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Hope for Novelists and Other Writers by da-AL

da-AL Achievement, Adults, Advertising, Authors, Books, Challenge, Definitions, Fear, Iran, Reading, Social Media, Spain, Uncategorized, United States, WordPress, Words, Working, Working from Home, Writing

Do you have an elevator speech? Book writers are told that they need an ‘elevator speech’ — a one-minute pitch for when they inadvertently meet their star-maker. It’s also useful for talking about one’s book with everyone else.

Theoretically, that is. My elevator speech rarely gets past the first floor.

Bunny rabbit outfitted person reads paper.
Ryan McGuire of Gratisography is a smart bunny.

But I love my books, which is why I keep at them. My two novels are in the final edit phase as I build an audience of followers (that means you, dear reader) who I hope will be interested in them when they’re self-published. They’re narrated by a 40-year-old woman, in the form of letters to a deceased grandmother.

“An epistolary novel: written in the form of a series of letters.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The Hope Part of this Post: This video reminds me of me pitching my book — and Maria Keogh Semple’s “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” did great!

Here’s part 2 of her pitching (this time to another very successful author), which is also shown comically yet realistically…

Semple’s book is so successful that Cate Blanchette is starring in a movie version of it!

What’s been people’s reaction when you tell them about your books?

Guest Blog Post: Antique and Vintage Photos by Val Erde

da-AL Animals, Art, Beauty, Blogging, Challenge, Coloring, Dogs, Focus, Guest Posts, Home Business, Modeling, Painting, Pets, Photography, Vintage, Women, Working, Working from Home

Val Erde’s sensitive and artful photo coloring truly brings history to life. Based in the U.K., she kindly contributes this for you to see…

Dog in garden before and after. Photo coloring by Val Erde

In my blog I show the colouring work I do on my collection of antique and vintage photos. I’ve been an artist all my life and have been doing these photos since I had my first pc and graphics program. I usually colour photos of people, though I have a few that include dogs and cats, but this is the first in a long while that I’ve done just of a dog. I hadn’t intended to colour it, but well… look at it. Wasn’t it barking calling out for colour? Or, more likely, food.

“Please give me a treat. Anything will do, really. Maybe something you’re eating? I like your food. I like everyone’s food.”

I haven’t a dog so have to rely on photos for colour references and as I don’t know what breed it is, I’m not sure I got this one right. I suspect it’s a bit of lots of different things. Well, doggy things, anyway.

So… any ideas what sort of dog it is? And – the dog aside, can you by any chance identify the flowers to the right? The ones on the left are roses, that I know, but the rest – what the heck are they? To me the blossoms look like Cosmos, but the leaves are wrong. Anyway, to be safe, I coloured the innards yellow and the outtards (yes, I know) varying shades of pink. But they could be anything really.

There’s more to do on this photo but I decided to call it a day. Well, actually, I’ve called it a dog.

Do come and visit me at my blog, Colouring The Past.

My thanks to Da-AL for inviting me to guest blog!

Guest Blog Post: “Whisper: I Slept With My Bully” by Kally

da-AL Adults, Blogging, Body, Boundaries, Bravery, Common Good, Compassion, Courage, Depression, Family, Fear, Girls, Guest Posts, Happiness, Heroine, Home Business, Identity, Kindness, Life, Love, Modern Life, Reblog, Self Esteem, Self Image, Self-Acceptance, Spirit, Strength, Survivors, Teachers, Teaching, Thanksgiving, Women, Working

Photo of a woman on a bed, her back to us

This tragic story, retold by blogger Kally, is all the sadder because the young woman to whom it happened blames herself for what isn’t her fault. To heal, she bravely recounts it to us so that the same thing doesn’t happen to others…

MiddleMe

I love your column Whisper and I hope by sharing my story, perhaps some young girl out there will learn from my mistakes and maybe save herself from evil.

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Guest Blog Post: Tips for Sleuthing the Past by Margaret Lossi

da-AL Animals, Art, Authors, Books, Business, Family, Fatherhood, Geriatrics, Guest Posts, Home Business, Identity, Individuality, Journalism, Learning, Librarians, Library, Life, Life Expectancy, Los Angeles History, Marriage, Modern Life, Motherhood, Multiculturalism, Novels, Publishing, Reading, Reblog, Remembering, Romance, Self Image, Self-Acceptance, Self-Publishing, Social Media, Story Telling, Survivors, Travel, Words, Working, Working from Home, Writing
Who'll your search turn up? Photo thanks to Ryan McGuire of Gratisography.com
Who will your search turn up? Photo thanks to Ryan McGuire of Gratisography.com

Writers and readers alike, for times we’d like to look into our histories, author Margaret Lossi offers tips for how to get started. My two novels are works-in-progresses! Lossi says that when it comes to looking up one’s family background, be prepared for surprises…

M.A. Lossl

The Family Tree

Warning: family history can lead to emotional discoveries.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but you begin at the end! That is, you begin with you.

