Category Archives: Writing Musings

Musings from author Denise Turney on writing, including freelance, marketing, self-help, nonfiction and journal writing. Here you will find book marketing tips as well as advice on places where you can go to sharpen your craft and network with other writers, including novelists. You’ll also find places where you can network with readers, editors, publishers and literary agents.

Penguin Group Enters Self Publishing Books Realm

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By Denise Turney

Less than a decade ago librarians, bookstores, media outlets, book reviewers (some still do), book buyers and traditional book publishers frowned on self-publishing. Paying money to print and publish your own books was deemed akin to vanity publishing, as if the only reason you would take the time to research, write and have your work professionally edited and published was just so you could feel important. But, that’s changing.

Self-Published Authors Are Committed to Success

People are starting to realize that self-publishers are more akin to entrepreneurs than they are to folks who don’t mind plopping down thousands of dollars to stockpile books with their names written across the spine in their garages. Actually, when you think, it’s obvious that self-publishing, especially for an author who earns her entire livelihood from selling her own books, calls for admirable qualities that are not always required of authors who get published via traditional means.

Tenacity, resiliency, solid financial management and strong marketing and promotion skills are generally required to become a successful self-publisher. Therefore, self-published book authors must possess the knowledge, skills and drive to push their book titles to the top of bestseller charts. Truth is — the same skills that are generally required to sell books published by traditional book publishers are required to sell self published books. Furthermore, it’s the number of book sales and how deeply stories engage readers that matter. It’s a reason books like Love Pour Over Me, Playing for Keeps, If You Were Mine, Spiral and Portia have earned success amongst their target audience.

Technology’s Impact on Book Publishing

Add to that the fact that expanding technologies are making it increasingly possible for book authors, including self published writers, to find and connect with thousands and millions of readers and it’s easy to understand why a traditional publisher like the Penguin Group would acquire Author Solutions, Inc., a large self-publishing company. How large is Author Solutions, Inc.? According to the Wall Street Journal’s July 19, 2012 “Penguin Dives into Self-Publishing” article, Author Solutions, Inc. boast a roster of 150,000 published authors.

Penguin Group purchased Author Solutions, Inc. for $116 million. That alone is a sign of how profitable self-publishing has become. It’s also further evidence that the stigma around self-publishing is evaporating. Change is shinning its face upon the book industry. This is a good thing.

Gone are the days when talented authors had to wait for their work to be discovered (or more accurately stated – accepted and approved of) by large publishing houses. The removal of this barrier may very well allow for different styles and varieties of written works to be introduced to avid book readers. It may also serve as a sign that traditional book marketing strategies need changing. But, more importantly, the success of self-publishing serves as a welcome sign to talented book authors (who spent years having their work rejected by traditional publishers) that their voice, the stories they create to share are valued, powerful and worth being heard.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! 

Sources:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444464304577537092288601370.html (Wall Street Journal: Penguin Dives into Self-Publishing)

Taping Into Your Inner Strength

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By Denise Turney

Believe it or not, you have limitless inner strength. There is a place inside you that never fails. There is a place inside of you that has the answer to every question you could ever ask. Right now . . . that place exists inside of you.

Stop Believing Lies About Yourself; Accept the Truth

The reason you may not believe this is because, as humans, we also listen to deception and lies. If we continue to listen to lies about ourselves we may start to believe the lies. The catch is that we behave or act in alignment with our beliefs. Even Superman couldn’t get around this if he tried. Our thoughts (a belief is simply a thought you think over and over) guide and shape our behavior.

Add to this the fact that we can have experiences that seem to confirm lies we’ve been told about ourselves and it’s not hard to see why we can, at times, feel lost, confused or uncertain. For example, if we believe a lie that we are ignorant and we score low on a school exam we may start to strengthen our belief in the lie that we are ignorant. Let our friends, classmates and/or parents see our low test score and start to tease us or even call us “dumb” and you can see where we could take the belief.

In time, we might stop raising our hand when asked the answer to a question in class. As adults we might shy away from volunteering to lead projects at work for fear that we will fail (all of this thought and behavior being driven by the belief that we are ignorant). We might even feel angry, perhaps absolutely outraged, when people refer to us as “dumb” – however, if the belief that we are ignorant isn’t examined and seen for the lie that it is we may continue to avoid situations that call for us to answer questions, etc.

