Authors Wanted for a 'Current Affairs' article written by YOUR protagonist #blog #guestpost #characterarticle #article #fiction

Beginning soon on WWBB is a 'current affairs' theme and authors are invited to write 300 - 900 words approx., in the POV of their character, about anything they like as long as it's current where they are, and send it to: wiselouise(AT)gmail.com or HERE

Readers invest a lot of time getting to know characters in books, and sometimes they'd like to know more about how they tick, what they think and how they'd manage in today's fast-paced world.

Possible 'current affairs' ideas:

If your character wields magic would he/she use it to stop climate change? If your character is evil would they be rubbing their hands together at human suffering? Or maybe they’d be the ones to have caused it? Maybe your character is an animal and doesn't understand how humans can ignore the suffering of dogs from the local doggy pet shop? Or maybe they don’t understand humans, full stop! Your character could even be an alien, and wonders how we live in such close proximity (population). Maybe your character loves/hates Donald Trump? Or maybe your character just hates/loves the Kardashians!

This is your article, and your current affairs from your neck of the wood.

Also send in:

Author media:
Purchase links (up to three) of the book to be advertised.
Cover pic (of said book)
Blurb (as above).

Optional:
Bio of character.
Photo of character.

So take advantage of this FREE promo event and write 300 - 900 words approx., in the POV of your character, about anything you like as long as it's current where you are, and send it to my EMAIL.

Louise Wise

If you like #scifi futuristic novels, check out this extract from Billy and the Cloneasaurus

 Excerpt from the book 

BILLY AND THE CLONEASAURUS
by
 Stephen Kozeniewsk
 

The Whirling Fan of Death abruptly stopped spinning the instant it struck William 789-6’s abdomen.  The chalky-white, pain-wracked face of 789 stared at them accusingly for about fifteen seconds before he finally succumbed to blood loss.  (Intestinal loss was also, no doubt, a contributing factor to the poor clone’s death.)

William 64-6, the slurry machine operator, clad in a white plastic apron and all-encompassing goggles whistled archly and said, “Well, that’s never happened before.”

William 790-6 reached up and tugged on his shirt collar.  He cleared his throat, not really knowing what else to do.  64 didn’t make a move and seemed to be waiting for 790 to prompt him.  It was typical clone behavior, but, of course, that meant that 790’s own inclination was also to not move, but to wait for someone else to prompt him.  With an exhausted sigh, 790 gestured at the remaining half of 789 still stuck in the slurry machine.

“Why don’t you, uh, reach in and see if you can clear the, uh, obstruction?”

 Amazon US
Amazon UK
Goodreads

 Dark, haunting, and blisteringly satirical, BILLY AND THE CLONEASAURUS is the story of one “man’s” attempt to finally become an individual in a world of copies.

  Six billion identical clones make up the entire population of Earth, and William 790-6 (57th Iteration) is exactly like everybody else. In his one year of life he will toil in suburban mediocrity and spend as much cash as possible in order to please his corporate masters. When 790’s first birthday (and scheduled execution) finally rolls around, a freak accident spares his life.

