Lifelines Returns

Hi Again!

It's been a while since I posted, but I plan to get this blogging thing going again.

I do have some news since I was last here. Lifelines, the poetry collection put together by my group The Poetic Muselings, is back in print and newly available in digital form.

Link to Lifelines print book.
Link to Lifelines for Kindle.

Here's our lovely new cover, photo by group member Michele Graf.

Lifelines New Cover

Suggest a Purchase

If you can't afford a book but still want to read it, remember to use your library. Library purchases still support authors. Most libraries have a way to request a purchase. Here's what the form looks like on the Salt Lake County Library site.

If you don't know how to request a purchase for your library, simply ask the librarian. They are there to help you. You can get info from the Amazon listing on the ISBN, publication date, publisher, etc. Support both your authors and your local library.

Darkness and Light

When I first started looking for themes in my poetry, I found a lot of them were on the darker side: death, pain, abuse. Of course, a lot of those were from my teenage days. You know how teenage angst can get. But I still use poetry to deal with the darkness.

So a few years ago, I decided to put these poems in a collection. At the time, I didn’t have any publishing credits, so I hesitated sending it out. It’s been sitting on the virtual shelf. Now I’m ready to take a look again, and I believe my newest poem will be a strong addition.

I’m using Scrivener to organize the poems. My title is Chiaroscuro. Focusing on the contrast between dark and light. Exploring the darkness, bringing the monsters of death and abuse into the light.

And now I have a book publication, the Lifelines anthology with the Poetic Muselings. Time to step up and try getting my own collection published.

Looking back at 2011

My year started in upheaval. I had no sure footing, no idea where I'd be at the end of the year. I found it incredibly hard to come up with goals. I had three works in progress, so my only plan was to finish one of them.

I had plenty of time I could have used, but got too caught up in insecurities and distractions. Felt like I wasted my year away.

The surprise was getting Lifelines published. That was my writing highlight of the year.

My strengths are in grammar and world building. My weakness is not torturing my characters. The story gets too predictable, not unique or grabbing. I need to take my stories to the next level! I need to apply my poetic description to my prose, and use more story in my poetry.

If I could get a do-over, I would spend less time stressing over the unknown and put more energy into my passions. I also need to spend less time revising works in progress, and more toward actually finishing them.

Still working out goals for this year. My projects still lie unfinished. I have my first book which is calling me to revise it again, but I worry that it still wouldn't have a strong enough hook for publication. My goal is to come up with goals by the end of the week.

Wrote this as a response to Anne’s post on Poetic Muselings.

Feedback on Lifelines

Now that Lifelines has been out for a week, starting to get some feedback. We got our first Amazon review today!

I also got my packages early, both of which I expected to arrive on Monday. I got my business cards from VistaPrint, and my copies of Lifelines.

My husband stopped by mid-day to bring me flowers, so I sent him back to work with some business cards and a copy of the book. His coworkers had a potluck today, so he shared it then. Got some nice comments. One coworker actually wanted to take the book over the weekend and read it! Hubby said no. She needs to get her own copy. He was, however, able to whip out my business card with all the book info on it so she wouldn’t have to write it down.

People were very impressed by the cover, and even more so to find out one of our group members created the picture (kudos to Lin!).

If you read Lifelines, do consider leaving reviews on Amazon and/or GoodReads. The more feedback the merrier.

My Publisher talks Lifelines

Not tired of saying that: My Publisher.

Betty Dobson, of InkSpotter Publishing, blogged today of her experience acquiring Lifelines and working with the Poetic Muselings. It’s been great working with Betty.

So go check out Betty’s side of the story.