Getting to the Truth

Now imagine what would happen to us if we believed 50 lies about ourselves. And here we are. It’s the reason we look out and see the world we see.

This common human struggle is one Love Pour Over Me’s main character, Raymond Clarke, faces. Like you may have, Raymond learned to believe lies about himself when he was a child. Many of the lies were passed down to him from his father (a man who also believed lies about himself) and people in his environment.

It’s not until he is grown, well into his adult years, that Raymond starts to examine the lies, turning them over, looking at their root and seeing the truth about them – that they are just that . . . lies, nothing more. Yet, he’s made a habit out of believing lies about himself (perhaps to avoid seeing that people who loved him but who didn’t know better themselves had, unknowingly, told him lies even cloaking them in words of “this is good for you” or “this is best”).

Fortunately, Raymond longs for the truth. It’s this longing that keeps him moving forward, that connects him with Brenda.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You!

Writing to Heal Yourself and to Awaken to Your True Greatness

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By Denise Turney

writing to heal yourself

Poetry, short story, journal and novel writing can be therapeutic, allowing children and adults to discover hidden thoughts and parts of themselves. These therapeutic benefits can be experienced whether you are deliberately writing to heal yourself or you’re writing to express yourself artistically.

Writing to Heal Inner Conflicts

At first glance, it might not seem as if writing can help you to heal inner conflicts. However, ask any writer, particularly a book author, if he wasn’t surprised at how book characters and storylines he created turned out. You’ll likely hear the writer tell you that he was surprised to discover he felt compelled to have one or more events happen to a character.

It’s as though hidden thoughts the author or book writer has within herself are being revealed through her work, guiding her to have book characters undergo certain experiences so the author can begin to heal herself. Akin to what actress, Angelina Jolie, shared during an interview on The Actor’s Studio about the acting process, stories and scenes authors create might also reveal future experiences authors will have in their personal lives.

Writing to Connect with Our Inner Self

One thing is certain; there is a part of us that knows the very path, the very choices, we should make. As we remove blockages to receiving and understanding this part of ourselves, we begin to heal. Hence, the joy of writing!

Although he isn’t consciously aware that he is writing to heal himself, Raymond Clarke (a college student and the main character in the African America fiction novel, Love Pour Over Me) sits down and starts penning his thoughts in a journal. Writing helps him to deal with perceptions and beliefs he has about himself regarding abuse and pain he suffered at his father’s hands. Writing also helps Raymond to capture and record beautiful and joyous experiences he shares with his friends and the woman he loves.

Although Raymond doesn’t do this, you can also write to record and interpret your dreams. This may prove particularly helpful should you find yourself having repetitive dreams which might be a sign that your subconscious mind is trying to get a message through to you.

Of course, writing can also be used to share stories with a local or global audience. It is at this point that healing (whether you pen a mystery, romance, etc.) you experience may start to impact hundreds, thousands of millions of readers.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You!

Great Novels Make Reading to Learn Fun

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By Denise Turney

Gain good reading comprehension skills and you can shorten the amount of time it takes you to learn. You can also improve your communication skills and gain the confidence to talk with people from diverse backgrounds because you know you’re well versed on several interesting subjects.

Reading Fiction is a Gateway to Learning

Reading books filled with illustrations and dates that illustrations historic events occurred on and reading books filled with facts and numbers can help you learn. However, you might not have a lot of fun learning this way. In fact, this type of reading might feel like work.

It’s a reason schools and youth organizations use colorful fiction books to teach children how to read, count and learn basic subjects like science and history. When it comes to older children and adults, reading good fiction can help stimulate independent thinking. Good fiction can also help you to solve a puzzle you have been striving to find the answer to for several days, weeks or months.

Novels Can Hold Answers to Challenging Questions

Sometimes the answers to your questions might be revealed in dialogue shared between two characters in a novel. Other times you may arrive at an answer to something that has been puzzling you after following the ins and outs of a romantic or mysterious relationship highlighted in the pages of a novel. You may even come to realize that you are not alone as you deal with a perception challenge, especially as you continue to read and discover that similar challenges keep coming up for your favorite book characters. This is one of the benefits gained while reading Love Pour Over Me. [Keep in mind that real people create novels and sometimes they include real life perception challenges they’ve faced in stories they write.]

