Guest Post: Tina Frisco – On Facing Death

Reblogged from

https://wordpress585519.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/guest-post-tina-frisco-on-facing-death

Facing death is a life-changing experience. Where did spirit come from in the first place? Many of us astral travel but refer to it as dreaming. Is there a difference between soul and spirit? I no longer see death as a monster – nor do I fear it.

It is my pleasure and privilege to welcome Tina Frisco, author, blogger, singer-songwriter, RN, activist, a student of shamanism and friend, to Words To Captivate. Death is a difficult thing to face, but Tina puts a different face on it.

On Facing Death

Facing death is a life-changing experience and one that most of us fear. The first time I faced this monster, I paced and cried, ranted and cursed its arrogance. The second time, I tightened my mid-section and refused to acknowledge it; but I couldn’t sleep. The third time, I took in a deep breath, sat down, and closed my eyes. In a flash, I saw myriad lifetimes pass before me – incarnations I was fortunate to have lived.
What is it about physical death that throws so many of us into a tailspin of grief, anger, and denial? Is it not knowing whether life continues beyond the body? Is it not knowing what awaits us on the other side? Is it not wanting to leave the glorious sensations afforded us on the physical plane? Whether or not we believe in an afterlife, death is often viewed as The Grim Reaper.
Not believing in life after death implies that spirit – the dynamic force animating us – dies with the physical body. But that scenario begs the question: Where did spirit come from in the first place? It can’t be traced scientifically in the same way we trace a being from zygote to birth. So is spirit a mere product or side effect of brainwaves and a heartbeat? In contrast, believing in life after death is based solely on faith. Or is it?
Find the whole post here:
https://wordpress585519.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/guest-post-tina-frisco-on-facing-death/comment-page-1/#comment-3280

My Favorite Twitter Tools by Mae Clair

Reblogged from Marcia Meara Writes

August 25, 2016 / Mae Clair

Hi, everyone….Mae here again. I hope you don’t mind me popping in to share.
When it comes to social media, I’m a big fan of Twitter. It’s quick, allows me to connect with other Tweeps, catch up on events, follow trending topics, and experience news as it happens. All in one neat little social media platform.
As good as Twitter is, it’s even better paired with other applications. Today, I’d like to share a few I’ve found particularly helpful. I know many of these are commonly used, but hopefully, I’ll hit on something of use to someone out there
One of the things I like best about Twitter is the ability to create lists. As an example, I have a Twitter list for my writer friends, one for cryptozoology  (a favorite topic of mine), another for family (not too many of them on Twitter) and another for celebrities and best-selling authors (i.e, Lana Parrilla, Jennifer McMahon, Jackson Galaxy, Australia Zoo). These are just a few my lists. I have a dozen of them and with all of those lists, things can get a little cumbersome.
That’s where Hootsuite comes in.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a free platform that complements Twitter and other forms of social media. There are pay plans, but I haven’t needed to go that route, and I’ve been using Hootsuite for three years. I like that I can turn my Twitter lists into “streams” within Hootsuite.
When I open my Hootsuite dashboard, all of my Twitter lists appear in one place. In addition to the lists I mentioned above, I also have streams for anytime someone @mentions me, and a stream for scheduled messages. Whenever I promote another author or guest blogger on my site, I schedule several tweets throughout the day connecting to their post, and Hootsuite sends them at the appropriate time.
I’ve also got Hootsuite set up to stream my Facebook page and my Facebook author page so I can view both FB and Twitter in one place. It also supports Google+ and Instagram.
Pretty cool, huh? There’s even more…
Hootsuite has a built-in URL link shortener called Ow.ly which is extremely handy. So now instead of http://maeclair.net/2016/01/04/cover-reveal-a-thousand-yesteryears-by-mae-clair/ I get http://ow.ly/Xmr4L This directs users to the same post and is a lot handier when sticking to Twitter’s 140 character count.
You can also set up streams within Hootsuite to grab Tweets related to a specific hashtag. I have one set for #Mothman. Any time someone uses that hashtag in a Tweet, Hootsuite grabs it for me. Why would I care about those Tweets? Because I’m writing a series that prominently features Point Pleasant’s notorious cryptid. Whenever Mothy gets a mention, I want to know what’s being discussed. I might also want to follow the Tweeps doing the Tweeting. If they’re interested in the Mothman, they might be potential readers for my series.
I positively LOVE Hootsuite! You can learn more about it and create your own free account at https://hootsuite.com/
ManageFlitter
This is another freebie and it’s great for managing your followers. When you sign in with Twitter it gives you a list of how many people you’re following who are NOT following you back. Phhf! The nerve!
ManageFlitter makes it easy to prune your account and eliminate those followers. I follow a number of people who don’t follow me back, but most of them fall into the celebrity/news/bestselling author/specific interest category.
Generally, when I follow someone, I wait a week, then check ManageFlitter. If they haven’t followed me back, I click the unfollow button. ManageFlitter also lets me see which of my followers aren’t “talkative.” So, if I’m following someone and they haven’t made a single Tweet in say…five months, I unfollow them. This keeps my Twitter account pruned to Tweeps who are active. Finally, ManageFlitter will also tell me if I’ve picked up any spam accounts so I can unfollow them, too.
Get your free ManageFlitter account at https://manageflitter.com/
Crowdfire
I’ve only been using Crowdfire for a short time, but I love it. It’s also free and does everything ManageFlitter does, with some additional bells and whistles. The layout is a bit better, plus it has the added benefit of showing you who RECENTLY unfollowed and followed you, so you’re viewing less Tweeps at a time.
It has a handy “copy followers” feature, which allows you to import another user’s followers and see who you might want to follow (think target auidences for your genre). You can also pop a hashtag or keywords into Crowdfire (i.e, #Mothman, Jennifer McMahon) and it will kick back a list of relevant Tweeps. These are all people you might want to follow.
This link will tell you about Crowdfire and let you set up a free account 
https://www.crowdfireapp.com/about-us 

