Sheila's Guests and Reviews

My husband swears he's told me things that I've no recollection of hearing. The excuse is usually I had my nose buried in a book, or my kindle, or glued to the computer screen. It's a good excuse. And if it's something that matters, my husband will tell me again. He told me about the woman who walked into a fountain while texting... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGpVpsaItpU&feature=related ...and today a friend told me of a young man who walked into busy traffic... Suppose that fountain was a busy intersection; suppose those cars couldn't stop. When I'm buried in a book or my kindle or glued to the computer I miss lots of things, but at least I'm not moving around in the real world at the same time, and at least my inattentiveness won't end up burying me. I guess I ended up writing rather a sad 50-word story today: http://sheiladeethdrabbles.blogspot.com/2011/01/january-dribbles-29.html . Warn your kids, your family, your friends, and remember the r...

It's been a fun week, though the promised sunshine was short-lived. Mist and fog finally lifting at 4pm, sun shining till 5, seemed like the pattern for our days. But dark evenings while the guys watched recorded soccer matches gave time to read, and here's another crop of book reviews: As usual, click on the links for my reviews on gather.com. Original Sinners, by John R. Coats : I was showing a friend my children's stories based on Bible events--Genesis People, Exodus Tales and Storyteller Psalms. My tales are aimed at a much younger audience but the idea's the same--that Bible characters behave like real people, and we can learn from seeing them that way. I might not agree with all the author has to say, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading and thinking about this book. Sweetie, by Kathryn Magendie : I'd not read anything of Kathryn Magendie's before, though I enjoy her blog. Sweetie is a great introduction to her writing, wonderfully lyrical, descriptive, and fi...

The rain stopped and we went to the beach. Then the rain started again. But first we saw yellow sun spilling on sea. We listened to waves, watched them tower like rolling ice poured over rocks, smelled their salt in the air, hair blown in our eyes. We tasted the bitter tang of coming showers and stopped for lunch. The restaurant had gluten-free bread, so we all had sandwiches and they were good. Then we had cake because we hadn't left room for dessert but we couldn't resist--gluten-free chocolate cake! And then it rained. But who cares. We had a brilliant day! Trees loomed through rain's gray mist like mystery as we left the beach behind. Today I cleaned.

Last week it rained, a lot. One advantage of rain is that it keeps you indoors, which just might mean you get to do some reading. Of course, there's always washing and cleaning house which likewise benefit from rain, but still, I did read one or two books, or three, four, or five... As usual, click on the link to find my reviews on Gather. Sunrise to Sunset, by Laurie Bowler is a vampires-in-love-type novel with an interest in cats rather than werewolves, a somewhat unreliable narrator (with unreliable DNA?) and a nicely imagined universe waiting for more. Standing at the Crossroads, by Charles Davis , is an eye-opening, wonderful novel of African fear and love and words and books and the value of story. I truly couldn't put it down. Thank you Permanent Press. Oskaloosa Moon, by Gary Sutton , was another un-put-down-able tale. Reminiscent of Forrest Gump, it creates a world of small community, church uniformity, the exclusion of the strange, and the curious innocence and forgi...

With thanks to Ruthi whose Poetic Creations most assuredly make life good for all who read them, I'm posting and passing on a new award today--the Life is Good award. In order to accept this award I have to answer ten questions, so here goes... 1. If you blog anonymously, are you happy doing this? If you aren't anonymous, do you wish you started out anonymously, so that you could be anonymous now? Okay, shameless self-promotion here: I started blogging because I want to sell my books, which meant I couldn't be terribly anonymous. I'm not sure I've sold very many books since, but I have made friends and I can't help thinking anonymous friends would be odd. 2. Describe an incident that shows your inner stubborn side. Stubborn? Well, I've stubbornly refused to pay for a website, and determinedly tried to turn my blog into one. 3. What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror? Not what; who. And the answer is my mother--we look very alike...

