Links of Interest

Alex Canton-Dutaris looks at The Dark Side of the Mirror.

Carol Davis Luce gets her blog rolling. Go give her a welcome!

The always hilarious Carol Wyer looks a gift horse in the mouth.

The awesome Jim Devitt talks about his experience with Operation e-book Drop.

Our friend Yolanda Washington is gearing up for NaNoWriMo.

Get your free copy of Chicken Feed from Ellen Ghyll.

BuzzFeed brings you 14 punctutation marks you probably didn’t know about.

Writing Exercise #6

We continue our countdown to Halloween with more spooky exercises.  Flex your scary-powerful writing muscles on this one:

You heard a noise down stairs! You are going to investigate. Tell me about the trip down these stairs. See if you can make my skin crawl with anticipation at what you’ll find below. . .

Special Guest, Author Ey Wade Talks About Scams

Author Ey Wade

What Every Well Dressed Author Should Know About Scams by Ey Wade

1. Scams, like dogs pooping on the sidewalk, happen. 2. Either you walk around it or right in.

Okay, I may not be an expert, but I am a writer who at one time stepped in and fell head first into a pile of….scam. Scams are everywhere from signing with unscrupulous agents, entering contests, to finding a publishing company. The funny thing is you never smell the problem until you step in it.

I would like to share an experience. My first mistake was in choosing what I believed to be a legitimate agent. He didn’t charge me money and we had a contract, two characteristics of a good agent. The problem I later found out was the agent was as much a newbie in publication as I was. In my ignorance (I’ll blame it on the fact I was a single parent in dire need of funds) I listened to his advice and was directed away from an editor at Ballantine (Stupid, I know, right.) because I didn’t do my research into the company. I had no idea who Ballantine was and when Publish America was put in front of me with all accolades, I ran to them. Needless to say, that is a nail in my brain I cannot remove. What I did do, after much drama with a company called Publish America, was demand my contract and rights be returned and I am now on my own as an Indie Author. Continue reading “Special Guest, Author Ey Wade Talks About Scams”