To celebrate the soon to be released Chaste by my friend, author and poet Angela Felsted, I'm participating in Quinn's Cookie Exchange, named after the main character in the book, a teenage boy who knows how to cook. Even though Hanukkah is over for this year, I think you'll find this recipe delicious any time. All the grease spots on my original recipe card attest to that. Hanukkah Cookie Pinwheels (Draidle or spinning top cookies) Bake at 350 deg for 15 minutes Makes about 5 dozen Pastry: 1 cup (2 sticks) butter 1 8-oz pack cream cheese ¼ cup dairy sour cream 2-1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour ½ teas salt Filling: 2 cups finely ground walnuts ½ cup sugar 1 teas ground cinnamon 1 egg 1 teas grated orange rind Prepare pastry: Beat butter and cream cheese in large bowl with electric mixer until creamy. Beat in sour cream. Stir in flour and salt until a firm dough forms, adding more flour if necessary. Form into a ball, wrap. Chill overnight. Prepare … [Read more...]
Quinn’s Cookie Exchange
Introducing Sonia Marsh
I met face to face with Sonia Marsh for the first time yesterday after a long virtual friendship and a lot of win-win networking. She is the author of the newly released memoir Freeways to Flip-Flops (available at Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle, as well as Barnes and Noble) and the Gutsy Livingblog. I posted my gutsy story there in June, and I'm pleased to say, I won for the gutsiest story of the month. Please go over to Gutsy Livingto receive a special gift. Just scroll down and look for the red starfish. So Sonia and I talked nonstop mostly about how to go about the business of selling a book. We shared websites, conference information, how to get on panel discussions, what organizations we belong to. I urged her to join our Greater Los Angeles Writers Society. Although Sonia lives in Orange County, GLAWS has members who come to meetings and events all the way from Arizona. Yesterday's highlight was meeting with one of the proprietors of my local indie … [Read more...]
Another book launch – oh my!
I now have a paperback edition of my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, in my hands. It just arrived. Getting it to this point has taken just short of three months, but well worth the time and effort. The edition looks great. I decided to keep the same cover design because it has been my brand for the last year. I felt changing it could be confusing to my followers and even to me. Plus I love the front cover photo, taken by my young girl friend, Madison Poulter, whom I've known since she was eighteen months old. Can't believe she's off to Lewis and Clark College in the fall. So both my publisher, Mike O'Mary at Dream of Things and I have been doing a lot of planning to get ready for the launch. Mike made an excel spreadsheet with activities to accomplish between now and January. Here are some of the things we're doing right now: I've communicated with friends and family about the launch and asked them to write a review and post it on Amazon if they've already read the … [Read more...]
What’s happening this week
Whew! It's been a long and hard three months actually two weeks short of three months but well worth the effort. After Lucky Press went out of business on April 30, I was fortunate to find a new and most wonderful new publisher Dream of Things in record time. Since then about the early part of June we have been working at getting the book and all the ancillary products ready to go. I think when this Friday comes along, when I'll have a new paperback edition and updated bookmarks in hand, I'll breathe a big sign of relief. They will be ready just in time for my book selling opportunities over the weekend and next week at the Greater Los Angeles Writers Conference where I'm participating on two panels and during my annual poetry workshop and retreat at Esalen, Big Sur California. What great timing for a stay at Esalen! It's a perfect place to unwind. Because I know how tired you must be at hearing all of this stuff since April 30, I'm bringing a real breath of fresh air to … [Read more...]
Dream of Things
For the last 40 years or so, I have had a serigraph on my wall created by (sister) Corita Kent with the quote from G.B. Shaw: "Some people see things that are and say why? I dream of things that never were and say why not." Seems like synchronicity to me that my new publisher is Mike O'Mary of Dream of Things. I met Mike through my friend, mentor, and go-to person for all things related to publishing, Mark Shelmerdine, CEO of Jeffers Press. I contacted Mark as soon as I heard Lucky Press, the first publisher of Leaving the Hall Light On, had decided to go out of business. However, I also took Mark's advice and waited to contact Mike until I had time to distress and unwind while on vacation. That said, I wrote to Mike the Monday after we returned home. And Mike responded favorably from the start. I am so fortunate for that. Since Mike decided to become my publisher he'll publish paperback and eBook editions by the end of July we've been busy. We first created a new book … [Read more...]
Go traditional or self-publish – good advice on LinkedIn
I started a discussion on LinkedIn in the Authors, Writers, Publishers, Editors, and Writing Professionals group asking: If your publisher went out of business, did you look for another publisher or take the self-publishing route? I got a lot of encouragement for trying to get another traditional publisher and a lot of good solid information about how to self-publish. I even had an offer from a self-publishing resource. Here are a few helpful comments that came back: Dottye: If you had one publisher interested in your book, your chances may be good another will - if you are considering self-publishing, Mark Levine wrote a great book on the top self-publishing companies to consider and those to avoid. Check out www.millcitypress.net for a 100% royalty free company. Lori: If you self-publish, whether you go electronic or not, you still need to be prepared to take care of the distribution and marketing yourself. Typically, folks with niche markets that dovetail with their … [Read more...]
Blatant bragging
This book is getting lots of kudos As of today my memoir has twenty-two reviews up on Amazon. Twenty are five-star, and even though they wrote terrific reviews, two people gave the book only four-stars. Really what's up with that? But rather than complaining I'm just going to shout out Hip, Hip Hooray. I am just so thrilled with the response and with people's reaction to the story and the writing in my book. Never in my wildest dreams did I think people would react so well to my words. A friend told me last night that she was just going to read my book to support me, and she found once she opened it she couldn't put it down. She kept raving about it. Now I couldn't ask for more than that. Plus, when I asked her to post a review, she posted almost immediately. That's a true friend. I thank her so much. So, if you're reading this and you've read my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, please post a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and/or … [Read more...]
A new month, a new song by Paul Sharples
Please go to the second page of this blog and scroll down to play another song by Paul. And read his story and ours in: Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother's Memoir of Living with Her Son's Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide. The book is now available on: Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Leaving-Hall-Light-Madeline-Sharples/dp/0984631720/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304004639&sr=1-1%22 Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Leaving-the-Hall-Light-On/Madeline-Sharples/e/9780984631728/?itm=1&USRI=leaving+the+hall+light+on … [Read more...]
