Author: Melissa Bowersock

Melissa Bowersock is an eclectic, award-winning author who writes in a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres. She has been both traditionally and independently published and lives in a small community in northern Arizona. Learn more about Melissa from her Amazon author page and her blog.

Book Signing Check-Lists

Bowersock Book SigningThere have been several excellent guidelines posted here in IU about book signings. To mention a few: K.S. Brooks (1), Brooks (2), Storey,  Wyer, and Hertzberger.

If you’ve been taking notes, you’ve probably noticed that book signings can be wildly different depending on the venue, the time of day and the planning. You may have also figured that book signings can require a lot of effort and may show little in the way of monetary payoff, but the fact is they can be invaluable for getting your name out there and may result in sales spikes after the fact.

I recently did a book signing and felt it was very successful, so thought I’d share my experience here. Continue reading “Book Signing Check-Lists”

The Power of Creativity

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Photo by Melissa Bowersock

I have often felt that creativity is an archetypal upwelling that is so intrinsic to human nature as to make it a universal truth. I believe it is so pervasive and so deep-seated that, like love, it exists and permeates all cultures around the globe without exception. And, because it is so mysterious and unruly and because it produces ideas of such unfathomable complexity and beauty, it is also powerful. It is a force that the ancients could only partially grasp and therefore it was relegated to the nature of god.

A recent article on Scientific American discussed the nature of creativity and really got my neurons firing. I thought it was really interesting to see their round-up of various thinkers and philosophers and their views on what creativity is and where it comes from. Continue reading “The Power of Creativity”

Why I Don’t Write Sequels or Series

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Image credit:
http://www.mycutegraphics.com/graphics/book/tall-stack-of-books.html

As an author, is there any better feeling that that of being on fire? I mean, of course, being inflamed with inspiration, with an idea, with a story. What’s better than that little *pop* as an idea flares to life, blue and orange and yellow, that little flicker that when shielded from the wind, when protected and encouraged begins to bite into the fuel of possibilities and grow, reaching ever upward, ever outward as the possibilities turn into inspired plot points and compelling characters? You know the feeling. But does it happen every time we sit down to write? Does it herald the beginning of every new project?

We wish. Continue reading “Why I Don’t Write Sequels or Series”

Writer, Reader, Reviewer

3starsSometimes I hate being an author.

No, that’s not true. I never hate being a writer or an author. I love writing; I love reading. I love supporting other authors and especially, obviously, my friends. What I hate is writing critical reviews. Recently my buddy, Yvonne Hertberger, wrote about a similar situation where she was called on to assess a book. It wasn’t pretty.

Case in point. Recently I read a friend’s latest. I wanted to like it; I really did. But I didn’t. I didn’t have a lot of sympathy for most of the characters, I found the pace slow and therefore frustrating, and there were many things that it seemed I was supposed to implicitly understand but did not. Whenever I read a book that affects me like this, I have to wonder: is it not grabbing me because I’m not giving it enough time and concentration, or am I not giving it time and concentration because it’s not grabbing me? Continue reading “Writer, Reader, Reviewer”