Living past his expiration date changes 790 profoundly. Unlike other clones he becomes capable of questioning the futility of his own existence. Seeking answers in the wilderness, he discovers a windmill with some very strange occupants, including a freakish, dinosaur-like monstrosity. Which is especially strange since every animal on earth is supposed to be extinct…

~~~

 

Stephen Kozeniewski (pronounced: "causin' ooze key") lives with his wife and two cats in Pennsylvania, the birthplace of the modern zombie.  

During his time as a Field Artillery officer, he served for three years in Oklahoma and one in Iraq, where due to what he assumes was a clerical error, he was awarded the Bronze Star. 

He is also a classically trained linguist, which sounds much more impressive than saying his bachelor’s degree is in German.

AUTHOR LINKS

Amazon - http://amazon.com/author/kozeniewski
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/KozAuthor
Twitter - https://twitter.com/outfortune
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7183355.Stephen_Kozeniewski
Blog - http://manuscriptsburn.blogspot.com
Mailing List - http://kozauthor.campayn.com/contact_list_form/signup/10334

Click for details on how to have your book excerpt posted here

May - from tiny idea to the book shops. What is your writing process?

Have you ever wondered how a writer begins a book? Where do they get their ideas?

Where do they find the time to write if they have a full-time job, a family and all the other stuff that goes with real life?

Do they lock themselves away in an office, roaring log fire, classical music in the background with the other half nervously knocking (don't want to disturb the master/mistress at work)on the door with a steaming cuppa?

Or do they write at the kitchen table in between wiping snotty noses (the kids, not their own. Could be their own, I guess), with a family that thinks their 'hobby' would be best suited to knitting/golf/horse racing/whatever?

If you're a fledgling writer -- hey, ANY writer -- check back here because this month writers will be revealing their writing process.

Do YOU want to write for WWBB? Feast your eyes on the button to the right of the screen and click on Monthly Themes for WWBB, pick your month and then let me know by contacting me via the 'contact me' button top left of the screen.

Stop Watching Jersey Shore!

There’s a New Sheriff in Town—Now Write

by 

Stephen M Holak 

First off, a grateful tip of the hat to Louise for inviting me to post a guest blog here. As a newly-minted Indie author, I appreciate every opportunity to market myself and build an audience. Second: my personality lends itself very well to standing on a soapbox and pushing my views and opinions on that audience. Just ask my friends and family. I’m not shy; everyone is entitled to my opinion.

I headed over to these parts to introduce myself, my works, let you to get to know me, promote my stuff, you know? But then I changed my mind.

I decided to do you all a favor and spank you.

If you’re a struggling writer, a pre-published author, or a recent self-published / Indie author, what I’m about to tell you should strike a chord. A deep one. It should leave a deep red handprint on your buttocks, Lieutenant Dan.

Amazon.UK
Amazon.com

Tell me you haven’t said this to yourself: “I really don’t feel like writing today; what’s the point anyway? I’ll hammer away at something for days / weeks / months / years / decades on my lunch hour / train ride / midnight oil-burning session, polish the crap out of it, throw an agonized-over query letter over it, and submit it to an agent / editor / publishing house / magazine, and six months later I’ll get a polite letter thanking me for my submission, the story had promise, but it wasn’t a good fit for (whatever), blah-blah effing blah.”

Your self-imposed word-count for the day just went from one-thousand down to five-hundred, or five-hundred to two-hundred, or to . . . zero; you cracked open a beer, plopped on the couch, and dialed up last night’s episode of Jersey Shore.

I know you do this. I did it for years. For decades. I didn’t work as hard as I could at my craft, and got absolutely nowhere. What was the point? Deep inside, I thought it was hopeless. I thought I had no control over a writing career, that I was playing a literary lottery. (Oooh. I like that!)

I’m here to tell you, peeps, that those days are over. It’s a Brave New World. Nuclear winter is over—open the door and take a look. See the sun? I’m not yanking your chain. There are absolutely no excuses for the above excuses. None. There’s a new sheriff in town, and his name is Jeff. Jeff Bezos. (I’ll give you a minute to Google him.)

In Ancient Times, the Gatekeepers guarded the, well, Gates. The Big Six publishing houses, (hereafter BS) , stood between you and your customers—the readers. BS decided what was good. They decided who would get the shelf space in bookstores. BS paid authors a tiny royalty and don’t-spend-it-all-in-one-place advances. They kept rights to works even when the print runs were over. BS kept over 50% of the price the reader forked over for your sweat, blood and tears--if you were lucky enough to win the lottery, and your chances are about the same—and be published, you got to keep maybe 15% after you paid your agent and traveled the universe signing and promoting your book on your dime

