19th century for I just can't let go of the printed book. I dearly love the shiny covers, the not-so-fine paper and the printed word. Somehow I feel the worth of the book only after I feel its weight in my hands. As if the same book is an ebook, the author did not work as hard which is ridiculous but that is how I feel. So, this weekend I was faced with a very uncommon problem. The urge to read. No not a simple urge. That would be common. It was the strong, unavoidable pull to a book. I had to read a book, a romance novel and specifically a Mills and Boons (yeah I read them and I am not hiding it! They are a good break from the heavy stuff! :)). So, I scoured through my collection which isn't much due to my recent move from India and sat disappointed that I had none. Then I looked at my husband like a hopeful puppy for a quick trip to the bookstore, but he didn't buy it as he was work...

Every imagined what would it feel like to be the center of another Harry Potter-like revolution with your first novel? I know its tempting to slip in to that dream world with a dreamy smile but think again. Erin Morgenstern, a debutant author (The Night Circus) is living it and she might not be that thrilled. Well, at least not about some parts of it. Especially not when her book is publicized as the next big thing after Harry Potter and Twilight by none other than Summit Entertainment (production company behind Twilight) even before it is published. Even before anyone has read as much as word of it. Scary, stressful? Hmm. Erin is not alone. There is a high-stake competition out there both in publishing industry and Hollywood to en cash on the starry-eyed readers who have been reading fantasy fiction like never before. Harry Potter might be the trigger, but the fantasy stories are not limit to wizards alone. Vampires are getting an over-kill but they are still thr...

When we look at the beautiful book cover of our favorite bestsellers, we often fail to appreciate the hard work that went behind it. The greatest being of the writer who struggles at every little step right from the first word to the first sale of his book. Most of the stories behind that shiny book cover might sound similar and inspiring, but there are some that take the inspiration quotient a notch higher. The story of Amish Tripathi, the author of the best seller "The Immortals of Meluha" is one such example. Did you know he got over 20 rejections and publishers had told him no one would like to read his book? Yes. He did and when no one agreed to publish it, his agent (God bless him!) did it himself. He invested in the book and came out with 5000 copies as against the normal 3000 for debut authors in the first run. Did you know that the marketing and distribution of the first book of this Shiva Triology "The Immortals of Meluha" was handled by Amish himself? Y...

Only sometimes we come across a book that impresses you so much that you change your life's outlook. Even if it is in just a tiny way. The fact that a stranger sitting thousands of miles away could do that with just words written on paper that you bought/borrowed by chance makes it an even greater feat. I feel the author has every right to be proud of it and Kathyrn Stockett must be one proud woman today for she wrote a book that is a must read for everyone. I am just 2 yrs late discussing this wonderful book and dearly thank the producers who are making this in to a movie for that was what drew my attention to it. A very unusual book for me to buy considering only wands and pixies interest me these days. Today I am glad I did. The book is based in 1960's Jackson, Mississippi. It is about three extra-ordinary women who take grave risks to write their story anonymously during the deep and hurting racial divide of the fluid sixties. Unlike the agitating and adrenaline pumping s...

I do not usually do this but the below quote is from my favourite blog and I just had to share it. Before you wonder more about all of it which is below, let me introduce you to Book Swept. The blog is about outstanding lines from fiction novels accompanied by striking photos that tell the same thing in their own way. I just love the thought-provoking, touching lines that they pluck out from books long-forgotten. Every day when I log in to my blogger account, I check the updates on this blog. Simply put, it makes my day. Today, when I looked it up to get the latest of their posts, I was overwhelmed to find a cluster of few lines which pretty much summarizes my feeling on this subject. Read it and enjoy! Book Swept: White Oleander : "'If evil means to be self-motivated, to be the center of one's own universe, to live on one's own terms, then every artist, every thinker, ..."