Sheila's Guests and Reviews

Today I get to welcome author Rie Sheridan Rose to my blog, with her Marvelous Mechanical Man! But she's not just telling about the book, she's also offered to let me (and you) in on some secrets of book promotion. So Thank you Rie, and I'm delighted to welcome you here! Promoting The Marvelous Mechanical Man, and The Conn-Mann Chronicles in general has been an interesting learning curve. When I realized several years (and three books) ago that my small press publisher didn’t have the resources to dedicate to one author alone, I made the decision to take back the control of the series and do everything myself.   It’s been a fairly steep curve, but I’ve learned a lot about marketing and publicity. Though, Heaven knows, there is a world more to learn!   One of the things I’ve realized is that it helps to have a consolidated presence online. My Twitter banner relates to the series; I have a Facebook page for the books; and they have their own website . Of course, no...

Today I'm delighted to welcome author Vee Kumari to my blog, as she celebrates the release of Dharma, a Rekhaq Rao Mystery. Vee grew up in India, has a doctorate in anatomy, worked at the Keck School of Medicine (where my son studied!), and... she's an actor as well as an author. Okay, interesting person. Welcome to my blog! So, Vee, how does someone with a background in medicine end up writing a mystery series? As a scientist, my fall back was reading fiction. When I retired, it gave me the time to try it. Does your background feed into what you write? What do you think makes a good story? A good story speaks about issues that are universal and poses challenges to all of us regardless of our differences. So what inspired this story? I watched an OPRAH/Dr. PHIL an episode about a family who ... well ...  It’s best to keep this under cover since this is one of the threads that’s revealed only towards the end! Is that how story ideas usually come to you?  I may hear something on...

Today I'm spotlighting and reviewing a gorgeous book called What Did Jesus Say... by Rev. Terry Christian. I   was lucky enough to get an ecopy of my own and I loved it. so here's my review: What did Jesus say… by Rev. Terry Allan Christian Subtitled “The Seven Messages from the Master,” and graced with a beautiful beach-and-ocean cover, Rev. Terry Christian’s book makes me think first of the Passion of Christ, and second of that wonderful “Footsteps” poem, as steps walk across the sand. And indeed, the book itself is an invitation to walk in those footsteps and meet the person who lived before he suffered. The pages inside are gorgeously appealing. The “red words of Jesus” are beautifully presented, and the “personal notes” in blue offer an enticing promise of the chance to listen to Jesus without the distractions of religious and political overtones. The seven messages are well-chosen too, collecting together Jesus’ words from the Bible and asking who is Jesus...

Today I get to welcome Therese Plummer to my blog. Among other things, she's a book narrator, and I would love to see some of my books turned into audiobooks, so I was delighted to get this chance to "meet" her and learn a little more about what she does: Please welcome Therese Plummer, Actor, Storyteller & Audiobook Narrator What’s a day in the studio like for you, Therese? I get to the studio to start my session at 10:00am.   I will yuck it up with the engineers and whoever else is around and then get into my studio for a full day of performing.   I love the pomodoro technique lately as it is fantastic for productivity and keeps my energy levels at a sustainable level.   My typical recording day is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Ummm, er, what's the pomodoro technique? The Pomodoro Technique is a time management system that encourages people to work  with  the time they have—rather than against it. Using this method, you break your workday into 25-minute chunks sep...

Today I'm delighted to welcome author Gen LaGreca to my blog, as she celebrates the release of her novel, Just the Truth. Since I love both reading and writing, I was delighted to read her answer to why we love fiction and how it touches our lives. At this particular time, her answer seems all the more relevant. Why We Love Fiction, and How it Touches our Lives By Gen LaGreca   Are there great novels, short stories, plays, and feature films that thrilled you, shocked you, gave you moments of nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat suspense, or steamy, passionate love scenes? Are there works of fiction that got you thinking about important issues? Did you ever wonder about the power of fiction to inform and inspire us?   News stories, text books, essays, articles, white papers, and nonfiction books give us a straight-forward account of factual issues, whereas works of fiction tell us a story. Fiction comes from the imagination filled with adventure, excitement, romance, intrigue, ...