Tag: books

Special #Writer’s Quote Wednesday + #BeWoW Edition Part 1 – Finishing

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Welcome back to another edition of Writer’s Quote Wednesday as hosted by Colleen of Silver Threading. Today’s Writer’s Quote is part of a Special Edition where I will be combining my Writer’s Quote Wednesday Post with my #BeWoW Post (Be Writing on Wednesday / Be Wonderful on Wednesday) BUT they are coming in two separate posts. This post is Part 1. Part 2 (#BeWoW) will follow. Please bear with me.

My quote today is in honor of a project I’ve been working on and comes from The New Poetry Handbook:

WQW

I think we can relate this quote to not just poetry but writing in general. “When a man finishes a story, he shall bathe in the blank wake of his passion and be kissed by white paper”. Yes! Love how that sounds don’t you? LOL.

I love finishing a project and the feeling of accomplishment for having done so. Though I know there’s a lot of work yet to come, it is still a great feeling of positivity that I think resonates with all writers. The way that this woman is staring off into the light is how I often look at something finished; just stare at it just like that lol.

Three years ago I wrote a novel but have since taken it off market so that I can revise it for a 2nd Edition. I have even taken to adding excerpts to this blog every now and again. Today, I am excited to reveal the Book Blurb and the revised Book Cover. Its not ready yet but I am proud of the steps I have finished in the process.

In this post, I will reveal the book blurb. In the next post, I will reveal the book cover. Time permitting, I will have this Book ready to go back on the site and back into your hands by the end of the year. This means I have two major projects to end the year with. The 3rd installment of The Stella Trilogy (The Road To Freedom) and The Aftermath, Second Edition:

The Aftermath

The Aftermath surrounds the life of Doris Whitaker, a 14 year old girl living in Chicago thirty-nine years after America’s streets saw the worst destruction to ever come upon them. In 2016, streets were paved in chaos as people struggled to feed their families and to shelter their young. Bread lines stretched beyond imagination and violence ensued as people became more and more desperate to survive. Little did anyone stop to fathom that when the United States Financial System collapsed, so did the world.

In 2019, three years into America’s most destitute state, King Antiochus and his prophet Lord Pope Feinberg produced a technology that changed the way we lived. It produced financial stability, murder rates dropped significantly, and the world was at peace; or so, some of the world. “The Rebels” also known as “The Infected” is a group of people rebelling against the new system, rising up and refusing the technology. They discovered that it went against their belief systems, their morals and values and that it did not produce the kind of peace it promised. For these reasons, they turned their backs and became the world’s most hated terrorist. Antiochus had members of “The Rebel” Organization hunted down, locked away and eventually murdered. Afterward, he made it a law that anyone showing signs of rebellion were to be treated in mental institutions around the world at an attempt to cure them of the insurgence. Anyone counted with “The Infected” who could not be cured, were murdered in a legal ceremony to purge the evil from the midst of man.

It is now 2055, and this story takes place when troubled Doris is the daughter of wealthy psychiatrist John Whitaker and his wife Cynthia. The family live in a technologically advanced world where people take trips to the past and no one is ever in need. The world is finally at peace and murder rates are at zero. But when Doris and her friends get lost in Jackson Park where one of the deadliest battles took place, the Government questions the Whitaker Family’s ties to The Infected. Hidden secrets are revealed, personal ties are broken and one day Doris never comes home from school.

Discover what happens next in The Aftermath.

******************

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And that’s it for this weeks Special Edition of Writer’s Quote Wednesday. Be sure to check out my next post for the Book Cover Reveal to this blurb in a Special Edition of #BeWoW.

#Book #Review by Anna Kopp “Beyond the Colored Line” by Yecheilyah Ysrayl

Special Thank You to Anna Kopp for this wonderful Review. Beyond The Colored Line is Available now in Print, Amazon Kindle, B&N NOOK, Kobo, iTunes and Google Play.