Read the whole post here: Marcia Meara Writes

Writing Tips (XVIII) Let’s Talk About #BookReviews Day 4

 Reblogged from: Rosie Amber August 25, 2016

We are well over half way through “Write a book review on Amazon ” month and this week I’ve been supporting the campaign with some book reviewing themed posts.

At some point in book reviewing everyone will come across a book they really didn’t like, could you still write a review and how could you write it?

Negative and Bad Reviews

I can guarantee this is going to cause a scene.
So what do you do if you really didn’t like a book? People who slam a book and its author publically are often called Book Trolls. Like wise authors who have fans who bully anyone who dares to post a low star rated review, are also connected to the troll label. I suspect this is one of the top reasons why people fear to post a review and it damages the industry as a whole.
Firstly put yourself in the shoes of an author, someone who has toiled hard over their book, you don’t know the mountains they’ve climbed to get this far. Personal, physical, emotional mountains, how would you feel if this was your life’s work?
So you can still write a review, it will be challenging. Find points that you did like, perhaps the overall story, a strong character, a funny moment. You might have liked the first chapter, perhaps it was full of promise, even if it all went down hill from there, still say what you liked.
You can say things didn’t work for you like a fight scene or a love scene. Or you had trouble picturing the mystery building. Some fantasy and sci-fi books need to really make the reader understand new imaginary planets and realms. I once read a book which read like an arcade game with characters leaping from level to level in huge cavernous spaces, it felt 2-D and I longed for depth in the form of the descriptions and the senses, like smell and hearing.
My best advice for a book you don’t like, is LESS IS MORE. If I wrote my favourite character was the mother-in-law and she had a minor part in the book, then I’m hoping the author might pick up that the main characters hadn’t hit the mark. If I said I really like the first three chapters, then there is a hint that the rest of the book may not have lived up to my expectations. If you’ve struggled to write perhaps 10 lines then there probably wasn’t much that made you jump up and down, leave a shorter review.  However you still haven’t been rude about the book.
Ultimately the top LESS is MORE tip. If you can’t find anything nice to say don’t say anything at all. A no review speaks volumes. If you’ve been asked to write a review and really feel you can’t, be polite and say the book wasn’t for you. If you bought the book and didn’t like it, move on there are billions more books out there.