But perhaps most of all, reading good fiction is a great way to learn grammar skills. It’s also a great way to learn how to become a talented storyteller yourself. [It’s no wonder great authors advise up and coming writers to read a lot of good fiction.]

So enjoy curling up with a good novel. Read books to your children and young relatives. Give books to family, friends and colleagues for holidays, etc. Get to know characters in intriguing novels and let yourself grow, expand and learn.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Even if you choose not to purchase your copy of Love Pour Over Me today, I encourage you to “consider Love.”

Material to Write Entertaining Books With

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By Denise Turney

When you pause to consider your life, the twists and turns, you’ve gone through, the myriad of experiences you have had while a portion of the limitless YOU inhabited your body, it may be easy for you to see that you have material for an awesome story. Regardless of the number of years you have been on earth, you are marvelous. Facts be told, if you had to keep a journal of your every thought and action, you might struggle to find enough paper to hold your story.

Finding Material to Write Novels With

The material you’d write your story, your autobiography or memoir with would come from your memories, the very same resources that shape the way you feel right now (at this very second), the very same resources that create your level of comfort with trying new things. Oh, memories . . . they can pack a wallop. It’s a reason it’s a blessing to hold onto memories that make you feel peace, love and joy and let other memories go.

But what if you’re writing a novel? Where, then, do you get the material to write with?

Believe it or not, to some degree, you will get the material from the same place the material to write your autobiography comes from – within yourself. Sometimes I wonder if that’s what makes writing so emotional, so moving, so therapeutic for authors and book readers.

I also wonder if using inner resources is what separates literature from novels that are written primarily to get cash registers ringing. The good thing is you don’t have to be a book writer to know, to feel, where a novelist is getting the material for his books from. All you have to do is continue reading stories he’s written.

Why Novels Feel Real

In fact, after my first novel Portia was released in 1998 readers emailed me and told me they just knew I was from Chicago, Illinois (the city Portia is set in). I’m from Ohio. Despite how many times I told the book’s readers I wasn’t from Chicago, they didn’t believe me. To this day I think that was due to the research I did in preparation to write Portia and to the way I used material from within myself to create the book’s characters, namely Portia.

About five years later, when I released my third novel, Spiral, readers told me I was from Memphis, Tennessee (the city Spiral is set in). By that time I’d learned that when authors’ material comes from within, the stories those authors write feel authentic, feel real.  Readers appreciate that.

And it takes so little work on the author’s part. It’s a matter of simply allowing information to come to us, to rise up from within. Songwriters, musicians, painters, scriptwriters and even actors and actresses do it. It’s that authenticity that readers and movie viewers are drawn to, even while reading and watching fiction stories, poems and multi-dimensional sci-fi thrillers. At the core people know the stories aren’t real. However, they feel so real (due to where the material they were created with came from) that readers don’t want to turn away, don’t want to stop reading.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Even if you choose not to purchase your copy of Love Pour Over Me today, I encourage you to “consider Love.”

Loving the Smooth Sounds of Jazz Music

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By Denise Turney

Jazz is a music form that stirs the soul and invigorates the mind without the need of words. Listen to one smooth jazz cut and you’ll see why jazz stays in style. The music has a language all its own.

For the Love of Traditional and Smooth Jazz

It doesn’t matter if you’re listening to Miles Davis getting low and funky on his trumpet or to Gerald Albright making a saxophone do what only he can, jazz will shake and soothe you both at the same time. Andy Snitzer ripping notes with his saxophone on “Taking Off” or add in Ella Fitzgerald dipping and riffing so effortlessly it seems as if she’s merely walking through the park signing along with birds that – it’s all glorious jazz.

No wonder Raymond Clarke, the main character in Love Pour Over Me, seeks out jazz the morning after he arrives to campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He’s seeking solace in the music. He also longs to feel some connection with his father back home. They both love jazz . . . Raymond and his father, Malcolm . . . one of their favorite musicians being the one and only Miles Davis.

