Public Service Announcement

      This Public Service Announcement is brought to you by....

Err. Me?

   You have no idea how long I've been working on this post! My daughter has been relentless this morning. I came home, made a well balanced breakfast; eggs and toast with homemade jelly, restarted the washer (forgot about that load of socks last night! Sons of Anarchy was on!), swept the floor, took out the trash and all the while the toddler is attached to my leg screaming "Sit with me Mommy!" She needed some extra attention. So I sat with her while she played with her legos. After four minutes of me not being allowed to touch the legos I decided I had other things to do. Off to the dishes I went. She followed. This went on for several hours until I conquered every chore on my list. I allow myself a reward when it's done. I work on the blog or the facebook page I admin.....Shameless plug....If you have a facebook page/account come over and say hi at Reading Addicts.....or Jenny Phillips (author) page! Tell em' I sent ya! LIKE them! I like them!  Jenny Phillips page is a great place to show your support for an author and to hear about any upcoming books she has coming out! Reading Addicts is a good place to swap book suggestions and hear reviews.

    Speaking of reviews! That's actually why I'm here! It has been brought to my attention that most people/readers don't leave reviews after reading a book. I realize that we live in a world where it is far more common to air your bad opinion of an establishment or product than it is to say "Wow! That was great!" or "I love the folks down at the shop and save because they always greet me with a smile, even though they have four teeth between them." I want to take this opportunity to tell you how important it is for a writer to hear they've done something good!
   
    The more I write and speak with other writers the more I understand what it is all about. You pour your heart and soul into a piece of work, you release it and wait for the reviews. You want one person to give their approval. Or maybe you're the writer who could care less, either way, someone wants to know if the book was worth a look. Other readers want to know if they should be reading this book, right? If readers cease to leave a review all there will be is the sound of crickets. And even though crickets are nice to listen to while you're sitting on your deck with a cup of coffee or a beer at night, they are not a welcome noise for authors who need to know if their work is speaking to you or if they have room for improvement. Not all authors are picked up by big time publishers. That means they don't have a team of experts to give them high fives. We rely solely on our fellow writers and fans to encourage us! And maybe I'm confused about what a publishing company is suppose to do. I know there are Publishing Companies out there that are confused about what they are suppose to do..... a totally different topic which I will refrain from speaking about.  
   
    I recommended a book to a friend recently. She emailed me to say that she LOVED the book and passed it on to four more friends who all loved it too. I said "Awesome! Did you leave a review on amazon or goodreads?" and the crickets began to sing. "I don't know how to leave a review. I'm not a writer" she said. Well, Stripper (that's what we call her) you just left a review when you emailed me! Congrats! You now know how to leave a review!
   
    So, here's the thing. When I leave a review I like to share a few things. Did the book pull me in? Did it hold me there or did it roller coaster up and down? (because sometimes you're reading a book and the story drags on and then BAM! It picks up and you can't put the book down!) Readers want to know these things. Did the author make me fall in love with the characters? The author wants to know if they have built a relatable/likable/loathable character. I want to know that I was successful in making you hate a character! I try to bring to the authors attention that there are errors without being rude. I've read reviews where the reader says "Whoever edited this book should be shot" and to me, that is just rude. Please don't do that. Chances are the author is the same person that proof read, edited etc. and by making rude comments you're stomping on their dream..... Meanie Pants!

   Not everybody has time to write a review but if you're on goodreads they make it so easy to rate the book with stars! You don't have to explain why you gave it five stars but if you'd like to share you can! I love that some folks will give a book three stars and then go on to tell you why they rated it lower.

    Ok. So that is my Public Service announcement and you have no idea how many times I typed "public" and forgot the "l"......If that's any indication of how my day is going. I'm going to go read another book to the toddler and pour orange juice and protein down her throat just in case there is another cold brewing in there! Wish me luck!

  

An Imaginary Birthday Present

Ok! So, you know that I have recently taken writing seriously and during this journey I've met some new, wonderful people, authors like myself, who have either already been published or were in the process of being published. One writer in particular is the fabulous Jenny Phillips. You may have heard me mention her, she has a short in  Darklight, the  Anthology which was published by Crushing Hearts & Black Butterflies earlier this year. If you haven't gotten a copy, I would suggest you do so! It's a great way to check out different authors since it's full of a variety of different paranormal stories by various writers. Jennys story is titled The Kiss. I loved it!! You should check it out. Here's the cover for Gifted!!!

Gifted by Jenny Phillips

Now, getting back to my story........... Yesterday I got a message from Jenny asking if I would be interested in reading her book "Gifted" which will be out in August of this year. I was driving when the message came through on my phone and of course like a bad driver I read it, nearly running over a pedestrian in the process. My bad! I was so excited at the prospect of reading a book that hasn't even reached store shelves! There was a distinct "Wooooo hoooo!" coming from my Jeep as I barrelled down M-139!

After all of the kids were tucked in bed last night, I made a cup of tea and took my laptop to bed where I started reading Gifted. It was already past my bedtime but I said "Just one chapter" and then I would shut the computer down and go to sleep. One chapter ended and I said "One more!". I read and read and read until it was officially three hours into my birthday!

I know when Jenny asked me if I would be interested in reading her book, she didn't intend on it being a birthday gift but I am imagining that she did because it makes me feel special!

Ok. So, more about the book. I'm not going to give anything away but I wanted to tell you how much I'm enjoying it so you can add it to your to read list on goodreads! You're on goodreads, right? Well, look it up, they have an iphone app! It's lovely. You can keep track of what you've read, what you want to read and it's a great way to keep up with what authors are reading! I love that! Authors don't just write you know, they read too!

When I get a new book, I treat it like a new acquaintance, taking my time getting to know them before I decide whether or not I like them and want to continue giving this person or (book) a chance. It did not take me long to decide I wanted to give Gifted more of my time! I knew immediately I would want to see this through to the end and didn't want to waste time doing it! I wanted to keep reading until I was finished with the book. But, I had to sleep and today I have to renew my licence......say cheese! So, I am having a hard time not reading more of the book!

I'm currently on chapter 13 and I can't stop thinking about what is going on! I can't tell you what is going on, sorry! You'll have to wait til August! lol But, it has drawn me in and I want to know more about the characters. That's what I look for in a book, characters that I can fall in love with or even hate! I love to hate a character in a book. Call me crazy but I love it!

If you're on facebook, or you're a book lover and like to support talented individuals, do yourself a favor and check out the page for Gifted. I can't add a link because my iphone app for blogger will not let me. But, check it out! Add Gifted by Jenny Phillips on Goodreads!! And a special thanks to Jenny for letting me believe that my early viewing of her book was a GIFT!! :)