A little note to authors.
All authors who put there work out in the public eye, cannot reasonably expect every single person to like their work. We all read a book differently and a range of book reviews and their star ratings is a healthy thing on review sites. . . . . 
Read the rest of the post here: Rosie Amber

Writing Tips (VI)

                      Flashbacks

Reblogged from:
http://www.examiner.com/article/flashbacks
by  Alison Guynes
 

A flashback is 'a device in the narrative of a motion picture, novel, etc., by which an event or scene taking place before the present time in the narrative is inserted into the chronological structure of the work.' The flashback is a plot device used in many forms of media that should be used cautiously and with care.

Kristen Lamb is a best-selling writer who has posted many blog posts on her blog about writing and tips for social media. Something she recently tackled was the flashback.
Flashbacks can break the flow of a story. An author can be progressing along, have their readers invested in the current scene, and then break off into a flashback. This can pull a reader out of the story. That is something you want to avoid at all costs because a reader who loses the thread of the story will put it down and not pick it up again. 

The thing to keep in mind with flashbacks is while there are suggestions, there are no hard and fast guidelines. There are also devices that may appear to be flashbacks that aren't. 

A story full of flashbacks causes problems for the reader as well. Generally, if an author has to put a large number of them into their manuscript, then there is a very good chance the author isn't telling the right story. If the events are so important that the flow has to be disrupted more than once or twice the story should be overhauled to make a more continuous storyline. 

Flashbacks should be kept to a minimum or eliminate them completely. Find a method for conveying the information in a more linear fashion. If it is backstory, look for a way to insert it where it doesn't disrupt the progression of the story.
Read the whole post at:http://www.examiner.com/article/flashbacks

All Fantasy Worlds: About Book Tours: When Is It Too Much?

 Reblogged from:

http://www.allfantasyworlds.com/

All Fantasy Worlds: About Book Tours: When Is It Too Much?:

I remember the first time I came across a book tour company. It was some years ago, and reading book blogs had just become one of my obsessions. I’d spend hours in front of the screen, going from one blog to another, saving them to my “favorites”, and adding lots of titles to my ever-growing TBR list. And one day I came across Bewitching Book Tours and I was blown away by the genius idea of book tours and how they offered bloggers the opportunity to connect with the authors. Yes, I’ve always been one of those people who believed authors are some kind of evolved species, made up of wisdom and pure awesomeness, who forged ideas, characters and plots by the fireplace, while muses cheerfully danced around their desks. So, this is how it all looked like in my mind: book tours = bloggers meeting authors = great books to read and review = bloggers interviewing authors (I mean, who wouldn’t want to interview a member of that evolved species, who forged ideas by the fireplace?) = authors getting promoted = bloggers dying of happiness because they’re a part of something so big and exciting. Conclusion? If I was ever going to make my own book blog, I promised myself I’d tour with Bewitching.

Yeah, well, that happened eventually. A year ago. By the time I built up the courage to create my own blog, there were so many book tour companies out there that I wasn’t sure which one to check out first. Of course, I kept my promise, and the first one I signed up for was Bewitching. Then I chose two or three more and I kept an eye out for the books that really grabbed my interest. However, my enthusiasm had died down, and I tried to keep myself from singing up for too many book tours. When I did sign up for one, I usually tried to choose a book that I also wanted to review, so I wouldn’t only post a promotional thingy, like a guest post, a book spotlight, or an excerpt. Why, you might ask? Here’s why:

Many of the book blogs I was following were now doing lots of book tours. I mean, lots of them. Some blogs that used to post reviews and other interesting stuff about books ended up posting only book tours, book blasts, and memes. The posts were all the same. Sometimes they would also have a review that went along with the promotion, but there’re only so many books one can read. Even some of the blogs I follow now on Bloglovin’ post only book tours. Twice a day, if possible. They don’t seem to filter the books they promote to choose only the ones that they truly, truly want to feature on their blogs. They don’t personalize their posts. Obviously, they don’t get many comments. Maybe they do get a lot of hits because most book tours have giveaways now. Do I still follow them? Yeah… they’re there, in my Bloglovin’ feed, but I rarely check them. Because I know I’ll find the same content. Over and over. The same content with a different cover and a different blurb.

So, what’s your opinion about book tours? Do you do them on your blog, and if yes, on what principles do you choose them? Do you check them out on other blogs? Do you leave comments? And please don’t hate me for this post. I just think that sometimes…. sometimes… there are too many of them everywhere, and they all look the same. (You can read the whole post on Oana's blog page.)