If you’re a jazz lover like Raymond and Malcolm (or me) and you want to enjoy live jazz, check out some of the local, regional and international jazz festivals. For example, there’s the annual Monterey Jazz Festival in Monterey, California (the festival celebrated its 55th year in 2012), the Newport Jazz Festival, the Atlanta Jazz Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival in Canada or the Saint Lucia Jazz Festival. These are just a few of the many jazz festivals that take place in the United States and around the world.

You can also enjoy live jazz at local parks, sometimes the admission is free. I’m willing to guess that if you love jazz as much as Love Pour Over Me’s Raymond Clarke does, you go out of your way to listen to jazz whenever you can. The music probably inspires and motivates you, sending good vibes all through you. Oh . . . the sweet sounds of jazz!

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You!

Sources:

Love Pour Over Me – http://www.ebookit.com/books/0000001582/Love-Pour-Over-Me.html

More about Books – Starting on a New Novel

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By Denise Turney

I was almost finished editing Love Pour Over Me when I started writing my next novel. Looking back, I think that’s the way I’ve always managed the creative side of my writing career. The process keeps me from getting too attached to the book I’ve just finished writing. This, in turn, allows me to keep moving forward, ready to receive the next fiction story that surfaces within me.

Writing the first draft of a new book is fun. It’s also the most challenging part, especially considering the fact that I’ve learned how to cut the fat out of a story without feeling like I’m taking blood from myself. Oh, the despair, the dread I felt years ago when it came time to start editing and cutting away at a story I’d spent months laboring to pull together. Although I can’t confirm it, I imagine that most authors struggle with this part of the writing process.

As I’m experiencing with my next book “Gada’s Glory” (working title), I feel exhilarated while I’m creating a new book. It’s so much fun! The process is pure – purely creative. There’s no need to focus on marketing, promotions, etc. during this process. I don’t have to spread the word about a new novel I’m creating because it’s all mine . . . for now.

It’s like being in a laboratory, trying this and that, creating intriguing characters and placing them in challenging and/or rewarding scenes. In time I start rooting for one or more characters and disliking other characters. Amazing how this happens considering the fact that I’m the one who’s creating all of the book’s characters. Oddly, with Love Has Many Faces (sold out) a character I loved (Leslie Fletcher) was absolutely hated and despised by readers. That was a first for me. Leslie made a lot of mistakes, many of which deeply hurt innocent people, but she evolved and awakened by the end of Love Has Many Faces; however, readers were not up for dismissing her prior mistakes.

Which brings me to another point I love about starting on a new novel . . . I love working with emotion! It may well be my biggest payoff as a book author – hearing from readers, especially readers who are emotionally charged about a scene or character. I love when that happens!

Malcolm (Raymond Clarke’s father) is the guy who pulls loads of emotion out of readers in my recently published book, Love Pour Over Me. Unlike Leslie, readers come to see Malcolm differently by the end of Love Pour Over Me. Guess I got a little better at allowing characters to evolve and awaken. That or Leslie struck a nerve in readers and wouldn’t let go.

But that’s me . . . what are your favorite parts of a novel? What makes a story a winner for you, the type of book you simply can’t put down? Is it the plot, dialogue, an intriguing setting . . . Just what is it about a book that keeps you turning the pages?

I’m sure you can tell; the rewards of writing are a plenty! I love to write, to create stories that pull emotion up within readers like you! Gotta tell you, as a reader, you make my life’s work wonderful! Thank you!

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You!

 

Welcome Friends

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Welcome to my personal blog!  I create so much content (e.g. blogs, articles, research, copywriting) for creatives and small business owners that I decided to sit myself down and write a personal blog. It’s kind of an offshoot of my online diary which I started at chistell.com nearly eight years ago.

I’ll be blogging about books I’ve read, stories I’m creating and book signings and interviews I’m conducting. I’ll also share my thoughts about movies and music I’ve recently taken in and enjoyed. If you love jazz as much as I do, feel free to kick back and enjoy links to some smooth jazz while you’re here.

For your ease, you can also open my blog in a separate window while you enjoy exploring more of chistell.com and learning even more about my books. I provide a brief overview of my books right here at my blog (check out the “My Books” link at the top of this page). However, excerpts and more detailed information on my books are available right from the main page of chistell.com

Again – welcome!  I’m so glad you’re here!

Key Links:

Chistell Main Page