Check your birth certificate, verify your parents. It may seem like a given, but just sometimes people find they are adopted, or their mum is really their grandma. It pays to check.

Check your parents birth certificates, to verify your grandparents. Then work your way back through the generations, verifying birth certificates.

These first steps build the strong foundation of your family tree, so worth doing well.

It is not a case of how far back you can go, but the quality of your data

You may wish to answer a family question. I knew my parents were second cousins, so wanted to find out about this link. Set yourself a goal to work towards. Whatever your motivation, make sure you verify each…

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How to Photograph a Dog? by da-AL

da-AL Animals, Blogging, Challenge, Dogs, Facebook, Humor, Modeling, Pets, Self Image, Self-Publishing, Social Media, Uncategorized, Women, WordPress, Working, Working from Home, Writing

4 headshot photos of da-AL with her labrador pit bull mix dog

I mean where she faces the camera but doesn’t look like you’re choking her (which I sort of am in these because she’d much prefer to chase birds and cats across the street than be a model).

2 full body photos of da-AL with her labrador pit bull mix dog on brick porch steps

A kind reader lamented that she wanted to see more blog posts by me. Though now I feel sort of like a narcissist, that made me think that maybe other readers might feel the same way, so here’re some photos of one of my beloved dogs. I wanted to show her to you on my newly revised site, but the dear girl wasn’t having it.

Have you had any luck shooting great eye-ball-to-lens pictures of your pets?…

Guest Blog Post: The Little Guy Who Stole Our Hearts by Debbie Centeno

da-AL Achievement, Activism, Adoption, Adults, Animal Husbandry, Animals, Anxiety, Blessings, Blogging, Boys, Celebration, Compassion, Depression, Dogs, Family, Fear, Friendship, Gratitude, Guest Posts, Heroine, Identity, Joy, Kindness, Loneliness, Love, Mental Illness, Mind, Mindfulness, Modern Life, Motherhood, Parenting, Pets, Recovery, Soul, Spirit, Strength, Survivors, Women, WordPress, Words, Working, Working from Home, Writing

Live long enough, and we’re bound to encounter challenges. With the help of a friend, Debbie Centeno (who runs this blog and this blog) uses her grief to help others…

Chewy

I never knew how much a person could grow to love their pet. I wasn’t raised with pets, other than fish in a tank. And, there’s no way you can take them out of the tank to play, pet or cuddle. I just loved my aquarium but in a materialistic way. As an adult, I didn’t think about getting a pet since I was quite busy with three children. But, after my oldest son passed away, and my two other children were no longer small kids, my daughter convinced me to get a dog. So we opted for a rescue.

Chewy as a puppy

I made a few calls to see what dogs were available to adopt. We found a place that had a mama dog who had recently given birth to seven puppies – six female and one male. The male was the runt and was rejected by his mama, but I wanted a female. That was until we met the little guy, of course. All puppies were side by side sleeping on their tummies, except the little runt who was sleeping on his back almost on top of his sisters. He was much smaller than the others. When I saw him – well, I don’t know what I felt, but I just had to have him, so the volunteer picked him up and placed him in my arms, and that was it. I was in love. I handed him to my husband, and he felt the same way. So off we were with a 5-week old 2-pound Chihuahua/Dachshund mix. We named him Chewy, and it suits him well.

Chewy buckled up in a car

Chewy is now 6-years old and 20 lbs. I can’t imagine life without him and don’t regret having followed my daughter’s advice. He is the most loving, spoiled brat ever who stole our hearts. I know he’s not human, but for me, he’s my baby.

Debbie Centaro

Debbie Centeno is a wife, a grieving mom, an accountant, and a travel blogger. Learn more about her here and here.

Guest Blog Post: Six Warm Piglets by Cecilia Mary Gunther

da-AL Aggriculture, Animal Husbandry, Animals, Babies, Beauty, Blessings, Blogging, Celebration, Children, Cooking, Cow, Death, Eating, Environment, Environmental Protection, Family, Farming, Food, Guest Posts, Happiness, Home Business, Joy, Mothers, Nature, Pets, Pigs, Postpartum, Reblog, United States, Women, WordPress, Working, Working from Home

photo of piglets feeding

Warning: reality check, then Cuteness Overload! It’s not for nothing that the human star of the glorious pig movie, “Babe,” went vegetarian…

thekitchensgarden

If you were hanging out in the Kitchen’s Garden Lounge of Comments yesterday you would have read that a piglet was lost in that first cold night.  I found him dead on Poppy’s side of their quarters.  Being the Lady Pig Farmer is not always easy. All our focus these first few days is keeping the babies safe and well fed. This task feels mutually exclusive at times.

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