If ebooks are virtual books, then Virtual Pulp #1 is well-titled. It's also the first book I've read entirely on my brand new Kindle. I had a pdf version sent to me by the author, so I connected the Kindle to my computer and dragged the file across to copy it--no problem at all! Of course, the text was a bit small, and the neat tool for changing font sizes doesn't work on pdfs. But the tool to turn the screen on its side works fine, then it was easy to read. Anyway, here's three more book reviews, for the three books read last week; more coming soon... Blind Hope : I joined Blogging for Books to get my copy of this, and shared it with my Mum. We both really enjoyed the story of a blind dog teaching its owner to see what had been missing from her life. Virtual Pulp : This one's not for Mum, but reminded me of books I used to read--high adventure, tortuous honor, epic battles and wounded beings surviving the odds. I really enjoyed it. Dead Center : I was sent this by...

There's a book on the table looks different every time I see it. I read and turn the pages then put it down. Maybe I'm making coffee; maybe checking something on TV, or finding my mother's favorite English soap on the internet to keep her in touch. (It's called "The Archers," and started in 1950!) When I look back, the cover's closed on my book--a new picture each time; fish or birds, or famous authors, or curious scenes. The pictures are always black and white, and the book always opens exactly where I left off; a useful trait. The pages don't get bent out of shape; the spine never threatens to break... The book's my Christmas Kindle and I'm really enjoying it. I'm even reviewing a second book on my kindle(downloaded pdf), and I'm beginning to catch up. So I'll leave the computer to play more Archers episodes (which maybe also open up just where they left off without losing shape, thus keeping their audience happy for 60 years). Me...

I've assigned a different "card" to each commenter from Sage Cohen's productive writer post on Monday. Cold as Heaven is Adventurer Jean is Bureaucrat Horrible Sanity is Cellar abitosunshine is Chancellor Book Bird Dog is Chapel Carol Kilgore is Coucilroom Patricia Stoltey is Feast Angela Ackerman is Festival, and Mary Russel is Laboratory If the cards sound familiar, it's because they're from the board game Dominion, which we got at Christmas and spent lots of time playing with the family. (It's a really fun game!) In Dominion, you deal five cards from the top of your deck to make your hand. So I've shuffled the cards, dealt five, and I'm picking up the next one to receive Sage's book... I turn it over and the winner is, abitosunshine with the Chancellor! Congraulations Ruthi; I'm sending you an email, and I'm sure you'll love the book.

I'm delighted to hand over my blog today to Sage Cohen, author of  The Productive Writer (just released from Writers' Digest Books); Writing the Life Poetic and the poetry collection Like the Heart, the World . Sage blogs about all that is possible in the writing life at pathofpossibility.com , where you can:  Download a FREE "Productivity Power Tools" workbook companion to The Productive Writer.  Get the FREE, 10-week email series, "10 Ways to Boost Writing Productivity" when you sign up to receive email updates.  Sign up for the FREE, Writing the Life Poetic e-zine. Plus, check out the events page for the latest free teleclasses, scholarships and more.  Sage has very kindly offered a free, signed copy of her book, The Productive Writer , to a lucky reader leaving a comment on my blog today. I will get my mathematical family to help me do a random drawing from all comments at the end of the day. ( Don't forget to leave a way for me to contact y...

I'm still attempting to be productive, but most of what I've made in the last few days was edible and is now eaten. Still, it's the thought that counts... maybe... or it's rejoicing in small victories, setting somewhat higher goals, and getting organized enough to aim at them. I did throw my blogs through the template designer yesterday in an attempt to make them more professional; if you'd like to test-drive a few of my links I'd be enormously grateful for any comments. And tomorrow I'll enjoy sharing Sage Cohen's guest post here. The Productive Writer is a really neat book--enjoyably readable as well as informative and helpful; so I'll hope to see you tomorrow in the company of The Productive Writer herself, Sage Cohen.

Happy New Year! In the interests of being more organized, more productive, more... well, many things... I'm starting the year by posting my most recent book reviews on gather and listing them straight away on my blog. I guess it would be even more efficient to post them on Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, Shelfari, Lunch etc straight away too, but the coffee's brewed and the transatlantic Skype is coming soon... First is The Productive Writer , by Sage Cohen. (Click on link for review.) Sage will be visiting my blog on Monday, so don't forget to come back and learn more. I'm hoping to put many of her ideas into practice this year. Second, Homecoming by Sue Ann Bowling, an exciting mix of Tom Brown's Schooldays, Hogwarts, fascinating science and a touch of romance. Next is Murder by the Slice , by Livia J. Washburn. A cozy mystery for a dark winter's night--I'll have to look out for more of this series. What's not to like, with retired teache...