What they really did, dear colleagues, was decide what they could sell. Not what was good, not what had literary merit or what they thought readers wanted or would enjoy reading, but what BS could sell. What could make BS money. They had absolutely no interest in you, or helping you grow as a writer. You were meat to them. If you weren’t marbled just right, well . . . the metaphor breaks down here, but you get the idea.

And somewhere deep in your brainstem, you knew this. (This is why, by the way, Jersey Shore has such high ratings.)

Amazon, and the explosion of self-publishing options like Kindle Direct (KDP) and Createspace and Smashwords has changed all that. You can publish yourself. With one terrifying click of the mouse, the barriers between you and your potential readers, between anonymity and notice, vanish. Poof.

Repeat after me: There are no more gatekeepers. Readers are free to judge your work on its own merits. If you work hard at learning your craft, if tell a good story, if you edit the hell out of your stuff and edit it some more, if you learn eBook formatting and cover design (or pay someone to do it for you), write a good blurb, and upload the effer to cyberspace and market yourself, people will read your stuff.

If they like it, they’ll buy it. If readers like your product, you’ll not only be a published author, you’ll be an author with sales. (If you care about those sorts of things, that is. I do. That’s partly why I’m here. The other reason is the spanking.) You can write more works and publish them and build an audience and make some money.

So use that train ride, that lunch hour, that rainy Saturday, that restless night. Buy a case of Red Bull and a book on editing (better yet, spring for a good editor; it’s an investment) and a book on eBook publishing and learn Photoshop or marry a girl who owns Photoshop and bang out some great covers (which you by the way, have complete control over), and publish your work. Be a writer. Be an author. No one is holding you back any longer.

No BS stands between you and your potential readers. Stop reading books on writing and blogs on writing (except for this one, and mine, and maybe Joe Konrath; he’s good and I want to be like him), and write, damn it.

Luke Skywalker: Whine, whine.

Yoda: “Do or do not. There is no try.”


Oh, I almost forgot, my novella, “A Fairy for Bin Laden,” about a foot-high pixie named Tinkerbelle who helps the CIA and Army track down Osama Bin Laden, is available on Amazon.com. (http://amzn.com/B0088IBE3I) Please buy it. And my other novella, “O’Reilly’s Sacrifice,” if you like baseball fantasy stories like Field of Dreams. And my epic fantasy novel coming out in December.

I missed a dozen episodes of Jersey Shore writing this, and feel the Universe owes me some compensation.

*If you want to discuss this guest post on Twitter the hashtag is #wwbb

Cowboys, Firemen, Policemen, oh YES!

Another guest post on #wwbb 

by 

Karlene Blakemore-Mowle

Ever have one of those days where you just can’t find something to read that really grabs you? Well I had one of those about 12 years ago and it made me decide to write my own...couldn’t be that hard right?....umm not quite!

See I’ve always had this thing for Military… also Cowboys, Firemen, Policemen… any who, I was really into military/ romantic/ suspense at the time so I sat down and wrote what would end up being the first in my Operation series. It started with Operation Summer Storm, followed by Operation Willow Quest, and I have just released book number three, Operation Swift Mercy. I’m  working on book four, Operation Avenging Angel, as we speak, so hopefully that will be out in the next month or so.

My series is about four U.S Recon Marines who always seem to be in the wrong place at the right time! And it’s always the women in their lives who get them there in the first place!  Each man has his own book, and I have to tell you, I have adored this journey these characters have taken me on. Since starting the series I’ve fallen in love with all of them and they really have become ‘real’ to me—it’s going to be very hard to write the end on book four!

I thought I might give you the blurbs to the first three books and let you see for yourself what these guys get up to!

Operation Summer Storm

Tate Maddox is a wanted man, accused of a crime he didn't commit. Summer Sheldon holds the key to his freedom-for a price. 

Her demands are simple--rescue her journalist sister from a rebel hostage camp and she'll hand over the evidence to clear his name. There's just one small catch. He has to take her with him. From the depths of a Cambodian jungle to the tropical paradise of the Philippines, two unlikely allies are forced to learn how to coexist or lose everything each holds dear. Together they must expose a truth that leaves them both vulnerable to the ruthless killer behind Tate's nightmare. Murder, blackmail, and injustice brought them together. Will Tate and Summer save Willow and restore Tate's reputation in time, or will they pay the ultimate price for honor?