View this Review on Goodreads

Must Reads – Richard Wright’s Native Son

“As the car lurched over the snow he lifted his eyes and saw black people upon the snow-covered sidewalks. Those people had feelings of fear and shame like his….To Bigger and his kind white people were not really people; they were a sort of great natural force, like a stormy sky looming overhead, or like a deep swirling river stretching suddenly at one’s feet in the dark. As long as he and his black folks did not go beyond certain limits, there was no need to fear that white force. But whether they feared it or not, each and every day they lived with it.”

 

15622A classic, Richard Wright’s Native Son is a powerful story about a young black man who, in a state of panic, kills a white girl. When I first read this book, I was startled and certainly unprepared for what awaited each page. It was not the murder that shocked me, it was Wrights talented description of Biggers inner turmoil, not as a murderer but as a Black man in 1930s America and the fear and shame of that alone that coincided with his actions. Not in a justifying way, but in a way that painted the picture of what it looks like when fear manifested itself into the physical; when it rose from that invisible feeling, the beating heart and sweaty hands, and into the full image of its potential. Native Son in essence shows us the danger of that kind of fear and not just the danger, but what it looks like. The image of fear wrapped in black skin, smack down in the midst of white America.

Synopsis:

“Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been assault or petty larceny; by change, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930’s, Wright’s powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America.” – Book Blurb

Must Reads: Lonnice Brittenum Bonner

Today’s “Must Read” comes from Lonnice Brittenum Bonner.

IMG_20150917_113615“Good hair: For Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Weaves When The Chemicals Became Too Ruff” is a book about the dynamic and care of natural hair for black women. Lonnice shares her experience transitioning from a lifetime of chronically short and damaged hair to an education about how to better maintain and style her own hair. This book is a guide for black women seeking the natural hair care journey. It is also funny and filled with many of Lonnice’s own personal experiences with pictures to go along, which is refreshing.

The only con is that I would not consider this book for any extended research into Natural Hair. I read it back in 2011, two years into my Natural Hair journey, and it’s really just a sneak peek for beginners, but still very insightful.  My favorite thing about this book is that it is Self-Published, which I didn’t know until after I read and then researched the book.

“Outside of being filled with really useful information, Bonner’s book cracked me up. It’s as laugh-out-loud funny as anything in Terry McMillan’s Waiting to Exhale. A combination of ‘how-to’ beauty book and hilarious autobiography…this book is a quick read, a great reference book, and even (and I know this is a cliché) makes a great gift.” – San Francisco Bay Guardian

Also look for:

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Book Cover Designs – 5 Resources for Self-Publishers

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Custom Book Cover for Pearls Before Swine by Andre Hawkings, Kenosis Design Innovations

One of the most exciting things for me as a Self-Publisher is the Book Cover reveal, especially if it’s a really neat one. Personally, I like to get an early start on purchasing book covers. It helps me to get that part of the process out of the way, keeps me excited as I polish off the book, secures the cover so that no one else can get it (if its premade), and helps me to schedule the Book Reveal to build momentum. Nonetheless, custom book covers are expensive. To secure a really great cover will run you at least $300+ dollars if you want it done right. There is an alternative however that can save you money and keep your cover looking fresh.

Pre-Made Book Cover Designs

Pre-Made Book Cover Design from Self-Pub for Pearls Before Swine Vol. #2
Pre-Made Book Cover Design from Self-Pub for Pearls Before Swine Vol. #2

As the Self-Publishing Industry blossoms, the web is flooded with resources. Everything from marketing and promotion to editing services and even book cover designs. If you have deep pockets, you’d really be able to take advantage of even paying for marketing and promotion if that’s not your cup of tea, so why not book cover design? After all, we are writers, not designers.

But with the amount of information now available, I realize there is no reason for an unattractive cover. For this reason, I am in the process of re-vamping all of my book covers to look more appealing. So of late, I have been looking to purchase a few book cover designs and found some great resources for Pre-Made designs. I am re-editing my novel and I would like to add a better book cover for the next edition. I am also shopping for a cover for my early poetry books and the third installment of the Stella series.

