I would appreciate your support/follow on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook – for more information about me and my upcoming projects sign up for my newsletter https://therealbenlucas.com/contact/
#readmore #writingcommunity #writing #quoteoftheday
I would appreciate your support/follow on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook – for more information about me and my upcoming projects sign up for my newsletter https://therealbenlucas.com/contact/
#readmore #writingcommunity #writing #quoteoftheday
Received my upcoming book, The Smoke Eater, from a Beta Reader.
The Good News
Looks like I have a greenlight to proceed with additional edits. The comments weren’t as bad as I thought. Actually, I have a renewed sense of accomplishment with my project and I’m feeling confident that my readers are going to like ti.
Nearing the Finish Line
I hope to get my book to market sometime after Halloween. Stay tuned.
9/11 has affected everyone in the world. The biggest impact it had on me was
insight into our world.
When I was working the UAE I showed up on site one day and was kindly welcomed
as a new employee. This was in 2005 and my first overseas job in Oil and Gas.
The HR lead, an older Arab gentlemen, (great guy too), profusely apologized to
me for five minutes on how horrible 9/11 was.
This made me really uncomfortable, but others over there shared the
sentiment. I went to the Middle East thinking that there might be a grudge between my race
and theirs. What I found was a sense that so many people who were foreign to me
wanted unity.
Check out this link here for an excellent post on the Killzone Blog today by
Steve Hooley.
Hello, SEers! It’s Labor Day in the US. From all of us here at Story Empire, we’d like to wish all of our hard working friends a happy and restful day.
And now, we leave you with a few inspirational quotes about work:
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” —Confucius
“A man is not paid for having a head and hands,but for using them.” —Elbert Hubbard
“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” —Aristotle
“Whatever you want to do, if you want to be great at it, you have to love it and be able to make sacrifices for it.” —Maya Angelou
“Though you can love what you do not master, you cannot master what you do not love.” —Mokokoma Mokhonoana
“If you care about what you do and work hard at it, there isn’t anything…
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I’m having second thoughts about publishing my book independently. Was thinking about trying to go traditional publishing.
What would you do? And why?
The book I have in mind is The Smoke Eater which is about 88,000 words – getting ready for the final polish.
Synopsis
Reid Harris is a firefighter who has seen better times. Still healing from his last act of heroism, the marks of third-degree burn have impacted his emotional and physical wellbeing. With a crippling injury on his right leg, and living with post-traumatic stress, Reid is still desperate to keep working in the only career he ever knew. To keep his life on track, Reid travels to Azurbar, in the Middle East, where he doesn’t have to pass any physical or mental tests.
But on the day Reid travel to the desert, all hell breaks loose. Reid witnesses a shocking event that provides a common taste of what life is going to be like. Threats of violence unleash in a ruthless tirade never seen before in this once peaceful country raising the tensions to their highest levels ever. The terrorists, from the Persian State, don’t see eye to eye with the royal family. Reid’s path will intersect that unknown adversary who is bent on disrupting the Azurbar way of life.
Even though Reid knew he would endure tough times, the mental trauma inside him spikes. He struggles with an Azurbaree national who threatens Reid’s safety, while his alcoholic mentor isn’t coping well with the steady rise terrorism. Reid is stationed in a facility that the terrorist continuously target—BuHasa—one of the biggest oil and gas facilities in the world.
The Smoke Eater is a thrilling novel about adventure, survival and redemption; while exploring foreign Oil and Gas industries that few people know.
Even got a cover
This is suck a great post today on Story Empire.
Ciao, SEers! Last time, we talked about clichés in horror and how to fix them. This time, we’re going to look at stereotypes in two more genres and ways to turn them around.
Mystery
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There was a great blog post today (August 28, 2021) on Building the Next Generation of Readers | Killzoneblog.com
An excellent author, Steve Hooley, wrote about Building the Next Generation of Readers. Mr. Hooley suggests we need to build the next generation of readers out of today’s youth and offers some good points and tips.
Mr. Hooley has also asked his reader today three questions.
1. What factors encouraged you or made you a reader?
2. What has worked with your children or relatives to create an interest in reading?
3. What suggestions do you have to build the next generation of readers?
I thought I would blog my answers here
1. What factors encouraged you or made you a reader?
There isn’t one factor that made me a reader. I would say that I became an avid a reader when I moved into a profession, and reading was a necessity. I liked books, but not as a favorite pastime in my youth. I have one of those day jobs where I’m stuck in a book, doing research or reading reports for at least six hours a day, minimum. That necessity combined with my creative side led me down to path to be a storyteller.
2. What has worked with your children or relatives to create an interest in reading?
I have three kids. One boy, age nine and twins, which are seven. They all read but not as independent as I would like. However, the most successful things have been talking with their teachers and tutors (we hired one of those to go over reading and writing skills with our kids every week). Those discussions have led me to buy books for the kids based on suggestions that educators know will work. “Dragon Masters” and “Ivy and Bean” are book series that I would have never found on my own. I also find that books written in the last ten years vs. books when I was a kid in the 70’s and 80’s, seem to connect better with today’s youth.
3. What suggestions do you have to build the next generation of readers?
I suggest you don’t force kids to read. It’s all about balance. Think of work-life balance that in your job you should have balanced out your work with your downtime. It’s the same for kids and reading is a stressful thing for those who are beginner readers. It’s hard when a little brain is firing all its nerves to comprehend subject materials that they have yet to experience. Letting kids watch TV or play video games in my opinion is a short-term distraction that allows them the break so they will happily go back and read the books they love.
What do you think? I would love to see your answer. Feel free to comment here or head over to TKZ.
Thank you,
Great post. #readmore #writingcommunity #writing
Hi SEers! Denise here to discuss what happens when people talk to each other and how to apply that to writing.
Have you ever watched people talk? Do they sit and speak without moving or any expression? In my family, I’m surrounded by Italians. Hands are always flying around during conversations. I know who not to sit next to during a meal if knives are being used. It’s dangerous!
Besides hands, heads are moving, faces change expression, bodies are constantly in motion, and tone shifts can take the spoken level from high to low. The speaker’s mood comes out in not only their words but their body language.
Yet, when I first write a dialog for a story, I only put the conversation. I barely tag who’s talking. Later, when I’ve completed the story, I go back and add all the movement that accompanies the words.
Have you ever read…
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Some of you have no trouble with these, so you can skip this if you like.
For the rest, these are only confusing until you get the hang of them.
So here we go.
ASSURE means to tell someone that something will definitely happen or is definitely true.
Jane assured John that she loved him and would marry him soon.
Oxford English Dictionary definition:
1. Tell someone that something is definitely true.
2. Make something certain to happen.
ENSURE means to guarantee or make sure of something.
John took great pains to ensure that his writing contained no plagiarism.
Oxford English Dictionary definition:
1. Make certain that something will definitely be so.
2. (ensure against) make sure that a problem does not occur.
INSURE means to take out a policy against something.
Jane insured the rink against fire, flood, and vandalism. She wanted to ensure (see what I did there?) that they were covered for any untoward event.
Oxford English Dictionary definition:
1. Arrange compensation in the event of damage, loss, illness, or death, in exchange for regular payments to a company.
2. (insure someone against) protect someone against a possible event.
So did that help, or are these still clear as mud?
I have about a million of these, so stay tuned or contact me for editing wherein I will take away the headaches by doing it for you. (I’ll also explain why.)
Christine – Guest blogger
http://www.bespokewriterchristine.com
bespokewriterchristine@gmail.com
Ben Lucas 