The great thing about Pre-Made Book Covers is that once you buy them they are no longer available anywhere else, so there’s no reason to be selfish about where you got your covers since no one else will have the exact same one. Pre-Made also does not have to mean amateur looking (though some of them are). But there are lots of striking professional looking covers to match your story at great prices. Just make sure your pre-made cover doesn’t look like a four-year-old did it because those ones exist too.

#1: Fiverr

Number 1 on my list is Fiverr. For those who are not familiar by now, Fiverr is an online service where individuals with various skills hire themselves out at very inexpensive rates. You can purchase editing or Book Cover designs for as low as $5! Now, I warn that you get what you pay for, so it is not wise to purchase a $5 cover (just saying). I would also not recommend them unless you really have to but will list it here first because I know some of our finances will work with this option. Be sure to have additional work done (such as 3D stock images added) by purchasing the sellers additional services. Even still, you can spend under $50 and come out with a great book cover design (and be sure to purchase a back and spine).

#2: Self-Pub Book Covers

Next on my list is Self-Pub Book Covers. I love them! I have so far purchased two of their covers already. To sign up is free and I love their variety. You can pretty much find something that fits your book (especially if you spend hours strolling through every single pic. I know, I’m a bit thorough. OK obsessed, whatever). My only thing with them is that you have to purchase a back and spine at a cost separate from the cover. Even still, you’d come out spending far less than you would a custom cover. (If you can afford a custom cover please do so. It is the best thing. This list is for those of us on budgets).

#3: The Cover Collection

My next favorite is The Cover Collection. I have not worked with them but they have great covers on their site at reasonable prices (I think the prices are in British Pounds so you’ll have to convert that if you’re in the U.S.).

#4: Paper and Sage

Another awesome site is Paper and Sage. Find neat pre-made e-book and print book cover designs at low prices. I’m currently seriously looking at their site. Their variety is good and the covers are professional. You can also order custom made covers through this service.

#5: Author Marketing Club

On this site, you’d get to explore the work of an individual artist who designs their own pre-made covers. If you like one, you will email them through the site but you will buy directly from the artist just as you would if you spoke to them directly. Their prices are also extremely affordable. I’ve seen some really professional looking covers for as low as $20.

PreMade Cover for my 3rd Poetry Book.
PreMade Cover for my 3rd Poetry Book.

This is just a fraction of the number of Pre-Made Book Cover Designs available out there for Self-Publishers. I didn’t include 99 Designs because though the process is off the charts (I really enjoyed working with the various professional artist to see who could make the best cover), it’s not ideal if you are on a budget and falls into the custom book cover category.

The benefit of pre-made covers (if you can’t afford a custom cover) is that they are professionally pre-designed by professional artists who understands exactly how to position the font and combine colors and everything that is important to a cover. With all of this information at our fingertips, there really is no reason for a crappy cover.

Remember: Books are judged by their covers! And in this age of technology, there really is no excuse.

Must Reads

I think I’m gonna start incorporating more book recommendations to this blog. I want to build a neat bookshelf but I’m not sure if there’s much room in here. I’ll have to move the furniture around, don’t want it to get all crowded and whatnot. So anywho, every now and again I’ll recommend a book I think will provide a thought provoking jolt if you will, to our daily lives. Most of them will, naturally, come from my very own book shelf.

Today’s Must Read is:

Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America by Lerone Bennett JR.

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“Before the Mayflower” traces black history from its origins in western Africa, through the transatlantic journey that ended in slavery, the Reconstruction period, the Jim Crow era, and the civil rights upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s, culminating in an exploration of the complex realities of African-American life in the 1990s. Here is the most recent scholarship on the geographic, social, ethnic, economic, and cultural journey of “the other Americans, ” together with vital portraits of black pioneers and seminal figures in the struggle for freedom, as well as additional material on historical developments in the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton years.”
Find it on Amazon